Beauty influencer Amanda Diaz started her professional makeup artistry career at just 14 years of age before becoming a YouTube sensation. For Hispanic Heritage Month, Diaz opens up about her experience as a Cuban immigrant, learning English through makeup tutorial videos, and how her parents helped inspire her Cuban pride and work ethic.
I moved to the United States with my mom, dad, and sister when I was five years old. I didn’t speak any English at the time. We immigrated from Cuba through asylum. Moving to a new country is really difficult as is, but especially so with a language barrier. My parents worked really hard, and seeing them struggle—going through the challenges of being immigrants and not having the same opportunities or resources that other people had here—really instilled in me that if I wanted something, I had to work for it and put in double the efforts of others with more privilege.
We were very fortunate to move to Miami because it’s basically a safe haven for Cubans and Cuban culture. My parents were so proud of being Cuban, and that resonated with me. I’m so proud of where we come from and my culture, and I take any chance I get to share it. When guests come over, I make them Cuban coffee. I’ll FaceTime my mom when cooking Cuban dishes, even though I know the recipe, so we can spend that time together and doing something that involves our culture. I hope to pass Cuban recipes down to my children.
But when I first moved here, I had an identity crisis. We always spoke Spanish at home, but I wanted to assimilate to living in the United States and didn't want to speak Spanish. Now I’m so glad that my parents enforced that at home. The language is a part of who I am and where I come from, and I never want to forget that. I think the more languages you can speak, the better. You get to reach so many different people. That’s something my parents told me: When you speak two languages, you get to make double the friends.
I taught myself English watching YouTube videos: a mix of makeup tutorials, lifestyle videos, blogs, and YouTubers vlogging their everyday lives. I loved watching Amanda Steele, Maddi Bragg, Claudia Sulewski, Remi Ashten—all the OG beauty lifestyle creators. I was so intrigued because their lifestyles were so different to what I knew. It shifted my reality because I learned that kind of life was possible. And it’s all come full circle: I was just having dinner with Amanda Steele in Paris, when a few years ago I was literally sitting in my living room watching her on YouTube.
Watching beauty creators, I knew that’s what I wanted to do, and I posted my first YouTube video in December 2015. I was a freshman in high school and super into makeup but couldn’t afford any. I wasn’t going to ask my parents because they were already struggling. I always felt guilty asking my parents for things, not because they would make me feel bad about it, but because they would give up things that they wanted to do for themselves, for me. I decided to find a way to make my own money on the side: doing eyebrows and makeup in between classes. I would literally charge other students five bucks to do their makeup in the halls.
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I bought this huge E.L.F eye shadow palette—it was about $10 and came with 100 shadows, and I used that a really long time. It was so beat-up. My mom realized how much I loved makeup and suggested I work for her friend, a makeup artist, to make some extra money on the side and continue building my kit. I started shadowing her.
I was still a freshman in high school, mind you. But on the weekends, my dad and I would wake up at 5 a.m. and drive me to meet our family friend, then we would drive two hours away to work weddings and events. I would do so many people’s makeup that my back would hurt so badly, even though I was 14. And I looked so young. People were probably thinking, This little girl is going to do my makeup?! The first person was always so confused, but then would see I did a good job and it was okay.
Over time I saved enough money to buy a camera and equipment and started to make my own makeup videos. They were only meant for my friends. I didn’t think they would reach that many people—you never think it’s going to be you in those situations. But then it took off. One day, after about a year, boom: One of my videos did really well, and I gained 100,000 followers in a week. That was unheard of back then; it just didn’t happen. It just kept growing from there.
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After six months I was so busy with beauty publicity, I had to pull out of school. I was collaborating with friends and traveling for work. It was such a whirlwind. My parents really sacrificed a lot during that time and really believed in me. They didn’t really understand or “get” the internet, but they would take off work to accompany me and make sure I was safe. I mean, what was I going to do alone in LA at 16?
None of us realized what was going to happen in my career. But now look where I am: I just found out I’m going to the White House with Poderistas. I told my parents I’m going, and we all started crying on the phone. Being a Cuban immigrant and not coming from much and working so hard to make my parents proud and accomplish something, then to get invited to the White House to uplift and represent Latinas? That’s not something that I would have ever expected for myself. If you told me this six years ago, I would have laughed.
The one thing I want people to take away from my life and my story? If it can happen to me, it can happen to you. My mission now is to be an advocate for Cuban rights, the Cuban people, and immigrants and Latinas. As a Latina woman, I know a lot of things aren’t on our side, and it’s a really unfortunate climate in this country currently. That’s why I want to be able to share my story. I don’t have the privilege a lot of people do, I didn’t have the tools when I started. But if it can happen for me, it can happen for anyone.
There have been so many low moments. I almost gave up so many times. If there is one thing I would tell my younger self, it would be to keep going. There are so many people who give up when they’re about to accomplish it, and the most important thing is not to give up. Keep going and believe in yourself. If you don’t believe in yourself, how is anyone else going to do that for you?
Self-doubt is your worst enemy, and I still get impostor syndrome. I was really anxious about Paris Fashion Week, thinking, Am I good enough to be here? Sometimes it’s hard to grasp my reality, being where I’m from. I put so much pressure on myself, but now that I’ve gotten this far, I have to keep going. I thought, What if I fail? What if I don’t do as well as I should have? What if I do the wrong thing or mess up? I had so much anxiety and didn’t even want to go because I thought I would mess it up. I had a little breakdown but decided not to let fear hold me back. And I am so grateful I went. The entire experience changed my perspective because if I would have let my thoughts tear me down to the point where I didn’t go, I wouldn’t have gotten to experience something so amazing.
My next goal is to get into activism, fashion, and acting. I started out with beauty, and I’m so grateful, but I don’t want to restrict myself to that category. I have so much to offer as a person, and I’m evolving. I believe that if it doesn’t scare you, it’s not a big enough goal. I’m taking acting classes, and now that September’s over, my big focus is being an activist, an advocate for all things human rights, and being a voice for women and Latinas all over the world. I’m so excited for my next chapter.
Danielle Sinay is the associate beauty editor at Glamour. Follow her on Instagram @daniellesinay.
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