Ryerson’s newest student organization, RyeBeauty, is bringing beauty education and industry networking opportunities to campus.
It is the first university student-run beauty organization in Toronto and the group plans to create a solid community for beauty lovers at Ryerson.
“There are so many of us here at Ryerson who love beauty, yet no one’s made the effort to really bring all of us together,” says Cassie Chan, president of RyeBeauty and fourth-year creative industries student.
On Oct. 17, RyeBeauty invited beauty innovators, CEOs and artists to talk to Ryerson students. Their first event drew a crowd of 200 people and had a panel of Canadian beauty industry fixtures like Liz Yu, CEO of YABY Cosmetics and celebrity makeup artist Lucky Bromhead.
Alan Law, founder of RyeBeauty and third-year RTA student is a makeup artist for Cityline and the Family Channel. He became a makeup artist when he started at Ryerson and fell in love with the industry. Law wants to create awareness about the Canadian beauty industry among Ryerson students by exposing them to the different career opportunities that exist in the city.
“I truly believe there is a disconnect between the Toronto beauty community and Ryerson beauty lovers,” Law says. “I see girls obsess over Sephora and YouTube tutorials but they don’t really know that there’s a lot more that Toronto can offer locally that other places cannot.”
Kamille Coppin is a student that is interested in RyeBeauty’s initiative.
“RyeBeauty provides an outlet for students who are interested in esthetics. We haven’t had that previously and as someone who is really into makeup, I wouldn’t mind incorporating it in my future career,” she said.
After fostering connections between the outside industry and Ryerson students, the next step for the organization is to focus on beauty education. They’re planning workshops to teach makeup artistry, with fun names like “Smokey Eye ‘Til I Die.”
“We’re getting all of this feedback from people on campus — lots of excitement and enthusiasm that this club was created,” says Chan.
The group has charitable events planned for next semester including hair donations for chemotherapy patients at Sick Kids hospital.
Kelsey Adams is a journalist from Toronto with feature, arts, music and fashion writing skills and visual storytelling skills. You'll find her standing on chairs to get the perfect Instagram picture of her food and strolling the streets late at night listening to Blood Orange. She has a lowkey obsession with skate culture and she's a sucker for a good underdog story.