The idea for Cheekbone Beauty came to Jenn Harper in January 2015 in a dream. "I had a literal pop-out-of-the-bed-in-the-middleof-the-night dream, where Indigenous girls like me were covered in lip gloss," she says. "They had the rosiest little cheeks and I remember them filled with joy, and laughter." After waking up from that powerful and vibrant vision, Harper immediately grabbed her laptop to figure out how to make a lip gloss, while also making sure she was doing good with the profits it made. She ultimately wanted to make something in honor of her grandmother.
The name came to Harper that fall, as she was listening to a business podcast with Spanx founder Sara Blakely. In it, Blakely shared the memorability of the "K" sound, which inspired Harper. That tidbit, combined with research that people with high cheekbones are considered more trustworthy (and it is a beloved facial feature within Harper's own Ojibwe community) was all she needed to forge ahead. And thus, Cheekbone Beauty, an Indigenous-owned and -founded cosmetics company, was born in 2016.
This story is from the The Identity Issue 2023 edition of Marie Claire - US.
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This story is from the The Identity Issue 2023 edition of Marie Claire - US.
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