Tara Durotoye Speaks About Her First Job, Who Inspired Her & Her Achievements So Far

Tara Fela Durotoye was the guest on this week’s ‘African
Voices’ on CNN, where she spoke about how she got into makeup business, her
first makeup job and what she has been able to achieve so far.  

Speaking about her stepmother’s influence she said; “She was
extremely fashionable. Liked to look beautiful. She was always in the salon
every weekend having her nail polish done. Sometimes I had to sit down as a
little girl and polish her toenails as well. So I saw the power of cosmetics.”

On her first make-up job, Tara said, “The first opportunity
that I had was with the daughter of the chief of naval staff. At the time
Nigeria was a military government so it meant that the chief of naval staff was
number three man in the country.”

On what she has achieved so far, she said; “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 percent 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,” she said.