Tamika Alexander — Staff Writer
Right after putting her daughter to bed and thinking of ideas to put together a vision board for the next year, Brittney Little discusses how she manages her many crafts and being a mother.
“I’m a creator,” she said. “I am a hair and make-up artist. I dance and I have a passion for acting and I also like to write.”
Between running back and forth to photo shoots all over Connecticut and New York City, being a hair stylist at a salon, and performing in shows, it can get hectic sometimes, said Little.
“I have to create a schedule every week,” she said. “My schedule always changes. I have to take advantage of my time with my daughter. Because I’m a single mom, my ‘me’ time has to come when she’s at school. It’s strategizing I guess.”
Little said she graduated from James Hillhouse High School in New Haven in 2005. She then attended Paul Mitchell Beauty School where she studied cosmetology and graduated in 2006.
Paul Mitchell Beauty school teaches its students how to be cosmetologists, business people and artists, according to its website.
“I learned how to braid at 9-years-old,” she said, “and it went from there.”
Little’s interest in dance was also sparked at a young age.
“Well as a child, I was in a drill team. I always wanted to do splits and stuff,” she said. “Once I realized I could actually move my body, I decided to start dancing. It’s also a really good workout. I was heavy as a child.”
Along with being a hair stylist and a dancer, Little also said she’s a make-up artist.
“I was a part of a wedding company, doing hair,” she said. “We were short staffed one day and I just picked up a brush.”
Hairstyling and doing make-up is a craft and an art in itself, she said.
“Whenever doing someone’s hair and make-up, it’s all about them,” she said. “I’m trying to bring out the best in them, exaggerate their features.”
Kiara Clemons, fellow dancer and friend, spoke of Little’s dance and artistic talents.
“When she dances,” Clemons said, “she’s aggressive at times but sensual when needed. When she does hair and make-up, she’s very professional, very passionate and very meticulous with her craft.”
She’s fearless, said Erica Staggers, a friend of Little.
“She’s artistic. She’s ambitious, very ambitious,” Staggers said. “She’s a risk-taker. She doesn’t care what anyone says or thinks. I love it.”
Still pursuing her aspirations, Little said she’s proud of the things she has accomplished thus far in her life.
“I’m proud that I started my own company and getting back into dance,” she said. “I’m also proud that I’m committing to motherhood and raising my daughter. And perfecting my craft and pursuing my goals.”
She currently dances for a dance group called Venom Chatte, she said and plans to get into acting and advancing in her career to better the life of her and her daughter.
“In five years,” she said, “I will be settled into a house or a condo somewhere tropical like Miami. I would like to do a movie or two by then and have an agent as far as make-up goes. And my daughter will be in private school.”
Ultimately, with every intention to perfect her craft, she remembers the reason why she does hair and make-up, to help people feel good about themselves, she said.
“Some people need to hear they’re beautiful,” she said, “but I want them to feel it as well as hear it.”
