Serving Lakewood, Wheat Ridge and beyond
WEEK OF JULY 10, 2025
VOLUME 41 | ISSUE 49
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‘It’s not about vanity’
New dress code rankles Jeffco library staff
Columbine survivor’s esthetics business offers healing, empowerment
BY ELISABETH SLAY ESLAY@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
When Marjorie Erickson sits down with a client, permanent makeup tools in hand, she’s not just crafting a symmetrical wing or perfectly arched brow on people — she’s rebuilding confidence, one meticulous stroke at a time. “It’s not about vanity,” Erickson said. “It’s usually people who struggle with some confidence issues and it helps them with it.” Erickson is the founder and owner of Decadent Beauty, a growing permanent makeup business she opened at Image Studios in Englewood. She splits her time between operating Decadent Beauty in Englewood and its other location in Nebraska. After years of working in a different career — an investigator for the Colorado Public Defender’s Office — Erickson took a leap of faith to pursue her lifelong passion for aesthetics and helping others feel comfortable in their skin. As a survivor of the Columbine High School shooting in 1999, Erickson said the trauma shaped her life, making traditional schooling difficult. “After Columbine, I was pretty scared of school and didn’t do well with anything in person,” she said. “I did online stuff, but you can’t be an esthetician online. It doesn’t work like that.” Despite those obstacles, Erickson persevered. She earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Colorado Denver — in 2010 and 2013, respectively — through online and hybrid programs. However, after relocating to rural Julesburg in northeast Colorado with her husband, Craig, she realized her position at the public defenders’ office was no longer feasible. That opened the door to her long-deferred dream. So, with her husband’s encouragement, Erickson felt she could finally pursue her calling. “I had done a lot of years of therapy … and felt I was in a position where I could go to class in person,” Erickson said.
MINSTER SEE ESTHETICS, P6
JCPL workers say new policy proposal silences support for marginalized BY SUZIE GLASSMAN SUZIE@COTLN.ORG
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Permanent makeup artist Marjorie Erickson tattoos permanent makeup on a client. Erickson offers her services in both Nebraska and Englewood, where recently rented a space at Image Studios. COURTESY OF MARJORIE ERICKSON
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Jefferson County Public Library workers say a proposed dress code policy under negotiation would bar them from wearing Pride pins, DEI-themed shirts or other visible signs of support for marginalized communities, despite the library’s public celebration of diversity. The proposed change comes as staff are negotiating their first-ever union contract. In March 2024, JCPL employees voted to unionize, forming the Jefferson County Library Workers Union under Colorado’s new collective bargaining law. Contract talks have been underway since the vote. At issue is the library’s current dress code, which allows staff to wear business casual attire and include limited adornments on lanyards, such as pronoun buttons and two additional pieces. The policy also states apparel should be “free of slogans/wording other than JCPL or County-sponsored items.” Union members say they had hoped to clarify and expand this policy to explicitly allow supportive t-shirts and buttons tied to library events, such as Pride Month, Black History Month or Banned Books Week. Instead, management has proposed further tightening restrictions, eliminating all visual messaging, including buttons and other visual elements. Williams said management has cited safety concerns, arguing that visible political messaging could lead to verbal altercations. For instance, a patron might yell at a staff member for wearing a Pride button. Williams said she’s unaware of any prior incidents involving apparel, and noted the library’s public-facing code of conduct already addresses verbal harassment. SEE DRESS CODE, P4
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