Oftentimes, a makeup artist is understood to be simply someone who instruments the cosmetic, but Brenna is an artist who believes in beauty as both an expression and form of spirituality. Her relationship to beauty and, more importantly, her client’s beauty, has become the central point of view from which she explores each and every application. The process becomes as individual as the client that sits in her chair as she seeks to understand who they are, beginning inward and ending outward. Brenna charts her path, always, with the same concluding goal: delivering the natural, most striking, and creative possibility.
Brenna’s journey in the world of beauty is eleven years in the making and includes a certificate from the Make-Up Designory in Manhattan, a year working, traveling, and volunteering throughout Australia and Southeast Asia, and a gender-binary-breaking Super Bowl commercial with Jonathan Van Ness. From all of this, Brenna finds herself with a rich, ever-expanding relationship to what beauty is at the most basic human level. Recounting an experience with a local woman she shared work with on the farm, with no common language to unite them, Brenna describes an enlightening: “there was just something so beautiful about her.” A woman who knew of no luxury in vanity and, yet, radiated.
Brenna takes the culmination of these experiences and uses them to strengthen her professional capacity and her work, itself. No matter the client, the location, or the demands of the job, she’s adept in her ability to be prepared for anything and to deliver art, in both hair and makeup, to the fullest heights she can realize. She’s an artist who cherishes each of her clients, whether they’re walking a red carpet or out their front door, for they remind her of the power she has to make a small but profound difference in another life and the importance and duty she has to the communities she cares about. Beauty is a celebration that Brenna considers universal.
Today, Brenna lives in Queens, New York, where she’s enthralled by the pace and diversity of the city. She continues her volunteering and advocacy work with LGBT organizations while furthering her education in makeup and hair mastery to continue to bring her best possible self to the clients she serves. She highlights her favorite career moment as working with Madame Vice President, Kamala Harris, shortly before she began the campaign trail. “She is so kind, I was so proud to congratulate her.”
Clients include: Kamala Harris, Madison Reyes, Micheala Coel, Caroline Aaron, Uzo Aduba, Maye Musk, Teri Hatcher, Jenny Han, Maggie Wheeler, Chloe Levine, Selenis Leyva, Jason Blum, Michelle Hurd, Shahadi Wright, Kelli Berglund, Jonathan Van Ness, Stephen King, Raiin Wilson, Justin Hartly, Tituss Burgess, Emilio Estavez, James Neil, James Van Der Beek, Brent Spiner, Brett Gray, Jimmy Smits, Adam Rippon, Gus Kenworthy, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baz Luhrmann, and Alex Timbers
Publications: Nylon Magazine, Oprah Magazine, Refinery29, Paper Magazine, Ladygunn, Claire, The Atlas, Elegant, Jute
Commercial: Peloton, M Gemi, Biossance, Popsugar, Yahoo Beauty, Poptart, Vineyard Vines,
Poo-Pourri, Essie, Nick Jr, DIFF Eyewear, Aquaphor, and Hotels.com