Where do blushes and brushes transition from hobby to career? Dribbling a soccer ball, journaling, crafting a coffee, and solving puzzles. Many pastimes remain just that. A threshold, or rather a starting point, exists at which a person’s next step becomes intentional.

That next step is rarely discussed. It is common to hear, “follow your passion,” but rare to consider what passion requests in return: discipline, structure, and the willingness to learn the parts that don’t come naturally.

Melissa Rodriguez ’26 understands that tradeoff well. As a CU Denver Business School marketing student, she has loved makeup for years and built her passion into something lasting and fruitful. Early on, Rodriguez supported her passion with intentional choices to create Makeup by Meli.

From full glam to real craft

Rodriguez started doing makeup when she was 16. In high school, she became known for showing up in a full glam aesthetic. That consistency gave her room to practice and build confidence, confidence that would later bloom into a career. 

Then at a friend’s quinceañera, she met a professional makeup artist. The experience changed everything. She suddenly found herself in fast-paced settings like pageants, where she learned to work under tight timelines and high expectations and perfected her craft. Over time, that rhythm changed her relationship with makeup, making it less about trying looks and more about refining technique.

At the same time, makeup wasn’t her only world. Rodriguez also played college soccer, which added an extra layer to her discipline. Soccer teaches players to commit to the unglamorous parts, such as practice, endurance, consistency, and mental toughness. It also teaches how to perform on demand. And looking at the two practices side-by-side, the connection makes sense. One built her creativity, while the other built her stamina. Together, they established a work ethic that later made entrepreneurship feel like a natural next step.

Turning experience into ownership

Rodriguez eventually recognized that her skills could stand on their own. The more she practiced and performed in high-pressure settings, the clearer it became to her that if she wanted to expand her skills and opportunities, she had to create her own lane. 

Enter Makeup by Meli. Rodriguez began online, creating her social media profiles and taking on quinceañera clients while working under other experts in the field. After graduating from high school, she worked independently and amassed her client base through special events and word of mouth. 

Today, she specializes in weddings, events, and special occasions, sometimes taking multiple clients for big events. She also collaborates with other creatives, including hairstylists, to support clients preparing for major moments. Through that steady work, Makeup by Meli became a service clients actively seek out.

The work beneath the work

A big event comes with pressure because people worry about timing, photos, and whether they’ll feel like themselves in front of everyone. Rodriguez sees makeup as part of that emotional load, which is why she takes her role seriously. She loves watching the moment the stress lifts from a client’s face when she finishes a look, especially when the person in her chair comes in thinking makeup wasn’t for them.

​For Rodriguez, that impact goes beyond creativity and comes from how she shows up with resolve and a real sense of responsibility toward the person in front of her. That mindset also mirrors her definition of beauty. “Beauty is inside and out, and I’m firm on this,” she said. As she sees it, people with a genuine heart tend to glow in a way that can’t be manufactured. Makeup doesn’t create that glow; it reveals it. And because it’s a skill, she takes technique seriously. She sees it as her job to master skin tones, adapt to each face, and bring out what already exists, instead of forcing a one-size-fits-all look.

In that sense, confidence becomes the real outcome of her work. Rodriguez helps her clients build confidence through care, communication, and a presence that make them feel acknowledged, especially during one of the most important moments of their lives.

Hitting the ceiling: When passion needs structure

Passion put to practice often requires more than talent alone. As Rodriguez grew Makeup by Meli, she discovered the limits of building a business without strong systems. Client tracking, organization, and intentional data use were areas where she knew she needed to grow. She also realized that marketing mattered just as much as the work itself, especially consistent online presence, self-advocacy, and service visibility.

Those components were put to the test when COVID-19 hit. The new commerce climate slowed her business, and later, college soccer consumed so much time that she had to pause her makeup business. But when she returned, she saw that skill alone isn’t enough for growth. The transition from “just getting by” to “growing” demands structure.

With that in mind, it became clear that education could be a strategic lever. Studying marketing at CU Denver Business School gave Rodriguez a framework for the parts of entrepreneurship that can prove challenging, including communication, planning, and self-advocacy. Some changes came directly from that structure, building a more substantial confidence in how she speaks and presents, reflected in her own words: “I feel like I am a very big communicator now.” ISMG 2050 class with faculty member Leonard Dixon further advanced her growth, providing practical learning that translated directly into her business. In that class, Rodriguez learned to track pricing and clients and to think through decisions using data. One early class project, centered on analyzing a makeup dataset to identify top-selling products for a store concept, stood out as a turning point. It helped her see the scalability within her existing framework and how strategy could turn creativity into growth.

​Growth, confidence, and what’s next

As Rodriguez sharpened her skills, she started to see her business differently. She credits CU Denver Business School for helping her grow professionally and in confidence, with a particular nod to ISMG 2050 with Professor Leonard Dixon. The class, she said, helped her handle stressful situations, become a stronger presenter, and solve business problems using practical tools; it even led to a marketing and operations internship. She also found support through the Business Career Center and at career fairs.​

Her evolution as an entrepreneur is evident when she discusses what’s next. Rodriguez wants to expand her clientele, specialize further, and deepen her focus on bridal makeup, while continuing to collaborate with other creatives. Long-term, she hopes to open her own makeup salon and host classes to teach aspiring makeup artists, both in technique and in business. ​

For now, she mainly works weekends to stay focused on school and her internship. She sees Makeup by Meli as a future full-time gig. Still, she wants room to grow in the beauty industry on a larger scale, including working for major makeup brands and bringing her marketing and strategy background into that space.

When asked what she hopes others will gain from her experience, Rodriguez emphasized the importance of mindset and patience. “I’ve learned so much from my mistakes,” she said, adding that progress requires time. She also spoke honestly about her Latina background and how self-advocacy can feel uncomfortable, especially when you’re starting out and still proving yourself. Her message to students who doubt whether they belong was direct: “Don’t feel like you’re not meant to be in that room. You’re meant to be there.” And as she put it, “You never know where your opportunities are coming from.”