CNN Feature: Meet Tara Fela-Durotoye The Nigerian Makeup Queen Who Built Her Own Beauty Empire -

Tara Fela-Durotoye, Chief Executive Officer of Africa's leading beauty brand, House of Tara - iconic  for setting up the first make up studio and establishing Nigeria's first make up school in 2004 -  on CNN's African Voices, a weekly show that highlights Africa's most engaging personalities and explores the lives and passions of people who are shaping change in Africa.

Inspired by her stepmother's beauty routine and her work as a makeup artist during her time at the university, she says she was inadvertently drawn to cosmetics, after seeing "what makeup actually does to a woman in terms of self-esteem and confidence."

While talking about her passion for teaching, Tara said: "I am still a teacher, the only thing is that this time, I'm not teaching maths or English. I'm teaching enterprise: I'm teaching makeup artistry as a platform for enterprise." 

Making a difference to young lives is all part of the mission for the 37-year-old cosmetics queen Tara Fela-Durotoye. 

"There are certain things telling you that you cannot make it; that you will not make it; that Nigeria is not a place where people make it," says Tara Fela-Durotoye. "I beg to differ." 

She also revealed that the Tara beauty range was born out of her frustration at the lack of suitable cosmetics available in Nigeria, "Importers didn't know exactly what was right for Nigerian women," she says, "so I want to fill the gap while encouraging pride in home-grown glamor."

"A lot of the Tara products are named after either beauty icons or beauty philosophies in Africa," says Tara Fela-Durotoye. "For us it's about sharing the world and sharing our culture to the world."

Tara also harped on the brand's achievements, saying; “Today we have about 14 make-up schools across the country where people have been trained to become make-up artists. I can confidently say that for 80 % of the make-up artists that are active players in the industry today, either working as entrepreneurs or working within other beauty brands, are trained by House of Tara. And I think for me that is the greatest joy.”

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About House of Tara

Set up in 1998, House of Tara is a pioneer in the beauty and makeup industry in Nigeria and Africa as a whole and a trailblazer in the areas of retail, distribution channel management and education. 

Known also as an industry enabler, the brand; being the first to set up a beauty school in Nigeria has over 3,000 reps spread across the country and 20 stores to its name.