Beauty influencer, YouTube sensation and 2019 Root 100 honoree Jackie Aina will be taking part in a special feature-length documentary film focused on highlighting Black women who are creating social change through the beauty world.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Social Beauty “will feature candid conversations with brand executives, celebrity makeup artists, beauty editors and more and examine the impact influencers have had on changing the industry’s perception of beauty.” It aims to showcase the successes of Black beauty influencers who have challenged and changed the perceptions of the beauty world. Aina is signing on as the doc’s executive producer, and will star alongside YouTube beauty gurus Alissa Ashley, Shalom Blac, Cydnee Black, Nyma Tang, and Whitney White.
“I’m so excited to be a part of something that shows our impact as black women in beauty,” Aina says in a statement to THR. “I hope through this project people will see that so many of us are passionate, multifaceted, and more than what you see outwardly. It is an honor being a part of a community that encourages so many of us to believe in ourselves and to look and feel beautiful even when, oftentimes, the media encourages otherwise.”
“The change I’ve seen in the beauty industry as a result of these dynamic women is underestimated,” says the film’s creator Andrea Lewis. “I grew up on TV and film sets learning how to do my own hair and makeup because there weren’t available beauty products that worked for me. These Black beauty influencers have led the charge in pointing out the lack of diversity in the beauty industry and inspiring more inclusion for women of color.”
Aina, a former military servicewoman, began her YouTube career in 2009 with the handle ‘lilpumpkinpie05.’ Since then, she has amassed almost 4 million subscribers and has partnered with brands such as TooFaced, Anastasia Beverly Hills, Artist Couture and Sigma Beauty to promote the importance of diversity in beauty. Recently, Aina started her own line of candles called FORVRMOOD.
She’s also proven to be quite the social justice advocate. Earlier this year, she took a few major beauty and fashion brands—including Revolve, Fashion Nova and PrettyLittleThing— to task for capitalizing off of Black culture...but not batting an eyelash when it comes to police brutality and the lives of Black people.
“I do notice a particular aesthetic that they like—a particular vibe that they push on their socials,” she wrote on Twitter of her observations. “And I know that Black people dying isn’t aesthetically pleasing for the feed—I understand that. But I do feel like it’s the least that you can do; you can’t just take—pick and choose the parts of our culture and not embrace all of it.”
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