Today we’d like to introduce you to Christine Gardner.
Hi Christine, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up with an equal passion for makeup as I had for playing in the mud, building things and riding ATVs. I like to think of myself as the girliest tomboy there is. I grew up around construction because my Dad has been building houses my entire life. I got into makeup in high school and did my friend’s makeup for prom, dances, and just for fun. As I got to college, I knew I needed to figure out a way to make money (to pay for said school), so I jumped back into makeup professionally. I graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management and was employed out of college building cell towers (as a project manager). I freelanced for a few makeup companies at the same time for about eight years until 2018, which is when I decided I wanted to start my journey into being self-employed! I was still working full-time in commercial construction during the week and doing wedding makeup on the weekends.
In 2018, I registered my construction companies new LLC and name, MD Construction Services (MDCS), began acquiring my minority certifications and all necessary commercial and residential certifications/licenses and launched a website for my makeup. Luckily, I had already put the plans of working for myself in motion because in 2020, I was laid off from my full-time construction job- TWICE, while my fiancé and I were building our own home. Little did I know this was the best thing that could have happened to me because with all of the postponed weddings, my makeup company took off, and if I was never forced to figure it out after being laid off, I may have never took that chance on myself. As fate would have it, my fiancé and I were building a log home with a wonderful supplier that needed more builders on the east coast. I was able to become a registered builder with them and by May 2021, had two log homes under contract that will begin this week in Virginia and one more starting in the Fall in Maryland.
2020 was one of the most stressful years for everyone, and in the middle of it, all I could see was that I was jobless and terrified. I look back now and realize it was the last push I needed to really believe in myself, my knowledge and my own abilities to jump out on my own and live the life I always dreamed of.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Getting to where I am at today was extremely difficult. I’ve worked in construction since I was 21, which caused me to face a lot of adversity very quickly. Being a female in a leadership position in construction cannot always be easy. I always stress to my other female peers that you must be a subject matter expert because if you know exactly what you are talking about, then it doesn’t matter if you are a man, woman, or unicorn. I spent countless hours reading books and watching YouTube videos so that I could be knowledgeable about whatever it is that I was constructing and be taken seriously. Over the years, I’ve had to deal with a few sexual harassment cases from my superiors and peers, which I refused to allow to be my breaking point. I want to continue to break the barrier and make women in construction the new normal.
During my career, I was able to build cell towers, houses, commercial buildings, roads, streams, and rivers. I always knew that I wanted to keep my profile and background very diverse because once you can figure out how to read plans and specs, you can build anything. Makeup was always my safe space and came very easy to me. It was something that I enjoyed to do and to society, I “belonged” there, simply because I was a female. I’m very proud of myself for where I am today; I don’t understand why there are professional boundaries simply because of your gender; it has nothing to do with what you are doing. I pride myself that during the week, I am building commercial and residential buildings, and on the weekends, I am making women feel great about themselves. It’s very empowering. I’m not the type to shy away from dirt, so you bet I am out there with a shovel or a hammer whenever I need to be. In fact, I hand-built every piece of furniture in our new home.
I’m very blessed to have the most supportive and amazing fiancé in the world. He believed in me from day one and was pushing me for two years to make the leap on my own. In fact, the second time I was laid off, I pulled into the driveway, and he was cheering on the front porch- he knew it was the last push that I needed. He has been dreaming of building a log home his entire life, so I credit him for the log home building door opening right in front of my face and it makes it even better than we are now doing it together! He is an equine dentist and horse trainer as well as cares for 50 head of cattle. When we aren’t building homes and I am not doing makeup, we are working on the farm caring for the animals or making hay.
We’ve been impressed with Relax and Rosé Makeup Artistry and MD Construction Services, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Relax and Rosé Makeup Artistry provides makeup services for weddings, special events, film and publications. I have a studio in Baltimore where I hold trials, but I am generally onsite, providing makeup services. The rest of my time is spent building residential homes and doing commercial work via my construction company MD Construction Services, LLC. (www.mdcsllc.com). We specialize in building log homes.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
I can be contacted via my websites for both makeup and construction. We specialize in building log homes and farmhouse style houses
Contact Info:
- Email: mdcsmbe@gmail.com. relaxandrosemakeup@gmail.com
- Website: www.mdcsllc.com. www.relaxandrose.com
- Instagram: mdconstructionservices. relaxandrose
Image Credits
Rachel Yearick Photography (Just the two photos of my fiancé and I with the cows)
Lauren Noel Photography
