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Nyma Tang is a strong, beautiful, and influential force that is redefining the once exclusive beauty industry. If you have any social media such as TikTok or Instagram, you definitely have seen Tang as a spokeswoman for many brands and an advocate for many causes. Her ultimate goal in what she does is to empower women to look and feel their best, while also holding makeup manufacturers accountable when it comes to making products for people with darker complexions, like herself.
Nyma Tang is a 31 year old YouTube star, who focuses on reviewing makeup products and doing tutorials on her page called “The Darkest Shade.” Tang was born in South Sudan, which she describes as a war torn country and a place that her parents quickly moved her from when she was just three years old. She came to the United States and ended up moving to Dallas, Texas, which she now calls her home. Tang also is the eldest of seven sisters, so she knows a thing or two about being a role model.
Growing up, Tang explained that she wasn’t really afforded the luxury of caring for outside beauty since it wasn’t a priority to her parents who had other bigger concerns. The only real exposure she had to any sort of beauty ritual by the time she was ten was the simple act of braiding hair. As Tang continued to get older, she started to realize the harsh realities and cruelness of the world. She was bullied in high school for her dark skin tone and called horrible names. She claimed that this bullying made her want to become invisible and anything but beautiful. She continued to struggle with her confidence throughout the rest of high school and all the way into college.
Tang had just started nursing school around 21 years old when she realized nursing was not what she wanted to pursue for the rest of her life. After being a huge fan of “America’s Next Top Model” for years, she came to a realization that she wanted to explore her creativity and attempt to make a change in the industry where she felt so excluded. This led her to start a YouTube channel called “The Darkest Shade” where she would try on the darkest shade of makeup in every cosmetic line. Tang quickly blew up with subscribers and followers, especially those who always felt overlooked in the beauty industry.
One of my personal favorite things about Tang is how incredibly honest she is, but in the most constructive way. She holds companies accountable and has encouraged many of them to change their ways to become more inclusive. She sparks necessary, but sometimes uncomfortable conversations among people in order to create important change; such as beauty companies creating darker shades of makeup and using more diversity in campaigns.
It can be difficult to find the right shade of any makeup for your face, even lipstick. Tang took it to the next level, advocating for more shades of lipstick and gloss that match darker toned women. She stated that most people associate a “nude” lipstick with a tan color, which doesn’t work on darker skin tones. This is when she launched a Dose of Colors x Nyma Tang collaboration for nude lipsticks that match people with dark skin tones. This collection includes an array of corals and bright glosses to accentuate beautiful richer skin tones.
Fenty is one of the most inclusive makeup brands, started by the best: Rihanna. This brand was created to be an all-inclusive makeup company. The foundations and other products have 40 color shades to pick from so that everyone can find their true match. So where does Tang come into this brand? Well, you could suggest that Tang sparked the conversation about the gap in the beauty world through her channels, leading to the creation of brands like Fenty. But besides that, Tang religiously reviews Fenty’s products and is a huge advocate of them. She and Rihanna are also seen together a lot at launch parties and other places, probably brainstorming on more ways they can reshape and better the beauty industry.
We all know this high-end and popular makeup brand with the pretty matte black packaging. Well, similar to Doses of Colors, Tang also took it upon herself to help M.A.C cosmetics create their own inclusive line of makeup. She worked with the makeup development team to formulate a stunning limited edition, demi-matte cherry red lipstick. People cannot get enough of this bold, yet flattering shade for both fair and deep skin.
If you thought Tang was done transforming the beauty world, you would be greatly mistaken. Full of passion, Nyma Tang states that this is just the start of her journey to insert more inclusion into the beauty world and help people feel beautiful within their own skin. She plans on eventually creating her own beauty line and continuing to inspire women who look like her to join her in this journey.
I want to leave you all with one quote from Tang that I think most of us can learn from: “There's still room, and there's still opportunities to be made, and there's not enough of us.” Tang should be an example for all of us in that there’s always room or opportunity to help make a change in the world, and it's never too late to start somewhere.
Written by Emma Carlson
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