Creating BOOM: One Woman's Success Story

Guest Bio: Cindy Joseph, Founder of BOOM

In high school, Cindy Joseph pored through all the beauty and fashion magazines she could get her hands on. She was searching for make-up techniques to change the way she looked. She wanted to look like the cover models and hide what she judged as her "flaws." She spent hours playing with new products and practicing techniques on herself and her friends. Make-up was her passion.

A few years later, being highly influenced by the emerging ideas in the San Francisco Bay area during the sixties, she had a dramatic shift of perception. In 1969, her senior year of high school, she chose to throw out all her cosmetics in rebellion to what she thought was society's dictate to superficial beauty. However, she found herself in conflict about her desire to look her best.

After realizing most teenage girls deal with issues of self esteem, she decided to go head on into the very world she was rebelling against. She believed she would have more influence if she was "in the game." Using the skills and talents she had developed from working with local photographers, she began her career as a make-up artist for fashion and beauty in the late seventies.

After working for the Esprit de Corps ad campaigns with Oliviero Toscani, she was encouraged to go to Paris to work with the European magazines and advertising clients. After three very successful years in Paris she arrived in New York at the top of the industry. She worked with fashion and beauty photographers making up the super models and celebrities of the time.