Where were you born?
Kabul, Afghanistan

Where do you live now?
New York City

What’s your sign?
Cancer

What did you want to be when you grew up?
I was groomed to become a doctor, like my father.

So I guess that path didn’t work for you?
The only part of medicine that interested me was plastic surgery; reconstructive, not the nip-and-tuck type most of us are used to. I left Afghanistan and was raised amid the war with the Soviet Union. There were thousands of kids and adults burned, with limbs blown off and deformed from the war. I wanted to study plastics and go back as a reconstructive surgeon. I excelled in anatomy and could carve a cadaver layer by layer like a work of art. But once I saw the scalpel hit the skin of a live person, the smallest drop of blood caused me to faint.

Was there any connection for you between this path and makeup artistry? >> For the answer to this question and rest of Matin Maulawizada’s inspiring interview Order the Fall 2015 issue here.

Select photos courtesy Tracey Mattingly & Ray Brown Pro