

Zazie Beetz Doesn't Want To Look Perfect, She Wants To Look "Undone"
Zazie Beetz has been captivating viewers since her debut on FX's Atlanta as Earn's sometimes love interest. Since, she's been virtually everywhere including but not limited to Netflix's Easy, High Flying Bird, Deadpool 2, Joker, and Lucy in the Sky. Rapidly and quite effortlessly so, Zazie is asserting herself as a star on the rise and she's making those strides on her own terms. Recently, the German-born actress spoke with Allure about her earthy minimalist swag, from her crush-worthy afro to her glowy skin and her understated yet effervescent makeup looks.
Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com
It's no secret that I live for effortlessness when it comes to beauty and prioritize skincare above all, maybe it's laziness but I call it "low-maintenance". Plus, I feel like my most confident and beautiful self without a stitch of makeup on so Zazie's lowkey approach to beauty is one of the reasons she's an icon in the making for me. Although you can find rocking braids from time to time, Zazie wears her natural hair out and proud in most of her roles on the silver screen, something she has stated has helped more than hindered her when booking jobs.
In her interview with Allure, she talks about all things hair, her signature "undone" look, and the beauty rituals she swears by.
On feeling a responsibility to showcase her roots unapologetically:
"Being in this industry and having my hair natural, I feel such a responsibility to make sure people feel confident in their own locks and textures and to continue to show that, because I see how much it affected me to see other people wearing their hair naturally."
On her first hair memory:
"I'm sitting on the floor, [my mother is] on the couch or she's on her knees, and she's watching a soap opera [while] braiding my hair."
"I was blessed with a mother who never let me do anything to my hair in terms of straighteners, perming, or blowing it out."
On growing up in Germany with natural hair:
"Germany was such a homogenous country in terms of what people look like. They just really didn't even know how to start with my hair. I think with people [in the U.S.], there is still sort of a concept of what my hair could look like, what it could do, and what it is. But Germany, I think people were just like, 'Wow. Different.' [You] get a lot of people asking questions about it. Even today."
On her signature “undone” look:
"Whereas women still feel like there has to be an element of it being structured and specific and just a way, I suppose, to not make it look undone. That's just not my vibe. I think my vibe is a little undone, to be honest. And so, that's just what I've embraced, for me. It's important to continue expanding what that expectation is and to not [shame] other people for choosing to wear their hair how they want."
On her attachment to her hair:
"I have the confidence in other places, but I do attach my sense of beauty partially to my hair, which is why when I don't like [what] my hair [looks like] and I'm at an event, it's really emotional. It's emotional for a lot of people, but I think it would be a very different story if my texture [were] a softer, looser curl. I still get frustrated sometimes. I love my hair, I love the volume, I love how wild it is, but, certainly, I also think that it has taken up a lot of functional space in my life."
On her less is more approach to her hair products:
"I don't want to create any habits that will complicate things."
Along with shampoo and conditioner, she uses SheaMoisture's Raw Shea Butter Deep Treatment Masque and Koils by Nature's Replenishing Hair Oil.
On her beauty rituals:
"I wake up, brush my teeth, wash my face, and then I use the True Botanicals Clear Collection. I really like the Repair Serum and Pure Radiance Oil. They also have a nice Vitamin C Booster that I'll also use, and their Antioxidant Booster that's a powder format that dissolves in the serum when you add it in."
To read the feature in full, head over to Allure.
Featured image by Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com
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'Queen Charlotte' Star Arsema Thomas Worked At The United Nations Before Landing Her Breakout Role
Actress Arsema Thomas (Arséma Adeoluwayemi Hamera) may be new to the acting scene, but the star's standout performance in Netflix's limited series Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story is already leaving a lasting impression among many.
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, a prequel to Bridgerton, follows the young queen's life as her marriage to King George of England sparks an epic love affair and a societal shift.
In the drama, Thomas portrays the role of a young Lady Agatha Danbury, a close friend and confidant of Queen Charlotte, and it also depicts Lady Danbury's journey.
The series showcases the struggles Lady Agatha Danbury experienced in her lifetime. The list includes being forced to partake in a loveless marriage to a former African king Herman Danbury, becoming a widow, and possibly losing her estate and title following her husband's death.
Since Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story debuted on Netflix earlier this month, it has dominated the streaming service's top ten charts and piqued fans' interest in the show's stars, including Thomas.
Although many may not know a lot about the Atlanta native, who goes by she/they pronouns, and how she became one of the breakout stars in Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, still, with the recent promotional tour Thomas has been doing for the show, she has shared some shocking details about her life.
Thomas' revelations within the past several months include details about her educational pursuits, previous work experience, her African culture, the steps she took to prepare for her role as Lady Agatha Danbury, and many more.
Arsema On Her African Heritage
Thomas, who is Nigerian and Ethiopian, is the daughter of diplomats.
The 28-year-old's parents, consisting of an Ethiopian mother and a Nigerian father, worked in the government to improve Africa's economic development.
Due to her parents' professions, the actress moved around a lot and lived in various countries like Kenya, Benin, Comoros, Uganda, and India, which exposed her to social issues. In an interview with Teen Vogue, Thomas opened up about having conversations about politics and government at a young age.
"Dinner table conversations were about politics, about African governance. I realized that in a lot of the countries I lived in, the effects of colonialism and imperialism were so blatantly obvious. That became the driving force for what I thought I should be doing as an adult," she said.
Later Thomas would ultimately reveal that her parents' work had inspired her to become a "doctor or something" because she wanted to make them proud.
Arsema Attended Carnegie Mellon University and Yale University
Prior to pursuing acting, Thomas revealed to Shondaland that she was a college graduate.
In 2016, she received her bachelor's degree in biophysics from Carnegie Mellon University. Following her graduation, Thomas interned at a mobile health clinic and a refugee camp in Kenya for over a year.
Around the same time, the star would continue her education by getting her master's in epidemiology and health policy at Yale University. Thomas disclosed that despite the educational success that she has achieved, acting became her main priority when she realized that this is something she could envision herself doing "100 percent of the time." This decision led Thomas to relocate to Paris, South Africa, and then to London to study drama.
"I packed up everything and moved to Paris because I wanted to do acting 100 percent of the time," she stated. "It was always something I had wanted to do, [but] I didn't think I would be able to. I thought it was going to be a hobby or a thing that I'd have to suppress in myself for the rest of my life."
Thomas would land her first role in 2021 as a guest star on the television series One Touch. Shortly after, she would participate in the 2022 film Redeeming Love as the character Rebecca. The rest would be history because, around that time, Thomas would receive the life-changing role of Lady Agatha Danbury in Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story.
Arsema On How She Prepared for Her Role In Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story
When the opportunity for Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story came along, Thomas took various steps to transform into Lady Agatha Danbury.
The actress, who has admitted to never seeing Bridgerton in the past, told Cosmopolitan UK's Up Close series that because she wasn't familiar with the fictionalized character, she decided to find things that she thought Lady Agatha Danbury would resonate with.
It includes reading books about women by well-known female authors who have made history in their own right, creating a Spotify playlist with music that Lady Agatha Danbury could listen to, and having waist beads made for her character.
"There was a lot of stuff I needed to get into this role because the character is fictional. So I read a ton of books about women or by women, that I thought that Agatha Danbury would resonate. So I read 'Ain't I A Woman' by Bell Hooks. I read Angela Davis' autobiography. I read Assata Shakur's autobiography, 'Tar Baby' by Toni Morrison, 'Eyes Are Watching God,' and 'Vaga Bonds' by Eloghosha Osunde. I made an extensive Spotify playlist, and I got waist beads made for Agatha," she explained.
Further in the interview, Thomas mentioned that she had waist beads made for Lady Danbury and wore them throughout the filming process because it helped ground her as she portrayed the character whom she described as entirely different from who she is as a person.
"It was a Nigerian woman threading these beads, and I asked her to thread beads specifically for this character, and I wore it throughout the entirety of filming," she said. "Because it was just kind of was a physical grounding point to this woman that is really, really actually far from who I am as an individual."
Thomas shared that talking to her grandmother, who had a similar background to Lady Danbury, such as having an arranged marriage at a young age, also helped her prepped for the role.
"I also talked to my grandmother a lot. I didn't realize how similar she was to this character. Because she was also married off when she was quite young," she revealed. "It was really interesting to kind of talk to someone in my life who I've known, who’s gone through something that is essentially the stripping away of their freedom, and someone who doesn't have any resentment or harbored anger towards the situation."
Arsema Worked At The United Nations
Thomas' work experience is an interesting one. Despite interning at three different health organizations, she previously worked at United Nations Population Fund, according to her Linkedin profile.
United Nations Population Fund's site states that the organization is part of the United Nation's "sexual and reproductive health agency." The gathered information on Thomas' profile says that she was an associate for the company from 2017 to 2018.
Some of Thomas' responsibilities included conducting "policy analyses" for United Nations Population Fund's sustainability and "supporting the regional desk specialist" in the program's division.
Arsema Speaks Five Languages
On top of Thomas' overwhelmingly impressive resume, the actress also speaks five languages.
According to the African publication Bella Naija, Thomas speaks English, Amharic, Yoruba, French, and Spanish. Although Thomas hasn't publicly talked about what inspired her to become multilingual, many can assume it is because of the various locations she has lived in throughout her life and her interest in learning.
Thomas may be a rising star now, but with the facts provided above, the actress has displayed through her work ethic and drive that she can soon become a household name.
Thomas' latest work Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, is now streaming on Netflix.
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Feature image by Dominik Bindl/Getty Images