Meet Brandi Pope | Faith & Beauty Influencer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Brandi Pope and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Brandi, why did you pursue a creative career?
I had done the corporate 9-5 gig for 20+ years. While it paid the bills, it was never something I was passionate or excited about… But I also never thought I could just switch gears in my 30’s to try something different. That terrified me!

It wasn’t until I competed for Mrs. Virginia America and won the 2012 title that I realized I’m wasn’t too old to pursue my dreams! That was the year that the entire trajectory of my life shifted. I gained the confidence in myself to go for GOLD! I realized that with taking risks comes great reward. If I wouldn’t have competed (scared out of my mind) I would’ve never realized I was capable of winning!

With my new found confidence I decided to become a freelance hair and makeup artist because I KNEW that was something I was passionate about. As a teen I went to cosmetology school but dropped out my 2nd year because I was told it wasn’t a lucrative career. The opinions of others hindered me from pursuing my passion at that time.

Now, here I was at 32 years old viewing the world as my oyster. Becoming a hair and makeup artist eventually led me to starting my youtube channel around 2014. Here we are in 2024, and over the last 10 years Ive been able to use my creative mind & my artistic ability while doing what I love… helping women.

I’ve been able to grow my audience to roughly 600,000 people who I get to impact, inspire, and be a light to every single day. I not only share the best in the hair and beauty world but I’m able to share the most important thing in my life (and the reason I’m even here in the 1st place), Jesus. When people come to my platforms, they know they’re going to get both beauty and Jesus.

One of the coolest things that this all led me to was to compete in pageantry again, 10 years later. I won the title of Mrs Va United States 2021 and went on to become 2nd runner up at the national pageant. This opened up even MORE doors of opportunity in my field of work that I’m forever grateful for.

The resounding lesson I’ve learned is if you don’t try, you’ll never know what “COULD” be.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I always say “I’m just a girl chasing her dreams and inspiring others to do the same.” But, who is that girl? Well, I’m a full time social media content creator. I started on youtube back in 2014. That eventually led to starting an instagram page. Then, during Covid, I finally bit the bullet and joined TikTok. Joining that platform changed the game for me. I quickly realized that short form content was my bread and butter. I could pump out way more content, cover a lot more products, and help a lot more people. TikTok was a place where I truly felt I could show up consistently as my true authentic self and people responded.

I had just about every challenge you can imagine that tried to stop this path when I first got started. My husband thought I was crazy for the first few years. See, I didn’t make ANY money for a few years and who wants to work for free? haha It was such a learning process. I had no idea what I was doing. I knew nothing about filming, lighting, editing…. literally ZERO knowledge. But, I knew there was this burning desire deep in my soul to pursue this. In my mind, even if I never made a penny, this was going to be a ministry for me. I was going to do it even if it was to only help 1 woman feel better about herself.

My “beauty” content is different from other influencers because I always mix it with faith to inspire women both physically and spiritually. My content is full of Jesus and Beauty. Leading with my faith has drawn so many women who I’ve been able to impact with so much more than just makeup. I’ve inspired people to seek out their own relationship with Christ. I’ve inspired many to read their bibles again. I actually have a series called “Bible Banter with Brandi” where I share bible stories in a very captivating way WHILE doing my makeup. It’s such a fun series!

Ive had so many opportunities that I would’ve never dreamt I would have by pursing this career. One of the most notable has been having the amazing opportunity to create multiple makeup palettes in collaboration with the brand Ladycode. FYI: many of the pictures that you see of me here are from the campaign shoots for these collaborations shot by the talented Code Creatives in Miami, FL.

Creating a makeup palette was always a HUGE dream of mine and I’m still in awe that it came true. My palettes, Beauty and the Beach & Every Day Slay are 2 of my most prized possessions. I also created a lipgloss and lash to go with the Every Day Slay collection. Even with this opportunity I was able to stay true to who I am and create Every Day Slay by infusing my faith throughout the entire collection. Every name of every shadow is to remind the woman wearing it of who she is in Christ. Powerful, Saved, Beautiful, Joyful, Redeemed, FREE… these are some of the shadow names that I pray speak to the user daily.

My journey has been anything but easy. I’ve had to work through MANY challenges and block out a lot of naysayers… but it has 100% been worth the work, sweat and tears. God has given me the strength and ability to learn the things I didn’t know to become successful and truly fulfill my God given purpose.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I live in the Richmond Va area. If I had someone coming to visit me here, I would have to take them to Short Pump mall. It’s a beautiful outdoor mall that has GREAT shopping and lots of restaurants to try. Depending on what their pallet is like I would offer to take them to YaYa’s for the BEST Asian infused dishes! My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

If they come on a weekend then we would have to visit TOAST. Their brunch menu is insane! My TOP picks are the Cali Omlet which has avocado, pico de gallo, black beans, monterey jack, and cilantro creme franiche. That creme is to die for! And you can’t go without getting the HOMEMADE donuts of the day! You’ll never want an ordinary donut again.

I would definitely check the event listing at the Altria theatre because there’s always something fun happening! From concerts, to musicals, to comedy… we’d absolutely book a spectacular event to attend. And, if the weather corporates, we could spend time walking and talking on the River Walk in Richmond. The views are so stunning!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to shout out my mom for always being my #1 fan and hyping me up no matter what content I put out. Thank you to my husband and 3 children who have supported this journey even when it wasn’t easy for them. Having a wife/mom who is somewhat “well known” isn’t always fun for everyone so I appreciate the grace they’ve given me and the love they’ve shown. I want to thank my close circle of friends, pastors and mentors who’ve encouraged me, prayed for me, and helped me to stay the course even when the odds were stacked against me. It’s those precious people that have helped me remain grounded and true to who I am no matter the cost. And, obviously, the BIGGEST shoutout goes to Jesus Christ. It’s only the prompting of the Lord that I even started on social media. I remember God speaking to me and telling me that this career was going to be my ministry field. And, that’s exactly what it is for me. He deserves ALL the glory.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theglambelle

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theglambelle

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheGlamBelle

Other: tiktok: https://vm.tiktok.com/G4psS6/

Image Credits
The Code Creatives John Herzog