Hey Glow Gang!

London friends! We are hosting out first London event on 17 April - we'd love to see you there. Details below.

This week we're celebrating Michelle Yeoh, and wins for BIPOC women in business. Plus, we chat with the awesome founders (and sisters!) behind CTZN Cosmetics. 

Let's get glowing

-Shilpa

London Event Announcement!

17 April, 7pm-9pm at Redchurch Street Studio in Shoreditch. Tickets are FREE.

Join Shilpa Bhim, founder of Glowreel, in conversation with Shweta Aggarwal, author of The Black Rose (a story of colourism silently lived by millions).

Shwetha and Shilpa will have an open dialogue about navigating the world as a brown woman, what it’s like to experience colourism, and how to overcome social and cultural barriers.

P.S. Food and drink available to purchase at the bar - with options for all dietary requirements. The Shoreditch Mosque is a couple of doors down for anyone observing Ramadan.

News Of The Week

2023: It Really Is The Year Of Michelle Yeoh 👏🏽

Beauty and representation

“Don’t let anybody tell you you’re past your prime” 📣 Plot twist: Michelle Yeoh has made history once again, but this time, she’s tackling the beauty industry. The 60 year old’s been announced as the new face of La Mer. You might be wondering, what’s the big deal?! 🤷🏽‍♀️ Well, Yeoh is officially the most mature woman to ever serve as the face of the brand. Here for it, and beauty brands, take note!

P.S. a moment of appreciation for these April Vogue covers. More of this too, please!

Business

The Matriarch Revolutionary Fund ✊🏽 Native Women Lead (NWL) has received a $650k funding boost. The US based not-for-profit is building a $10 million Matriarch Revolutionary Fund that will help empower 200 Native women-owned businesses.

Meanwhile, Yumi, the woman of colour founded baby food brand received investment from the D’Amelios, along with three other female founded brands. And, Goldman Sachs is investing more than $2.1 billion into Black women-owned businesses 👏🏽

More News Nuggets

Extra Nuggets 👀

• ARtist for all 👩🏽‍🎨 Get on the waitlist for launch day access! We’re tackling racial bias in tech and beauty with our app.

• Court-side drama 🏀 The low-down on the Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark women’s basketball double standard.

• Fashion, but make it Bridgeton 👗 The women of colour using historical dressing as a modern art form.

• Shaking up the art world 🖼️ Nicola Vassell on being the first Black woman to open a gallery in Chelsea, NYC.

Glowreel Recos

What we’re loving this week:

Read - The Black Rose: My Story of Colourism, Silently Lived by Millions by Shweta Aggarwal. Shweta’s personal story is both powerful and inspiring and a must read. We’ll leave it at that, but we’ll be chatting with Shweta about her story at our London event on 17 April 🌹

Make - Riz bi Haleeb (Lebanese Rice Pudding) c/o Farah from Every Little Crumb.

Support BIPOC Women Owned Businesses

Nudiversal Lip Duos by CTZN Cosmetics 

$29 (USD, available to purchase globally)

Trailblazing Woman Interview

Makeup For Every Citizen

Aleena, Aleezeh, and Naseeha Khan grew up in Dubai wishing they could see more Pakistani women in the mainstream.

In 2019 they launched their makeup brand: CTZN Cosmetics. The intention was to create a makeup brand where all beauty enthusiasts could feel equally considered. Now, CTZN is proud to be a brand that passionate to be a brand that co-creates alongside its community.

Glowreel caught up with Aleena, Aleezeh, and Naseeha to hear more about their journey behind creating CTZN Cosmetics, their favourite CTZN product and their top tip for blazing your own trail. Let's go!

Hi ladies! We'd love to get to know you - tell me a bit about yourselves + a fun fact!

Aleena: We’re the founders of CTZN Cosmetics and we are sisters! We were all born in Los Angeles, raised in Dubai and are ethnically Pakistani. We wish we saw more Pakistani women in the mainstream, or in the beauty industry period, so we hope this inspires other South Asians to keep creating, keep pushing for your voice to be heard, for your work to be seen. 

A fun fact about me is that I dye my hair color every time I need an energy shift! As someone with naturally dark brown hair, my favourite experience has been trying platinum blond. I feel another switch coming!  

Aleezeh: My fun fact is that I just booked my first ever solo trip to Jamaica this summer! 

Naseeha: I was an extra in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol! The one shot in Dubai.

Let’s talk makeup! When and why did you create CTZN Cosmetics? 

Naseeha: We launched CTZN in 2019, but the development process two years prior. As South Asians, we didn’t feel represented within the beauty industry, to be honest. It was this one moment in 2017, we were shopping at a popular beauty retail store and noticed that not one model in the campaign imagery was South Asian, or even Middle Eastern. We’re all pretty passionate people – so I remember we just couldn’t get over the fact that such large communities were being ignored or even overlooked.

Aleena: Even on the product side, a shade range may have looked inclusive, but the undertones were always lacking. It made us question if the brand ever did test on South Asians before launching their product range. 

Aleezeh: We started ideating CTZN with the intention of creating a makeup brand where all beauty enthusiasts could feel equally considered. This should be the norm, but sadly was not – and still has room for improvement in the beauty industry. 

Aleena: That’s why we’re passionate to be a brand that co-creates alongside our community. Through product testing, through engaging with our CTZNs via social media or email – we’re all about collaboration and seeing beauty from multiple perspectives, rather than just our own.

Has your heritage/culture shaped the brand? If so, how?

Aleezeh: More than our heritage, I would say the culture of growing up in Dubai has truly shaped our brand. Dubai is a multicural hub that attracts people from every walk of life. We have memories going to the Wild Wadi waterpark as kids, where it was common to see someone in a bikini standing in line beside someone fully covered in a Burkini. Cultural tolerance and cultural acceptance is most certainly a pillar we have adopted from our upbringing in this city, where the population is made up of 89% expats from all over the world – that’s only around 11% locals! 

This is what inspired us to create the first brand at the intersection of beauty meets culture. We offer so much more than stellar product – we are amplifying cultural awareness through our beauty platform. We have trade-marked the term ‘Culture-Torial- a segment we invented where someone teaches you about their culture while doing their makeup routine. In an era of cancel culture, where a lot of people focus on the disappointment of not feeling understood, CTZN focuses on the solution – bitesize, approachable content that is accessible on your screen. 

How have your experiences as women of colour impacted/influenced CTZN products? 

Aleena: We can relate first-hand to people of color in our community! You can feel when a beauty brand is owned by senior men in suits, who are trying to create a product for a young millennials of color. You can feel that. With CTZN, we understand what it’s like having to put foundation on your lips just so that a lipstick pigment will show up on your lips. Because the product was not made for you in mind – and we are here to change that.

What CTZN product is your favourite, and why? 

Naseeha: We are all obsessed with Nudiversal in shade Los Angeles. We have a theory that it makes everyone feel prettier! If you want to connect with your femininity, it’s such a beautiful rich pink shade that lifts up our moods. On our complexions personally speaking, this is also a great shade because on days we are not wearing makeup, it enhances our look without washing us out.

The biggest challenge and highlight of building CTZN Cosmetics? 

Aleezeh: The biggest challenge is probably supply chain issues and this unpredictability that causes factory delays. The biggest highlight is the reaction from CTZNs that we meet IRL, that have never found their nude lipstick shade before our brand existed! 

Your top tip for women who also want to blaze their own trail, and make a difference in the world?

Aleena: Don’t see other women as competitors! Collaborate, connect and help one another – see it as positive karma rather than competition. We wish more people saw it in this light.

Lioness Thoughts

Nominate A Shoutout

Tell us about someone doing cool shit.

It can be you, your friends or family or someone else you know. Whether you’ve just started a book club, are creating artistic makeup looks for fun, or are doing some research and want to hear from women of colour. We want to share thing cool things you’re doing with a community shoutout!

Please send your nominations to [email protected] or DM us on our socials :)

This week's email was brought to you by Shilpa Bhim, founder of Glowreel. You can see more of her work at www.shilpabhim.com or follow her on Instagram @shilpa.bhim

Socials

If you love what Glowreel represents, please follow us on your favourite social media, and share with your friends and family!