Take a Look Inside New York City’s Makeup Museum | VIDEO

Yellowbrick on April 23, 2021

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The Makeup industry has been around for quite some time. From the early days of makeup campaigns to the trends that have come and gone, there have been a lot of styles, looks, and products that have made the industry what it is today. Red Lips, smoky eyes, and smooth skin have always been beauty basic. The styles and concepts behind makeup have evolved over the years to make the industry what it is today. The Makeup Museum in New York City was created to allow visitors to immerse themselves in a historical beauty experience. It was designed as an immersive experience but had to pause and reset due to the ordered Covid restrictions that hit New York City last year.

The Makeup Museum was set to open with interactive exhibits that focused on touch and creating products. The pandemic changed all that. In May 2020 it still opened with its premiere exhibit, “Pink Jungle: 1950s Makeup in America”. The exhibit showcased a variety of historical makeup items that belonged to icons like Marilyn Monroe and Greta Garbo. Beauty Industry Essentials graduate Kenecia Lashae was tapped to help curate the museum, with a focus on the Black Beauty wall. The Black Beauty Wall highlighted some of the makeup products, successes, and challenges that African American women faced during these times.

We paid a visit to the Makeup Museum recently and caught up with Kenecia. She was able to take us through the museum on a guided tour and show us what they had to offer on a visit. The video serves as an inside look at the “Pink Jungle” exhibit with helpful commentary from Kenecia. The makeup museum is temporarily closed due to Covid restrictions. For more information on the next Makeup Museum exhibit, please visit www.makeupmuseum.com and sign up for the newsletter and exxhibit alerts. 

Entrepreneurship In The Music Industry with Director of Marketing, Ali Samadpour

Yellowbrick on April 5, 2021

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Everyone’s journey through the music industry is different. Ali Samadpour started out as an intern and worked his way up to Director of Marketing at Everybody Knows. While working his main gigs, he managed to launch two companies, Prescient Digital and Modular Merch. Both companies are rooted in the music industry and help artists with things like merch and digital marketing. He’s worked with a variety of artists including J. Balvin, Da Baby, SAINT JHN, MADEINTYO, A Boogie Wit da Hoodie, Wiz Khalifa and many more.

It hasn’t always been easy but Ali worked hard to get to where he is today. He recently hosted a Music Industry Essentials Webinar to talk about his career path and give some useful tips on making it in the industry. He talked about everything from maximizing a marketing budget to building a Spotify account for artist’s music and how digital advertising plays a major role in marketing an artist and his/her music. He also talked about how to network and safely communicate with people during a pandemic. Networking and fostering positive relationships with people is an important part of making it in the music industry.

If you missed the live webinar, you’re in luck. The entire webinar is available for replay in the video box above and some of the presentation slides are posted below. Aside from taking the Music Industry Essentials course, this conversation is a great jumpstart for a successful career in the music industry.

5 Career Quotables From Grammy Nominated Songwriter Madison Love

Yellowbrick on March 24, 2021

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Working in the music industry doesn’t happen overnight. It requires hard work, training, and persistence. Grammy nominated Songwriter Madison Love knows all about the grind it takes to break into the music industry. She recently got her big break and even a few Grammy Noms but it didn’t come without all of the hustle that comes with it. Madison is an NYU alum of the Clive Davis Institute. She is also a songwriter from a few pop star faves including Lady Gaga, Ava Max, and Selena Gomez. She recently sat down with Yellowbrick’s Music Industry Essentials course to talk about her journey through school and how she transitioned into a career in the music industry.

Madison loves what she does, and it shows. “The best part of my job, honestly, is being able to connect to millions of people emotionally through your voice and your emotions”, she said. “And it’s kind of a crazy thing when you hear other people screaming the song that you wrote and you’re just thinking, wow, this is so unreal”. She dropped a lot of useful gems during this interview. Bringing a pen and paper to take notes is highly recommended. You can see some of her quotables below.

If a career in the music industry is something you’ve always wanted, let Music Industry Essentials help you take that first step. Visit Yellowbrick.co/music to apply.

1. “I don’t want to share all of my secrets, but I write down a lot of titles and lyrics all the time in this (shows a journal) and I always bring it to every session, so I’m prepared.”

2. “I think that hustle has gotten me where I am today and getting big cuts like the song that I collaborated on for Lady Gaga album that’s coming out. I wouldn’t have been able to be in that room if I didn’t really, really hustle to get there.”

3. “You just say yes to everything. I’ve molded myself over the years to try and lend myself to other styles to get more cuts, because I have songs that have gone on the radio that are Latin, I’m speaking Spanish, a lot of songs I speak in, whatever language you want, I’ll do it.”

4. “You have to be able to mold yourself into whatever situation you want to be, but still being authentic to you and being authentic to what you want to present.”

5. “As a songwriter, you don’t really make that much from streaming.
You’re getting YouTube, you’re getting Apple Music, you’re getting all these other services. But it’s still not as much money as you think. You have to have multiple, multiple hit songs a year to be making a lot of money.”

Sneaker School Grad Gets A Nod From Forbes 30 Under 30

Yellowbrick on March 18, 2021

Naz, a Sneaker Essentials graduate, recently launched MIDSOLE MAG. MIDSOLE MAG is a women’s digital sneaker-based fashion magazine based in Turkey. She launched the magazine after taking the course and realizing there was an opportunity to tell the stories behind sneakers in Turkey. Naz is a candidate for the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. She wrote about her experience in the article below. 

In May 2020, I created an online sneaker-based fashion magazine called
“MIDSOLE MAG”. My biggest reason for creating this magazine was to support women in the sneaker industry and spreading that culture. I started this business with zero budget and in the midst of a pandemic, it became
extremely successful. There is a common misconception that women are not as involved in sneaker culture as men, but that is not true. We have
proven that through having a staff made up entirely of women. Therefore,
I wish to use my career as a tool to highlight that women have long been
a part of the sneaker scene and to give them the recognition that they
deserve.

MIDSOLE MAG is an online magazine (www.midsolemag.com). As a Gen Z’er, I wanted to design something that speaks to my generation and highlights the issues that we face. My generation is known for being “Born with technology,” so an “e-mag” seemed like the perfect place to start. We
have a very active Website and Instagram audience, along with a magazine application called “Dergilik”. Dergilik only accepts well-known
magazines like Vogue, Elle and now MIDSOLE MAG is amongst them. Also, it is the only streetwear magazine in Turkey and without any paid promotion we gained a total of 14K followers in less than six months.

Furthermore, shortly after the first issue, we started to collaborate on
creative projects with global brands such as Nike, Reebok, Converse,
Lacoste and local brands / sneaker stores such as Wunder and Les
Benjamins. Our creative projects include editorials, special edition
issues, collage artworks and illustrations, which showcases how strong
we are on the creative side. We also have commercial arrangements with
Dior, Louis Vuitton, adidas, North Face, Vans and many other global
brands. In our regular issues, there are sections from History to
Beauty. Our mission is to spread the culture and describe what that
means to the communities around us.

Lastly, I was requested to be a panelist for a Complex Networks and
Fashion Institute of Technology partnered a program called “Yellowbrick
Sneaker Essentials.” On October 20th I hosted a webinar about the
“International Woman In The Sneaker Industry” and shared my experiences
as a woman in this industry and gave advice to others who wish to create
a meaningful impact in the sneaker world.

I am beyond proud and honored to be so accomplished in such a short period of time. Also, I am thankful for the people who have supported me along the way.

Fashion Business Essentials: Course One Review | Entrepreneurship & the Fashion System

Yellowbrick on March 11, 2021

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Chloe is a student in the new Fashion Business Essentials course by Parsons x WWD, powered by Yellowbrick. She is a member of the student advisory panel. Check out her written review of Module One below.


"I’m so excited to be included on the advisory panel for this course so I’m able to see the course firsthand and tell you how it’s going!"
- Chloe

You can press play on the video above for a course content sneak peek.

In the first course, the program focused on Entrepreneurship & the Fashion System. I personally found this first course very interesting. Reading about how much the fashion industry has changed within the past few years.

Nowadays, it’s become more commonly seen for people to launch their own business. No longer are people looking to be hired under someone and become apart of the fashion industry, that’s old news.

I’ve noticed it myself, more and more of my peers are making announcements on social media of their new business launching. I think it’s inspiring to see, and to know now that because it’s become more common, it’s also become a little easier to achieve.

Half of this course is focused on entrepreneurship which again I really liked. The rest of the course focused on sustainability which I also believe to be another recent major focus of the industry. Within the past few years, consumers have begun to question the ethics behind the production of fashion.

Where is it being produced? Is the factory safe, are the working conditions humane? Will the production of these items positively or negatively impact the environment? These questions were merely whispered throughout the industry before.

But as time progresses, designers are realizing that the fate of the industry is in consumers hands. People no longer care about what the celebrities are wearing, because influencers are now dominating the market.

Thanks to our persistence, we are slowly making an impact on the industry and turning the old ways into the new ways. If you want information on how you can register for the course, visit yellowbrick.co/fashionbusiness.

“Ask Me Anything” with Foot Locker Engineer Brennan Nichols

Yellowbrick on March 10, 2021

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Foot Locker Engineers are not always easy to get a hold of. Operations Engineer is a job title in the sneaker industry that is rarely public facing. Their position works heavily behind the scenes to help keep the Foot Locker brand on point. Yellowbrick Ambassador and Sneaker School grad Brennan Nichols is the Site Operations Engineer at Foot Locker.

Foot Locker Inc. is the leading brand that celebrates sneaker and youth culture worldwide. Their portfolio includes Lady Foot Locker, Kids Foot Locker, Champs Sports, Eastbay and Footaction. They have about 3,000 retail locations in 28 countries across North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Foot Locker recently invested $100M in the reseller platform GOAT, which could yield interesting Goat x Foot Locker collaborations in the near future.

Brennan decided to take some time out of his day to give the Yellowbrick community some much needed career talk and industry gems via a ZOOM Webinar. He talked about his current position at Foot Locker, as well as his Sneaker School experience, solid Resume Tips, Building your network, and how to nail your interview for the job you want in the sneaker industry. At the end of it all, he opened up the floor for an “Ask Me Anything” Q&A session. We jotted down some of the top questions and answers and compiled a list below. You can press play on the video in this article to hear the webinar in its entirety, including all the questions and answers.

How did you get started in the sneaker industry?

“I started back in college where I did an internship at this sneaker boutique called Self Conscience. It is no longer open but it was the starting point for many people who have careers in the industry. I started as an intern, doing events on the weekends. We did a really cool collaboration with adidas back in 2008. That gave me my first love of the sneakers, the industry and sneaker marketing events. That’s the best place to start, as an intern.”

Do network connections matter and did a network connection help you get your job at Footlocker?

“Connections always matter. That goes back into building your network. Building my network helped me. What helped me was going to events, volunteering. Volunteering didn’t get me the job at Foot Locker but it helped me beef up my resume. I got my job from a staffing agency who saw my resume on Linkedin. They contacted me for an interview and I started as a temporary worker. A lot of big companies start people off as contract employees so don’t get discouraged by getting an offer on a contract position. Sometimes you get paid more often and paid more per hour. Sometimes you don’t have benefits so it depends on your livelihood but if you have the ability to go through a staffing agency, I recommend it.”

Can the Sneaker Essentials certificate of completion lead to a job opportunity?

“It can lead to a job opportunity but graduating from the program won’t give you a job. The course gives you a lot to talk about in interviews. Taking the course and having the certificate can lead to a lot of conversations during an interview. I’ve been in a lot of interviews with a lot of companies and they ask about the course. Whatever you learned from the course, you can mention it in the interview and that helps you stand out from the other candidates.

If a sneaker career is something you’re interested in, visit yellowbrick.co/sneakers. You can reach out to Brennan on IG. His handle is @wallstreetbnic.