Greetings from Alumni: Mira Luhtala

This time in our Greetings from Alumni series, you will meet our alumna Mira Luhtala, who works as a freelance makeup artist and as an esthetician at Yliopiston Apteekki. During her time at Hannes between 2015 and 2018, Mira worked as an office service assistant in our Office Services Team.

Hi Mira, how are you? How has the year been so far?

I am very well thank you. It is the beginning of a new year so it is a perfect moment for reflection. I like the beginning of the year, to slow down, take a step back, and look at where you are actually heading.

You work as a freelance makeup artist and esthetician. Can you tell us about your daily work?

I recently started a new position as a pharmacy esthetician and have been thrilled to work with my knowledgeable and cheerful team. My work as a pharmacy esthetician includes client consultations, sharing knowledge on skin care, and creating the right skin care regimen for their skin needs. The interesting thing with working as a pharmacy esthetician is that I am faced with various skin concerns - the more difficult of a concern, the more interesting it is, since I get to use all of my knowledge regarding ingredients and skin biology.

It is important to support skin health and your overall wellbeing with treatments too, but 99% of the time you are treating your skin yourself. That is why it is important to consult and share knowledge, so that your clients get the tools to care for their skin in the correct way.

On days when I am not working as an esthetician, I work in the role of a makeup artist. Nowadays, I mostly focus on commercials, corporate videos, and short films - and yes, occasionally I will escape to fashion weeks. I enjoy working with these kinds of projects since you always work with interesting people, and with this profession, I am always fully absorbed by the project during workhours – it is kind of meditative, even though very fast paced at times. 

What was the most valuable lesson you took with you when you moved forward from Hannes?

All the things I learned about teamwork and delegation, and how to communicate in the best way when working under pressure.

What is your favourite memory from your time at Hannes?

Everyday life with the team, the funny coffee breaks, and I really enjoyed working with our students. It is refreshing to have newcomers to the team, because as you guide them in your everyday work, you might get a new look on how to do things. The curiosity of learning new things also gives the teacher something, as you might get a new insight on how to do the daily routines.

One theme that currently stands out in working life discussions is purpose at work. To conclude this interview, we would like to ask what the things are that keep you going and motivated at work — what is your purpose?

It will always be about the people - the curiosity when meeting new ones and the enjoyment of working with a great team. In the daily work as an esthetician as well as a makeup artist, you are constantly learning, which I very much enjoy. The puzzle of helping clients find and create a skin care regimen for various skin concerns makes the work meaningful, too. Likewise, when working as a makeup artist and highlighting the natural features of my clients - the best feeling is to make my clients see how beautiful they are.