On Her Big Break and the Growth of Her Social Media Following
The first big brand that put me on their PR list was Anastasia Beverly Hills. I think I had only been doing this for a year or so, and I got my first affiliate commission after a year's time. That was when I realised that this could actually be a thing, and I had to tell my mom about it. The growth was insane; I remember within three months — by December — I had already gained like 10,000 followers on Twitter. It was just growing very quickly.
It was such a surreal experience. I got on the PR list because the president of Anastasia, Norvina, started messageing me. She would message my personal Twitter and my Makeup For WOC page and we would just talk regularly. And then she decided to start sending me products, so that was pretty crazy because she was like "We talk about you in everyday life. We talk about how monumental you are as a figure in the Twitter community."
On Why She Made the Switch to Aesthetics and Skin Care
I had seen aestheticians on social media that I was already following on Twitter, and I had also been struggling with acne. I had acne first, and that's what really brought me into makeup because I wanted to be able to cover [my blemishes]. But then I started to realise that for me to clear my skin, I'd rather learn about it myself versus paying people to do it for me. Even though my career was growing and I was on PR lists at the time and had more access, I still didn't know my skin.
Before the pandemic, I was taking regular clients in New York and getting to help other people with their skin concerns, but I also like to post a lot of what I've learned from school, different classes, and what I've experienced on social media. I feel like when I was going through that, there wasn't a lot of information at the time, it was a lot of DIY skin care on YouTube, so I kind of wanted to be that voice for people to share legit corrective skin-care advice that could actually be helpful, especially for people of colour because our skin is so different compared to lighter skin tones.