“Be original, be unique.”

Joseph Harwood is an artist, entrepreneur and social media pioneer, who grew a viral online audience by the age of 14. Socially transitioning in high school and identifying as gender nonconformist, Jojo was quickly scouted as a model and began working in the British fashion industry. During a life-changing booking in Tokyo, Jojo’s passion for makeup opened a new realm of possibility, to bring the experience of working professionally in front of the camera to social media.

Using YouTube as a distribution platform for social activism, JoJo was featured as one of the seven trans creators on a channel called 5AT. This was the first time queer people had bypassed employment gatekeepers as YouTube also provided a liveable wage, they were able to share their honest and diverse opinions without being shut down or met with active opposition. Jojo began using YouTube to share tutorial content, which was instantly a phenomenon, reaching millions of views and attracting the support of leading makeup artists and publications. Harwood became one of the first creators globally to partner with premium brands, that visibility changed the perspective and value of queer people in digital campaigns. Jojo began to be recognised for signature how-to techniques, a mermaid aesthetic, celebrity transformations and gender focused content which is still a massive influence in digital content today. Harwood then was contacted in regards to YouTube Originals collaboration with Simon Cowell, the You Generation Competition. This was a year long contest consisting of twelve categories of online talent, bringing in external judges to choose the winner, and then the grande prize winner. Jojo entered with a gender art piece, and despite all odds, won both the makeup category and the entire contest. This was the first and only time an openly trans person had won a mainstream reality talent show.

By 2015 Jojo had become an established makeup artist with a thriving, self managed business: (merchandise, tours and beauty tools). Harwood then collaborated on a coffee table book entitled Alright Darling with Greg Bailey, taking the worlds leading drag talent and putting them into more Joseph Harwood inspired looks. Next, Jojo was featured as the Google Home Page and in YouTubes End of Year Review in tribute to David Bowie, before moving to the US to pursue a more mainstream media career. During that time, Jojo was met with a resistance for insisting upon using an androgynous image, after being encouraged to look more masculine, which resulted in refusing three years of television offers from a documentary about their life, a reality tv show, a guest feature on the Ellen Show and slots like Good Morning Britain. Jojo believed that there was a purpose led effort by media agencies, now representing digital talent, to label people into boxes. This led to the mischaracterization of the wants and actions of trans people, who were now forced to participate only in the role of activist. The ‘boy next door’ in a contour, or the ‘transgender activist’ were the only promoted outlets, and neither were authentic or subversive. Activism should not be a branding process, yet this was the only promoted outlet for trans identifying people. In addition, during 2016 social media began to use AI algorithms to maximise ad revenue, which prevented an organic discovery process. This meant that unless you fitted into a rigid box, LGBT people were unable to be seen in the same way, without doing specific sensationalist content.

Because of this negative shift, Harwood was determined to make things different in the beauty industry for younger trans people, and chose to return to working offline. Opting to study an MSc in Cosmetic Science with a reference from Roja Dove, Jojo began to steadily tackle the lack of inclusion and diversity support within corporate beauty, which was challenging but exciting. Designing award-winning skincare, colour products, technical tools, and branding, JoJo then consulted on L’Oreal Innovations brand Jecca Blac, bringing the original ‘Boy to Girl’ inspired product designs to the mainstream. Both palette designs won Beauty Bible awards consecutively and were met with critical acclaim. Jojo was then invited to partner with PUIG and host 10 ateliers on their story to the CEOs of each brand in that umbrella, discussing how gender diversity, age diversity, and ethnic diversity are needed to be championed behind the scenes, supported, understood and not tokenized in marketing opportunities. This enabled JoJo to then speak as a keynote speaker with Estee Lauders ERG, with the president of Estee Lauder UK.

JoJo has created several campaigns for the UN on ocean plastics as a result of the beauty industry, works with environmental charities, and has created features for the WFP. A member of the British Beauty Council, an advisory board member on AI company Reveive, and the largest platform of any trans creator in the UK. Harwood has been featured on Forbes, Vogue, and Elle UK and continues to innovate.

View Joseph’s Detailed Bio here.

Contact

Please reach out to Joseph about partnerships or work here.

joseph@josephharwood.com

View Joseph’s Press Kit here.