JAN PING Breast Cancer Wellness Magazine

JAN PING Breast Cancer Wellness Magazine

A Beautiful Life
Jan Ping—Breast Cancer Thriver and Emmy Winning
Make Up Artist for the Stars by Beverly Vote

To me being beautiful
is how I share the gifts
in my life and how I
honor what each day
brings to me.
–Jan Ping

For online article and photos:

http://www.breastcancerwellness.org/magazine.html

You may also visit Jan’s website at www.janping.com

Imagine a life of working in Hollywood
with some of the most acclaimed
beautiful people in the world. Now
imagine your job rests on your ability
to make them even more beautiful and
for everyone to be satisfied with the
results. Hollywood, where one’s livelihood
is based on the image created.
Emmy winning make up artist Jan Ping
has been surrounded by beauty all of
her life. Being a beautician’s daughter,
Jan grew up with someone knowledgeable
and always ready to help with her
appearance. Yet it was her experience
with breast cancer that Jan learned a
new perspective about beauty.

Jan’s professional life began at age
fifteen as an actor. Even though she
enjoyed being in the entertainment
industry, Jan woke early one morning
intuitively knowing her desire to act as
a career was over. This realization came
after investing fifteen years in a career
that was no longer fulfilling. But Jan
somehow knew there was something else
awaiting her. She just didn’t know what.

It wasn’t long after leaving her acting
career that Jan enrolled in cosmetology
school. On the Monday morning
following the completion of her cosmetology
classes a good friend from the
entertainment industry called frantically
needing Jan’s help. Jan’s friend
was a wardrobe stylist who needed a
professional make up artist for a photography
shoot out in Malibu that day.
She asked Jan to bring her ‘stuff’ to
the shoot. Confused, Jan asked herself
‘what stuff’? All Jan had was a couple
of bathroom drawers of her cosmetic
brushes and her personal makeup. Because
her friend was insistent that Jan
come right away, she took the bathroom
drawers of her ‘stuff’ and went to
Malibu.

The shoot was with a model and the
scene was on a high cliff. “I was definitely
winging this new experience with
me on the other side of the brush.” said
Jan. The photographer was complimentary
of Jan’s work and wanted her
business card for future work. The day
in Malibu was a turning point in Jan’s
career.

Jan has been the make up artist
for movie stars,TV shows and movies
including the Tyra Banks Show,
Stand Up to Cancer, Deal or No Deal,
The Bold and the Beautiful, I Married a
Princess, The Sharon Osbourne Show,
The O’Reilly Factor, Cindy Crawford,
Jasmine Guy, Will Smith, Betty White,
The Secret, Olivia Newton-John, The
Tonight Show, E! Entertainment, The
Howard Stern Show, Academy Awards,
The Grammy’s, The Emmys, Country
Music Awards, Gene Hackman, Joan
Rivers, and CBS Miss Universe Show
just to name a few. Currently Jan is
a make up artist for the Dr Phil Show
and The Doctors TV Show.

“In December 2004 after having
an abnormal mammogram, my doctor
called. He instructed me to find a quiet
place to talk and told me he was sorry
but I had breast cancer.”

“I just stood still in the most surreal
moment of my life. There I was, a single
parent, waiting in the playground
to pick up my young daughter from
school and taking a call from my doctor
telling me I had breast cancer.”

“The sun was shining, children
were playing, birds were singing, and
all I could hear were the words ‘breast
cancer’ and I immediately worried how
this would affect my little girl’s life.”

“The doctor continued talking
about the cancer, but I had to stop him
and ask “Am I going to live?” He said
he couldn’t answer my question and
continued with the explanations of my
medical results. I had to interrupt him
again and asked him to think of me as
someone that he loved and that person
he loved had just been diagnosed with
my type of breast cancer and that
person asked him if she was going to
live, what would he tell her? After a
long moment of silence he said softly
“I think so”. My reply was “Okay, I am
going to go with I think so.”

“It was then that my daughter
Alice came running over to me wanting
to know, “Mommy, Mommy what’s
wrong?”

“We walked to the car so that I
could have a quiet place to sit and talk
with her. It was then that
I looked into Alice’s beautiful hazel
eyes, reached for her little hands and
told her I had cancer. While she was
clinging to me, her tearful response
was “No Mommy no”. We both just sat
there and cried. Then all of a sudden I
spoke to her with words from a
different place of understanding, that
place where I recognized my intuition
and higher guiding forces were helping
me in what to say to her next. “Alice,
you are going to have to trust me. I feel
that I am supposed to do something
with this and I think I am supposed go
down this path. I am strong. You are
going to have to trust me on this.”

“As I looked around, I started
becoming aware of my surroundings
again, feeling the sunshine again and
hearing the children playing and the
birds singing even though I realized
once again my life was changing and
that I too was going to have to trust.”

“It didn’t take long for me to see
where this new path was leading me.
It started unfolding when I went in
to purchase a wig. My hair hadn’t
started falling out, but nonetheless
I went in to find a wig so that I
could be prepared if it did fall out.
The moment I walked into the breast
center wig shop, I recognized the lady
that greeted me was a special lady. I
wanted to know right away what her
story was and what brought her to
this place in her life of wanting to help
women. I knew this was what I wanted
to do, to help women in some way after
they have been diagnosed with cancer,
especially those diagnosed with breast
cancer.”

“It was through this process of my
life changing and the new me unfolding
that I knew I wanted to enroll in
dance classes. I asked myself what am
I waiting for? I have danced all my life,
but never considered myself a dancer.
So I simply gave myself permission to
take dancing lessons. Through the art
of dance, I have learned that self expression
is one of the greatest forms of
beauty. Beauty comes through different
genres and different areas in life.
For me, dance is just one of the many
forms of beauty and I love it. Dancing
connects me to something more deeply
within myself that I can’t explain.
When I am twirling around in my
dance steps, I am so in the moment of
self expression and beauty that I feel
more alive. It is so exhilarating.”

“Through dance, I learned that not
only does dance support our individual
self expression, it supports connecting
with our bodies, including the new
parts of our new bodies. With each
movement, I was encouraged to use my
full range of motion by stretching and
embracing. Dancing helped me to get
in touch with everything that made me
feel feminine again. I got to know me
in a new way and to fall in love with
my life. It is my hope that everyone
touched by cancer comes to this place
of self love. It’s something I can’t shut
up about. For everyone to connect
with whatever makes them feel more
beautiful and more alive. If I were to
give breast cancer survivors only one
message, it would be to express their
beauty in some way every day.”

“Giving myself permission to take
dance classes was one of the most
amazing shifts in my life. There is so
much value in doing what you long to
do. My mom, friends and clients tell
me I have a new glow about me. They
say even in the way that I hold myself
reflects that I feel stronger, confident
and more alive.”

“Having been on both sides of the
camera are very interesting experiences.
In front, I remember the doubt,
the concern of not being good enough,
pretty enough, thin enough, character
enough, and the list goes on and on.
I think that is where my empathy and
understanding come from. I remember
feeling all of those unnecessary
feelings that are so hard on our soul.
Behind the camera, I can feel people.
I have a strong sense of their insecurities
having been there. I feel so
fortunate to be able to help them shed
those silly thoughts. Surviving breast
cancer puts it all into perspective. All
of the drama, confusion, and concern
of such meaningless self talk becomes
clear and is a very special gift in itself.”

“What brought me to this wonderful
place in my life was listening to
my inner guidance and just following
it. As a professional make up artist,
I have worked with some of the most
beautiful celebrities in the world, but
what I truly enjoy more is being with
other breast cancer survivors and everyday
women. When I help them see
their real beauty, it is such a healing
moment for both them and me.”

“My life has changed as a result of
experiencing breast cancer and how
I show up for the work that I do has
changed as well. I love the creative part
of my job because I never know what
each day will bring or who I will meet. I
have a beautiful life and I am so grateful
for my life and I say this every day,”
said Jan Ping.

Thursday, April 15, 2010