This weekend I was pampered at a unique social event: a "Make-Up Bar" presented by Young Jax Promotions, a company that puts together upscale social events for young Jacksonville professionals.( http://www.youngjax.com/ )
It was a lovely Saturday evening as I headed downtown to The Daniel James Aveda Salon (45 West Bay St.) a block down from the Landing. (http://www.danieljamessalon.com/ ) As a working mom, I don't usually get much time for pampering, so I was excited about the makeup bar. In the online postings about the event, I'd read that the evening would involve networking, pampering, jewelry and Aveda makeup. I have to admit, I don't know much about fine salons and makeup. But I love socializing and networking, and the event sounded so unique and interesting that I couldn't pass it up.
The salon was housed in a brick building that had a lovely little courtyard in the middle of it, including trees and a small stone water fountain which ran into a shady pool. In the courtyard, tables full of gleaming jewelry, brightly colored purses and trendy sunglasses beckoned. Before I checked out the tables of goodies, I headed into the salon and was immediately greeted by Talaya (pronnounced tuh-LAY-uh) Waller, the founder of Young Jax Promotions, and her Public Relations Director, Vanessa Fleury.
The ladies welcomed me, handed me a bag of free Aveda products, and a glass of sangria and invited me to have a look around while waiting for my chance to have my makeup done. The Daniel James Aveda salon has two levels. We were on the first level, which housed shelves of Aveda products and three makeup artists working on clients. The upper level housed the salon chairs, where an array of salon services are offered. Tonight, besides makeup application, the ladies also had the choice of having their eyebrows done.
There were about ten women there when I was there, but Vanessa told me that since beginning at 4pm, they'd had 32 ladies come through, which was the full capacity of the event. I was impressed. Some fun hip-hop music was playing in the background, as the ladies chatted and mingled. It felt a lot like a party. I even ran into one of the doctors I work with at Shands! (small world).
Just as impressive as the party was the table of jewelry and purses from Salena's Accessories (426 N 3rd St in Jacksonville Beach). The purses were brightly colored and the jewelry was more of the chunky, eclectic variety. I'm always trying to get myself to wear more eclectic jewelry, and I fell in love with a Y shaped necklace adorned with silver and multicolored pastel ovals. I bought the necklace and I LOVE it (in fact, I'm wearing it right now). It came with a matching pair of earrings and both the earrings and the necklace together only cost $18. Not bad.
While I was shopping and sipping sangria, I glanced over at the rocky waterfall and watched a photographer snapping shots of one of the girls who had just finished her makeup session. Like all of the women I met that night, this girl was beautiful, and dressed really nicely. She looked gorgeous sitting on the rocks and flashing sexy looks to the camera.
I headed back into the salon and soon it was my turn to have my makeup done. Talaya Waller, (the person who'd put this entire event together) was actually at one time a makeup artist, so she was doing makeup for some of the ladies. I got to have her as my makeup artist for the evening, which I was thrilled about because I had lots of questions for her.
Talaya is quite the entrepreneur. After a recent move to Jacksonville and taking a job as a Community Planning and Development Specialist with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, she started looking for events and hang-outs for young professionals like herself. "Atlanta has five major colleges, so I am used to being surrounded by young professionals," she told me, "But I found relatively few things here in Jacksonville designed specifically for young professionals to meet and hang out. I like getting dressed up nice and going out, but the club scene can get old. So, when I couldn't find the events I was looking for, I decided to start Young Jax Promotions and put the events together myself."
I could relate. "Out and About in Jax" was born much in the same way. I wanted to find a local magazine or website where I could go to read all about local events. I wanted to read more than the basic details of the event -- I actually wanted to get a feel for what it was really like to be there. When I couldn't find a website or periodical like what I was looking for, I decided to start it myself.
Since starting Young Jax Promotions in January, Talaya has met many young professionals and has enjoyed a lot of success, planning several popular events including a cocktail hour at the Omni hotel, and several "Financial Tips and Cocktail Sips" evenings where guests had drinks while listening to lectures about personal finance and investing. The next evening for Financial Tips and Cocktail Sips will be Thursday June 10th from 6-10 pm at Bistro Aix in San Marco. The topic will be "Tax and Student Loans" and it's only $10 to get in, and the first drink you order is free. Its a good deal, and I plan on going, especially since I am going to grad school in the Fall, and (let's face it) I love socializing and having cocktails.
In addition to her day job with the Department of Housing, and her weekend job with Young Jax Promotions, Talaya also runs Walleristic Business Consulting (http://www.walleristic.com/ ) She chuckled as she told me the story of how she came up with the name. "My last name is Waller, so if someone is acting up in my house, they are said to be going 'Walleristic'. My mom will call me and tell me 'your father is going all 'Walleristic' on me..." I thought it was cute.
"How did you come up with the idea for a "makeup bar"?" I asked her.
"I saw it done on The Real Housewives of Atlanta once, and several people I knew asked if I would be willing to put something together like that. Sometimes the best ideas for events come from the people in the community -- the people who will actually be coming out to the event. So far it has been really successful. The Aveda Salon staff has been great -- they were more than willing to help out for tonight's event, especially Chudni Baker (my stylist), Lauren and Ivy (the other makeup artists here, and Carlos who is doing the eyebrows for the ladies."
As for what's in the future for Young Jax Promotions, Talaya tells me she wants to continue with the successful "Financial Tips With Cocktail Sips" evenings, and also wants to have more upscale cocktail hours like the one she planned earlier this year at the Omni Hotel, but she is still looking for a good venue. She's also working on putting together an email list for people who are interested in the Young Jax events. If you'd like to be included, shoot an email to info@youngjax.com .
Talaya did a great job on my makeup, and we stepped out to the courtyard to take some pictures. As I sat next to the waterfall and had my photo snapped by a photographer I felt so glamorous. I'd had a great time, and it had certainly been inspiring to meet a person like Talaya. I can't wait to see what's in the future for Young Jax Promotions, and I plan to be at more of their events.
It was a lovely Saturday evening as I headed downtown to The Daniel James Aveda Salon (45 West Bay St.) a block down from the Landing. (http://www.danieljamessalon.com/ ) As a working mom, I don't usually get much time for pampering, so I was excited about the makeup bar. In the online postings about the event, I'd read that the evening would involve networking, pampering, jewelry and Aveda makeup. I have to admit, I don't know much about fine salons and makeup. But I love socializing and networking, and the event sounded so unique and interesting that I couldn't pass it up.
The salon was housed in a brick building that had a lovely little courtyard in the middle of it, including trees and a small stone water fountain which ran into a shady pool. In the courtyard, tables full of gleaming jewelry, brightly colored purses and trendy sunglasses beckoned. Before I checked out the tables of goodies, I headed into the salon and was immediately greeted by Talaya (pronnounced tuh-LAY-uh) Waller, the founder of Young Jax Promotions, and her Public Relations Director, Vanessa Fleury.
The ladies welcomed me, handed me a bag of free Aveda products, and a glass of sangria and invited me to have a look around while waiting for my chance to have my makeup done. The Daniel James Aveda salon has two levels. We were on the first level, which housed shelves of Aveda products and three makeup artists working on clients. The upper level housed the salon chairs, where an array of salon services are offered. Tonight, besides makeup application, the ladies also had the choice of having their eyebrows done.
There were about ten women there when I was there, but Vanessa told me that since beginning at 4pm, they'd had 32 ladies come through, which was the full capacity of the event. I was impressed. Some fun hip-hop music was playing in the background, as the ladies chatted and mingled. It felt a lot like a party. I even ran into one of the doctors I work with at Shands! (small world).
Just as impressive as the party was the table of jewelry and purses from Salena's Accessories (426 N 3rd St in Jacksonville Beach). The purses were brightly colored and the jewelry was more of the chunky, eclectic variety. I'm always trying to get myself to wear more eclectic jewelry, and I fell in love with a Y shaped necklace adorned with silver and multicolored pastel ovals. I bought the necklace and I LOVE it (in fact, I'm wearing it right now). It came with a matching pair of earrings and both the earrings and the necklace together only cost $18. Not bad.
While I was shopping and sipping sangria, I glanced over at the rocky waterfall and watched a photographer snapping shots of one of the girls who had just finished her makeup session. Like all of the women I met that night, this girl was beautiful, and dressed really nicely. She looked gorgeous sitting on the rocks and flashing sexy looks to the camera.
I headed back into the salon and soon it was my turn to have my makeup done. Talaya Waller, (the person who'd put this entire event together) was actually at one time a makeup artist, so she was doing makeup for some of the ladies. I got to have her as my makeup artist for the evening, which I was thrilled about because I had lots of questions for her.
Talaya is quite the entrepreneur. After a recent move to Jacksonville and taking a job as a Community Planning and Development Specialist with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, she started looking for events and hang-outs for young professionals like herself. "Atlanta has five major colleges, so I am used to being surrounded by young professionals," she told me, "But I found relatively few things here in Jacksonville designed specifically for young professionals to meet and hang out. I like getting dressed up nice and going out, but the club scene can get old. So, when I couldn't find the events I was looking for, I decided to start Young Jax Promotions and put the events together myself."
I could relate. "Out and About in Jax" was born much in the same way. I wanted to find a local magazine or website where I could go to read all about local events. I wanted to read more than the basic details of the event -- I actually wanted to get a feel for what it was really like to be there. When I couldn't find a website or periodical like what I was looking for, I decided to start it myself.
Since starting Young Jax Promotions in January, Talaya has met many young professionals and has enjoyed a lot of success, planning several popular events including a cocktail hour at the Omni hotel, and several "Financial Tips and Cocktail Sips" evenings where guests had drinks while listening to lectures about personal finance and investing. The next evening for Financial Tips and Cocktail Sips will be Thursday June 10th from 6-10 pm at Bistro Aix in San Marco. The topic will be "Tax and Student Loans" and it's only $10 to get in, and the first drink you order is free. Its a good deal, and I plan on going, especially since I am going to grad school in the Fall, and (let's face it) I love socializing and having cocktails.
In addition to her day job with the Department of Housing, and her weekend job with Young Jax Promotions, Talaya also runs Walleristic Business Consulting (http://www.walleristic.com/ ) She chuckled as she told me the story of how she came up with the name. "My last name is Waller, so if someone is acting up in my house, they are said to be going 'Walleristic'. My mom will call me and tell me 'your father is going all 'Walleristic' on me..." I thought it was cute.
"How did you come up with the idea for a "makeup bar"?" I asked her.
"I saw it done on The Real Housewives of Atlanta once, and several people I knew asked if I would be willing to put something together like that. Sometimes the best ideas for events come from the people in the community -- the people who will actually be coming out to the event. So far it has been really successful. The Aveda Salon staff has been great -- they were more than willing to help out for tonight's event, especially Chudni Baker (my stylist), Lauren and Ivy (the other makeup artists here, and Carlos who is doing the eyebrows for the ladies."
As for what's in the future for Young Jax Promotions, Talaya tells me she wants to continue with the successful "Financial Tips With Cocktail Sips" evenings, and also wants to have more upscale cocktail hours like the one she planned earlier this year at the Omni Hotel, but she is still looking for a good venue. She's also working on putting together an email list for people who are interested in the Young Jax events. If you'd like to be included, shoot an email to info@youngjax.com .
Talaya did a great job on my makeup, and we stepped out to the courtyard to take some pictures. As I sat next to the waterfall and had my photo snapped by a photographer I felt so glamorous. I'd had a great time, and it had certainly been inspiring to meet a person like Talaya. I can't wait to see what's in the future for Young Jax Promotions, and I plan to be at more of their events.
0 comments:
Post a Comment