We had the good fortune of connecting with Bless Kim and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Bless, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
When I was in undergrad, I was working a job that really did not fit me. It was a struggle to get up in the morning and I felt no joy in this position. Through that experience, I realized that if I did not find a job that I was actually interested in and fulfilled with, a big portion of my life could be spent feeling miserable. I thought about what made me happy and the arts naturally came first. I have always loved film & TV, so I decided to make film my academic minor to learn more about it as a subject. Then I thought about my love for makeup and it just made sense for me to combine my interests together and try to become an industry makeup artist. After that, I enrolled myself into makeup school and have not stopped working towards my goal since then.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I think I have a unique perspective when it comes to makeup, being Korean-American. Nowadays, Korean and Asian makeup/skincare are pretty popular in the western world, but when I was a teen, it definitely was not. Since I had the privilege to have the gateway that is my culture, I was able to see what kind of styles were trending halfway across the globe. Even though these makeups were incredibly different in process and result, they were still equally beautiful to me and I gained a heavy appreciation for the diversity of preference and technique.
As a result of this appreciation, I am proud to say that I am honing my ability to adapt and evolve. Always keeping an open mind to be able to switch things up on a dime. This helps a great deal when being in a creative field.
I am not where I want to be professionally yet, but I think that is okay with me right now. I have been in challenging work situations where I was incredibly overworked and drove myself to the point of illness because I wanted to climb the ladder so bad. Doing that, I realized, is unsustainable for a passion-driven career and so I took a step back and decided to use my time to connect with people and slowly collect experiences. This has proven to be more fruitful for me so far and has helped to reignite my passion.
I would like people to know that I am hardworking and believe that I can bring as much as I am given in any opportunity. My unique experiences thus far have equipped me to become a better artist and I am excited to see which new experiences will find me!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
As much as it is unfortunately forgotten, Queens is one of the most exciting boroughs in NYC. Of course, I may be a little biased as I am from there. But Queens has any cuisine that you could think of, from any part of the world. And it is always good! I would personally take someone to Flushing, as I grew up going there for diverse, cheap and filling eats. You can also visit the Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, which has the famous Unisphere and the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. There are also so many cool museums, parks, the botanical garden, the zoo, beaches, etc. Not to mention, there’s always some kind of event or parade going on, so there is no possibility of being bored. The biggest borough with the most amount of things to do, come to Queens!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I have too many people that I always want to thank, but I’ll just do a select few. Thank you to Songlan Wu for referring me and having me be a small part of her amazing collection. Thank you to Ayana Barber for always referring me and sending me such great resources, which is how I got to be a part of the amazing Reel Works IATSE training program last year! And thank you to my mentors from said program, Spring Super and Ryan Jackson, for always giving me wonderful advice and guidance.

Website: blesskimbeauty.wordpress.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blesskimbeauty?igsh=OHh4MzY1Zzk1dWxu

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bless-kim-833a21192?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=android_app

Image Credits
Zheng Ma, Sarah Lynne Cat Greenfield, Woong Ryu Ruofei Lyu, Brittany Alexis Sanders Isidore Montag, Taylor A. Larzo Jeremiah Cumberbatch, James Nathaniel Pina Mindy Matijasevic

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutLA is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.