Emily

Emily has over twenty years of experience as a professional makeup artist in the fields of film, video, print, and fashion with an emphasis on special events. She trained with Visage, Revlon, Chanel, MAC as well as other reputable companies before starting Cheekadee in 2005. She says that weddings are perhaps her favorite work, as she gets to share in the most important day of a girl's life!

Emily has also worked on and continues to contribute to various local projects including The Philadelphia Wedding Project, Photographer Shootouts, Philadelphia Trash the Dress, and Philadelphia and New York Boudoir. She works closely with hundreds of local and national photographers.

Clients include: the cast of Glee, Philadelphia Phillies, RuffNation Records and Film, University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University, Jefferson Hospital, Pennsylvania Lottery, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Chanel Cosmetics, and Shop Mamie.

Her work has been featured in Redbook Magazine, Brides Magazine, and Philadelphia Wedding Magazine, as well as on national websites including Wedding Bee, Wedding Wire, The Knot, Style me Pretty, Indie Bride, and Rock and Roll Bride.

Emily holds the philosophy that makeup artistry requires good listening, patience, and a love for other people, and allows this to guide her work in creating beautiful looks for each client.

Nina

Nina was born to make people feel beautiful. Being raised in a theatre family, she spent much of her childhood backstage. She watched the best makeup artists in the field and dreamt of becoming one herself.

Nina trained with Chanel cosmetics where she worked alongside Osvaldo Perez and served as a part of Chanel's national team. Nina has done runway makeup for the Philadelphia Phashion Phest, and countless photoshoots including for La Peg, Elle Lauri and a styled wedding shoot for Ruffled. She has also worked as an assistant makeup artist for such films as "The Perfect Witness," starring Wes Bentley, and the upcoming films "Redemption" and "Benny the Bum."

In the past two years with Cheekadee, Nina has shown her warm personality and genuine desire to help people feel beautiful. She is an absolute pleasure to work with and a welcome and caring presence on your special day.

Erica, Office Manager

Erica comes to Cheekadee with a background in non-profit organizing and development. She graduated cum laude with a degree in Sociology and Women's Studies from the University of Maryland, and has spent eight years building a passion for helping non-profits and small businesses get organized so that they can be successful and reach new heights. She is excited to get to work alongside the talented makeup artists at Cheekadee and learn lots of new things about the industry and makeup!

As the first ever Office Manager for Cheekadee, Erica has taken charge of responding to client inquiries, answering questions, handling all the details of appointments and weddings, and blogging. She has also used her skills to implement new systems of organization including online scheduling in order to open up time for Emily to work on exciting new projects for Cheekadee!

Erica holds a strong belief in good customer service, and will be here to address any concerns or questions that you have. As a client, you will be hearing from her all throughout the process of planning the makeup aspects of your wedding and will do everything she can to keep things organized and easy for you. We know how crazy planning a wedding can get!

Mandy

Mandy has been doing makeup for eleven years now and never in her wildest dreams did she expect it to turn it into a career. She has a bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice and planned to pursue a career in law. But something happened along the way: she fell in love with makeup!

Inspired by the makeup artists that she saw working in print and film, Mandy gave up law school to follow her true destiny. Mandy first worked with MAC, where she learned mastery makeup techniques by working with the industry's top makeup artists. She was also selected by MAC to work with senior celebrity makeup artists to teach makeup classes.

While working in the industry, Mandy developed a passion for wedding makeup. She grew her freelance business in the Tri-State area as well as New York by becoming a huge name in the Asian bridal community. Mandy was recently a bride herself and moved to New Jersey, so she is excited about expanding her business there as well as the Philadelphia area! She has built a resume by writing articles on skin care, makeup, and by teaching one-on-one makeup lessons.

We are proud to have Mandy as a part of the Cheekadee team!

Yelena

Yelena's passion for art started at an early age, when she discovered her talent for painting and drawing. This talent eventually led her to her love for makeup artistry, although she first started a career in real estate before realizing that was not her true calling.

Yelena also received an esthetician license from Jean Madeline Institute, and has years of experience in the Skin Care Industry providing services including facials, eye brow design, and airbrush tanning. While in school she also won first place in Jean Madeline's Makeup Competition.

Whether her work takes her to a bridal party or on location for a photo shoot, Yelena always demonstrates her talent for creating flawless skin and beautiful, stylish looks.