Jackie Aina – a Nigerian American influencer – is Cosmopolitan’s latest cover star. Aina revealed her editorial cover shot to her 1.7 million Instagram followers earlier this week – earning her over 180k likes so far.
“I feel like it’s only with Black women, that when we start leveling up and doing nice things for ourselves that people have a problem with it”.
Aina – who is a massive advocate for diversity and inclusivity within the beauty industry – uses her Cosmopolitan coverage to give a voice to other black influencers. This – however – is not the first time Aina has been vocal about Black female representation: throughout the years, the beauty influencer has regularly created content on Instagram and YouTube that highlights issues Black female creators face in the industry. For example, in 2018, Aina published a YouTube video titled I Don’t See Color – Makeup Tutorial that discusses her experience as a Black female YouTuber and calls out the lack of Black representation in the makeup community. With nearly 3.6 million followers on YouTube, it is clear that many view Aina as an open and honest role model who is a passionate advocate of issues close to her heart.
Her support of Black women online and on social media has resulted in many beauty brands fighting to work with her. Aina’s biggest achievement is arguably her collaboration with Anastasia Beverley Hills – where the two created a brand new 14-shade eyeshadow palette that flatters a diverse range of skin tones. When creating the palette, Aina explained to Cosmopolitan that she wanted the palette to meet all her customers needs:
“With my skin tone, there’s always been 2 or 3 shades that I wouldn’t use from most of the palettes on the market – even those marketed as ‘universal’. It was really important to me for people to say – ‘WOW, this really has deep tones, it’s not ashy or chalky and is packed with pigment’ especially on darker complexions”.
Jackie has clearly set the bar when it comes to discussing diversity in the beauty industry and is a perfect role model for those interested in using their social platforms to advocate for change.