What skills are essential for a brand manager and director?
It is important to have vision and imagination. In leading projects, you have to have the ability to look at a puzzle in a million pieces, in its rawest form, and somehow see a beautifully polished work of art. Even when it seems like chaos, it is important to remain centered and focused on the endgame. It is also important to be a “people person.” I communicate with a lot of talent and influencers from all walks of life on a daily basis, and it’s important to make them feel comfortable and valued.
Tell us about the “My Shade Is Everything” campaign.
My Shade is Everything has been my brainchild since my early years at Black Radiance. We began working on the campaign in 2016. Around that time, there was a major shift in the beauty industry, and a lot of brands finally began to branch out and expand their shade range portfolios. Retailers began to ask us, with so many brands entering your territory and “including” women of color in their product offerings, why would a brand like Black Radiance still be necessary in our stores? Our answer was the My Shade is Everything campaign.
Our consumer is and has always been more than a diversity initiative or new product discovery; they are why we exist. For Black Radiance, consumers of color are always top of mind, and we keep this same energy from the time a product is developed to the social marketing campaigns. Our consumer’s shade is beyond a single hue of brown in a foundation lineup. It is the core of our being, it is the radiance that exudes from within. Our shade is everything.
