A Q&A with Kait Rak

Kait Rak graduated from Humber’s Photography program in 2013. Inspired by people she met while working as a studio manager for a well-known photographer, she’s now a freelance makeup artist and working towards doing special effects makeup for film. She told us a bit about how she ended up doing makeup and how Humber helped her get there.

What is your current job title and what does that mean on a daily basis?

With COVID making it difficult to work in the beauty industry, I thought it best to make the switch to healthcare temporarily, so I’m currently an unregulated care provider taking care of seniors with dementia. Before COVID, I was a freelance makeup artist and I also performed lash and brow services.

Can you tell us about some favourite project you’ve worked on or a project that you are particularly proud of?

Since graduating from the Photography program, I’ve made the switch to makeup artist. I did some beauty work for the film It: Chapter Two, which was really fun and interesting. It gave me the film itch, and I’m hoping to go back to school for special effects makeup for film once COVID is over.

How did your time at Humber help you get where you are now?

My time at Humber lead me to working with photographers in the editorial field. With that I met a lot of makeup and hair artists and found that I gravitated more towards them than the photographer. I was pushed by some friends to go to school for makeup artistry and I fell in love with it. Even though I’m not a full time photographer, I still keep the skills I learned at Humber fresh by doing my own shoots. It certainly helps to feature my makeup work!

Give us a tip (or tips) for students and recent grads hoping to follow in your footsteps.

Trust your gut instincts and never give up on what you are truly passionate about. I believed I was passionate about photography, but it lead me to other things and I couldn’t be happier.