JESI TAYLOR CRUZ

What’s your preferred name & pronoun? 

Jesi & They 

Where did you grow up? 

Between Kalamazoo and Union Pier, Michigan and different cities in south Florida. 

Growing up what was your first thought of the beauty world? What did it represent to you?

It just felt like a world I’d never have access to or be associated with. Even before I had vitiligo. I was a dark skinned Black girl trying to navigate an anti-Black world. I didn’t see myself in ads or commercials or even movies aside from racist caricatures or as comic relief. Or before pictures. Then when I was diagnosed with vitiligo it was all “are you contagious?” and “wow, you have the Michael Jackson disease” and since I was struggling with an eating disorder from ages 12-23. . .the beauty industry represented something...strange to me. It was all just so strange and I felt invisible. 

How have you seen the beauty industry change since you first engaged with it as a consumer until today?

 I’ve noticed more representation. But not representation that always feels right or inspiring. Sometimes it is obvious that brands are using certain people, certain bodies, to seem as if they’re evolving or just or “progressive” when they’re really just trying to lure a more diverse consumer base. I rarely buy makeup and other beauty items now for these reasons. I’m a working class mom and student so I already lack money to spend on things like that as it is. So, if I’m going to invest in beauty products I like to know as much as I can about the brand. So many of them just exist to perpetuate violent systems and line the pockets of billionaires with even more money for them to pass down to their offspring to repeat the cycle. It’s all related to power. All of it. So, little has changed. But it is nice to see small steps toward representation. Seeing people who look like you on billboards or smiling on the glossy pages of popular magazines does make a difference. There’s just so much more work to be done.

Who were your first beauty icons? Who do you admire today?

My first beauty icon was my grandmother Florestine Wallace. She’s the reason I fell in love with burgundy and dark shades of red. The only makeup she ever wore was lipstick and nail polish and I thought she looked like a movie star. 

I spend a ton of time in archives so today I really admire people that I find there. Mostly Black people and queer people from 20th century collections in jazz clubs and on random city streets. People on fire escapes and Pride parades. I genuinely just admire people. People living. People thriving against all odds. People who aren’t thriving but choose to share their truth. The archives are a great place to stumble upon so many stories and smiles and captivating eyes. 

How did beauty advertisements make you feel when you were younger and how do they make you feel today?

They made me feel unseen and like there were parts of me I needed to change in order to be beautiful. I no longer desire to feel or be beautiful so when I see them they, for the most part, just remind me of the countless ways that violent, overarching systems impact marketing.   

What exposure did you have to beauty advertising growing up? Did you see it on TV? In magazines? In drugstores? 

When I lived with my grandparents I didn’t have much exposure at all. We lived in a really small town where the only billboards featured farms, vineyards, and local restaurants. We didn’t have magazines in the house. We did watch hundreds of movies a year, though, so when I was exposed it was usually in the form of extended narratives that my grandparents and I would openly discuss. Once I moved to Florida everything changed. Ads for cosmetic surgery were rampant and had catchy jingles that I still remember to this day. 

How did these advertisements impact you on a subconscious level? 

Since making drastic changes to your physical appearance to “look beautiful” was so normalized I started to think that it was healthy to want to change things about how you look. I also thought that some things about my appearance needed to be changed in order for me to be beautiful. Even though we did have Essence magazines around there were still issues related to colorism that impacted me. 

How has copy on a beauty advertisement offended you in the past, and do you feel equally impacted by the copy as you do by the image in a beauty advertisement? 

It’s just always felt deliberately harmful to me. There were times in life when I knew that what I was consuming was harmful but it still impacted my behavior and self-image. Whether the ads were for makeup to cover “imperfections” or relaxers to help you “tame” your hair, I felt weird. I didn’t have the language to describe my feelings as a kid but I knew something weird was happening. Now I see ads as content with multiple parts. I see the production that went into its creation. I see the model and wonder if they were paid. I see the copy and wonder who wrote it and what the process was from the first draft to the final product. The choices are deliberate from the font to the words to the colors chosen to the spacing to the particular image featured behind the copy. The whole package impacts me and determines how I feel about the brand and whether or not I want to financially support them. 

How do you want to see beauty advertising evolve in the future?

We need to see more brands committed to reducing harmful emissions resulting from their packaging and production practices who make that clear in their advertising. The industry is incredibly wasteful and has more of an impact on climate change than people might realize. I want to see ads that are explicit about the industry’s history of relying on practices that negatively impact the planet and harm people. Ads tell a story. The stories we often see are incomplete and hide harsh realities. Beauty advertising needs to take advantage of the power and influence that the industry has over billions of people. Copy can influence behavior and beliefs. Slogans can harm. Marketing can hide truths that people really need to be aware of. Ads can and do perpetuate violent systems. Consumers should be aware of that history and ads should change to meet movements in other industries committed to justice. It’s not just makeup and smiling models. It’s a billion dollars industry that has the power to change the world. Ads should reflect that.

What is still lacking from current beauty advertising? 

Self-awareness and honesty. Fat people. People with facial difference. Disabled people. A look at what goes on behind-the-scenes. Transparency about how the industry works. In short: a commitment to something other than profit and making people feel like they need to change something about themselves in order to have value or be deemed beautiful. 

What products would you like to see in the beauty industry?

Zero Waste products made by brands that are environmentally and socially responsible. Products made by brands that think about the afterlife of the product. Will it end up in a landfill? Is the packaging compostable? Can the packaging be repurposed or recycled? Are the ingredients ethically sourced? Are they tested in animals? I want to see a Zero Waste beauty industry with products made by people who are paid competitive salaries and with ingredients that won’t harm the environment when they end up in a landfill. I want to see products with ingredients sourced from regenerative farms. Green is the new black. Our lives literally depend on it. 

Did you always know you wanted to model and what encouraged you to actually pursue it?

It was always one of those things I thought would be a great way to increase representation and share my own story in an attempt to help people who shared my struggles. But I didn’t think it was actually possible. I was encouraged to pursue it by Mona, Elisa, and Lily of StyleLikeU. They really were the first people to give me a platform and tell me that I could make a positive impact on the industry. 

What do you think you personally bring to the fashion and beauty world?

 Necessary critiques that shed light on how things like colonialism, racism, colorism, transphobia, fatphobia, and anti-Blackness impact their beauty world. Like all other industries, the beauty world thrives with the help of capitalism. That’s a fact that cannot be ignored whenever we have conversations about beauty generally and for-profit beauty-based businesses specifically. I make an effort to bring my research on and lived experience with these topics on set and whenever I have conversations with artists working on the projects I’m a part of. Or whenever I’m interviewed about these topics. It has to be said. Sometimes it makes me seem like an insufferable killjoy or even a hypocrite but I make a point to challenge norms and traditions however I can...in the name of even possibly changing the status quo. You never know who will hear what you say. It could be someone in a position of power who can make real changes in the industry. 

Anything else you would like to share?

Some of the things I’ve said may seem extreme. It may seem as if I don’t understand how the industry works and what the ultimate aims of the industry really are. In reality, I just think that the industry has so much power and influence that they could be put toward different ends. There is so much concentrated wealth, talent, and power in the industry. We’re living in a time when so many industries are under scrutiny by so many more people than ever before thanks to the internet, particularly social media. More people are realizing that countless brands are unethical and run by billionaires who exploit workers and care more about profit than the well-being of the consumers. Be that as it may, the people in power at beauty brands can actively work to change those things. They just often choose not to. It’s important to be honest about how the beauty industry fits into larger conversation about social justice. So I bring these things up not to be controversial but to raise awareness about issues in the industry that people may not know exist. We’re making people rich in a time of mass poverty. They owe us. Big time.