28 going to be that creative I want to able to do it with my lipstick, my mascara, my hair …
How do you define being a feminist? I 100 % define myself as a feminist, but at the same time I understand people who don’ t. To define yourself as anything in this life is very weighty, especially when there are lot of positive connotations but people also think highly negatively of feminism. I think that it’ s been important to me to define myself as a feminist because of my beliefs. I don’ t think it’ s prescribed, I don’ t think women want to do exactly what men want to do, but I think women want autonomy and they want the ability to choose. I think feminism inspires men as much as it inspires women because society shouldn’ t dictate someone’ s family narrative, or if boys are into gaming and girls into fashion.“ You have to be technically minded and you have to be more design driven”. That’ s ridiculous. That’ s my personal take on it and I also think that also in my career it would be ridiculous for me to have a brand that empowers women to be confident and to be themselves and to not call myself a feminist. I think a huge part of the confidence I have as a woman comes from my feminist ideals. With that said, MDM Flow is not a feminist brand, it isn’ t a feminist product, you don’ t have to be a feminist to wear it. I don’ t think feminism should be some retail driven thing, like a fan club or whatever, it is really based on your ideals and your believes and all sorts of woman buy into my lipsticks. I think that is also a huge part of my feminism, understanding that some woman want to wear lipstick because they are trying to get a man whose going to enable them and some women are wearing it with their power suit and they are going to absolute kill it in the boardroom, that for me is fine. I think that is also why I am a feminist: for women to be able to play these different roles.
Your take on feminism is really refreshing. It’ s very broad and it’ s curious because your brand is so bold. My ideals play a heavy role in how the brand is represented, but I am not a rigid person and I understand culture. I am from a really strong cultural background, both of my parents are Nigerian, and culture plays a massive role in how people identify. If you come from a culture where being subservient and obedient to a man is a key part of your culture and you enjoy it, you should absolutely be allowed to live that reality; that is your choice as a woman. I think that feminism can be scary when it acts as black and white.
Who is the MDM Flow girl to you? I don’ t want to alienate anyone who buys my product, but I think the underlying commend is confidence— wherever— if it’ s a woman who has been confident her whole life or is just confident in that shade. There is something audacious about picking up a golden bullet and using it. A lot of my costumers are very self-aware and self-assured and they don’ t come to me to tell them what to buy or what to wear. They come to me because they really feel connected with what I am producing.
You are building a beauty empire … Yes, 100 %!
… was that always your goal? I think I started my business wanting to have a business but I don’ t think I realized what a business is. In my head, I thought I would create a lipstick, people would like it, people would buy it, and then I would just make more lipsticks and people would buy more and that would be it. At the beginning, I wasn’ t thinking we are going to launch more products, we are going to go into production... Or really thinking about how it grows as a business, whereas now that I launched it and it is growing I am spending more time really thinking what’ s my end goal, what I want to do, what I want to build and produce. Where do I see the end of my business? That is still something that I am thinking about, and I think even though some people think you need to have a specific plan and you need to know where you want to go I think that having a plan sometimes can be a hindrance because all you do is stick to that plan and you don’ t really develop the other side of that. Whereas I feel my business has had the chance to really develop and see where it is going.
The MDM Flow future. What is it like? The future of MDM Flow is just to continue to grow with more products and it is really important for me to build a community. I want girls who are into music, into boldness, into confidence, into quality cosmetics, to really feel that they have a tribe of women who subscribe to the same ideals that they do. It’ s really about building a global community of girls who love what we do. /