'Recognition is important': SA makeup artist scoops Emmy Award in LA

Makeup artist and hair designer Gale Shepherd is back home in Woodstock, Cape Town, after mixing with the film industry elite at the 2024 Daytime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles.

Shepherd did South Africa proud, scooping the Emmy for Hairstyling and Makeup.

She'd been nominated for her work on the docuseries African Queens: Njinga, produced and narrated by Jada Pinkett Smith.

The series also won Emmys for casting and art direction.

Although Shepherd is a multi-award winning professional, she tells Zain Johnson she never expected she'd ever bag an Emmy.

She agrees that recognition is really important for people working on this side of the film industry.

"I was off to LA and met all these lovely, famous people. It was a very, very exciting evening... and just holding that award kind of energised me!"

"When I started in the industry there were no awards for makeup and hair people. We were just in the background all the time, so I'm glad things have changed and there are these awards out there."

Gale Shepherd, Makeup artist and hair designer

Shepherd started out working in theatre after studying makeup and hair design, later branching out into commercials and movies.

"It wasn't very easy in those days, obviously the apartheid days. The industry was very white then but I didn't let it get me down, and 35-odd years later I'm still here!"

Gale Shepherd, Makeup artist and hair designer

Shepherd highlights the satisfaction of being involved in telling South African, and African stories.

"Working on 'Noem My Skollie' was absolutely fantastic... these local stories that need to be told and need to be heard."

"I didn't even know about Queen Njinga before I got the script, so it's great to be part of the whole thing."

Gale Shepherd, Makeup artist and hair designer

Scroll up to hear more about Shepherd's journey, and watch the Netflix trailer for African Queens below