“And this is how it all began….”

The first time I ever wore a beauty mark,
it was put on by Joseph Dulude.

I met him at the Lunatarium –
A wild collective of Brooklyn artists and musicians.
Joseph streaked my eyes in yellow shimmer and black eyeliner for a art fashion show
and I stumbled off onto a runway.
Months later, I asked if he could do my makeup for the trailer we were shooting to our film, “Revolver”.
We had no money to pay him, but it would be an adventure.
I never thought he would say yes.
…..He did.
This is Joe out in the Wild Wild West on our trip.

We were in the middle of nowhere in Montana.
I was about to rob a convenience store in blue latex
and seconds before the cameras rolled, he yelled “Wait!”
He took black eyeliner and in a quick swipe of his hand, put a beauty mark next to my right eye.
Moments later I was emerging from the convenience store with a pink bag over filled with money.

Something in me changed that day.

The wild fantasies I had written about in my diary combined with Burke’s storytelling genius, were being played out on film.
On that one day, I:
– robbed a store
– got in a high speed car chase through a junk yard
– hid under a railroad bridge from cops

When Burke yelled out the final “Cut!” for that day, almost on cue, we witnessed the biggest and brightest shooting star light up the whole darkened Montana sky.

It was a day unlike others.

At 4am afterwards, about to wash my face before going to bed, I caught myself looking in the mirror into the eyes of this wild girl with a beauty mark adorning her eye.
It was maybe the first time I ever really saw myself.
I looked into the eyes of a girl who knew what her dream was….
and was doing it.

I couldn’t wash off the beauty mark.
I couldn’t.
It became my magic marking of a day well lived.
A reminder of being my true self. Of taking risks. Of pushing myself.

So I got it tattooed on my face.
To remind myself of that day forever.

My beauty mark tells a story. Me and my Twin – Our Lady J, out on the town.

And now every day is a reminder of what it stands for-
as I have to carefully pat the powder from my compact around it each morning.
This rite of passage
I chose for myself.

The moment I said Yes
to the life I want.