Ayesha Curry is a woman of many hats. She’s a New York Times bestselling cookbook author, television personality, entrepreneur, wife, and mother of four. Curry embodies the grace of a modern Black woman who wears each role with intention.
The general public first embraced her through her warm culinary storytelling and high-profile marriage to NBA star Stephen Curry. However, beyond that, Curry has carved her own lane and space in the industry. Her growing portfolio now includes a lifestyle brand, Sweet July, a retail store, a magazine, and her latest passion project, Sweet July Skin. Her latest project is a skincare line that beautifully bridges the gap between beauty and heritage.
“My Jamaican heritage is pretty much all I know,” Curry told 21Ninety. “It’s the core of how I grew up, and still, my family to this day. It’s a very integral part of who I am.”
Curry’s core has become the heartbeat of her skincare line. It is a line born outside of a lab and rooted in the memories of island gardens, kitchen remedies and the wisdom of women who came before her.
Beauty in Ancestral Wisdom
Curry’s earliest introductions to beauty came through the women in her life. She tells 21Ninety that she’s had “problematic skin for as long as I can remember.” During her teenage years, her skin would flare up and her family would turn to nature.
“They’d be like, ‘Oh, put a piece of tomato on it,’ or ‘Use this from the bush,’ and I’d be like, ‘Yeah, OK, whatever,’ [and] not do it,” she said.
Similar to many people, she brushed those tips aside, only to revisit them later through a lens of maturity and curiosity. As she got older, she said she started to do some of her own research and found the truth behind the old wives’ tales that the matriarchs in her family were sharing with her. That realization sparked a deeper calling for Curry. In 2023, she officially launched Sweet July Skin, intentionally formulating products with Caribbean botanicals, like guava, soursop, and grapefruit oil. To her, these products aren’t simply trendy ingredients. Instead, they’re family heirlooms.
“There’s so much bountiful, beautiful produce and vegetation in Jamaica,” Curry said. “Everything they were saying could be used to help make your skin a little bit better.”
Flavors of Memory Bottled for Today
The brand’s latest release, a refreshing lip treatment, continues the theme of cultural nostalgia. Available in Essential, Lychee Jelly, and Guava Jelly, the flavors were carefully selected based on cherished childhood memories.
“With the lychee jelly, it reminds me of summers,” Curry shared, reminiscing about trips to her mom’s salon in Toronto, next to a Guyanese grocery store. “I’d walk over there and get bags of lychee and just sit there and peel them and eat them.”
The ethos of Sweet July Skin extends into community and representation. Curry is particularly inspired by the legacy of the women in her family, even the ones she didn’t know the full story of until adulthood.
“My career was well on its way when I found out that my great-grandmother was a cattle farmer and the town butcher in Jamaica,” she said with a laugh. “I love to garden, I love to harvest, and I’m deep in the food world. So when I learned that, it made so much sense.”
Balancing Motherhood and Business
Behind the scenes, Curry is anchored by her support system, especially her husband.
“It’s the best feeling in the world when you realize you have a support system to bounce off the good days and the bad days,” she said, adding that their relationship even extends into her leadership style. “We’re both collaborative people, and it makes me love working with a team. I never act like I know everything, because I don’t.”
In addition to her husband, she’s quick to mention the women who’ve reached out to her with open arms and guidance. As she enters this new venture, she’s appreciative of all of the help they provided for her, saying that it “gives me hope” for the future of the industry.
“Whether it’s in the form of a teacher or a partnership, there’s always been someone, and that gives me hope for what the industry might look like in five to ten years,” she said.
With that in mind, Curry is firm on the kind of businesswoman she wants to be. She intends to use her platform to help other women of color develop their brands.
“From day one of launching Sweet July, the intention was always to lock arms with fellow businesses owned by women of color,” she said. “I don’t believe in looking to grow just on your own. I believe in doing it together.”