About Our Founder &Creative Director

Yalanda Rene Jacques
Founder & Creative Director,
Polished Beauties

INSTAGRAM:

 
@yalandarenejacques

Yalanda Rene Jacques is a Beauty Expert, Actress/Producer, Motivational Speaker, and Veteran of the U.S, Air Force who has over 25 years of combined experience in the beauty, fashion, film/TV & image development industries. As the Founder/Owner and Creative Director of Polished Beauties, her focus is in giving women the style essentials they need to feel confident and look fabulous.

Yalanda is the epitome of the polished woman, having changed her own image and life after growing up on a farm on the rural roads of East Texas surrounded by farm life until the age of 12 years old. Her mother was a very accomplished seamstress in the community, so after chores she'd immerse herself in the fashion pages of Vogue, Texas Monthly, and Town & Country magazines left around the house by her mother. But it was her grandmother, adoringly called "Bigmama", who taught her how to be a lady and to carry herself with respect. She was the catalyst for her future success. 

Yalanda honed her skills working for beauty and luxury retail giants Neiman Marcus, Mary Kay Cosmetics, and L'Occitane. As an entrepreneur, she founded Jacques Models Inc. Model & Talent Agency in 1994, which managed over 400 models & talent of every ethnicity, while also breaking barriers creating opportunities for models of color. 

Yalanda has been profiled by some of the most prestigious news and fashion magazine publications in the U.S. like Ocean Drive Magazine, The Miami Herald Newspaper, the South Florida Business Journal and more.

She's made guest appearances on  MTV's Tr3s Quiero Mis Quince as an Image Coach; hosted live on-air fundraisers for PBS TV on WXEL; produced and hosted "It's All About South Florida (a lifestyle entertainment show); and produced and hosted a 3 hour DVD called The VIP System: Makeover Program in 2009, years before millions of social media influencers started posting popular makeup videos on Instagram and YouTube. 

As an accomplished speaker she MC'd a Dubai royal black-tie charity event for the Walter Sisulu Pediatric Cardiac Foundation, co-sponsored by Her Royal Highness Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, Wife of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum - Ruler of Dubai and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates.

Her selections for the Polished Beauties website are empowered from a personal knowledge of being around beauty, fashion, luxury, culture and having traveled to over 22 different countries. That willingness to learn and evolve ensures the products on the website will always be classic, fashionable, but most importantly beautiful jewelry of quality.

Yalanda is a graduate of the University of Maryland University College in Business Management, but will always be a student of life. As a volunteer she continues giving back by participating in motivational speaking events, and conducting image development workshops for churches, women's groups, and non-profit organizations like The Boys and Girls Clubs.