A business that found her.

Judith first encountered face painting as a teenager. She already loved art, and community leaders working with children and low-income families asked her to volunteer at events in local parks. She painted faces because it was something creative she could contribute.

After high school, the skill resurfaced in an unexpected way when a cousin introduced her to paid entertainment work as a clown. Judith quickly learned that clowning itself was not for her, but the experience gave her an early look at what people were willing to pay for live event services.

Years later, after Judith became a mother, parents at her son’s daycare were asked to volunteer. She offered the skill she already knew: face painting. This time, something changed. Parents began asking for her business card. She did not have one. Then they began asking what she charged. She did not have an answer for that either.

The business began because the demand appeared before the business infrastructure did.

Judith used what she had seen in earlier entertainment work as a rough benchmark and started modestly, charging around $40 an hour while she got her feet wet. As demand continued, she adjusted her rates upward until the pricing better reflected the work and the value customers were placing on it.

That evolution was not built from a formal pricing model. It came from doing the work, hearing the same requests repeatedly, and allowing real demand to show her that the service had more value than she first assumed.

Judith entered markets well after she had already developed experience as a face painter. At the time, she was working at an elementary school in Boyle Heights, close to Mariachi Plaza. When a farmers market began operating nearby, it gave her a natural opportunity to bring face painting into the same community she was already serving.

Her young son came with her. Her mother helped. Students and families from the school community became part of the rhythm around the booth.

The painting itself was familiar. Running a market setup was not.

Judith had to learn everything surrounding the art: canopies, lighting, displays, business cards, branding, setup, teardown, and the logistics of arriving at an event while still working another job. On some Fridays, market setup began before her workday had even ended. The organizer made accommodations, while Judith’s family and former students sometimes helped prepare the space before she arrived.

What looked like one person’s small business often operated more like a community effort.

That support did not disappear as Judith became more established. Looking back, she considers strong relationships one of the main reasons the business endured.

Families she had served supported her at markets. Other vendors shared information about events that were working—and those that were not. Friends referred jobs. Other face-painting companies trusted Judith to represent them on assignments of their own.

For Judith, those relationships were never a networking strategy. They grew out of being present, being genuine, and treating people well. Over time, the referrals and trust created a professional network around work that had originally begun as volunteering.

Another part of becoming a professional was learning that demand has seasons.

There were periods when Judith was balancing weekday work with weekend face-painting opportunities, creating stretches that felt like a seven-day workweek. There were also slower periods that required more planning and discipline.

The lesson was not simply to work whenever work appeared. It was to understand the rhythm: know when the busy seasons arrive, prepare for the slower ones, manage money carefully, and continue putting yourself out there even when business is less predictable.

The small service Judith stumbled into eventually expanded far beyond those early Friday markets. Her published work has included face painting at Universal Studios, repeat family clientele, media exposure, and Día de los Muertos projects across Los Angeles.

The scale changed. The foundation did not.

Judith’s business still rests on the same elements that were present at the beginning: art, service, trust, and people who want to invite her back.