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Cosmetic chemist Ron Robinson is part of the team at recently acquired beauty brand Rhode. According to Beauty Matter, Robinson has been creating top-selling skincare products for over 30 years, despite not being very familiar with the beauty industry while growing up. Initially, he aspired to become a doctor and studied biology and chemistry at Adelphi University. His plans took a pivot after he completed one year of medical school when he joined Estée Lauder as a product development manager in the Clinique division. He held that role for eight years starting in 1990, his LinkedIn mentions. “My mom was disappointed about me dropping out of med school, but she forgave me because I was a cosmetic chemist gifting her products that I made,” Robinson told Beauty Matter. “The delight and joy that she saw in getting those products and using them has been fuel for me to keep me constantly looking to develop new and exciting products that really delight consumers.” Robinson would go on to...
While fans are focused on new music, Cardi B is focused on creating generational wealth. Cardi B has aligned herself with various endorsement deals over the years from Pepsi, Reebok, NYX Professional Makeup, and Fashion Nova, which she worked with earlier on in her career. As AFROTECH previously told you, Fashion Nova paid the rapper $200 for every post back in 2016, two years before the release of her successful debut album “Invasion of Privacy.” That number went as high as $20,000 per month, according to Vox. In April 2024, she revealed she was earning over $5 million from brand deals. Cardi B has proven she is able to bring in the dough for companies, and over the past couple of years she is now doing the same on her own terms. In 2021, Cardi B launched Whipshots in partnership with Starco Brands, which sold 5 million cans within three years, a press release mentions. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Whipshots ™ (@whip_shots) Launching Apparel And Beauty Brands Cardi...
Cost of Doing Business (CODB), the holding company co-founded by Topicals CEO Olamide Olowe and President Sochi Mbadugha, has acquired premium haircare brand Bread Beauty Supply. According to a news release, the acquisition is CODB’s first step in building brands that connect culture, community, and commerce — especially as many companies scale back their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts . “At a time when DEI commitments are being rolled back, it’s critical that Black-owned businesses not only survive — we have to win,” Olowe said. “Maeva Heim, BREAD’s Founder, is one of the most talented creatives in the space and has led BREAD to have a major impact in the hair care industry, and with CODB’s resources and expertise, we’re ensuring that it continues to grow while remaining deeply rooted in its mission and creative ethos.” Photo Credit: Gold Owolabi With Bread now under CODB, the brand is set for growth while preserving its commitment to textured hair care. The...
Tisha Thompson is among the 2% of female founders who have successfully secured funding. Thompson launched LYS Beauty in 2021, a clean color cosmetics brand designed to serve a diverse range of skin tones and types, according to its website. Her journey in the beauty industry began during college when she worked as a makeup artist to support her education while studying accounting, Fortune reports. After earning her degree, she secured an accounting role at PÜR Cosmetics, where she quickly advanced through the ranks, eventually becoming VP of Marketing and Innovation. “During my tenure there, I wore a lot of hats, similar to what I do now as a startup founder. I helped to innovate clean beauty product development, supported brand management and marketing, and also oversaw finance and operations,” she told the outlet. Now, Thompson is successfully leading her own business and has stacked on wins since. This includes making history as the first Black-owned clean makeup brand to launch...
Let’s be honest—when it comes to beauty, Black women have always been the standard, even if the industry has been slow to give credit where it’s due. But while some are still playing catch-up, Danessa Myricks Beauty has already rewritten the rules—and ensured we’re front and center in the narrative. From melting down drugstore makeup in her kitchen to landing on Sephora shelves across the globe, Danessa Myricks didn’t wait for anyone’s permission. She built her own table—and now the world’s pulling up a seat. From “Accidental Artist” to Beauty Powerhouse Myricks didn’t come from a legacy of wealth or beauty school credentials. She came with hustle, vision, and a deep belief that makeup should be for everyone. According to her Closers 2025 Time Magazine feature, after getting laid off from a publishing gig, she took a chance on creativity and started doing makeup—teaching herself through trial, error, and audacity. Her early kits? Straight-up DIY magic. Melting down products to...
Cliff Vmir continues to build on his success as a seasoned hair stylist. Turning His Passion For Hair Into A Brand Vmir began showing interest in hair care at 8 years old. However, at 14, when his parents separated, he fully committed to his passion. This allowed him to financially support his mother, who had been out of work for three months due to a knee replacement. “It wasn’t until my mom and my dad split up completely, when I was 14, that I was able to kind of go in full-throttle and understand that this isn’t something that I wanna just play around with. This is something that I can make money from,” Vmir told AFROTECH™ in an interview. “It’s crazy ’cause it’s something that I love to do… I also feel like with my mom and my dad splitting up, it was just kind of something that financially I wanted to help my mom. So not saying that I was forced into it, but I felt like it was only right for me to just use what I have to get what we need, and I was able to kind of help support...
Jerome Rose left behind a business that is still prospering. The Jersey Journal reports Rose’s wife Louise encouraged him to become an entrepreneur and sell beauty supplies, leveraging his proven capability to scale it effectively. “I said to him he was knowledgeable enough to go into his own business,” Louise told The Jersey Journal. Independent Beauty Supply After losing his job on Christmas Eve in 1973, Rose opened Independent Beauty Supply in Jersey City, NJ, the following year with the help of his wife and Mary Cooper, who would serve as a bookkeeper for over four decades until her retirement. Independent Beauty Supply began as a go-between for hair product manufacturers and beauticians. Now, it is one of the country’s largest Black-owned and operated beauty products distributors, per The Jersey Journal. The store sells products like moisturizers, shampoos, and styling foam and carries brands such as Mizani, Zoey Naturals, and The Common Earth Company. View this post on...
Sarah Brown is empowering Black women through her beauty supply store. According to the Columbia Missourian, Brown is the proud owner of Beauty Trap, reportedly the first Black beauty supply store in Columbia, MO. Outside of being a business owner, Brown has been in the beauty space for more than 26 years, using her cosmetology license to work as a hairstylist. Her transition into business ownership would be inspired by her mentor, Mary Smith, f ounder of Mary Smith’s Beauty Salon, who encouraged her foray into the cosmetology business. “I taught Sarah how to do hair for Black customers, something they don’t teach you at school,” Smith told the Columbia Missourian. “Sarah and I have both taken classes for hair over the years, and we teach each other what we have learned.” Brown was emboldened to open two salon locations, though they both had to close for several months due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which negatively impacted many small business owners. “While we were...
When Serena Williams sets her mind on a vision, it transforms into greatness. Before the tennis champion’s retirement in 2022, she launched Serena Ventures in 2014. As previously reported by AFROTECH™, Williams founded her VC firm after learning of the alarmingly low amount of venture capital that goes to women founders, with Black and brown founders receiving even less funds. “I learned that less than 2% of all VC money went to women,” Williams shared via TikTok. “And when I first heard that, I actually thought it was a misquote. I thought, ‘Well, they can’t be real.’ Like, we’re talking about trillions of dollars, and what do you mean less than 2% of that goes to women?…I learned that when I first started investing, I learned that actually was true and that was something that was happening. And so I knew right then and there that one day I wanted to raise a fund or raise money and invest in women.” Under Williams’ mission, the breakdown of Serena Ventures’ investments is 79%...
A college connection that birthed Topicals Founder Olamide Olowe changed the trajectory of her life. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, Olowe is behind the popular skincare company Topicals, which sells skincare products for people with chronic skin conditions such as eczema and hyperpigmentation. Founded in 2020, by 2022, it had become one of Sephora’s fastest-growing brands, selling one product every minute. Meeting Richelieu Dennis Olowe’s trajectory to founder was not her initial calling. In fact, she attended the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) on a full-ride scholarship to participate on its track team. Additionally, she was studying to become a doctor, she said during an interview on the “God Is My Creative Director” podcast. While there, she was introduced to another student, Rechelle Dennis, the daughter of SheaMoisture Founder Richelieu Dennis. “My freshman year, I’m standing there with one of my teammates, and a woman comes over to me and is like, ‘Hey, you...
This Philadelphia, PA, native is transforming her e-commerce startup into a new luxury experience. Kadidja Dosso founded the e-commerce shop Dosso Beauty, a clinically tested, hypoallergenic braiding hair company. In an interview with FOX29 Philadelphia, Dosso shared that the company has been a game changer for more than 50,000 women who suffer from allergic reactions from braiding hair due to toxic chemicals. Dosso launched Dosso Beauty in 2018 after experiencing a horrible allergic reaction to braiding hair, along with a history of scalp and skin sensitivity. While Dosso has had six years of success selling Dosso Beauty products on its e-commerce site, Amazon, GoPuff, DoorDash, independent retail stores, and hair salons, she is ready for the next step. In Dosso’s interview with FOX29, she shared her plans to open the company’s first-ever brick-and-mortar store in July 2024 in Philadelphia, PA. She also plans to open a luxury braid salon within the store called The Dosso Beauty...
A mother-and-son duo are growing in business together. The Akron Beacon Journal reports that Nneka Slade, 49, and her son, Kameron Coleman, 25, are the owners of Play Beauty Supply in Richmond Heights, OH. Before they acquired the store, Slade had worked as a cosmetologist for over three decades. The duo purchased their first storefront i n 2020, during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic . “We learned a lot about each other,” Slade told the outlet. “I’m more of the left brain-organized, structured, and Kameron is more of the right brain-creative, risk taker. There’s a nice balance that happens.” At first, Slade pivoted from working directly with clients to having an e-commerce business selling hair extensions. Then after buying Play Beauty Supply, Coleman would travel to hair salons and stylists to bring greater attention to their products. “She leans on me to bring in the new 21st-century ideas, the delivery, websites, marketing. It’s a balance with each other,” Coleman said....
Stormi Steele has seen firsthand the power of social media. Steele is the founder of Canvas Beauty, a beauty brand she conceived in a night, Forbes mentioned. It all started with a hair serum made with cayenne pepper in her kitchen, which she introduced to her clients at her hair salon. After her clients’ rave reviews, she was encouraged to sell the product. Now, Steele’s Hair Blossom Serum remains the leading product in its marketing sector, the outlet notes. “It just ended up having a life of its own after that,” Steele told Forbes. Steele found great success since the launch of her business in 2018. In its first year, Canvas Beauty sold more than 1 million units, according to information provided to AFROTECH™. In 2019, going viral led the business to earn 30,000 monthly orders compared to 6,000 before the exposure, per Forbes. However, the influx of orders prompted Steele and her husband and business partner, Courtney Beasley, to learn a quick lesson about running an online...
Black woman-owned beauty brand Mented Cosmetics has been acquired by West Lane Capital Partners, Beauty Independent reports. The company, co-founded in 2017 by KJ Miller and Amanda E/J Morrison, offers products that cater to women of all complexions, its website mentions. According to Beauty Independent, Mented Cosmetics’ inaugural product was nude lipsticks created for women of color, which is still one of its best sellers. Mented Cosmetics’ products have since expanded to include mascara, blush, eyeshadow, foundation, and more, which can be seen on its website. Prices range from $16.50 to $30, the outlet says. The brand first relied on direct to consumer (DTC) distribution before landing in retail stores. As of this writing, its products are being sold in Ulta Beauty, Target, CVS and Walgreens but will shift its focus to DTC, the outlet notes. Over the years, the company has raised $9 million in venture capital funding, Crunchbase lists. However, there have been some growing...
“Stay smooth, don’t be ashy” is the slogan behind Abena Boamah-Acheampong’s Hanahana Beauty. The Ghanaian-American founder and chief executive officer launched the skincare and wellness brand in 2017 to provide consumers with clean products to include in their skincare routines. According to Hanahana Beauty’s website, the shea butter in its products is sourced directly from the Katariga women, who are producers based in Tamale, Ghana. Seven years officially into the beauty industry, Boamah-Acheampong’s mission statement to “increase accessibility, transparency, and sustainability” in their products has continued to spark people’s interest in backing her brand. During an interview with Forbes’ “New Money” podcast, she shared how she built Hanahana into a multi-million dollar company with over $2 million in sales. A pivotal part of the Hanahana Beauty journey was when the company received its first check in 2022 from a Black woman investor , per the outlet. From there,...