Get to know Jackie Aina, an ex-army officer who left the field to become a content creator. Born in California’s San Gabriel Valley, the Nigerian American and her six siblings grew up with “no leverage”, she said. At one point, her family got kicked out of a shelter.
“Growing up, I had no leverage, I had no rich uncle,” she told Buzzfeed. “We got kicked out of a shelter, we couldn’t get to another one quick enough. And when you’re a mom of seven, It’s not easy.”
Nonetheless, she braved the odds using education. She went to California State University to study medicine. However, the route did not work for her and she decided to enroll in the military in 2008.
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She served in Hawaii as a reservist where she used her time to hone her leadership skills. “I learned how to command a group or teach a class and do it with confidence. I learned a lot about challenging myself,” Aina said, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.
It was also during her time in the army that she became an avid YouTube user, mostly watching beauty videos. This would inspire her to become a content creator by launching her own channel called LilPumpkinPie05.
Prior to that, she got a job working behind the counter at MAC Cosmetics. And when she discussed the idea of creating a YouTube channel focusing on beauty, she was told that the idea wouldn’t work for her.
Still, she went on to start creating beauty content on her channel while being vocal about diversity in beauty. The success of her channel inspired her to quit the military and focus on her content creation.
“It eventually got to a point where I was like, ‘OK, what’s it gonna be, I’m not quite stable here yet, but I really feel like something’s gonna pop off, so I gotta decide right now, what’s it gonna be,’” she told Business Insider. “And I just didn’t wanna take the risk though, ’cause once you re-enlist, it’s like, what am I gonna say to my first sergeant, like, ‘First sergeant, Google’s calling me,’ like, you know, he’s gonna be like, ‘Bye, get out my office.’”
“So I decided to walk away because these careers were both kind of growing at the same time, but one started to take off a lot faster than the other. And then after I left, I would say a year later was when I got my first viral video and my channel really took off,” she added.
Today, she has built a loyal following with 3.5 million subscribers on YouTube alone. She has a massive following on other platforms as well, including Facebook, where she has over 240,000 followers; Instagram (over 1.9 million followers); and TikTok (3 million followers), AfroTech noted.
She has had paid partnerships with top brands like sulwhasoo.us, TATCHA Beauty, Clarins U.S.A., The Honey Pot Co., and Valentino Beauty. She has also worked with Google, Dior Beauty, Olay, and Amazon.
Aina is also a founder. She is behind the fragrance line FORVR Mood alongside her husband, Denis Asamoah. They self-funded the business, as per Forbes. FORVR Mood earned $6 million in revenue in less than a year.
