During Beauty Con, President & CEO of Essence Ventures, Caroline Wanga, sits down with actress and singer, Kelly Rowland to talk about what's in her beauty diary.
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01:18 - All righty guys, we have made it
01:21 to our final panel of the day.
01:23 Who's excited for this one?
01:25 It's a big one.
01:26 All right, here to close this out
01:30 with our final conversation,
01:33 please welcome back Essence Ventures
01:35 President and CEO, Carolyn Wanga.
01:39 (upbeat music)
01:44 - Hey Beautycon, how you doing?
01:47 (audience cheering)
01:49 Yeah, it's good to see y'all.
01:52 Thank you for the last two days.
01:54 I'm not gonna waste your time
01:55 'cause I know you ain't here to see me.
01:58 You're here to see probably one of my favorite people
02:02 in the entertainment world.
02:04 And the reason why she's one of my favorite people
02:06 is because she is who she is, unapologetically,
02:11 but with kindness and compassion.
02:13 And so who's about to join me, right?
02:16 Is somebody who, first of all,
02:20 you know as black women,
02:22 I'm just gonna talk about black women for one second,
02:25 we often spend a lot of time admiring people
02:28 but don't necessarily give them their flowers
02:30 when we see them.
02:32 The first thing I'm gonna say is,
02:34 I'm a fan of Kelly Rowland.
02:36 I'm inspired by Kelly Rowland.
02:39 I wanna be Kelly Rowland when she grows up.
02:41 Now let me get back to the notes.
02:46 But every time she posts a pic,
02:49 releases a song, walks a red carpet,
02:53 you fall in love with her over again.
02:56 She can do anything and everything.
03:00 She's a singer, an actress,
03:03 a founding member of the Grammy award-winning recording
03:06 record-breaking girl duo Destiny's Child.
03:08 Google it, Gen Z.
03:10 It was a great thing.
03:11 (audience cheering)
03:15 And today, we are excited to have with us
03:20 the one and only Kelly Rowland.
03:24 (audience cheering)
03:27 - Hello, hello, hello everyone.
03:43 - She said hi.
03:45 - How are we doing?
03:46 Can I get a little bit more volume on this mic
03:50 so we can, yes, right.
03:52 - Yes, can we please get volume?
03:54 - There we go.
03:55 It is so wonderful to be here with you.
03:57 - Yes.
03:58 - To be with all of you this afternoon.
03:59 Is it afternoon?
04:00 I don't know what time it is, y'all.
04:01 I'm very sorry.
04:03 But yeah, it's great.
04:04 I'm so happy to be here.
04:05 - I'm so, like, I just, from a sister to another sister,
04:09 welcome.
04:10 - Thank you.
04:10 - Welcome to our house.
04:11 - Thank you.
04:12 - Welcome to our home.
04:13 If I had some slippers, I'd let you take your heels off.
04:16 - Oh, I love that.
04:17 - And just walk.
04:18 - Thank you.
04:19 - And I'm glad that you guys are taking video,
04:21 but I hope we ask that your ears are open too,
04:24 'cause we about to do some learning, right?
04:27 From a woman who has had experiences
04:30 that may blow our minds,
04:32 but experiences that teach us how to be human.
04:34 Should we jump in?
04:35 - Let's jump in.
04:35 - Let's jump in.
04:37 So my opening question to anybody I've had a conversation
04:41 with at BeautyCon has been,
04:43 what has been your relationship with beauty?
04:45 Mine was rough to begin with,
04:47 'cause I didn't see a lot of me in what was perpetuated.
04:51 What's been your relationship with beauty?
04:53 - That's definitely been a part of my journey
04:55 and my relationship with beauty.
04:57 I know for me, like, two women who I thought looked like me
05:02 when I was a kid was Brown,
05:05 which was Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston.
05:09 It was also one of the dancers from Janet Jackson's team,
05:12 Josie, Josie?
05:14 - Okay.
05:15 - Yes, and I remember her dimples.
05:17 I just remember, it's certain women,
05:19 but it's like not seeing enough of myself
05:22 really bothered me.
05:24 You know what I mean?
05:25 And especially when you're looking at magazine covers
05:28 that are like, this is what beauty looks like.
05:29 I'm like, I don't see, where, we don't fit into that?
05:34 And I'm just, that really kind of upset me as a kid.
05:38 Actually, it really pissed me off, to be honest.
05:40 - Yeah, I mean, same here.
05:42 - It was really tough.
05:44 Really tough, I will definitely say,
05:45 'cause I wanted to see myself reflected in the world more.
05:48 - Yeah, how did you reconcile that?
05:50 'Cause I know for me, I was just like,
05:52 I'm just gonna be a unicorn outside on Tula on a Tuesday,
05:55 and y'all could just like it or not.
05:56 But what did your resolution of that look like?
05:59 Or have you resolved it yet?
06:00 Or are you still in the midst of it?
06:02 - I say I'm still in the midst of it as well.
06:04 I think that we constantly are.
06:05 I think that we're constantly starting new things,
06:09 feeling even more comfortable in our skin.
06:12 And I just, I'm in this space where I'm like,
06:15 what can't I do?
06:17 - See.
06:18 - I can't, if I try it and it works, great.
06:21 If I try it and it doesn't work, eh, great.
06:23 But at least I tried it.
06:25 You know what I mean?
06:25 I feel like if you don't try, you've already failed.
06:27 So I just like to see what happens,
06:30 like with beauty, with fashion.
06:32 I used to have this thing about even like red lipstick.
06:35 I'm like, what? - Say more, say more.
06:36 - Really?
06:37 I used to think that like red lipstick
06:39 wasn't for a brown girl.
06:40 And next thing I knew, somebody said,
06:43 oh, you have to get one with this black background
06:46 and blue needs to be a part of the red lip.
06:48 And I said, okay, I'm doing blue, I'm doing red,
06:51 I'm doing green.
06:52 Like I just started having fun with beauty
06:55 without letting the world tell me what I needed to do.
06:58 'Cause that was my issue too.
06:59 - I love that.
07:00 - It was so many different magazines
07:02 saying this is what you should do.
07:04 - Yeah.
07:04 - No, let me try this out by myself
07:06 and see what works for me and what doesn't.
07:08 - Yeah.
07:09 - You can give a suggestion of what you think I should do,
07:11 but I'm gonna say what I should and should not do
07:14 and see if it works.
07:15 - And that's part of how we're reviving BeautyCon, right?
07:17 Like the brands can exist,
07:18 but you can do something on top of the beauty we already are
07:21 versus telling us you're gonna build our beauty.
07:23 It's fascinating you said red lipstick
07:25 because being a dark girl, I didn't,
07:27 like red lipstick is the devil.
07:29 - Yeah, no, that's--
07:29 - Like literally, I'll be like, I ain't, what?
07:32 - Yes, that's what we were told though
07:34 because we didn't see it enough.
07:35 - And if I did see it on Iman,
07:37 I remember thinking like, gosh, only she can do it.
07:41 - Yeah.
07:42 - You know what I mean? - It was an exception.
07:42 - It was like an exception.
07:44 And so the first time this makeup artist tried it on me,
07:46 I was like, take it off!
07:48 Please take it off!
07:49 And he's like, why honey, this looks so great.
07:51 And it has blue undertones and this and that.
07:54 So he taught me about all these different colors.
07:57 God rest his soul, Eric Farrell,
07:58 he was such a brilliant makeup artist.
08:00 And he taught me about colors and colors on chocolate skin.
08:05 How they pop and gem tones.
08:07 And so I'm so grateful to him for teaching me about that
08:11 and showing me about that.
08:12 - So dark girls, reconcile your relationship
08:15 with red lipstick.
08:15 - That's right, every lipstick.
08:16 - It loves you.
08:17 - Every lipstick.
08:18 - By the way, Alex Navarro did this red lip
08:20 and we actually had this conversation
08:22 where we said this is the only second time
08:23 he's ever done a red lip on me since we've been here.
08:25 So clearly I still got some trauma.
08:27 - Well then you better wear that red lip every day.
08:29 - Thank you.
08:30 So let's go to the next thing, right?
08:32 Because I think that one of my favorite songs from you,
08:36 and I have several, is "Crown."
08:38 - Yes!
08:39 - Right?
08:40 - Yes, yes, yes.
08:40 - And I remember I was given a Crown Award last year
08:43 and when I posted about it, that was the song that I used
08:46 because that song has been a mantra for my hair journey.
08:51 - Has it really?
08:52 - Yes, like I worked in corporate America for so long
08:54 and had every hairstyle but locs
08:56 'cause somebody told me I can't do it.
08:58 And when I changed it, I thought I was gonna get fired.
09:01 - That's--
09:02 - For changing my hair and so that song became the mantra
09:06 of my courageous decision to rock it anyway.
09:09 - Wow.
09:10 - Right?
09:11 - Yeah.
09:11 - But we also don't talk enough about hair
09:12 in the conversation about beauty.
09:14 - We don't.
09:15 - So what was that song about and what is hair care to you?
09:18 What does that mean to you in the context of beauty?
09:20 - I mean, as far as hair care is concerned for me,
09:24 you gotta remember Tina was the one I grew up with.
09:27 - Do y'all know who Tina?
09:28 - Sorry, Tina knows.
09:31 - Just checking.
09:32 - She's mom, absolutely.
09:33 You know, I was raised in a hair salon with her.
09:37 I saw so many different beautiful brown women
09:41 coming into this hair salon rocking different hair colors
09:45 and textures and this and that and they made me feel like
09:50 hairstyles was like limitless.
09:52 You know, like I could do anything.
09:53 Like I remember Tina cut my hair and I was like,
09:55 ooh, she's flash, we'll keep this short haircut.
09:59 Then it was okay, I had the little like red hair
10:02 with the flips, that was definitely a phase.
10:04 - Oh, I remember that, I love that look.
10:05 - Oh, I love that too.
10:06 - I tried, but it didn't work on me.
10:09 - I'm just, I'm trying to cut me a new one,
10:12 a wig that looks like that.
10:14 So y'all might see that pop up.
10:15 - No, I don't want to work for your girl.
10:16 I'll send you via demo.
10:16 - But I feel like my hair journey was fun
10:21 because Tina made it fun for me.
10:23 And she made it feel like, no, she's like,
10:25 you can do whatever you want.
10:26 She was like, now you're like in this different space.
10:30 As an artist, you can be creative.
10:31 Like have fun with your hair.
10:33 And that's exactly what I did.
10:35 - Yeah. - Yeah.
10:36 - Do you feel there's consequence for having fun
10:38 with your hair in your industry?
10:40 - I think that sometimes, you know,
10:41 it's a lot of people who have something to say.
10:43 I don't really care about what they say anymore.
10:45 - Can you say that again for the people in the back?
10:46 - I don't really give a,
10:49 about what anybody says.
10:51 I have a good time with hair.
10:53 And I'm sorry, you asked me about Crown.
10:54 Crown actually came around through another brand,
10:57 actually through Dove.
10:58 And I remember we did the song,
11:01 but I had this conversation with those young girls
11:03 in the Crown video.
11:04 And each of them had their own personal story
11:07 of their hair journey and what that was like
11:09 from being called different names at school.
11:12 And there were different racial backgrounds
11:14 of these young ladies.
11:16 And I loved that the most
11:17 because they were so open about their story
11:19 and so young to be so bold to talk about their story.
11:23 And it made me so proud to be a part of that campaign.
11:25 So I'm grateful when brands do that too.
11:28 It's so important because young girls
11:30 need to see themselves reflected
11:32 and their stories reflected
11:33 so that they know they're not the only ones
11:35 going through that.
11:35 - And I also think we don't talk enough
11:37 about what is the mental health consequence
11:40 of brands pushing an ideal of beauty that's unattainable.
11:43 I've said it before.
11:44 I think that what's happening with these unattainable,
11:46 manipulated pictures of beauty
11:48 is creating a health crisis
11:50 where people are taking their lives
11:51 because they can't go after it.
11:53 We gotta start saving souls out here.
11:55 - Amen to that.
11:56 - Right?
11:57 - Yes, amen to that.
11:57 - So let's talk about the days
11:59 where you don't feel beautiful.
12:01 - Yes.
12:02 - What do those days look like
12:03 and how do you work through them?
12:05 - Okay.
12:06 - Let's be real.
12:08 - That's the only thing you're gonna get from me.
12:10 - Amen.
12:11 - The days I don't feel, as my mama would say, cute.
12:15 (laughing)
12:17 The days I don't feel cute,
12:19 I have to actually tell myself I do anyway,
12:24 which is still hard to believe.
12:25 You know what I mean?
12:26 'Cause you know you'll wake up and I'm like,
12:28 this eye is swollen.
12:30 - I swear my eyes aren't symmetrical.
12:31 - This side of my mouth is doing something
12:34 and I'm like, well maybe my nose looks different today.
12:36 This space in between my nose,
12:38 like I'm literally telling you what I think in my head.
12:40 I'm like, the space between my nose
12:42 and my top lip is just really off today.
12:45 Maybe I should get that, no girl, what are you thinking?
12:48 You know, I literally do that all the time.
12:50 And the truth is, is that I'm sitting there
12:52 and I'm going, if I pick myself apart,
12:55 where am I gonna end up?
12:57 - If I pick myself apart, where am I going to end up?
13:01 - At the bottom.
13:02 So here I am picking myself apart
13:05 and I'm not gonna have anything left.
13:07 If I don't have anything left,
13:09 what do I have to offer myself, my kids, my husband,
13:13 my business, like I don't have anything to offer.
13:17 You know what I mean?
13:18 I wanna be the best version of myself for my kids first
13:21 and my husband and my home.
13:23 And that means the most to me.
13:25 So I gotta, if I'm starting there, I gotta start,
13:28 I gotta go here and not here.
13:31 'Cause there ain't no space to go.
13:32 - Ain't nowhere to go.
13:33 Here's what I love about that answer.
13:34 Number one, you say the same things to yourself
13:37 on the days you don't feel beautiful
13:39 as the days that you do.
13:40 Like don't stop that inner narrative.
13:42 - Absolutely.
13:43 - And the motivation for that 24 hours
13:45 or whatever you have to make it through
13:46 is the people who need the you when you feel your best.
13:49 - Yes.
13:50 - I absolutely love that message.
13:52 - And you know what else?
13:53 - Please share.
13:54 - Right on your mirror,
13:56 even the things that you don't believe just yet,
13:59 write them down.
14:00 Like I do that for Titan,
14:02 but I said that I'd start doing it for myself and I did,
14:04 but somebody wiped it off and they were trying to,
14:08 you know, do their job.
14:08 - Keep houses clean and whatnot.
14:10 Messed up all your affirmations.
14:11 - I need this because Tuesday was not a good day for me.
14:15 - Right.
14:15 - I need to make sure that I have to see it.
14:17 So with those days that I don't believe it,
14:19 I can just write it down.
14:20 I am great.
14:21 Oh girl, you look good today.
14:22 Like I literally say it as if I'm like
14:24 the girlfriend in my head.
14:25 - Yeah.
14:26 - So I'm just the hype,
14:27 I'm the hype woman for myself.
14:28 Who else is gonna hype you up besides yourself?
14:30 - I mean, be your own hype person.
14:32 - Absolutely.
14:33 - Yeah.
14:34 You mentioned you're a mom and your children
14:39 and your husband, who I'm just a big fan of,
14:41 especially because first of all,
14:42 congratulations on your Harlem Fashion Reward.
14:45 - Thank you.
14:46 - As fashion icon of the year.
14:47 - Thank you.
14:48 - Right?
14:50 But what does that family life look for you guys?
14:52 You talked about you did some writing on the mirror.
14:54 - Yeah.
14:55 - Talk to us about a day in Kelly's life.
14:57 - Let's see.
14:59 The little one is just waking me up a lot.
15:04 So he's like two.
15:06 He's two and he's going on three, 33.
15:09 'Cause you swear he comes in there,
15:10 "Mom, mom, mom."
15:12 And he's waking me up early.
15:14 From there, he says, "Eat."
15:16 From eat, it's like, "Yes, I'm the chef."
15:18 I'm a chef. - Yes, you are.
15:19 - I go make the food and I make the food
15:22 and then get everything ready with Titan.
15:23 I'm trying to teach him responsibility.
15:26 Trying to get my husband out the door,
15:27 my kids out the door.
15:28 After that, I'm probably on a call.
15:30 I've hit gin at probably 6 a.m., 7 a.m.
15:33 Thinking about the next big thing I wanna do.
15:35 Like I kinda like knock down all the things
15:37 that are on my list.
15:38 And when I get a break, I breathe.
15:41 And I just have a moment to like,
15:42 I take a deep breath in and I like kinda purse my lips
15:45 like and breathe out slowly.
15:48 - Got it.
15:49 - Really gets me like to a nice, calm space.
15:52 - Okay.
15:53 - Yeah, to where I still have something to give myself.
15:56 - I love that.
15:57 I love that.
15:58 I love everything about that.
15:59 Let's talk about skincare.
16:00 - Yes.
16:01 - 'Cause you know, being dark girls,
16:03 skin is part of the journey we have as well.
16:06 - It is.
16:07 - Whether it be our tone.
16:08 I remember when I got this job and I was like,
16:09 I don't think glam people know how to put foundation
16:12 on a dark girl.
16:13 - Man.
16:13 - Like I've experienced looking like a ghost
16:16 unintentionally.
16:17 - Yes, I've been a ghost.
16:18 - What else have you been?
16:19 I've been a ghost too.
16:20 - I've been pink.
16:21 Have you been pink?
16:22 - I've been a slight red.
16:23 - Oh, I've been green.
16:25 - Green?
16:26 How they pull off green?
16:27 - I have no idea, but if one would know the colors
16:30 and foundations, you would know that I'm not yellow,
16:32 I'm not pink, I'm not green, I am who I am.
16:34 - Yes.
16:35 - And I need you to understand that that foundation
16:37 does not match this right here.
16:39 So it's really important to me like when makeup artists,
16:42 whether it's for fashion shows or just period,
16:46 they're working at beauty counters,
16:48 know your colors for your clients.
16:50 - Yeah.
16:51 - Like it really makes you unstoppable.
16:53 And as a woman, I feel like you to know your skin color too
16:56 'cause you don't want them problems.
16:58 - Yeah.
16:59 You've got a lot of different things going on in your life.
17:02 What's something coming up that you're excited about?
17:06 - One thing I'm excited about, I can't even discuss
17:08 because of the sag after rule.
17:10 - There's a thing coming she's excited about.
17:13 - Yeah, but I'm really excited about that.
17:15 I can't talk about it yet,
17:16 but I do wanna talk to you about it in particular.
17:20 So when it does come up, we need to do that together.
17:23 - No Ted-da.
17:24 - Absolutely.
17:25 - You'll hear it through us.
17:27 Plug.
17:29 Kelly, there is an audience here that are everything
17:33 from beauty influencers to brands,
17:36 to fans of beauty, to fans of you.
17:40 I know I struggle with the word role model
17:42 being put on my shoulders when I didn't get to decide.
17:46 What's your relationship with the fact that a room
17:49 is this full and want to see you and your obligation
17:52 to be a role model to them?
17:54 Like, how do you think about that?
17:56 Because you are loved, love.
17:59 - Thank you.
18:00 - You are loved.
18:00 - Thank you so much.
18:01 - You are loved, genuinely loved.
18:04 - Thank you.
18:05 I feel grateful.
18:07 It's been 20 something plus years in this industry.
18:13 And I do not take that for granted.
18:15 - Wow.
18:16 - I thank God for every moment.
18:17 I thank God for every person who says a comment,
18:20 who wants to show up at a show,
18:22 who wants to come here to watch me talk.
18:26 Like, you don't take moments like that for granted.
18:28 People could be doing whatever it is they wanna do,
18:30 but the fact that you take the time to be in a space
18:33 with me, I am grateful.
18:35 'Cause you could be anywhere else.
18:37 And I'm thankful God chose me.
18:39 I'm glad you trusted me with the journey for so many years.
18:42 And it's so much more that we have to do.
18:45 - There's so much more we have to do.
18:47 Well, sis, here's what I would say to you.
18:49 And I'm gonna give you the last word on if there's anything
18:52 you wanna share with this audience
18:53 that you have to be able to.
18:55 But I must do my own moment as a girl
18:58 that has had her own journey with beauty.
19:00 You've always been one of those people
19:02 that made me believe that my beauty belonged.
19:05 The way that you chose to show up in the world,
19:08 the way that you operate in a confidence,
19:10 even if it's not what you feel every day,
19:12 the unapologetic way that you have owned being Kelly Rowland
19:16 has brought me through tough days and great days.
19:20 And I admire you and thank you for the daily choices
19:23 you've made to exist in who you are.
19:26 'Cause they helped me on the tough of days being who I am.
19:31 I have to say that to you because it's honest.
19:35 And I'm not gonna not say that to you, right?
19:38 - I appreciate you.
19:38 - I'm not gonna not say that to you.
19:40 - Thank you so much.
19:42 - So what is something you haven't shared
19:45 or you want to share with this audience
19:47 as we get to our last word?
19:49 - What I will say about the beauty space
19:53 is that as incredible as it is,
19:56 it's also a space where there's so much like,
20:00 everybody like kind of wanting to look like something else.
20:04 And I just want to encourage everyone in here
20:07 that what the canvas that you start with in the morning
20:11 is the most beautiful canvas.
20:14 The makeup is just enhancement.
20:16 And we're so lucky to be able to have fun with it
20:19 'cause that's what we're supposed to do is have fun with it.
20:21 But don't let it be something that covers us up.
20:24 Let it be something that's like a bonus
20:26 for what already exists
20:27 because what already exists is beautiful.
20:30 It's only one of you.
20:32 And the world needs to look so beautifully colorful
20:36 and different.
20:37 I always see us as a garden.
20:39 Because I know sometimes it's like,
20:40 oh, well, this rose is way better than a peony.
20:43 Like I think that women as a whole are a garden.
20:47 We're so much more beautiful as a garden.
20:49 And there's so many different species of flowers.
20:52 So shine as the peony or baby's breath or rose
20:57 or whatever it is that you are,
20:59 but know that the uniqueness and the only one of one
21:03 is just so beautiful.
21:06 And I just want to encourage that.
21:08 Your canvas to start with is perfect.
21:12 You are perfect.
21:13 And guess what?
21:14 If you don't feel that, you work on it every single day.
21:16 I'm working on the things that I know I need to work on
21:19 every single day.
21:19 I just left the most amazing conference
21:22 with Sarah Jakes Roberts, the Women Involved Conference,
21:24 and it poured into me in such a beautiful way
21:27 that I feel like it's nothing I can't do.
21:30 I feel like when women have each other's backs,
21:32 we know who we are, we know what we bring to the table.
21:35 I don't have to compare myself to nobody
21:37 'cause I am one of one.
21:39 - Give them the sermon.
21:39 - And so I feel like it's really important
21:42 to know what you bring to the table
21:44 and not shrink for nobody.
21:46 Be the best version of yourself that you can possibly be.
21:48 Show up for yourself first, not the world.
21:51 God bless you all, period.
21:53 - Ladies and gentlemen, daffodils and roses,
21:56 Miss Kelly Rowland!
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22:09 (upbeat music)
22:12 (upbeat music)
22:14 (upbeat music)
22:18 (upbeat music)
22:21 (upbeat music)
22:23 (upbeat music)
22:26 (upbeat music)
22:29 (upbeat music)
22:31 you