Lauren D’Amelio Ventre is one of the beauty industry’s most sought-after makeup artists and beauty educators. She has built the most pristine on-location beauty team in the New York area that caters to celebrity, bridal and film clientele. Lauren has taught thousands of aspiring makeup artists over the past 14 years of her career and has developed a business-forward approach to makeup artistry unlike any other. Lauren recently celebrated her 30th Birthday on November 26th, 2020 and says, “The best is yet to come.”
Lauren was diagnosed with dyslexia when she was 7 years old and placed in special education classroom settings. In middle school she was bullied for her learning disability and was told by her reading teacher that she would not go far due to the severity of her dyslexia. Although she struggled with reading and writing she excelled in math, art and sports.
As a child Lauren always admired her mother’s beauty and would watch her apply her makeup every morning. She found her passion for makeup in 7th grade after receiving makeup and brushes from her aunt. She would imitate her mother’s routine and found the confidence to start making friends in her new school district. By the time she was in 8th grade her friends would ask her to do their makeup for the school dances and other events. At that time there was no YouTube or social media to learn about products, techniques or trends so her parents bought her books by Bobbi Brown, Eve Pearl and Kevin Akwan. She immersed herself in learning everything she could about the art of makeup.
Growing up in a middle-class family her parents instilled the importance of hard work and dedication at an early age. She started her first job in the beauty industry at the age of 16 as an assistant at a local salon. Entering into her junior year at Kinnelon High School she was presented the opportunity to attend a vocational school for cosmetology. Her parents were hesitant because at that time the beauty industry was not thought of as a lucrative career. They encouraged her to attend collage so that she would have a degree and be able to have a “real career”. She attended Berkley College majoring in interior design, but she never let go of her passion for makeup. She took a part-time position at MAC cosmetics at the age of 18, while still working at a salon interning and attending classes. She would follow her coworkers around absorbing any tips and knowledge they had to offer. Working in retail she was able to work on all races, skin types and genders. It also taught her the importance of knowing the ingredients of products, sales, business and how to speak to clients.
While in college Lauren also started freelancing; she worked for various local magazines, photographers and boutiques. One day she was doing makeup for a fashion show for Posh boutique to raise money for The Brain Tumor Foundation. This is when she met Kathy and Victoria Wakile. At that time Kathy was one of the main cast members of The Real Housewives of New Jersey. They exchanged contact information at the fundraiser and began working together. Kathy introduced Lauren to Doloris Catania and Siggy Flicker of The Real Housewives of New Jersey and she built strong working relationships with them, becoming one of their main makeup artists for filming and events. Around that time Lauren was also put in touch with Renee Graziano from Mob Wives who then introduced her to Karen and Karla.
After graduating college, she started teaching at Artist Makeup Academy in Hoboken, New Jersey as one of their lead instructors. Crowds of eager students would sign up to take classes with her. Her first master class sold out quickly; it was to raise money for a dear friend whose cousin was battling cancer. She named it “Contour Against Cancer”. She became so busy with her freelance work that she had to leave the school in order to keep up with her growing clientele.
When Lauren was 26 years old, she was unable to accommodate all of her client inquiries and began to build her freelance team. She also began to take one-on-one and small group makeup training. The number of one-on-one and small group lesson inquiries became overwhelming, so Lauren began teaching large master classes in rented out venues. Every master class she has held sold out and she now has 20 artists and stylists working for her.
Lauren is kind and caring to everyone she comes in to contact with and has built many flushing working relationships. One day in 2018, spray tan artist Armando contacted her to do makeup for one of his clients, Lauren Sorrentino. She is now Lauren and Mike Sorrentino’s main makeup artist and was recommended to Jenni Farley (JWoww). Lauren has made multiple appearances on episodes of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, Mob Wives and Jersey Shore. She now is able to send her team to these celebrities when she is unavailable.
Lauren met her husband Sal in 2017; they got married in 2019 in Napa Valley, California and had their son January 2020. Lauren had a rare condition during her pregnancy called vasa previa; she had to be admitted into the hospital 2 months early and spend a month being monitored. During her time in the hospital she decided to design a 4-day online makeup course that she would host March 2020. It was an in-depth look into product knowledge, business and technique called The Art of Enhancement. It was her best-selling class to date producing over $28,000. Its success made her husband encourage her to start an online community for artists. Lauren loved the idea and created The Art of Enhancement’s Facebook group where she hosts monthly online master classes, guest educators, Q&A’s and a sense of belonging for other artists! She is currently working on another online course that is more evolved and is projected to generate over 4x the revenue of her March 2020 class. Lauren selflessly shares all of her secrets and skills that she has learned over the course of her career in hopes of helping others dream big and achieve their goals.
Lauren’s biggest piece of advice is to always be kind and friendly — you never know who you might meet and where that might take you — and to always adapt with your environment. Never stop learning.
