Culture The Sudden Highs and Many Lows: Black Creators in the Beauty Community By Damica Feliciano Kristin Ferguson watched her profile on Instagram skyrocket from 4,000 followers to 20,000 in less than two weeks during the Black Lives Matter trend last summer. This growth was attributed to Ferguson’s continuous work of uplifting and recognizing Black and Bahamian makeup creators on her platform. When the trend died down, however, the make-up industry returned to their usual content creators: white people. “I was getting so much attention, and I finally felt like I made it to where I wanted to be,” Ferguson said in a Google Meets interview with The Intersectionalist. “Then I realized the likes stopped coming in, and it’s not like I need the likes to feel good, but
people only appreciated my stuff because [at] that moment ‘Black Lives Matter,’ and then all of a sudden all
of our engagement died down, brands stopped noticing us, and people stopped coming to our pages.” The Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020 sparked initiatives across the United States to support Black makeup creators and acknowledge the racism in this long-held industry. One initiative was the “Pull up for Change,” also known as “Pull Up or Shut Up.” Created by Sharon Chuter, this social media campaign called upon major commercial brands to reveal statistical data of how much Black representation is in their executive
leadership level. Some of the most popular brands such as Lime Crime, BH Cosmetics, Sephora, and Morphe all reported a dismal amount, between zero to three percent, according to the initiatives Instagram page. Ferguson said she always knew that there was a marginal gap between
Courtesy/Kristin Ferguson
Kristin Ferguson, @itskaijasmine, is a distinguished makeup creator who uses her platform to uplift and create more spaces for Bahamian and Black creators.
