On October 3rd, I will celebrate the 10 year anniversary of Nubian Skin launching. I can still remember this day 10 years ago. I was eagerly awaiting the warehouse to process all our incoming goods, so we could launch the website that I was still putting finishing touches on. I was still working in finance, and didn’t fully appreciate yet what being a full time entrepreneur would entail. I was still doing interviews about the to be launched brand and not sharing my name, only signing off as the founder. It’s amazing to think it’s been 10 years since then. Over the past decade there have been many highs and even more lows. I thought it would be fun to think of my highlights from each year.
2014: Launching of course! I still remember being stuck in the lift (with my then boyfriend, now husband) coming home from a Lauryn Hill concert when all I wanted to do was check how sales on the first day were going. Funnily enough, we’ll be going to another Lauryn Hill concert in a few days.
2015: Winning the Great British Entrepreneur Award. It was in the midst of setting up a new studio / warehouse when we decided to do fulfilment in house, so it was fun to get glammed up after many days of DIY. I still remember being so surprised that I won.
2016: I got married this year! But also, Nubian Skin did the underwear for the Beyoncé Formation tour. My husband and I were gifted VIP tickets, and that was a very fun post wedding surprise.
2017: This was the year I took my parents and husband to Buckingham Palace – I received my MBE for Services to Fashion. I will forever remember my parents in their traditional clothes walking out of the gates. Tourists thought they were foreign dignitaries and were snapping away. We then joined my in-laws and my brother for lunch at the Ritz. That was a very happy day.
2018: We moved office to Fitzrovia, and I set up a Nubian Skin Showroom in Central London. That was a pinch me moment. It was a rickety office and it had no radiators, but nothing a space heater couldn’t fix.
2019: Nubian Skin launched menswear, which was something we had been asked for frequently. It was fun to include men in our campaigns. I also spent the majority of this year pregnant.
2020: Nubian Skin won the Transport for London Diversity in Advertising Award, and our “What being black means to me” campaign appeared all over the tube and bus stops. I remember going to the launch at Canary Wharf 10 days post-partum and recovering from a caesarean. It all coincided with London beginning to shut down with rumours of a new virus – COVID 19
2021: This was the year Nubian Skin launched in my dream retailers: Net-a-porter, Matches Fashion and John Lewis. All good things must come to an end, but it was fun while it lasted.
2022: Nubian Skin created the UK’s first breast cancer soft prostheses (softies) in collaboration with the Royal Marsden. A project really close to my heart, and one we've received the most touching feedback on.
2023: I’ll cheat a little here with two highlights. Both were incredibly stressful but also very rewarding / fun. We celebrated our 9th birthday with what myself, Caroline Chinakwe, Samson Soboye and Donald Baugh dubbed the “Rave on Piccadilly”. We had a pop-up right by Fortnum and Mason and threw a MASSIVE party on one of the nights. Highly unlikely to ever be repeated, but it was a time. Nubian Skin also set up our warehousing in the US at the end of the year, which was a long time coming.
2024: The highlight for this year will definitely be surviving to 10 years! We are also launching an incredible new vertical, and I can’t wait to share it with the world.
Looking back, I am so grateful for the impact Nubian Skin has had and will continue to have on the industry and black people in general. I’m grateful for all the support I’ve received during my journey. I’m so grateful for my team. And, I’m incredibly grateful for my amazing family who continues to support me on this journey in every way imaginable.
