From the Bronx to Paris Ft Annya Santana
Naked Beauty
The Naked Beauty Podcast
4.7 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 14 October 2018
⏱️ 63 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Annya Santana, who grew up in the Bronx and was born in the Dominican Republic, bought a one way ticket to Paris 4 years ago after heartbreak and started her clean beauty line Menos Mas (which means Less is More). Before finding herself in Paris, we talk about her experience growing up in NY and working in the early days of streetwear after finding herself in fashion PR. She explains that Paris is surprisingly afro-centric and we discuss the benefits of letting the day unfold — the Parisian way. We get into the moment the Bronx seems to be having (from Cardi B, to the Bodega Boys) and how people of color are now taking ownership for their contributions to culture.
Annya is majorly into health and fitness — an awakening that happened over time. She tells me about how she changed her entire approach to eating (first to clear her skin) but then realized how much better she felt after eating clean. In addition to fixing her skin issues, her cleanse eased the pain of menstrual cramps. We also get into: running the NY Marathon, wellness for free, creating her dual-gender, all-natural skincare, her Mom’s DIY remedies inspiring her, making hand cream for her Dad, acne scarring, changing your face via FaceTune, stretch marks, moisturizing as meditation, hormones, acupuncture, Dominican salons and embracing her natural hair texture, the body pos movement and its implications & much more!
Products/Things Mentioned:
Annya’s amazing line Menos Mas: https://www.menos-mas.com/
The China Project — the book that opened Annya’s eyes to the dangers of processed foods:https://nutritionstudies.org/the-china-study/
Superfood Probiotic Powders - she put a scoop of this in her water every day & treated her acne in a month
https://www.orgain.com/protein/organic-nutrition-powder/Organic-Superfoods-Powder.html
Vitamin E oil - also used to naturally heal her acne
Pink Cream from Dr. Jart Annya uses as Essence
https://www.sephora.com/brand/dr-jart
My essence from Tatcha - I actually really like this product
Royal Jelly Menos Mas for scarring
https://www.menos-mas.com/shop/honey-royal-jelly-miracle-body-butter
Learn more about microblading:
https://www.elle.com/uk/beauty/a31566/microblading-eyebrows/
Where I got my Miicroblading done in NY (highly recommend):
Bantu Knot Out how I sleep with my natural hair
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulqtwgglHc8
Pineapple Method how Annya sleeps with her natural hair
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IS_qO6zMgu8
Ashley Graham Weight Loss Backlash
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, it's Brooke Devard. You're listening to the Naked Beauty Podcast. |
| 0:04.0 | I am joined by Anya Santana. |
| 0:08.0 | Beautiful name. |
| 0:10.0 | It kind of sounds like a famous person's name already. |
| 0:12.0 | Wow. It does. It kind of sounds like a famous person's name already. |
| 0:12.6 | Wow. |
| 0:13.6 | It does, Anya Santana. |
| 0:15.6 | It's Russian. |
| 0:16.6 | I don't know where my dad got |
| 0:18.2 | interesting. |
| 0:19.2 | A Russian name from the Dominican Republic. |
| 0:21.4 | I was like, Dad. So, what were you lingering around doing? |
| 0:26.2 | So you are Dominican? |
| 0:28.8 | Yeah. |
| 0:29.4 | Both of your parents. |
| 0:30.3 | Both my parents, I was born there. |
| 0:32.2 | Oh, wow. Yeah, I didn't realize that super off the boat. |
| 0:35.1 | Okay. Like the typical Dominican parents moved to the Bronx. Nice. |
| 0:39.5 | Raised in the Bronx and yeah a New Yorker. I mean I'm like I'd like to say I'm like born and |
| 0:45.3 | bred here because I've been here since I was five that's pretty much yeah and I |
| 0:49.7 | grew up in a New York that really doesn't exist anymore maybe Maybe it does still in the Bronx, but like not in the rest of New York. |
| 0:56.2 | Yeah. But you spend a lot of your time in Paris as well. Yeah, so almost four years ago, I can't believe it's almost four years ago. I moved to Paris. |
... |
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