By Giana Levy
To a crowded audience, ELLE supervising video producer and entrepreneur Angel Lenise told students that the chance of receiving a dream job is the impression left behind on others.
“It is important that you are mindful of the impressions that you are making and the impressions that you want to make. People are watching and paying attention. The link between you and that dream job could be somebody who you left a mark on in a great way,” Lenise said.
On Oct.16, Lenise spoke to Clark Atlanta University students via Zoom. As part of a speaker series that was sponsored by the university’s chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists, she discussed her role at ELLE magazine, entrepreneurship and how being an alum contributed to her career.
As the supervising video producer at ELLE magazine, Lenise shared the importance of Black storytelling and her inspiration behind her 2016 viral short documentary, “Braided: An American Hair Story.”
“Being in a space where I was working with colleagues who empowered me, I used that as an opportunity to empower so many other people with this project.
I think it’s important with doing it that this publication and our brand take accountability for not always recognizing the contribution Black women have made for beauty culture that is celebrated today,” Lenise stated.
Having understood and recognized the influence of Black women in the industry, Lenise shared how essential it is to amplify Black women and their voices within the media industry.
“By no means am I the race for all Black women or Black people, but I understand the responsibility that people are going to look at me as such when I enter a certain room. I also understand that because I am there, it is then my responsibility, as another minority, to give people their platform and tools to tell their stories and amplify their voices,” Lenise said.
The mission to continue to amplify Black beauty and voices are what encouraged Lenise to create her tech-forward online retailer, AMP Beauty LA, with her sorority sisters Montré Moore and Phyllicia Phillips. AMP Beauty LA is a Black woman owned website that allows for Black women and women of color to shop for their favorite beauty products in a convenient and elevated way.
Angel also expressed how attending Clark Atlanta University made her successful in her career.
“Find a way or make one is truly applicable to my life. We are the most resourceful group of individuals that I have ever encountered. Clark taught us to be enterprising, resourceful, and solution-based even if the only available option was a no,” Lenise stated. “Being 100 percent solution-based is something that I always lead with whenever I apply for a new job, have an interview, or doing my performance interview at work.”
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