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One of the missions of NEWS.am STYLE throughout all these years has been not only representing interviews and articles with Armenian celebrities, but also covering the stories of all the talented Armenians, who have reached success and fame outside their homeland. That’s why we’re starting a new column called «ArmenՅԱՆs», in which we’ll represent the inspiring stories of the people who are raising their Armenian surnames on the international platforms.

We’ll start our journey from Bollywood introducing you to Marianna Mukuchyan’s long and interesting path to success. As you know from our previous interview with Marianna, she is working with such famous Indian celebrities, like Aishwarya Rai and Priyanka Chopra. By the way, she is Iveta Mukuchyan’s sister. The latter was Armenian representative in Eurovision 2016.

Marianna says she has started her career path in a very unconventional way. Besides her passion to hairstyles and make-up, Marianna loves travelling, which, according to her, also played an important part in making her famous.

«I believe everyone should walk their own steps, instead of following someone else’s path as what worked for someone else, doesn’t necessarily have to work for you and vise versa... Maybe some total different approach to a thing would work so much better for you than anyone would have thought. So, there for I never went to any make up or hair school. I taught everything myself and gained my expertise by doing and putting myself out there, stepping out of my usual zone and traveling and combining my goal to build a strong portfolio and establish myself in the market with my passion for traveling. So, wherever I was traveling to, I was making sure I connect with the people from the industry and set up shoots and put myself out there, until eventually those steps brought me to India, where my career took off super fast and really amazing».

Marianna says, there are a lot of other talented hair and make-up artists in the Indian industry, but she thinks the secret of success is about a full package, a mixture of personality, energy and talent.

«The hair and make-up artists play a very important role at a shoot: Their connection with the celebrity and the entire team has to fit as the hair and make-up artist is going to be constantly present and close to every shot and step along the process... And of course the quality of work... I can see that now the style and quality of the hair and make-up artists in India has changed and developed a lot to how it initially was, 7 years ago when I came to India first, and I believe that’s a lot because of the influence of foreign hair and make-up artists entering the market and kind of changing the style and the way of working, and Indian celebrities acknowledged and appreciated that. I am honored and happy to have reached so much in India and been respected for my work. It’s beautiful and I am very happy to be able to inspire many new artists. That’s one of the most beautiful feelings to see that you inspire other people by your way of being».

According to Marianna the important step to succeeding is paying time and patience to what you’re doing.

«Like everywhere it always takes time and patience until you enter a market and establish yourself. And especially for me being in such a foreign country, that I have not been before and didn’t know anyone, plus the giant cultural differences to my upbringing as an Armenian in Germany, were very different to how things work and been handled in India. Therefore, it took some time for me to adjust and understand how things work in India. But what I can say is that it taught me a lot and I learned to be much more patient and respect cultural differences. I didn’t face any other big issues. I have been always welcomed very warm from the people in India. This is something I really appreciate a lot. And, of course, it always takes time and patience to reach certain status in a market, but I think when your work is good and your heart is clean you can’t go wrong. It will be recognized».

As an Armenian Marianna always tells about her homeland to her foreign friends and internationally famous clients.

«I always speak about Armenia and my Armenian upbringing and culture. In some ways we actually even have similarities to Indian culture and everyone is always finding it fascinating to hear about Armenia. Of course, I always speak about our history, too. Some know about Armenia or have had little experiences with Armenia by having the chance to eat some Armenian food, but many don’t know much about our country, so I am happy to be their first experience with Armenia», she says.

By the way, Bollywood based hair and make-up artist sometimes is posing in front of camera herself. Marianna says in many places her Armenian looks makes her exotic and interesting for foreign people.

«My Armenian looks been very appreciated in India as I look little Indian to Indians (laughs). In Germany my Armenian looks have definitely make me look exotic and I feel as the market is changing worldwide, it gets appreciated more... I must say wherever I have travelled to and lived, when I mention that I am Armenian, I always get a very positive and beautiful reaction...Whoever experienced Armenians, has always good things to say about our people. We are known to be very good hearted and helpful, hardworking and honest people. I am proud to be associated in that way with our nation...

And, of course, I am very proud for the fact, that being only few millions in the world, we have such incredible talents out there that always stand out of the mass by being so exceptional in what they do in every field and since all history. That’s because we are putting so much heart in whatever we do and are really a very talented nation. I feel we could be slightly more open-minded, as I feel usual Armenian traditions are still little conservative, but I can see even a big change happening there... The new generation of Armenians are pretty modern and open-minded. Just keep being a good hearted honest human... This will always stand out».

Syune Arakelyan

Photos from Marianna Mukuchyan's Facebook

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