"I like the way makeup enhances the natural beauty. My favorite thing about makeup is doing the eyes, because eyes are the window to the soul. So you want that to be the main focus of the make up.”

The person speaking is Jessica Ruiz, a Philadelphia makeup artist with Latino roots — she is half Puerto Rican, half Irish. Ruiz is an expert at eye makeup and full face makeup — she even creates personalized foundation colors — and she does all of this with her mouth.

Ruiz was born with a condition called arthrogryposis. "It’s a congenital muscle disorder and it affects both my arms and my legs as well as the muscles in them,” she explained to AL DÍA. The condition makes it impossible for her to lift her arms, and that’s why she found this way to do her own makeup when she was in high school.

Her first contact with what would become her profession came in 2007, when a friend asked her to do the makeup for her graduation pictures. "That’s how I found that this could be something that I wanted to do,” Ruiz said.

And she did it. But it wasn’t that easy. "After graduation I applied to beauty schools here in Philly and they denied me because of the way I do makeup,” she said. "That was a huge, huge step backward for me. I went into a really deep depression. I gained a lot of weight. It was something that I knew I had to change about myself, and about the industry as well. Because a lot of people, when they see the way I do makeup, they are like, 'oh, wow, that’s awesome,' and I don’t see it that way. I just see it as doing makeup, and I just see myself as any other makeup artist.”

The fact that she was not accepted by any beauty school in the city it didn’t stop Ruiz from pursuing her dream of becoming a professional makeup artist. "When I got denied I was like, 'how can I turn this around and be successful with this’? So I’ve started watching Youtube tutorials and teaching myself how to do full face of makeup.”

It wasn’t until 2011 when she started to do it professionally.

"On Instagram, I was looking through and I saw all these opportunities. I worked in a few fashion shows and they promised the world — ‘we are going to get your story out,” and it didn’t happen. So I reached out to Dawane from Philly Small Business Fashion Week. He didn’t know that I was disabled, he didn’t know how I do makeup and I didn’t let them know until the night before the show,” Ruiz said.

"I was already booked and my work spoke for itself. So for them to get that phone call the night before, saying 'listen, you know I’m a disabled makeup artist and I do makeup with my mouth'. They were shocked a little bit. For them to still be open to me coming in and showcasing my work was amazing. To work alongside the other makeup artists ,who have a degree in cosmetology and makeup application, and here I am, little old me, self-taught on YouTube working right alongside this amazing women. I felt a part of the family. It was right then I knew nothing can stop me.”

Her experience has taught her that "Nobody has to be ashamed of their differences or their physical and emotional scars. If you have a dream,” she said, “follow it. You really need to have faith in yourself and have faith in what you are doing, whatever it is.”

Ruiz works on photo shoots, weddings, graduations photos and "pretty much anything that you would need makeup for,” in four states (New York, Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey). She has a client network of about 15 to 30 people and has recently launched a gofundme account where people can "help me get the supplies I need to continue to live my dream.”

She is also working on a project to support and facilitate contact between people in the region who have the same condition she does. "My disability (affects) 1 in every 33,000 people, and it affects children and adults in numerous ways. Here in Philadelphia I’m actually surprised that that there is no organization or no funding for people with this disability. Starting in December I’m starting to get a group to come together and raise awareness.”

Her next project? A Youtube channel which is already in the works. Stay tuned...