Queens Recognize Queens! Keep shining!

A woman trying on makeup at a mall in St. Louis, Missouri motivated me to start my brand, Laugh Shine Repeat. She was concerned about her appearance in a bold, red lip stick. I walked passed the woman as she sampled the color and I smiled. I thought the shade complimented her perfectly. Apparently her perspective was quite different from mine. Eye to eye she said to me, “You’re laughing at me, aren’t you.” Stunned and a bit sad by her words, I said to her, “No, I’m not laughing at you. I think you’re beautiful.”

I immediately left the mall and planned out the next chapter of my life. I planned with her in mind. I began visualizing a beauty and lifestyle brand designed to enhance more than just a woman’s appearance. My chance encounter with the woman at the mall made me eager to find a way to enhance the lives of my sistren – inside and out.

I thought back to my childhood and how I used to love sneaking into my Grandmother’s medicine cabinet for strokes of her orange colored Max Factor lip stick. Using it made me feel beautiful and feminine just like her. I’m sure most women can think back to their first encounter with lipstick or lip gloss and how it made them feel. Coloring my lips made me feel special.

As I brainstormed that night, I thought to myself, “I want women to feel beautiful and special.” Voilà! Like a bolt of lightening, the thought hit me; use an everyday tool like lip gloss and lip stick to promote positive life changes. Both are powerful tools. For most women, the perfect color and application can provide instant confidence.  They are essential cosmetics - something many of us can’t live without. The colors we choose to wear on our lips everyday tell the world a story; where we are going and how we are feeling. I want women to look and feel good. And, for those moments when a little color on the lip fails to brighten a day, I hope the name of my brand alone or the positive affirmations I share will make a positive difference.

I want to find the woman from the mall and whisper these words into her ear, “I saw the invisible crown on your head that night. Queens recognize queens. Keep shining!”