These Latina Moms Are Taking Over the Beauty Industry

Jackie HernandezMexican-American, Los Angeles

At 24, Hernandez wasn’t interested in a beauty career (she had her heart set on being an actress), but she enrolled in beauty school to keep her older sister company. “Then, in my free time, I started creating YouTube tutorials to share what I was learning,” says Hernandez, also known on social media as @MakeupByJH. After two years, she was ready to turn her vlogging hobby into a full-time job. She went from filming in her bathroom to converting a room in her house into a professional studio. “I posted fresh content in Spanish every week, and I was always personable and offered a lot of explanation,” says Hernandez, who has racked up almost 2 million subscribers. Her next step: launching her own makeup brand J'Dez Beauty. “It was difficult, but I saved money for three years, found a cosmetic chemist and lab to work with, tested lots of formulas, and was then able to offer two liquid lipsticks,” she says. “A few months later, I launched three more, plus a highlighter palette. I’m so happy that it’s doing well.”

Her Top Beauty Favorites: J'Dez Matte Lipsticks, Estée Lauder Double Wear Stay-In-Place Makeup, Too Faced Better Than Sex Waterproof Mascara.

Nonie CremeMexican-American, Seattle

After college, Creme followed her wannabe rock-star boyfriend to London with no job and no work visa. “My furious parents cut me off, so I used my last $200 to take night classes to become a manicurist,” Creme says. She didn’t have a work permit, so she would stand outside a subway station and hand out homemade business cards offering desk-side manicures to businesswomen. Eventually, she got an agent and started landing jobs for fashion brands such as Gucci and celebrities like Rihanna. “I loved to mix my own nail-polish colors, and I’d get calls from magazine editors urging me to sell them,” says Creme. She began doing just that as founding creative director of Butter London, the fashion-forward nail-lacquer brand. “I started it with a business partner and $5,000,” Creme says. “It was a lot of trial and error!” After seven years, during which Creme had her daughter (Paloma, now 9 years old), she left Butter London and launched Nonie Creme Colour Prevails, a cosmetics collection exclusive to Walgreens. Then, this past November, she launched BeautyGARDE, which offers products that fill voids in the beauty industry. First up: an oil-free mascara that’s safe for lash extensions. 

Her Top Beauty Favorites: NYX Pro Lip Cream Palette in The Reds, Weleda Skin Food, BeautyGARDE Oil-Free Mascara.

Rachel Ten BrinkCosta Rican and Cuban, New York City

“Fragrance was a very big part of my Cuban culture growing up,” says ten Brink. So, after a career in the beauty industry (with marketing roles at Gillette, L’Oréal Paris, and Estée Lauder) and business school, it made sense that ten Brink decided to launch a fragrance brand. She and her cofounders came up with Scentbird, a subscription service that mails you a new travel-size luxury fragrance each month. “I liked the idea of dating perfumes before marrying one,” says ten Brink, who has since launched a second brand called Deck of Scarlet, which sends you a makeup palette of on-trend colors every other month.

Her Top Beauty Favorites: Guerlain Terracotta Bronzing Powder, Scentbird perfume subscription, Nars Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Cruella.