“Summer, summer, summer time”; time to sit back and unwind. What a tune!! Moving on swiftly, summer is a time to catch flights, not feelings (as some say), attend the best summer motives and live your best life [PERIOD!!]. With the theme of PWR's latest issue all about fun times and good vibrations, who better to talk to, than the queen of good times - Leanne Amaning who doesn’t shy away from treating herself and going for a cheeky holiday. We caught up with Ex- Love Islander, full-time beauty content creator and Ghana babe, Leanne Amaning to discuss her career as a beauty, fashion and lifestyle content creator, her time on Love Island, how she celebrates ‘Good Times’, interesting facts her fans don’t know about her and what summer motives she’s looking forward to attending (plus more!).
Meeting Leanne in person for the first time was almost a surreal moment for me. We met at a studio in East London with the PWR crew. It was a hot summer afternoon, and you know, in England, that means constantly sweating and needing to get a fan to cool down. That's precisely what we had to endure on the day, but we made it work, and thankfully, the PWR crew had some portable fans and water on set.
Before our sit-down talk, I only knew about Leanne from her time on Love Island and from watching her YouTube vlogs. Yet nothing beats getting to know someone in person. So despite initially feeling slightly nervous about meeting Leanne, her warm presence and down-to-earth personality put me at ease. Speaking to Leanne and getting to know more about her during the day felt like talking to an old friend you haven't spoken to for a while, but it's always good vibes when you catch up. Everyone on set also enjoyed getting to know Leanne and working with her on the day.
During the interview, Leanne was very open and eager to answer my questions. She would often take moments to thoughtfully think of her response to each question as she wanted to give her best response, yet Leanne seemed to be such a natural when it came to the photoshoot. The PWR crew and I watched in amazement at how effortlessly she would change from one pose to another, but it shouldn't come as a surprise. After all, she is a beauty, fashion, and lifestyle content creator; she does this for a living. It was lovely seeing Leanne in her element during the shoot, her melanated beauty radiating the room paired with the gorgeous hand-picked outfits she wore by our lovely PWR stylists and the amazing make-up and hair-do which added to each look.
PWR: What are 3 interesting facts about you that your fans don’t know about you?
LA: One interesting fact about me that my fans don’t know about me, is that I used to be into musical theatre and when I was younger I {featured} in adverts and [even] starred in one German advert somewhere that I have never seen before. I also used to do short films, movies, and I like musical theatre.
PWR: Do you see yourself getting back into acting? LA: Yes, I definitely would want to eventually get back into it. I did it for a few years, GCSEs drama and [during] A-levels, so it's something I want to get back into eventually, hopefully I will.
LA: Another interesting fact about me is I have several half-brothers and sisters [who are all older than me] all over the world, which I just found out recently, from my dad’s side. There’s one in Germany, one in Italy, as well as some other countries and the rest all live in Ghana.
LA: I will say the third one is that I’m allergic to some dogs. I’m not sure which dogs I’m allergic to but I would say a Staff, my friend has a Staff and every time I visit her {when her dog is around], I end up sneezing like I have hay-fever.
PWR: How would you describe your personal style/brand? LA: The only way I would describe it is it’s unique to me, I love Co-Ords, I love trousers, I don’t like jeans, I don’t own jeans unless they are baggy jeans. Sometimes I like to throw people off a bit {with my style}, so I will just add a random piece or add some colour to my hair. {Overall} I would {describe my style} as ‘’very young babe’’, trying to hold on to the young babe in me. PWR: What inspired you to start making content online and being a full-time content creator? LA: ‘’I’ve always wanted to [create content online]. I have had a YouTube Channel since I was in Year 7 and people used to laugh at me for making videos, then I took it seriously in university [focusing on beauty content], it was [during the time] I started my business ‘Gleam London’, where I used to do hand-crafted make-up and that’s why I started the YouTube channel and then it kind of fell into my lap after I did reality TV [Love Island]. I had so many opportunities to do it, so I could continue it full-time, but initially I just started it to promote my brand at the time.
Stunning and entrepreneur minded, a win-win!
It’s no surprise why Leanne’s make-up is always on-point as shown from her many make-up looks and Instagram reels on her page. Leanne told me as she was getting her hair and make-up done for the photo shoot, how she got into her entrepreneur bag during her university days, and founded her very own cruelty free beauty brand ‘Gleam London‘, where she Hand-crafted her very own cruelty make-up from highlighters to eyeshadows and would sell them during her university days, but soon, other commitments meant she had to take a pause on her entrepreneurial journey. However when asked if she would like to get back into entrepreneurship, she said ‘’It’s defo something I want to get back into, I’m just taking my sweet time to perfect things.’’
The beauty, fashion and lifestyle content creator Leanne, recently turned 25 and with a new chapter in life, comes a time to reflect. Leanne shared with us some top moments of her career so far and how she loves that she is able to do what she loves with the brands she grew up with, including being able to work with the one and only Savage Fenty and Fenty Beauty brands, a black female-owned, fashion, beauty and skin-care brand, founded by iconic singer and entrepreneur Rihanna!!
“I would say working with brands that I used to buy [from]. I worked with Savage Fenty, Fenty Beauty, I love them. I love Rihanna. I love her brand; the fact that they pay me to wear her brand... being invited to all these events”. - Leanne Amaning
PWR: How do you celebrate your Good Times? LA: One thing about me; I’m gonna treat myself! I love a day party, I love to enjoy myself, I like holidays. I don’t know how to explain it. I'm not irresponsible but I will allow myself to enjoy myself. I like to go out as well.
It’s summertime and with that comes endless summer motives, from Carnival to brunches, BBQ’s and summer vacations. With this being said of course I had to ask Leanne what summer motives she was attending this year.
“Carnival obviously! I will be there, but I don’t know where else [to be honest], I don’t have anything planned” - Leanne
Leanne’s time on UK reality show - Love Island
Leanne Amaning was an islander on season 6 of the hit reality tv dating show - Love Island. She introduced the world to the term “situationships and having the ‘ICK' whilst on the show’. During her time on the show, she was coupled up with Mike until breaking up with him a couple episodes in. Despite not finding love on the show, she did wow us with her make-up and stunning outfits night after night and she went on to become a memorable character on the show and a full-time influencer post Love Island. Leanne shared with us her favourite moments on the show.
PWR: What is one favourite memory you had during your time on Love Island? LA: One of my favourite memories, I would say, when we don’t film, we get to order take-away every-two weeks or so. That was probably my favourite time, I think we ordered some South African McDonalds and I was like Yasss okay. I feel like the off-screen moments on Love Island were my favourite.
PWR: Watching some of your holiday vlogs, it seems that you love to travel. What has been your favourite holiday/trip so far and would you be travelling this summer?
LA: I would say Ghana just because I love Ghana and I love going back home and seeing family and during December it’s always so fun, so I would always say Ghana. I might be going to Vegas this August and something for July as well.
PWR: What is a typical day in the life of Leanne Amaning? LA: So usually when I wake up, I feel overwhelmed by the things I’ve been putting off doing, I will check my emails, reply to my emails and then I will lay out all the things that I need to do for content, so I usually have to do Instagram videos, Reels, YouTube and I usually try to prioritise my day, film, set up my lights, film everything and then edit and see how it goes, but it’s usually interchangeable. I don’t really film and edit on the same day, I usually film a bunch of stuff and then spend the next days editing it and I also look after my nephews, so I’m always working around them.
Interview & Words by Fadeke Banjo
