Noni Smith
MY STORY
I was born and raised in Sydney, Australia. Being a kid in the 80s, an era where experimental individual style and urban tribes were the norms, the seed of creativity was planted. As a teen, I spent hours experimenting with wild looks that I would hilariously debut at the local shops.
At 18 I landed my first job as a Makeup Artist in a trailblazing new shop in Sydney selling International Professional Makeup brands and running makeup classes. Here I received my first formal training and was soon giving lessons to women twice my age and doing test shoots.
My big break came in the early 90s at 21 years old when I went to LA at the request of my dear friend, world-renowned photographer Daniella Federici. She was shooting a test of a new girl for the owner of the iconic, Guess Jeans company George Marciano and she wanted me to do the makeup. We all met in the salon of hairdresser to the Stars, José Eber, on Rodeo Drive.
To say I was intimidated is an understatement. I almost took my kit and left when confronted by a makeup artist who worked there insisting he was the one doing the makeup! Daniella convinced me to stay and with an audience of everyone who worked there, and the other jilted makeup artist watching my every move I made up this new face.
Luckily the face and first-time model, Anna Nicole Smith, was even more nervous than me and we whispered words of encouragement to each other. Those photos became Anna's first campaign as the new face of Guess Jeans. I went on to shoot 3 more campaigns with Daniella and Anna for Guess in Miami and NY, as well as the top 10 sexiest Hollywood stars of the year in LA.
The combination of luck, courage, and talent catapulted my career and upon my return to Australia work started flooding in.
I have spent the following decades in this most fantastic world of Artists, Actors and Creatives travelling the globe honing my skills, always learning and having a career beyond anything I could have imagined.