Meet Brady Allio

We were lucky to catch up with Brady Allio recently and have shared our conversation below.

Brady, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?

I come from a small town called Juneau in Southeast Alaska. I was born on August 23 to my loving parents, Brett and Heather Allio. I wasn’t born like everyone else though. I was born 100% Deaf – nothing, nada, zip! All the cliches you can muster – I just couldn’t hear.

When I was six years old, my family and I went to Seattle, Washington for my cochlear implant surgery, this helped me to hear quite a bit. What I heard was not fully clear all of the time especially at first.  There would be times when I have to ask someone to repeat themselves (cochlear implants do not restore hearing but instead give people a “sense of sounds,” according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services website). That means I can understand some simpler sentences and I can understand the words of those I am around a lot, such as my family, friends, and coworkers. Other times, I rely on an interpreter and lip-reading. I was in speech and auditory. therapy my entire childhood until my sophomore in high school. Through the speech therapy I learned to hear and speak better and better every year! I loved speaking with my friends, coworkers, and families. I wouldn’t stop talking and talking. I’ve gotten many compliments on my speech skills and others have been impressed with how clear and smooth my voice is.

American Sign Language was my first language and I didn’t start to learn my second language, English, until I started kindergarten. I was basically learning two languages at the same time while I grew up. I sometimes have a language barrier but I don’t let it stop me from fully understanding what is going on. I immediately take action to clear up any language barrier by typing it down onto the Note App on my iPhone or write any questions I may have on actual paper. I still encounter some language barriers, which depends greatly on other people’s ability to understand my voice.

I have experienced lots of discrimination against me because of my Deafness but I have learned to not let my Deafness affect my lifestyle and my goals. All I have to do is believe in myself and keep looking forward.  I let any awful discrimination people may say go in one ear and out the other! I’ve done lots of networking and I managed to accomplish all the makeup gigs I can get my hands on. I am willing to throw myself out there to prove to people that my disability won’t affect my career in the Hollywood Industry. I also enjoyed showing people that they are wrong.

I decided to apply to the make-up artistry trade school. I went to the Make-Up Designory during 2019/2020 in Burbank, California, where I graduated from Make-Up Designory on July 1, 2020 in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. Once I moved back down to Los Angeles after the travel ban was lifted, I realized there were a lot more challenges than I expected for myself since I didn’t have equal access as everyone else. Rejections caused some tough times for me. I’ve accomplished a few gigs and interviews but many didn’t think I was qualified enough to work on the set because of their concerns about communication/understanding. But I wouldn’t let it affect me.  I’ve been trying hard to get my foot into the door of the Hollywood Industry with the support of a couple of my best friends and appreciate their help navigating through the Los Angeles lifestyle and culture.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

When I was young, I came across this competition TV show called FaceOff on the FX channel. I became obsessed with it and very interested in how they create all types of creatures, injuries, and special effects makeup. I loved watching the “Pan Labyrinth” movie too, I was very curious about this specific character Pale Man/Fauno. Like how they made it look so realistic and scary, I just fell in love with learning more about makeup industries and how to become a makeup artist too. I also enjoyed drawing lots, I have a few sketch journals that I would draw all of my thoughts, and feelings into rather than expressing them in words. Later on, I slowly transitioned my drawing skills into makeup skills and started doing more makeup looks during my late middle school year/ early high school year. I’ve challenged myself to learn how to do makeup in my bedroom using some random cheapest makeup products I bought from Fred Meyer in my hometown Juneau, Alaska. When I was entering my sophomore year I started to use a little more natural glowing makeup looks while I performed with my high school dance team during basketball halftime. I’ve got a few compliments on how beautiful my eyes were with a black eye pencil on my eye waterline. Every October month during my whole high school life, I would try to take an opportunity to challenge myself to do gory, creature-type special makeup looks with cotton, corn syrup, and red food coloring and dress it out trick & treats or parties on Halloween.

I was graduating from high school in 2018, I decided to go to Rochester, New York for a graphic design major at Rochester Institute of Technology which has a Deaf community on campus. I was very interested in graphic design and wanted to be included Deaf community but at the same time, I was very young 17 years old when I first moved out of my parent’s house from a small town to a big city, my mindset wasn’t ready for the reality of adulthood once I got to Rochester. My first semester in New York was very miserable; I decided to withdraw from RIT move back to Juneau, Alaska, and begin researching the best makeup artist trade school somewhere in California. I stumbled onto Make-Up Designory and Cinema Makeup School; I ended up choosing Make-Up Designory and it was the best choice I’ve made in my life. I didn’t want to be in the office, staring into computer editing all day long, I realized that I could actually make my dream of being a freelance makeup artist come true only if I chose to pursue it and work extra hard for it and don’t let another’s stop me.

Once, I graduated and got my certificate from Make-Up Designory, I started working on creating my freelance makeup platform on Instagram and my portfolio website. I was feeling so ecstatic when I got to assist my best friend Gabrielle LaFleur, whom I met from Make-Up Designory on my first music video gig. I got to learn a little more about how realistic it is to work on the actual set and how to watch the monitor ensuring the makeup/hair looks good. From there, I was struggling a little bit getting gigs due to writer strikes, so I applied to work at Make-Up Designory as a part-time receptionist in the shop. Shortly afterward I started my job at MUD, I managed to get my hand on more gigs like Fashion Shows, Live-Demo, and Events during the writer strikes. When the writer strike ended, I started to immediately look for any opportunities in film gigs and I achieved a position to assist Marianne Beer – Head of the Makeup Department on my first film gig for LifeTIme I was full of excitement the whole time I worked set for LifeTime. I’ve worked on seven films this year but I can say I am so excited there are more projects coming up.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

I believe that my area of knowledge in the Makeup Artistry Industry was a huge challenge for me, especially since I didn’t realize how competitive it is with all of the other artists in Los Angeles. Plus my Deafness makes getting gigs a bit more difficult, I had to show them that I had the skills to do my job as a make-up artist, and that my Deafness doesn’t affect anything. I’ve shown most of the people that I met on set that I am a very serious hardworking person who loves makeup and being creative and fun with all of my work.

While I was attending Make-Up Designory during 2019/2020, I discovered I have a natural talent for hair styling. My classmates and instructor were very surprised by my talents and how it all came to me so easily. My favorite hairstyle I’ve done was the 1920s finger-wave hairstyle, you just have to soak the hair and apply lots of gel to the hair, use the hand comb to shape it out, then use the clasp to hold it until the hair dries. I also am self-taught in doing several different hairstyles, like curling, blow out, or any type of braids whenever any of my friends needed any help with their hair during my four years on the high school dance team.

I usually prepare my kit a few days before the gig, based off of reading the scripts and meeting with the directors/producers. Most of the time I prepped my kit with what I believed I would need on set but realistically there was a time when I showed up on set underprepared and didn’t know what exactly I needed. That was a little embarrassing for me. I didn’t want to let myself and the crew down, so I got a couple of new kit bags and deep-organized all the makeup products. I want to ensure that I have all the products I will need for any gig. Especially always being over-prepared for anything that my client or director may have as a last-minute request.

My advice to those new artists is just keep your head up, believe in yourself, and have the confidence to accomplish all your dreams/ goals whatever they are. Don’t ever give up, find your inner passion/motives to lift yourself up. Don’t ever let anyone try to tell you what you can or cannot do.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

Yes, I am very open to collaborating with anyone. I am very versatile with my freelance makeup artist career, I enjoy challenging myself and am always up to try out new out of the box, makeup looks; that no one has thought of before. I’ve worked on sets of personal sets for photoshoot actors, which are already well-known actors for photoshoots, music videos, fashion shows, and films with various actors, a few of which are already well-known actors by all of us from watching their shows. (I am not going to say their names out of respect.) I would love to take any opportunities to collaborate with any of artists/filmmakers/or anyone hosting events.

Please feel free to check out my portfolio website, you also can submit a request to work with me through my website.  www.bradyalliomua.com
I also have more work/ behind-the-scenes photos on my makeup Instagram account, @bugg.mua

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.bradyalliomua.com
• Instagram: @bugg.mua

Image Credits

Mario E. Carranza
Andre
Gregg Heckler
Evan Sickora