We’re looking forward to introducing you to Chelsey Cherry. Check out our conversation below.
Chelsey, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What is something outside of work that is bringing you joy lately?
Connecting with my friends has been bringing me a lot of joy. Adult life and responsibilities can sometimes feel overwhelming, mundane, and bleak, but hanging out with my friends always restores me back to full happiness. There’s something so comforting about being around the people that you love the most, being your authentic self, and knowing they enjoy your company just as much as you enjoy theirs. In this day and age where it’s so easy to fall into the trap of loneliness through seemingly instantaneous Amazon deliveries and Doordashes, going out of your way to spend time with people feels more intimate than it ever has. I cherish my friendships deeply and will never take for granted the feeling of joy it brings me in their presence.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Creativity meets glamour, with a touch of nerdiness. Nothing says “that girl” more than carving your own path in a social media world where everyone’s expected to follow trends. My name is Chelsey Cherry, multi-faceted makeup IT girl with talent, brains, and beauty to match.
Content creation is the avenue that I use to inspire others with creative makeup, but art has always been apart of my life in different mediums. One day during the COVID -19 lockdown era, I decided that creative makeup looks on social media would be my next one. Pulling inspiration from anime, tattoos, TV shows, or nature, coming up with designs to paint on my face is no challenge.
In the past 5 years, I’ve accrued over 35 thousand followers on Instagram and I’m grateful for every single one that enjoys my looks and cosplays. Each look or cosplay takes hours, maybe even a full day to complete since I strive to create something never seen before. Every time someone tells me my art has inspired them, my heart is warmed and it feels like a win. I’ve gone from creating looks by myself in my room to meeting people in person wearing my creations! It feels surreal but I hope one day to become a beacon of light to inspire young black girls that want to experiment with their aesthetic and makeup styles.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What part of you has served its purpose and must now be released?
The part of me that overthinks, overplans, and spends countless hours calculating the smallest details in my makeup looks needs to be released.
While growing in the makeup space, I felt that my work needed to be as perfect as possible. This has taught me to have a great work ethic as I’m not afraid to spend time perfecting my craft, nor am I afraid of a challenge, but sometimes working smarter and not harder is important. Or at least, if you’re going to do both, (I am) somehow make it easier for yourself.
I’ve adopted Notion, an e-Planner and note-taking program, into my daily content creation routine. Instead of filling my brain with constant ideas and crashing out when they don’t work, now I can plan everything without stressing while filming.
Perfectionism is a curse and a blessing. I’m happy I care enough about my work to put effort into it, but there’s always beauty in imperfections as well.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
My content creation journey has definitely been a bumpy ride. From the start in 2020, up until about 2022, growth was linear. My posts were performing well, tons of people were recreating my looks, and brands were adding me to their PR lists and engaging with me.
However, anyone who has been chronically online for the past 5 years can easily tell that the culture and vibe on social media has dramatically shifted. Suddenly, talent was no longer enough for the algorithm to notice you and push your content to more people. Everything was about entertainment.
My style of content is showcasing my talent and different makeup techniques. I find it entertaining both in myself and other people, but in this era of brain rot and Charlie Kirk memes, it didn’t seem to be enough. As a result, I wasn’t seeing growth anymore. My page was stagnant in 2023 and 2024. I no longer was as consistent as I once was. Creative makeup in general appeared to take a back seat in the grand scheme of beauty content. I wanted to quit.
In 2025, I decided to take up space again in the content creation world. I noticed that quantity over quality also became more important, and stayed consistent no matter what the analytics were telling me. Instagram has a funny way of making you feel like poor engagement is your fault when they’re the ones refusing to push the content! But by staying resilient and falling back in love with the process, I found this to be my most successful year ever as a creator. I almost doubled my following in less than 6 months, reached 1 million views for the first time, and reached milestones across all of my social media platforms. I’m so happy I never gave up.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
The beauty industry keeps trying to tell consumers that creativity, especially in black people, is not valued. It’s so sad that in 2025 brands keep releasing the same nude eyeshadow palettes over and over, and the same limited shade ranges for their complexion launches.
Creative people are the main ones driving sales and inspiring people to experiment with makeup again. It’s proven time and time again that the main trendsetters in the community are black people.
Actively contributing to a community/ industry that keeps trying to silence you is exhausting, but I understand that one day, the value will be seen in our work. We are already inspiring others just by sharing our art, the brands are bound to follow suit soon.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: If you knew you had 10 years left, what would you stop doing immediately?
I would stop spending so much time inside and more time meeting new people, sharing my art with the world!
Sometimes my anxiety makes it difficult but being social and learning new perspectives from people you’ve never met is so refreshing. I’d love to hear stories about their lives, the beautiful and the ugly, their interests, and maybe even use their experiences as inspiration for future makeup looks.
I’d want to travel the world and show people that different makeup styles exist beyond the everyday glam that we typically see on celebrities.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://beacons.ai/chelslaysss
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chelslaysss
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chelseycherry
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@chelslaysss
Image Credits
All photos taken by Chelsey Cherry, @chelslaysss
