Today we’d like to introduce you to Courtney Housner.
Courtney, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
So I started meddling in the hair world when I was super young. I so appreciate all the people that let me play with their hair growing up because that ultimately led to the career that I have now. My best friend Rachel, I swear will never let me forget the number of times that I made her let me do her hair. What are best friends for, right?
From there, I went to Aveda Cosmetology School in the Twin Cities. Going to Cosmetology school was such a love/hate relationship. But I will say that that’s the point that I realized I wanted to add makeup to my professional repertoire. I will never forget my instructor Briahna at school who kind of nudged me into the world of makeup. If it weren’t for her, I don’t think I would have given the idea much thought! I’m so thankful for her.. Plus, she kicked my butt in cosmetology school. Somebody had to do it in order to get me to where I am…
After Cosmetology school, I did an additional year of advanced training with the salon that I ended up being with for 2 years. In my second year at that salon, I had gotten a call from a friend out here in CA that I had gone to Cosmo school with, asking if I wanted to come out and work on a gig with her at the Playboy Mansion. I accepted and shortly thereafter flew out to do the job. While working that job, I ended up booking a job with ‘Boeing’ doing makeup for a shoot of theirs the following day. After those two jobs, I ultimately decided that I was going to make entertainment hair and makeup my career. So I went back to Minnesota, left my job, packed my bags, and ventured here to LA where I have now been for a little over four years.
Since moving here, there have been plenty of up’s and downs. But having the job that I do has made it so worthwhile. I’ve worked with some pretty incredible people. From other stylists, makeup artists, to actors, directors, and crews in general, I’ve been pretty blessed.
Since embarking on this journey, I’ve had some pretty incredible opportunities, I’ve traveled to some amazing places, and I’ve made some amazing friends. I am also now a sponsored hairstylist by two incredible companies. The people behind Seven Haircare and Enzo Milano are by far the kindest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of doing business with. Seven’s hair products and Enzo’s styling tools are beyond amazing! Not only are my clients hooked, but they are my on-set essentials.
Has it been a smooth road?
Working in entertainment has been the least smooth road I’ve ever been down, actually. There are plenty of obstacles that you face as an artist, and a lot of those times they’re obstacles within yourself! So often we think we aren’t good enough to do the job that we set out to do in this industry. We are our biggest critics after all, right?
Also learning that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Know your worth, trust your value, believe in your talents, and you’ll find a smoother path!
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
It’s so hard to pinpoint the proudest moment of my career. I genuinely am pretty proud of all of the opportunities I have been given to date. If I had to choose one, it would probably be the time that my work filled an entire art gallery in Miguel’s “…goingtohell” music video. I remember the team pitching the idea to me when we were doing the shoot. And I was like “yeah, yeah.. art gallery, my work, got it. And then I saw the video and was like.. wait, what?! That was a pretty cool moment for me.
Were there moments when you had to struggle?
The biggest struggle of my career by far was the beginning of it. I moved out to LA knowing next to no one. I didn’t really have anyone to guide me in one direction or another, so I kind of just went in all of them and figured it out later. I’m not joking when I say this, but at the beginning of my career, I couldn’t even get some people to respond to me when I was offering my services for free. That’s something I’ll never forget. But In the midst of sending out emails day in and day out in hopes to find work, I eventually got an email back. It was the tail end of my first year out here, and I got a job offer for a project with some of the cast of “Pretty Little Liars”. That’s pretty much when things completely changed for my career.
Is LA a good place to do what you do?
I feel like LA is a great place for me to be with having the career that I do. For someone who is just starting out, I wouldn’t NOT recommend LA.What I would recommend is gaining some experience in the hair and makeup world before diving right into the entertainment industry.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.courtneyhousner.com
- Email: chousner@yahoo.com
- Instagram: @chousner
