VUNENE MABASA: MAKING PEOPLE FEEL AND LOOK GOOD
''Quitting is the ultimate failure because you’ll never see the desired result”
It is true that when a person is born, the purpose is born with their destiny call. When it comes to Vunene Mabasa this saying couldn't be far from the truth. The ambitiousness in her gave her the motivation to nature her passion for turning something lovely into something breath-taking.
Her Upbringing and Passion
Vunene Mabasa aged 26 is a skilful makeup artist at heart who is passionate about what she does. She is the firstborn child in her parent's house. The talented makeup artist was born in Limpopo province, Chavani village. She is not just a makeup artist, but one of the best self-taught makeup artists who has won several African social awards for being the best creative makeup artist. Having the privilege of being brought up by strong and supportive Christian parents who permitted her to venture into different activities made her discover her artistic gift early. Her “makeup bug of love” bit her a long time ago when she was still a little girl. However, she never knew back then that her passion will take her very far one day. “I used to wear my mom’s lipstick every chance I got, with or without her permission”, she explains.
She started naturing her talent fully in 2017 when she decided to spend much of her time learning and practicing makeup techniques. “It was 2017 when I started learning about makeup due to external motivation from my roommate and friend from res. I also used social media platforms to learn makeup techniques,” Vunene explains. That was the time when she invested most of her time in mastering all the techniques of applying makeup professionally. Besides being a makeup artist, she studied Computer system engineering. On unwinding and what she does for relaxation when she is not tied up with work she says, "I’d be chilling at home with my family, diving in a good book or having some fun time out.”
Risks and Challenges Encountered
As a businessperson, there are times she must take risks for her business to grow. Among all the risks she took, having to meet new faces to offer her services is the most common. “The biggest risk was to take a 3-day makeup gig from a stranger and have them pick me up around 5 am in the morning to a secluded area outside Giyani. Regardless, these people make up one of my closest circles today.” She believes that one needs to take risks to get somewhere in life, and that's what she is not frightened to do.
Business tends to be unpredictable, especially at an early phase, so there have been times of doubt. However, Vunene never thought of even giving up on her dreams.” Quitting is the ultimate failure because you’ll never see the end product;” she explains. She has had a supportive parent, friends, and good people on her side who believed in her dreams and talent since the inception of her journey as a makeup artist. Starting her business was not all sunshine and roses, she has had her fair share of challenges while trying to establish her own business, but it is not something that one cannot overcome. It was not easy for Vunene to find capital for her business. “The major challenge was financing the initial business material, the best way was to be humble and ask for help from the closest people,” explained Vunene.
On Work and Its Relevance
Makeup serves as her means of expression. Among the inspirations shaping her, makeup is the makeup portrayal that tells a story and raises awareness for domestic and gender-based violence. Vunene is also inspired by mimics cartoons and many more imaginative illustrations. “My favorite makeup look is the one inspired by Cake Facer RJ on Instagram, which was also posted by Minister Nathi Mthethwa,” she explained. She is so creative that she can create almost anything that a client can describe.” It takes me an hour or so to do a beauty look and a minimum of 2 hours for the creative ones,” she says.
Her life revolves mostly around her fruitful passion for breath-taking makeup creativity, just like the business name Passionfruit.” The meaning of my business name Passionfruit is simple, it comes from two interpretations of my actual passion which has become the fruit of my hands. Gracefully, it’s also one of the most exotic fruit names,” Vunene revealed.
Goals and Achievements
Vunene never takes anything for granted, when she sees a chance for prosperity, she grabs it with her both hands. “I’ve entered a beauty competition and won some awards, and the recent award I won is from Johnson’s competition. Again, I recently got nominated for two awards by African Social Awards for most creative and best makeup artist,” says an award winner. She is making it big in the entertainment industry in terms of makeup artistry and some opportunities have allowed her to rub shoulders with well-known amazing popular people. “Being able to work on Film with well-known actors has been my ultimate achievement as well as being posted by the Legend himself 50cent,” she explains.
She believes in the beauty of her dreams. “Passion is my driving force to achieve greatness, so I always treat my clients nicely and make sacrifices in order for my brand to flourish,” says Vunene. She yearns to work with more film production in the future and most definitely be a well-known makeup artist in the world.
Advice To Others
Vunene shared her best advice with someone who wants to go into this industry and says, “The biggest and scariest step is to start. If you can start with whatever you have then the next step will follow so on and so forth. Always practice, using any possible resources around you, including your friends and family’s faces if they are willing. Lastly, prayer is the biggest foundation of any business, so that shouldn’t be left out.”
Ripfumelo is an ambitious and self-motivated individual who thrives on challenges and constantly sets objectives for herself. She's always looking for an opportunity to do better and achieve greatness.
