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14 • THE ARTISAN FALL 2024 CRAFT EDUCATION Wellness and Restoration with Stacye Branché B Y C L A I R E A L E X A N D R A D O Y L E | M A K E - U P C R A F T E D U C A T I O N P R E S I D E N T The need to "connect" with the person in our chair has always been an essential trait of the working make-up artist and hair stylist. Our creations are collaborative; an exchange of creative thoughts, dialogues, and energies. In March of 2020, some of us found ourselves unexpectedly dropping our brushes and combs and being rushed out of work. The effects of the global pandemic paralyzed many industries, including our own. While sheltering at home, many people found comfort in creative ways connecting with people both in-person and outside of the home. Within months, we were back to work with double masks, face shields, gloves, and paper suits. Some members created picture lanyards of themselves to wear while being covered up, as a creative way to humanize ourselves with the people we were touching and working on. When we finally were feeling like our industry was bouncing back, and the face shields were no longer required, talk of the WGA and SAG/AFTRA contract strikes loomed in the air. We thought, "Are we really going to all be home all over again?!!" Sadly, this became a reality, nicknamed "Pandemic Take 2," and lasted longer than we originally sheltered at home in 2020 for most of us. Again, we found ourselves looking to our friends, our union, our brothers, sisters and kin, to help keep us lifted while we rode this different storm. I found ways to continue Craft Education, both in-person and on Zoom. I felt it was essential to keep the light on for our members, creating ways to bring our talents together and keep our spirits lifted. The creation of light is the absence of darkness. In the Star Wars universe, Master Yoda can be found saying, "In a dark place we find ourselves, and a little more knowledge lights our way." It is this idea, which led me to create and collaborate another joint Local 706 Education and Craft Education event for hair stylists and make-up artists in August 2024 with a theme in "Wellness." To present at our event, I turned to fellow Local 706 make-up artist Stacye Branché. We had been introduced to each other through mutual friend and IATSE Local 798 member Selena Miller in 2010. It would be many more years before we would work on set together on the TV show Mixed-ish. During our downtime on set, I learned more about Stacye's health journey and practices. A member of Local 706 since 1994, Stacye is not only a make- up artist, but also an accomplished singer-songwriter, certified metaphysical practitioner and sound healer, wellness coach, public speaker, author, and cancer survivor. In 2009, Stacye was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a rare cancer of the blood plasma, which is considered incurable and irreversible. From the beginning, Stacye chose to focus on alternative healing and rejected Western treatment. She began studying to learn not only more about multiple myeloma, but what was needed for all- around good health. For our "Wellness" event, Stacye wanted to discuss and share how we care for the whole person, our body, our spirit, and how we can implement our wellness into everything we do, including on set. She spoke to the benefits of sound healing and home holistic methods for creating wellness and balance in our lives. "What we do at work is so energetic and we have to learn to balance ourselves for our own well-being. When we are mentally and emotionally in a good place, it reflects in our work and how we treat others as well as how others treat us." What helps keep me grounded every day, was coming home after work and using my sound bowls. The energy on my last project was so intense (because of the subject matter of the script) that I had to keep myself together, so I didn't fall apart." Stacye has helped people live a healthier physical, spiritual. and social life through her blog and spiritual counseling. As Stacye often says, "We are each multifaceted," and Stacye chooses to use her many facets to up-life and encourage others. For more information and to connect with Stacye, go to www.therestorationoasis.com