January Queen - Makeup Artist

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Why is this project important to me? Mental health awareness and suicide prevention has been a passionate subject of mine for a very long time. Suicide has rocked my world personally on more than one occasion. Mental health needs run very heavily in my family as well.  I think that society's idea of mental health conversations is detrimental to all people. Mental health literally affects every single human being. We all have a brain, and that organ, aside from the heart, is our most important organ. When society talks about other illnesses such as diabetes, cancer, or heart disease, we all agree that treatment is a crucial need. Whether that be through change of diet, change of certain habits or lifestyle,  medicine, or homeopathic options, treatment is essential. However, when it comes to our most vital organ, society seems to discredit, argue, or question the need for treatment. Society will never change until we change it. We have to have the "hard" conversations if we want to make any progress in this world.   

This project in particular is even more important to me, because it is very personal to a beautiful soul I had the chance to meet upon bringing my son to an audition for a film coincidentally about suicide prevention. We have worked on multiple projects together since, and have had so much time to discuss the hard conversations. She is someone I can trust to speak to about any of my feelings, thoughts, needs, and worries, and her open ended listening skills have made me feel at ease. She gets it! She understands the need to have these conversations, and the need to be an advocate for those afraid to have these conversations, and the importance of being a non-judgement, open ear, and compassionate listener. This conversation was important to her even before the tragic moment that gave life to this project. So in short, this project is important to me because it is important to people I love, it is important to people I know, and it is important to the strangers I don't. This project is important because this conversation is important for humanity as a whole, and I am more than honored to be a part of such an impactful conversation. Any chance I get I'm on board the conversation that is fueled by my love, passion, compassion, grief, sadness, and truly heartfelt determination. When I find a group of people fueled by the same drive, I can't help but to want to be a major part of that!

I am a dancer/actress/freelance digital marketing specialist new to the Arizona area. I studied dance, theatre and cosmetology in college, and have been working with a children's theatre company since my arrival to AZ as choreographer, director, and makeup/hair designer. I am a wife, and mother of three children (all actors) who actually convinced me through watching them, to step off the stage sometimes, and hop on board the film train. I enjoy doing special effects makeup, theatre, writing novels, and my passion will always be dance.