You might recognize Morgan Angelique Owens from her social media accounts, her appearances on local TV, or from her column in The Cincinnati Herald, where she recommends the best beauty products. But she feels one of her biggest accomplishments is something she doesn’t put in the spotlight. Owens wrote an afterschool program curriculum to help girls in third grade through high school find their confidence and “find their sparkle.”
Owens struggled with low self-esteem and dark thoughts when she was younger—something she knows girls can experience at higher levels due to the internet. “They’ll find their way,” she says. “But it’s hard for them because they have social media.”
Owens was in the middle of a tour for her book, Finding My Sparkle, when the pandemic hit. She’d stepped away from her corporate job about a year earlier and already had a start in entrepreneurship with fitness company Curvy Cardio and workshops designed to empower women in business. With a degree in creative writing and a longtime dream of blogging, the pandemic became the perfect time to launch her beauty blog Professional Pretty.
Her work also appeared in The Herald, which prompted Owens to ask an important question: Why isn’t there a beauty section in Cincinnati’s foremost news source for the Black community? Black consumers contribute over $7 billion to the beauty industry but are three times more likely than non-Black beauty consumers to have dissatisfying options for products. In response, Owens founded The Herald Beauty, a permanent section of the Cincinnati Herald where Owens educates on makeup, skincare, mental health and more as Chief Creative Beauty Consultant. It’s “bringing beauty back to a demographic that deserves beauty,” Owens says. Her blog has also led to monthly appearances talking all things beauty and travel on Fox19.
But not everything is glitz and glamor behind the screen. For those starting out on their own entrepreneurship or influencing journey, she says the most important thing is to avoid comparing yourself to others. “You don’t necessarily know what goes on behind the feed,” she says. Owens lost her father, public health leader O’dell Owens, in November 2022. Throughout her grieving process, Owens is taking comfort in the fact that she’s doing everything her father wanted to see her achieve.
Owens has now kicked off a revamped version of the tour that was cut short by the pandemic and is looking forward to shooting a new line of Palmer’s products. Through all of it, she stays true to herself. “I’ve never lost an opportunity I’ve wanted being myself,” she says.
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