Latin Times had the pleasure of interviewing an international model who has not only made a name for herself as a Latina, but also serves as a role model to women around the world: Anita Rincón. While Rincón is globally recognized as a fashion and entertainment powerhouse, the Finland-born model is also a successful entrepreneur with her luxury eyelash line Luz Lashes and high-end Argentine hair extension collection Luxurisima. Later this year, Rincón will publish her first book — American Dream - A Fashion and Beauty Mogul's Guide to Building a Million Dollar Empire — and we got the pleasure interviewing her about her roots, her career and her life.
Latin Times: Tell us about your ethnic background. What was it like growing up with two heritages and how did you stay in touch with both of your roots?
Anita Rincón: I was born in Finland, Northern Europe. It's a small country between Sweden and Russia with a little over 5 million people. People are quiet and calm - basically the complete opposite of Argentina! I lived my late teenage years in Argentina and I think that period right before you become an adult is when your own personality and style develop the most. I go to Argentina every year and even when I'm in New York, Argentina is always present in my everyday life. At 17, I made a promise to put Argentina on the map and I plan on keeping that promise!
LT: What inspired you to write your book ("American Dream - A Fashion and Beauty Mogul's Guide to Building a Million Dollar Empire") and what do you hope to achieve from it?
AR: I used to write a weekly style and beauty column for Metro International (the largest international newspaper in the world) while I was in college in Sweden for international economics.
When I graduated, I already had a vision of a beauty empire and I had pretty much everything planned out. Most importantly, I knew I wanted to pursue that dream 100%. When I quit writing I would still continue to get emails from my readers and people who would follow me on social media, asking questions on how to make a career in fashion and beauty.
Not even a year later that I was offered a book deal in the US with LFF Publishing and my first book is now on the way! It's a business guide written from a woman's point of view based on my life and career. The questions that I would receive on a daily basis gave me an idea of the topics that interest young female entrepreneurs around the world. I love to interact with my followers so I recently started a social media segment #AskAnita on Instagram that gives my followers a chance to send their business/career/entrepreneur questions to me in English and Spanish and I post one randomly selected question with my answer every week. I love to see women helping each other instead of being vicious and catty.
Latinos are often very traditional and the macho culture still exists. In countries like Argentina, I've seen that it's often hard for men to accept the success of an independent woman without feeling inferior. Luckily female entrepreneurship is starting to become more and more common every day and I absolutely love that. I want women around the world with different circumstances to look at me or read my story and say, "if she could do it I can do it, too." If I can inspire even one person along the way to have the courage to start fulfilling their dreams, I feel that my job is done.
LT: What made you want to start Luz Lashes and Luxurisima Hair Extensions?
AR: As a beauty editor I got to try out tons and tons of beauty products and treatments, one of these being eyelash extensions. I love full lashes so to me lash extensions seemed like an amazing invention. They look nice for about 10 days until the lashes start to fall off and pull off your natural lashes as well, leaving real lashes all damaged.
I wanted to find an alternative that wouldn't have those horrible side effects and that's how Luz Lashes started. They're strip mink lashes that are reusable up to 30 times and cause no harm to own lashes. Each lash is individually handmade and we've made sure that our products are cruelty-free - the mink is collected during the shedding seasons of the mink animal in free-range zoos. Even though it's a luxurious product, one set actually costs about three times less than mink lash extensions.
Luz Lashes was founded last year and the response has been amazing from the start and our lashes are currently being used by the makeup artists of Jennifer Lopez, Beyonce, Rihanna and others. I've always been obsessed with hair products so Luxurisima felt like a natural addition this year. We started with clip-in hair extensions in two volumes from natural to super glam and now we also included an Argentine-Brazilian hair care line as well as cute hair accessories like Swarovski crystal paddle brushes.
I also designed a special hair extension collection "Anita Rincón Premium Hair Collection" earlier this year that is sold exclusively by Finland's largest chain of hair and beauty shops, HairStore.
LT: What factors and qualities helped you achieve your American Dream?
AR: Perseverance and hard work. I had a vision of what I wanted to do from a really young age. It helps to have someone believing in you and supporting your dream, whether it's a friend, mentor or family member. I've been lucky to have a mother who always supported me with all my ideas and now I also have a great team behind me.
LT: What are your plans for the future?
AR: I love to see my beauty empire grow every day. Our products are sold by retailers all over Europe and the US. Luz Lashes has currently 15 styles and I'm also excited that the Luxurisima hair collection is expanding so quickly. I definitely see my beauty brands expanding more and becoming established household brands.
For the next year I'll be concentrating mainly on my book that is scheduled to be released in the US this winter. I also have a new swimwear collection in the works for next summer. I love the balance of beauty and fashion, they're two different industries but yet they complement each other.
I am currently on a press tour in Europe while writing the book, and back in the US in November followed by a book signing tour after the release. There's also another big entertainment project coming in 2015 but unfortunately I can't give out any more details at this point.
LT: What advice would you give young girls about success and independence?
AR: I'm a strong believer that if you work hard, stay focused and believe in what you're doing, you will achieve your goals. Success doesn't happen overnight and in most cases there will be obstacles and days when you feel like giving up. It's important to learn from those moments and even failure to keep moving forward. Becoming financially independent is so important for us girls in today's world. There's nothing better than being able to say you can make things happen for yourself.
You can follow Anita on her Facebook page, on Twitter at iamAnitaRincon and on Instagram at OfficialAnita.
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