In the Spotlight: Katie Keller Trusky
- Nov 1, 2025
- 5 min read
Updated: May 1
What makes you a "Divine Woman in Business?
✨What is your story?
I am encouraging and empowering hair and makeup artists to become masters of their craft and reach their fullest potential.
I entered the beauty industry with the dream of being a colorist- but after many years of hopping around from toxic salon to toxic salon, I was discouraged, deflated, and felt like I’d never be able to make the life or income I wanted *just* doing hair. Luckily, I accidentally fell into the world of wedding beauty after having my son. I met a mentor who lifted me up and encouraged me as her assistant. She gave me advice and resources to grow, learn, and the confidence to start my freelance career.
After years of working for other agencies, I saw the immense need for positive and encouraging leadership in the bridal beauty world- and took the leap of faith to grow my own team.
I was lucky enough to find an amazing business partner, cheerleader, and accidental bestie. As our team grew, we started providing personalized training for our team to refine and diversify their skillset. I found my passion to encourage, nurture, and mentor new artists- just as I had been encouraged when I was close to giving up.
Now, we are building our own unique and diverse team of educators to inspire, encourage, and motivate. Each artist's individual niche, talents, and distinctive creativity are what make them spectacular.
My son is my WHY. Without him, I never would have found my passion- and I want to show him how to inspire and encourage others— and that others' successes do not diminish your own.
Most importantly, to have unconditional self-love and know that he can do anything he desires with the right mindset and motivation.
"What is a story of strength, survival or hardship you have overcome and what did that teach you?"
When I first started my own business doing bridal hair and makeup, I was running a small team of about 8 by myself.
At this time, I was still taking every booking request that came my way, and was fairly confident in hairstyling skills, but still perfecting my makeup kit and application technique on clients.
I had one makeup trial appointment where the client had very acne-prone skin, with a lot of texture and dry patches. This skin type was new to me, and I made the mistake of overusing color correction products, along with using an airbrush formula that, in retrospect, I would not recommend for textured skin. Her sister had also attended the appointment and was sort of lingering over my shoulder for the entirety of the appointment.
After the appointment, I took my after pictures and sent them to the client, knowing this had not been my best application and expecting to do a retrial to refine the look for the day.
The next day, I signed in to Facebook and immediately, my heart dropped, as I saw another local artist had taken my after photo, heavily edited it by turning the contrast and shadows all the way up, and used it as an example of a “horrible makeup application” next to her own after picture of makeup on this same client, with beautiful, bright editing.
She was using my photo, which she altered, to make her work look better and promote her business. I was crushed, devastated, and deflated. I felt like crawling into a hole and giving up.
After a good cry and a pep talk from my Mom, and another from my business mentor, I decided I was going to let this fuel my fire instead of putting it out. I decided I needed a makeup partner who could complete what I was lacking and who needed my hair expertise as well. I met my partner, Sarah, who was also running in the Chicago beauty freelance circuit, and we automatically clicked.
She is a talented, type-A makeup artist with a background in psychology, which makes her organized and a great communicator. We both are creative and dreamers- and supported each other's passions by not only working together as a strong partnership but also by teaching and balancing each other out- I taught her my hair skills, and she taught me makeup!
Over the last 5 years- through lots of trials and some errors- we have grown from the ground up from a team of 8 in a tiny rental room, to 2 full service salon locations, and a combined team of 90 working in 5 different states, and have learned SO much along the way in working with such a large and diverse group of artists, the need became apparent for encouragement, support, and helping artists expanding and refine their skill sets, technique and communication - much like I needed at the beginning of my career.
I became passionate about helping our team fill in any gaps in areas the were lacking confidence or receiving feedback in order to prepare them for success with any client and any inspo photo that came their way. We have tightened up our processes and are continuing to grow our education as hosts for guest artists, as well as building our team of niche educators for a variety of learning opportunities, which will be included for our existing team and offered for artists outside our team who need a hand getting established in the bridal beauty world.
Through that *first* internet bullying trauma, I learned that you can easily give up on your goals when someone tries to intimidate you- or you can take away a valuable learning moment, rise to the occasion, and prove your bullies wrong.
"What advice would you give to other women to succeed as "Divine Women" in their lives?"
1. Most of the time, the person in the way of achieving your goals is YOU: comparison, imposter syndrome, and perfectionism are time stealers that can make you freeze and feel like you aren’t enough. Being aware and taking steps to overcome self-sabotage helps to establish good habits, create an actionable plan, and set a positive mindset that will help you hit your goals without second-guessing your credibility and worth.
2. Boundaries are a non-negotiable- your energy, time, and knowledge are valuable. You can’t pour from an empty cup. Saying no to things that don’t align with your goals will prevent burnout and create more opportunity for things that feel good, make you money, and bring you joy.
3. Community is SO important. I would never have had the traction and success in my beginnings if I hadn’t sought out vendors I admired, put myself in crowds I wanted to be a part of, and been just *nice* to people I wanted to work and collaborate with. Making friends in your community — even with direct competition will open up doors you didn’t know were there.
- Katie Keller Trusky✨✨
Want to connect with Katie? Find her at...
Socials: FB / IG: @blushandbraidsbeautybar
Website: Blushandbraidsbeautybar.com
Email: katiemkeller@gmail.com
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Much Light, Love & Inspiration ✨✨✨
