Zambarau is my fresh foray into the beauty industry as a makeup artist in East Africa. Zambarau is the Swahili word for purple, and over the ages purple has come to signify royalty, esteemed success and innate beauty.
There has never been a better time in the history of Africa where its perception of beauty needs to be redefined. We have taken on Western beliefs of beauty and quite frankly ignored our own. As a Kenyan, and through my work, I’ve has seen and experienced it all. From the glittery, cat-walking superstars to the weak, slum-living poor. And more recently having the chilling experience of being embroiled in fighting and strife, with inter-tribal politics reigning amid a peace-loving people. There was death. There was morbidity. There was fear.
For the first time in Kenya’s history, there was a threat of war.
In retrospect, Zambarau was created to experiment with what I was learning as a business student in school. But now, I have the honor of working with people whose experiences of natural beauty are either undermined or even ignored. This company is breaking ground in the field of beauty and how it’s marketed in East Africa.
I have a hope that someday I can give others the freedom to express who they truly are, irregardless of whether they are of a certain tribe or not. A hope that someday I can help one more person achieve their dreams of becoming more than they ever were. A hope of instilling within African organizations a passion for excellence. A passion that supersedes all other material and temporary passions that Africans are known and even lauded for.
That is what Zambarau stands for. Passion. Hope. Beauty.
Beauty is Bold. It’s Confident. It’s Imaginative and assured. Courageous. Dauntless. Ravishing. Natural. Royal.
To me, beauty is peace.
