Jake Smith

Jake Smith

From being bullied in small-town Nova Scotia to being nominated for Innovative Business of the Year, Jake Smith has built a career and a life on turning struggle into strength.

Jake Smith is a multi-hyphenate entrepreneur, professional makeup artist, marketing maverick, creative consultant, and sought-after public speaker with years of experience spanning business operations, digital marketing, cosmetology, and creative consulting. In the local business community, he is lovingly referred to as a “Jake of all trades.”

Jake is the proud founder of Beauty & Business by Jake, a boutique consultancy dedicated to helping 2SLGBTQIA+ entrepreneurs show up boldly both online and in person. Through a distinctive blend of makeup artistry, personal branding, digital marketing, and creative consulting, Jake helps others integrate all sides of themselves and shine unapologetically. At its core, Beauty & Business by Jake is more than a business, it is a mission: helping people embrace authenticity as both their best tool for self-confidence and their boldest business strategy.

Jake’s story begins in Truro, Nova Scotia, where growing up “different” was a daily struggle. In a conservative environment, he endured relentless bullying, silent homophobia, and the crushing weight of not being able to show up as himself. Those pressures compounded his mental health struggles until, in 2018, he reached a breaking point. That crisis became a turning point, but one that set the stage for reinvention.

Even in those years of hardship, Jake found quiet ways to rebel. In the basement of his childhood home, he became a little alchemist, mixing Vaseline, glitter, and even Kool-Aid into improvised makeup creations. It was a secret act of creativity and defiance, a way of saying “this is who I am” in a space where he could not otherwise be himself. By day, he would slip on a fabulous scarf at school, small but deliberate acts of self-expression in an environment that did not welcome difference. These hidden and visible rebellions became the first sparks of the career and calling he would later build.

When the time came to leave Truro, Jake moved to Halifax in search of freedom and possibility. The city offered what small-town life could not: space to breathe, to experiment, and to grow into his truest self. Here, Jake experimented with different business ventures, makeup, fashion, and the art of combining creativity with commerce in new ways. Looking back, he often reflects: “I did not build a straight path, I built a colorful one.” Those years of resilience and exploration shaped the multi-hyphenate professional he is today: a Director of Operations at a thriving business centre, a part-time paralegal, and the founder of his own fast-growing consultancy.

Jake’s entrepreneurial spark has, in truth, been burning since childhood. At nine years old, he formed a “company” on the playground, the First Aid Response Team (FART), patrolling with a Spider-Man fanny pack full of Band-Aids and solutions. Today, the fanny pack has been replaced with a fabulous purse stocked with lip gloss and boardroom briefs, but the spirit remains the same: identifying gaps and closing them with creativity, compassion, and confidence.

Now, Jake is emerging as a respected business leader and a dynamic creative force. He is regularly called upon to deliver social media strategy, content creation, and creative consulting for small businesses and entrepreneurs. As a professional makeup artist, he specializes in gender-affirming applications that empower trans and gender-diverse clients with both practical tools and positive affirmation. Known for his signature teaching style, part inspiration, part strategy, and always delivered with unapologetic authenticity, Jake has a natural ability to command a room and ignite meaningful conversation.

Jake’s growing list of successes reflects both his vision and his drive. His consultancy, Beauty & Business by Jake, was recently nominated by the Halifax Chamber of Commerce for Innovative Business of the Year. This fall, he is preparing to launch the Pride Resilience Inclusion Supportive Movement (PRISM) Podcast, highlighting 2SLGBTQIA+ entrepreneurs and allies from Atlantic Canada and beyond. At the same time, he will roll out a series of AMPLIFIED business workshops and OUTLOUD gender-affirming makeup classes, initiatives designed to empower queer entrepreneurs and support trans and gender-diverse communities. Together, these projects position Jake as one of Halifax’s most dynamic queer leaders, using creativity and authenticity to boost businesses, build community, and reshape representation.

When Jake is not working, you will find them listening to disco and pop, twirling on the dance floor, or out on a “hot girl walk” recharging for the next project.

Jake’s story is one of hardship transformed into triumph, of queerness embraced as power, and of authenticity wielded as strategy. He is a natural storyteller whose energy lights up every room he enters, leaving audiences with both inspiration and practical tools they can carry into their own lives and businesses. 

If you are looking for a speaker who will inspire, challenge, and captivate your audience while leaving them with practical tools for confidence and success, Jake is ready to deliver.

You can learn more about Jake here: https://www.beautyandbusinessbyjake.com/