Michele Aquino

Michele Aquino, Bronx, NY, Arrojo Cosmetology School

Michele describes herself as a lover of beauty and art, but notes these two arts are actually one and the same. A make-up artist for ten years, Michele’s eyes were opened to the transforming power of beauty when she was diagnosed with alopecia. “I’m not just the girl who lost her hair, but the girl who found her way,” Michele says in her application video. Upon completing her cosmetology program, Michele aspires to follow her lifelong dream of opening an art gallery and salon. She credits her father with inspiring her to “chase what you want and love.”