"Oh my gosh — I would never do makeup over there. She's on the corner doing makeup?"
Those are some of the comments 24 year old Kourtni Brandy said she gets when she tells people she travels to different Chicago neighborhoods to do makeup on the street.
"The series is called Beats on the Streets with Kourtni B, and the goal of this is to shine light on different communities, different people, different sceneries," Brandy said.
It works a bit like a pop up. First, Brandy finds a model to help her start off the session. Then she takes advantage of the area's foot traffic and invites everyday Chicagoans to sit in her chair. And she films the whole experience for her social media platforms.
We catch her on a Wednesday morning at the corner of 79th and Halsted in Auburn Gresham. She said she regularly hosts her series in neighborhoods on the South Side, which she said are often seen in a negative light.
Carolina Garibay
"I feel like in Chicago a lot of people are scared of the community when the community is there to support you. You just have to be there to welcome them with open arms," she said. "A lot of the conversations that I've been having with the people I met out here have been really friendly, supportive, encouraging and uplifting."
In fact, Brandy can hardly go a couple of minutes without being interrupted by cars honking, the drivers revealing themselves as some of her thousands of dedicated followers. She's garnered more than 300,000 on Instagram and nearly 360,000 followers on TikTok. She also owns her own makeup brand Blue Rouge Cosmetics.
"I feel overwhelmed with love," she said. " feel the heart. I feel the support, like wow, my city really loves me!"
Carolina Garibay
She said she hopes her being out in the open, especially in neighborhoods on the South and Southwest sides, shows people that there is beauty in all of Chicago's neighborhoods.
"I want be known for doing something positive," she said. "I want to pour back into the community and let people know that you can feel good, you can do good things. You don't have to always be in a negative light. Be good. Just be good to people."
