By. Ran
She was mocked for having dark skin all her life. And now, she is the face of a new shade of foundation that goes great with her skin tone.
31-year-old mother Joy Mohammed from Detroit, Michigan is the new face of make-up shade 6.04 Warm Red Ebony, offered by The Lip Bar brand. The Lip Bar brand is run by black female entrepreneurs who Joy was supporting for years, the Daily Mail reported.
“I was completely overwhelmed to be asked – absolutely blown away,” Joy shared.
“I couldn’t get over the fact I was tapped to represent a foundation shade that was unavailable when I was in need of make-up for senior photos and dance recitals, because my skin tone was so “undesirable” to the masses,” she said.
“I was always the darkest kid in class when I was younger – it was rough. People would make comments about my skin color and call me things like “blackety black.”
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“I remember putting on make-up and trying to make it work [even though it was too light].
“I looked horrible, just ghastly. I’d have a dance recital and all the girls would get their make-up done, but I remember going to the local convenience store because that’s all I could afford.
“I would go there to get the darkest foundation they had – it was “Queen Latifah” shade.
“People would ask me if I was out in the sun too long, or ask what was wrong with me.
“They would ask me ‘oh is that your mum because she isn’t as dark?’ This all came from black people in my community.
“To have the same thing that people were so mean to me about for years, and then be told, “it’s okay.” I was able to really let it go for the first time.”
Joy could not bear her own happiness when she was invited to The Lip Bar studio; she even became friends with the product developer Kori Fields.
“I was drawn to this brand not only because it was also Detroit-owned, black-owned, and women-owned, but because it worked so well and showed up on my skin so well,” she said.
“The kind of low-priced makeup you get in supermarkets doesn’t show up on me.
“Kori got in touch one day and said, “Hey, we need to come in because we need to match your skin for our new foundation.”
“FENTY has a foundation in my color, I think Too Faced has one that’s pretty close, but this one was so close to my heart because I’d been supporting their product for so long.
“The product color is seamless, it goes on and you can’t tell when the product ends and where my skin begins.”
The pretty mom also brought her 5-year-old daughter, Adeline in order to teach her about “beauty diversity.”
“I took Adaline because I wanted her to see that what we consider beauty diversity to be normal for her, and that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes.
“I didn’t want to tell her about it or show her pictures, I wanted her to see it.”
Kori Fields said: “We want everyone to feel like they have a home with us. “Joy is one of our number one fans, we always reach out to her when we can because she’s always excited and helpful.
“She owns pretty much all of the products we already have.
“We have to support those who support us, she’s always been great.”
This is joy talking about her journey:
