Meet the 3 Kenyan Women in fashion collaborating for the culture
By Ruth Mbugua In 2009, Nelly Tuikong was a nurse in America but there was something tugging at her heart about makeup for the African woman. Her entrepreneurial instincts kicked in after looking around stores for makeup that suited her African skin and didn’t find any. With no prior knowledge in manufacturing makeup, but armed with a passion, Nelly started her journey that birthed Pauline Cosmetics (named after her mother) after three years of learning, research, and trials. Pauline Cosmetics is a makeup brand that designs, develops and manufactures makeup products with the African woman in mind. The brand has now grown to become an established makeup brand with a line of lipstick, lip-gloss, eye shadow, and mascara. Enter Caroline Mutoko, a celebrated renowned media personality, a woman of her own caliber. With more than 20 years of experience in the media, her name speaks for her in the Kenyan entertainment industry. Caroline Mutoko also has a YouTube channel where she takes the spotlight that is on her and shines it on you. In 2017, she was featuring Kenyan women who were making strides and shattering glass ceilings on her YouTube channel. One of these women happened to be Nelly Tuikong of Pauline Cosmetics. In November 2018, Caroline Mutoko challenged Nelly to work with her to come up with a lipstick line for all the women who are ‘becoming, women in different spaces and phases of their lives and for every woman in you. This brought about the I AM limited edition lipstick. To add more synergy to this powerful collaboration, these two amazing women, Pauline, and Caroline Mutoko, didn’t just stop there. They collaborated with Wandia Gichuru of Vivo Woman to distribute the limited edition lipstick in 8 of the Vivo Woman stores in Nairobi. Wandia Gichuru has rewritten the narrative of modern day fashion. She founded Vivo active wear in 2011 to offer comfortable casual wear for the sporty woman and official clothing for the professional woman. Here are the 5 things I have learned from the partnership of these three glamorous women. 1. Collaborate instead of compete An African proverb says “If you want to go fast if you want to go far, go together”. Nothing is better than working with other women who get your perspective and challenges you face as a woman in business. 2. Have a defined purpose and vision When you have every partner pulling in different directions, there is bound to be no progress. To collaborate, you need to have a clear and shared vision and an agreed direction on how to achieve it. 3. Bring a unique value Each partner should bring a differentiating factor into the equation. This helps to ensure that you do not view each other as competition. 4. Have mutual benefits The partnership should be beneficial to all partners. This removes the perception that one person is bearing a bigger load than the other. 5. There is room for more than one queen There is no winner takes all award in entrepreneurship. As women, we need to get over this attitude and view women as a community to help each other grow and not competition. “My advice to girls is always this: Be supportive of each other. I can’t say this enough. We have to be our best friends, each other. That means we cannot be catty, we cannot compete and see one person’s failure as our success. We can all rise together, we can all win! We’re sometimes taught in our societies that we have to compete and we have to hold each other back in order for one of us to succeed. That is not true. We need each other. And all over the world, we have to be a team of women and girls who love each other and value each other and cherish one another. Because if we don’t cherish each other, no one else will,” – Michelle Obama
UCHE ENWEUGWU: I want my cosmetic brand to capture and include all nuances of color
The cosmetics industry has become diversified and increasingly competitive with different brands of make-up entering the market every year. Each brand offers a new feature in enhancing beauty in different ways. Nigerian-born, Uche Enweugwu is a young African entrepreneur who is launching her new cosmetics line after being in the makeup industry for a few years. She began her makeup career in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada and is now looking to expand her brand/expertise worldwide. Initially, she started out by launching her own YouTube platform – MakeupbySwift and is now launching her own cosmetic brand – CUE Cosmetics. Her experience in the industry has given her an inside look into the process of launching her own cobrand. She spoke with SLA contributor Esther Manuala Shem, and gave her some insight on her progress thus far. When did you first discover your love/passion for Makeup artistry? It all started when I was 17. At the time, I struggled with acne and dark spots. I was on a mission to find products that worked for my skin when I stumbled into make-up. Then I fell in love with how make-up enhanced my beauty and gave me the confidence to face the world. I found joy in doing my make-up and the make-up of others which eventually led to my career in makeup artistry. Also, I was motivated to improve my craft, so I went to a makeup school where I became a certified makeup artist. It’s been over 5 years and I still feel just as excited and motivated as I was when I first began my career. What do you enjoy the most about being a Make-Up Artist? I love being a makeup artist. I find pleasure in enhancing people’s beauty. I remember my first bride. When I was done with her makeup, she looked at the mirror and started screaming. I couldn’t tell if she was happy or angry. I was nervous and too terrified to ask. Eventually, I summoned the courage to asked her if she liked or hated it? She looked back at me with teary eyes and said, “I have never looked this good in my entire life”. That statement resonated with me because that’s exactly why I do makeup. It so that people can look at themselves and be marveled by just how beautiful they can become. I left that day feeling grateful knowing that I wanted to continue making people happy through makeup. My happiness comes from the fulfillment of making people feel beautiful and happy. What do you think is the biggest challenge in turning your passion into a career opportunity? My greatest challenge so far has been the entrepreneurial stride that comes with making my passion a career. Trying to start and run a small business myself has not been easy but I would not have it any other way. It has been a learning curve and I appreciate every bit of it. How did you manage to dive into the cosmetic industry and launch your own MakeUp line? It was a gradual process. I worked in the industry for about 5 years before I decided to start my own cosmetic line. It took a lot of research and years of identifying gaps in the industry that I felt needed to be filled. After 3 years of research and planning, my dream is finally becoming a reality. I will be launching my cosmetic line early this year. The first products to launch are the lash series and it launches at the beginning of January. The beauty of it all was paying my dues by working in the industry before deciding I wanted to create something to contribute to the community. Tell us about the name of your brand and how you came about it. The name of my brand is CUE. It is simply my initials put together. The “U” stands for Uche which means intention. Regarding my brand, I like to think of the “U” as standing for Ucheoma, which means beautiful intentions in Igbo. I wanted something easy to pronounce that also spoke to my passions and intentions for the brand. I want anyone wearing my brand to feel their best and above all be themselves. What sets your brand apart from others in the industry, in terms of servicing women of color? As an African woman, I want my brand to capture and include all the nuances of color. Our goal as a brand is to be inclusive and diverse. I remember working at a beauty retail store and having to watch a lot of disappointed African women leave the store because they couldn’t find their shades. I would often offer the option of mixing it with other shades to find the perfect match and that itself is not cost effective. It motivated me to want to do better when I start my cosmetic brand, which is my goal. With more African women starting businesses in the diaspora, do you plan on offering more selection for women color across the board? Absolutely! We cannot be inclusive and diverse if we don’t provide more options for women of color across the board. That’s certainly the goal and we intend to achieve it. I’m excited about the products in the making. What is the long term goal of your makeup line? The goal of my makeup line is to be inclusive. Nothing would make me happier than to know that I participated in serving a world where women and men come together to have fun and feel beautiful with makeup. Being able to express themselves while wearing CUE in the beauty community would mean everything to me. Interested in contributing for She Leads Africa? Click here.
Mona Faces: Taking over makeup artistry in Uganda one face at a time
“The future is female and African”- is a phrase I’ve heard many times but it was only after my conversation with Mona that I had the feeling of having met a true embodiment of this phrase. Mona is the young entrepreneur behind the brand “Mona faces” which has taken the Ugandan makeup artist scene by storm and is certain to leave an everlasting mark on the entire African continent. I had the opportunity to conversate with Mona about her business, her life, and her future. Who is Mona? Umutoni Monalisa, also known simply as Mona, is a self-taught makeup artist, a self-proclaimed perfectionist and a connoisseur of beauty. Mona is a 25-year-old entrepreneur whose passion has led her to the path to mastery of makeup artistry and who is set to take Uganda and indeed Africa by storm, one master class at a time. Mona holds a degree in Office and information management which she obtained from Makerere Business School. [bctt tweet=”I taught myself how to do makeup through YouTube – @monafaces” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] How did your entrepreneurial journey begin? Shortly after Senior 6, unfortunately, my father passed on leaving me with the formidable responsibility of taking care of myself and my siblings in whatever I could. I remember thinking to myself that it was now my responsibility to take care of my family. In my senior six vacations, I started working for Bold in Africa- an upscale fashion boutique in Kampala- have I had the opportunity to meet and be mentored by the founders of the brand, Nunu Mugyenyi, and Angel Kalisa, who taught me how to run and manage a business. Having learned the fundamentals of business from these two ladies, I partnered with some friends in my first year at university and opened a retail outlet- buying clothes from downtown and reselling them to clients in the urban areas. With all this taking place, I still nursed a deep passion for beauty and makeup. I started reading lots of magazines, watching tons of YouTube videos, following makeup artists on Instagram and learning from them with the dream that I would be able to someday turn this passion into profits. With the help of a friend who worked at blush media, I organized my first ever photoshoot showcasing my talent, to my surprise and delight, my work went viral within a short amount of time and as they say, ‘the rest is history.’ I officially started Mona faces in October 2014, which is when the pictures from my first professional shoot went viral. Women have often been told to choose between work and family, what are your thoughts on this? Can a woman have it all? Women can have it all- but not all at the same time. I think a woman can have a wonderful career as well as a great family, what matters is the timing. A woman might decide to first focus on her career or her business until it grows to the point where she can step back from it a little and give her attention to her family and vice versa. But then again, I’m single so I wouldn’t know. All I’ve known for a long time has been work, work, and more work, but I do believe that it’s all about timing. [bctt tweet=”Women can have it all- but not all at the same time – @monafaces” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] If you could have any superpower in the world, what would it be and why? Invisibility. I’d like to be invisible because I love working behind the scenes. What would you say African entrepreneurs should keep in mind to grow their brands? African entrepreneurs must stay hungry, that’s the most important thing they should keep in mind. I think a lot of female entrepreneurs get comfortable very easily- if she can pay her rent, and look good in the process, maybe buy a car- then she is satisfied. I think the goal is to achieve as much as possible and never let yourself get comfortable. At the time that I started Mona faces, there were no recognizable makeup studios in Kampala, I had to learn and build my brand and in the process sort of paved the way for other makeup artists to be able to join the industry as well. If you could have anyone in the world as your mentor, who would it be and why? I have been blessed with so many people in my life that I count as mentors already, right from my very first bosses, Nunu Mugyenyi and Angel Kalisa, who still mentor me to this day, all the way to friends and family. Ann Kansiime also plays a huge mentoring role in my life, I admire her success and ambition. Internationally, though, I’d say powerful women like Oprah Winfrey are a great inspiration. Honestly, If I could have every successful businesswoman mentor me, I would. I admire powerful business women across the world. [bctt tweet=” You can never fail, you can never fall, you simply learn – @monafaces” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] What is your greatest business lesson? Like a lot of people, change terrifies me and it wasn’t until I realized- you can never fail, you can never fall, you simply learn- that I finally started getting comfortable with change. My greatest business lesson so far has been the fact that you never know whether what you are doing is going to succeed or not, but you should keep in mind that at the end of the day, you cannot fail and you cannot fall, you can only learn. Tell us about your toughest day in business, what challenges did you face and how did you solve it? First, there have been so many tough days, I almost fail to pick one. My business is extremely people-centric, which basically means, people’s opinions matter a lot. On my toughest day, I’d done the makeup on a bride and she was very happy with my work. However, during her function, someone took a few unflattering