Brittany Danielle wakes up early, checks her messages for any last-minute schedule changes, puts on a face of makeup, picks out an outfit for the day, and arrives at work by 5:30 am. Her office? The White House. Her job? She’s the makeup artist for one of the most famous faces in American media: Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
On Leavitt’s first day back from maternity leave this month, Danielle showed up before the cameras and was ready to hit the ground running. When she arrived at the White House, Danielle realized she and Leavitt accidentally coordinated their outfits. Their baby pink blazers, trousers, white shirts, and gold-buckled belts were a perfect match, but while Danielle was sporting black-and-white sneakers for a long day standing, Leavitt donned nude heels.
Danielle’s schedule is always shifting with the fast-paced world of politics. Even while speaking with IW Features, she was called in to prep Leavitt for the media last minute and had to reschedule her interview.
“I know that [Leavitt’s] got two meetings coming up, and I’ll have enough time to blow dry half of her hair and then set up my makeup,” Danielle told IW Features. “We will literally work where I will only have one of her eyes done, and she has to go to a meeting.
“[Leavitt is] looking at files, she’s reading stuff, she’s on her phone, she’s in a meeting, she’s got 10 people in her office,” Danielle added. “And I’m sitting there doing her hair and makeup.”
Some days, Danielle is in the White House all day, ready to touch up Leavitt’s look at a moment’s notice. And other days, she is behind the scenes at news studios and events with Leavitt.
Danielle said she prefers to work behind the scenes. But even though she’s not the one in front of the cameras, she said she’s still been lambasted for her association with the Trump Administration.
“I was getting death threats,” she said. “People were like, ‘I pray every day that you go to hell.’”
Danielle set her social media to private, ignored the misconstrued headlines, and never stopped showing up every day to do her job.
“People talk so much trash, and they don’t know the situation,” she said. “The criticism that comes with working with a politician, it’s harsh. A lot of times they’re attacking not the makeup artist, but they’re attacking the politician, and you just happen to get wrapped up in it.”
Headlines have simultaneously lambasted the White House’s use of a makeup artist and harshly criticized the appearances of its female staff. And yet, the role of the makeup artist in politics is more than 50 years old.
In the first televised presidential debate in 1960, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon faced off in front of the American public. Television audiences reportedly preferred Kennedy due to his confident, calm presence. He appeared composed, healthy, and youthful, while Nixon seemed old, thin, and frail under studio lights. Makeup was Kennedy’s secret to his TV-ready look. Nixon had foregone the same pre-camera ritual, even though a recent hospitalization had worsened his appearance.
After the debate, politics were never the same. Suddenly, style and substance were vital to winning hearts and minds across America.
But in the tumultuous world of press and politics, few have the time to perfect their on-air appearance and also deliver on policy. That’s where Danielle comes in.
“Not everybody’s propped up in a light where you can spend 15 minutes on skincare,” she said. “Especially if you’re a politician, you’re on the go. Your makeup is the last thing you’re thinking of…. [In] those extra 15 minutes, you need to do something else.”
Danielle’s job goes far beyond mere appearances. She’s responsible for ensuring that Leavitt never has to worry about her on-camera look and can focus on the latest from President Trump and the administration. It’s why Danielle shows up bright and early, navigates the last-minute schedule changes, and always delivers.
“It’s important to have somebody that’s going to show up for you and help you,” she said. “It’s important for anybody who’s going to be in the media to have a consistent makeup artist that knows them, and that can work with them.”
Her own work ethic matches the drive she said she sees from everyone inside the White House.
“Regardless of whatever someone’s political views are, when you see the people tirelessly working behind the scenes for what they believe is best for the interest of the country, it really changes your mindset,” she said.
In fact, witnessing the determination and dedication of the administration is her favorite part of the job, Danielle told IW Features. Of course, she said it’s incredible to be part of the history of the White House alongside the famous names and faces she sees passing through the West Wing. But most of all, she said she’s thankful for the front seat she has to the real work that happens beyond the news cameras and headlines.
“It made me find some new love for my country, too,” she added. “It woke up this patriotic spirit inside of me.”
Danielle’s patriotic spirit goes back to her roots in West Virginia. Growing up in a rural part of the state, Danielle admitted makeup and fashion were not always her obsession.
“I was into gymnastics and then just playing and having fun,” Danielle said. “I wasn’t a tomboy or anything, but I just didn’t even think about stuff like that.”
Then, in high school, Danielle said she wanted to stand out and realized fashion and makeup could be another way to express herself.
“Especially being a ‘mountain mama,’” she added, her hair and makeup look set her apart.
“I was the only minority in my school,” she explained. “So I really started to step up my game with hair and makeup and fashion because I… [thought], ‘If I’m the only minority, I’m going to go out and get it with a bang.’”
After high school, she studied cosmetology and fashion merchandising, with the dream of working in showrooms, buying the latest fabrics, and discovering the newest designers. And when she joined the industry, she started an office job—all the while doing makeup on the side. Slowly, she took on more events in Washington, D.C.
“I liked that arena more, the political field,” she explained to IW Features, contrasting it with other cosmetology career paths like bridal makeup.
“Not because I’m into politics, but I liked the professionalism of the job,” Danielle said. “I started working at Fox News… I could meet so many different people and see their personalities offscreen.”
Danielle said she loved seeing the real people making policy decisions and news headlines—outside of the sensation and smears.
“After meeting them offscreen and seeing their personalities and that they’re real people, I really loved that arena,” she elaborated.
When Leavitt became press secretary, Danielle was working at Fox News and was the only makeup artist on set for one of Leavitt’s early morning news hits.
“She was coming in last minute,” Danielle said, recalling the rush to get Leavitt through the makeup chair. “After she left, she came by to thank me for helping her. And I was like, ‘Oh, do you have a hair and makeup artist since you’re going to be on the news a lot?’”
Leavitt immediately asked for Danielle’s phone number, and from there the two have been the team behind Leavitt’s camera-ready life.
Naturally, Leavitt’s life leaves little time to sit in the hair-and-makeup chair.
“I really want to make her look beautiful and feel really good,” Danielle said. “Working around her is really unlike working with anybody else—and not just because she’s press secretary. It’s because she really goes to work… And sometimes I’m laughing hysterically because I’m chasing her down the hall before she goes on, and I’m like, ‘Please don’t forget to put your lipstick on, or don’t forget to put your blush on.’”
Danielle’s own life is not one lived sitting down either. While the press secretary is her main priority, she also juggles several clients, including Lara Trump and Fox News personalities.
“If there’s an event, I’ll get double booked,” she said. “I start distributing some of these clients to well-trusted makeup artists that I know in the area.”
Danielle hopes to keep growing her business, and as a true champion woman, she said she wants to empower more artists with the career in media and politics she’s grown to love.
But perhaps the most special part of Danielle’s job is the relationships she’s built with the people who trust her with their appearances—Leavitt included.
“I was able to plan her baby shower,” she said, referencing Leavitt’s recent pregnancy with her daughter. “That was so fun for me.”
Despite going above and beyond for Leavitt—as a makeup artist and friend—Danielle admitted that she doesn’t think she’s the world’s best makeup artist and pointed to a number of other extraordinarily talented artists. But it’s this humility that has contributed to her success. She’s always honing her craft, growing, and hoping to learn from other artists.
As Danielle herself said, “Talent, it might get you in the room, but humility and kindness and willingness to learn from others will help you, and it will make people want to work with you again and again.”
From Fox News to the White House, Danielle ’s success and talent speak for themselves.
“I saw [my dream] come true,” she said, recalling the years of work and right-time, right-place moments that brought her here.
And in the end, as a Christian, Danielle gives the credit to God: “It’s really a blessed opportunity that God gave me.”
