Sunderland hair stylist who never wanted to be a hair dresser has scooped an award and worked in Cyprus and Austria

On the morning of Wednesday, November 20, Marissa Bennett received the news that she had won Best Hair and Make-up Specialist Award for the North East at the UK Wedding Awards.

Marissa said: “They said that clients had voted for me and that I had been put in the finalist category – it was very nice.

“I only found out this week that I won, and I’m a little poorly so I couldn’t attend the awards ceremony, but I wish I’d gone now.

“I’m celebrating with a hot chocolate.

“It’s actually been a really hard year, I had a baby and had to have a C-section and then two weeks later did a wedding.

“Brides book me two years in advance and I hate to let them down. Even though I had people to help me I felt like I was falling apart.

“But the bride really appreciated that I was there.”

Marissa has been doing hair and make-up for 20 years, and the beginning of her career started with her own wedding, she added: “In 1999 I did my own hair and make-up at my wedding and since then I’ve been doing other peoples and it kind of just took off from there.

“The thing was hair styling was very different at the time, I never wanted to be a hair dresser and I was always very artistic.

“When I started I remember being the first hair stylist in the yellow pages because it was still very niche.”

Marissa focuses on natural make-up that enhances a brides ‘naturally beautiful features’ and stays away from heavy contouring.

She said: “I’ll travel anywhere for a bride if it will make them feel good on their wedding day, I’ve been to Austria and Cyprus, I’ve been really lucky to travel abroad – I use to think I’d do it for free if it meant someone feeling good on their big day.”

Marissa set up her own hair and make-up school called ‘Be Creative Academy’ and now teaches other people to do their own make-up.