Cantu Beauty's Global Vice President Talks About The Power Of Reaching Within

“If I were, to sum up, my career in one word I would say it’s connection,” says Dametria Kinsley, Global Vice President of Marketing and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) for Cantu Beauty. Connecting to consumers on a deeper level has been a key staple in bringing her work to life first in media and now hair care.

Kinsley initially realized the power a brand can cultivate through the assets it creates when her career launched at HBO. In Kinsley’s eyes, it was not only that films, documentaries, or mini-series, entertained people, but they also made people feel joy, pain, nostalgia, and laughter. It inspired her to continue to work with brands to illuminate the strong ties curated through, in Kinsley’s words, “the power of knowing your audience, feeling their journeys, and understanding both their highs and lows.”

And while departing from media and moving into the realm of hair care was quite a transition, she has found defining how a brand’s products and their impact connect to their end user to be a continued theme. “Marketing is more than just focusing a regimen, it’s instead going beyond the strand to focus on the root of it all,” says Kinsley.

The Cantu leader has found living out her passion and purpose with the company to be the job of a lifetime. From the communities the brand has touched to the founders and the students, Kinsley and team have been honored to make an impact in the lives of so many. She shares more about her journey in the beauty industry, her hopes for the future of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and tips for the next generation of leaders in the realm.

Bearing Witness to the Beauty Industry’s Evolution

For many years the beauty industry has been synonymously associated with makeup artistry and beauty products. However, the industry has ever-evolved due largely to technology’s acceleration and transitions in the definition of beauty. ​​Kinsley has witnessed this change firsthand as the year 2023 will make a decade for Kinsley at Cantu and thirteen years within the beauty industry.

With this experience, Kinsley notes: “change is a constant.” Therefore, in order for Cantu to evolve with the transition in the global beauty field and the expansion of consumers’ knowledge, she’s found it imperative for the brand to remain aware of trends and new industry insights. For example, Cantu has hired outside experts in the field of science and textured hair to dive deeper into areas like product formula enhancements. “You can see some of the results of this work on-shelf with our new and improved leave-in conditioners,” says Kinsley.

The global vice president is also looking forward to how these insights will support all that will be launching by Cantu in 2023. This includes new product launches with refreshed packaging to help “customize Cantu for you,” she shares.

Hope for the Future of Global Marketing and DEI in Haircare

As a leader in the industry, Kinsley’s hope is that one day there’ll no longer be a need for a “head of DEI” role as it would simply be embedded into the fabric of how organizations operate. Her hope is the same for the “multicultural marketer” given that when more organizations consider the multiple intersections of identity–including race, gender, background, and ability–they are better able to make an impact. And while the industry has come a long way, she is hopeful for the areas where it will continue to grow to create a more equitable future.

“Generation Z is the less words more action generation. They have changed the game when it comes to connecting their purchasing power to brands that enact their values,” says Kinsley. Her belief is that as a result, brands will have to really stand for something if they are going to be around in the next ten to twenty years.

In Cantu’s world, before it was the organization it has become today, Kinsley expresses that all content was user-generated. “To be honest, that was all we could afford at the time but found it to be what the consumers wanted to see–real people that looked like them using similar products,” she shares. As an organization, Cantu has endeavored to stay authentic both behind the scenes and in front of the camera by expanding their partnerships with organizations like: Gyrl Wonder that supports girls 17-23 with multifaceted professional development, access to opportunity, and mental and physical health and wellness programming; Women Empowering Nations (WEN), a global giveback, to provide tools and exposure to accelerate the path to purpose for women of color in the US, UK, France, Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa; and Cantu Elevate, a bespoke program that upskills aspiring multi-cultural female entrepreneurs.

Inspiring the Next Generation

While Cantu has endeavored to sow seeds into the next generation, so has Kinsley over the course of her professional career. She shares the following tips for those interested in elevating their careers:

• Look Around Not Down. “It's ok to grind and keep your head down but that can’t be the only thing you do. Do your work but it's just as important to look around for opportunities to build–your knowledge, your skill sets, and your network.”
• Take Your Time. “We as a society can sometimes get in such a hurry to get to the next thing that we miss being present. This can happen in anything from progressing on a career pathway to moving on to the next marketing campaign. When we learn from our mistakes and take the time to really be still before acting it saves time on the back end.”
• Curate Greater Balance. “There are seasons in every career where some work requires nonstop, intense focus while other work allows you to nourish your soul and refill your cup. It is important to recognize the difference in order to avoid burnout that can lead to health issues mentally and physically; while it’s also important to empower yourself to ‘strike while the iron’s hot.’ ”

All in all, Kinsley closes with an ode to the things her career journey has taught her: “find time for silence, stay curious, and never stop evolving.”