Jackie Aina American YouTuber Born in 1987

Early life

Jacquelyn Lonje Olayiwola Oyeshola Bolayemi Aina, known professionally as Jackie Aina, is an American YouTuber and entrepreneur. She was born on 4 August 1987 to an African-American mother and a Nigerian father of Yoruba descent.

After two years of college she joined the United States Army Reserve, and she started her YouTube channel roughly a year after enlisting. While she was stationed in Hawaii, MAC Cosmetics hired her. Aina has said that at makeup counters she was repeatedly told the trends she wanted to try would not suit her complexion. In response she began making videos about the products and looks she liked that could work for anyone.

Career

Aina built her audience with beauty videos, and her channel had about 3.47 million subscribers in May 2025. She is known for arguing that people of color are poorly represented in the cosmetics industry, and she has criticised brands whose foundation ranges leave out deeper skin tones. She has also said that eyeshadow, blush and lipstick shades are not universal across skin tones. In one video she carried out an ordinary makeup tutorial in black and white and then revealed that she had applied the wrong colors, a demonstration aimed at people who say they do not see color. Her criticism has strained her relationships with several brands, although she says she never intends to disparage the companies involved.

Much of her work with brands has grown out of that advocacy. In July 2016 she teamed up with e.l.f. Cosmetics to create an eyeshadow palette. In March 2017 Sigma Beauty released a set of five brushes she designed, and in December 2017 she announced two powder highlighters, La Bronze and La Peach, made with the brand Artist Couture.

After Aina said publicly that a Too Faced foundation did not come in enough shades, the company announced a collaboration with her to widen the range of its Born This Way foundation. By June 2018 the range had grown from 24 to 35 shades, and nine of the eleven new shades were formulated by Aina. She has said she listened to her online followers and to other influencers of color while developing the product, and that the brand had approached her about diversifying its offer long before her following became large.

In 2018 she told Bustle that she planned to launch a cosmetics line by 2019. In August 2019 she released an eyeshadow palette with Anastasia Beverly Hills. She said the palette was meant for everyone, but that her priority was choosing shades that would work for dark and deep-dark complexions. She has also partnered with Sephora.

Recognition

Aina was named to the OkayAfrica 100 Women list in both 2017 and 2018. In 2018 she also received a YouTuber of the Year Award. Three awards in total are listed for her.