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Wife-Mother-Entrepreneur Keisha Whitaker

(Click to enlarge) Wife of Oscar® winner Forest Whitaker – Mother of three daughters – entrepreneur launching Kissable Couture luxury lip products, Keisha Whitaker rocks the CHiC in a Choco-Pink Glam Tank, “flossin” her own First Kiss lip gloss in shade Chris. Makeup Artist: AJ Crimson Hair Stylist: David L. Calhoun III Photo: Zoom

Many women today are opting to further their career and consequently delay or not take advantage of their fertility. Taking cue from Hollywood, there’s new hope for the antithesis of “model-actress-entertainer”. Keisha Nash Whitaker charms us as the refreshing and proud multi-hyphenate of “wife-mother-entrepreneur”: supportive wife to actor / director / producer / Oscar® winner Forest Whitaker, doting mother to their three daughters (Autumn 15, Sonnet 10, and True 9), and co-creator along with Celebrity Makeup Artist AJ Crimson of a new luxury cosmetics line Kissable Couture. As a Mom-preneur (mothers who are entrepreneurs), Keisha represents all the beauty being a Chief Everything Office managing career and family affords.

CHiC: Building a successful beauty business takes a bevy of skills, how has being a wife and mother prepared you for your role as an entrepreneur?

Keisha: Being married for 12 years and rearing three daughters takes a particular type of focus which is helpful when starting a business. Fulfilling these various roles (mother, wife, and entrepreneur) takes a tremendous work ethic and is truly an exercise in patience. Actually, the most important gift/lesson that motherhood has taught me is patience. In starting Kissable Couture, AJ and I have experienced the typical timeline of “hurry up and wait”. It’s been a challenge to accept those inevitable set backs, sometimes taking a step away from the project, to recognize that all those elements actually enhance the quality of the end product.

CHiC: You teamed up with celebrity make-up artist AJ Crimson to create Kissable Couture. Why and how did the idea develop, who is it targeted to, what’s the market need, and where is it sold? 

(Click to enlarge)

Keisha & AJ Crimson, Co-Creators of Kissable Couture “Luxury For Lips”, review all the “poppin” First Kiss lip gloss shades to pick the right “kiss” for our CHiC Photo Shoot.

Keisha: The seed for Kissable Couture was planted when AJ and I were just chatting about current product offerings. There were so many things on the market that were doing well, but didn’t have the quality that the prices were implying. The kicker was that these very products were flying off the shelves and being bought up by major cosmetics retail chains! Once, I got this lip gloss in a goody bag from an event and immediately gave it to my kids. It didn’t connect with me at all – the packaging felt immature, more Bonne Bell than “grown up girl”, and still it was carried by a major retailer at a high-end price. I couldn’t believe it! The conversation continued to evolve from complaint to creativity and we started to conceptualize something that was luxury for your lips. The formula took two years in development, and with a fair share of trips to Sephora, we identified those small details that we liked about comparable products and added these elements to our Kissable recipe.

The name Kissable Couture is simply reflective of our professional backgrounds and passions.  As a makeup artist AJ lives in the world of cosmetics and beauty; while I am personally and professionally linked to fashion.  It was a natural collaboration of these two areas.

Kissable Couture is currently sold at Henri Bendel NYC and will be launched in November at Fred Segal Apothecary, just in time for the holidays. Plus, it’s available online at www.KissableCouture.com.

CHiC: Do you envision an expansion of Kissable Couture into other product areas?

Keisha: We’re scheduled to debut a new collection of colors for Valentine’s Day and we’re considering the idea of a liquid lipstick.  In addition, we’re developing a collection of summer shades that contain a cooling agent and SPF to soothe and protect your lips, all for the glamorous girl on the go!

CHiC: Other than the namesakes of your First Kiss lip gloss collection (each shade named after a personal or girlfriend’s flame for whom the kiss was memorable), who, where and how else do you find beauty & style inspiration?

Keisha: I like to redefine classic looks.  It's so much fun to create red carpet ensembles, and building a complete story is a major inspirational resource.  From the glamour of Golden Era Hollywood, embodied by icons like Grace Kelly and Dorothy Dandridge, I can harvest elements to create timeless pieces that make sense regardless of the fashion season. This is what's most appealing to me from a creative standpoint.  Telling stories with a theme – that’s what guides my personal look.  Sometimes I'm a caramel 'Blackie O.', oversized shades and all; Or maybe I'm feeling on the more "Bwen Stefani" side with a mahogany edge.  Black women are truly style leaders, unafraid to remix a more mainstream look by adding a soulful touch.  All of these inspirational essentials are completely connected to the work I do when creating the collections for Kissable Couture.

CHiC: Given your visibility in the beauty industry as both a model and now Mom-preneur (mothers who are entrepreneurs), what kinds of messages do you impart to your daughters about how women of color define and redefine beauty?

Keisha: I came to New York City from Boston when I was 21 years old and signed with Eileen Ford and eventually won Ford Model of The Year.  I was also featured in Tommy Hilfiger’s underwear campaign becoming the first African-American model for the brand.  What’s important about these accomplishments is that I came to New York about a year and a half before being signed and met with a coordinator at Ford who said that I would “never be a Ford model” because I “wasn’t tall enough”.  I was crushed. I was so affected by her words that instead of going to the three other agency meetings my agent had scheduled for that day, I immediately went to the airport to catch a flight back home.  But that year and a half passed and the situation completely reversed.  This is something I regularly tell my children (and their friends) about opportunity.  If one door closes, don’t be afraid to knock again.  Allow time and perseverance to do its work and try again.

I strive to communicate the importance of being comfortable in your own skin.  I tell my daughters that it’s about taking ownership of your beautiful face, your thighs, your lovely brown skin…  Don’t allow someone else to define you based on their standards of beauty. Embrace each part that creates the unique individual you are, the inner and the outer, the positive and even those things we wish we could change.

CHiC: Being COCOACHiC is just as much about the beauty of cosmetic products as it about community.  You are actively involved with Cedar Sinai's Brain Trust, the honorary Committee of Artists for New South Africa (focusing on AIDS awareness/research), and Los Angeles Youth Arts Academy (empowering inner-city youth).  With all the pressures of starting and growing a business, how do you maintain such a strong commitment to these various causes?

I grew up in Boston’s inner city, and have been witness to the struggles of my parents, friends and extended family.  I come from such a different world than the one I live in right now and as a result I am so aware of what a blessing this life is.  It would be against who I am to not give back or not participate in making the world a better place!  I wish I could do more, I wish I had more time to contribute, to give back.  As a mother I’ve been fortunate enough to be blessed with three beautiful children, and being of service to underserved children is of particular importance to me.  Access to medicine, or having a stable home, or even exposure to a broader world through an extracurricular activity, these are necessities for all of our children. It only takes one person to infect this spirit of generosity and I am in a fortunate position that I can do my part to inspire it.


By Kenya Robinson


Click here to view the Beauty Feature.


For more information on this makeup look, visit www.cocoachic.com/vanity

To get Keisha's CHiC Glam Tank, visit www.cocoachic.com/boutique

To get Keisha's Kissable Couture First Kiss lip gloss, visit www.kissablecouture.com

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