Today we’d like to introduce you to Giovanna Marin-Ortega.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My story… it says so much in such a short amount of time. As a Navy veteran, I’m used to the many chapters in my life guiding me from one duty station to the Next and learning a new set of skills at each command as a quad zero hospital corpsman. I was enlisted in the Navy for over five years and was stationed in Texas, Virginia, and Florida in the matter of that time. Growing up, I was never the girl that dreamed of a fairytale life. I grew up with a single mother and all I remember her doing was work day in and day out. It was instilled in me to work for what I wanted in life. I dreamed of traveling, studying, going to school and eventually become a nurse. But like they say, life is what happens while you’re busy making plans for it. I couldn’t afford to continue my education and so I signed up for the navy. I learned how to administer vaccines and prophylactic care for the deployable personnel and then in Florida is when I became the work center supervisor for a pain management clinic.
My list of responsibilities grew and I was excited to see what this new chapter would teach me, would I get closer to my dream of becoming a nurse and submit a package for the nurse corps program?? Everything changed when I was made to go back home to Texas and say my last goodbyes to my grandmother. As I saw her take her last breaths, I knew I wanted something else out of life… more than just a career. I knew then I wanted to find a partner and settle down to have a family. I was 23 when I left for the navy and gave birth to my first son at the age of 29 soon after leaving the military. I met my husband who is currently serving in the Navy as well so my traveling days are still there with a different tone to it as now I am a military wife and backbone to a military family. The transition of living for myself now changed to mom duties and wife life. I started to sell my gently used clothes on Poshmark as a hobby when my first baby was a newborn and would always get good reviews. I liked being busy, mom life didn’t slow me down instead it’s when I started to think outside of the box and think of ways to make money while being at home with my baby. I also started to watch a bunch of youtube videos on makeup. I remember when the first Morphe Jacklyn Hill pallet was released and it seemed to be all over IG. I knew I wanted to work in the beauty industry but didn’t know how to get to my foot in the door. I wasn’t able to attend beauty school because of harsh weather conditions in Chicago (new duty station for the husband) and I also had my baby so I didn’t get a chance to go to beauty school at that time. I went for the next best thing… going live on Facebook and selling younique makeup. It was a MLM company but I don’t look down on MLM. It’s what motivated me to go live and give makeup tutorials, get tips from friends and meet new girls that also shared the same passion as me for makeup and all things beauty.
Since then, my small platform has grown and I have been blessed to affiliate and PR for some of the top beauty brands in social media one of them being Foxybae. I still remember when I received their email asking if I wanted to affiliate for them, thats when I knew that I had the potential to take my platform further and create my own brand, my lash brand Glam Gio Lashes LLC. My husbands grandmother gave me $100 cash for Christmas 2020 and I used that money to pay for my LLC. I have since grown my lash business to welcome a PR team of our own and still growing to this day. My need for knowledge to know more about the beauty industry and its services hasn’t stopped as I have recently enrolled in the Esthetician Program at Bellus Academy. My husband and my two kids push me everyday to keep believing in my small business and to keep growing my skills as a professional in the beauty industry. If there’s one thing I want to share is to take a chance on yourself, bet on your success and know that there is so many possibilities out there if your open to them. Surround yourself with people that want to see you accomplish your dreams for me, that’s what I feel like I’ve found in my journey on social media, ladies that I’ve never met in real life but have supported me throughout the way. I wanna thank you for your time and for this blessing to get to share my story with you all.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Journey is not so much about success but more so to stay the course even when the setbacks start to settle in. Sometimes success is in the fact that you’re still maintaining the course. It’s taken me a while to figure that out but my perseverance keeps me going. One major setback for me was a huge accomplishment for my husband. I was accepted into Herzing University for their BSN, Bachelors of Science in Nursing program the same day my husband got selected to make chief. He was called into duty for the next couple of weeks after that and I had to deny my acceptance so that I could stay behind to watch the baby. Since we don’t live close to family, I always have to be the main parent to care and watch for the kids even til this day. But it made me better at multitasking, more versatile. Growing up, I didn’t have a dad. He passed away when I was eleven years old. That’s also been a setback for me always thinking, “What would my dad think of me now if he was here??” I’ve managed to live thru it and just assume that he would be proud of me no matter what.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I have a small lash business offering lashes, makeup and more. We currently have sold out of all our eyeshadow pallets with the exception of our Slay Bae pallet our most recent launch. We offer strip lashes at affordable prices and the styles vary. Our most natural lashes are 16mm-20mm and our most dramatic are 25mm-30mm. Our lashes have been packaged in a lash book and also a lash collaboration with our top-selling PR Ms. Rpsie. Our main traffic to drive sales is Facebook and Instagram. Facebook business page has our biggest following where we like to keep ladies up to date on any new upcoming products as well. We have been fortunate to see our small business survive its first year and now on to our second year praying for another successful year as well.
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
My favorite childhood memories don’t involve fancy places or even like doing really fun things. My most favorite memories are me being a kid and spending the night at my gramas house. We would all stay up late and play with our grandma’s makeup and wigs and sit at her vanity. She used to have all these nice dresses and we would play dress up. It was just that comfort of family growing up that are my best memories. Another good memory is growing up in the summer and just hearing my uncle play pearl jam or Nirvana on his electric guitar, no amp just the tune. It’s the little things that stand out to me as a happy childhood memory.
Pricing:
- Lashes are $15 a pair
- Pallets are $30
- Makeup Brushes $55
Contact Info:
- Email: gmarin210@gmail.com
- Website: www.glamgioboutique.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/makeup_with_giovanna
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/makeupwithgio
- Twitter: www.facebook.com/glamgiolashesllc
Image Credits
Cassy Flores took pic of the Ice queen eyeshadow pallet and the happy holidays greeting card. All other pics were taken by me.
