Today we’d like to introduce you to Monique Smith.
Hi Monique, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My journey into beauty started long before I ever imagined building a business around it. I’ve always been drawn to transformation—not just the outward kind, but the kind that happens when a woman begins to see herself differently. With a background in psychology and mental health, I’ve always understood that confidence, identity, and self-image are deeply connected. Makeup became one of the ways I could help women experience that shift in a very immediate, tangible way.
I began working professionally as a makeup artist more than 14 years ago, and over time I’ve had the opportunity to work with everyday women, brides, public figures, models, and clients preparing for some of the most important moments of their lives. What started as artistry eventually became something much bigger. I realized I wasn’t just helping women look beautiful—I was helping them feel seen, prepared, confident, and transformed.
That realization became the foundation for GOAL Model Makeover. As the brand grew, so did the vision. I opened the GOAL Model Beauty & Style Studio in the St. Louis area as a space where beauty, style, education, confidence, and empowerment could exist under one roof. Diamond Hill and I were the original collaborators in bringing that vision to life. While I lead the beauty and makeup side, Diamond specializes in clothing transformations and personal styling, helping women discover new possibilities in the way they present themselves. Together, we wanted to create more than a traditional beauty studio. We wanted women to be able to experience transformation from head to toe while also building confidence in who they are.
One of the things I’m especially proud of is that the studio has grown beyond just Diamond and me. We now have a fully staffed in-studio makeup artistry team that includes Roshawnda Johnson, Marnecia Jones, and Gabrielle Capiz, Each of these women is a makeup artist and entrepreneur with her own individual brand, and that is something I intentionally encourage rather than compete with. We actively meet, share ideas, work together, and look for ways to help one another grow. I want GOAL Model to be a place where talented women don’t have to shrink their own vision in order to be part of someone else’s. We can collaborate, build our individual businesses, serve clients together, and create opportunities for one another at the same time.
Education has also become a major part of my mission. Through the GOAL Model School of Makeup, I train aspiring and working makeup artists not only in technique, but in sanitation, professionalism, client experience, business systems, confidence, visibility, and how to build a career that can actually support their lives. I’ve seen too many incredibly talented artists who know how to create beautiful makeup but were never taught how to build the business around their gift. I want to help change that.
My faith has also become increasingly central to the way I view entrepreneurship. I believe our gifts are something we are responsible for stewarding well. For me, building a business is not only about making money. It’s about creating something that can support a family, create opportunities for other people, serve a community, and ultimately leave a legacy. That belief also influences how I lead the women around me. I don’t believe another woman’s success takes anything away from mine. If I can use what I’ve learned, the space I’ve built, or the opportunities that come my way to help another woman grow, that is part of the purpose too.
Today, GOAL Model has grown into much more than the makeup business I originally started. It has become an ecosystem of beauty services, personal style, professional education, entrepreneurship, collaboration, confidence-building, and community impact. But I still feel like I’m building. I want to continue creating programs, experiences, systems, partnerships, and opportunities that allow women to recognize what they already carry, develop it with excellence, and build something meaningful with it.
That has really been the thread through my entire journey: beauty may be where the conversation starts, but confidence, purpose, transformation, collaboration, and legacy are where I want it to lead.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Absolutely not. The road has been rewarding, but it has also stretched me in ways I never expected.
One of my biggest struggles has been learning how to transition from being a talented makeup artist into being a business owner and leader. Being good at your craft and knowing how to build a sustainable business are two completely different skill sets. There were seasons when I was wearing every hat—artist, educator, marketer, administrator, content creator, event planner, problem solver—and still trying to be present as a wife and mother. I’ve had to learn that just because I can do everything doesn’t mean I’m supposed to do everything.
There have also been financial challenges. Building something with a big vision while working with limited resources forces you to become extremely creative. There have been times when the vision was much larger than the budget. I’ve had to learn how to build in stages, use what I already had, reinvest into the business, and keep moving even when everything couldn’t happen at once. That taught me that progress doesn’t always look impressive while you’re in the middle of it.
Another challenge has been learning that entrepreneurship requires constant evolution. Things that worked at one stage of my business stopped working at another. I’ve had ideas that didn’t work, invested in things that didn’t produce the return I expected, changed directions, rebuilt systems, and had to admit when something simply wasn’t working. I’ve also had to become more comfortable with visibility—putting myself, my ideas, and my work in front of people without waiting until everything feels perfect.
Leadership has stretched me too. As GOAL Model has grown from something centered around me into a collaborative studio with other entrepreneurs and artists, I’ve had to learn how to lead without controlling. I want the women who work alongside me to grow their own brands, develop their own voices, and create opportunities for themselves. That requires communication, boundaries, accountability, collaboration, and sometimes difficult conversations. It has taught me that leadership isn’t about being the person with all the answers; sometimes it’s about creating an environment where everyone has room to become better.
Probably the most personal struggle has been learning not to measure the value of what I’m building solely by what I can see happening right now. Entrepreneurship can make you question yourself. There are moments when bookings are slower than you want, an idea doesn’t take off immediately, or you look at how far you still have to go instead of recognizing how far you’ve already come. My faith has been extremely important in those seasons. I’ve had to learn to focus on stewardship—doing what I can with what is in my hands today—rather than trying to control every outcome.
And some of my greatest lessons have actually come from those difficult seasons. They forced me to develop better systems, become more intentional about money, strengthen my leadership, ask for help, collaborate more, and become clearer about what GOAL Model is really supposed to represent.
So no, it definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. But I also wouldn’t remove the difficult parts from the story. The challenges didn’t just build the business—they built the woman who now has the capacity to lead it.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about GOAL Model Makeover/ GOAL Model Beauty & Style Studio?
GOAL Model Makeover is a beauty, education, and empowerment brand built around one central idea: transformation should go deeper than appearance. Our signature message is Beauty. Style. Confidence. Transformation. because those four words really describe the experience we want women to have with us.
Our home is the GOAL Model Beauty & Style Studio in the St. Louis area. We offer professional makeup artistry, personal styling and clothing transformations, beauty experiences, makeup education, and professional development for aspiring and working makeup artists. I specialize in natural soft glam and timeless, polished beauty that allows women to still recognize themselves—just elevated.
But what really sets GOAL Model apart is that we don’t see beauty as the final destination. Beauty is often the doorway. Confidence, growth, and transformation are the bigger mission.
Diamond Hill and I were the original collaborators at the studio. Diamond leads our clothing transformations and personal styling, while I lead makeup artistry and education. Our in-studio makeup team also includes Roshawnda Johnson, Marnecia Jones, and Gabrielle Capiz, who are talented artists and entrepreneurs building brands of their own. We intentionally create space for collaboration rather than competition. We meet, exchange ideas, support one another’s businesses, and look for opportunities to grow individually and collectively.
Education is another major part of GOAL Model. Through the GOAL Model School of Makeup, I don’t want to simply teach someone how to apply makeup. I want to help develop beauty professionals. Students learn artistry, but they also learn sanitation and safety, professionalism, client experience, business fundamentals, confidence, visibility, and the systems required to turn a skill into a real career. I’m especially passionate about helping artists understand that talent alone isn’t enough—you have to learn how to steward that talent professionally.
That is probably one of the things I’m most proud of brand-wise: GOAL Model continues to evolve without losing its purpose. What began with me providing makeup services has grown into a space where other artists can work, entrepreneurs can build their own brands, students can develop careers, women can experience transformation, and we can create experiences that serve our community.
We’re also not interested in making women feel as though they need to become someone else. Whether someone is sitting in my makeup chair, working with Diamond on her personal style, or learning inside the School of Makeup, the goal is to help her recognize what’s already there and develop it with intention.
My faith influences the way I build as well. I believe gifts should be developed and stewarded, and I want GOAL Model to create opportunities that extend beyond me. I’m interested in building something capable of producing careers, collaborations, jobs, community impact, financial opportunity, and eventually legacy.
What I want VoyageSTL readers to know most is that GOAL Model isn’t simply a place to get your makeup done. We’re building a beauty and style ecosystem where transformation can happen at multiple levels. You may come to us for makeup, styling, education, or an experience—but our hope is that you leave seeing greater possibilities for yourself.
For me, that’s what it means to be a GOAL Model: you don’t have to be a model to become a model of what’s possible.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
I definitely didn’t get here by myself. There are people who have supported me, challenged me, trusted me, collaborated with me, and helped GOAL Model grow into what it is today.
First, I have to give credit to my family. Being an entrepreneur requires more than the person whose name is attached to the business—it affects the people who love you too. My husband and my three sons have had to share me with this vision through long days, late nights, classes, clients, events, planning, and all of the behind-the-scenes work people don’t necessarily see. Their love and support have given me room to continue building while also reminding me why creating something meaningful for the future matters so much to me.
Diamond Hill also deserves tremendous credit. Diamond and I are the original collaborators behind the GOAL Model Beauty & Style Studio. She brings the style component to what we do through personal styling and clothing transformations. She has been there as the studio has grown from an idea into an actual community and experience. We have been able to bring our individual gifts together while still giving each other the freedom to develop our own brands and visions.
I’m also incredibly grateful for our in-studio makeup artists, Roshawnda Johnson, Marnecia Jones, and Gabrielle Capiz. Each woman is building her own beauty brand while also contributing to what we are creating collectively. We meet, exchange ideas, talk about our businesses, share what we’re learning, encourage one another, and intentionally look for ways to help each other grow. I’m proud that we are developing a culture where collaboration doesn’t require anyone to give up her individuality. There is room for all of us to grow and win.
What makes our studio even more special is that our collaboration extends beyond makeup and styling. We have several other independent brands operating within and collaborating with the studio, including Alice Beauty STL, our oil fragrance vendor; D’Ann Designs, our seamstress; and HeartFelt Treasures, our T-shirt vendor. Each of these businesses brings its own creativity, specialty, products, and services to the GOAL Model experience.
I think that combination is one of the things that makes our studio unique. A woman may initially come through our doors for makeup, but she is being introduced to an entire network of talented entrepreneurs. She can discover a signature fragrance through Alice Beauty STL, have something custom created or transformed by D’Ann Designs, shop unique apparel from HeartFelt Treasures, experience personal styling and clothing transformations with Diamond, or receive professional makeup services from one of our artists. Each brand remains its own brand, but together we are able to offer our clients an experience that none of us could create in exactly the same way alone.
That collaborative model is intentional. I don’t want GOAL Model Beauty & Style Studio to be a space where everything has to carry my name in order to have value. I want it to be a space where talented entrepreneurs can bring what they do well to the table, maintain ownership of their individual brands, cross-promote, collaborate, serve clients, and create opportunities for one another. I believe collaboration can expand what is possible without diminishing anyone’s individual identity.
My students deserve credit too. Teaching has made me a better artist, business owner, and leader. Every question they ask challenges me to think more deeply about what I know and how I can turn years of experience into systems someone else can actually use. Watching someone enter the School of Makeup unsure of herself and then begin recognizing what she is capable of is one of the most rewarding parts of what I do.
And then there are my clients—past and present. They trusted me before there was a studio or a team. They have trusted us with weddings, birthdays, photo shoots, milestones, special occasions, transformations, and sometimes simply with helping them feel beautiful again. Their repeat business, referrals, reviews, photographs, conversations, and encouragement have played an enormous role in building GOAL Model.
I also appreciate every person who has shared advice or resources, made an introduction, supported an event, partnered with us, prayed for me, encouraged an idea, or told me to keep going when I needed to hear it. I’ve learned that some people are part of your entire journey, while others are assigned to a particular season. Both can have tremendous value.
Ultimately, I give God credit for the vision, the gifts, the people, and the opportunities I’ve been trusted with. My faith has changed the way I define success. I don’t want to build something that only works for me. I want to steward what I’ve been given in a way that creates room for other women to use their gifts, build businesses, create income, serve people well, and eventually create opportunities for someone else.
That is one of the things I’m most excited about as GOAL Model continues to grow. The story is becoming less about what I can build by myself and more about what becomes possible when talented women bring their individual gifts, businesses, and visions into a space where we intentionally choose collaboration over competition.
Pricing:
- Professional Makeup Services Start at $135– We offer Natural Glam, Soft Glam, Full Glam, bridal makeup, special-event makeup, and other customized beauty services. Pricing varies based on the service and artist selected.
- Personal Styling & Clothing Transformations with Diamond Hill – Customized styling and wardrobe transformation services are available based on each client’s individual needs.
- Booking & Current Pricing – Because services, classes, special events, and studio experiences continue to evolve, readers can visit the GOAL Model Makeover website at www.goalmodelmakeover.com for current offerings, availability, and pricing.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.goalmodelmakeover.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goalmodelmakeover
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/goalmodelmakeover
