This week for our weekly edition of Hyderabond, The Pioneer interacts with celebrity make-up artist Lavanya Reddy, who shares her association with Hyderabad.
Tejal Sinha
The American poet Maya Angelou once very well said, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then, when you know better, do better.” And celebrity make-up artist Lavanya Reddy, not only firmly believes this but also perfectly exemplifies Maya Angelou’s quote via her life’s path. Back then, there was a time that she’d worked as a regular beautician, and look at her now! Lavanya has worked with almost all the biggies and the renowned stars of Tollywood, including Lakshmi Manchu, Mehreen Pirzada, Regina Cassandra, Niharika Konidela, Renu Desai, Nagarjuna, and Siddhu Jonnalagadda, to name a few.
As we interacted with her, she shared that having been associated with the City of Nizams has been one of her great choices. “Hyderabad is very close to my heart; it gave me so many opportunities to fulfil my dream career,” shares the Guntur-born woman who shifted to Hyderabad to grow in her career.
In 2017, while Lavanya was working as a regular beautician in Guntur, she encountered a bad experience with a client, who ended up giving her a bad review. It was then that she realised to make sure she doesn’t give up, and took up makeup as her profession and passion. Later, when she came down to Hyderabad, she began working as a bridal makeup artist, after taking a professional makeup course from the well-known makeup artist Naresh Thogathi.
Fortuitously, it was during this that she got a chance to work with actress Lakshmi Manchu, which gave her an entry into the Tollywood industry. Lavanya, who is currently working with Catherine Tresa and Sreeleela, has also been working with the Sunrisers Hyderabad team for the past three years. “It’s been a pleasure working with them. They are awesome people with down-to-earth attitudes.”
Apart from this, she also aims to provide employment and train housewives who have no degrees, giving them a hope to live an independent life. “As a working mother, I always support and give training to women who are interested in the beauty industry. And now, in fact, the wedding and movie industries have opened their doors for upcoming professional makeup artists. I want to help out as many housewives as possible to come forward and show their skills, which is just not confined to the four walls. So why not? It’s the perfect time for women who have the desire to try their hands on.”
Lavanya is currently working on a few movie projects as well as a couple of wedding projects. She is soon going to come up with an international standards-based training and makeup academy and studio. “Hyderabad has helped me to be financially and professionally independent. The city welcomes everyone from any corner of the world, without any racism. Hyderabad to me is love, and every time I go out to other cities for my business trips, I really miss Hyderabad a lot. The vibe that I get and the weather here are just beautiful. However, the traffic here can at times get physically and mentally exhausting. But all in all, Hyderabad is love.”
