'Off to a new adventure': EPS officer retires after finding beauty blogger success
A 15-year member of the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) has traded in her badge for beauty.
This week, Natasha Brinkmann retired from policing to become a full-time beauty consultant and blogger.
"I don't see it as giving it up, I see it as a new adventure," Brinkmann told CTV News from her home studio.
About a year and a half ago, the 47-year-old started posting beauty tricks and tips online under the name Beauty Junky Monkey.
She's since garnered more than 400,000 followers with TikTok being her most successful social media channel.
"What was supposed to be just a fun kind of side gig blew up into basically an international business," she said.
Brinkmann specializes in creating skin care routines for aging skin and has helped people from as far away as Europe and Australia.
"I think what they're looking for is unbiased. So I don't represent any brand, I just represent myself."
POLICING CAREER
Brinkmann had her own aesthetics business when she was younger but she left it to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming a police officer.
"When I turned 30, I decided to give it a shot. At the time I was a full blown aesthetician … so it was really quite an unusual change."
Natasha Brinkmann at her EPS Recruit Training Class graduation.She spent 15 years on the service and says highlights include assisting a suicidal boy off a roof and helping to secure a conviction in a sexual assault case.
"With any long-term career there comes a point where you're just like, 'I feel like I've done everything I've wanted to do,'" she said. "I've handled great files, I got to drive a police car, I got to do all the exciting things police officers do."
"And then there's the other side of policing which is exceptionally hard and things you can't unsee and things that take a toll on you."
She says her side business was a welcome break from the stress. One that's become so successful, she doesn't need to do both.
"Why not? Life is way too short and I don't believe we have to be stuck in one career that no longer fulfills the need to continue to create."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Deaths of 4 people on Sask. farm confirmed as murder-suicide
The deaths of four people on a farm near the Saskatchewan village of Neudorf have been confirmed a murder-suicide.
CRA no longer requiring 'bare trust' reporting in 2023 tax return
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
Full parole granted to man convicted in notorious 'McDonald's murders' in Cape Breton
The Parole Board of Canada has granted full parole to one of three men convicted in the brutal murders of three McDonald's restaurant workers in Cape Breton more than 30 years ago.
Incident on Calgary's Reconciliation Bridge comes to safe resolution
Nearly 20 hours after a man climbed and remained perched on top of the Reconciliation Bridge in downtown Calgary, the situation came to a peaceful resolution.
Sunshine list: These were the Ontario public sector's highest earners in 2023
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
George Washington family secrets revealed by DNA from unmarked 19th century graves
Genetic analysis has shed light on a long-standing mystery surrounding the fates of U.S. President George Washington's younger brother Samuel and his kin.
'We won't forget': How some Muslims view Poilievre's stance on Israel-Hamas war
A spokesman for a regional Muslim advocacy group says Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's stance on the Israel-Hamas war could complicate his party's relationship with Muslim Canadians.
Why some Christians are angry about Trump's 'God Bless the USA' Bible
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.