Rising Stars: Meet Bobbie Riley

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bobbie Riley.

Hi Bobbie, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I have always been around the arts, I grew up in an entertainment-based family, my father is Teddy Riley. My parents always kept us in a bit of everything from theatre, music lessons, dance lessons, sports whatever to ignite our creativity but my mother saw early on that I was a little different than my siblings. I loved sitting in front of cartoons/different films drawing the characters or decorating my doll’s faces and cutting their hair. That’s when my love for cosmetics truly began…playing in my mother’s makeup bags, trying on her clothes, watching the crew behind the stage move around during recitals & learning about studio art from my grade school teacher Ms. McRary and THE SMELL I can’t forget the smell of makeup that always drew me in. From there going into my teens it was only a matter of time before my crushes on boys and my need for self-care turned into horrid blue smokey eyes, blowing out and trimming my own hair. Then came trying new looks on my sisters and friends into moving in with them in LA at 16 with their blossoming dance careers taking care of our bills they demanded I begin my journey building a career and name for myself.

Thus, they took me on set and introduced me to a makeup artist and I started assisting her…that was my first five years in the beauty field. During that time, from sets of cleaning brushes to the counter focused on sharpening my skills, building my kit, my network & hustling retail & babysitting. I graduated high school already beginning my career journey so I felt it fit to attend a cosmetology school by the name of Aveda in Los Angeles. After my FAFSA money was up and they started reaching out their hand for more tuition, I left toward the end of that program (unfortunately, at the time I was 19 and couldn’t afford it) but still pressed forward in my career hustling and bustling. By 21 the phones began to ring a little more as I supplemented my income from odd jobs, events and set jobs. I continued pressing forward with spunk and I believe that’s exactly what attracted more mentorship in my life from a few amazing artists in the industry, they took me under their wing and began teaching me through the work they’d put me on and Man!

Did I learn so much from the different clients, sets & events I got to work on. It went from names I hadn’t heard of but gaining experience to Popsugar, Nike, BET, MTV, Amazon, Refinery 29, Netflix… I mean the list goes on. I feel extremely blessed though that’s just the highlight reel of my journey and there were a lot of bumps in the road as I’ve come upon my 12th year in the industry so within the last few years I have been focused on of course continuing to elevate as an artist but now also developing learning and employment programs to share with freelance artists like myself. I spent the first 10 years getting experiences and building my network, I want my next ten years to look like building a legacy and giving back to my community.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
IT HAS NOT AT ALL BEEN A SMOOTH ROAD but a lot of my hurdles had to do with myself. I feel like most times we get in the way of our own greatness and we make everything out to be the enemy but really it’s just our own fears and childhood traumas. So of course gaining experience and reaching to new heights is hard but I think once I was able to get past myself it has been much easier to just do the work, realize myself and go toward my goals personally & professionally.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a makeup artist, I’d say my specialty is working in TV/FILM or Commercials. I think my strengths are creating editorial skin and designing cool looks with my clients whether it be super dramatic or very simplistic. My favorite thing to do is special effects, I like making people fake bleed and creating creatures… I think mostly because I get to work with various different mediums that make it most enjoyable. I’m most proud of running the department of Makeup/SFX for the Jackson Family’s Halloween event for the last 3 years and getting to recreate the work of one of the artists I look up to, Rick Baker. Also, because it’s kind of full circle, my father did Michael Jackson’s “dangerous” album so getting to recreate one of the most epic visuals and songs that he did around that time is very special and near to my heart. I believe my ability to be versatile being able to do many different styles of glam & do SFX well is definitely something that sets me apart but also my ability to connect with people and just love on people I feel is also a strong suit of mine that I continue to do my best to fine-tune.

The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
YES! I learned that everyone has their own preferences of comfortability, that I can still thrive as a freelancer through such a time, that our ability to connect amongst each other is reliant on being able to see each other’s faces and eyes (I truly missed that through the pandemic) that technology isn’t our enemy and has been a great source of me being able to connect with my family not just through the crisis but when I was starting out my career and didn’t have the funds to go home from LA.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.BobbieRileyBeauty.com
• Instagram: https://www.Instagram.com/bobbierileybeauty
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BobbieRileyBeauty/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaqkA4UEd1Yb1xWWn83YjXA

Image Credits
Joe Flip Wilson took professional images, other images photo’d are taken with iPhone