Cover photo by @videoprince
Born in Cameroon, Darleen Yaya’s interest in makeup started around the age of 13. Wanting to hide her acne scars and boost her self-confidence, Yaya started teaching herself how to do makeup. After moving to Japan and starting her own YouTube channel to express her own artistic looks, Yaya’s artistry bloomed into a freelance makeup business, Yaya Ultd. Her client base exclusively consists of Black and Brown women, who often find that makeup options in Japan simply don’t cater to darker skin tones.
When Yaya isn’t working as a teacher, she’s busy growing her business and making a name for herself in the Black community and the Japanese entertainment scene.
Dec 21, 2020
Osaka – This year will most certainly be remembered for the coronavirus pandemic, which began notably spreading around the world from February, wreaking havoc on economies, industries and, most importantly, people.
Amid the tumult, at the end of May, came a video from Minneapolis that would send shockwaves of its own around the world. The video depicted the attempted arrest and subsequent murder of George Floyd, a Black man who was accused of passing a $20 counterfeit note, after a white police officer kneeled on his neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds.
The video spread to populations that were sequestered indoors due to the pandemic and, in reaction to the injustice, protests followed. In Japan, this resulted in several marches that aimed to bring the issue of racial discrimination to people in this country, leading to the establishment of Black Lives Matter (BLM) movements in several cities.