Encouraging people in finding, following and fulfilling their destiny is part of makeup artist and skincare consultant Daniella Ifetayo Thompson’s plan for her business, Kings and Queens Empire. She said her career path has changed many times since she graduated from Holy Faith Convent Penal in 2009, and she wants to let people know it was okay to change.
Thompson, who grew up in Claxton Bay, did an associate degree in hospitality management at then Trinidad and Tobago Hotel and Tourism Institute in 2010 when she was 19. It was there she discovered a love of doing makeup, at which she excelled.
“I began specialising in doing bridal parties, but I was also really good at special effects makeup, to the point where I was featured in Cosmopolitan magazine and travelled to the makeup expos in New York. I was really good at details and would take a day to do a look sometimes.”
She completed her associate degree and decided to do a BSc in tourism management, but because she loves to travel, she decided to do one year in Barbados, and two years in the Bahamas. She was in the Bahamas working at Grand Hyatt Baha Mar and simultaneously doing makeup privately, when the pandemic hit and she was laid off.
This is when she started her skincare business which she said was immediately successful.
“It blew up. It was crazy because everybody was like, oh I have mask acne. People were bored and their attention was riveted to social media, so the business did really well. I was selling things like masks for acne and eczema, rosewater with bougainvillea and lavender, I would do sulphur, neem, moringa soaps, and make it look like something edible, so I could also express my creativity.
[caption id="attachment_1065980" align="alignnone" width="973"] Daniella Thompson shows off some of the products in her King 'N Queen Organics skin care line. - ROGER JACOB[/caption]
“Then I decided I wanted to do more than soaps, so I decided to do different kits for acne and eczema. The original plan had been to do candles, so for a year straight while I was working in the hotel, I started to learn about it, but I guess God didn’t want me to go that direction. Even when I started doing the soaps they were scentless and didn’t have any herbs, just some salt, and then I started to learn more.”
Before the pandemic Thompson would fly back to Trinidad to do Carnival makeup, buy ingredients, and started perfecting her recipes. After experiencing some personal issues, she moved back to Trinidad in December 2021, but wasn’t able to restart her business until December 2023.
“I came back with my son and I thought I’d be able to start over one time, but the process was too much. I didn’t give up, and thankfully I had support from my family, and eventually I was able to restart. I also became an Ifa Orisha devotee, and was initiated into the faith in September 2022, and that helped me to work through those issues.
“My significant other also introduced me to the idea of selling cloth from Nigeria, like cotton, batik, gele, Ankara, and so I start
