32 | APRIL 9 • 2020
brought to you in partnership with
B I R M I N G H A M
business SPOTlight
Makeup artist returns from devastating
head injury to build a business that
empowers and inspires other women.
SUSAN PECK CONTRIBUTING WRITER
ABOVE: Lisa Beth North does makeup on Pleasant Ridge resident Sarah Szirtez.
JERRY ZOLYNSKY
A ‘Star’ is Born
P
rofessional makeup artist
Lisa North teases she
had her first client when
she was just 8 years old. As a
little girl, she used to stand on
the bathtub and do her grand-
mother’
s makeup — an activity
they both loved.
“It’
s amazing she let me do
that at my age, but that’
s the
kind of support I have from
my family,
” said North, 35. “I’
ve
always been determined to excel
at the things I’
m passionate
about, and that’
s helped me
get through the challenges I’
ve
had in life — including a tragic
accident that almost got the best
of me.
”
The Oak Park resident and
owner of NorthStar Makeup
said her grandparents June
and Lowell Ressler of West
Bloomfield and parents Judy
and Sheldon Pearlman of
Bloomfield Hills were the pos-
itive influences she turned to
early on, when she struggled
in school. “My family never
gave up on me even when the
teachers did, and they encour-
aged me to follow my creativity,
”
North said.
At 19, she set out to chase her
dream of becoming a fashion
designer at Parsons School of
Design in New York. But those
dreams were derailed with a
devastating accident.
“I was riding with a friend in
a golf cart when it made a sharp
turn, and I flew off and hit
my head, resulting in a severe
closed head injury,
” she said.
“I had to start over, learning
all of the basic things we take
for granted, and I was house-
bound with depression for sev-
eral years,
” North said. “I relied
on medication for the pain after
the accident and that became
another problem.
”
Left with cognitive impair-
ment, including memory
problems and no sense of taste
or smell, North said the birth
of her nephew was the turning
point for her to rise from her
challenges.
“I wanted to be the best aunt
in the world, so with family
support and my boyfriend,
Patrick, who is now my hus-
band, I went to rehab, got off
of all medications and started a
new life,
” she said.
Coming full circle, North
channeled her artistic creativity
into makeup application and
skincare. She became a licensed
esthetician in 2014 and started
her own company, NorthStar
Makeup.
“I think my life was meant
to impact the world, not just by
making people look more beau-
tiful, but by making them feel
beautiful on the inside as well,
”
North said.
SURVIVING THE PANDEMIC
Her home-based makeup art-
istry and skincare company has
built clientele mostly by word-
of-mouth and “through the best
marketing team ever, Instagram
and Facebook.
” Her talent is
sought after; she books makeup
and skin treatments for wed-
dings, bat mitzvahs and charity
events as well as teaching classes
in Metro Detroit.
But the coronavirus pandemic
and resulting quarantine “has
greatly affected my business,
”
she says. “Because of social
distancing I am not able to do
anyone’
s makeup or waxing.
”
Most of her weddings for the
summer and all of her spring
mitzvah clients have canceled.
“I absolutely will weather the
storm!” she says.
North has added a blog
and Vlog to her website
NorthStarMakeup.com, where
continued on page 34