Phoina opens up on having a sponsor
By Rajab ZawadiMuch like Rihanna has Fenty Beauty and Kylie Jenner has Kylie Cosmetics, Phoina Wambui, popularly known as Phoina, has Phoina Beauty. Phoina is also Kenya’s celebrity make-up artist (MUA). She just hit one million followers on Instagram.
Starting, the first celebrity I ever worked with was Janet Mbugua. She believed in my craft and that opened doors for me. Now I have worked with almost every celebrity you know in the country.
Joining the Nai-Rich reality show was a strategic decision for me. It offered a platform to showcase my entrepreneurship and beauty innovation journey to a broader audience. I saw it as an opportunity to inspire others with my story and share insights into building a successful brand.
Even if I had reservations about opening my life to the cameras and the public like this, this was a deliberate choice.
I Compare myself to Kylie Jenner reflecting my aspiration to revolutionize the beauty industry in Africa, similar to how Kylie has globally transformed cosmetics and personal branding with Kylie Cosmetics.
I started as a make-up artist. Getting to this level, where I now run a beauty academy and a beauty clinic, has taught me so many lessons, but my biggest is that business is like make-up contouring, you have to adapt and blend seamlessly. Resilience has been my go-to shade if you know what I mean.
Handling the pressure and scrutiny that come with constantly being in the public eye requires a balance of confidence and humility to learn and grow. Silence has been my biggest weapon against negativity. It’s about focusing on positive impact and staying true to myself amidst external opinions.
I used to be wasteful. I am now more frugal than I used to be. Before I would get money and you would find me popping champagne bottles. Now I think of the house I am building and expanding my business.
Of course, we have to party, only that I have to work on balancing the expenditure right now.
My projects are all self-sponsored. Those who think I am the face and that there is someone behind it, should also try to be the face of something somewhere and see how it goes. If anything they too should find a sponsor.
Besides I don’t think having a sponsor is a bad thing. If you have somebody to sponsor you, it’s a good thing nobody wants to do it alone.
But I don’t have a sponsor, I’m a big girl. I am the sponsor. But if I find a sponsor to propel me faster to get to the level I want to be, I am fine with it. But nothing stops reggae. With or without a sponsor, my greatness will not diminish.