IMAN on InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse

as the first black supermodel she revolutionized an industry that hesitated to acknowledge those who were different despite her struggles with shyness and looks she described as nothing special she took New York and then the world by storm from there she built a cosmetics Empire stretched her acting legs in numerous films and married pop superstar David Bowie hi i'm ernie manouse coming up on this episode of interviews our conversation with international supermodel iman at this point your career how do you judge success um but I what you inspire other people to do really yeah I think that's what's really success is it's not what you achieve or what you gain is what you really inspire other people's to do did you always see it that way in the beginning of your career would you have answered that question the same way no I would have all been about me what's in it for me it would have been that yeah what made that change then for you I think age you you accumulate some kind of a wisdom you see how you affect other people's lives in small ways that become big ways yeah self-esteem is a big issue as little as it is and as everybody thinks that especially pretty people or pretty girls have it and kids you think they are born with exuberance and innocence but their self-esteem can be taken away so easily that simple thing that I do in my in my career as a model and then especially as a CEO of amount cosmetics it's been really huge for me mm-hmm it galvanized the whole generation of young girls to think of themselves differently so to me that is you know that is an inspiration to me to see people young girls changing right in front of my eyes as they grow up and saying yeah yeah I am too beautiful yeah did you ever feel you were on the evil side of that that when you were being photographed in the image and all that that that was projecting that kind of surface beauty is so important and did you ever feel like wait I've got to fight against that image I never felt that I had to really fight against that because simply when I came to America in 1975 I came from I was already a fully formed young adult I was 18 years old but I've already been a daughter of a diplomat my mother was at a doctor I was in boarding schools I had a privileged life and then all of a sudden in a in a wink of an eye everything was taken away we had to flee in the middle of the night on a van cross a border with nothing but I will clean the clothes on our back and so I've seen it from the heaven have nots I was 15 and coming to Kenya and being at the mercy of the government and the government giving us refuge and giving us children scholarships for education but to a limited amount of year so we had to fetch for ourselves and to having seen that and then all of a sudden a turnaround and being so what they called discovered and becoming a model and then all of a sudden having lots of money at an early age also at the age of 18 19 I have a quite a good perspective of what money is about and what Fame is about and how fleeting it is can you still remember the feelings that you had when you were 15 can you still remember that fleeing uh when I was 15 I had absolutely no self-esteem I was a very studious nerdy little girl and and and nobody has ever said I was beautiful so beauty was not something that was even spoken at least not around me and people don't believe me when I say this because people just obviously they look at you as you are now and then they think that that's how you were always and most of the people most of the women I know that are beautiful are the most complicated and not self-assured of themselves obviously they're also there are those ones who are too assured of themselves because of their beauty so it comes in two ways but when I was fifteen I I was so introverted I had no idea what was going to be my life about yeah what about when you see these small children that are put in the circuit pageants and all of that stuff where the child models how do you feel about that it's so foreign to me because I've never seen it in other place but in America really you know I've never seen any kind of beauty pageants for children in any other country but in America so it's so foreign to me yeah and when you see it that you cringe first because it's so I won't even use the word even because there is this glean the eyes of the children there is the Glee in the eyes of the parents and so you can see that there is the intention it's not bad but there's nobody have thought through this and what it could do to the to the kids and to those parents who are trapped in their own ways by living vicariously through their children okay so it's a little bit bizarre and so real and sad in a way yeah and I know that you were married your first marriage very early age yes if you hadn't been in that marriage would you have been discovered would you have taken the things that came that way do you ever look at it that way and for people don't understand you were not discovered in the jungles you were not discovered as a sheepherder you were actually going to university you were on the streets for five man yeah yeah yeah I always said I was not discovered because I was not lost but no way they were planning me we found that no we are there were plenty of stories though about who you were I know and to me at times they were insulting and at times I was a co-conspirator because when I really knew about it and I told the press the - you know - and they still wrote that then I am a co-conspirator in in the whole fabrication of my discovery and who I was and but it it's amazing that they actually needed a story there nowadays all you have to say is that oh I was discovered yeah but to make that kind of a fabrication that is so beyond imagination and you think why would anybody need it in 1975 no talking about 1945 or 1808 it certainly gave you a story it certainly shot you - that said no charge absolutely you know I mean I'm to think of it in hindsight now as much as I was upset with them at that time to me it's that is the auspices of how I started yeah but to go back a little bit when you're talking about you were married and it wasn't a perfect marriage yes where you are at but no marriage is a perfect marriage anyway but you weren't happy in this marriage yes and so the opportunity comes to come to America here and be a model we've taken these photos of you you're popular come with us yeah you go because you're trying to get out of this marriage and somewhere in a way oh yeah first one to get out of the marriage secondly trying to find what could happen I've always been a firm believer that if you just take that road what the outcome would be would it be so different you know why your whole life could be totally different but one thing I've definitely insisted on before I left Africa was that I wanted with all the contracts everybody was saying oh I'll give you a contract by the way the contracts don't mean anything and this is guaranteed and in modeling there's not very so what I asked for was a return ticket because I their last thing I wanted this to be stuck in a foreign country and I had no way back home so I had that foreign that that return ticket so that was my way back where it was a way to escape that and and just see and mind you I was a girl who was never have been called beautiful and now there's a wall that thinks I'm beautiful I'm going to go and explore it yeah yeah and and it's um it was not it's not what I expected it was it became something else when you first got here were you surprised at the way both Africans and African Americans are treated in this country I know you make a distinction about the two different groups to way they're treated uh yes because you know I found when I arrived here in 1975 that Americans have some kind of they give a carte blanche if you are a foreigner rather than especially blacks if you are from the island to Caribbean descent or an African descent it's different than an african-american the the level of racism is different you know we we as Africans were given a little bit of a more of a leeway yeah and obviously the African American models at that time in 1975 felt it and felt it quite rightly that why do they have to go to Africa to get a girl when we are here and we can't get a job so the politics of it and the politics of beauty the beauty industry was not lost on me yeah how do you then deal with all of that going on around you how is it that you work through that when you're pulled into a system like that yes thank God I had some kind of uh understanding in terms of politics and how politics works not in terms of just people think of when they think of parties in terms of politics in the in the in the sense of government over governance it's not that there is politics it could be the politics of beauty the palace politics of ethics the politics of even losing with or not losing weight there is a self-esteem the politics of self esteem a politics have a lot of senses in that that I had a quite understanding orbit and beside them I was a child of the 60s so I was quite aware of what was going out in this country both good and bad I was aware of it of all its racism and all that and I was also aware of all it's a good part from Martin Luther King to jf Kennedy jr. so I knew I was aware of all that so I was aware of it is it's good inside bad side of it but when I came here I had to find my place from being called that I didn't look black enough or I saw I could not fit in that or I cuz you know I I and I always left always about it I say I am well I for black can i play but also I am very Somali the thing is this the the understanding of that when people say Africa is it's still till today people when they say talk about Africa they talk about a whole continent and they talk about like we're all one group of people like nobody says you are European very they say you're Italian your friends your English you know German nobody says you're just European but in Africa everybody just calls us all Africans you know like as if we are just one look fits all and so yeah I mean I might not look like a West African better look very East Africa yeah well I come Dom it doesn't in my country note on the year like and I and I I hated the idea that the ether had a sense of being cold that I look like a white girl but just browner I don't look like a white girl I look so manly I look in East African I look at very banned to try you know so that was my and I'm trying to find my place but in my own terms because you know I in my in my thinking I don't have to belong to anybody I know who I am and where I come from and I don't have to say the thing is this I kept on saying you know I never considered myself a black woman because where I come from we're on blacker you just don't have to say I don't have to define myself by saying black we're all black so so that was new to me to be to be called by people that's also black model and I'm thinking why did I meet that definition have you seen that change over the years oh no absolutely not there are people who still call me the black wife of David Bowie really yeah I was like um well yeah I guess he had a white wife I guess that's I don't know yeah huh after all these years yeah yeah there are people who are set in their ways but also it's very very clear and I have to say it it's I mean the only way that they will describe us at times unless you're really unknown a model and Naomi Campbell Tyra Banks Iman if they'd know you did then that's not tight on you but if somebody would have described it described somebody who doesn't know us too they will say oh yeah Naomi Campbell yeah well that black black famous mom right no and at times yes it applies also to Gisele the Brazilian model but never to a Caucasian model number will say to that white mom Cheryl Tiegs Christie Brinkley tablet white model everyone say that and how do you think though that affects even today young african-american young girls of any color yeah coming up hearing things like that still I have always said because in the business that I am it's about photography and images and I've always said photography is such an important and and an important tool because the absence of images for young girls to see themselves celebrated the absence of those images that look like them makes them feel not as good they feel they're not considered beautiful they're what they look like is not beautiful and the presence of it of course fills them validated so when when people say well what's in a picture it's a lots in a picture arena if you are constantly bombarded with what is called the standard of beauty which is blonde and blue-eyed then that's what you want to be or you feel you're not part of that beauty what's considered beautiful so the whole thing about the ownership of beauty the how to define beauty in your own standard and not wait for somebody else to tell you how Salma Hayek properly put it in my the foreword to my book if beauty is in the eye of the beholder then let the beholder be you not somebody else yeah yeah what do you say then to your children what do you say about these things how do you instill in a child in any child to be proud of who you are in a world that bombard you and it's not only with race but with beauty yes because there are just a handful of the super beautiful in the world the rest of us don't fit in there so how do you let them know you're just as good at the content people have forgotten that beauty comes with content you know a vacuous beauty it's an empty shell it has no value do you know what I mean I have known people who are very very beautiful and quite ugly also have a and vice versa yeah you know so so the people have forgotten about content especially now what is celebrated its celebrated Fame an infamy has no difference now everybody is so you can be a star regardless whatever you have done you could commit murder you become a stuff right you commit pornography or a star it could do anything and you could become a star so that is the stuff that we're teaching kids and and I have known because we do internship at the at the office and I can have young girls who come into the atrium they want to be CEOs what have you done right and they think everybody should become quite instantly very successful because we see it in our society that the word it's celebrated especially in celebrity it's quite fast it can become so fast overnight as a star and the kids don't understand what what a star means they don't care what it is they just want to be in a yeah you know when you hit and you got to America and all of this circus happened do you ever wonder because you say you'll go down other roads do you ever wonder if it had been a slower burn if it had happened slower the fame that came down would you have handled it any differently no because you probably in my situation I probably could would have been very frustrated I left the business quite fast I was like one of those you know how when you see a dog swimming you know on a pond or something it looks from the surface calm but Donna does fuddling quite fast I was like that I was learning everything quite as fast as I could and then there was the obstacles that were on the way that that I knew that I had that I was disposable to the business as a black model I was disposable there was no really a very value that they placed on me it was the politically correct thing to do and so how do you create a self and a place for yourself in an industry that you are part of either you get out of it because you just get frustrated and you don't want to deal with it or you find a way to make us to make a really a value for your for yourself and what they think about you and and all the people that will come behind you obviously you when you're doing that you're not thinking about the people who are coming behind you're thinking about yourself and and what is this about and because they devalue or you know as a special as a black man they devalue because you always know that there is you know you have no value this we need to do this because it's a political directed thing to do otherwise it's really not important I would almost say though that there are models out there who don't realize that that there are people in any walk of life that don't realize that they can be disposed of yes and that that's where a lot of danger comes when people don't realize that I mean then then they find themselves out there without a net absolutely and that for me that was my net is either I find a way to make this thing work for me so I feel that I am a person and I have a sense of value and that I am valued at what I'm doing otherwise there is no reason for me to do this I have to find something else to do and hence it started really from asking these the price of services because we weren't paid the amount of money that our counterparts were paid for the same services we were doing so I learned quite fast to say no I mean I set it out no big deal you know you don't need me I don't need a gift fine so everybody goes to their corners and let's start it again in a and so and I wanted what I called the spoils of war because in our industry there's where you make money and the rest of it is fluff what you do in what's called editorial in the magazines they day you 250 dollars a whole day that's not money there's prestige in it but there's not money advertising cosmetic contracts that's where the money is that's where they may pay you half a million million dollars for jobs that's what I wanted I wanted that spoils of war yeah yeah and that's what I fought for it was it out of and I don't mean this disrespectful but what's it out of greed or was it out of wanting to be valued is it about a value system problem if you're going to pay that amount to another girl why couldn't you pay me for the same service I provided is about that is about that it's not about greed because if you know because at the cents if it usually people who are about greed they will prostitute themselves they'll do whatever it takes to get there and my sense of value was that I'll sit it out how did that come my word no way but you also have to believe in yourself did you ever doubt yourself during all of that uh never doubted myself I doubted my looks but I never doubted myself did you ever think well am I good enough looking to be it is money am i performing and if they come my way and pay me that money I have to do that because at the end of the day you have to sell they're usually in this major advertisement for that major money that product has to move does that drive you insane oh that's drives you insane because at the same time because you won't get tired again yeah for that sir so you're as good as your last uh ID yeah and how well it did I guess 89 or so is when you decided to walk away from models yes and you did it cold clean kinda you weren't gonna go back it wasn't nothing how did you come to that decision I'm the only one who has ever done it I never and I was like well yes okay at least I could Clinton that I had enough money I I was made sure that I saved enough money so I won't be sucked in because it's a business that is so easy to make money at times mm-hmm so I am i I just made sure that I wanted a clean break and there's no way to really find what you really want to do what's your second act right till you really stop you can't be in between and note I just want it to be a calm quiet place away from what I did before so I could think clearly of what's my necklace face what's my second act what am i doing next could someone entice you to come back today no they have done it huh they have tried yeah they have tried I have not even been to a fashion show since 89 really I'm a woman of my word definitely then and I know we're running short on time you went into the cosmetics business yourself because there was no successful or good line for women of color yes how can that be possible that's very possible and still era is still the same in 1994 I created imam cosmetics and the past year a CEO of iman cosmetics skincare and fragrances i have been singularly the first and only brand who had cosmetics for women african-americans latina asian multicultural multi-ethnic I was the only brand who had an SPF in my products because they said women of color don't care about sun protection so the creation when I was writing 2 years ago the beauty book which I considered like a beauty tool because it's about techniques and tips and soft celebration of poor women with sin of color here it I wanted it really dare to celebrate that from the darkest darkest of African Beauty to a blonde blue-eyed Brazilian model Pakistani Indians everybody in between celebrated and have young girls that are celebrated nowadays from Eva Mendes Naomi Campbell Tyra Banks Alma Hyatt in the book with their baby pictures so that when young girls look at these books that they always are looking at the magazines that they can say one day I could be just like her when I grow up yeah yeah do you think that the reason there wasn't a line of cosmetics for for women of color was because of prejudice because obviously they have the buying power outside why did it never happen it takes a lot of investment it takes a lot of self investment it takes a lot of grassroots it a lot of understanding what makes all these people different what their specific needs are the industry doesn't have that time they're in it it is above the bottom dollar so what it is is that okay if you have five shades or six shades or eight shades for Caucasian women put two more colors that make it darker and you can clay me that is for everybody so they don't have this and then they can spend a lot of money and have a celebrity endorsed it and they don't have to do anything on the product but at the surface look like they're doing for all women of all color right last question we're just about out of time and I hate that it's gone so quick a tip to people watching that people do wrong with their makeup ah I would say the singular one is that they always choose the wrong foundation for them the perfect shade is a shade that looks like you and the only way to test it is test it on your jaw line the color that you don't see choose two three colors put it on your jaw line stripping the one you don't see is the perfect shade for you that's your skin color there a tip and everything Iman thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us real quick how's David doing David is doing fantastically well that's fantastic he's home babysitting oh so he just watch the kid you get to do the team exactly come on thank you very much any pleasure Iman to order a transcript call eight six six six five two three three seven eight or sudden $6.95 to the address on your screen 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Channel: HoustonPBS

Views: 146,408

Rating: 4.8234086 out of 5

Keywords: iman, on, innerviews, with, ernie, manouse, interview, first, black, super, model, fashion, somali, entrepreneur, international, david, bowie

Id: O_J7L_eODfw

Length: 26min 58sec (1618 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 31 2011