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Beauty and style go hand in hand! Some of today's top entertainers will join us in discussing the importance of owning your personal style, how style influences beauty, and more.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00I mean they got too many people out here for me to not hear more energy than that how are we doing
00:09all right that's more like it so again my name is Kaylin I'm your host of the evening afternoon
00:16um so next up we have another panel that I know that y'all are excited for right this is beauty
00:22uninterrupted right and in this segment you're gonna love this segment we're connecting with
00:27some of the fearless beauty influencers on this panel beauty and style go hand in hand of some of
00:33today's top influencers and entertainers will be joining us do y'all know who's joining us today
00:37ah I want to hear a little more something than that right so they will be discussing why personal
00:44style is so important and how style influences beauty but first up I must introduce our moderator
00:50which is Nandi Howard VP content of essence and ventures let's go
00:54hello everyone happy Saturday are y'all enjoying yourselves are y'all enjoying yourselves
01:09well I am super super excited to announce my next two guests so first we have Simi Moonlight
01:17an influencer content creator activist and she is great amazing can you guys give it up for Simi
01:24Simi come on Simi come on Simi yes all right and next panelist we have a music star entrepreneur
01:36beauty and fashion maven JT let's see she coming out there she goes
01:46here you go girl all righty let's get started let's get started all right ladies thank you so much for
01:58talking with me today so today we're just talking about style beauty evolution and I'm gonna start
02:04off with JT we love your style essence is such a big fan of everything that you're doing right now we
02:09just wanted to say can you talk us through your style evolution which right now being the fashion
02:17girl that you are right now okay so I went to school for fashion and merchandising I always like fashion
02:24but I'm from the south so in the south our fashion is pretty like bold and like if you were a designer
02:32you're gonna wear like heavy printed designer yeah so then I moved up north and then I started
02:39toning it down a little bit yeah especially when I started dating my boyfriend because he was like you
02:44know but um yeah and I feel like more money yeah and more things exactly so you know you really like
02:53double down on your experimentation we love all the outfits that you do so what's there's what's your
02:59advice to those who may want to like experience it but are afraid to sort of step out the box
03:04I say do whatever you want to do or do it whatever you feel um being like everyone else would not get
03:12you you'll just go where everybody else is going so just stand out don't be afraid yeah and just do you
03:22do you be authentic send me so from hair to makeup to fashion how would you describe your personal style
03:28um I feel like JT really described it like I just do me like I feel like I just do what I want to do
03:35I don't care if it looks perfect I don't care if anyone else thinks it's pretty or presentable
03:42I really just choose what I'm drawn to and I think I have I have different phases just like JT I have
03:50different phases where sometimes I want to be super proper and like look like a princess sometimes I want
03:56to do street style like it really just depends on how I feel during the day and that's really what
04:00I would recommend for everybody yeah I like that you look beautiful thank you so to you girl as a
04:06digital creator Simi what's the secret of capturing the beauty like your day-to-day life and creating a
04:11story around it how do you think you do that best honestly I sometimes feel like I'm not the best at it
04:17because I'll be forgetting my phone at home y'all but no I think for me I try to focus on being as
04:26organic as possible I don't ever want to be in a position where I'm trying to create a moment I
04:33actually just try to capture the moments that I feel like represent where I am in life naturally
04:40so I think for anybody who's trying to be a creator don't force it you know just like choose what
04:47moments make sense to share choose what choose what feels right to share and allow that to be
04:53what makes people be drawn to you definitely I like that so JT what are some of your thoughts
04:59about fashion and beauty trends do you like to follow them do you like to make your own rules or a bit
05:03of both I probably should spit this gum out but it helped me um beauty and fashion trends sometime I
05:13had are I've already done it already or something when it become a trend and I like what I see the
05:20girls do I always love it and if it's cute I'll do it if it's not I won't but whatever yeah so do you
05:29have you ever felt like you had pressure to conform to certain beauty or style moments or
05:33for you that doesn't really affect you no it doesn't affect me at all yeah I feel like you're
05:37very like I'm gonna do what I want yeah what I want yeah I'm blessed and lucky to be able to do
05:43what I want yeah I like that um so Simi what role do you think diversity and inclusivity play in
05:50defining beauty standards within the fashion and entertainment space oh um well first I want to say
05:57I feel like JT is a really great example of what it means to like push for uniqueness especially in
06:04the beauty space like I know sometimes people be trying to like come for the looks that you got
06:09and I'm like no like it makes sense for JT which means it makes sense period you know right and I
06:14think we need more people that are willing to kind of go outside the box and do what they want to do
06:20despite what everyone expects them to do I think also especially for me being plus size like I think
06:26a lot of times people think that your quote-unquote ailments make you limited and I think for me like
06:33I have actually made it so that I am unlimited despite what the world tries to tell me um and
06:39I think that that's what I really want to encourage everyone to do like be unlimited despite the world
06:44trying to limit you I love that to me and JT just to follow up on that when you are performing and you
06:51have all of the things that you do do you pick an outfit based on that or you kind of just pick wake
06:56up and say this is how I feel today well as a performer we are we're I'm I'm shy right now you're
07:03doing great as a performer I'm self-conscious like I always think like I look heavy or like somebody's
07:11gonna catch a bad angle of me taking pictures so it's like a weird feeling that yeah only I could
07:18describe right right right but I was I'm just like in awe of your beauty and like how you just look
07:24right now and how confident you is and it's just like I'm like I need to be more confident like her
07:28because she's killing it so you look good and I'm happy to just do more panels with essence then
07:35like now I get to meet more like you know confident girls and get inspired you is inspiring me right
07:43now like I'm like girl I need to stop being all like shy because you shine you killing it well like
07:49I'm going off script but that's why we wanted you here because it was like we really support JT we
07:53really want her here we want her to like do things that we don't see her doing so you're
07:57so we know it was a lot to get you here but we love it we love it um Simi I wanted to just kind
08:03of follow up with what JT was saying just about confidence and things like that um how do when
08:08do you feel your best and how do you feel your best um I think I feel my best I mean I don't I don't
08:22know like I think I feel my best when I feel like I'm being true to myself right you know um I think I
08:29feel my best when I can see other black women like JT like you just like being true to themselves
08:34like choosing what it is they want to do in life and going after it to me that inspires me to do the
08:40same um and I feel my best when I'm going after something even when it might not be working out
08:47exactly the way I want it to you know like I still feel really good because I'm still choosing it so
08:52yeah yeah definitely JT what about you um you mentioned you were shy so what do you do to kind of like
08:58build that confidence because the music is not shy I'm like girl shy um I just go out there and I
09:08just do my thing and I'm being motivated by the crowd the people that support me right right right
09:13I'll be like okay if they feeling it I'm feeling it we feeling it we're gonna fit it together
09:17but yeah I do get shy like I was shy to walk out here but it's like
09:21the love is here y'all isn't it
09:24um for both of you so I wanted to kind of get into when you start planning your look
09:31what goes first do you plan the hair the makeup the jewelry like what are your sort of favorite
09:37things to plan with your outfit for me it's the clothes like the clothes are first and then I'll see
09:44because I'm like I can take I can change the hair like this away y'all I can change the hair you know
09:49what I'm saying I can change it anytime I can also change the makeup anytime but like the clothing
09:53would be harder to change so I start with the clothes first yeah yeah what about you JT kind of
09:58where do you start with your outfit where do I start with my outfit I want to say the hair yeah the
10:06hair and the makeup I I love makeup more than clothes a little bit for some reason yeah you make
10:12like the glam and I feel like if your hair and makeup look good the outfit is gonna look good
10:17too I agree for whatever reason I just feel like if up here is good down here gonna follow
10:21yeah no I agree with that it's like okay we gonna get the face going first and then just pick the
10:25outfit um so I wanted to know your who you don't have to say exactly who are your style influences
10:32but what influences your style is it the people is it places you go so where do you guys get your
10:37style influence JT you go first well my style influence is like
10:44all over the place like I get inspired by confidence like when I see yeah I can get inspired
10:53by somebody on my explore page you don't have to be nobody huge or small um my boyfriend style is
10:59really really rare and I get inspired by him a lot so I'd be like you know what I'm boring
11:03I need to turn it up a little more but I just can inspire like anything can inspire me
11:09definitely definitely what about you Simi yeah I would say I'm the same way like yeah I feel like
11:15I just but I think first and foremost black women inspire me like it'd be like all types of black
11:20women can we give it up for that yeah I'm like I'm like it don't matter what that black woman looks
11:26like like it's gonna be inspirational to me because I feel like black women are just such
11:31unique individuals and they just come off so cool all the time so yeah yeah you kind of touched on
11:38something I want to touch on next do you feel like black women are able to experiment or get that level
11:43of let's say just calmness and kind of acceptance when they experiment like what are your you both
11:50thoughts on that I see JT shaking her head something out of my eye but no we are not allowed
11:56we are not allowed at all and I want to just say this it start with us like when we start sticking
12:02together more then other people will be like okay that's what's it because these big publications and
12:07magazines they look at us they look up to us and they think that we're dope and if we don't think
12:12it's cool on us they're gonna put it on somebody else and then they it's gonna be like okay I could
12:16make up trend first but if y'all saying it's ugly it's ugly it's ugly they're gonna be like okay well
12:21we're gonna put it on another race and it's and then y'all gonna say look cool on them so it start
12:27with us sticking together and believing that like we push the boundaries and we start stuff first
12:31because if we don't trust me it get harder and harder for us so I we need to support each other
12:38more absolutely I like that like it's like even if we do see people kind of talking down on us our new
12:43styles it's like showing up and being a community for one another yes what about you see me sort of
12:47what are your thoughts about that I agree 10,000 percent with JT like right I feel like I mean JT
12:54you're just such a good example of this like I feel like you really just push for what you desire
13:00yourself to look like and to me that is what we need more of you know I think honestly I'm gonna say
13:06something maybe a little tad bit controversial okay but I think a lot of times people are really
13:12really really stuck within this framework of like wanting to be desirable all the time
13:18and like it's okay if the average person doesn't necessarily desire you based on your look it's
13:25still your look it's still something for you you know so I think like once we get out of this idea
13:31that like I have to be desirable to the average person that everybody needs to look at me and want
13:35me and and think I'm pretty it's like it's okay to be quote-unquote ugly is guess what I'm really
13:41trying to say like it's okay you know I'm saying because like it might not be ugly to everyone but
13:45most importantly if it's not ugly to you it doesn't really matter right right absolutely
13:50as a follow-up on that you and the content creation and influencer space do you see some of
13:57the negativity trickle down or how do you sort of maneuver through that y'all know how many people
14:04I block a day yeah exactly it's it I mean I see it all the time the negativity I don't really care
14:10about it though like I think for me I'm just like you're not paying my bills and you don't get the
14:14same checks as me so exactly okay um but also at the same time I think I think I've just really
14:21learned to like drown out that white noise like it's really just white noise like it's like
14:25I don't know you you don't know me and at the end of the day like I'm still gonna do what I
14:29want to do so yeah definitely and JT for you being in the music industry and being amongst this group
14:34of women rappers you know your style definitely does stand out and so for you how does that how
14:40how do you how are you able to manage just being different than everyone else when it comes to your
14:45fashion well like she said I just block a whole bunch of people a day and I curse people out
14:51I just will argue with people all day until I can't no more and then they'll be like you must
14:57be bored and I'll be like you must be bored because you starting with me but I just do me it's not easy
15:04yeah you know it's not easy as we think it well people think it is we have feelings too
15:10and a lot of times we only react to what people brings to bring to us so yeah yeah definitely and
15:19then to kind of piggyback off of that just with you being in the industry and stepping out into
15:24this fashion space how can you like what would you tell someone who wants to step into that fashion
15:30space but a little bit scared to experiment with their style I say just do it first they say it's
15:36ugly and then they copy and you'll see somebody say something that's ugly but then they'll do it and
15:41then they'll try to alter it to make it look good on them and I'll be like that's my shit on her
15:47and I'll be like excuse my language but I'll be like I see it but then they'll try to add a twist
15:53after they done told you don't do it or don't wear it as soon as they have enough money to afford it
15:59then they're gonna buy it and it become a later on trend so I just say do whatever you want to do
16:03you know do whatever you want to do I definitely agree so when it comes to something new when y'all
16:08see something on the internet and you're like I want to try it how do you you know try it but still
16:14still stay with your personal style still stay true to yourself um I feel like I've grown a lot
16:23to understand like what my signatures are like in my style um or how I present myself so when I want
16:29to try something I don't try a lot of trends I will say I will say that I'm really not a trend
16:34trier um but when I do want to try something I usually try to keep one of those signatures like
16:40in it like whether it's like a lot of jewelry like I really love jewelry so I usually wear a lot of
16:45jewelry um or whether it's like a lot of color like I just try to keep one of those aspects in it
16:50definitely definitely and JT what about you when you're like trying a new style are you looking at
16:54new shoes or new bag like what do you make sure to um have on to keep make sure you have your personal
17:00style as well dark lip liner okay yeah okay what dark lip liner do you like for what brand
17:08chestnut or yes chestnut I don't want to get a triple with no brands I'm like I don't want to say
17:16I want my money I understand I understand um right right exactly I need that check um for so for both
17:26of you just you know experiencing beauty con being here all of that all of those things how does it
17:31feel just to receive that love um and see people your fans your supporters actually in person and
17:36know you for your beauty trends and style I'd be shocked y'all I'm not gonna lie I'd really be
17:43shocked because I I think I still look at myself as just like a normal person like I'd be doing normal
17:47staff like I have my cat I gotta go home to my cats and feed my cats okay so it's like I think
17:52sometimes I'm really shocked but I think I'm also very very very thankful because I think
17:57without the people that look to me and see me as as some sort of like inspiration I wouldn't be here
18:04so I'm very very thankful definitely and JT when people come up to you and are saying I love your
18:08style I love what you've done like what does that how does that feel for you um it feels so good I love
18:14coming out and seeing like real people off the internet because it's always so much more love
18:18in real life than it is on the internet so I'm never shocked I'm always happy and enjoying it
18:24honestly I love that so just to wrap up I wanted to know like what are some favorite things that
18:28y'all loving in fashion beauty is there some things that are catching y'all's eye right now
18:34would love to know um I feel like I'm really loving how many people are starting to move towards
18:43more maximalist like style I think we had a wave of minimalist and like no shade to the girls
18:50okay um but it's like I really want people to showcase their personality in their style more so
18:56I really love that I'm seeing more young women um black women like all types of people kind of just
19:01like move towards that definitely and JT what about you what's some things that you're loving right now
19:05I'm gonna say the same thing she said I'm loving how like black women are being more
19:10self-expression y'all don't care we know we know what you're saying we got it explaining
19:16they self more and showing off more and just doing trends that you are only thinking to another
19:20race it's like we killing it right now and I'm loving it definitely well can we give it up for JT
19:25and Simi yes well ladies thank you so much for joining us at Essence Beauty Con and we hope to see
19:33you soon thank y'all
19:40you
19:42you
19:43you
19:45you
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