Beauty entrepreneur Mara Porter reflects on motherhood, healing and finding success after loss
TheGrio...
Porter reflected on going viral at 45, launching iWIG and why she no longer worries about other people’s opinions.
When Mara Porter posted her first beauty video on TikTok, she had 110 followers. By the time she went back to check on it, she had 109. Someone had left. She laughed it off, and kept creating.
Before becoming a viral content creator and beauty entrepreneur, Porter was a four-time Emmy Award-winning TV journalist with more than 15 years of experience. But after losing both of her parents, grief led her down an entirely different path.
Creating content became part of her healing process, and the response was overwhelming. Within months, Porter amassed over 100 million views and won a Webby Award for Best Fashion and Beauty Content Creator at 45. She also launched the iWIG, the world’s first-ever eyelash prosthetic for those with medical lash loss, which sold out in under an hour.
On Monday, the iWIG was named a Cosmopolitan 2026 Holy Grail Beauty Award winner in the “Best Makeup Gamechanger” category, a significant recognition for an independent, founder-led brand in its launch year. Porter spoke on the prestigious honor and being recognized by the magazine.
“Cosmo has been the beauty bible for generations, so to have iWig recognized by their editors as a gamechanger is a massive honor. I can’t wait for Cosmo readers to experience it for themselves,” Porter said in a news release.
There are three iWIG styles: Hazel’s Halo, Dolce Sleek and Nekkid, all priced at $22.99. Nine new styles and a restock of the original designs are set to launch this month.
None of it, she said, was planned. TheGrio caught up with Porter to talk about grief, faith, motherhood and what it really takes to bet on yourself. The interview is slightly edited for clarity and brevity.
TheGrio (TG) : You talked about a conversation you had with your then-five-year-old daughter about not making other people feel comfortable. Did you feel that way in your transition from journalism to becoming a content creator? And did that mindset show up in that space as well?
Mara Porter (MP) : The reason that I was able to move into this new space was because God had told me to, and I was so broken in grief that I did not have the emotional energy to argue. I did not have the spiritual energy to argue. God told me to do it. And I was like, ‘Okay.’ I didn’t have anything better to do.’ You know, this is ‘I asked you a question, you gave me an answer. I’m [going to] do what you told me to do.’ And because of that, I didn’t care what people thought.
When I posted my first beauty video on TikTok, I had 110 followers, and when I went back to check and see how the video was doing, I had 109 followers. So one person left right away. And if I was doing that content to try to grow a beauty audience, or to try to, if I was concerned about what other people would think of me, that moment would have immediately sent me back into my shell like, ‘Oh my God, this person hated it. They already left. I already lost a follower, and nobody wants to see this. I’m not doing it anymore.’ But I kind of laughed. I was like, ‘Oh well,’ because I’m not doing it for them, I’m doing it for my own healing. It didn’t faze me at all.
I think what’s important there is really understanding the motivations of why you’re doing anything. Because other people’s opinions really shouldn’t factor. I can’t think of a good reason to factor other people’s opinions into anything you do if your spirit and your desires are to do that thing. So that’s what made it easy for me to transition. I did care what my professional peers thought. It didn’t stop me, but it was in my head, like, ‘Are people ridiculing me?’
I called a friend of mine who worked in media for a long time and had made a similar transition, and now is all-in on social. She has millions of followers. She has her own app. She’s hugely successful. And I called her and I said, ‘Hey, I feel like my old co-workers might be seeing all the content I’m doing and making fun of me.’ And she said, ‘They probably are.’ She said, ‘But when you start to be successful at it, they’re going to call you for advice.’ And she was totally right. So it’s possible that people thought I had lost my mind, but I just didn’t care.
TG: Losing both of your parents profoundly shaped your personal and professional journey. How has that experience influenced the way you approach motherhood and the lessons you want to pass on to your children?
MP: Losing both of my parents actually really affected my mothering because it reminds you as a parent that your legacy is so much more lasting than the moment that you are here, because the ways that my mother parented me continue to influence how I parent my children. So it’s generational, and I can see the ways that she shows up in my mothering.
It really just gave me a much bigger lens through which I view motherhood, and it made it so much more consequential, of like this isn’t just the minutia, the day to day, brush your teeth, clean your room, pack your lunch. This is going to impact them and their children’s children and their children’s children’s children.
I’m much more intentional about the things that I want to leave them with, like, what is the legacy of love that I’m going to leave behind? And really thinking about that intentionally much more.
TG: What advice would you give to moms and moms-to-be who are trying to pursue a passion for entrepreneurship while navigating major life changes?
MP: I will pass along the advice that was shared with me, which was pivotal in all of this transformation. Because I consulted Queen Afua, whom many Black women are familiar with. She’s a spiritual teacher and healer, and I consulted her because I felt very lost. I asked her, “What should I do?” And she said, I don’t know the answer to that, but God does.
She really encouraged me to ask God a question and wait for the answer. And that may sound simple to some people, but for me, it was revolutionary, because my prayers have always been me, talking, complaining, thanking, asking for things, but just me talking the whole time. And this was the first time that I really went to God with one specific question, with the intention of needing this answer, and then said nothing else, and just waited to see what my spirit would tell me.
The answer in that case came instantly, and it was very clear. It was crystal clear. There have been times since then when I’ve done the same thing, and the answer has taken much longer to come, or it hasn’t come at all, which I understand means ask again later. It’s not the time for [God] to reveal this to you yet, but it changed my entire approach to life. My entire approach to life is now one of seeking spiritual clarity before making any decision.
TG: You have the iWig beauty product that has clearly resonated with women in a big way. As a mom, how do you think about the role of self-care and feeling confident, and what would you say to other moms who tend to put themselves last?
MP: Well, the thing about confidence when you’re a mom, and why it’s so important, is that your children are watching. We’re their first teachers, especially when it comes to little girls, and also, if you have sons, how they view women and how they build relationships with women as they grow up. So, for me, that’s the single biggest motivator to show up confidently and strongly as my best self, and to make sure they see my confidence. So I am often congratulating myself vocally in front of them.
I am often celebrating my wins in front of them. I am often telling myself how cute I look in the mirror in front of them, because I want them to see what that confidence looks like. I learned that from my mother.
I never once saw her look in the mirror and say, ‘Oh, I’m getting a little fat. Oh, do you think my skin looks, you know, this? Oh, I hate this.’ Never. She was always talking about how cute she was. So I learned that from her, and I want my kids to see that as well.
I want them to see that confidence and humility can coexist. Those two things are not at odds. They are compatible, and I want them to see it in motion. And so, for me, that’s a really big driver of showing up as my best self, because I want them to see what that looks like in the world.
TG: What has been the most standout moment for you while transitioning from journalism into the beauty space?
MP: I think the first time you go viral is amazingly exciting. It’s like drinking water through a fire hose. It’s like, you see the comments coming in, and they’re coming in so fast you literally can’t respond fast enough. So that’s a really exciting experience.
I remember the first time I counted my views, where I was like, things have been going really, really well. I wonder how I’m doing. And so I counted my views, and it was 100 million. It was like 117 million at that time. And I was like, it blew my mind, it was that many.
And then I won the Webby Award for Best Fashion and Beauty Content Creator, which I thought was so cool, because I was 45 when I won, it was last year. And so to be in a space where you’re competing with much younger people, it just felt like there’s no age limit on what you want to do. You know? It felt very empowering.
TG: Where do you see yourself in the next year in this space?
MP: It’s an interesting question you ask. I was thinking, where do I want to be in a year and a half? So, in a year and a half, it’s my next birthday, and I was like, okay, what do I want to have accomplished by then? I don’t know is the answer. And I’m a planner. I’m a big, big planner, and I’m someone who, always, my whole life, has had, like, a goal, a benchmark to get to, and then the next one and the next one. This is one of the first times where that has not happened.
What I will say is, I’m building a business. It’s my first time as an entrepreneur, so I’m learning a lot. It’s like being shot out of a cannon. So it would be nice if I felt like I had a better handle on the whole businesswoman thing, because right now I’m very much a student, and I want the business to flourish and thrive.
I’m also trying to figure out what the next phase of my public-facing career looks like. I love the content that I’m doing, but I am feeling pulled to grow. I just don’t know where and how, and so I’m waiting very much for that direction.
TG: What advice would you give to younger women, especially Black women, who want to delve into the entrepreneurial space?
MP: So, I’ll tell you what I wish I had known; it’s been kicking my a— and I say that as someone who’s doing very, very well. So, even after everything that I’ve ever heard entrepreneurs say, I’m like, oh, now I understand why they’re saying it’s like you leave a job where you work 40 hours a week so that you can work for free for 100 hours a week. That’s basically what’s happening.
But I will say this: I am building a future for my family, and you cannot put a price tag on that. The idea that my children and my children’s children will potentially still eat off of what I’m doing right now makes me feel really good. My daughter works for me. She’s an art student, so she does all of my design. So the fact that she can see her work come to life is amazing. I would be happy to have nepo babies. People want to talk down on nepo babies, but look at other communities. What do they do? They build businesses, and they pass them on to their children. I would love to be able to do that.
So that’s what’s really motivating me right now, but it’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I feel like I have a newborn. There’s never a good time. There’s never a good time. So don’t wait for the perfect time. Don’t wait for even a good time. If you feel in your spirit that it’s what you want to do, you just [have] to do it. It’s like ripping a Band-Aid off.