Beauty vlogger and award-winning YouTuber, Jackie Aina is on the digital cover of Essencemagazine. The YouTube star glows in the shimmering light with her silver eyebrows, extremely blonde hair, bling nails and glittery lips.
The Nigerian-American YouTube star began her YouTube channel in the summer of 2009. After She narrates to Essence how much she loved watching YouTube, and in the process, her best friend convinced her to start sharing videos. She said to Aina, ‘You should just put your looks online.’ At first, Aina refused, then she decided, ‘You know what? Why not? I’m not doing anything bold with my life. I might as well.’ However, Jackie Aina clearly stated to Essence that she wasn’t planning to start a YouTube channel.
She narrates how hard it was at the time for black women to find their own shades in makeup stores:
“I COULDN’T GO TO MAKEUP COUNTERS AND GET THE HELP THAT I NEEDED. I WOULD ASK THEM LIKE, ‘OH, HOW DO I APPLY CONCEALER?’ OR, ‘HOW DO I CONTOUR?’ AND IT WAS ALWAYS LIKE MY SKIN TONE WAS A DETERRENT TO EVERYTHING,” SHE RECALLS. “ACCORDING TO THEM, IT WAS LIKE, ‘WELL, YOU’RE DARK. SO YOU CAN’T REALLY DO THAT.’ IT WAS JUST LIKE, ‘OKAY, I’M SURE THERE’S A WAY AROUND IT. YOU JUST HAVE TO KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING.’”
Jackie tells Essence that she started her Youtube Channel with filling the voids that weren’t existent in the content creation industry. She made videos like “The Worst Beauty Brands EVER for POC!” which made her platform grow so well. With those videos, she called out brands that were not “chocolate-girl-friendly” or satisfying enough for dark skinned girls.
Jackie Aina definitely didn’t straitjacket on only blasting those makeup brands. She’s been creating video tutorials, makeup hacks, and so many other helpful content for her audience. Addressing the fact that some of these videos seemed a little rude, she defends her content creation to Essence:
“WHAT GOOD WOULD MY PLATFORM BE IF IT WAS ONLY NEGATIVITY AND BLASTING PEOPLE ALL THE TIME?”
“WITH MY CONTENT, I ALWAYS TRY TO THINK, WOULD IT BE HARMFUL TO MY COMMUNITY IN ANY WAY? WOULD THIS UPSET OR ENCOURAGE A STEREOTYPE IN ANY WAY? AS MUCH AS I WANT PEOPLE TO ENJOY MY CONTENT, IT’LL NEVER BE AT THE EXPENSE OF MAKING OTHER PEOPLE LOOK BAD. I’M ALWAYS TRYING TO BE MINDFUL OF THAT MORE THAN ANYTHING.”
Jackie Aina will never fail to be one of the greatest beauty YouTubers of our time, and we’re so proud that she’s also Nigerian. Definitely, many Nigerians at home and in diaspora have always impressed us with their great achievements so far.
Credit: fabwoman.ng
