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Pop icon Selena Quintanilla has been dead for 20 years, but her music is as popular as ever. She's also revered for her poise and beauty. And today, MAC Cosmetics announced it would be producing a limited-edition makeup line named for Selena. Karen Grigsby Bates from NPR's Code Switch team has some background.
KAREN GRIGSBY BATES, BYLINE: Patty Rodriguez has a day job. She runs a small Los Angeles publishing house, but for the past couple of years, she's been working hard on something else too. She wanted a cosmetics company to honor the woman who owned this voice.
(SOUNDBITE OF SELENA QUINTANILLA SONG, "BIDI BIDI BOM BOM")
BATES: Tejano star Selena is her heroine, and when Rodriguez saw a limited-edition Marilyn Monroe collection from MAC, she knew that was the place.
PATTY RODRIGUEZ: Growing up Latinas, you know, we save our money for our first MAC lipstick, our first MAC lip liner.
BATES: The singer's flawless red lipstick was her signature, and Rodriguez wrote MAC suggesting it was time for a Selena collection. The company gave her a polite thanks, and that was it. But Rodriguez wouldn't give up. Selena, who was shot dead by an employee at age 23, deserved more. So a little while ago, Rodriguez launched a petition on Change.org.
RODRIGUEZ: I posted this once on social media. All it took was one post, and it just exploded.
BATES: In very short order, there were more than 37,000 signatures asking for a Selena collection. It showed MAC that Selena's fans are ready to support a Selena line, and, says Patty Rodriguez, it showed trust.
RODRIGUEZ: She belongs to us. We're giving permission to, you know, to honor her.
BATES: The company rethought. Then it contacted Selena's sister, Suzette, who gave her permission. Today, MAC announced the Selena collection will debut in 2016. We have heard the passion and enthusiasm from her fans, said a MAC executive in a statement. We wholeheartedly agree that her legacy embodies MAC's philosophy. And Suzette Quintanilla added, if her sister were here she would be beyond this ecstatic. So in the latter part of next year, a new collection inspired by a Latina icon, empowered by her social media savvy admirers, will hit MAC counters, and Selena's red smile will be everywhere.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "COMO LA FLOR")
SELENA QUINTANILLA: (Singing in Spanish).
BATES: Karen Grigsby Bates, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "COMO LA FLOR")
QUINTANILLA: (Singing in Spanish). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
