Industry Chat with Miranda Hill

In this episode of Chats Behind the Chair, Deborah and Janey are joined by beauty therapist Miranda Hill, the woman behind Wake Up With Makeup.

Miranda shares her journey through more than 40 years in the beauty industry — from washing hair as a teenager, training as a beauty therapist, opening her first business alongside Deborah, and creating a spa at Millbrook Resort, to where she is today.

Together, they talk about trusting yourself before you feel completely ready, continuing to learn, and the importance of having a strong support crew around you.

Miranda also shares the deeply rewarding side of her work and how cosmetic tattooing can help women feel confident again, particularly those experiencing hair loss, alopecia, or the effects of cancer treatment.

This is an honest conversation about confidence, connection, hard work, and the reminder that true beauty always comes from within.

Follow or subscribe to Chats Behind the Chair wherever you listen to podcasts, and join us for honest conversations that inspire, strengthen and support.

You can also follow along on Instagram at @chatsbehindthechair

Follow or subscribe to Chats Behind the Chair wherever you listen to podcasts, and join us for honest conversations that inspire, strengthen and support.

You can also follow along on Instagram at @chatsbehindthechair

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

I was always driven to find out, but why is that happening? And why is that person not getting the results? Always putting whatever I want to do. I just want to put it out there and I want to make it work and achieve it. And I don't know when it's going to happen. I don't know the timeline of when that's going to happen, but it does usually always happen eventually.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Welcome to Chance Behind the Chair. I'm Janie and Deborah and I today are joined by Miranda Hill, a beauty therapist and the woman behind Wake Up with Makeup. We're talking about how she found her way into the industry, what she loves about her work, and what she's learned about working so closely with women over the years. Miranda, welcome to Chats Behind the Chair. Thank you, Janie. Thanks for having me. We're excited. Our first real life guest. Yeah, Cruise Chat with Miranda. That's so exciting. It's amazing. So you two have been friends for how long? Over 35 years.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Yeah, it sure has been. And I bet you guys have got some stories, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:07

Stories.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

Lots of stories.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

So how did you first get into the industry, Miranda?

SPEAKER_00 1:12

I worked after school with my sister in the hairdressing industry. And I was sort of 14 at the time, quite young, and got put into doing sweeping floors and folding towels and washing hair. And I really enjoyed when I was washing someone's hair, the fact that I could just make them fall asleep and get them really relaxed. And then I would start looking at people's skins. So that's where my journey began. It's right back in the right back in the hairdressing basin, really. Yeah. Fantastic. And so from there, what was your next step? My next step was to obviously train. So I packed up my family, sold my house, and my children came up and my husband and we I did beauty therapy training.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

So you had your children?

SPEAKER_00 1:57

Had my children first, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:58

You're like, right, this is what I really want to do.

SPEAKER_00 2:01

That's right. You know, having children was fantastic for me, even though I was quite young. I think did definitely sort of want to have my children. I just thought now it's my time, even though they were still very little. So we went to Christchurch and I trained at the National School of Aesthetics as a beauty therapist. Amazing.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

Yeah. And how was it finding your feet in those early years in the industry?

SPEAKER_00 2:24

Very difficult, actually. It was still quite a new industry. I mean, it was very basic. You did your waxing and you did your facials. And you know, they were fluffy facials, we used to call them. They would lie down, it would just be exfoliation and a mask and eyelash tint in and off you'd go. So it was very basic, especially when you're starting off. But then again, I was always driven to find out, but why is that happening? And why is that person not getting the results? So really then it's up to you as an individual on how far you want to go with that.

SPEAKER_01 2:57

And as Deb always says, it's good to have a curious mind.

SPEAKER_00 3:00

Sure is.

SPEAKER_02 3:02

So you started the business, your first business. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

So I moved back down to Queenstown actually after my training and happened to walk in, and Deborah and I got on really, really well. And uh she had a room available. So I took the room and opened up my first business. I think it was called Miranda's Beauty and Health. It was great. And then you were there for a few years? Yes, I was there for quite a few years. And it was a great opportunity to work with the team, but within your own environment as well, within your own business. So you were still learning. We were both still learning. So that was really important. So we got on really well to be able to help each other out and interact. We'd send each other clients and we worked together. And it it really did help to one, build your confidence, you know, when you're so young in uh such a big industry, big building, etc., with Deborah. So it worked really, really well.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

And also to have that support crew around you must have really helped you when you were starting out in a business.

SPEAKER_00 4:04

Absolutely. Yeah. And so from there you went to Milbright Resort. I did. Funny story. I was coming out from a client one day and Deborah sort of looked at me and gave me the eye and said, get over here, get over here. So so I came over and she said, Miranda, I really want you to meet this lady, Karen. Um, she was doing her hair at the time. And I said, Yeah, sure, hi, how are you? And she said, Well, she's actually starting up the gym at Millbrook Resort, and she's looking for a beauty therapist. What do you think about that? And I'm like, Absolutely. I always had a vision and a dream that I would work at Millbrook. Really? Since I was really first started, I that was one of my goals. I had been to them and approached them before, and I lived out that way. So I'd quite often go over there and do the odd massage in people's rooms and something like that, you know, or pedicures. But at that stage, way back then, you know, being a golf resort, it wasn't accepted as a spa, you know, or a place, a venue for people to come and have relaxation. Because it was such a new industry in the world.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

Right.

SPEAKER_00 5:13

Yeah. So that that was my vision was to create one.

SPEAKER_01 5:16

And what a pinch me moment where you're at Millbrook with your own sound like. I know. How incredible. Own spa, I should say.

SPEAKER_00 5:23

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

And so from Melbrook, what's the next journey?

SPEAKER_00 5:26

Then I went up to Christchurch, actually. I advanced and sort of moved on again, went back to Christchurch, I should say. And I was a manager for quite a large team of a really nice high-end spa in Christchurch. So that was really good to be able to create new environments for their clients and to create new treatments and to manage quite a big staff. So yeah, that was fun.

SPEAKER_01 5:53

So you've had this beautiful career. Obviously, it hasn't all been smooth sailing. What have been some of the challenges along the way?

SPEAKER_00 6:01

For me personally, it would have to be staff. That is a very challenging when, especially when you're going into a business that's already established. So, you know, you're the 16 staff and they have their ways. They've been, you know, that we've got KPIs to deal with, we've got it's quite challenging for them to have a new manager. So I found that really, really challenging. And just to be able to get their trust in you is a big one, I think, with new staff or staff that are already established. So that was also a very challenging, but it was extremely rewarding as well. In the end, there was a lot of bad days, a lot of sad days for sure, but it was all worth it. You're learning, right? You're always learning.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

And I feel like you had a lot of amazing opportunities. Did you ever have that feeling that you had to just trust yourself before you were fully ready for the opportunity?

SPEAKER_00 6:54

Absolutely. I think sometimes you've just I've always been one to think, I'm always putting it out there. I'm always putting whatever I want to do. I just want to put it out there and I want to make it work and achieve it. And I don't know when it's gonna happen. I don't know the timeline of when that's going to happen, but it does usually always happen eventually.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

So you're talking about like setting your intention and be like, this is what I want to do. Not sure how we're gonna do it, but I'm gonna get there. I would love to talk about what you're doing right now.

SPEAKER_00 7:25

Wow, right now, I have a business called Wake Up with Makeup and it's a cosmetic tattooing business. So what drew you to that? I suppose at the end of the day, I wanted something that was gonna slow me down a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

Are you a bit of a Deborah? Are you racing around all over the place?

SPEAKER_00 7:43

I'm always racing around all over the place, yeah. So and it was one of my passions. Again, it was going back to what I just said. I knew I wanted to do it, and I discovered cosmetic tattooing 25 years ago when I was in Australia and I was at a beauty conference and there was a lady there doing it, and I just thought, wow, this is amazing. I always considered myself to want to be a bit of a surgeon. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:08

Don't give her an eye.

SPEAKER_00 8:09

No, I know. So this was a good combination of doing makeup, skin, and being able to be very precise with my work because obviously you're tattooing eyeliner on. So you have to be very precise.

SPEAKER_02 8:24

There's a lot of trust involved with it a lot. I know, I know.

SPEAKER_00 8:28

But and I just thought this is the perfect opportunity to do it now. So that's what I did. So yeah. Do you think it gives women a different sort of confidence? Absolutely. Look, I've really enjoyed all my aspects of my career. Relaxation and being able to uh help people, you know, with their skins and the rewards of a a young teenager coming in with full-on acne and having their head down, and then six weeks later coming back and they've got makeup on and they're smiling and their confidence. No, that to me is just so rewarding. I love it. So when I began cosmetic tattooing, it's exactly the same thing. I've had clients come in and they cry of joy once they have you know eyebrows on. You know, there's cancer clients, there's a lot of women with alopecia out there that don't have any hair. So it's re-creating hair that looks like real hair onto their eyebrows and just to make them feel more confident and they tell their stories. And this is why we're here. You've been in the industry for how many years total?

SPEAKER_01 9:32

Uh over 40 years. Over 40 years. And so over 40 years, what has been in the beauty industry, what has that taught you about confidence?

SPEAKER_00 9:41

Beauty definitely comes from within. You're absolutely right. That is the answer to that here. Definitely. You've got to be happy. And if you can bring someone and to be able to make to to fulfil them and make them feel happy, that's a real gift. It makes us feel better. It makes us feel amazing.

SPEAKER_01 9:57

Deborah and I have talked about this often about what a privilege it is to be behind the chair and hold space for women and men. What do you think it is about the chair that makes people open up and feel comfortable?

SPEAKER_00 10:09

I think it's the person that's sitting or standing behind that chair. So yes, some people had just have a natural connection and when you get someone in a chair, or from my side, it's usually lying on a bed. It's getting the trust within your therapist or your hairdresser. And as soon as you sit down, sometimes instantly they just melt.

SPEAKER_01 10:30

And I think you've said this earlier. Is it that moment where they relax? So they relax in their bodies, and that just makes maybe them open up and become more honest.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

Yes, absolutely. And you can imagine when I'm tattooing, it's quite nerve-wracking. I don't think there's anyone I know that hasn't had a little bit of apprehension coming into a clinic to have a tattoo put on their face. So again, it's just building trust and confidence within that client, sitting down with them and really explaining what you're doing, and they get to know you pretty quickly. And they're either at that moment going to go, no, I'm not connecting with this lady, or they are just gonna go, yeah, this is what I want. So it so far I haven't had anyone just go, no, I'm not going to.

SPEAKER_02 11:13

Well, I think there's something about you like you. No, I I certainly send clients to you. No, older clients that just your eyebrows are fading and you just know the hair's completely white. Yeah. And I can just you so much of your work must come through referrals.

SPEAKER_00 11:29

It does. 90% of my work is referrals. Absolutely. And as we age, we do lose our hair, believe it or not, you know, and our eyebrows. I've lost my eyebrows. It goes from the eyebrows onto the chin.

SPEAKER_01 11:41

Oh no, could you not do that? So obviously these people are sharing a lot of their lives and you know, a lot of their problems. How do you not take those problems home?

SPEAKER_00 11:53

Good question. I think I just learned, and I think again, you and yourself have to be able to love yourself and to be able to have that confidence within yourself to know what you were doing. And that's a lot of years of having, you know, a few ups and downs and learning about you and how you want to portray to other people and having that confidence. I think that's a huge one.

SPEAKER_01 12:17

How has working in this industry changed the way that you see beauty? And I'll be interested to hear what you think about that too.

SPEAKER_02 12:25

Well, I see beauty, it's got to come within. You know, I've worked with really beautiful models and people that, you know, they look like the ideal person, the body, the height, everything, but they were some of the un most unhappy people that I've ever met.

SPEAKER_00 12:37

Absolutely. I totally agree.

SPEAKER_02 12:39

Happiness and and beauty comes from within.

SPEAKER_00 12:41

I think so. Um I had so many wonderful women. And, you know, we're just we're all the same. We don't have to be models or supermodels. We can be any size, any shape. And I've had women come in and they are absolutely incredible. They inspire me. I walk away and feel so inspired by so many women out there. And I just think, how lucky am I? And what what does inspire you? To be m making obviously making someone feel happy, but also them talking to me about their stories, sharing their emotions, sharing their their ups and downs. And they are actually teaching you. A lot of it is coming from them teaching me. So I feel like I'm in a counselling lesson every day.

SPEAKER_01 13:29

Yeah. So what are you loving about the industry at the moment? What are you excited about?

SPEAKER_00 13:34

I think in the industry within the, you know, the beauty and the cosmetic industry is just forever growing so quickly. And it's always changing. And I love the fact that I'm always learning and there's so many different techniques and it's really just being a part of that that really inspires me.

SPEAKER_01 13:54

And is there any trends or where do you see the industry going?

SPEAKER_00 13:58

I recently was on an interview with Radio New Zealand not so long ago, and they said the same question because there was a lady with no eyebrows, or they had bleached them and they said or coloured them, you know, this bright colours. And I said, look, it's just a trend. It's not going to happen forever. There's always going to be trends. But at the end of the day, and since I've been in this industry all these years, nothing has changed about how we work with makeup and with the the shape of your brows and having a natural, beautiful look.

SPEAKER_01 14:33

So, Miranda, I'd love to know what you're most proud of.

SPEAKER_00 14:36

Well, firstly, my children and my grandchildren. Family is always number one for me. I always go out of my way to spend as much time as I can with them. The other one is I I am very proud of what I've achieved. I'm proud that I have been able to achieve that and work hard to get it. And like Deborah was saying earlier, it's not being about the money. In fact, it's an industry that it's it's not huge money. It's hard work, but like we talked about and hence why we're here, it's the rewards that we get from it, I think, is the key for for me personally.

SPEAKER_02 15:14

And it's amazing, um Miranda, you've meanful daughter, Charmaine, into the industry as well. So it's not just your generation, you're pushing it forward.

SPEAKER_00 15:22

Absolutely, and I do love that. And that again was another goal that I created when they were small. I always thought to myself, I would love to have my children in my business. And so again, progressively it it happened, just you know, again, no time frame, but I naturally let it evolve and it has happened. So I have had both my daughters working for the business and it's been amazing. You know, it's not easy some days. No, I bet I bet the motivational side of it, you know, like it's quite can be quite difficult. Amazing. But it's so rewarding for me. I'm very proud of the both of them and what they've achieved within this business. So what next for you? Wow. This is the big question. I still have a couple of other little goals that I set myself or inspirational ideas that I set myself quite a few years ago. And they haven't been ticked off yet. But one of them is obviously what we're doing now is inspiring women, talking about life and how it's evolved for us. And I'm so inspired by the woman and and what we're doing. And so for me, just to be able to help someone out there and share, you know, support them or help them grow, or so I I do love a good public speaking as well.

SPEAKER_02 16:48

So we're gonna be collaborators in a day.

SPEAKER_00 16:52

So I definitely would like to touch on that, you know, a little bit more.

SPEAKER_01 16:56

Awesome. So what would be your one piece of advice for someone who is out there and thinking they'd like to be in the beauty industry?

SPEAKER_00 17:03

Go for it. Just go for it. I think it's something that if you have that passion, it it's a wonderful it's a wonderful industry and it's a very rewarding industry. Just keep up with your training. Always do new training, new courses, keep yourself inspired, whether that be listening to us or listening to other podcasts or just or being involved like Deborah and I were in working as a team. I think that's really important to help you grow in confidence to get to where you want to be.

SPEAKER_01 17:34

And do you think it's important to find a mentor or your support crew?

SPEAKER_00 17:38

Yes, I do. I do think it's really important to find that mentor that can help you through all that. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Miranda, first guest, how great. Thank you for joining us.

SPEAKER_00 17:49

Thank you, Janie. Thank you, Deborah. I've had such a fun time.

SPEAKER_01 17:56

Well, thanks for joining us today on Chats Behind the Chair. If you could please do us a favour, we would love for you to subscribe and also share this episode with a friend who you think might enjoy it. It's one of the best ways you can help us grow. Have a fantastic week, and we'll catch you back here soon on Chats Behind the Chair.