Imagine scrolling through YouTube in 2009, desperately searching for a makeup tutorial that actually shows someone who looks like you. That was the reality for Black women navigating the beauty space back then and that is exactly why Jackie Aina hit record on her camera and changed everything.

Today, Jackie Aina is basically beauty royalty with over 3.4 million YouTube subscribers and a trophy case that includes being the NAACP's first-ever "YouTuber of the Year."

But her journey from a U.S. Army Reserve member stationed in Hawaii to one of the most influential voices in beauty was not just about teaching contouring techniques. It was about forcing an entire industry to wake up.

The Shade Range Revolution

One thing that makes Jackie Aina stand out is that she doesn't just complain, she creates solutions. When Too Faced's Born This Way foundation dropped in 2017 with an uncreative shade range, Jackie did speak about it and moved on.

She got in the room with founder, Jerrod Blandino, and literally formulated nine new shades herself.

The result is an expansion that brought the foundation line to 35 shades total, including three darker than their previous darkest option, Cocoa. But Jackie did not just pick random colours, she obsessed over undertones.

"Many dark shades tend to go a little reddish, and I wanted to have ones with varying undertones," she explained. Her personal shade, Chai, became a deep golden option that does not oxidize or turn orange which is something darker-skinned women know is a constant struggle.

The impact was immediate and undeniable: Ganache, the darkest shade in the new line, sold out almost instantly, directly challenging the industry's tired excuse that darker foundations don't turn a profit.

Breaking Billion-Dollar Brands

In 2019, Jackie leveled up again, this time partnering with Anastasia Beverly Hills to create a 14-shade eyeshadow palette. But this was not just another influencer collab slapping a name on existing products.

Jackie spent nearly a year going back and forth with ABH, which was valued at $2.5 billion at the time, making sure every single shade would actually show up on deep skin tones.

"Finally a palette where EYE, a melanin girl, can use ALL the shades," she tweeted when it launched. If you are a Black girl who has ever had to skip that one ashy row in an eyeshadow palette, you felt that in your soul.

The palette featured shade names like "Edges," "Shookington," and "Lituation" because why not make it fun while making history?

The Cost of Speaking Truth

However, Jackie's advocacy has come with a price tag. In 2017, she included Jeffree Star Cosmetics in an "anti-haul" video, explaining she wouldn't support the brand due to Star's racist comments. He allegedly called her an "irrelevant rat" in his response and blocked her on social media.

Instead of backing down, Jackie went harder. In 2018, she released a statement calling out his "blatantly racist behavior" and his "continued use of the N word." She wrote: "No one in the community should feel they are protected enough to continuously say things to make Black women feel ugly and ashamed in their own skin."

By 2020, Jackie took it a step further, severing ties with Morphe Brushes because they continued retailing Jeffree Star's products. "I refuse to align myself with a company that continues to retail anti-Black racist beauty brands," she announced. Shortly after, Morphe finally dropped Star.

Jackie did not just call out blatant racism, she held billion-dollar companies accountable.

More Than Makeup

What makes Jackie's influence so profound is that she understood something crucial early on: this was never just about beauty.

"This is a makeup channel. I'm going to have to eventually talk about the fact that my skin is dark," she told Essence. "And then eventually I'm also going to tie in those experiences when I'm buying a product."

That approach was not always popular. People accused her of being "too political" or "begging for inclusion."

The wild part is that before Fenty Beauty made inclusivity trendy in 2017, Jackie was already having these conversations and it actually hurt her growth initially. "There was a time when that actually hurt my videos and my channel because people wanted me to just shut up and put on lipstick," she revealed.

The Blueprint for Change

Jackie created a blueprint for accountability in the beauty industry. Her approach was simple: call out the gaps, offer solutions, and never apologize for demanding better.

When brands like Tarte and KKW Beauty released disappointing shade ranges, Jackie did not hold back. She called it what it was: an "erasure of a whole spectrum of people."

And because of her platform and unapologetic stance, brands started listening not out of goodness, but because they realized Black dollars matter.

As Jackie put it perfectly: "Brands know how to create technology that fills pores in products, we know how to make lip plumpers, we know how to do all these different things, so I just feel like all of the standard excuses... there's literally no excuse."

The Legacy

Today, Jackie runs FORVR Mood, her self-care lifestyle brand, and is producing "The Black Beauty Effect," a documentary exploring the connection between Black culture and the beauty industry.

She has proven that being an influencer is not just about getting PR packages and discount codes, it is about using your platform to create real change.

For young Black creators coming up now, Jackie paved a path that did not exist before. She showed that you don't have to choose between being authentic and being successful. You can call out racism, demand inclusivity, and still build an empire.

The beauty industry will never be the same and it is all because one woman refused to be invisible. Jackie really did that.