Ruba Abu-Nimah is currently the creative director at Revlon—with Bobbi Brown, Shiseido, and Pat McGrath also a part of her beauty brand roster. A name not just synonymous with makeup, Ruba has been linked to the pages of editorial with positions at publishing powerhouses, ELLE and French Glamour, and has been tapped by fashion houses and brands such as Phillip Lim, Tiffany & Co., Steidl Publishing, and Nike for her creative and brand image expertise.

I initially became familiar with Ruba Abu-Nimah through a shared aesthetic sensibility. I was lured into Ruba’s salacious and expertly curated social media feed, which serves as an educational deep-dive into visual stimulation. If you possess the slightest bit of interest in the art, fashion, or beauty industries, then you could easily find yourself perusing her selection of juxtaposed images, until your thumbs reach their scrolling threshold. A creative director by trade, her visual interests, and appetite are so intrinsically a part of her being, and, inherently, her work.

Her social platform is just one of Ruba’s many outlets in documenting and exploring creative inspiration. Creative types like Ruba tend to draw imaginative ideas from the awfully mundane to the supremely interesting. “You know, I am obsessed with the most obscure design related bullshit as I am the biggest, trendiest things that are popular right now. You know, the ‘it’ shit! To some degree, I was born with these urges, I was fascinated with the printed page, I was fascinated with the way typography spoke to me. Typography is an incredibly emotional thing and most people don’t think of it that way,” Ruba explained to me. “I am obsessed with the way two things come together in a two-dimensional space. I went to art school and learned the craft, because all I ever wanted to be in my life was a graphic designer. I wanted to sit in a room and create beautiful images, beautiful pages, beautiful books and, for me, craft is key.”

Her social platform is just one of Ruba’s many outlets in documenting and exploring creative inspiration. Creative types like Ruba tend to draw imaginative ideas from the awfully mundane to the supremely interesting. “You know, I am obsessed with the most obscure design related bullshit as I am the biggest, trendiest things that are popular right now. You know, the ‘it’ shit! To some degree, I was born with these urges, I was fascinated with the printed page, I was fascinated with the way typography spoke to me. Typography is an incredibly emotional thing and most people don’t think of it that way,” Ruba explained to me. “I am obsessed with the way two things come together in a two-dimensional space. I went to art school and learned the craft, because all I ever wanted to be in my life was a graphic designer. I wanted to sit in a room and create beautiful images, beautiful pages, beautiful books.

Ruba began her career in magazine publishing at ELLE Paris after graduating from the Parsons School of Design in the late ‘80s, and was a member of the founding design team at French Glamour. In May of 2017, Ruba returned to (American) ELLE, hired to be the magazine’s creative director and the first female to be anointed this position.

In addition to her impact on the world of publishing, Ruba has been a design and advertising force within the realm of beauty. Prior to returning to ELLE in 2017, Ruba invested nine years at Bobbi Brown Cosmetics (Estee Lauder) and Shiseido, leading creative efforts at both brands.