Mayu Colombo grew up near the Florida coast, where the days often carried the ease of salt air, family, and familiar places. She was born in New Jersey, but Florida became home. Her childhood was happy and close, shaped by her parents, grandmother, and older sister. She drew, painted, spent time with family, and moved through those early years with creativity already somewhere in the background.

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Now, at 19, Mayu is beginning to give that creativity a direction.

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She wants to become a makeup artist. Not simply someone who enjoys makeup, but someone who builds a career around it, works for herself, travels, develops a name in the industry, and eventually creates a life in New York City.

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That city has become a destination in more ways than one.

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Mayu sees herself living there with her sister, working as a celebrity makeup artist, traveling for assignments, building a successful career, and surrounding herself with friends who make life feel full. It is a picture she returns to when making decisions about school, work, and what comes next.

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After graduating from high school in May 2025, she made one of those decisions.

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Many of her peers were preparing to leave for universities. Mayu chose to stay home and attend cosmetology school. The decision was not about avoiding education. It was about getting closer to the work she already knew interested her.

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“I am very grateful for this decision,” she said, because it moved her closer to becoming the makeup artist she hopes to be.

She finished cosmetology school one month early.

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That accomplishment matters to her because it required more than enthusiasm. She had to complete the coursework, put in the hours, and stay focused long enough to finish ahead of schedule. Beneath her playful belief that life should be fun is someone who understands how much work a goal can require.

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Mayu has continued her education as well. She is a student at Daytona State College and is working toward an associate degree. For her, the route does not need to resemble anyone else’s. College and cosmetology can exist together. So can practical planning and a very big dream.

That confidence, however, did not appear without struggle.

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For much of her childhood, Mayu dealt with OCD. She describes overcoming it as one of the experiences that changed the way she understands her own mind.

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“What exists in your head is not always the reality,” she learned.

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The lesson sounds simple, but it carries weight. For Mayu, it meant learning to become more present and more positive. It meant understanding that a thought can feel powerful without necessarily being true.

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That realization sits quietly beneath much of the confidence she carries now.

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Mayu also believes deeply in manifestation. She believes that when a person genuinely sees something for themselves and believes in it, that vision can become real. At first, the idea might seem unusual beside what she learned through OCD. Yet the two beliefs meet in an interesting place. She has learned that she does not have to surrender to every thought that enters her mind. She can decide which thoughts deserve her energy.

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These days, many of those thoughts point north.

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Toward New York.

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Toward makeup brushes, clients, freelance work, travel, business ownership, and a career she can currently imagine more clearly than she can touch.

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Her family has helped make that kind of confidence possible. Mayu says they have always supported her and have never made her feel that something she wanted was impossible. That belief has given her room to imagine a future without immediately shrinking it to something safer.

 

She has also kept room for ordinary happiness.

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She likes going out to eat with friends, spending time at the beach, shopping, going to concerts, dancing, painting, cooking, and working out. And beneath the polished world of makeup artistry is one detail that tends to surprise people: Mayu can deadlift 215 pounds.

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It fits her better than it might first appear.

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There is softness in the life she enjoys, but there is strength too.

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Her philosophy is uncomplicated: “look good feel good,” and everything should have some fun in it. For Mayu, beauty is not presented as something solemn. It is creative. It is expressive. It is something that can shift a mood and help a person feel more confident in their own skin.

 

She is still early in the life she imagines. There are no celebrity clients yet. No New York apartment. No packed travel schedule.

 

But there is something important in what has already happened.

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A girl who once had to learn that every thought was not reality has grown into a young woman becoming more deliberate about which future she wants to make real. She chose cosmetology when another path was expected. She finished early. She continued college. She began thinking about freelance work and business ownership. She gave the city in her imagination a name.

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New York.

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Mayu does not know exactly how the years ahead will unfold. She simply knows the direction she wants to move.

Her message reflects that clarity.

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Be confident. Be happy. And if there is something you truly want, go get it.

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For Mayu Colombo, the skyline is still ahead.

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But she has already started walking toward it.