Jacqueline Carrington: Founder, People of Color Beauty

I was looking for the perfect emerald green shade of nail polish for weeks. WEEKS. Every shade I found was too shimmery, too dark, too light, too iridescent. When I heard we'd be partnering with nail polish brand People of Color Beauty, I went on their website to check out the selection, and there it was. The shade is called Liliʻuokalani, named after last Queen of the Hawaiian Kingdom, and I figured it was a sign; I was obsessively reading about her life just days before. I bought it and I have no regrets—it's such a beautiful shade of green that I want to paint my entire apartment with this tiny bottle of nail polish.

For the brand's founder Jacqueline Carrington, the creation of People of Color Beauty was something deeply personal. "The "aha" moment came when I thought about my childhood," she says, "...I realized I never saw nail polish shown on brown hands. My daughter's interest had rekindled mine. As I took a look at the market, I discovered the majority of polishes were shown on white hands, and essentially nothing had changed from my childhood."

Join us tonight on the app at 7pm EST for a live drop and interview with Carrington, and learn more about her brand here.

On her background:

"I'm a wife and mom of 3, and also of 3 cats. I was born in Pittsburgh, PA and grew up in Southern California. I ended up going to college at UNLV in Las Vegas, and studied Hotel Management. My professional background was hospitality for about 6 years after finishing school, until I transitioned careers into property management for 6 years. I quit my job in October 2019 to pursue People of Color full-time, and haven't looked back since!"

On the idea of creating a nail polish brand:

"I was inspired by my daughter Monroe, who was 3 at that time, in early 2019. Her and my son would go to my mom's to spend the night and she would always come home with her nails painted. I didn't have anything at home to keep up with her new interest in nail polish, as I didn't wear nail polish myself. The "aha" moment came when I thought about my childhood. I didn't wear nail polish growing up due to playing basketball, and I realized I never saw nail polish shown on brown hands. My daughter's interest had rekindled mine. As I took a look at the market, I discovered the majority of polishes were shown on white hands, and essentially nothing had changed from my childhood. I thought about all the various shades of brown skin from all over the world, and wanted to create a brand that represented and celebrated us."

On challenges along the way:

"Some challenges with starting the brand included me not knowing much about nail polish and wondering how I would be starting a business with a product I didn't even wear (until then) myself. Also, with any new business, a major challenge is getting the word out and growing a business on a budget."

On the shade names:

"The colors and the names always relate to the theme of the collection we are launching. We have a diverse group of people, including myself, that represent various brown skin tones that helps curate the colors. Our collections typically celebrate People of Color in some fashion, so there is a lot of thought that goes into the color selections, and names to make sure it's a true, positive representation of the theme."

On their slogan, “Nail polish for People of Color and those who live in color":

"Our slogan is very inclusive! We all live and love in a world of color, which essentially means our brand is for everyone. To me, living in color means appreciating the diverse world we live in, respecting and celebrating the beauty in the world. Color adds fun to life, so we want to bring that mindset to the brand."

On being 10-free:

"Our polishes are non-toxic, 10-free which means they don't contain 10 of the most common toxins typically found in nail polishes, vegan, and cruelty-free. I'm happy to share that our Queen collection can be found on UrbanOutfitters.com, and we will be launching with a 2nd retailer soon!"

See you all tonight at 7pm EST in the drops section of the app.