Being a beauty influencer means you get to share your love of makeup with the world. For Nandi Madida and Shalom Blac, the job also entails empowering young Black women and men around the globe to be themselves.
During the 2020 ESSENCE Festival of Culture, both Madida and Blac took the Beauty Carnival stage to discuss how they are using their role to inspire authenticity within the beauty community.
Madida, who proudly sports a closely shaved crop, noted that as a media personality, she gets to change the narrative on wearing natural hair.
“It’s a bold big step, in my country, because we’re told to be other,” said the South Africa native.
“I want every single Black woman and male around the world to feel that they can be unapologetically themselves and still feel beautiful,” said Madida. “Whether you wear a weave or not.”
Having a standard of beauty is “kind of tricky,” said Blac, who rose to fame on YouTube with her makeup tutorials for deep skin tones. “I want to inspire you to own your own beauty,” she continued. “Find love in yourself.”
Amid the panel discussion, the beauty influencers also discussed the challenges of being a beauty figure in the digital age, including feeling peer pressure, turning down partnerships and combating the lack of diversity.
Check out the candid conversation below.