Renee Parenteau is a photographer and makeup artist who opened a studio in 2007 in Historic Springfield. She has traveled worldwide to work with celebrities that include Kenny Chesney, Denzel Washington, Selena Gomez, Trisha Yearwood, Ryan Lochte, Chelsea Handler, Sergio Garcia, Dion Sanders and Roberta Flack. Parenteau is fluent in English, Spanish and French and was the JAX Chamber Downtown Council’s 2016 Small Business Leader of the Year.
I’ve been a professional makeup artist for more than 20 years. I started in Los Angeles working for photographers. I did the makeup for a lot of celebrities, so I was around the best photographers in the industry. I studied photography and now combine the makeup experience with the photography.
I call it the celebrity experience and I try to offer that to the real estate agent, the executive, the local celebrity, and make everybody look good. I want to see their personality exude.
People walk in the door and say, “I hate having my picture taken. I’m not photogenic.” But they need a picture. If I do the makeup, that’s a chance to talk and get to know them. They know the makeup’s correct, the hair is correct, so it gives them a little confidence. We go into the studio and I make sure I light them well. I give them direction, so they know they’re doing the right thing, they’re looking the right way. I try to tap into what motivates them because that will make them feel relaxed and it comes out in their eyes and in their look.
When I grew up, I wanted to be a barrel racer, I wanted to be a veterinarian. I loved horses. I was 12 or 13 years old when my parents divorced and we moved from Los Angeles. My mom thought it would be a great place for us to be raised in the mountains of Oregon. She was in a dentist’s office and she saw it in a magazine.
We moved to the mountains of a small town in the country. I showed up in this little grade school that was so tiny it had two grades in one classroom. Talk about culture shock. I was acting like a city girl, but it didn’t take long. I soon adapted.
My stepdad got me a horse. He had a farm. He taught us about hard work. He said, “Well, if you have a horse, you have to haul the hay, you have to clean out the stall.” It was my responsibility. That was a great life lesson.
There was a poster contest in Oregon. It was “be kind to animals” week, so we were to paint a poster and submit it. I won and was a finalist in the state. The principal was so enthusiastic about me winning. I got to go on TV and meet the governor and I won a transistor radio. That was a big deal back then. It was an aha moment. “Wow, I guess I’m an artist.”
I studied fashion merchandising in college and right next to it was a makeup studio. I said that’s it. That’s what I want to do. My mom was great. She was a registered nurse and her father was a surgeon, but they never pushed me into a medical career. I moved to Los Angeles and found that it’s a lucrative career working in advertising as a makeup artist.
I was married to somebody at the time from the West Coast. We were in LA and with traffic, that meant three hours one way. It was no quality of life for me. When he switched jobs where he could work from anywhere, he had good friends here and we moved to Jacksonville. I saw it as a new adventure.
I liked Springfield. People were friendly in the neighborhood right away and welcoming. I started my photography and makeup business. Although it was the start of the recession, the referrals kept coming. People were supportive. I joined JAX Chamber. I still can’t believe how generous people are, and complimentary.