Derrick Edwin Rutledge (born February 24, 1961) is an American celebrity stylist and makeup artist, singer and entrepreneur. He is most notably makeup artist to

Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954) is an American television presenter, talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show' ...

and First Lady

Michelle Obama Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama ( Robinson; born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as the first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017, being married to Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United Stat ...

. Derrick was born and raised in Washington, DC. His early education was at the prestigious

Georgetown Day School Georgetown Day School (GDS) is an independent coeducational PK-12 school located in Washington, D.C. The school educates 1,075 elementary, middle, and high school students in northwestern Washington, D.C. Russell Shaw is the current Head of Sch ...

in Washington. After which he received a music and academic scholarship to Webster University in St. Louis. Rutledge returned to Washington in 1984 and began working as a makeup artist. He began his rise to prominence as a celebrity makeup artist when under the recommendation of former

Miss USA Miss USA is an American beauty pageant that has been held annually since 1952 to select the entrant from United States in the Miss Universe pageant. The Miss Universe Organization operated both pageants, as well as Miss Teen USA, until 2020. ...

and Real Housewives of Atlanta,

Kenya Moore Kenya Summer Moore (born January 24, 1971) is an American actress, author, entrepreneur, television personality and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss USA 1993. Since 2012, she stars on the reality TV series, ''The Real Housewives of Atlant ...

, he became her makeup artist at

BET Black Entertainment Television (BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting Black American audiences. It is the flagship channel of the BET Media Group, a subsidiary of Paramount Global's CBS Entertainment Group. Originally launched ...

while she guest hosted

Video Soul ''Video Soul'' was a two–hour long American music video program that originally aired on BET from June 26, 1981 to September 1996. The program was devoted to showcasing R&B and Soul recording artists and performers' music videos. History '' ...

.. While at BET, Derrick Rutledge worked with many legendary divas of Black music and Hollywood. Including Chaka Khan, Patti Labelle, Pastor Shirley Caesar, Yolanda Adams, Beyoncé, and the Queen of Gospel Music- CeCe Winans. His work has been featured on the covers of

Essence Magazine ''Essence'' (stylized in all caps) is an American monthly lifestyle magazine covering fashion, beauty, entertainment, and culture. First published in 1970, the magazine is written for African-American women. History Edward Lewis, Clarence O ...

, AARP, and

Oprah Magazine ''O, The Oprah Magazine'', also known simply as ''O'', is an American monthly magazine founded by talk show host Oprah Winfrey and Hearst Communications. In 2021, Winfrey and Hearst rebranded it as ''Oprah Daily''. Overview It was first pub ...

. In September 2014, Mr. Rutledge was featured on Entertainment Tonight as part of the team creating a glamorous four cover shoot for the September issue of O! Magazine Derrick currently resides in his hometown of Washington, D.C.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rutledge, Derrick 1961 births Fashion stylists Living people People from Washington, D.C. Georgetown Day School alumni