LYNN — A local internet/media company and Lynn business are teaming up to provide free hair and makeup to 40 high school seniors for prom.
Fred Mathieu, co-founder of For the Culture Media, has partnered with Slay N’ Glam, a makeup and beauty shop on Market Street, to provide the free beauty services to girls from Lynn English and Lynn Classical high schools — 20 from each school.
Mathieu has launched a kickstarter/crowdsourcing campaign, The Prom Glow Up, to raise funds for the endeavor — his goal is to raise about $3,000 through the online campaign, by selling t-shirts online and hosting two community events.
The goal of the campaign is to help promote a local business, Slay N’ Glam, while alleviating the cost of prom by crowdsourcing the cost.
“It’s really a way for the community to come together and also support a local business,” Mathieu said. “At the end of the day, prom is expensive.”
This is the second year of the campaign. Last year, Mathieu said $1,000 was raised to provide free hair and makeup to 14 girls between Classical and English.
Slay N’ Glam is run by two friends, Katherine Peguero, 21, and Genesis Grullon, 22, who graduated from Lynn English High School and attend Salem State University.
The pair opened the store in December to create a place to buy makeup that’s convenient, affordable and inviting in the city where they grew up.
Slay N’ Glam will do the makeup for the girls and will enlist the services of two local hairstylists, Kassandra Hernandez and Nicole Peguero.
Typically, Katherine Peguero said makeup application would cost $50. That doesn’t include eyelashes, which start at $7.50. Girls getting their hair done would usually pay at least $35 to $40, but the cost depends on the hairstyle.
Peguero said prom is really expensive — on prom alone, a girl could spend about $1,000, so they were interested in doing what they could to cut the cost.
“We wanted to get involved because we’re a small store … so if we got the opportunity to give back to our community, we would do it,” Peguero said.
