00:00Essence and Ulta Beauty have teamed up for an amazing mentor partnership called Girls
00:07United Beautiful Possibilities. I am Julie Wilson and I am the fashion and beauty director at Essence.
00:13What does that mean? I get to celebrate the dopeness of black women every day. I talk about
00:19fashion and beauty and how we just slay. Six incredible teenagers were chosen for this program.
00:26They get to learn from the best in the beauty industry, get to create a capsule collection
00:31that's actually going to be sold in Ulta Beauty stores, and they'll get $10,000 which they can use towards college.
00:38Those six ladies are Miriam Drame.
00:41In African culture, makeup was something that wasn't a career. It wasn't something that I could really do as a living.
00:47It was just something that I had fun with. Just seeing that I could make a career out of something that I love was very inspiring.
00:53Ryan Sampson. It's like a thing where you're used to getting compliments with makeup on, so you start to think,
00:59oh I don't have makeup on, I'm not going to get compliments, or like people aren't going to think that I'm like pretty anymore.
01:04Christian Hardy. Something that I like to say a lot is that there's only one you, so you just have to be the best you that you can be.
01:10And I just want to show other people by being myself, I'm confident, so when they do it they'll be confident too.
01:15Imani Taylor. This is unreal, like am I really doing this?
01:19What I'm most looking forward to is creating an inspiring diversity for all skin tones and all skin types.
01:26Madison Clark. I got the call saying that I was actually going to be able to come here,
01:30and when I tell you I lit up so fast, if I can get this then I can do anything, there's hope.
01:35And Asha Yearwood.
01:37We are young black girls, and I feel that with what we're doing, it's so incredible,
01:42and I want to make sure that young black girls everywhere, nationwide, worldwide, know that anything is possible.
01:49Hi, I'm so excited. I'm so excited.
01:53Oh my gosh, this is so cool.
02:02Hey ladies, how are you guys doing?
02:05Good. How are you?
02:06All right, well, I am Julie Wilson, and I am the fashion and beauty director at Essence,
02:10and to my right here is this lovely lady.
02:14Ladies, this is Karla. She is from Ulta Beauty, and she's going to tell you what she does.
02:19As Julie just said, I'm Karla Davis. I lead the integrated marketing and media team here at Ulta Beauty,
02:25and we are so, so excited for you guys to be here, to be a part of this program.
02:30The value of a program like this is to break down barriers for beauty.
02:34For folks that maybe have never thought that they could be a part of the beauty industry.
02:38Are you guys as excited as I am?
02:39Yes!
02:40It's insane.
02:41You're going to make your own collection, which is really awesome.
02:45We definitely want you to see all the pieces that go into really creating product.
02:50This six-step process is really going to push you guys, but I think you're really going to enjoy it.
02:55Right now we can open it up, see if you have any initial questions on why we're doing this,
03:01how it's going to work, anything about Ulta Beauty or Essence.
03:04So what do you both hope we learn from this journey?
03:07I hope you learn that you can do anything. You could be a lawyer for a beauty brand,
03:12you could be in marketing, you could be a scientist. There's so many possibilities in this industry.
03:17The thing that I'm looking most forward to learning is kind of the whole process of making makeup.
03:23We can create something that could potentially impact the entire industry. It's mind-blowing.
03:30The sky is the limit from here on out. What are you going to do with the rest of your life?
03:35Because I'm grown and I have not created a beauty, like a whole beauty collection.
03:41What does beauty mean to you guys?
03:43It's about who you are and how you just show up every day, whatever that might be.
03:49How you operate in a world in a way that is inspiring. And think about it, you've got to have
03:55like a total, a face full of makeup, right? And just be a horrible person and that makeup does not look
04:01good. You know what I'm saying? But like you have a face full of makeup and just like shine your light
04:05and be an awesome person and that makeup looks like 10 times better, you know?
04:09So I have a question. Do you guys feel any social responsibility in the roles that you have?
04:13I wake up thinking, what have I done for black ladies recently, right? Um, because I know that
04:20like, if I don't use my voice, there isn't a voice in there.
04:23I think the main influence that I'm going to have in my community and bring back
04:27is just to inspire other people, especially because I come from like a pretty small town.
04:31So just to show them that there's really no limits on what you can do and where you can go. As long as
04:36you're passionate about something, you're confident in yourself and you're willing to persevere.
04:40Being in a room with such empowering women, like personally, for me, it was life changing
04:46because for times when I do feel hopeless, I'm just like, I have to remember that all these wonderful
04:51women went before me so that I can go where I want to go. And I just want to thank you guys for being
04:58so open and raw about like your stories coming up and being who you are today. Because it, it, we,
05:04we all go through a lot as teenage girls. So it's nice to know that it's not the end of the world
05:08sometimes and that there is light on the other side of the tunnel.
05:12Next up on Girls United, Beautiful Possibilities, the girls find out their assignment.
05:17We also have a really special guest. Tune in. You won't want to miss it.
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