Today we’d like to introduce you to Brittany Barker.
Hi Brittany, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
Beauty started for me as a young girl in the single digits of age. I was inspired by the women in my family. They were all so beautiful and glamorous, so growing up that’s kind of all I knew. It wasn’t until I was between the ages of 7-9 years old that I was able to fully express my talent and love for artistry. You see, growing up in my day, wearing makeup before you were 18 years old was pretty much a “no no.” However, my mother was fed up with me always going through her lipsticks and eyeshadows, so her and I made a deal. She would let me choose a handful of items from an Avon book, and from Friday through Saturday I would have permission to wear as much makeup as I pleased, as long as I didn’t leave the house. It was game on from there. Once school was out and we made it home, I would grab all of my fashion magazines and replicate any and every look that inspired me. As time went on with my “glamorous weekends” my mother started to notice that I was picking up some skills and wanted me to start testing out my artistry skills on her. That resulted in me doing my mother’s eye makeup daily before school.
Over time, my love for makeup and the fashion/ beauty industry just continued to evolve. By the time I graduated high school and was in college, the beauty industry as well as social media was on the rise, and you could actually have a career in beauty. Once I decided typical college life wasn’t for me, I took a few years off and eventually landed in cosmetology school. After graduating from there in 2013, my career in luxury beauty took off. I began working as a makeup artist for top luxury brands and worked my way up into management positions in my field within these past 10 years.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It hasn’t been the smoothest I can honestly say. I think for me, personally, some of the biggest struggles that come to mind is the lack of representation and diversity of black women and women of color in general. The beauty industry is dominated by men and women who aren’t people of color. In the Midwest region with luxury brands, I would be one of maybe 4 African American (men or women) at our regional trainings. Keep in mind, this would be from the ENTIRE Midwest region of artists working for these brands.
I struggled with feeling left out and unheard for people of color. My personality, my interests, and just everything were different from majority of the people I worked with. That either helped benefit me with connecting with great people expanding my diversity and knowledge in this field, or it unfortunately resulted me being singled out in many negative ways.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Overall, I am an artist who enjoys sharing my art and creations through beauty. Whether that be hair, makeup, nails you name it. I am a licensed cosmetologist who has continued to practice all areas of my field, but makeup artistry is my baby. I just love the fact that I was blessed with a gift to help enhance people’s beauty and help them see themselves in ways they possibly couldn’t imagine on their own. I have an eye to find beauty in just about anything and everything. That’s how I view my artistry. I can truly say that my gift in artistry has been perfecting a flawless face that is still natural.
I think that I am most proud of the education and experience I have had over all of these years. I have been blessed to work as an artist under brands such as, Chanel Beauty, Giorgio Armani Beauty, L’oreal, Tom Ford, Nars Cosmetics, and Charlotte Tilbury. These are some of the TOP brands in the world, and I have been blessed to have gained knowledge and education from these brands that have shaped and molded me into the artist that I am today.
One thing I feel that will set me apart from others is that beauty has been my purpose and life’s mission since I was a little girl. A lot of people have tagged along in this industry as a “trend”, but I’m not new to this, I’m true to this. Not only is my artistry all things beauty, but I wear it inside out. I represent beauty as the person I am, not just as a trend. I feel like if there was a picture that should represent the definition of beauty, it should be me as a whole. I live it, breathe it and wear it as my daily life.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I don’t want this to sound vein, but truthfully speaking I think that my outer beauty has helped me in many ways. I think that this is the first time that I have ever said this out loud because I have never wanted to be mistaken as someone who was full of themselves. However, God gave me the gift of beauty on this inside and out and that has truly been part of my “luck” in this industry. Americans are very big on the exterior and material things. I have been pre-judged many times as just a “pretty face” until I earn my seat at the table and dominate because I am beauty and brains with a life mission in this industry.
Beauty can be a gift and a curse in this industry. Even more so as a beautiful black woman, because first I am judge because of how I look, and people think that I have only been given positions because of my looks. Not the case at all. I have an extensive background in marketing and sales, so not only was I attractive, but I was smart, funny, and hit all of my goals. Then I would become a target, being the only minority in most cases, and then I would be treated as, “Well who does she think she is? She needs to know her place.” It’s sad but true and has really happened.
So yes, beauty has been a gift and a curse throughout my career.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.abundleofbritt.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_brittanybarker_/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBD3AP6_rJ5-B8ablvIx6JQ
