Mompreneurs: Beauty Entrepreneur Ashunta Sheriff Kendricks

This week on the Mompreneurs podcast, Emmy-nominated makeup artist Ashunta Sheriff-Kendricks reflects on her celebrated career in the beauty industry, and how she is channeling her decades’ worth of experience into her own makeup line.

From working the MAC counter in a midtown Manhattan department store to navigating the fast-paced life of a celebrity makeup artist as a young mom, Sheriff-Kendricks followed every opportunity toward something better. With equal parts resilience and sacrifice, Sheriff-Kendricks used her makeup artistry knowledge and expertise to establish her own product line: Ashunta Sheriff Beauty. The beauty industry veteran sat down with Mompreneurs host and New York Times bestselling author, Nancy Redd, to shed light on her incredible journey.

She discovered her passion for makeup artistry at MAC Cosmetics.

Sheriff-Kendricks has clocked over 20 years in the beauty industry, starting with a job in retail at a Macy’s MAC counter. She was a natural, coming into the world of beauty already equipped with a decent amount of experience. “My mom performed, my aunt was a model, my sister was a hairstylist. So beauty was always in my wheelhouse,” she explained.

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But when difficulties at home began to impact her work, she was let go from MAC. “I was devastated,” she said. “I thought I finally got back on track in life. I’m a new mom, I’m a young mom, I’m determined to become a makeup artist, and I was just starting to see that there was a world outside of retail.”

Later that day, a chance encounter on the streets of Manhattan with a friend and fellow makeup artist turned everything around. “I’m walking down 34th street crying hysterically, and I run into Wilbert Ramos. He was like, ‘Why are you crying?’ He used to work at MAC. And I was like, ‘I’m crying because they fired me.’ He was like, ‘No. I know what you’ve been going through. Come with me.’ And he dragged my ass to Henri Bendel (department store) and he got me a job with a new brand that just launched called Laura Mercier.”

With every new opportunity, Sheriff-Kendricks grew her skillset. At Laura Mercier, a young brand at the time, she learned a different style of beauty. “That made me a really well-rounded artist, because I knew how to go avant-garde — I knew how to go crazy and be creative — but I also knew how to do that clean no-makeup makeup look from Laura.”

Sheriff-Kendricks continued to discover new opportunities from there. “That’s when I started to really network and hustle and build outside of the spaces of retail and start to do weddings, music videos, commercials, editorial — and from that experience, that’s when I started getting celebrity clients.”

She made her mark in Hollywood where she worked alongside A-list clientele.

She secured her first celebrity client, Diddy, who was her stepping stone to greater opportunities. “He put me in a space where brands saw me, and that’s when I started to get those influential deals and brand ambassadorships. Then I started going in even deeper when I started working with Alicia Keys and Rihanna and more women.”

Sheriff-Kendricks became a sought-after name for everything from red-carpet events to product development with Dior. She was the makeup artist behind Cookie Lyon’s timeless beat on six seasons of Empire, which earned Sheriff-Kendricks two back-to-back Emmy nominations. Her lengthy resume includes other notable projects including the Academy Award-nominated film Hidden Figures, The Lost City, and Survival of the Thickest.

 

She suffered major setbacks in 2012, ‘the most hellish year.’

It’s clear that Sheriff-Kendricks has mastered the pivot — recovering from life’s setbacks and having to regroup and reframe her next step, while always moving forward.

She described 2012 as “the most hellish year.” She had to end her first beauty line due to a trademark infringement lawsuit, despite a successful launch. “I didn’t even make it to six months.” And a serious car accident put her out of commission for nearly a year.

It was a lot to recover from all at once — physically, financially, mentally, and spiritually. But she was motivated by her faith, her family, and her ancestors to push forward. “How did I survive that? I am a strong person that believes in God. My faith is truly in God,” she said. “I’m grateful to my ancestors who walked this Earth before me.”

“It was a very humbling experience. And that taught me to approach my career with even more zeal to push to have a brand.”

She started planning her comeback in 2020.

Once the pandemic hit in 2020, Sheriff-Kendricks was determined to dive back into her entrepreneurial vision. “I said, you know what? There’s no better time than now. This is the time.” By 2022, she launched her first product, the Day & Night magnetic lash set, which is still available under her current product line, Ashunta Sheriff Beauty.

The budding beauty mogul’s big break came from long-time friend and client Taraji P. Henson herself. The Golden Globe-winning actress posted a video on social media featuring the lash set, and sales skyrocketed. “I am totally grateful to her for the rest of my life,” said Sheriff-Kendricks. “That was the kickstarting money to help me birth 40 more products.”

Now two and a half years into running Ashunta Sheriff Beauty, the beauty entrepreneur is in her element. Her clean, cruelty-free, and makeup-artist-approved products can be spotted everywhere from Academy Award red carpets to features in Allure magazine, the Today show, and more.

‘We don’t get in this position to not pass down the benefits to our children.’

Today, Sheriff-Kendricks and her husband, actor and recording artist Corr Kendricks, are one big happy blended family, with eight children between them.

She talked about the privilege of being able to pass down opportunities to her eldest daughter Nami. “We don’t get in this position in Hollywood to not pass down the benefits to our children,” she said. “That’s what we do this for, so that they can have a smoother, easier ride.” Sheriff-Kendricks got Nami a job as a costume production assistant on Empire at age 19. Today, she is studying to be a costume designer at FIT in New York.

 

‘There’s a way we can always collaborate as brand founders and as Black female entrepreneurs.’

Along her journey, Sheriff-Kendricks has stayed true to her values — embracing inclusivity and uplifting others. She emphasized the power of collaboration. “That’s the support that we have to give, and we have to give it with love and kindness and want to do it for each other, not just for ourselves,” she said. “There’s a way we can always collaborate and cross-pollinate as brand founders and as Black female entrepreneurs to help each other.”

“There’s no diminishing me by uplifting you.”

Don’t miss out on the full conversation. Watch this episode of Mompreneurs featuring Ashunta Sheriff-Kendricks above.

Catch new episodes of ‘Mompreneurs’ every week.

Every week, we celebrate beautiful Black entrepreneurs who are simultaneously amazing business moguls and awesome moms. Join host and New York Times bestselling author Nancy Redd as these mompreneurs share their life stories and inspiring advice. Catch new episodes of Mompreneurs every Monday on MadameNoire’s YouTube channel. Or listen to the podcast online on the Urban One Podcast Network.

 

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