Make-Up Artist Gained Self-Confidence and Self-Respect through Scientology

Once too “sensitive,” Scientology helped successful make-up artist overcome depression.

In a video featured on the new Scientology Video Channel at www.scientology.org, Nadia Elias talks about how the confidence she’s gained through Scientology has changed her life and inspired others.

An admittedly shy wallflower when she was 16, Nadia Elias says, "I was quite a sensitive young girl."

Perhaps a little too sensitive. Everything people said, Elias took to heart. She didn’t understand why she felt bad a lot of the time, and she started running with the wrong crowd. She had trouble with her studies and felt depressed.

It is hard to believe this describes the same person who is now a confident and successful makeup artist whose story appears in the “Meet a Scientologist” section of the Church of Scientology’s Official YouTube video channel.

For Elias, what ultimately became a joyous transformation began after her older brother came to visit her in Cyprus, where she was living with the family. (To hear Nadia Elias's against-all-odds story, watch her video at www.scientology.org).

“I just thought ‘Oh, I’m just a depressed kid,’ because most kids are like that," she says. "And then he explained a couple of things to me and I thought ‘Alright, maybe I don’t have to be like this. Maybe I don’t have to be insecure. Maybe I don’t have to feel bad about myself.’”

What her brother told the family about was something new he had found: Scientology. Elias took her first course, Personal Efficiency, and then a course about communication and then one on how to study and learn, and the rest, she says, is history.

Today, at 29, Elias is a professional makeup artist for fashion photo shoots, weddings and other special events. She is also a makeup instructor and enjoys sharing her expertise with others.

“I know that I do well and I do the best work I possibly can and I feel good about myself because of that.”

The popular “Meet a Scientologist” profiles on the Church of Scientology International video channel at Scientology.org now total 150 broadcast-quality documentary videos featuring Scientologists from diverse locations and walks of life. The personal stories are told by Scientologists who are educators, teenagers, skydivers, a golf instructor, a hip-hop dancer, IT manager, stunt pilot, mothers, fathers, dentists, photographers, actors, musicians, fashion designers, engineers, students, business owners and more.

A digital pioneer and leader in the online religious community, in April 2008 the Church of Scientology became the first major religion to launch its own official YouTube Video Channel, which has now been viewed by millions of visitors.