“You impact everyone around you and you never know to what level.”
When we approach Candice Amundson, she’s sitting in the lobby of our Ziba Beauty studio in Arcadia, CA waiting for her Beauty Artist, Darius, to take her turn. Candice stands out. She’s the only one in our lobby striking up conversations with fellow patrons. “That looks so good on you!” she says to a young girl referring to the girl’s winged eyeliner. A few seconds later, Candice is overheard on her phone convincing her mom to “come down!” and get her brows done with her.
Candice is seemingly fun, quirky, and has Southern-belle twang to her that makes her all the more approachable. “I’m always waving to people and [my friends] are always like “You know them?” and I’m like, “No. You just smile at them and you wave and there’s a new friend,” she shares.
According to Candice, she truly enjoys making people smile. Her logic behind that habit is that some people she comes across might be going through hardships and that her smiling at them might make their day all the better.
Aside from dishing out compliments and smiles, Candice also enjoys getting dressed up to hang out with friends and often styles herself to reflect her mood. “Even my brows get done according to how I feel,” she says. “Sometimes, when I’m in a casual mood I’ll draw them in light but when I’m ready to get the day I draw them in bolder and sharper.”
Candice calls it as she sees it. When asked about what she thinks it means to be an influencer, she doesn’t hold back. She’s not content to the rules that position certain people as being influencers and thinks that everyone is an influencer, but they just don’t realize it yet.
As part of Ziba Beauty’s New Age Influencer, Candice opened up about how she first realized the life-saving impact she has on people and how her connection with her authentic self shows up in all aspects of her life, including her eyebrows.
Direct Influence
“One of my closest friends was going through depression when we first met and I didn’t know it,” explains Candice as she confides with us the details about her friend’s battle with depression. “Eventually she opened up to me about it and told me that I changed her life by just me being me.”
If you met Candice or even shared the same breathing space with her for a few minutes, you’d quickly understand how that would be the case. She laughs at her replies during our conversation and often catches herself being more than honest. “I can’t believe I just said that!” she says after telling us she likes her eyebrows thick because she’s thick.
We quickly got the sense that Candice is the type of friend with who you’d belch out your favorite songs while riding in the car on your way home from a guilt-free shopping spree. Judging by her impeccable makeup, she’d also be that friend we ask to do our makeup for a special occasion.
And going by what she shared with us about her friend’s depression and her request to keep the details of that information private, we sense that she’d be the type of friend we’d confide in with our worries and insecurities.
“To see how much of an impact I made on one of my closest friends, I think that’s what it means to be an influencer and not even knowing you’re doing it,” she adds. “I don’t think people realize that who you are in your personality is a gift. You might think that you’re just sharing it with the people you know, but [in reality] you impact everyone around you and you never know to what level.”
She adds that many people have bought into the idea that you need a huge social following to be an influencer, and that the only way to leave an impression on someone is to have all the “likes” and “comments”.
Seeing that sometimes social media follower numbers don’t always translate to tangible influence, Candice is amongst the many who believe that people are ready for real-life authenticity, and not just the trending hashtag (last we checked #authentic was used 10,473,378 times on Instagram).
Speaking of authenticity, Candice also shared how– aside from her waving at strangers passing by or handing out compliments freely– her eyebrows also play a role in her remaining authentically her. “My brows are thick and I’m thick, so it kinda goes together,” she says comparing the curves of her eyebrows to those of her body. “God made them that way!”
She goes on to add that her eyebrows also reflect her moods. The day before we spoke was a chill day for Candice, which for her that meant her eyebrows should be lightly filled and slightly arched. “And today?” we asked. “Today my eyebrows are in the mood to get work done and to get it done with confidence!” Her eyebrows today are deeply filled and arched to the highest.
Candice inspired us on many levels. She encouraged us to give smiles and compliments freely and to embrace the curves of our bodies. She also encouraged us to continue taking what individuals are contributing to their direct communities as a revolutionary measurement to determine authentic influencer status.
The future is in good hands. Ziba Beauty chose three individuals who are paving the way to a better tomorrow. Say goodbye to the tired ways in which we measure influence and hello to our Ziba Beauty New Age Social Influencers, a group we plan on growing for the months to come. Check back for our next story of influence.
Are you a Ziba Beauty client who is also creating a lasting change in your community and in the lives of those around you? If so, we want to hear from you. Upload your story to Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter using #ZibaInfluencer or email [email protected] with the subject line: Ziba Beauty New Age Social Influencer.