Meet Benny Rathana aka Bennymua | Makeup artist, Content creator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Benny Rathana aka Bennymua and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Benny, we’d love for you to start things off by telling us something about your industry that we and others not in the industry might be unaware of?
It takes work! The thing about beauty is “she” is VERY high maintenance. Speaking from a beauty content creator’s point of view, to make one 15 sec video can literally take 4-5 hours. You are your own boss, director, producer, editor. You kind of have to learn bits and pieces along the way. I’m very much a believe if faking it til you make it, you’d be surprise at how much you can achieve.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My art is an extension of who aim. I do makeup to empower others, who may think they need to pretend to be something they’re not, to

At this particular point in my life I’m not ashamed to say that I would not consider myself successful YET. But I am proud of all my success’s and how I’ve overcame my failures thus far. I’ve been able to walk in Chicago’s fashion week, been published in Selin magazine, worked and created content with some of the biggest makeup brands,

Being an immigrant of Cambodia I’ve had to be a sponge and absorb everything, starting from scratch

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
When I moved to the U.S we moved to a very small town in Michigan, with literally nothing to do, now that I live in Chicago I love to queer things up. Boystown is definitely a must, its whole square of amazing queer people, and people who aren’t taking things so seriously and are just being who they are, on top of that there’s so many spots to go dancing! But for when I’m trying to party party, we are going to “Mine” nightclub fro some regaton and some good music that you can actually get down to.

I’m also a foodie, so It’s a good day for me if we just walk around and eat all types of different food. Which is another reason why I love Chicago there are so many ethnic restaurants. We’re gonna hit my favorites like “Grandlux Cafe” for brunch, hit Chinatown’s “Minghin” for a dim sum dinner, and then we gotta go get drinks before we go out, one of my favs. is gonna be “London house” to feel all the boogie vibes and good drinks.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I wanna thank my mom for showing me what true perseverance look like, being migrants we had to learn everything from scratch when we moved to the U.S, she showed me how strong one can be.

And a thank you to everyone that I’ve met and had the privilege to have learned from; friends, teachers, directors etc.

Instagram: @Bennymua

Other: TikTok: @Bennymua

Image Credits
photographers: – Jaxon Dobbins – Corinne Pompey – Zachary P. Yang – Elena Bayda Models: – Can Ean – Gracie Kassanits – Lauren – Lauren Elise – Kenya Smith D.