Every Woman: Pheobe

It was about a week or so before my birthday. I was lying in bed, scrolling IG. It was late, maybe eleven o’clock or so, and a new DM notification popped up. It was Pheobe Scott responding with a heart-eyed emoji to something in my IG stories. I thought, maybe this is a good time to DM her back about being on my blog. I had wanted to ask her for some time.

As I’m typing my message to her, I drop my phone on the bed. When I pick my phone back up, I see that my covers had pushed the video chat request icon. Oh, great, she’s going to think I am crazy, I thought. I’ve never even used this feature on IG before! Where are the video chat options so I can hurriedly hang up and let her know it was a mistake. Before I could do that though, she answers. And this is how I created one of the most beautiful features I have ever done.

I met Pheobe at church. I’ve been going to Perfecting Church in Detroit for several years now. Pheobe has been attending Perfecting since she was three years old! Pre COVID, when Sundays were blissfully centered around melodic praises and phenomenal preaching, you could often spot Pheobe on the choir stand’s first row, or sometimes directing the choir, and teaching the ‘Kids of the Kingdom’ choir. We aren’t church besties or anything like that, but we briefly stop for a passing hug and small talk when we see each other.

I read somewhere before that, beautiful people aren’t always good, but good people are always beautiful. I don’t know if Pheobe and I ever even talked for more than five minutes on any given Sunday (before this interview), but she is always kind-hearted, good people, always beautiful.

She’s from Detroit; Graduated from Winan’s Academy High School. Something she says our (very legendary) Pastor won’t ever let her forget. And on to Wayne State for her undergraduate degree in Business Management with a concentration in Human Resources and a master’s in education. She worked as an executive assistant at Xenith before the calamity of COVID caused her to be laid off.

She grew up front row and center to the beauty scene, watching her mom as a Detroit hairstylist. Her mom worked in a salon near my old hood on the west side of the city, 7-mile and Wyoming. Less than a mile from where I would often got my hair done. Crazy and beautiful, the orchestration of our positions and timing on the earth with people.

Pheobe started doing makeup about six years ago; pushed into it by her mom asking her to do makeup for some of her high end clients at the Renaissance Center. After making her first three hundred dollars in two hours, the beauty enthusiast inside of her came alive. A little over a year ago, her makeup line, FaceFx, was born. And in the middle of this unrelenting pandemic, she created the “Detroit Make-Up Palette,” which she launched on Juneteeth. Fifteen colors with fifteen affectionate names to those of us who are natives of the city. My fave, ‘On the Lodge Wit it.’ She was recently featured on Live in the D.

“The birth of this palette was through the loss of my job. I became more vigilant, resilient, a true hustler. I was reminded that I’m from Detroit; there is nothing I can’t do. Detroit is more than Motown, that’s not all we are. I wanted the gutter for people to symbolize the hardness of Detroit in parallel to their lives. Something about Detroit gives a ‘no quit’ attitude to everyone who visits. The palette symbolizes the strength in us all. I started jotting that down. I got some samples and was going through coloring; that’s how we created the palette.”

I’m here for that.

ON INSPIRATION AND STRENGTH

I have to ask (because it was one of my favorite responses from my conversation with every woman), 4 women you adore and what notes have you taken from them?

Belinda Scott. She inspires me to keep going, no matter what. Her generation was not the most enthused when it came to being leading woman. Because of that, she sees I’m like her in a lot of ways, but in a lot of ways, I’m not because I’m very voice-tress, and when I believe in something, I go after it and she’s for it. She has never tried to shame my passion. She’s super supportive, and she’s always been a go-getter, always helping people; she sees a need and wants to help. On top of that, she stayed with my dad over forty years, I mean, come on, who does that nowadays?!

Vivian Grant. She’s a fighter. With the loss of her husband and now only child (daughter, Danielle Grant), she has been a true hero and warrior in my life. I admire her strength and tenacity to keep fighting, no matter what. Her sassy nature keeps her fun! You don’t meet a lot of people who tell you not to do something, and you feel their tenacity and boldness. It strikes something in you! She has been a strong force in my life. She’s always supported me whether I ask for it or not. I can’t remember a time she was not there for me.

Beyoncé inspires me. I am constantly searching for ways to perfect my craft, myself, and looking at everything Beyoncé displays is always beyond the norm. It seems like she competes with herself. Anything that I see of hers is always the next level. I try not to compare myself to any other brand and focus on what’s next for my/our audience; that way, I only focus on the things that are important to me. More-so than, well, they’re doing this, so I should do something better than that. Her creativity is unmatched. She’s a thought-forward leader. Her ability to always be above is because she’s always working at herself. She inspires me in that regard. She’s always hard-working, go-getting, moving forward.

Oprah. Oprah was the first black woman I saw on television that I wanted to be like. I have always admired her through her generosity in giving, consistency in brand, and hard work. She always seems to change the game. Nothing she’s done was done before her–OWN TV network. She’s a game-changer, always trendsetting and helping.

I admire women who are doing things that have never been done before. I am creating my trail just as these women. There are only two routes, someone else’s or your own.

When you’re having a bad day, what do you do to make yourself feel better?

When I’m having a bad day, I make myself feel better by walking. I like to walk on outside field tracks. One, because I don’t have to use my phone. I have to walk forward. It helps me think about forward movement, understanding the moment I’m in (upset, frustrated, whatever), but still moving. I have this thing where I don’t like to be still as far as life. I want to keep going. Walking helps me a lot.

Another thing that makes me happy is smoothies. I love smoothies. I will make a smoothie or get a smoothie, and that will make my day. I used to be two hundred and thirty pounds, so I’ve learned not to indulge in foolish junk eating because it doesn’t make me feel better. I try to drink smoothies because it makes me feel good. They can be super sweet, which puts me in a happy place.

And most certainly, prayer. Talking to Christ about what’s considered a bad moment to me with someone who understands my thoughts, perceptions, and beliefs, yet who can change my reality is always a huge plus for me. Talking to God and meditating on good things always puts me in a better mood. I was taught that praise brings me where God is but worship brings Him to me. Prayer is a form of honor and worship. It’s where I can be my truest self without judgment because He already knows.

What’s something that has happened to you that has made you a stronger person?

This year has made me stronger. I experienced loss, wins, love, hate, hurt… I experienced so many things that most people experience in their lifetime but not at one time. For those experiences, I am a stronger person. I thought 2019 was something because I worked, went through my master’s program, and started a business (product) while servicing clients full-time. But this year (2020) was something! I lost my job. I filed for unemployment and still haven’t received any government funding. I had bill collectors call, only to tell me they understand— running a business without any loans and produced more products. Loss friends, gained friends, received my master’s virtually, lost loved ones, celebrated, cried, forgave, and the list goes on.

What I’ve learned is people only understand up until the level of their experience. Now I can say, I can actually relate. I think everything in everyone’s life happens so that they can be relatable to help someone else; now, I understand.

This year has absolutely increased my faith and caused me not to trust in anything that I have and solely put my trust and dependency on God while walking on water. I didn’t know what was next. I didn’t know if I was going to be able to sell products. I didn’t know if people were going to buy off the site. I didn’t know if I was going to get a job. It was just shaky. I’ve not received at all an unemployment check. So, I was literally living on faith. Living on, ‘okay, I don’t know how this will work, but I’m going to trust God in its process.’

This year has made strong, too, because when my cousin (Danielle Grant) passed, she was the closest person to me. I don’t let a lot of people in my space. I don’t have a ton of friends. She was super close. We would talk all the time. And so, to experience that was just, oh my God, was so heartbreaking.

This year has made me stronger; I am just walking on water.

ON MAKEUP AND BEAUTY

What is the one product you can’t work without?

The thing that I would not want to go without is a brow pencil. Our Pro-tech brow definer. It has a spoolie on the end and then a pencil on the other end. Brows shape your face. They are the first thing you see beyond the hairline. People automatically look at your eyes and around our face. So that’s one thing I gotta have! I can’t leave the house without it.

What celebrity do you think always has great makeup?

Best makeup, on television, someone that is often seen, that’s notable, I would say Oprah. Oprah Winfrey is your normal (African American) woman. She has that in-between skin tone. I use the word “normal” because, just like many other women in the African American race, she has facial flaws; however, her makeup is always beautiful. Her makeup does not overpower her features, and she can do multiple events with the same look. Her makeup is always spot on! Never too dramatic, neither too natural-looking, just right.

What makes a person beautiful to you?

Their heart. I know that you can’t see a person’s heart, and you can’t see a person’s intentions. We can only base our perceptions on what someone does. As a woman in the beauty industry, perception is reality. What makes a person beautiful is what is physically seen yet not tangible. When I see a mom taking care of her son, that’s beautiful. I look up to wives. I have the highest regard for that. To become one with someone else’s tasks and vision and goals, I think that’s a beautiful thing.

With that, a person’s heart is beautiful when they are doing what’s right. The word beautiful means that everything is in order. If you see something that’s out of order and find solutions to fix that and make it orderly, that’s beautiful.

What’s your favorite color out of your Detroit Palette?

I would say What Up Doe! Not only is the name representation of Detroit’s language, but the color is golden with a hint of a yellow and green undertone. It’s one of the shimmer colors that just pops like Detroit!

ON RANDOMNESS

I read a quote recently, “be as you wish to seem.” How do you want people to see you?

I want people to see me as an example. An example of strength, confidence, and Christ being real. There is no one in my life who’s done what I’ve done before. I was the first person to graduate from college, from a university in my family. Not just in my immediate family…I want to be an example of faith…I see something in my mind and try to make it a reality, and then all of a sudden, it becomes a reality! I want to be an example that God is real, that God lives big in the earth, and it’s displayed through me.

What’s something everyone else loves that you secretly find overrated? How come?

One is that people love openness, and I think it is overrated because there should be a mystery to one’s life. I do not want to sound contradictory because I have to be open as a businesswoman, and for the business I’m in, I kind of asked for it But I think that constantly being super social and letting people know every detail, you can lose you. I think that the reason why we’re individuals is for a reason. It’s so that we maintain who we are and stay true to that person.

But a lot of times because our culture tells us we should say this, tell this, what happened with this? Or who were you just with? And why didn’t it work? We allow people to tell us what we should do and how we should be. I believe we can become clone-ish, and that aspect is overrated. Society tells us to wear this, do this, or get your body done because you should look like so and so, and this depiction of false hope to perfection that we have is because of our vulnerability.

There is a way to be relatable, share experiences, and be open without losing you.

How have you been taking care lately with everything going on around us in the world?

Doing what makes me feel most comfortable is self-care for me. Those things have been not answering the phone or saying no to an opportunity, walking instead of running around being ‘busy,’ not being connected to my phone—disconnecting myself from the world in some instances. Figuring out what I want to do and where I want to be, going for drives, creating playlists… Self-care, for me, is what the word is; it’s actually caring for me.

And so if I feel an obligation, then I’m not going to do it. If I feel that if I say no or say yes to something that will be used again against me in some form when it becomes my turn, I’m just not going to talk to you. There’s that self-care. Nobody wants to feel ‘disappointed.’ Everybody’s dealing with something . Some things are known, some things not. I’m taking care of myself by doing things that make me feel comfortable. Discomfort is not self-care.

What is your biggest day-to-day challenge?

I’m going to be straight up, being on time. My mom is like, ‘you have to make time your friend.’ And I’m really working on it. Like today, I was three minutes ahead of time because I’m like, Pheobe, if you are on time, then you are late. Timeliness… When it’s time to get things done and deadlines, I’m good with getting it done right before it’s due because I can work well under pressure, but then that falls into other things. …Being on time that would be the biggest challenge that I’m trying to overcome.

ON ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND GOALS

What has been your best moment this year (so far)?

I became super content with every state in life. When I lost my job, I was like, oh, I’m fine, it’s fine, and then I broke that night. I was like, I gotta get back on my technology, this is real. In those moments when I was hustling to work and then coming home and doing interviews, just finding things to be at peace so that I wasn’t going crazy in the midst of all of this and staying safe, staying at home. I think during those moments was when I became the most content with me. Not worrying about, did someone call me to check on me? Did a guy that I was talking to say hey or good morning.

I just was so focused on Christ, like ‘God, I need you to survive, there’s nothing that I can do without you, and anything that I do is only because you give me that ability.’ Once I came to that realization, that’s when I was like, ok, this is my best moment. That’s when things started happening for the business.

Once I stopped focusing on everything else and started truly focusing on God, trusting him, focusing on my business, and not worrying about everyone else, I started thriving. The best moment this year for me was my interview for National Lipstick Day with ‘Live in the D.’ That was my first time being interviewed. I think back now at how amazing that was to be interviewed on television in the middle of a pandemic and that being my first interview on that platform. I was like, how did this happen?!

What kind of goals do you have for the next year?

I’ll give you business ones because personal ones are just… that’s personal, that’s what it is. I’ve done a lot of stuff. I’ve finished my degree; I bought a car. I paid off my car… I’m checking things off. The business goals are to be inside twenty or more retail stores across the United States, expand our e-commerce sales internationally, produce more innovative products, and continue to offer our audience the best in customer care, service, and brand experience.

Thank you, Pheobe, for answering my mistaken video chat! Thank you for always being beautiful. See you back at church (one day)! Xo.