Chicago entrepreneur turns the city's streets into her makeup studio, one neighborhood at a time

CHICAGO - When Kourtni Brandy launched her latest social media series, there was only one place she wanted to begin.

"It only felt right to start this series off in my hometown at the iconic Bean," she said in one of her videos.

For the 24-year-old entrepreneur, makeup has never been just about beauty – it's been a passion she's been building since she was a teenager.

"I started doing makeup when I was 14 years old," Brandy told FOX Chicago. "I was playing in my mom's makeup."

Just three years later, Brandy transformed that childhood hobby into a business, launching Bleu Rouge Cosmetics at 17 years old. The company now offers products including lip glosses and makeup palettes.

Beauty beyond the studio

The backstory:

Today, Brandy splits her time between Chicago and Atlanta, but her newest venture has brought her back to the city where her business began.

The series, called "Beats on the Street," takes Brandy's makeup chair beyond the walls of a traditional studio and into neighborhoods across Chicago.

Instead of waiting for clients to come to her, she brings her business directly to them.

Stops have included O-Block, 31st Street Beach and, most recently, Morgan Park, where Brandy attended high school. Her portable studio is surprisingly simple.

"You got the fan that's naturally here, my tripod, my ring light, my phone, my chair and definitely the person," she said with a laugh.

For Brandy, the city itself becomes part of the experience.

During her latest stop, I met her in Morgan Park—one of my own childhood neighborhoods—and decided to trade my microphone for her makeup chair.

As brushes replaced questions, our conversation shifted from beauty techniques to business ownership.

Brandy said one of the keys to great makeup is proper skin preparation, but she also believes preparation has been just as important in building her career.

Her decision to work in neighborhoods that are often defined by crime headlines wasn't accidental.

"The way that people make Chicago seem... I didn't have security. I believe in God," Brandy said. "People be like, 'That's a bad neighborhood. Why would you go over there?' And that hasn't been my experience. I feel the media sometimes makes things out to be something that is not. And I'm from Chicago."

Dig deeper:

Her goal is to showcase another side of the city—one filled with neighbors, entrepreneurs, families and small businesses.

The idea appears to be resonating.

In just a few weeks, Brandy says the series has helped her gain about 5,000 new followers, while many of her videos have attracted hundreds of thousands of views across social media.

She hopes her story inspires other young entrepreneurs to pursue their own dreams.

"My message is to keep going and don't allow anybody to get in the way of your success," Brandy said. "Stay creative, stay motivated, stay ambitious, stay prayed up... Don't chase the money. The money will come to you."

Brandy says she first realized makeup could become more than a hobby while attending Morgan Park High School.

"I really started doing other girls' makeup at lunch," she recalled. "Anytime I could sneak it in."

Today, those lunchtime touch-ups have evolved into a growing business and a social media series that's introducing audiences to a different side of Chicago.

What's next:

For Brandy, success isn't about waiting for the perfect opportunity.

Sometimes, it's about creating one—whether that's inside a luxury studio, along the lakefront or on a neighborhood block many people think they already know.

And if her growing audience is any indication, Brandy believes her work in Chicago is far from finished.

"We're not done," she said. "We're just getting started."

ChicagoNews