Nina Atimah defies easy categorization. A nomadic, third-culture warrior who traded a banking career for entrepreneurship, she’s emerged as both a beauty innovator and an unapologetic voice against the industry’s blind spots. Her journey to founding VOUEE began not in a corporate boardroom, but with her mum, watching her struggle to find skincare products that spoke the same language as her skin. ‘I witnessed an entire generation of women being told their melanin-rich skin needed “fixing” – needed whitening,’ Nina recalls. ‘That message apparently sells products; it also rewrites someone’s sense of worth.’
What started as kitchen experiments – creating custom blends for herself and her mum – evolved into a mission that would challenge the beauty industry’s status quo. After years with innovative Korean labs, VOUEE has emerged as a skincare line, but also as Nina’s answer to an industry that had long whispered ‘lighter is better.’ Today, she’s building more than a brand; she’s crafting a new narrative about beauty, identity, and power.
Why do you think that skin whitening is so pervasive in the Asian and African skincare and beauty industry?
It is really a complex tapestry of colonial hangovers, economic opportunism, and deeply embedded cultural bias. I’ve witnessed it firsthand across continents – from boardrooms in Asia to beauty stores in Africa to aisles in Europe. The narrative that ‘lighter means better’ is psychological architecture built over generations. So it’s not going to disappear overnight. Brands keep pushing that narrative because it sells—and they haven’t been forced to confront the damage it causes.
When a woman told me she only found employment [and a boyfriend] after lightening her skin, that moment crystallized something for me: this is not just about beauty standards; it’s about perceived access to opportunity, acceptance, and power. How is this not an indictment of systems that should have protected her dignity in the first place?
Many people will argue it’s about preference. This is very different. This is profit built on pain. The industry has masterfully monetized this insecurity into a multi-billion dollar market. Behind every tube of whitening cream is a silent message that says your natural self isn’t enough for success, love, or respect.
Until we confront how deeply these beliefs run – from casual comments, mothers telling their daughters not to play in the sun “or you’ll get dark,” to actual practices that favor lighter skin – we’re only scratching the surface of the problem. This is part of why VOUEE exists. We have to challenge these narratives.
What advice would you give to a brown or black woman who’s looking to change their appearance to feel more accepted in a foreign, or sometimes, even in their society?
Every time someone sends us a DM, asking about how to bleach, my heart breaks a little. Because behind it, I hear echoes of conversations I’ve had with brilliant women across three continents – women who dimmed themselves trying to fit someone else’s standard. I understand the urge—when every ad, billboard, or influencer around you looks completely different, it’s tempting to think, “If I just change this one thing, maybe I’ll fit in.”
Let me be crystal clear: changing your skin tone won’t fix a system that was broken long before you entered it. Fair skin isn’t superior; it’s simply one of many skin tones, each with its own beauty and purpose.
I’ve sat with women who’ve been through the cycle – the initial excitement of trying whitening products, the temporary high of seeing results, and then the crushing realization that no amount of lightening brings the confidence they were promised. One woman told me she’d spent fifteen years maintaining her artificially lightened skin, only to look at old photos and realize she couldn’t remember her natural tone anymore. That’s identity erosion.
Instead of changing yourself, I challenge you to do something more radical: love yourself, loudly. Your skin isn’t an accident – it’s an inheritance, carrying stories of resilience and beauty that deserve celebration. When you walk into a room owning every shade of who you are, you’re choosing self-acceptance – you’re creating permission for others to do the same.
The next time someone suggests you’d be ‘prettier’ or ‘more attractive’ with lighter skin, remember this: your worth isn’t measured in shades. It’s measured in the strength it takes to stand firm when the world tries to wash you away. “This is me, and I’m more than enough.”
There is still such a huge gap to be filled in the skincare and beauty industry when it comes to products that are made specifically for black and brown skin, why do you think this is the case?
A big part of it is ignorance and profit-driven tunnel vision. This gap exists because the beauty industry has historically operated on what I call ‘convenience diversity’ – making just enough effort to appear inclusive without fundamentally changing how they develop products. I’ve been in rooms where executives dismiss the specific needs of melanin-rich skin as ‘too niche’ – despite the fact that we’re talking about billions of consumers worldwide.
The real issue is who’s making decisions? Your R&D team, board room, and focus groups – do they represent the market? Or do we end up with what we see today: products that treat melanin-rich skin as an afterthought? I’ve watched major brands launch ‘universal’ products that don’t consider the physiological differences of darker skin, or sunscreens that leave ghostly casts – basic issues that any diverse development team would have caught immediately. Diversity of thought.
What’s particularly frustrating is that this isn’t a technology/resourcing problem; it’s a priority problem. The science exists. The market exists. The spending power exists – Black and Brown consumers alone spend billions on beauty products annually. What’s missing is the willingness to fundamentally rethink how we develop and market skincare.
That’s why VOUEE isn’t just filling a gap – we’re challenging an entire industry to do better. Because our community deserves more than token shade extensions or repackaged formulas. We deserve products developed from the ground up with our skin in mind.
There’s a huge push from some large skincare brands for products specifically targeted towards tween and teen girls, what are your views on this?
We’re walking a razor’s edge between empowering young people with good skin habits and potentially creating a generation of beauty hypochondriacs. Having worked with dermatologists and skin researchers, I know that teenage skin primarily needs three things: gentle cleansing, moisturizer, and sun protection. Period.
What concerns me most is the psychological impact. On TikTok you’ll see 14-year-olds who have more complex skincare routines than I do but struggle to feel comfortable in their own skin. They’re being sold ‘solutions’ for problems they didn’t even know they had. When brands market anti-aging products to teenagers or suggest they need a 12-step routine, we’re selling insecurity.
I believe in education over exploitation. Yes, teach young people about sun protection and basic skin health. But let’s be honest about what this aggressive marketing really is: the commodification of teenage self-doubt. Our role should be to support healthy skin development, not create a new generation of beauty consumers before they’ve even had their first dance.
What impact and legacy are you looking to leave behind with the work that you’re doing with Vouee?
I want VOUEE to be remembered as a movement that said, “Your deeper complexion is worthy. Period.” Ten years from now, I hope some teenager might stumble on an old VOUEE ad and feel proud that her skin tone was front and center in a campaign. That sense of belonging? That’s the legacy I’m aiming for.
One that helped dismantle generations of beauty bias, one formula at a time. My vision extends far beyond product sales. I want to create a world where a young girl with deep melanin never has to question whether her skin tone is ‘enough’ for her dreams.
We’re setting a new standard that says excellence in skincare must include excellence in representation. Every VOUEE product carries a message: your skin isn’t something to fix – it’s something to honor. When I imagine VOUEE’s legacy, I see it as part of a larger revolution in how we think about beauty, identity, and worth. Ten years from now, success for me won’t just be about market share. It will be about walking into a room and seeing women of every shade feeling seen, celebrated, and served by an industry that once treated them as an afterthought. Bigger than business – that’s justice, that’s equity. And that’s the story I want VOUEE to tell long after I’m gone.
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