Luz Acosta

Coordinating Cosmetics

Luz Acosta always had an interest in the beauty and fashion industry. Thanks to a Merchandise Marketing course she took in high school through ROP, Luz was able to attend a fashion show at FIDM in San Diego. This piqued her interest, especially after finding out she could study cosmetics, fragrances, and the beauty industry.

Starting at the San Diego campus and finishing in Los Angeles, Luz majored in Beauty Industry Merchandising & Marketing at FIDM. She took classes such as chemistry, fragrance, cosmetic product and promotion, and marketing essentials. "The classes were realistic with real life situations of how to make a product," says Luz, who worked as a makeup artist for Lancome while she was in school. After working part-time, Lancome promoted Luz to Counter Manager.

For one class project, Luz had to create her own fragrance, and connect it to a film she liked. She used the film Salsa for inspiration and made the scent spicy. For her presentation she used red feathers and showed a clip of the film. Another fun project was creating a product for people who were losing their hair. "I called it 'Hairy' and the packaging was all furry," laughs Luz.

After graduation and a short stint in New York City, the Hemet, California native sought out the help of a FIDM Career Advisor, who gave her a job lead with Bourjois, a French line that was just launching in the U.S. Luz was hired the next day as a Counter Manager at the Macy's location in South Coast Plaza, one of the largest shopping malls in the country. After leaving the company to work for LORAC as an Account Coordinator, Bourjois wanted Luz to come back, and they offered her a promotion.

Now as an Account Coordinator for Bourjois, a sister line to Chanel, Luz presents the new cycle launches, as well as the merchandising and trainings for the various departments in her district. Her responsibilities include hiring makeup artists and staff, and handling the payroll and scheduling. Event planning and coordination is another facet of her busy schedule. "One of my favorite things is coordinating events within the store to promote new products," says Luz, who often comes up with the ideas to promote Bourjois products. "I might bring in a certain makeup artist for an event or even come up with the props that will be used." One recent event had an Asian theme to it complete with Chinese takeout boxes and chopsticks.

Luz works at home in Orange County for the first part of the day, answering e-mail and returning phone calls. Her afternoons are spent out in the field where she works with the Counter Managers who then delegate to their teams. "We also do a breakdown of numbers to see where we stand for the week, the month and the season," she explains.

Are you an aspiring makeup artist or you want to work in the beauty industry? Luz suggests starting at the ground and working your way up. "While you're in school start behind the counter at a big line like Estee Lauder or Clinique," she says. "If you’re interested in the entertainment side of the industry (such as magazines or runway) then offer to powder people’s noses at photo shoots or work as an assistant to a celebrity makeup artist." Of course networking always helps too. Luz has even hired three FIDM alumni.

One of Luz’s favorite parts of her job is going to the Bourjois sales meetings. "We get to play with all the new stuff that's not coming out for a year or so," she says. "It’s really neat to see how it was developed."

Please Note: The information contained herein was confirmed at the time of original publication