Golloria George is making her voice heard.
The 21-year-old Austin, Texas, native is harnessing her platform of more than 943,000 TikTok followers to revive the discourse surrounding shade inclusivity — a matter which had a cultural reckoning in the late 2010s, tacitly understood by many as unfinished to this day.
“Tone inclusivity is literally the bare minimum,” said a disappointed George in a January TikTok video, in which she tested Essence’s new Keep Me Covered Foundation, the darkest shade of which was still several shades too light for her.
Related Articles
The video, which has garnered more than 28 million views to date and thousands of comments either relating to or sympathizing with George’s experience, is one of many viral videos the content creator has uploaded in recent months showcasing the shortcomings in shade and tone inclusivity of many recent launches.
Beyond engaging TikTok audiences, though, George aims to inspire change across the highest echelons of the beauty industry through her content.
Here, she shares her experience as an up-and-coming Black content creator and beauty lover, and how brands can make meaningful strides to address beauty’s racial inequity problem.
When did you first become interested in beauty and makeup?
Golloria George: I always have been super passionate about beauty, I just never really had access to shades that matched my skin. When I was around 14 or 15 years old, I discovered Nyma Tang (@nymatang) on YouTube, and she was the first person to spark my interest in makeup — I didn’t even know we had dark skin shade matches until I watched her videos.
When did you decide to leverage that passion into a career in content creation, and what prompted you to start showcasing the lack of shade inclusivity among products you were trying through TikTok?
GG: When I was 13 or 14 years old, my friends were all starting to wear makeup, mainly highlighter and concealer. I remember my friend and I went to Walgreens one day and we were looking at the shade ranges, and looking back at each other and we both just knew, like, “Oh, nothing here is going to match us,” — it was so disheartening.
When I entered my freshman year of college and was still struggling to find makeup that worked for me just like I did when I was 13, I thought, “OK, something needs to happen — this is something I can make videos about.”
How have you used your platform to progress the conversation, and what has been the response from both your audience and brands?
GG: The TikTok videos I’ve posted in the last two to three months have gained the most traction I’ve ever seen on my account — I’ve had a few brands, mainly smaller ones, reach out and take accountability after a video has gone extremely viral, and I’ve also had a lot of brands not say anything, or ignore it.
In terms of these big companies that have been around for decades and have seen my videos and know they could be doing better, I’m sure that’s a hard pill to swallow, but I think the first step is just admitting that, yes, we failed in that respect, and yes, we can do better at making sure inclusivity is truly a top pillar of ours.
When I look through my followers, though, and the people who are commenting on my videos, there are so many dark-skinned girls; seeing that support from people who look like me lifts my spirits up because when I was younger, I wished I had someone like that to look to for a 60-second video recommending a product to me.
How can brands be real about inclusivity, beyond shade ranges?
GG: Brands need to have more Black people on their teams — we should be both behind the scenes and on the front lines of companies. And if brands want to demonstrate they value true inclusivity and that their interest is not just performative, it should be a priority to have more dark-skinned creators and people of color in general included in brand trips and campaigns.
Are there any brands you think are doing this particularly well?
GG: My girl Rihanna with Fenty Beauty — she was ahead of her time, because she came out and just smashed it in terms of the shades. She was also able to take constructive criticism: my shade, 498, was not actually part of the initial Fenty launch — it was around two months later that she came out with an additional few shades because of the feedback she was receiving, and since then she has gone above and beyond in making sure to accommodate people who have darker complexions.
Rare Beauty also does an amazing job, not just in its complexion products but blush as well. Before Rare came out with its liquid blush in shades Grateful and Faith, I was not using blushes — they always looked super ashy on me. The fact that Rare, which is such a new company, is already making sure to bring colors that actually show up on dark skin is great.
What have you learned about yourself since becoming a content creator, and what has made you feel the most accomplished?
GG: I’ve learned that I’m extremely resilient. Being a Black creator is hard — you have to work 10 times harder, and will see maybe half the results that people with lighter complexions see, but it’s one of those things where you can’t give up. You have to remember that you also belong in these spaces, and if people don’t want to include you in these spaces — take up the space regardless.
What’s next for you?
GG: I would love to do shade consulting with different companies and possibly have an extension of ranges with different companies. Long term, I definitely want to create my own makeup line that is super inclusive, and make sure it hits the spot on the darker tones.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.