Success Tips From Jackie Aina: Navigating the Beauty Industry

Jacquelyn Aina, mostly known as Jackie Aina, has become one of the most well-known beauty and wellness creators on the scene. Jackie credits her success to her goal of being authentic.

She also’s unapologetic when it comes to advocating for BIPOC people to have beauty brands make more makeup items for darker skin shades. Here are her top two tips for achieving success as a beauty influencer.

Jackie Aina was born in 1987 to a Nigerian father and a black mother. After college, she decided to join the Reserves. While her family urged her to pursue a career in medicine and law, Aina decided to forge her own path in the beauty industry. Aina told Vox that her time in the military let her “...experience new places, new people, and new ideas, as well as helping [her] develop important leadership skills.”

After Jackie’s time in the military came to an end, she decided to follow her passion and get into the beauty industry. Aina first got her cosmetologist certificate and worked as a makeup artist. Jackie then took a chance and started her channel on YouTube. The beginning of her time as a creator was spent on creating makeup tutorials targeting people of color.

Soon Jackie Aina found herself as part of a group of YouTube creators who are teaching BIPOC makeup enthusiasts and creating a safe space for them. As Jackie gained more and more followers, she decided that she wanted to branch out into actually creating makeup products and other wellness items that would appeal to her audience.

Jackie Aina’s first few steps in the entrepreneurial space came in the form of collaborations with prominent makeup brands. As Aina became known for calling out white executives of makeup brands, Aina decided to be the change that she wanted to see in the beauty industry. It is for this reason that she became the queen of collaboration. Jackie would tell aspiring beauty influencers to collaborate with other influencers and beauty brands whenever possible.

Aina’s first collaboration was with e.l.f. Cosmetics. In that joint venture, they created an eye shadow palette. This venture happened in the summer of 2016. Less than a year later, Jackie teamed with Sigma Beauty to present makeup brushes personally created by her. She also put two rose gold powder highlighters on the market in December 2017.

After calling out makeup brand Too Faced for not featuring enough foundation shades for BIPOC people, Too Faced asked Jackie to collaborate with her to make their makeup lines more exclusive. In 2018, Too Faced’s foundation options went from about two dozen shades to 35.

In 2019, Jackie Aina joined in yet another joint venture, this time with Anastasia Beverly Hills, to put out an eye shadow palette primarily for BIPOC makeup fans.

Jackie Aina is sure to be a busy entrepreneur in the coming years. In addition to her prominent collaborations and advocacy, Aina is always looking to branch out into other areas to reach her primary audience.

Always changing and evolving, Jackie Aina will always work to help her BIPOC fans feel more beautiful.