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The Emergence of Fenty Beauty

Kayla R. Loscalzo

Florida Gulf Coast University

ENT 2000

Professor Paul Evans

April 21, 2020

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Introduction

Many people know who Rihanna is in the celebrity world, but what they don’t know is

that once, she was just a young girl living in Barbados. American record producer Evan Rodgers

discovered her on a beach in Barbados in 2003 while he was on vacation with his wife. Fifteen-

year-old Rihanna Fenty was in a girl group and they sang something for Rodgers but only

Rihanna stood out to him. He was so impressed that he offered her a contract with Def Jam

Records, with Jay-Z as the company chairman. Rihanna has starred in movies, has been

recording music for seventeen years and is an influencer to many. In September 2017, Rihanna

launched her own makeup line called Fenty Beauty. Eventually, after that succeeded, she also

separately created a Fenty clothing website (which also sells accessories) that was made for

women of all shapes and sizes. Rihanna’s mother used to be a professional makeup artist, which

is what inspired her passion for makeup and perfume. Rihanna was frustrated that big makeup

brands still were not creating shades of foundation that catered to women of a darker skin

pigmentation. With that being said, she created a brand that was inclusive of all skin types by

creating makeup for those with conventionally hard-to-match skin tones, developing formulas

that work for all skin types, and creating universal shades.

Rihanna—Before Life in Business

Before Rihanna was an entrepreneur, she was primarily known for being a phenomenal

pop singer. She has also starred in popular movies such as Battleship and Oceans 8. It’s crazy to

think that before stardom she was a young girl living in Barbados aspiring to show off her talents

one day. When she was a teenager, she didn’t have an easy life at home, so singing

was her escape. Rihanna’s father was an alcoholic and was addicted to crack-cocaine, and her

parents got divorced when she was fourteen years old. It also didn’t help that Rihanna had
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crippling migraines when she was young, and she hid it from her friends because she didn’t want

to seem abnormal. Rihanna has always looked up to her mother because she too had a passion

for makeup and beauty since she was a professional makeup artist. When Rihanna was young, it

wasn’t typical for girls to wear makeup in Barbados unless they were attending a fancy event,

like a wedding. Her mother was a big motivator for her releasing her makeup collection.

Starting the Business

Rihanna saw a gap in the makeup industry. She created Fenty Beauty, “so that women

everywhere would be included” (Fenty Beauty). There was a huge void in the industry for

products that accommodated to all skin types and shades. As a black female who already had

some makeup experience, she was ready to take action by launching Fenty Beauty. Rihanna has

fifty shades of foundation and forty shades of concealer, which is more than any big brand

makeup has presented for their customers. She is providing makeup that her generation never

had when they were growing up and filling the void forever to lift up young girls of color.

Around the time Fenty Beauty first came out, James Kaliardos, a makeup artist who has been in

the industry for over twenty years, had nothing but positive things to say about Rihanna’s

breakthrough brand. “This speaks to girls who have felt not considered before but are a huge

audience for beauty,” Kaliardos beamed (Allure). Fenty had also been raking in copious

amounts of business even in its infancy. The online store had generated over 72 million dollars

in sales in just the first month alone. Fenty Beauty was just what the people needed, and it was

clear that it was going to keep growing and that it was going to get better.

Growing the Business

Rihanna’s makeup business is going great and has made her the richest female musician

in the world. On May 22nd of last year, Rihanna released her first pop-up clothing store in Paris.
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A week later it opened as a worldwide online store. Rihanna was making black history once she

became the first black woman to be in charge of a major luxury fashion house in Paris (NY

Times). Bernard Arnault (chairman of luxury conglomerate LVMH and co-owner of Fenty)

gave her the opportunity to build the fashion house, with no artistic limits (Harper’s BAZAAR).

Rihanna hasn’t come out with any new songs or albums in nearly four years and it’s left

fans wondering if she’s going to ever go back to music. Fans will constantly ask her when she

will come out with a new album and she did say it would be dropped in 2019, but she has also

made it known that she won’t release her music until she is completely ready. It’s been said in

many articles online that she’s still working on music, but her time is more invested in her brand

at the moment. Rihanna has switched her focus, and since she had just started her company less

than three years ago, she needs to stay very involved for it to grow and to maintain its amazing

reputation.

In the realm of beauty and fashion, Rihanna was quick to learn tips and tricks to be the

best of the best in the beauty world. She is very open to hearing new ideas from people even if

they don’t have experience in the field of beauty and fashion. She says that she is always

searching for new talent and welcomes everyone’s vision because that’s what it takes to have a

strong beauty brand. She breaks tradition by not displaying her products on the runway because

she wants to get products out fast and not have people waiting six months to be able to buy

things they want right away. She wants what is best for the consumer and has her own rules to

her company which makes her a strong competitor in the beauty world. She emphasizes her

confidence by staying true to herself because that alone makes her stand out. Rihanna’s main

reason for creating Fenty was not because she was black or a woman, but she has admitted those

are still significant factors that come in to play. She says the reason she came out with Fenty is
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based off of what she has to offer as an individual. She made the brand to include all women, to

include all skin types; it wasn’t just for black women. Rihanna paved the road for a

revolutionary era of makeup to be cultivated.

Discussion

Key personality traits that got Rihanna success with Fenty were her confidence and

ability to be herself. It takes guts to go from being a pop singer to coming out with your own

makeup line and clothing line. She had the confidence to decide to juggle all of her careers even

if meant losing support from her fans since she hasn’t been so active in her music career. She

made her brand the way she envisioned it while also being more involved in her brand and

products than most other celebrities like Kylie Jenner. Last month, Rihanna announced that she

is going to be coming out with a long album dedicated to her lingerie brand, Savage x Fenty and

her new skincare line coming soon. From all of this information, it can be predicted that 2020

may be one of Rihanna’s biggest years in regard to her business as well as her music.

Conclusion

Entrepreneurs fill voids and by doing so, they are improving the quality of life for people

and solving a problem. Rihanna is helping the beauty world to include women of all shapes,

sizes and colors through her makeup and clothing merchandise. I thoroughly enjoyed diving into

Rihanna’s personal life as well as her multi-faceted career because she is one of my favorite

music artists and now, she is my favorite entrepreneur. I had always wondered why she wanted

to do makeup when she was a singer! I didn’t think she had any prior knowledge, but I was

amazed to find out that her mom had a solid background in makeup which inspired Fenty. She

also truly wanted to get into makeup because she had interest in it at a young age and she never

pursued it for the money. It is important to have entrepreneurs in the world like Rihanna because
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people like her make life easier and more innovative for the common good. Entrepreneurs make

people happy and inspire to make their entrepreneurial dreams to come to life. After looking

into Rihanna’s life as a businesswoman, I am not certain that I can take on the challenges and

responsibilities of an entrepreneur. It takes a lot of long hours and time away from family and

friends. It is also very stressful, and I already have enough anxiety as it is. I do appreciate and

admire those who hustle by using their ideas to enhance the world and make it more interesting.
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References

Fenty Beauty by Rihanna: About. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.fentybeauty.com/about-

fenty

Harris, J. O. (2019, May 20). Rihanna Opens Up About Her New Clothing Line, the Future of

Fashion and Her Next Album. Retrieved from

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/05/20/t-magazine/rihanna-fenty-louis-

vuitton.html

Hirsch, A., Madsen, A. C., & Pike, N. (2020, March 30). Rihanna Talks New Music, Fenty

Skincare & Her Plans To Have "3 Or 4 Kids". Retrieved from

https://www.vogue.co.uk/news/article/rihanna-new-album-vogue-interview

LaBouvier, C. (n.d.). Why Fenty Beauty Isn't Just Another Celebrity Beauty Brand - It's a

Revolution. Retrieved from https://www.allure.com/story/how-rihanna-fenty-

beauty-has- changed-the-beauty-industry

Rutherford, C. (2019, May 10). Rihanna's Luxury Fashion Brand With LVMH Is Coming

Sooner Than You Think. Retrieved from

https://www.harpersbazaar.com/celebrity/latest/a25931217/rihanna-and-

lvmh-to-start- luxury-fashion-brand/