Jackie Aina

Jacquelyn Lonje Olayiwola Oyeshola Bolayemi Aina, better known as Jackie Aina, is known and famous for being a Nigerian-American beauty YouTuber. Jackie Aina was born back on August 4, 1987 and according to astrology the zodiac sign of Jackie Aina is considered to be Leo. She was born to an African-American mother and a Nigerian father of Yoruba descent. She is a social influencer who advocates for visibility of people of color in the cosmetic industry. She has partnered with Anastasia Beverly Hills, e.l.f. Cosmetics, Too Faced, Sephora and Sigma Beauty.

 

After two years of college, Aina joined the United States Army Reserve. Jackie Aina launched her Youtube channel one year after joining the military. Her YouTube videos were a way of expressing herself and coping with her unhappy marriage at the time. Jackie Aina was later divorced. While she was stationed in Hawaii, she found that she had a knack as a makeup artist and was hired by MAC Cosmetics. According to Entrepreneur, Aina “kept getting told at makeup counters that the trends she wanted to try wouldn’t work for her complexion”, and so she started creating videos “about the products and looks she loved that could work for anyone”.

Aina argues that people of color are poorly represented and often ignored in the beauty industry, and has criticized makeup shade ranges for not being inclusive. She has continuously pointed out the lack of darker shade ranges for foundations within lines. She told Bustle in 2018, “We all come from so many different backgrounds and we also come in different shades and varieties, and what may be something that I’d be willing to overlook may not be the case for someone else.” In addition to foundation shades, Aina said that eye shadow, blush and lipstick colors aren’t universal for skin tones.

While Aina’s criticism of cosmetics companies has compromised relations that she had with several of them, she asserts that her intention is never to disparage them. Several cosmetics companies accepted her criticism, which led to successful partnerships between them and Aina.

Aina disapproved of people who claim that they “don’t see color”, saying that they ignore racial issues and discourage her from discussing them. In a YouTube video demonstration, she did an ordinary makeup tutorial in black-and-white, and subsequently revealed that she had put on makeup of the wrong color.

After IT Cosmetics co-founder and CEO Jamie Kern Lima criticized the beauty industry for non-inclusive and unrealistic depictions of women in advertising, Aina, who had previously criticized IT Cosmetics, confronted her and the rest of the industry about excluding people of color and accepting criticism from a white woman.