Nigerian-American beauty content creator Jackie Aina began her journey in 2009 with the idea to teach other women the basics of glam – plus her witty delivery and the confidence to pull off a full face beat. She has since become the “most influential voice in beauty today,” according to Harper’s Bazaar, and her influence has cultivated a loyal and thriving fanbase of over 7.3 million across her social platforms, including 3.5 million YouTube subscribers. An overnight sensation she is not – this has been 13 long years of hard work, perseverance and blood, sweat and mascara-stained tears in the making!

In 2020, Aina focused her efforts on her self-care lifestyle brand FORVR Mood, offering candles and accessories. The brand had a pre-launch waitlist of over 45,000 and is in Sephora stores nationwide.

As for her advocacy, Jackie was deemed the NAACP’s first-ever “YouTuber of the Year” at the 49th NAACP Image Awards, a Glamour Woman of the Year, Refinery29’s Beauty Innovator of the Year, and WWD Beauty Inc Awards’ Influencer of the Year, and she was nominated for three E! People’s Choice Awards.

What prompted your YouTube journey, and why was this your media platform of choice?

I was married and living in Hawaii, looking for an avenue of identity and creativity. At that time, YouTube was very popular in the realm of makeup application specifically, and for the first time in my generation, there were women (and men) flocking to YouTube to learn makeup application! We had never been privy to that sort of access, and it was huge! I always loved applying makeup and had to previously learn this through seminars, DVDs, or books. My best friend   gave me the nudge to pursue YouTube and start a channel. I was never an “in front of the camera” kind of girl, so I thought, If I do this, my angle HAS to be different. When I started filming my tutorials, I was literally following white and Asian YouTubers, taking their looks and tweaking them for my complexion. I figured, cool, I can do this.

Shopping as a consumer for makeup was extremely frustrating at the time. I would walk up to a beauty counter and ask something as basic as how to contour- and was immediately told, “no, it doesn’t look good on your complexion.” I knew I had to figure it out on my own yet show others how to do it as well.

When I started my channel, I realized the YouTubers I was watching and following that joined before me were not growing at the same rate as I. I started to take off! I was casually posting the first three to four years. I was there for vibes and looks and having fun. To be quite honest, I was not pursuing it professionally. I wasn’t expecting to quit my day job and for it to change my life. I was on the path to becoming a makeup artist and trying to figure out whatever stuck for me is what I’m going to go with. Year five,  my channel started to pick up momentum and I had to devise a plan and decide, do I focus on YouTube or all these other things that are quickly becoming distractions? Between the years 2016-2017, I made up my mind and never looked back.

Who are you influenced by, and what has energized you in this content creating space?

Most of the creators that I was inspired by are no longer creating content anymore, which is a huge testament to how difficult it can be as a Black, dark-skinned woman on the internet. A lot of us had to endure the brunt of being early YouTube pioneers. @Lipsh0ck was an early pioneer that I was obsessed with. At that time, I had never seen another dark-skinned girl that shared my same passion and created looks like I did on the internet.

Cosmetics marketed towards darker skin was like something we don’t really need. I honestly feel like that’s the industry’s excuse to not actually serve Black women. @Makeupdoll is another young lady that inspired me. She still creates content today and has progressed with her own hair products and created content online for as long as I can remember. I was inspired by women like Iman, a fellow African woman who genuinely pioneered accessible beauty, especially at the drug store level.

Growing up reading fashion magazines, I was enamored and in awe of that world and Iman and Tyra and Naomi, in their unapologetic power, made everything click for me. There were actual beauty forums created with other Black creatives before YouTube, and we would find each other and share, creating a collective,  beauty community. Most moved on to creating channels and that’s where a huge part of my encouragement came from as well.

When you embarked upon this YouTube journey, was your quest to influence only women of color or was your plan to inspire the masses?

I wasn’t thinking of everybody. It’s genuinely not because I didn’t want to serve them,  I just wasn’t thinking that big. I didn’t think anyone outside of the Black community would care if I’m being honest. Unfortunately, Black women have had such a tough time achieving mainstream success when we’re not trying to be niche, but get put in a niche package anyway. I scroll through my comments and will get remarks like, “Omg I’m white, but I love your content.” And I’m like, “What does your origin have to do with loving my content?” You don’t have to look like someone to enjoy and benefit from their content. For example, you may be white and have oily skin. Well I’m Black and have oily skin so we can both benefit from each other. I noticed that ofttimes Black creators are on the receiving end of that, and I question why? Why is it that way when it comes to us specifically? We have a harder time reaching wider audiences. I’ve had some of my followers share that they would receive ridicule from their friends that they followed because I was Black, and they weren’t. I believe society plays a pivotal role in this nonsense. As I started to grow and meet women internationally, it reiterated that the topics I discuss are not just a Black person problem. Colorism and discrimination in beauty goes well beyond the Black community. I feel pride in knowing that I hit the mark on discussing such a difficult subject even if most did not want to hear the truth coming from me.

What is the biggest misconception in being a prominent influencer on You Tube?

The most consistent point of view would be that YouTubers do not do anything. That creating content is not actual work. Being an influencer is a real business. This is not a manual-labor type of work, but it does require mental and emotional intelligence. I also believe the average person completely underestimates it. This occupation is not for everybody and it’s touchy to speak negatively in comparison to a traditional nine-to-five. Is it harder than a day job? Maybe not. Is it more mentally challenging? Yes, and on a regular basis. I may not feel or look my best and still must show up and make beauty happen. Is it harder than having a day job? Would I trade it? No!

Running a business as an influencer is not taught in school. People think we just take selfies all day and that’s a huge misconception. A lot of us had to just learn hands on and figure it all out. It’s more than the fun, the pretty, and the shiny. A part of this work is making it all look easy. It’s not easy beyond any doubt!

Think back on your first viral moment, and your views soared through the roof. Is that when you knew you were on to something?

It was the end of 2014 or 2015 and I uploaded a video as I normally would, and I did not take this upload seriously. I uploaded it on New Year’s Eve as this was a New Year’s Eve- themed video and I decided to go in a different direction using more of a comedic flair to discuss the trends. I woke up the next day in confusion. Normally, I would get 2,000 views on the first day, and if I’m truly lucky, I could get to 10,000. This video had quickly garnered 50,000 views overnight! I thought to myself, “Did I say something wrong?” I had never really let loose on my channel like that before because I’m teaching, so my mode would be “Customer Service Jackie.” For the first time I wanted to step outside my comfort zone and have fun! The comment section was in my favor that I suspected so many people had shared my video. I saw the video all over Facebook, publications began to pick it up, radio shows picked up it just kept snowballing! It went from 50,000 views the first day to 1 million by day three and I was in shock. Why didn’t I know this was what the people really wanted?This was my first satire video, and it won the people over.

What has been your most successful collaboration to date? What are you most proud of?

I feel like “successful” is subjective. There are collabs that I’ve done because they were personally fulfilling and there are collabs I’ve done because they were lucrative.

All of them have been personal and fulfilling, but for the community, I felt the proudest working with the brand Too Faced. I was chosen to expand their Born This Way Foundation shade range and it was the first time an influencer had ever made that type of contribution. I loved working with the Too Faced team, and it truly felt like my voice mattered. Now, mind you, this was a brand I had been critical of before the partnership, and I’d criticized their shade ranges. It was huge confirmation to not roll over and be accepting in areas that need change. It made me feel very proud!

I creatively loved working with the brand Anastasia when I made The Jackie Aina palette because they were willing to do whatever I wanted, and they believed in me and whatever I aligned with. We’re so used to hearing no so to have full autonomy felt great. I’m extremely proud of those partnerships and every opportunity that has come my way thus far.

What should we expect from future Jackie?

I have taken a break to reinvent myself. I am exploring other avenues of creativity and created a new platform, “Lavishly Jackie.” This allows me to show a different side of myself beyond the world of beauty, yet still provide content that my followers will enjoy. I’m in my B. Smith mode and I love it!

If you could describe yourself in one word, what would it be?

Consistent.

IG: @jackieaina

IG: @lavishlyjackie

Web: www.forvrmood.com