Toy Van Lierop decided to specialize in advising on camera talent at local TV stations. A friend at ABC recommended her for her first consultation: word-of-mouth and Van Lierop's reputation did the rest... Van Lierop sas that her all-time favorites- Halle Berry, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward-- "have been extremely helpful. They have recommended clients, both individually and at stations."

Although Toy Russell, Inc. "grosses into the six figures" these days, it wasn't all uphill. "It's extremely difficult to go into a service business," Van Lierop says, "and a lot of times it could be discouraging. What I am selling is my expertise and myself. The single most important thing you need is perseverance."

-Black Enterprise Magazine

A make-up artist is part psychiatrist, part friend, part surgeon. It's long hours (mostly on your feet), and requires extreme patience, and according to the cast [100 Centre Street] Toy is all of these things and more. She is charged with addressing the needs of each person sitting in her make-up trailer and she feels herself lucky to have found a friend in L'oreal who can help her accomplish her tasks with ease...

A former model, turned entrepreneur who jokes that she is a"typhoon... a tycoon in waiting". Toy has created My Essentials Bag cosmetics and toiletry travel case, with unique patented interior storage that will be in stores this year.

-L'oreal USA

Toy was the first woman of color to be admitted to Local 798. She began an 18-month apprenticeship with the union, and at the same time began a three-eyar apprenticeship at ABC in New York.

After taking her journeyman exam, Toy began freelancing. "But because I had worked in television, that's where my experience was, and that's where all of my contacts were... I did my first feature film, The Bingo Long Travelling All Stars and Motor Kings with Billy D. Williams, James Earl Jones and Richard Pryor."

Bingo opened the door to work on features like Running on Empty, Glass Menagerie, Lean on Me, Mr. & Mrs. Bridge, and Strictly Business.

-Makeup Artist Magazine