For Golloria George, makeup has always been more than beauty; it’s about belonging. The 24-year-old South Sudanese–American influencer has built a global platform around a simple but powerful question: Who gets to be seen?
In an exclusive interview with People, the creator, known to her 4.5 million followers for her viral “Does It Glo?” series, spoke candidly about growing up as “the darkest person in every room,” discovering makeup as a college student, and realizing just how deeply colorism and exclusion run in the beauty industry.
“It was like the first time I ever actually felt included in anything,” Golloria said, recalling her first trip to a makeup counter where she found her shade at Fenty Beauty. “If I feel like this, I know so many other dark-skinned women feel like this too.”
That moment lit a fire that would redefine her career. Today, Golloria’s videos test the darkest foundation and contour shades from major brands, calling out those that fail to cater to deeper skin tones. The series has forced major cosmetic labels to rethink their shade ranges and formulations.
“There’s tangible change,” she said. “I’ve seen brands go deeper than they used to. To see it flourish into something that actually makes brands think is beautiful. Advocacy is a form of resistance.”
Her critique, however, goes far beyond product development. Golloria believes the industry’s diversity problem starts behind the scenes, at the board tables and in the laboratories where beauty decisions are made.
“You can’t say you wanna launch a beauty brand, but you haven’t explored deep and light shades and different undertones,” she said. “You need Black people on your team. You need Black cosmetic chemists who aren’t afraid to play with what we haven’t seen before.”
Her call for inclusion echoes a larger truth: representation isn’t just about faces in campaigns, it’s about power in creation. And for Golloria, that responsibility shouldn’t fall solely on Black women, who she says are “exhausted from being at the forefront of every inclusivity movement.”
Still, her tone remains hopeful and disarmingly funny.
“Although I’m hitting a serious topic,” she said, “I’m a girl who likes to play with makeup brushes. I hope when people watch my videos, they laugh a little too.”
Recently honored as one of Instagram’s 25 Rings winners, with judges including Pat McGrath, Marc Jacobs, and Adam Mosseri, Golloria is being recognized not just for her artistry, but for her courage to speak truth to beauty.
She sees her platform as part advocacy, part healing:
“I’m not only doing this for myself,” she said. “I’m healing my inner child and showing other dark-skinned Black women that you deserve to be here, to infiltrate systems that were never made for you, proudly and loudly.”
Her mantra is simple but unwavering: “Closed mouths don’t get fed.”
And with every shade test, Golloria makes sure her voice, and those of millions like hers, are impossible to ignore.
