Marcelle’s Biography

Born and raised in southeast Louisiana, Marcelle “Celle” Marie Duffau-Bordelon grew up exploring her soul on the bayou. Despite a tumultuous upbringing, Celle was able to find solace on the water, spending ample time kayaking and fishing and “ditching” - catching and releasing baby crawfish in nearby ditches - all the while finding herself in each little journey she took.

Little would she know that each of those little journeys would take her to the stars. While muddling through southern waters, Marcelle daydreamed a universe in which she could be anything - an astronaut, a lawyer, a social media influencer, an esthetician… and she would carry those dreams - even the flashiest ones! - with her into everything she did, never deciding on just one whimsical adventure.

In between her swampland escapades, Marcelle would spend her adolescence heeding to a multitude of life’s demands. At her accountant mother’s insistence, she would be a devoted student, maintaining the pursuit of university credits long before college hit; at her construction worker father’s insistence, she would be a devoted worker, spending long weekends doing yardwork and housework and babysitting for her family and neighbors. Simultaneously, she would juggle the stressors of familial conflict, undiagnosed ADHD, and extracurricular activities such as volunteer work and piano lessons and yearbook club.

Somehow, Marcelle always managed to thrive under stress; rather than stopping her, it energized her. She would eventually receive a full ride to Louisiana State University upon entrance, graduating high school with National Honors Society accolades and a whopping 33 on her ACT - all while both working as a wedding server and a lab intern, and while spending sleepless nights helping raise her baby cousins as her godfather received treatment for precancerous colon cells.

Marcelle’s adherence to responsibility did not stop when adulthood hit, either. During her first semester of college, a harsh bout of depression would begin to follow her, not leaving until several years later. Whilst still in this bout during her sophomore year, the COVID-19 pandemic would emerge, and she would need to adapt to shifting her entire school and work life into a remote world. That same year, her godfather - whom she was remarkably close with - would receive his first cancer diagnosis, provoking her to visit him between classes and work. Despite his unfortunate passing the night before her college graduation, she would walk the next morning; and she would apply for her first full-time job the following night, moving to Madison, Wisconsin for work within the next month.

Despite being completely unfamiliar with any place north of the Carolinas, Marcelle found a home in the chilly city of Madison. Still, something felt missing. See, in all those years spent pondering herself in the murky waters of Louisiana, Marcelle had developed a vague sense of what she wanted to be. Like her responsibilities, she wanted to be expansive; but, like the caliginous waters of Louisiana’s bayous and lakes, she couldn’t see deeply into herself - she couldn’t figure out what she wanted to expand into. She had gotten a digital marketing degree during her tenure at LSU, sure - and she loved every part of that accomplishment. Yet she wanted to finally specialize in something, to find a niche that degree could help her blossom within, and she still didn’t know what that niche could be. All she knew was that, once upon a time, she had dreamed of working with skincare and makeup for a living. After all, when she was just two years old, she snuck into her mother’s makeup collection for the first time, consequently falling in love; and, from the age of 12 onward, she would wear makeup and perform a dedicated skincare routine nearly every day. Marcelle had seen makeup and skincare as more than what meets the eye; to her, it was an art form, something she could pour warmth and soulfulness into and share with the world. Still, the pursuit of a career in that passion felt terrifying. After all, what if things went wrong; what if something still felt missing if she pursued such a feat?

Eventually, Marcelle had to learn something she had never learned before - not piano, or makeup, or digital marketing. No, Marcelle had to learn what it meant to pursue what she wanted - not just what was expected of her. See, her every accomplishment up until this point didn’t feel like hers, no matter how much time and energy she exerted to make them. The good grades and the full ride - those were assignments from her mom. The physical labor - all thanks to her dad. Tasks like babysitting, well, those were labors of love to those around her. Even her pursuit of piano lessons wasn’t really a pursuit of her own; it was a dream her late grandfather had expressed before his passing, when she was just seven months old. Though she chose a path in marketing, and though she loved it, that path felt more like a road to opportunity than a path built from sheer passion. A career in esthetics would be the first decision Marcelle would make completely based on her own love of the game. It would come with the risk of leaving Madison and moving back to Louisiana - a place which had become suddenly unfamiliar.

Many say that love conquers all - and Marcelle’s story may just be proof of that. In every moment since making the decision to move back down south, Marcelle has infused a joie de vivre that only exists when living at one’s truest potential, when living out of love and passion. She still honors her mother in her academic ventures at esthetics school; similarly, she still admires her father’s hands-on work ethic through her own. She never forgot her grandfather, whom she still plays piano in memory of; and she certainly never forgot her godfather, whose children she still enjoys time with. Now, she just makes sure to honor herself, too - through both marketing ventures such as the construction of this very website, and through esthetics ventures seen in her portfolio.

One last thing: her dreams haven’t stopped, either - they’ve only expanded. Hoping not to put her marketing degree to bed anytime soon, Marcelle hopes to one day assist nonprofits and / or small businesses within the esthetics industry to create astronomically positive impacts on the world around them, while - at the same time - working in the esthetics industry herself. She hopes an endeavor such as this one may one day help dreamers near and far to shoot for the stars.