Jodie Turner-Smith’s juggle is a familiar one for working parents—she just put down her newborn daughter for a nap before jumping on our call. “Oh, my God,” says the actress, who recently moved to the east coast from California. “It’s so mad over here.”

That’s more true for Turner-Smith than most. Her precarious juggling act starts with a pandemic, then throws in pregnancy, a newborn, a movie with Michael B. Jordan, and a civil rights movement forcing her to double down on the importance of representation in the beauty industry. So, yeah, “it’s mad,” she says, her British accent making even a complaint sound like fizzing champagne.

Speaking of representation in the highest echelons of the beauty industry, the actor slash model (not the other way around) has a starring role in the new Gucci Bloom Profumo di Fiori campaign. Turner-Smith and the bold floral scent are well-suited; she always puts together a bag of lavender to soothe herself before flights. Below, Turner-Smith takes us through what’s going on in her world, from enjoying her mom’s Jamaican cooking to the newness of parenting with husband Joshua Jackson.

What was it like working with Alessandro Michele, Anjelica Huston, and Florence Welch on the Gucci Bloom Profumo di Fiori campaign?

It was amazing to work with these really powerful women who have done so much in their own careers and carry this really incredible energy. I just love working with Alessandro. The way he really respects the energy—that kind of feminine and nonbinary energy—has this fantastical feel. Plus, we were shooting in Umbria, this really crazy setting. It has its own magical feel and is powerful at the same time.

Do you feel like you’re part of the Gucci family now?

Yeah, and I think it even extends beyond the people you see in the campaign. Gucci has done a most beautiful job of aligning themselves with very interesting and dynamic artists and people who aren’t afraid to be a little bit camp, a little bit strange, a little bit mystical, and a little bit silly.

But I really do feel like we’re part of the family at this point. They have supported me while I was doing my whole press tour, and the way they just show up for me in that way, [like] the dress Alessandro created for me for the BAFTAs—I do feel like I’m part of the family.

Do you have a favorite scent? Is there a smell that reminds you of home?

I love essential oils. I love lavender and that’s what attracted me to Gucci Bloom, the floral scents. I love flowers that smell beautiful, and that definitely reminds me of my house in Topanga, because there’s so much lavender there. Anytime I’m traveling, I harvest a bunch of lavender and make a little bag to carry it with me on the plane. It always soothes me.

Do you have a memory you cherish that’s tied to scent?

I would say at my house, my mother is always cooking. The smell of Jamaican food is my favorite scent memory.

Any particular dish?

It’s definitely chicken soup. It’s really like a pumpkin soup that Jamaicans make, and it’s really delicious.

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How is life as a new mom?

It’s really amazing! I mean it’s such a transformative experience, a learning experience. You become a student again, in a way. I have to learn along with my husband and you don’t get a manual on how to be a parent. Every day it’s so different from the next and you’re watching it all unfold and adjusting to it. It’s really wonderful.

What have you been up to during quarantine?

I think because I have been quarantined while pregnant and then after having the baby, I’ve actually been doing a lot of walking because it’s the best way to get out and get some air and exercise.

I was watching a lot of TV when I was back in L.A, but ever since I’ve come out here to New York, it was so busy, it’s been impossible to do that. I mean we sort of watch TV sometimes, but if we stay up late watching some show, we always regret it later in the morning. It’s like you really have to sleep when the baby sleeps. I’ve been going on walks and my mom is here again in NYC, so we cook a lot. It’s really just been family vibes.

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Has your beauty routine changed since having your baby?

It hasn’t changed that much except, obviously, I don’t get to spend as much time in my beauty routine as I used to. In that sense I’ve learned how to do everything as quickly as possible. That’s really the biggest change, but I was always pretty low-key with my beauty routine anyway. There’s not a lot of stuff I do and I usually don’t wear lots of makeup unless I’m going out, and nobody’s really going out right now. The most I really do is put on lipstick in the car for a Zoom meeting.

Is there any beauty advice you want to pass down to your daughter, or has your mom given you any beauty advice you cherish and live by?

I think the most important piece of beauty advice is drink lots of water. It’s the key. Hydration is the key because if you have nothing else but hydration you’re already off to an excellent job.

You’ve vocalized how representation in the beauty space is so important to you. What’s your thought process in choosing projects that further your mission?

I love that we’re finally moving into a time where we’re seeing many different types of people represented in the media and entertainment and beauty. I think beauty is much broader than we’ve allowed it to be for a very long time. We’re finally making room for representation and different kinds of body, different types of people, different everything. That’s allowing us to have this much broader definition of what is beautiful. It’s much more akin to what is real about beauty, which is that it’s so diverse.

There’s nothing narrow about beauty—we can just look to nature to see that. I think it’s important that we keep leaning into this idea of offering more representations in beauty and just really shattering the definitions we’ve held up for so long.

What’s on the horizon for you now that you’re in New York?

My next film coming out is Without Remorse, which I did with Michael B. Jordan. I play a Navy Seal, which is really amazing and incredible. I think it was really brave and wonderful for Paramount to want to tell a story that involves a woman as a Navy Seal, which is something we haven’t even realized yet.

And it’s great to continue to see studios and movies and film show women that there is space for them in different places where there hasn’t been [before] and that anything is possible. I’m excited about it. It’s going to be a very cool moment, I think.

Chloe Hall
Beauty Director Chloe Hall oversees all beauty coverage at ELLE.com.

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