16 minute read
Indigenous Beauty Cece Meadows
Kelly Holmes Writer
Darklisted Photography Photos
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@pradosbeauty
Indigenous Beauty
Cece Meadows
Cece Meadows' (Yaqui/Comanche) is shaking up the mainstream beauty industry with Prados Beauty, her inspiring and vibrant makeup brand that boasts colorful hues, beautiful packaging, and high-quality ingredients; and it's her people who inspired it all. She shared with us her Prados journey, her survival story, the importance of manifestation, and the inspiration behind her newest release, The Matriarch Collection.
Cece Meadows' (Yaqui/Comanche) is shaking up the mainstream beauty industry with Prados Beauty, her inspiring and vibrant makeup brand that boasts colorful hues, beautiful packaging, and high-quality ingredients; and it's her people who inspired it all. "We're colorful, bright, beautiful people, and I want people always to experience that," she shares. Besides bringing Indigenous representation to the makeup world, Cece also uses Prados Beauty to amplify Indigenous makeup artists, something she didn't have when she started as a makeup artist and influencer. Cece's journey up until this point hasn't been easy. She survived domestic violence, abuse, and cancer and overcame hardships to find the happiness and healthy support she has today. Along with her husband, Cece gives back a significant portion of their profits to the community who need help and hope, things that she needed before. Her people are a priority for her, so much so that despite the added costs for high-quality formulas and packaging of Prados they’re known for, Cece still ensures that her products be accessible and affordable for her people. Receiving two rejections from mega beauty stores, Sephora and Ulta, left Cece crushed and in depression. However, she was invited to join Thirteen Lune's cohort of BIPOC-owned beauty brands sold in JCPenney, making her the first Chicana and Indigenous woman-owned beauty brand in a mega box store. In between launches, interviews, and social media posts, Cece never sits still. She's always working on making Prados Beauty better; as a person who loves the earth, Cece moved the lashes from mink hair to synthetic and made everything Prados has 100% recycled. Though she finally sees success after all of her and her team's hard work, Cece remains humble and continues to be an example and lead the next generation of Indigenous beauties. Cece and I chatted for almost an hour. She shared her Prados journey, her survival story, the importance of manifestation, and the inspiration behind her newest release, The Matriarch Collection.
Kelly: I visited the Prados Beauty popup shop in Santa Fe, and I was in awe of the setup! What do you want people's experience to be when they visit Prados Beauty pop-up shops?
Cece: We take that experience like our brick and mortar here in Las Cruces, New Mexico. So what we do is we take pieces from the store. All of the vibrancy, that's just Prados Beauty in general. Like it's just very colorful. So to create that experience for people, it's not for us; it's for them. I always stay true to who we are as a brand and our motto and our premise, which was always to amplify who we are as a people. We're colorful, bright, beautiful people, and I want people always to experience that. I'm probably always going to get on nerves because of my attention to detail.
Kelly: I love your mission and everything that your brand stands for. I love how you all reshare the makeup looks of your fan base who use your products. How does that make you feel?
Cece: When we first started, we used to push for them to tag us whenever they would buy and use our products because we didn't have a lot of marketing dollars. Big beauty brands have all of this money: advertising money. We didn't have that stuff, so one of the ways that we created a good base and a good relationship with our influencers was to repost them and amplify them as makeup artists. One of the things in the makeup community is that if you don't have like 10K plus followers and reach out to beauty brands, they're not going to repost you. Your engagement rate has to be high, and your following has to be very diverse. That would push out people like us, like Chicana and Indigenous makeup artists. I started as a makeup artist, and all that would push us out of the chance of being able to be reposted or even be put on PR teams. So when I was doing all the legwork to start the trademark and the copyright for Prados Beauty, I was still an influencer and a makeup artist working professionally like in Manhattan. I said to myself, "you know what, when I start my beauty brand, I'm going to use it to amplify my people and smaller creatives who do phenomenal artwork and phenomenal looks, which will never get the time of day on these big social media and big beauty companies' platforms because they don't meet the criteria." Our mission was always to give back and do more for our communities. So our marketing dollars are freed up for us to spend money on other things like
beautiful packaging and to formulate and create more products because we already have a base of people who tag us and buy our products because they know that we're going to repost and reshare them.
Kelly: And this motivates you to make your products affordable?
Cece: It's a humbling experience to go through something like that and then know that makeup artists and creatives go through the same thing because a lot of the makeup they get from these companies is because they can't afford to buy it. I couldn't afford to buy their makeup, so I was always trying to get on lists to get some makeup to create. A lot of the beauty brands' products are expensive. Ours is super affordable. It has high quality and amazing formulas, but we always make it affordable. We don't have to sell it for an arm and a leg because that defeats the purpose of being an Indigenous, Chicanoowned beauty brand when your people can't afford it.
Kelly: So you're all about accessibility and making your products affordable for everyone. Now Prados Beauty will be sold in JCPenney! How long has this opportunity been in the making?
Cece: So we found out about JCPenney back at the end of June. So we've been sitting on this for a minute. I was a part of an accelerator program through this group called Beauty United, and I was asked to apply to be in another accelerator through Sephora and Ulta. I went through the accelerator and did everything that they wanted. It was supposed to open up an opportunity and a conversation for them to carry Prados Beauty in Ulta and Sephora. Sephora rejected us. I took that hard. Two weeks later, we got the rejection letter from Ulta. I was beyond devastated. I was so depressed because that was the ultimate goal. As a beauty brand, your goal is to end up in a big megastore, like a big box store. At that time, it wasn't even about being the first because, you know, there's Cheekbone Beauty and Ah-Shí Beauty, and I'm always rooting for those two girls because we're all Indigenous creators. We're Indigenous beauty brands, and we're not in any of the stores, and I'm like, "if it's not me, then hopefully it will be one of them." Long story short, they put me in a different accelerator with a company called Thirteen Lune. Thirteen Lune is [an e-commerce destination designed to inspire the discovery of beauty brands created by Black and Brown founders that resonate with people of all colors] founded by co-founders Patrick Herning and Nyakio Grieco. She said, "Cece, I want you to come on and be a part of this cohort and what we're going to do is help you improve your brand decks and your presentation." In June, Nyakio called me with some pretty top secret news that Thirteen Lune will be in JCPenney to take over their beauty counter. She said, "I want Prados Beauty to come with us." I was already on the Thirteen Lune website selling our products through their website, and they already work with 150 brands. She was like, "we're only going to take twenty-nine brands, and we want you to be one of the brands."
Kelly: How exciting! How were you feeling at the moment?
Cece: I was like, "holy!" We're a small brand, and we're independently owned. We've applied for loans, grants, all kinds of, and they always reject us. It's sad, but it's a norm for BIPOC-owned brands and businesses. We even went to tribes asking for funding or investments the and same thing; so much red tape. I didn't know if I would be able to scale in time to be in JCPenney. Nyakio said, "let's start with the first ten stores." They're starting with ten stores, and then by 2023, it'll be six-hundred stores. She also said, "another
thing we've been researching this already for a couple of weeks, but if this happens, you will be the first Chicana and Indigenous woman-owned beauty brand to be sold in a mega box store. So you need to prepare yourself." So since the end of June, we've been hitting the ground running and trying to scale as a small brand. It's not easy because it costs a lot of money to produce products and get them manufactured. We're always trying to expand our line and create more products that we can expand into.
Kelly: And although you're scaling your brand, you're still about the people?
Cece: We tell people all the time because it's true. We couldn't have done any of this without the people. This is a brand for the people, and this is why we're independently owned. The people are the ones that buy it and amplify us as a brand, and they share our stuff. We've made so many great relationships and connections through the years, like our friends who use their platforms to amplify us and help us scale. I'm so grateful to them. For example, you were one of the first magazines that ever wrote about us like you guys. I've also made really good friends with Tatanka Means and Supaman. Right now, I'm working with my good homie, Steven [Paul Judd].
Kelly: I remember when I first learned about Prados Beauty and you; I was so intrigued with your story and the brand that you built. Could you share your journey of hardships and all that you've overcome?
Cece: I am a domestic violence abuse survivor. Before I met my husband, I was in a very, very abusive relationship. That relationship caused me a job and to become homeless. I went through a lot of trauma and verbal, physical, mental abuse. I always wondered why I allowed myself to be put into that situation or go through that relationship. It all stems from your childhood, right. I carry my heart on my sleeve, and I always think everyone is good at heart, and I give people the benefit of the doubt, and sometimes that's caused me to be in relationships or stay in relationships that aren't healthy. I grew up in a very abusive home, and I think for a long time, I was being really strong and trying to numb what happened by being very successful. When all of that was gone, I only had myself to deal with, and that's when I got into that relationship. Then I ended up getting cancer, and that was hard. I had stacked some pretty big chips and made some pretty good investments in my twenties. By the time I was 28 years old, it was all gone to pay for medication, treatment, and operations then I could not work. It took a toll financially, and I lost a lot of what I had worked so hard for. I think the hardest part, though, is having a newborn baby and sleeping in your car and being afraid that they were going to take them away, trying to explain what's going on, and trying to make a good time out of it. We were in the Walmart parking lot. I would stay there in the parking lot, where it was well-lit with my daughter for as many days as I needed until I could go stay with a friend. That was so hard on my little boy. I was single for a long time after that until I met my husband and my whole world changed. I was going through therapy before I met him, but one of the things about therapy is that you don't ever stop therapy; you have to continue to keep going. You have to keep nurturing your healing and changing perspectives and the way that you see things.
Kelly: Wow, that’s a lot! How does your husband support you?
Cece: He has always just been so supportive and so loving, caring, and kind. He’s so quiet when we’re in settings like powwows or at shows. He tells me,” it’s not my place to
speak; I’m here to learn and to respect and honor your culture.” There’s a way for you to be an ally without putting your perspectives on where they’re not needed. That’s powerful and healing because it means that I’m valuable and what I think, what I say, and where I come from is important. I have always had this crazy dream about doing something really big ever since I was a little kid. I didn’t know what it was when I was younger, but when we were stationed in New York–I just had this love and passion for makeup. I got to go to New York Fashion Week for the first, second, and third time. I always just thought, “this is it right here; this is something that’s going to take me, my family, and my people places. To have that love and support from him and for him to take care of the babies and allow me to go travel and do stuff, that’s a blessing.
Kelly: Together, how do you and your husband give back to the people?
Cece: We created the Prados Life Foundation together, which is our non-profit. We give back a big portion of our profits. I call it our little project of love. We buy shoes and coats and donate them; we donate money to kids who need money for scholarships or kids who need to pay school registration fees or books for college. We've paid for funerals, light bills, and rent. We do it because we just want to help. I know what that emptiness, worry, and anxiety feel like, so to be able to give back and to help makes me so happy.
Kelly: Wow. That's amazing that you're able to give back, and you're able to help others too. When I was a little kid, I had the same dreams that I'd do something big.
Cece: It's us. We were manifesting our dreams and our life before we even knew that that's what we were doing. I'm a huge person of manifestation.
Kelly: You are right! I love that!
Cece: I think for people like us who have been through really hard things, it makes the journey even more fulfilling because you have this humble pride; it doesn't matter how hard or horrible the journey was because, at the end of the day, we're doing what we were created to do: be an example and to lead. We're examples to people that are going to come after us.
Kelly: How do you remain humble?
Cece: People tell me all the time, "how come you're not more on the Prados Beauty page?" It's my business and company, so I don't need for you to know that I'm the first this or that like, what's important to me is who comes after me. How did I pave the way for someone else? I get DM's all the time from girls saying
Cece pictured with her team Hannah Manuelito and John Cañas.
they're starting their own lash company. I tell them I admire them. I don't feel any type of way about that, where I've seen other Native entrepreneurs hate on each other. They've done it to me, and I don't need to be like that. We're here to inspire. We might be the first of many things, but there's a problem if we're the first and we're the last. We have to keep it going and continue to create the space and opportunity to teach others so that they can come after us because we're not going to live forever. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter where we end up as a brand. What matters to me most is who comes after me.
Kelly: That is so true. Now, tell us about the new Matriarch collection that just dropped.
Cece: I wanted to come out with the matriarch collection because I wanted to honor all the matriarchs in our life. I also wanted to honor ourselves if we're the matriarchs in our families. Being a matriarch is hard because you don't have a responsibility for yourself but your family and those who look to you. Sometimes we're put in this position unexpectedly. I wanted to create a collection that honors every matriarch in every family. It's just a vibrancy of beautiful purple shades and colors.
Kelly: What was the inspiration behind the imagery on the packaging?
Cece: I had this wild dream about a girl on a horse. We found a Diné model and rented a horse. I sent all of the proofs, and everything to Steven was I like, "I want this color. I want these different shapes."
Kelly: What else is new with this collection?
Cece: This time around, we're going to come out with more products like the bronzer and not just have the highlight and the blush. We're also going to have eyelash glue and the eyeliner, and two new lashes that are synthetic. We're moving away from the mink lashes to synthetic lashes.
Kelly: Your eyeshadows in the palettes are known to be vibrant. What's different about the colors in the new palette?
Cece: We put more fall-like winter neutral tones into it. I love a bright palette, but I also like to have neutrals. Yes, the first two palettes were just very vibrant, so this new palette has more neutral, contrasting tones. It also has shimmers, mattes, and highlights. There are also pearls inside the blush and the highlight. Beautiful products that are high quality yet affordable.
