Meet Kodo Nishimura, a 29-year-old Japanese Buddhist monk who is also a makeup artist for pop stars and beauty pageants, and an LGBTQ advocate teaching transgender women make-up tricks to amplify their feminine features. /VCG Photo

It might seem like an unusual double act, but that doesn't bother Nishimura. He said he believes that a love of beauty and devotion to Buddhism are not mutually exclusive. /VCG Photo

Nishimura’s interest in beauty blossomed when he moved to New York in his teen to study art, where he discovered things were different and he could be himself. Unbounded by traditional constraints of gender, he said he doesn’t want to be categorized by any label. /VCG Photo

But Nishimura found he could not abandon the traditions that surrounded him in youth. At 24, he returned to Japan to train as a Buddhist monk, according to Quartz. /VCG Photo

During his spiritual training, he thought at first that he would have to choose between his heart’s callings, but later, he discovered his love for beauty wouldn't affect his ability to be a monk, when he learned from a senior monk that Japanese monks often wear non-religious clothing outside the temple and have second jobs. /VCG Photo