What A Client Wants

What working with Christina Aguilera taught me about brand partnerships

Dear Media Friends (and random internet strangers),

the brief:

Over the years, I’ve worked with a whole bunch of famous folks — as a celebrity makeup artist, developing cosmetics, writing about them, building brand partnerships, coordinating charity events, working Golden Globes/Academy Awards gifting suites and places and spaces you might not expect to see celebs. For the most part, I never kiss and tell. Except for when it comes to Christina Aguilera— who I worked with a while back on a flurry of projects — and for some reason I seem to be stuck with for life.

Yay! She’s famous. Can that proximity destroy your brand?

the call/the project

Within days of Xtina winning Best New Artist at the Grammys back in 2000, I got the call (which I thought was a joke initially). Her management was looking for an online partner for her first concert tour. Back then my sister Kiki and I had a beauty website called Planet Pretty — one of the first online beauty destinations and portals— and in what can only be described as a whirlwind of negotiations and discussions, suddenly we were in meetings with Sears, Coke, and Levi’s…and sometimes even Xtina herself.

Though they might not have been what you’d typically describe as meetings.
If and when she’d show up it was usually after or before a performance.

I remember one meeting where there were backup dancers involved. When she didn’t like the way the conversation was going or got bored, she snapped and I’m pretty sure every dancer left in formation. Since then I’ve always wanted my own backup dancers. I can’t dance, but they were very impressive in a conference room.

Concert support became content and product development.

the work

I developed Xtina’s first line of cosmetics. The tagline was “What a Girl Wants.” Pearl lip glosses. Sweet names. Beautiful packaging. It never went to market though since she instead partnered with Fetish Cosmetics through Sears. She was segueing to the Dirrty era and there wasn’t room for what I’d so lovingly developed.

Here’s what no one tells you about seemingly cool projects: they’re not always fun. Xtina’s first concert tour was one of the most exhausting projects I have ever worked on, and I’ve worked on some doozies. Everyone looked like they were being starved or beaten. This was not a joyous project. It was misery. But it’s fun to talk about decades later.

Incidentally, at the time I really didn’t think she’d have staying power. While I was wrong about that, I wasn’t wrong about what the experience taught me.

why I warn clients

When a client tells me they have the opportunity to work with a celebrity — X name for X dollars — sometimes I don’t even need to look at the details. I’ll hear the name and say: absolutely not. This person is tabloid fodder. Avoid.

Because I’ve seen what can go wrong. I’ve seen celebrity partnerships derailed by ego, by marital drama playing out at charity events, by behavior that made everyone in the room uncomfortable. The people who were supposed to benefit? Forgotten. The brand that partnered? Collateral damage.

Celebrities are unpredictable. They’re human. They have scandals, bad days, bad judgment. But here’s the part that should give you pause: If you partner with a famous face and their latest project falls flat, your brand falls with them.

In 2026, it’s even riskier. Social media means everything is public, instant, and permanent. One bad post, one leaked photo, one terrible interview — and your carefully built brand partnership becomes a crisis in a nanosecond.

the takeaway

It’s also important to realize that even opportunities that seem incredible might be the worst possible thing for you and your brand. More than that, opportunities come and go. The wrong celebrity can take your brand down with them. Choose wisely. Or better yet, build a brand that doesn’t need a famous face to stand on its own.

I never kiss and tell. But I’m pretty sure that I’ll tell you more about Christina in the future — because no matter who I’ve worked with, she seems to be the one everyone wants me to spill the tea about.

Choose wisely, not famously,

Rachel

And if you want to discuss a potential partnership strategy, have a look at vineyard.agency or drop me a line.