Friday morning at 5am I woke up for work in an excruciating amount of pain shooting through my spine. I couldn’t fathom making it through my upcoming FX heavy day. But I did, because of the support and hard work of our department and other @iatse departments. That same morning, I woke up and voted YES on the strike authorization with that pain in me, knowing so many other @iatse members were waking up in the same way, demanding a change. This is something I’ve been dealing with for years. Almost $900.00 a month in massage, acupuncture, & chiropractic on the sometimes 1.5 day weekends to be strong enough for another week. I’ve yet to find a solution. If I did not have insurance to help with some of this, it would not be possible to manage. My boyfriend @lawrence_nbfx has been there at all hours to help me stretch when I get home/when he gets home, through many tears and intense pain. And when I get up, we repeat. I’m 30 years old. This is the side of the “glamorous Hollywood life” many do not see as they binge watch their favorite “new media” Netflix, Amazon, Hulu etc. shows with their loved ones. I am proud to be a makeup artist. I love what I do. I am proud to be a @local_706 member. I am proud to be the partner to an extremely talented fellow @iatse member. I am not proud of how we live, how many hours we work, how little we see our family’s, how this industry is no longer about any craft, but about profit. I’ve never talked publicly about my pain, until this collective solidarity movement. I thought I would be seen as a damaged artist. The truth is, we all are. And it’s ok to talk about our pain and need for rest, but more importantly, take action. If you are an @iatse member and have not voted, you have 2 hours. If you have a great work situation please, think about the thousands that don’t. We need you. We need rest. PLEASE VOTE YES TO STRIKE AUTHORIZATION!! In solidarity 💪🏼✊🏼🙏🏻#voteyes #strike #iatse #iasolidarity @ia_stories @local_706