Deepica Mutyala started her beauty career on YouTube in 2015, creating makeup tutorials in hopes of helping women who looked like her feel less alone. In 2018, she founded Live Tinted, an inclusive beauty community where her followers could feel accepted and find their voices. Earlier this month, she expanded the platform and launched her first Live Tinted cosmetic product, The Hue stick, a multitasking color corrector made for women of all shades — and it's just the beginning. That's why Deepica Mutyala is included in this special edition of Bustle's Must Follow, in which we highlight the incredible Asian American and Pacific Islander voices you need to follow on Instagram and Twitter.
Briefly describe yourself, including how you identify and what you do?
Deepica Mutyala, Indian American, & Founder + CEO of Live Tinted, a multicultural community that offers a place to discuss all things beauty and culture, and have those discussions lead product development.
What do you hope people take away from following you/your work in the industry and on social media?
Awareness and Solidarity: All change starts with awareness. The beauty industry has come a long way from when I was growing up, and even when I started out as an influencer, but there is a lot of ground that has yet to be covered. Often, brands treat people of color as an afterthought, launching with huge ranges for an already saturated market for the light to medium skin tones, but nothing for the shades in between, and beyond. Some brands don't even bother to cater to undertone nuances for ethnically diverse skin tones. Also, there’s definitely a lack of representation in the media and brand campaigns in the beauty space. For the underrepresented, who feel what I do, I hope my community and brand offers the knowledge that they're not alone, and we can leverage our collective experience to create a movement.
When did you first feel that you were a voice for the Asian American and Pacific Islander community?
It took me a long time to think on these terms. My second YouTube tutorial went viral and I suddenly realized that it had connected with the audience in some way. As time went on, I realized more and more that this feeling was so much larger than me — of wanting to see people who look like us in the media, the unfairness of feeling like you didn't meet society's unrealistic and narrow standards of beauty and not being limited by beauty brands' business choices of leaving us out of the equation. I am of Indian origin, and super proud of it. It was the love from my community and all of their support and encouragement that showed me that they identified with me, and that I had the platform and voice to be able to represent that community to spark change.
Who's another Asian American or Pacific Islander person you would recommend to follow on social media?
Right now, I'd have to say my friend Radhi Devlukia-Shetty (@eggieveganveda). I'm big on energy and hers is pure & genuine. Social media can feel negative and when I go to her page, it just makes me smile. Everything about her is real. It's not manufactured. It's just Radhi being Radhi. She also makes me want to be vegan!
Follow Deepica Mutyala on Instagram, @deepica
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
