Foxworth, MSA small town with a big appetite
I grew up in Foxworth, a tiny community right next to Columbia, Mississippi. Gas stations, a Walmart, not much else back then. It's grown a lot since, and it's still home. Living somewhere affordable is what lets me travel for work as much as I do.
2013A camera for YouTube
I bought my first camera, a Canon T4i, to make goofy YouTube videos. Before that I borrowed my brother's and taught myself Photoshop. My godmother gave me $400 toward it. Then a few classmates offered me $60 to shoot their prom photos, and something clicked: people will pay me to do this.
HattiesburgSouthern Miss, a pre-med plan, and a business that started to bloom
I moved to Hattiesburg for the University of Southern Mississippi as a biology major with a chemistry minor. The plan was neurosurgery. My dad worked three jobs my whole childhood, and I wanted the highest-paying career I could find so money would never be the issue for my family. But I was always the kid drawing in class, and I hated biology. If there is no passion, there is no Chris. So I switched to graphic design and graduated in 2019 with a BFA. It taught me the lesson I still teach most: presentation is everything. Southern Miss didn't offer video production, so I taught myself, the way I learn everything: by taking in as much as I can, as fast as I can. In 2016 I made Beauty is Veiled official as an LLC, shooting portraits, weddings and anything else people would pay for.
Me at 21
Junior yearThe phone call
My dad had fallen in love with the idea of his son the neurosurgeon, and for years he questioned the switch to design. I was shooting senior portraits for $150 to $200 when I booked my first $5,000 wedding. I called him on the drive out of a Target parking lot to tell him. He said, “I didn't really have faith in you… but at the end of the day, man, I'm proud of you.” I broke down crying the whole way home. After that, I stopped asking for permission and started fighting for my creative life.
2018The $400 video that changed everything
My first corporate video. I showed up with one camera, one gimbal and one lens, and charged $400. At delivery the client told me they'd budgeted $7,000, almost didn't trust me because of my setup, and paid me $700 anyway because they weren't a charity. They told me to figure out what I was really offering. I've been figuring it out ever since.
2018 to 2019Doing a little of everything
I went into a partnership doing all of it: websites, logos, video, branding, coaching, marketing, even logistics. Being a jack-of-all-trades taught me a lot, mostly that I didn't want to be one. I stepped away in November 2019.
January 2020All in on video
I niched down to video production and started my YouTube channel the same month. The camera scared me more than any client: a three-and-a-half-minute video used to take me 55 minutes to record. I kept going until I could do it in one take. An agency offered me a job. I said no, because I was going to own my company. I became the video team for local creative agencies, and when COVID hit, I made the videos that told customers businesses were still open.
The $300K yearSame cameras, different business
With a two-person team and one contract editor, Beauty is Veiled had a $300,000 year. The cameras didn't change. My offer, my clients and the way I showed up did. It was never about the number. It was about what I offer, who I offer it to and how much they value it.
NowMaking work, and teaching it
I'm back in Columbia now, making commercials, brand films and TV spots for brands across the South, like the Hattiesburg Zoo's 75th anniversary spot. I also teach on YouTube, run The Imposters community and coach video business owners 1:1, so the next creator can skip some of the heartache I didn't.
