It's undoubtedly the same bright smile that helped sway MAC judges to select the Newport News resident as one of the faces of its fall cosmetics campaign.
Daley, 30, has been basking in the attention since the announcement three weeks ago.
"A global cosmetics company chose me to be one of its faces," she says. "That still blows me away."
She, along with four other ladies and one guy, bested thousands of entrants to represent the brand whose ambassadors have included superstars Mary J. Blige and Lady Gaga.
Winners were chosen because of their "inimitable style, heart and soul," says a release from MAC, which stands for Make-up Art Cosmetics.
"I felt important for a whole day," says Daley.
She dons dramatic eye color and strikes a quietly sexy, commanding gaze in a photo of her makeover. In person, her laid-back beauty is equally arresting.
Her makeup is simple, and her curly black hair, which she cut last fall and donated in honor of a friend who died of cancer, is fuss-free and chic. She's trend-savvy in her black T-shirt with a lace-inset neckline and beading along the front side, black shrug, black jeans and flat sandals.
A stranger can't help but notice, and he interrupts her lunch.
"Excuse me, didn't you win a contest?" he asks.
Daley blushes and humbly affirms. But after he passes, she gushes.
"That's so cool."
Her bubbly personality bears no trace of the low self-esteem she says she wrestled with while growing up in Cleveland.
"I thought I was the ugliest, blackest thing," Daley says.
She was placed in foster care at age 4, and at age 6, "I was this scraggly little thing," she says. "Then I started getting fluffy when I was 8 or 9."
Her foster mother recognized Daley had a gift and encouraged her to sing in church. By fourth grade Daley was attending the Cleveland School of the Arts, from which she graduated.
She joined Morgan State University's choir and got to travel the world. Since 2001, she has been a member of the gospel-tinged Group Therapy, which has appeared on BET and is based in D.C.
"I can't imagine not singing, not performing," Daley says. About three years ago, she moved to Hampton Roads after marrying a Navy man who's also a meteorologist.
She says her ultimate goal is simply to be an inspiration.
"That's important to me, empowering women like me," she says. "I'm representing two demographics: plus-size and African American."
James Gager, senior vice president and creative director of MAC, said in a release that the company wanted to go beyond just making up a pretty face and focusing on one part of the makeover. He also was interested in the narrative of why the MAC loyalists wanted to be a part of the campaign. As a result, the six new faces represent diversity in age, race and sex.
Daley's winning entry touts, "I am going to change the world, one smile at a time."
Jamesetta Walker, (757) 446-2211, jamesetta.walker@pilotonline.com
http://hamptonroads.com/2011/08/mac-cosmetics-gives-local-woman-face-time
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