Start Right Here! Podcast

Tomasina aka "Tommy" Boone thought she was going to be a broadcast journalist but ended up becoming a hospital auditor instead after graduating college. When she found her first job in advertising sales at The Nation , she found a more compelling use for her analytical skills. But it was when she began working at Jet that beauty became part of her career. Tommy found her niche and went on to roles...

If it weren't for an injury she sustained, Andrea Fairweather would have been a performer. But her current business, Fairweather Faces, the mobile beauty service platform, started more than 20 years ago, was an idea she put together for one of her college classes. After the class was over, her professor suggested she pursued the idea. Before she embarked on that adventure, she first learned makeup...

Kim Roxie spent hours studying the piano, but although she didn't make music her career, she has called on that discipline in her work as a beauty entrepreneur. Kim founded Lamik Beauty, a clean beauty brand for women of color, and opened her first store in Houston, TX, shortly after graduating from college. With the odds stacked against her, Kim relied on her ability to connect with women, her be...

If you asked Ukachi Anonyuo about pursuing a career in the beauty industry as she was entering college, she would have explained that she was headed for a career playing basketball. But a year later, she was entrenched in Industrial Engineering as her major. As graduation approached, she was determined to get a job and saw a posting for a position at Del Labs. She's been hooked on the beauty indus...

On this episode, guest Kelila Venson talks about her journey on the digital side of beauty. She always wanted to work in the industry but her original plan was to become a cosmetic chemist (she was attending Society of Cosmetic Chemist meetings as a teen). But while studying at Northwestern she found little joy in pursuing that major and more in studying Spanish and marketing. Kelila explains how...

On this episode, I chat with the amazing Tia Williams, the only other Black woman to be a staffer in Elle magazine's beauty department in its early years. We discuss the massive collection of magazines she started at age nine, her obsession with Kevyn Aucoin and other legendary makeup artists, and how she'd obsess over makeup in the drug store.  We talk about how she landed positions at some of th...

Shenelle Mays-Smith knows that beauty has always been a destination for her. Not necessarily because she dreamed about it as a child, but because others saw her talent as early as high school. Yet, she initially set her sights on theater and it wasn't until her classmates in college were applying to graduate programs that she realized that wasn't the path for her. She discusses how she got her sta...

This episode features Integrated Marketing and Communications Strategist Trenesa Stanford-Danuser. She started her career in Crisis Communications at the American Red Cross and she not only chased storms for a living but all kinds of disasters. She discusses how that background prepared her to be the level-headed one in the room when everyone else thought the sky was falling once she began working...

On this podcast, it is important to hear perspectives on getting your start from individuals at different stages of their careers in beauty. On this episode, Corynne chats with Kourtney Pope, a social media and influencer market professional who has successfully made the pivot from fashion to beauty early in her career.  Corynne and Kourtney discuss how she landed her first internship, how she has...

On the latest episode, Corynne L. Corbett chats with Regina Gwynn, CEO of TresseNoire , a virtual beauty coach designed to provide custom haircare solutions for women with textured hair. They discuss how Regina moved from a job in product development at Macy's to management consultant after she received her MBA, to ultimately, entrepreneurship. Regina shares the valuable lessons learned in corpora...

In this episode of the podcast, Leslie Bethel, a 25-year veteran of the beauty industry joins host Corynne L. Corbett to discuss the critical role a retail business manager plays in a brand's success in-store. Leslie's specialty is at ground zero, at the retail counter with customers. She's worked for luxury brands that include Christian Dior, YSL Beauty, La Mer, and Laura Mercier as well as manag...

Jazmin Alvarez talks to host Corynne L. Corbett about her winding path to becoming a beauty entrepreneur. She came to NYC after graduating from college with two suitcases and $300, determined to be a model agent. Her first opportunity came from Ford Model Management on the men's board and she turned it down in favor of an internship at another agency. When that opportunity didn't pan out as hoped,...

On this episode of Start Right Here, digital and editorial strategist India-Jewel Jackson talks about her journey from print editorial to digital in its early years, how she was able to take the lessons learned there, and transition to branded content and social media. She shares the value of internships as well as choosing the right university and offers advice for those studying on communication...

In the premiere episode of the podcast, host Corynne L. Corbett chats with Karen Chambers, executive director of Iman Cosmetics about her career journey. Chambers will share how she went from being a communication major to beauty retail and how she combined ambition and passion to learn brand and product development. She will share the invaluable lessons she learned along the way including the imp...