We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Keesha Clark a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Keesha, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
Born Noir, LLC is a mission-driven cosmetic company celebrating Blackness and genderless beauty. We aim to uplift and empower communities too often neglected and underrepresented in the beauty industry. Our ultimate mission: To become a global brand creating safe spaces and healing venues for BIPOC, LGBTQ+ folx and allies in the form of self care and nail care salons.
This company was started at the height of the pandemic, worldwide uprisings and my own postpartum experience. As a new mother of a Black child, I had every reason to become more active with social justice movements so funding organizations that do the hard work of standing against oppressive systems and power structures to help achieve equity, freedom and wellness for marginalized communities, like the ACLU and Trans Law Center became the motivating force behind Born Noir.
Born Noir, meaning Born Black, is my response to the pervasive and worldwide issue of anti-Blackness. I wanted to celebrate the very parts of ourselves and our communities that others may choose to demean, disrespect and disregard. I choose to celebrate people for being radical, revolutionary and game-changing — exactly themselves. This platform was curated with the intention to encourage self love, self care and nail care for people of all ages, cultures and genders because it is necessary!
I am excited to be building a safe, healing community of people who self care and care about the community around them. Our mission-driven, self loving, and nail caring community will serve as a safe space for people who need it most and we look forward to growing in that way.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Keesha Clark and I am the proud founder and designer behind Born Noir, LLC. With a decade of experience as a Social Worker and mental health professional, I have always been a champion for self love and self care as it has been the cornerstone to my own growth personally and professionally. Over the years, I have worked with diverse communities of people helping them to navigate challenging times and to achieve personal goals while simultaneously finding ways to lift my voice to be an advocate and leader for those in need. Many don’t know that before I studied and pursued Social Work, I received my Bachelors in Graphic Design and had been working as a freelancer for a few years. I struggled at that time with my career, however, because of overwhelming feelings of self doubt in my creative abilities. I had a lot of internal work to do to get here. Born Noir is simply a manifestation of my own self love and self care journey.
Have you ever had to pivot?
This past year, I have been navigating my discomfort zone in an unprecedented way. So much that I had planned and achieved for myself, put me in a position where I felt overwhelmed, uncertain, and at times unsupported. I moved back to LA from the Central Valley to be closer to friends, accept my dream job, continue developing my craft and creating a dynamic community around Born Noir. It all sounded perfect but the challenges have come hard and fast. My family life became increasingly difficult as my partner and I struggled to balance everything with little to no support. My dream job just wasn’t flexible enough to allow me to be fully present for myself and my family. I was buckling under the pressure to do it all, all the time. So I made a huge decision to leave my dream job to pursue Born Noir more full time. I put my pride aside, threw caution to the wind, and decided to create my own destiny as an entrepreneur. I have since been able to work on my terms, around my schedule and be present for myself and family.
Pursuing my dreams and letting go of my source of stability and security, has been the scariest and most thrilling decision I’ve made in 12 years – other than that time I decided to uproot from my home in NY to move to across the country with no friends, family, job or place to live. I would be lying if I said I never looked back at the prospect of getting back to the 9-5 rat race, but I am choosing daily to live life on my own terms. I’m unlearning ways of living that don’t serve me anymore and acknowledging my deep need to live freely, peacefully and unapologetically.
I’m still quite uncertain about what the future holds, but that’s okay. As long as I’m well and my family is too, it will surely be bright!
Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.
Born Noir started as a self care practice, developed into a side hustle and has been formalized into an LLC with intentions on becoming a global brand. As I mentioned, I started Born Noir at the height of the pandemic and worldwide uprisings, shortly after giving birth and losing a very important person in my life on the very same day. As a Social Worker and Therapist, I knew I needed to become intentional about self care and as a trained artist and nail enthusiast, designing nails comes very naturally to me.
I started by simply just doing it, wearing my nails, posting on social media, and having fun. I started getting support from family and friends. The support kept me motivated to continue. I was inspired to not only improve artistically but to develop the brand and business. I reached out for support from organizations like the Fresno Metro Black Chamber of Commerce and other business owners for guidance. I got connected with some amazing people who believed in my vision and poured into it in various ways. I started applying for opportunities to receive pro bono services, mentorship programs, grants and pitch competitions. From there things started to grow in unimaginable ways.
By a stroke of luck, a media agency found my company and I have been provided HUGE opportunities to work for very big, well know brands, including HBO! This past year I was finalist for a pitch competition in LA & won $10k. There have been so many milestones in the past 2.5 years. I am just challenging myself everyday to push past my comfort zone and do something that scares me. And it has been working very well for me and Born Noir.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bornnoir.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/bornnoirnails
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/bornnoirnails
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/born-noir-llc/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/bornnoirnails
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@bornnoirnails
- Other: https://pinterest.com/bornnoirnails/
Image Credits
Kierrah Smith Ashley Norton Zainab Mohamed