The 55th anniversary of ESSENCE is officially underway, and Day 1 of the 2025 ESSENCE Festival of Culture kicked off with a powerful panel on the Beautycon stage featuring two bold and brilliant Black women: marketing maven Bozoma Saint John and Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett. Their conversation, titled “The State of Beauty,” was an inspiring and unfiltered exploration of identity, politics, and beauty as both power and protest.
From the jump, Crockett made it clear that beauty is about authenticity. “It’s all about being comfortable in your skin, no matter where you are,” she said. “Assimilation is the reason so many of us have felt out of place for so long. For too long, they told us what beauty looked like—and it wasn’t us. But we’ve always been the trendsetters.”
The audience cheered as Crockett reminded everyone, “They wouldn’t come for us if we weren’t at the top.” This same energy was felt throughout the conversation, which wove through everything from childhood beauty memories to the weaponization of appearance in politics.
Crockett, who was once a child model, said her love of beauty started early. But as a politician, she sees how deeply political appearance can be—especially for Black women. “When they start attacking your appearance, it’s because they see your strength and power. That’s why they go after something so superficial,” she said, referencing the ongoing fight for protections like the CROWN Act, which addresses hair discrimination.
And though she’s deeply embedded in both politics and beauty, Crockett isn’t blind to the industry’s flaws. “There are people in the beauty world who look like us, but do they get the platforms they deserve?” she asked. “The reason the US has thrived is because we have been diverse, and now we are going backwards, so we are suffering as a whole.” She continued, “We’re the number one consumers in this country, our diversity is our superpower.”
When asked about the one beauty product that makes them feel powerful, Saint John named lipstick while Crockett chose lip gloss—though she used to swear by an eyebrow pencil before perfecting her routine. These small tools, they noted, are part of a larger ritual of readiness.
For Crockett, getting dressed is strategic. She checks her calendar each morning to plan her hair and makeup based on the day’s meetings. She’s even converted a Capitol office cubby into a personal vanity, with full makeup kits both there and at home. “If I don’t get to finish my routine, my staff will deliver my makeup to the committee room,” she joked.
The message was clear: beauty, for Black women, is more than surface-level. It’s preparation, presentation, and protest. And at this year’s Essence Fest, we’re reminded: our beauty is political, powerful, and always ours.
The ESSENCE Festival of Culture™ presented by Coca-Cola® will take place July 3-6. For more information and updates on the festival, visit our website and follow us on social media @ESSENCEFest on X, Facebook, and Instagram.