Shades of Mandisa

Try as hard as you like, Mandisa Smith won’t be pigeon-holed. There are many parts to the whole sum of her – vocalist, model, podcast host and beauty entrepreneur. She is a wife, a mother, an influencer. She is also body positive and believes she is as an all-around good person who wants anyone who interacts with her to walk away with their head held high, confident and feeling good vibes.

With faith on her side and confidence in her decision, Mandisa prepared to fly, spread her wings  and took a leap of faith. She wanted to pursue endeavors that would continue inspire, enrich and uplift her life. Then there’s the fact that she wanted to be the boss of Mandisa and clear her path to her personal fortune.

“I thought the world was mine. I was going to conquer 2020,” Mandisa said.

On January 3, 2020, she parted ways with the company where she had been employed for 11 years, to give herself the space and freedom she needed to do her – so that she could soar. She did so, not knowing that a little over two months later, not only would her world be upended, but the world would be in the grips of a pandemic. The Bahamas identified its first case of COVID-19 on March 15, 2020.

“This put an abrupt halt in everything I wanted to do,” she said.

A creative to her core, as the lockdowns and curfews unfolded over the weeks and months, this confident, poised Mandisa, broke. She found herself not being able to indulge in her very essence, her ability to create.

“Some persons… it brought out the best out of them, but for me, it brought anxiety… tall walls,” she said.

Mandisa then questioned herself and her decisions.

“Was it the right time [to leave my job and step out on my own]? Did I do the right thing?

“I had numerous plans for 2020, but they were all washed away. I must say, I battled for a while, but I prayed every time a negative thought came, and with doing that I was able to speak positive and manifest the right moves along the way. So, I had to make new plans… strategic plans.”

By time the second wave of the pandemic hit, she started to regroup. It began with a self-care series on YouTube. While not a licensed esthetician, she offered advice on everyday household items that people could use and incorporate into their skin routine during lockdowns. Engaging in the self-care series, she said, helped her to come out of that “broken” phase she had gone through, and it afforded her some avenue of creativity.

Mandisa, who grew up in a Seventh-day Adventist household, said she also started to listen to the Holy Spirit when he told her everything would be okay and that she had made the right decision.

“I honestly and truly stepped out on faith,” she said. “I am the type of person, you don’t tell me no. When I am wholeheartedly into a project, you will get my best performance, and the moment that performance is less than my best, I need to reevaluate and make my decision after. I left not knowing my next step, but I knew where I wanted to be, so I worked towards that – and along the way I was so proud of myself.”

Mandisa said her goal and dream remains, but she’s just taking a different route.

She is continuing to build on her successes across her brands – Shades of Beauty by Mandisa Kerr, which she started in 2007 because she loves making women beautiful, and cohosting her podcast, Big Talks Podcast. And that’s not even taking into account that she can belt it out and is well-known for her vocal talent with the groups: Willis and the Illest and the groundbreaking, The Lady’s Band.

“Shades of Beauty means enhancing – not covering, not diminishing. Making women beautiful. And, this is for anyone that sits in my chair. It was and always has been a passion of mine to move with confidence and being able to share that with others. It will always be the first look into the mirror for me, after I have completed a makeover to keep me going after my dream,” she said.

The takeaway that excites this makeup artist the most after a glam session with a client is them walking away with their head held high, and “a bag of happiness and confidence”.

“[I want them to] leave everything else for another day. Today baby girl, it’s about you!”

As for the name of her beauty business, Mandisa said it came from one of her closest friends, a friendship that goes back to their childhood years, and that on deciding on the name the goal was to appeal to the everyday woman, no matter their color.

As a podcast cohost, she began to realize the extent of her influence when she saw people taking notice of what she said, repeating what she said and agreeing with her.

“I then knew I influenced people.”

She said it also excites her to cohost her podcast because people never know what she’s going to say and that in itself excites her.

And lest we forget, Mandisa can belt it out with the best of them, but she said she never realized she had vocal ability until she was older and heard herself, even though she had been singing in church from age five.

She has not been on stage performing in over a year due to the pandemic, but is looking forward to the day she can make her return, because when she’s in the spotlight on stage, the energy that she feeds off from the audience and her fans excite her no end. Mandisa said she is looking forward to the day her fans can return to watch her perform while having good, clean fun with a drink or two, and taking away good vibes at the end of the evening.

When it comes to modeling, she said she saw an avenue that wasn’t being seen and she took advantage of it and made it popular for herself in time.

“Modeling has always been exciting for me because I have always enjoyed being confident, and being able to assist women to be the same.”

If nothing else, Mandisa said 2020 has taught her that there is no power greater than God’s.

“It has taught me to go after what you want with loaded weapons. It has taught me to take time and relax, and enjoy the fruits of my labor. It has taught me true value of life and freedom, and it has also taught me to be still and listen to my intuition and spirit. I can incorporate all of these things into my daily routine by remembering to take everything a day at a time.”

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