Reading: When a Disability Forces Reinvention

“Until I was open and honest [about my Parkinson’s Disease] I couldn’t unlock my reinvention,” says Terri Bryant, makeup artist and founder of GUIDE BEAUTY, a company that is rethinking the ergonomics of beauty tools and products for all users. Bryant, who had done makeup for fashion runways, films, print ads and more got her diagnosis five years ago, and found herself having to sit on her shaking hands during television interviews. And when she could no longer hide them, she decided to rethink and redesign the beauty tools that she used on her job. Gone is that pesky eyeliner brush that requires perfect fine motor skills. In came a precision tip applicator that looks like a surgical tool and allows anyone to create a perfect cat eye in seconds. “The opportunity to embrace [your disability] is the opportunity to find your community,” Bryant Says. “Then you are not alone.”

Terri’s Top Tips for Reinvention

1. Be present for your own evolution
We are always evolving as human beings, so I think the first thing is you want to be present in your own evolution. For me, I was evolving in my career, but I wasn’t present in what was happening to me personally. When I became present, that’s when the evolution became the precursor to reinvention. So be present to the fact that your life is changing. And be open and honest with yourself, so you can embrace it. I couldn’t unlock the reinvention that was waiting to happen until then.

2. Find your community
I guarantee you, you are not alone. When I embraced my disability and reached out and found my community, the awareness that I was onto something became even greater, and drove me in an even stronger way to continue on. Because I wasn’t just creating for me, I was creating for the whole.