Twenty-six-year-old Chicago native, creative director, army veteran, and social media influencer Malik McIntyre is spreading his wings and making his grandiose entrance into the skincare world as one of the newest faces in the Estée Lauder x Highsnobiety campaign.
From designing fashions for artists like Dreezy, Latto, and Asian Doll to becoming TikTok’s favorite sensational storyteller and mental health advocate, McIntyre took an unusual path to success. McIntyre, who says he joined the military as a way out of Chicago, is no stranger to the public eye and uses his artistic expression.
The campaign dives into stapled Estée Lauder products. Set during New York Fashion Week, the viewers follow the “wake up and go” routine of three dynamic content creators: McIntyre, Remi Bader, and Dana Hasson. The focus combines the glitz and glam of fashion, makeup, and skincare with the city’s hustle and bustle, making the point that glam is not just part of the look. It’s an all-encompassing lifestyle.
BLACK ENTERPRISE spoke to McIntyre about leaving the military, becoming a full-time creator, and his latest campaign with Estée Lauder.
What was your deciding factor when you realized you wanted to make content creation your full-time job?
To be honest, I didn’t start looking at content creation or influencing full-time until recently, even when I was going viral and stuff, and I was getting brand deals. I was still thinking to myself like OK, this isn’t something I’m gonna do on the side for fun. All these opportunities kept coming out of the blue–brand deals, the trips, the campaigns. And I was like, this is like a job. This is like, this is a thing. Right? And so I was like, ‘Whoa.’ I got signed by an agency, and I was like, ‘Maybe I should start taking this a little bit more seriously.’ I think my mom hates it. She was like, I cannot believe that you literally make TikToks for a living. I say self-employed; she says unemployed.
What was your initial reaction when you learned about the campaign and that you would be in it?
it didn’t really sink in for me until I was on set, because when they sent the email, it was like, it didn’t say Estee Lauder campaign. It said it was a video content series. That’s what I saw. So, I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know what it was, honestly. I got there, and it was like a full production. There were so many cameras, and it was glam. I was like, ‘Whoa, this is an actual thing.’ You know, I didn’t realize how big it was until it came out because I had no idea what to expect.
How did it feel to incorporate your love for fashion and your passion for content creation in this campaign?
It was crazy; it just feels like I’m expressing myself every time I put something out. It just feels like it’s just me; it doesn’t really feel like work. Like even when I’m making the mental health content. It doesn’t feel like work. It feels like I’m helping people.
What is your favorite product from the Estée Lauder line?
My favorite product is the Revitalizing Supreme+ Moisturizer Youth Creme.
What is your advice to people who don’t know what they want to be when they grow up?
My advice is sometimes you have to take unnecessary or uncomfortable steps to get to, you know, the thing that makes you happy. So I would definitely say realistically do what you got to do to get to that point. You know, if that means that you gotta go to work at a movie theater or Chick-fil-A or whatever. Sometimes, you have to do that to get to where you want to be– like working in the military and designing and making content like that was hard. Working 12-hour shifts and then coming home to sketch that was hard, but, like, it was something that I did because that was what I was passionate about. So you know sometimes you got to you really got to push yourself to get to that point. Like, it’s not easy. Like, none of it was easy.