Letter from Margaret

2010 has been quite year for “MKC project Milan” and for MKC Beauty Academy as well.

I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you for the amazing support, friendship and dedication you have given to me and MKC Beauty Academy, that made this first annual trip to Milan a wonderful reality.

The main focus of this trip was to take our two Alumni students that worked so very hard to win the “Project Milan” trip, and educate them on the fashion industry as it relates specifically to Milan, Italy. It was very important for me to make sure our winners were able to experience Milan, Italy in a similar fashion to the way I did when I started at the ripe old age of 16. Grant it, nearly 30 years has passed since I started in this business and certainly times have changed along with technology and society as a whole. However much of the industry leaders are still the same, and the masters are still all connected in some form or another. The great traditions have also remained the same with uncompromising integrity.

We are amazingly proud of the accomplishments we were able to achieve with our first MKC Project Milan trip, and we look forward to many more trips in the years ahead.

While in Milan, everything we did, from meeting with people old and new, to seeing the sights and just simply shopping, was very poignant and profound. Just the opportunity to connect with our winners Jessica Ahn and Ximena Rolfe in Milan, felt very dreamlike. It was like seeing my own children about to experience something that was so very significant and special to me. Being able to witness the girls doing something they unquestionably love is something of an old broken record to me that keeps playing over and over in my heart. My love for this industry has never ceased, but rather has been enhanced over the years and in helping my students pave a way to do something they love, is fulfilling my dreams many times over. This is what every parent wishes for, with the added benefit of being extremely proud all at the same time. By all means, I am their “Makeup Mom”.

My trip this time around has definitely made me more aware of the fabulous country of Italy in ways I never was able to see before. The main thing that was so profound was what this country and city did for my career. Although I admit I certainly worked my tushy off and gave it my complete all, it is never a doubt in my mind that Milan is the place that allows every Master Artist in the fashion industry to take their craft to the highest level.. In hindsight, I didn’t realize at the time I was in “the thick of it” and how blessed I was to have such an amazing opportunity.

My good friend, Italian sister and amazing coordinator Roberta Ginanneschi, who helped organize this amazing trip for us, really brought back a very special feeling for me. She absolutely went way above and beyond our grandest expectations. I've spent a lot of time with her over the past 25 years, in fact she was one of the first people I met when I arrived in Milan, so many years ago. I was this extremely young, vivacious artist shooting for the stars and knowing nothing about life. Roberta automatically became my big sister and certainly she took such amazing care of me throughout the years. We certainly have many amazing memories in the past and of course some more recent memories also. Seeing her helping and becoming Jessica and Ximena’s new big sister was such a comforting feeling and again another supremely profound experience.

Having the Alumni with us in this special place was seriously a full circle moment to say the least. Each day was filled with so much goodness and not a moment was wasted. From meeting Moreno Monti, the amazing photographer with the kindest heart, to going to Elite Milan to do a casting for the girls portfolio shoots, and lastly (which is the most amazing part for me) going to Green Apple Agency, one of the top Makeup Artist agencies in Milan, and meeting it's owner, Monica Messori. It seriously was truly a beautiful chapter that we were able to share with them.

The craziest part for me was seeing them talk to Monica Messori, the Make up agent, and getting firsthand sage advice about working in Milan. This was surreal because you must understand that Monica was my agent when I was 16 years old and seeing her talk to the girls like she once did when I was starting out, was basically watching history repeat itself. Monica was seriously a huge part of my success as a Makeup Artist. It was surreal to say the least. In that moment it clarified one of the main reasons I started MKC Beauty Academy - To pay it forward.

Watching Jessica & Ximena's dream of working in the mecca of the fashion industry come to reality, was something that certainly brought up many emotions for me. It really took me back to when I was 16 years old and experiencing it all for the first time. In retrospect that young Japanese American girl from Los Angeles had the same exact dreams and desires of making it big in this industry that Jessica and Ximena have, the knowing that this is all you ever wanted and going for it all the way.

The truth is working in Los Angeles, New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, Shanghai, or any city in the world, has completely different expectations then a city like Milan, Italy. The experience is so artistically real and truthful… and “truthfulness of craft” was the main purpose for the Alumni to experience during Project Milan. It really makes you look at yourself without any sugar coating and face what the meaning of “going for it all the way” means. This was a way to confirm the truth of why they want to become the best in the industry. That is why only the best make it, and if you can’t take the heat then you ought not stay in the kitchen.

Finally the girls had their 2-day portfolio shoot that went amazingly well. In fact Moreno invited one of the girls to come back and be a part of his team. How cool is that!! We are awed by all of this.

(FYI, we will be posting videos and photos from the trip soon on the Facebook page, as well our website, so keep an eye out for that.)

So as you can see, this trip served it’s purpose and then some…it was a lot of fun and brought back great memories from the past.Yes we did get our fill of yummy pasta, pizza and all of the Panini’s you can imagine, we still yearned to satisfy our LA cravings (i.e., sushi and Mexican food). However without fail, every time I step away from Italian soil, I ardently desire to be back soon.

Now that we are back in LA and back in the grind of our normal lives and getting ready to say thanks on Thanksgiving Day with our loved ones, we are starting anew, and the books are coming in for the contenders for the next Project Milan 2010. We still have some time before we will determine who the winners are, nonetheless; Jessica and Ximena’s experience certainly has raised the bar.

I am once again excited and look forward to a new chapter.. Most importantly to see what will happen next time…

Lastly...This year, with your global support, we are opening our first school outside of Hollywood, in the amazing city of Rome, Italy. We will be posting information as soon as it becomes available - MKC Academy continues to grow with the support and assistance from friends and colleagues from all over the globe. ~ Margaret Kimura

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