After years walking the runway for high fashion designers like Calvin Klein and Yves Saint Laurent, and posing for major magazines, Iman saw a gap in the industry after failing to find products that worked for her skin tone. On her first job for American Vogue in 1976, a makeup artist asked if she had brought her own foundation to the shoot, as he didn't have anything suitable for her skin tone. As a result of this encounter, Iman began mixing her own foundations, and in 1994, she launched IMAN Cosmetics.
Not only did Iman give women of colour a choice of options, but her products were also accessible and reasonably priced. To this day, IMAN Cosmetics have one of the best selling foundations in America. Iman certainly paved the way for more diversity within the cosmetics industry.