When she was 18, Kaitlyn Dobrow contracted bacterial meningitis and underwent a quadruple amputation. Now a 22-year-old with four prosthetic limbs, Kaitlyn is a superstar beauty blogger with 77,000 followers on Instagram and 15,000 on Youtube. “The first thing I picked up with my prosthetic arm was a makeup brush,” Dobrow said in an interview with TODAY Style.
Kaitlyn’s amputation stopped her from dancing and boxing, two activities she loved. Choosing to focus on what she could do rather than what she couldn’t, she decided to channel all her efforts into creating gorgeous makeup looks and tutorials.
Kaitlyn is incredibly open about her life and her sickness. In a recent two-part video, she answered some of her followers’ questions in her honest AF, hilarious way. When asked “how are you so good at makeup?” she responded: “I don’t know. It was just something that I like to do. I got a lot of practice, though. That was the first thing I did with my [prosthetic] arm was… picked up a makeup brush. It was cool!” It certainly is cool, and it’s a lot of other things, too: the words “inspiring,” “brave” and “straightup badass” come to mind. We all have something to learn from you, Kaitlyn—keep slaying, homegirl.