Robyn Rihanna Fenty was born on February 20th, 1988 in Saint Michael Parish, Barbados to a fairly poor family, her mother was an accountant and her father was a warehouse supervisor, she also grew up with two younger brothers. The family's money situation was far from comfortable, but it was worsened due to her fathers' addictions, he would finish work and go and spend most of this paycheck on alcohol and crack cocaine. These addictions led to enormous strains in his marriage to Rihannas mother and as a result, strained the family relationships as a whole. He would regularly have drug and alcohol-induced tempers that would often end up physical with her mother being his main target, but on occasion, she fell victim to his abuse. Her father somewhat unsurprisingly lost his job which meant their family life got worse as there was far less money, not much food, and the house was a constant mess with drug paraphernalia and recalls occasionally walking in on her father smoking crack in the house. Rihannas mother having to work even harder. Rihanna ended up closing herself off from everyone to the point where she was so stressed she began to get excruciating headaches leading to her undergoing numerous scans and at one point the doctors even thought it was a tumour given the amount of pain she was in. At school, her grades were dipping even though she was a smart kid which wasn't helped by the fact that she was also being bullied for her lighter complexion. Her fathers' abusive nature had somewhat influenced the way Rihanna dealt with the bullies and it was more often than not that she would use her fists to show them she wasn't afraid of them. At this point in her life when nothing seemed to be working in her favour, she would turn to music using it as an escape, singing her favourite songs into a hairbrush. Madonna, Mariah Carey, and Janet Jackson all being there for her to provide her with some sense of clarity amidst a very foggy time in her life. When she was 14 her finally parents divorced, her health then began to improve due to less stress and the headaches seemed a distant memory. Although it was a relief for her and her family to be rid of her fathers' presence it put more pressure on her mother to make enough money for her and her siblings, so Rihanna helped by selling clothes in a stall on the street while simultaneously becoming the primary caretaker of her youngest brother. She started training as an army cadet in a sub-military programme which she now claims helped shield some of the vulnerability she was afraid of showing at the time.

"People think, because we're young, we aren't complex, but that's not true. We deal with life and love and broken hearts in the same way a woman a few years older might." -Rihanna

The first time she overcame her fear and shyness was age 15 when she sang Hero at the school talent competition and from here on out she was on an uphill trajectory. At 16 Rihanna went ahead and formed a girl group with two of her classmates which drew the attention of American record producer Evan Rogers while on holiday with his wife, they got invited to attend an audition at his hotel. Rogers has since admitted when Rihanna walked in he thought because she was the 'pretty' one she would have the least talent, but he was quickly mistaken and saw something especially in her and singled her out as the 'one' of the group. Rogers scheduled a meeting where Rihanna's mother was to be present and invited her to the USA to record some demo tracks to send to labels. This was not as quick a process as they would have liked due to the only time Rihanna being able to record was during the school holidays. After a year of intermittent recording sessions, they finalised a demo of Pon de Replay and sent it on to numerous record companies in the hope she would be taken on.

The excitements of potential stardom and her dream of being an artist within her reach enabled her to escape troubles at home and start pursuing her career. The demo was sent out to the likes of Def Jam Recordings, where Jay Z had recently been appointed as president, he saw her talent and her determination and after another audition for him in New York, in 2005 aged only 16 she was signed to one of the biggest record labels in the world!

She then went on to move to the states and lived with Evan Rogers and his wife while she completed her album over a 3-month period. Pon de Replay was her first big break, it was her first ever official release, and it was a worldwide hit! People globally were impressed with how she could combine her roots with pop culture so smoothly and with a strong element of "cool". The single was followed closely by the release of her first album Music of the Sun that debuted at #10 on the billboard and sold 69,000 copies in the first week. Her second single, If It's Lovin' That You Want was released in late 2005 and peaked within the top 400 in the hot 100 although her second release was not quite as successful on the charts as her first, her vocal range was complimented by many. Since her initial releases, Rihanna has been nominated for a staggering 633 awards and has gone on to win 234! Her single Umbrella gave her, her first ever Grammy in 2008 and she's only gone from strength to strength with every year.

"I want to give people a taste of the Caribbean, and show them the fun side of me."-Rihanna

Rihanna's success does not stop at music though, in recent years she has become somewhat of a fashion powerhouse! She is the first black woman in history to be in charge of a major luxury fashion house. She has been partnered with LVMH the French luxury good giant and together they co-own Fenty Beauty – Rihanna's multi-million-dollar beauty brand. Its initial release was in September 2017, launching at Sephora, the beauty megastore, also owned by LVMH. The brand was an instant viral success, and it has been reported that within the first few weeks it made $100million in sales! Not too shabby at all! Fenty Beauty in its few short years of production has revolutionised makeup. Rihanna wanted to create a brand that was inclusive of all skin tones where no one would feel there wasn't a shade for them and from this, she created 40 shades of foundation single handedly banishing the idea that one shade can fit a range of skin tones. After only 15 months of business, Fenty Beauty had generated an estimated $570 million in revenue!!    

With the success of Fenty Beauty under her belt, Rihanna wanted to take the next step and so was born Savage X Fenty, her very own lingerie brand. Launched in 2018 it was LMVH's first new house in 30 years and stands alongside the likes of Givenchy and Dior. In the same vein as with Fenty Beauty, she wanted to make sure all women of all shapes, sizes, and skin tones could feel comfortable and sexy in lingerie. All products come in sizes ranging from US 0-14 and where applicable in a large range of skin tones – much like with her foundations. Savage X Fenty has been branded as game-changing and iconic instilling the idea that everyone should feel empowered and strong and to be the best version of themselves no matter their appearance.

"Don't hide from who you are." -Rihanna

Though Rihanna had a hard start to life, not only coming from a small provincial town on an island but suffering both the mental and physical abuse from her father throughout most of her youth growing up. Ending up where she is now, she stands as an example to young children and adults alike, from all over the world that no matter their appearance or their background they have the power and ability to succeed and change the world much like she has. Though not always easy, she has grown up in front of the world with her personal life often under scrutiny and with very little privacy even traumatic events such as the Chris Brown scandal. Rihanna has learnt how to convert weakness to strength and often talks about how important she thinks it is to seek power in vulnerability. Rihanna's beauty endeavours were always going to be a success as 11 out of 80 women on Forbes' list of the richest self-made women made their money in beauty/skincare but no one knew quite how reformative it would be for the fashion and beauty industries. She is headstrong, and yet has space in her heart for everyone she created the Believe Foundation in an effort to help terminally ill children, one of her many charitable acts. She's a headstrong powerhouse who doesn't let anyone else dictate what they think she should be doing with her life and encourages people to do the same and not let anyone get in the way of letting them do what they want to do, how and when they want to do it.

"When you realize who you live for, and who's important to please, a lot of people will actually start living. I am never going to get caught up in that. I'm gonna look back on my life and say that I enjoyed it – and I lived it for me." -Rihanna