Grace Mercedes to Be Honored as Best Hair & Makeup Director at the Runway 7 Fashion Awards 2026

When you see a fashion show being planned, you see the whole runway! Models, garments, lighting setup, music cued, and pictures taken. What might not be apparent to you is that there’s a beauty team working hard behind the scenes, creating the look and feel of everything presented.

In the middle of that world is Grace Mercedes. She is a beauty entrepreneur, makeup artist, educator, mentor, and industry leader. She has built her career from artistry and opportunity. Grace received Best Hair & Makeup Director at the 2026 Runway 7 Fashion Awards at Sony Hall, New York City, on September 14th, 2026

The recognition goes beyond just beauty skills. This includes the essence of Grace as a leader. Her dedication to imparting her experience to artists and, indeed, the community she has created through Book of Beauty and Book of Lashes by Gretsha.

A Recognition of Leadership Behind the Scenes

Have you ever thought to yourself what goes into making a fashion production feel as though it has been presented effortlessly? It usually begins long before the audience sits down, and that comes down to who is backstage. Hair and makeup directors have to be able to interpret the creative vision. They oversee artist coordination, manage time, and ensure high standards of quality are maintained. They even adapt on a dime when everything goes wrong.

Grace Mercedes built her career around just this combination of creativity and leadership.

Her background includes managing beauty teams at high-profile fashion and beauty events. It includes New York Fashion Week, where the environment is fast-paced and perfectionism counts. You should know that crafting a beautiful look is not enough in these environments. You have to be a good communicator, organized, a professional employee with creativity, and able to bring the team around the same idea.

This mix has grown into a core component of Grace’s public persona.

So her accolade as Best Hair & Makeup Director is a recognition of the work sometimes behind and in front of the camera. This recognizes an artist who knows that beauty direction is much more than just makeup brushes, hairdos, or separate looks.

From Humble Beginnings to a Global Beauty Community

Grace’s story is one of resilience and persistence.

Instead of letting her beginnings define her future, she took beauty as a motivator to grow. As the years progressed, her journey transitioned from individual artistry into a larger mission to create pathways for other beauty professionals. The ones who are seeking careers, education, and access to the fashion and beauty industries.

Today, Grace is the CEO of Book of Beauty and Book of Lashes by Gretsha. These platforms include her vision to link professionals with opportunities, education, fashion & global experiences.

You might be interested in reading: Malan Breton to Receive the Excellence in Design Award at the Runway 7 Fashion Awards 2026

Building Opportunities Through Book of Beauty

The community has been one of the defining aspects of Grace’s career.

With Book of Beauty, she has cultivated a community of over 300 artists from around the world. It connects beauty talent who can learn, create together, and gain networking exposure in the desired fashion and global environments.

For example, let us say that you are entering an industry in which you have talent. But still looking for the right people, experiences, and platforms to showcase what you can do. A vital professional community can make a difference in that journey.

Grace’s role here goes beyond the role of just a beauty artist.

• “She creates connections.”
• “She develops teams.”
• “She encourages professionals to strengthen their craft.”

She also helps artists see that their careers could evolve beyond the art they produce.

For the artists who can join her community, this experience can mean a chance to see new environments. Individuals can collaborate with other professionals as well as discover possibilities that may not have been apparent at the beginning of their careers.

Where Artistry Meets Education

Beauty is an ever-evolving industry. Always evolving data, products, trends, and expectations for professionals. You have to keep learning if you want to remain relevant.

This is where Grace shines with her mindset.

As an educator, she urges beauty professionals to think deeper than just the job. Sharpening your skills could mean learning about the art of:

• Staying current.
• Improving skills as a technician.
• How to coexist in a group environment.
• Having enough confidence to operate in demanding environments.

Combining creativity and education was how her approach was formed.

Having led teams at large events in the past, Grace understands those demands from the inside.

Her work shows that education does not always take place in the confines of a classroom. There are moments when you have few role models, managers, and mentors who help shape the knowledge and skills we accumulate over time. No matter what happens out there, work with professionals who make you raise the bar because you want to be a better version of yourself.

Creating a Stronger Path for Beauty Professionals

Grace is also inspired by her belief that artists must be encouraged to carve their own paths.

The most challenging part of building a career for many professionals is where to start. Talent is what gets you through the door, and confidence, persistence, relationships, and professional exposure are what get you firmly through the door.

For that philosophy, Grace’s journey is a brilliant example.

She has turned her own experience into a platform through which other artists can explore growth. Rather than framing success as something to be accomplished by each individual alone, she placed a value on community.

A Natural Fit for Runway 7 Fashion Awards

Runway 7 Fashion is an award-winning Fashion Week production company dedicated to cultural diversity and the merging of international designers, media, celebrities, and commerce. With its larger lifestyle platform that combines fashion, art-design, and music-focused programming, you are exposed to performances, shows, and installations all made to hold attention.

The organization also focuses on those who make its productions happen. The credit goes to designers, models, press, photographers, influencers, celebrities, buyers, guests, and production teams.

It’s therefore especially the reason that Grace is being celebrated.

Her career embodies that same sense of unity and inclusivity. With her work, she created a community of beauty professionals as well as paths into fashion and international opportunity.

Celebrating Grace Mercedes in New York City

The Runway 7 Fashion Awards are uniting the fashion and beauty community at Sony Hall in New York City on September 14, 2026. Among this group of honorees, Grace Mercedes will represent all the creative leadership that always remains behind the runway spotlight.

Her recognition as Best Hair & Makeup Director acknowledges not only a skilled beautician but also a mentor, business owner, teacher, and community creator.

You can see her creativity and intention in the Book of Beauty and Book of Lashes by Gretsha. These are proof that professional success is an opportunity to uplift others.

Beauty for Grace Mercedes is more than skin. For her, it’s a platform for connection, confidence, education, and possibility. That vision will be acknowledged on the Runway 7 Fashion Awards stage this September.