Debbie is an exuberant person with an insatiable appetite for dancing and music. Her optimism and generosity are infectious. Read below to find out Debbie’s insights for a youthful glow, what hair gel she swears by, and what she hopes her son learns about women.
We met while we were both in graduate school, but I know you had another career first. How did you end up making a career change?
I always saw myself working in operations, being on the business side of things. At first, as a highschooler trying to figure out what I was going to major in, I always thought I was going to be an accountant because I loved math. I went to the University of Texas (UT) and majored in accounting, but after a short time and a certain boyfriend, I transferred from UT and went to the University of Houston. I realized I really liked traveling, eating at restaurants, and staying in hotels. When I transferred to the University of Houston, I decided to major in Hotel and Restaurant Management with a minor in accounting (still thinking I would be in business operations). Once I graduated, I managed a yacht club. After about a year of doing that, I realized I can’t do operations day in and day out. The work was very similar, and I had to work weekends and holidays. I figured out that what I liked were the employees, specifically developing employees and helping them be better at their job. With that in mind, I thought I would get an MBA. At the same time, I always thought it would be cool to be a college professor. I think it came natural to me because I always liked teaching and training people. I thought I would pursue business and then go back and get a Phd in education. I wanted to pursue a PhD in education degree because I thought most of my professors weren’t great at teaching except for one. One professor was great, and she had Phd in education. When I realized I didn’t want to do operations, I investigated graduate school. I had applied to MBA programs, but I didn’t get accepted to the few I applied. At that time, MBA programs really didn’t consider you if you didn’t have at least 5 years of operations experience. Meanwhile, I kept working and began looking into different fields, like organizational behavior and industrial/organizational psychology. Industrial/Organizational psychology seemed to interest me, and I thought why not try psychology since I already had a business background.
OK, let’s just cut to the chase and talk about what everyone wants to know. What is your fountain of youth?
Well, I like to think of it a multi-pronged effort. Obviously, first and foremost it’s genes. My mom is 80 years of age but does not look and definitely does not act 80. Second, I think also part of it is when I wanted to start wearing makeup. Instead of letting me just buy whatever makeup I wanted from the drugstore, my mom took me to a department store. I think it was Estee Lauder or it might have been Clinique. She did this so that I would buy “real” makeup and this was around the time when I was 15 years old. I remember I wasn’t driving, so it was before I was 16. Since then, practically without any hiatus and definitely once I got into college, I have been diligent about wearing moisturizer and under eye cream. Currently, I’m wearing Caudalie Vinosource S.O.S. Morning Eye Rescue, Caudalie Divine Oil, and Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream. I used to wear Dr. Loretta, a skincare line sold by a dermatologist in Miami, but I stopped because I started an attempt at not using products which contain silicones and parabens. I’ve been more successful with avoiding parabens than silicones. Although those are the products I’m using now, I don’t stick to the same thing. I’m essentially a sample queen. I love getting samples. And third, part of me thinks that it’s my obsession with water. I’ve been obsessed since 1999.
Your mom seemed very influential. How has your Colombian background influenced you?
I think it influenced me in terms of not wearing makeup. I traveled to Colombia every year until I was 16, and in my experiences of going to Colombia, my cousins, aunts, and mom wore a lot of makeup. I was rebelling against things. I didn’t and still don’t want to be dependent on makeup to feel complete.
Where else have you traveled?
Outside of Colombia, I’ve traveled to Peru in South America. I’ve also traveled to the UK, Ireland, Spain, France, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Greece, Poland, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Monaco, Bulgaria, Mexico, and Costa Rica.
Wow, you’ve been to a lot of places! How has traveling influenced you?
I would say that I’ve always loved traveling and traveling simply. I think it’s influenced me by being as simple as possible, so in terms of makeup, that means not wearing any. I’m also cognizant of how women dress and how I perceive the importance of makeup. I’ve noticed that in some big cities, like Paris, London, and Madrid I perceive women being “done up” and wearing makeup is more the norm.
What DIY treatments do you swear by?
My flax seed hair gel. I would never go back to any hair product. I might on occasion be persuaded into trying a product for a little, but I will always use flax seed gel. To make it, I soak flax seeds overnight, boil them for 4 minutes, strain them, and add essential oils. Right now I’m using a mixture of oils called Chill Pill – it’s a mixture of sweet orange, lavender, patchouli, peppermint, sweet basil, and chamomile. I’ve kept the recipe pretty simple but have been meaning to add glycerin to. Glycerin helps with curly hair to keep it moisturized but apparently there’s a fine line between too much and just enough glycerin so I haven’t tried it yet.
Do you ever wear perfume?
I don’t really wear perfume anymore. I used to love wearing Lolita Lempicka. It smelled like flowers with a little powder but not too overbearing. It didn’t smell “old lady like”, which I always was very sensitive to when buying perfume—not that there is anything wrong with growing old. I wanted the perfume I wore to be youthful. I stopped wearing it when I was in graduate school because I didn’t want to spend money on that sort of stuff. I think I went from wearing perfume like Lolita Lempicka Eau de Parfum Spray to wearing Origin’s Ginger Essence Sensuous Skin Scent. I thought it was more natural because it was gingery. Now, I don’t really wear perfume because I want to be natural.
I know you wear glasses and contacts. How has wearing glasses changed how you approach beauty?
I can’t wear mascara when I wear glasses. If I’m not wearing mascara, I’m not going to wear eyeliner. But, if I want to wear makeup, I usually don’t wear glasses. When I go to conferences and want to look a bit more professional, I’ll usually wear makeup and not glasses.
How do you change your look for special occasions?
It’s funny to think about that now, but I used to do things like get color contacts for special occasions. I used to wear this coffee like color contact lenses. They didn’t work great on me because I have dark eyes, but they did give me a different look. When I was interested in doing different looks before, I would put highlighter eye cream on the inner corner of my eyes or as first layer of eyeshadow. Right now my biggest, boldest change in my look is red lipstick. I recently bought a red Lip Stain by Stila. It was interesting when I first used it; I haven’t tried it again because I need to perfect putting it on before wearing it out.
How do you take care of your body now?
It’s been harder to exercise since having my son. Taking care of me now is making sure I’m hydrated and taking my vitamins. I also try to eat healthy, but I have a massive sweet tooth right now. I love ice cream. I like to keep the ice cream flavor simple like vanilla so that I can spice it up with extras, such as chocolate chips, bananas, or chocolate-covered pomegranates. Because I do try to keep a vegan lifestyle at home, I’ll have mini vegan ice cream sandwiches in the freezer. Recently I found Coconut Bliss ice cream bars. Yum!!! Sometimes, I break down and get dairy vanilla ice cream especially when I’m making a dessert to share with guests.
What would you like to teach your son about women and beauty?
I would love for him to understand that beauty comes from inside. I want him to appreciate women who do not feel the need to wear makeup and who might go against the social norm of wearing makeup. I think this all going back to the notion of needing makeup to feel complete. It’s funny; my mother-in-law recently decided to stop wearing makeup. She would often use the phrase, “put my face on”. She said she didn’t want to have to spend time putting on makeup, so she’s stopped wearing it. I’m not sure if she stopped wearing it all the time. But, I know the last time she was here she didn’t wear makeup at all. It was kind of interesting. I should ask my mom when she stopped wearing makeup. I understand that makeup is fun and there’s an art to wearing makeup. Maybe if I had that skill, I’d be more into wearing it. I would like him to know that makeup isn’t a necessity for women or men. It’s just an addition.
What is your beauty philosophy?
Being yourself and being natural. I subscribe to natural because it’s about not wanting to misrepresent yourself. I think makeup is very cool. It’s cool how people can create different looks with makeup, but I want to make sure I don’t misrepresent myself in terms of how I look. I think I can look different when I wear makeup, and I want to stay true to who I am as opposed to pretend that I’m somebody I’m not.
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