‘Empire’ Star Serayah on Her H&M Past and the Concealer She Swears By

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

Our Editor in Chief isn't the only famous former shopgirl we know; Serayah McNeill can work her way around a cash wrap, too. The Empire star and Taylor Swift girl squad member tells us that back in the day, she worked at H&M at the Westfield Topanga mall, where she learned the art of "speeding up unloading the morning shipment, how to do a perfect fold, and ways to close my section quicker." AKA, she was the ideal employee.

Although superstar Serayah has went on to bigger and better things (don't forget about that CoverGirl gig), the 20-year-old California native is saluting her retail roots by endorsing the Swedish retailer's "Place of Possible" recruiting campaign. We met up with her at the campaign's official launch event, where she shared her words of wisdom for shopgirl hopefuls ("stay inspired, work hard, be creative, and dream big!") and revealed her favorite H&M x designer collab of all time ("Alexander Wang because it was so sporty and chic.")

Of course, we couldn't let Serayah go without asking how she maintains that flawless skin: "NARS concealer, because it's easy to apply and is the perfect skin match for me!"

That $25 concealer stick comes in 10 creamy shades ranging from Chantilly to Cacao, so there just might be something for everyone. Have you tried it?