Business
SCHOOL OF
Makeup Master By Patricia Garrity
Kriss Soterion ’87 knows how to put your best face forward. Soterion is a master makeup artist. Pundits raved after she gave presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton a pre-debate makeover last summer. She’s powdered a number of highprofile faces, including politicians Pat Buchanan, Jimmy Carter and former President Bill Clinton, and done makeup work for the networks, the Discovery Channel, CNN and Food Network. She operates a salon in Manchester, N.H., and has created her own product line, Kriss Cosmetics. Who is the most interesting person to whom you have applied makeup? Soterion: It was actually one of the most important moments I ever did makeup. It was three days after the 9/11 attack. I was working for NBC Nightly News, applying makeup to Tom Brokaw but also to former President (George) Bush Sr. President Bush Sr. was making the first transcontinental flight from Texas to Logan Airport to let the American people know that it was safe to fly commercial airlines again … there were SWAT teams everywhere and I had to get special clearance. I realized that in that moment of time I was probably in one of the most dangerous places in the country doing makeup.
Have Brush, Will Travel School of Business alumna Kriss Soterion ’87 has helped a lot of people look their best.
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My biggest challenge is overcoming the stigma that being in the beauty industry is about vanity … but it’s remembering some of the powerful moments in history that I’ve shared in as a result of being a makeup artist that corrects my vision.
But the one that fills me with the most energy would have to be Bono from U2. I did his makeup at the Democratic convention in Boston. I was working with CNN and he was on “The Larry King Show.” That moment really was a zinger because he dropped his glasses down and he stared so deep in my eyes before I did his makeup. It’s almost like I received something from him that day. I’m not really sure what it was, but I think it might have been a blessing of some sort.
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– Kriss Soterion ’87
they can act as if they do and they can step up to the plate and go and work that job that they have to work to keep their insurance. It’s times like that that I realize that this has nothing to do with vanity. But that is a huge challenge and the other, not so much today because I have my priorities in order, but for a long time it was a long lesson to learn balance between work and family and self-care.
How do you feel about your current celebrity status? Soterion: I’m chuckling because I think it’s really funny. I look at myself as somebody who provides a service to celebrities. Doing Hillary Clinton’s makeup has definitely put me on the map in a capacity that is greater than I have been in the past, but I still get up and do the same day. It wasn’t like a one-hit wonder makeover on Hillary Clinton. This is something that I have been doing since ’91. What keeps you going when times get tough? Soterion: Now I get that people that are successful have their priorities in order and they have a strong commitment to those priorities. For me it’s self-care and my prayer life … I have a wonderful husband of 19 years and three amazing boys, and when I’m making sure that the home front is my No. 1 thing, then anything else that I have room for will flourish. What is your biggest challenge? Soterion: My biggest challenge is overcoming the stigma that being in the beauty industry is about vanity. This is lipstick. This is just so frivolous. It’s not like I pick up my paintbrushes and it paints away homelessness or something. Sometimes I struggle with that, but it’s remembering some of the powerful moments in history that I’ve shared in as a result of being a makeup artist that corrects my vision. It’s also the moments where I’m working on a cancer patient and I’m helping them to be able to feel better about going through their day, with being able to make it look like they feel great so
Hillary’s Secret Weapon. Kriss Soterion ’87 was profiled in the Boston Herald for the makeover she gave presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton last summer.
Who was your favorite professor at SNHU? Soterion: Well, I’d have to say that my absolute favorite professor would be (retired Prof.) Lynda Gamans Poloian, who also happens to be my mom. I did have her as an instructor for my retailing class and I always joke around that she gave me a B. But the reason she is my favorite professor was she brought me up in education and really stressed the necessity of a good education as a foundation for further success.
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