“This year, I’m doing what makes me feel good,” says Simone White, Business Development Manager at Blavity, “I’m getting my nails done every two weeks, I do my own hair. I’ve also implemented meditating more in my daily routine. For me, prayer and getting centered are important. In the morning, I set my intentions, whether with myself or a higher being, and that helps my day flow and helps me keep a positive attitude.”
Simone balances a busy work life with time for family, friends, volunteering for the communities she cares deeply about and a sprinkle of me-time on top.
ON HER PASSIONS
In college, Simone did lots of media sales internships and joined a fellowship program in New York after graduation. She’s since stayed in media, but mainly the business side. Her original goal was to get into broadcast journalism and essentially be Oprah, but she realized there wasn’t a lot of money in it initially and that it would take quite a while to get to that point.
Outside of work, she loves to volunteer.
“I love to volunteer for youth programs,” she says, “The group I run, PUSH mentors, promotes millennial volunteering in underserved communities. In early 2016, me and my good friend we’re doing lots of volunteering, in most of the programs we noticed there were only 60-year-old people and the kids can’t relate to them. When PUSH volunteers come to events, the youth get so excited, they see people that look like them, listen to their music and are willing to actually listen. I love doing that.”
She also loves to entertain and cook — it’s one of her favorite things to do and an easy way to fit in time for family and friends.
When asked how she balances time for people in her life, Simone says, “I cook for them. I just go to my mom’s and decide I want to cook and invite people over. They get to meet each other, make new friends and I get to hang out with the people I care about. It’s my strategy.”
“I love people,” she says, “I’m a people person who feeds off of other people’s energy.”
ON HER DAILY ROUTINE
“I wake up and look at my phone every day,” Simone says, “I read my emails, go on Instagram, go on social media and do that for about 15 minutes. Then I usually will sit for a bit and maybe stretch and do some meditating and breathe before I shower.”
One of her all-time get-ready favorites is African black soap, which she uses for everything — shampoo, face wash and body wash. She also brushes her teeth in the shower to extend the amount of time she can stay under the relaxing water.
“One thing I’ve started doing more and more of is using this charcoal toothpaste,” she says, “I’ll dip my toothbrush with Crest on it into the activated charcoal powder and brush, or just brush with charcoal after brushing my teeth.”
She’ll then lather down with coconut oil to moisturize her body before using Vitamin E oil on her face and getting dressed. The oils will have then set into her face with plenty of time before she gets ready to apply makeup.
“Typically I’ll put on eyebrows, mascara and eyeliner. For my brows, I use the Anastasia Brow Definer. i like the thicker one because I find the thinner version (Anastasia Brow Wiz) to run out faster.”
“I use MAC’s Prolongwear Fluidline for eyeliner and Maybelline’s Falsies mascara. I’m not particular about eyelashes because my lashes are small. I love lash extensions, but i don’t get them that often. I use cluster lashes sometimes because I can easily put them on myself and strip lashes pull my natural lashes out.”
On her face, Simone is currently using MAC’s Studio Fix Fluid SPF 15 in NC 45. She’s also very loyal to MAC’s Studio Finish Concealer in NC 45. She sets her face with Black Opal’s True Color Soft Velvet Finishing Powder. She’s not loyal to any particular lipsticks, but some recent favorites have been the Sephora Cream Lip Stains.
“If I have something in the afternoon, I might just wait until later to put makeup on,” she says, “Otherwise I’ll maybe add concealer to freshen the look up, but never more powder, that makes me look oily.
“I use natural deodorant, and I’ll have that with me because it doesn’t last longer than eight hours.”
Throughout the day Simone lives for checking things off her to-do list. For her, checking things off feels like “Ok, you’re almost there girl, keep going.” A quick coffee run serves as a perfect afternoon pick-me-up.
At night, Simone takes her makeup off with Burt’s Bees Cleansing Towelettes. After, she’ll do oil cleansing with castor and tea tree oil before hot toweling it off and following up with Vitamin E oil. Sometimes she’ll even drink a glass of wine to unwind at night.
ON THE BEAUTY TIP THAT’S CHANGED THE GAME
“Oil has changed my life,” she says, “The idea of cleansing my face with oil was so foreign to me, but how clean my face feels after oil cleansing… I love it. I even do oil pulling on my teeth to keep them white. Oils have changed everything. They’re so effective that they also keep me from spending so much money on unnecessary things."