Born in Barbados, Robyn Rihanna Fenty became an American music icon at the age of 17 in 2005. After signing with Def Jam, her music soon topped the charts, catapulting her into stardom. Now 32, Rihanna has sold more than 250 million records worldwide, making her one of the best-selling artists of all time. However, music isn’t the only place where Rihanna found success. Not only a musical innovator, Rihanna has made her way into the beauty industry with her creation of Fenty Beauty.
Launched in 2017, Fenty Beauty was Rihanna’s reaction to an unfairly exclusive beauty world. From the time she was a child, Rihanna loved using makeup to express herself, but as she got older, she began to understand how the beauty industry only targeted white skin tones and did not cater to other races. Once she had the platform and power created by her success in the music industry, Rihanna launched Fenty Beauty, a line solely focused on catering to every skin tone and every shade. The first line ever to be launched globally, Fenty went live in 17 countries with a foundation line featuring 40 shades (now expanded to 50), which completely revolutionized the way that beauty companies everywhere approach skin care and makeup.
Fenty Beauty was an immediate success and worldwide sensation. Within one month of its launch, Fenty Beauty was valued at $72 billion, and now, as of 2020, it is valued at $17 billion, a figure that is only expected to grow. Named one of Time magazine’s best inventions of 2017, Fenty filled a variety of needs that had never been catered to before in the beauty industry. Rihanna’s focus on catering to all skin colors and skin types set Fenty apart, and since then no other line has surpassed Fenty’s prominence in the role of inclusivity. Fenty has also been praised in terms of advertising, for each and every campaign features several models of color, again setting a standard for racial diversity in the beauty industry.
I think it is very interesting that Rihanna was the first one to create a makeup line that was conducive and enhancing of each individual’s God-given beauty and skin tone. What she did with Fenty Beauty was innovative and revolutionary, and on top of that she also brought a whole new era to the music industry with her iconic and memorable hit songs and records. I had never really thought about the immense level of entrepreneurial thinking that goes on in the music industry. Your post did a great job shedding light on how forward-looking musicians have to be to make it big in Hollywood and around the globe.
What Rihanna has been able to do in her career so far is quite amazing. Not only is she an amazing artist, but she has made a very successful beauty brand as you described. Although I’m a guy and have obviously never used makeup, I am a big fan of Rihanna’s music and it is really interesting to see artists like Rihanna take their success and use it to generate different fields to go into. This entrepreneurial mindset is shared by many musicians/artists and their creativity is endless it seems like. Not only this, but she is inspiring girls of all races that it doesn’t matter what your gender or ethnicity you are to be successful in life. This is something that is great to pass onto the next generation.