The fickle business of fashion

It was 32 years ago when, two days after setting foot on American soil, Iman first tasted how salty a dish the fashion industry could serve Black women. At her premier shoot for style bible Vogue, the native Somali beauty was literally fresh-faced, with skin a virgin to makeup and feet virgin to stilettos. In an exchange that to this day she recounts as perplexing, a White photographer asked if she'd brought her own foundation. On the set for arguably the world's most prestigious fashion glossy, there wasn't a shade of makeup to complement her Sepia hue.

"I saw the results as disastrous, photos appeared with my skin looking gray," she says. "I learned fight then and there that photography and my image is my currency. The seed to create my own makeup line was planted right at that shoot."

It took 19 years for that seed to bear fruit as Iman Cosmetics, Skincare and Fragrances, a company known for formulating products specifically for women of color. In that time, Iman evolved from the London-educated daughter of a Somali ambassador to one of the most powerful executives in her industry with interests in cosmetics, books and television. Though her company is privately held and thus doesn't release sales figures, Iman Cosmetics is a global operation, selling in the United States, Great Britain, France, Norway, Ireland, Africa and the Caribbean. Iman, wife of rock star David Bowie and mother of two, helms the firm while shooting episodes of Project Runway Canada, which she hosts.

Her ascent coincided with a cultural shift that turned the fashion industry into the canvas upon which women like Tyra Banks, Kimora Lee Simmons and Alek Wek have painted themselves as sirens, entrepreneurs, authors and philanthropists.