Redefining
Beauty Standards
for women of African descent
Beauty is at the helm of a world heavily influenced by the every changing social media trends; for a very long time women of Africa decent have been challenged by the options provided by leading cosmetic brands; Norah Mc Aslin is the woman who has made it her mission to redefine beauty standards to cater to the women of colour and she is doing it with grace and elegance one business move at a time. Mrs Mc Aslin admits that most of her upbrings was in Bobonong (her home village) where she and her siblings were raised by their mother as a single parent who instilled a lot of disciplines and values that molded her into the woman she is today; these are same values that she used to navigate the new environment she found herself in when she came to Gaborone for further studies at the University of Botswana in 2005.
Norah has always been very passionate about business; she was always working hard to polish her business acumen and etiquette; this is why it was no surprise when she took a leap to come up with a tailored cosmetic brand to cater for women of African descent. Business is no child’s play, before Nora Cosmetics was launched in 2016 there was a lot behind the scenes Norah had to undertake such as researching, conceptualizing and developing each product.
The reason why Norah invested so much time in pre-production is because she has had first-hand experience with not having a makeup foundation shade during her modelling years back stage at fashion shows.
‘‘I remember very clearly when I was a model; makeup artists used to mix different foundation shades to develop a colour that best suits me’’
Because Mrs Mc Aslin had previously owned businesses before; she went into running Nora Cosmetics using all the knowledge and experience she had acquired over the years while she was running her salon, beauty parlor and boutique; and catering business. Running a business requires a lot of patience and support; Norah opens up about how her husband has always stood by her and always supports her business decisions. She literally beamed up as she tells us more about the active role and interest her husband assumes at Nora Cosmetics.
Furthermore, she mentioned that her husband is also her business partner; Norah is more on the creative direction of the business while her hubby is busy tackling the accounting administration of the business. So one would wonder how the reception of the first local cosmetic brand in Botswana has been like. Nora Cosmetics has been received very well across the country, currently the brand has two outlets (one at Railpark Mall and another at Airport Junction Mall) as well as a mobile studio. Furthermore, the cosmetic brand distributed stock to over 40 pharmacies across Botswana!
So what’s next from Mrs Norah Mc Aslin; the business survey mentions that they are looking into penetrating the South African and Zambian markets.
We are very intrigued to find out apart from business what else is Norah Mc Aslin passionate about; she is a proud wife to Mr Mc Aslin, a loving mother of two, an assistant pastor at It is Well Church, social media influencer, life coach and more. Most importantly Norah is passionate about empowering women and the girl child!
Duncan Sebeso