Reel Beauty Inc. Application

Young girls around the world experience self-esteem to varying degrees. Whether it’s struggles with school or conflicts with inner and outer beauty, we all go through these things as growing, young women. What you probably don’t realize is that there are people who participate in intriguing programs that deal with helping young ladies understand the importance of self-esteem.

Reel Beauty Reel Beauty, Inc (RBI) is a nonprofit organization that teaches girls about self-esteem and how important it is in life. “We teach them the importance of self- esteem, so when they encounter it( or the lack of it), they know how to handle the situation,” says Deida Massey, founder of RBI. Reel Beauty is made up of programs called workshops that establish a sense of comfort, learning and a place to receive great advice from caring people.

This wonderful organization all started by Deida Massey. She worked as a paralegal for the Public Guardian Office of Chicago Cook County, advocating for abused and neglected children. After working as a paralegal for five years, Deida made the decision to move to Los Angeles to further pursue her career as a makeup artist. During her time there, Deida did editorial shoots for music videos and worked with many celebrities such as, basketball players Michael Jordan
and Shaquille O’Neil and famous hiphop celebrities such as The Roots, Ludacris, Bow Wow and many more.

Reel Beauty was ready to be on the big theatre screen when Deida went back to Chicago to launch RBI. A question that is often asked is, how did she combine her interest of the movie industry and love for makeup with helping young girls?

“While working as a paralegal in Chicago, all the children on my case were teen girls. I saw that when they went through emancipation, they were taking care of their siblings and some through prostitution,” says Deida, “They would sit at my desk and talk about their lifestyles, like I was just a friend, but I was just a stranger working on their case. The foster care system is very tragic, because you can not find a lot of people who care about their situations. When I moved to L.A and started that journey as a makeup artist, God showed me my assignment.” Although the first word in Reel Beauty is a similar pronunciation of the word real, the creative name of this incorporation stands for something more symbolic. “I named it reel, as in a movie reel; because I moved to L.A to fulfill my work in movies and makeup. Reel Beauty stands for loving who you are, respecting yourself, and being real to yourself in all situations at all cost,” explains Deida.

Workshops of Beauty
The workshops that make up the organization have meaningful, yet creative names, such as Priceless Pearls, Diamonds in the Ruff, and Heart II Heart. Each workshop deals with different aspects of self-esteem. “Priceless Pearls works with  helping young girls understand the importance of self-esteem. Diamonds in the Ruff focuses on selfworth and Heart II Heart deals with exploring and defining the importance of various relationships with family, friends and others,” Deida clarifies.

The unique names of the workshops had much thought put into each one with a little help of friends, family, and God. As explained by Deida, she wanted to come up with catchy names, but most importantly, she wanted the names to represent young girls everywhere. Deida tells us about her main method in her workshops which she believes works wonders. “Each activity in the workshops is based on interacting with us, because we believe that when we have the girls’ interact  with us, it’s better than talking to us. We don’t want to lecture and tell them what they should be doing- they get that at home,” she explained.

Deida loves working at RBI and intermingling with the many young girls that will view her as major role model in their life from the first time they meet her. Even when she took a tiny detour to come back to Chicago to launch Reel Beauty and put her make-up career on hold, she soon realized that all was not lost. “There are some girls that I’m closer to and they keep in touch with me; the impact is amazing! It’s an absolute honor and I’m glad God chose me to be a part of Reel Beauty,” says Deida.

Missions and Goals
The mission of Reel Beauty is to provide self-esteem workshops as a tool that will assist young women growing into womanhood as they rediscover their beauty, inside and out. The goal of RBI is to get back to the basics in taking responsibility for young girls by restoring and revitalizing their mind, body, and spirit. Deida’s mission in her program is slightly similar.

“My mission is to think of ways I can bridge the gap between my love and passion for makeup and my love and passion for helping teen girls. My goal is to get some alumni to come back to facilitate and develop relationships with the girls,” Deida explained.

Alumni’s
Jocelyn Lyles is 17-years-old and will be graduating from Hyde Park Academy High School by the end of this year. She has been a part of RBI ever since her best friend, who wasin the first session, invited her in the summer of 2007.

“She was telling me that she went to this thing every Saturday and how much fun it was and how much they cared.” Jocelyn explained. Jocelyn went to the second session and enjoyed it so much; she even made her two sisters become a part of it.

Self-esteem has many different meanings for each person, and the workshops help with every one of them.

“Low self-esteem is not just about how you look. A lot of times, I used to walk around thinking highly of myself and Deida told me, ‘you have to be humble.’ Beauty is skin deep. You could walk around thinking that you’re pretty, but beauty is more than just that. I have to work within myself to be beautiful; I have to work on me, first, to be pretty. With that, I was able to have different relationships with each one of the ladies I interacted with and I’m  determined to be a woman just like they are.” says Jocelyn.

She also points out why other girls out there should join Reel Beauty. “Even if you don’t struggle with self-esteem, you should join RBI anyway, because it teaches you a lot about yourself and others. It’s not like after the program is over, there’s nothing else; the ladies are always available. I feel like a lot of teenagers these days need guidance.”

For further information on how to join Reel Beauty, visit the website ReelBeautyinc.com and go to the Contact us link.

And remember, beauty is your pure inner soul that is ready to come out of its shell and show the world what they’ve been too blind to see…. And that’s you!

From one goddess to another!

You Can Read the Original Article Here

Congratulations to our Summer 2011 RBI Alumni who completed RBI’s 10- week program.

Thank you to our beauty sponsors this year: Motions, NYC nail color and  Be! products. Your contributions are sincerely appreciated!

I’ll be in touch….until then, stay blessed.

Deida

Ieisha Riley – University of Iowa

Dominique Edwards – University of Illinois Urbana at Champaign

Coneisha Riley – University of Iowa

Jocelyn Lyles – Alabama A&M University

Chanel Harrison – Southern Illinois University

Candace Welch – Loyola University
Margaret Mayes – University of Central Missouri
Ariel Plant – Kennedy King College
Jillian Lyles – Harold Washington College