December 23, 2020 • 30 mins
Alicia Scott was working in the fashion industry when she noticed that black models were bringing their own makeup to set. When she asked why, she had a lightbulb moment: there weren’t good makeup options for women of color that matched their skin tones—and Range Beauty, “clean beauty for the forgotten shades,” was born. This week, Bobbi and Alicia talk about how she started her business with just $150, why it’s important to think long-term as an entrepreneur, and the important mission to increase representation in the beauty industry.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Beyond the Beauty is a production of I Heart Radio.
I'm your host Bobby Brown. Alicia's God is the founder
of Range Beauty. There's so much excitement around her brand.
(00:23):
It is exactly what is needed right now. I think
it's amazing that there's a clean option for foundation that
women of color can go to to get the right
foundation with the right formula. And that is what it
made me so excited about Alicia's God who created this
brand for a hundred and fifty dollars out of her
living room. And I'm watching her grow before my eyes
(00:47):
and really see a need and fill it. And I
love talking to her. I love watching her and I'm
really looking forward to asking her what's happening now? Hey, Alicia,
how are you? Hi? Bobby, and well, how are you you.
It's so nice to talk to you. And I get
the pleasure of seeing because we're recording this over zoom,
and I was, you're so beautiful, and oh, thank you.
(01:10):
You don't look dressed or anything, you know, never let
them see sweat. I guess, thank you so much for
having me. It's it's really an honor. Thank you, and
you are right now in Atlanta. I am I am
in my home in Atlanta. I'll head to the office
later today. But yeah, but but but I will say,
(01:34):
you are a Jersey girl. Yes. So, my mom's side
of the family is from Jersey Shore. My dad's side
of the family is from New York, so I'm split
between them. And so I get my seafood from the Shore.
I get my city like from New York. So, and
how long have you lived in Atlanta. It's been about
(01:56):
five years now since I moved to Atlanta. I actually
left for Glynn to move to Atlanta to start my business.
And when did you first have the idea for Range Beauty?
When did it even come to you that there is
a need for this? This was back in like, I
originally went to Virginia Attack for fashion design and merchandising.
(02:19):
After graduation, I went to New York worked lots of
different roles in the fashion industry um and throughout the
course of those roles, I often found my side myself
behind the scenes, and I noticed that black models were
coming to set with their own makeup kids. And it
didn't really strike me as anything shocking at first, because
(02:41):
we often would include little notes with our cast and
cause like make sure you bring, you know, a new draw,
make sure you bring miss to be prepared. And so
I thought it was just kind of a model thing,
and I finally just I was so curious. I just asked,
and a model explained the story about how a makeup
art as flat outside to her, I can't do the
(03:02):
look that the designer is requesting because I don't have
any products in my kit for your skin tone. And
her telling me that story, and just her explaining how
she felt so problematic and she felt embarrassed and she
thought it was her responsibility to make sure she came
prepared to set now with things that were as close
as a mutch to your skin tone as possible. It
(03:23):
just kind of started the wheel to turn in my mind.
And I thought about my own journey with makeup at
the time, and it was really not a real journey.
I was an eyeliner and mascara girl, because you don't
have to worry about your skin tone with that. You
can just go and makout one color and you're fine. Uh.
And so when she told me about that, I just
(03:45):
started thinking, you know, why do I have this this,
Why do I feel this way about makeup? And why
is it so difficult for us to find things for
our skin tone. And then for me at the time,
I dealt with really bad excellent acne. Why can't I
find products that don't inflame? This? These issues for me,
and so I really started. The seed was planted, and
(04:07):
I just started researching and thinking about what my dreamline
would be if I created a makeup line. So it
is a true you started this makeup line with a
hundred and fifty dollars. I did so being in New
York at the time, I did not have any savings.
I was just paying rent. I was living in the
New York lifestyle, you know. Uh. And so a big
(04:28):
thing for me was when I started, I wanted to
make sure I kept my cost very low. I didn't
want to be in the whole off the bat, I
didn't want to over extend myself financially. And so when
I was looking for manufacturers and I started, Google was
my best friend, by the way, at the time, I
just googled everything, and I found out that there are
(04:49):
manufacturers who have um m ocus minimum order quantities that
you have to hit and it's usually a very high
dollar amount. And so that was on my checklis off.
What I wanted a manufacturer. I wanted someone who would
be flexible with me not having that huge access to
capital off the bat, and I found them in a
manufacturer who I still work with today, who uh they're there.
(05:13):
MC was just a hundred and fifty dollars and you
were able to just kind of get what it was above.
You could just example whatever you wanted for that amount,
and I was able to create the first few shades
of the line with a hundred fifty dollars. That's amazing.
That that is amazing, and that's resourceful. But I also
wanted to tell everybody how we met. You tell the
(05:36):
story of how we met. Well, I received a shocking
d M from Bobby Brown herself, and it was a
GM from you saying that you see what I'm doing, Um,
you like what I'm doing, and if you could offer
any advice or we have any assistance, to just let
you know. And for me, there have been a lot
(05:59):
of when people say that and then you try to
reach out to them and they're like, I sent you
a message, that was it, And so I replied back
and I just you know, thank you, and I admire
you because you are one of the few makeup brands
who have created with black women in mind since the beginning.
But I replied and I was like, yeah, I would
love you know, I would love to talk to you
(06:20):
and get to ments for you. And you're replying with
your phone number call me any time, and I I
had to call my mom. I called my mom. I
told her that I had Bobby Brown's cell phone number
and that we were going to talk about range. And
so that's just kind of how our relationship started. And
(06:41):
I was so, you know, just so shocked, and and
the call that we had and the advice that you
gave in you offering to help me on this journey
and to be my mentor, was just let's even today,
I'm like I can say Bobby Proud is my mentor.
That's crazy. And just for people always ask me, how
(07:02):
do you find a mentor? And you know, I always say,
the relationships have to be organic, it has to just happen.
I literally found you through I don't even know where.
And I'm like, wow, I like what she's doing because
the foundations look like the people's skip and and and
it wasn't like there's no crazy makeup, there's no crazy
like you know, changing colors or contours fresh and as
(07:26):
the as the makeup all clean. Yes, so it's clean
beauty for the forgotten sheets. And that was a huge
thing for me because a lot of the ingredients that
would inflame my excellent acne um, like tow or fragrance
or synthetic guyes. I just knew that I didn't want
that in my line if I couldn't use the product,
and I didn't want to sell it. And so our
(07:48):
ingredients are clean. We mostly utilize botanicals to help with
UM acne and XML, like Clenchila flower. It came meal
and um. The part about the forgotten sheets big to
me because when I was researching about what making something
clean and and why else would that be important? And
I found that Black women are exposed to twice the
(08:10):
amount of toxic beauty products, mostly due to the lack
of clean alternatives in our skin tones. And so I
knew that I wanted to make sure I provided foundations
that looked like our skin, that felt like skin. It
wasn't kicking up and building up on your face. I
wanted you to feel like you didn't have anything on.
I just went to enhance what you already have not
cover it up, but you've had some you know, very cool,
(08:33):
interesting successes. You know, talk a little bit of how
you started growing your business and you know how you
got on the map and how you figured things out.
So really I started a soft launch. I call it
a soft launch. I launched in May of seventeen. It
was a completely different name and it was a completely
different concept that I had. The original concept was just
(08:55):
to focus on brown to deeper brunch sheets. So at
first I only had about sixteen shades that were just
honestly brawn to deeper brown shades. UM. And I first,
let's at the price at twelve dollars because I wanted
clean Beauty to become known as accessible and as affordable,
(09:16):
because that's not often what we see clean beauty as.
And so I launched, and I was about and so
for maybe two months. UM, I had a little bit
of legal trouble. In the midst of that, I actually
had someone say, oh, your name is already taken, like
you need to change your name. I didn't, okay, And
(09:37):
then UM, it just kind of works out because at
the same time, I didn't really like the concept that
the brand was developing. It didn't like the voice that
I was putting out, and so I went back to
the drawing board and I relaunched in August eighteen as
Range Beauty and really pushing the concept of UH makeup
with skin care benefits and making an inclusive range and
(09:58):
having more products. So they Noble And a few months
later I was contacted by a buyer for a Target,
which was I again it was the buyer actually deened
me and I thought it was spam, and she said
she asked him an email and that she would email me,
and she sent me an email and it was it
(10:19):
was an actual Target email. And said, Okay, this person
is real and I looked her up on linked and
it's like, no, this is the real buyer for Target.
This is crazy. Uh. And they actually came to Atlanta
and I presented the line to them and we had
a very open conversation just about what it takes to
be in retail, what that means for you as a
found or what it means for you as a brand,
And obviously I just let me know, this is amazing,
(10:42):
but I'm not ready at this time. But that opportunity
really lit a fire underneath me to want to take
this kind of from hobby and side hustle mode and
build it into a real brand and real business. And
so I continued that conversation and relationship with Target throughout
the years. I went to headquarters for a visit. We
did the Black Business Fair that they have every February there.
(11:06):
I did the Target Essence Market this past December. I
did the Target Takeoff Beauty program with them this past March,
and just made sure to maintain that contact with them,
ask them for advice um and and just different scenarios
like that where I realized that when I was putting
out of quality and was actually a necessity and really
(11:27):
filling in this this major gap, and those little instances
just kept me going. My first pitch competition, I pitched
at SPANKS headquarters and it was just it was so
everything every time I would be in these type of rooms,
and it's just so validating to know that I made
it this far. And then each time something else would happen,
(11:50):
then they comprec you can't beeeve I made it this far.
And so it's been really cool just having these things
pop up that you maybe don't normally have during your
entrepreneur a ship journey, but you are self funded, correct,
I am self funded. Yes, so I'm self funded. I
actually just left my nine to five in December last year.
(12:11):
So for most of the time that Range has been
an operation, I was working my nine five. Any extra funds,
any extra time that I had, I poured into Range
because I knew I wanted to leave eventually and and
take this on full time, and so I took the
leap in December of last year. I was just like, Wow,
this is that this is definitely meant to happen with
(12:32):
the timing. But I've been self funded. I do a
lot of pitch competitions, a lot of grant competitions. I
knew that I did not want to take on debt um.
I do not have any outstanding business loans or outstanding
credit card debt or anything for Range. It's been everything
(12:52):
for my own pockets from grants and then our profits
from the company I put right back into the business
um and just building it, just building it as I can.
(13:21):
So you've got foundations, we've got what else? So we
have foundations in twenty one shades and three to four undertones.
We have a bronzing primer, we have translucent powder, and
four shades. We have a dual Golden Hour which is
it's a dual I highlights. You can use us eyeshadow
(13:43):
and as a highlighter in five sheets. And then we
have the Body Full Body Glow, which is a face
and body oil. My faith, Yes, I love the products
and your foundation really is amazing formula. It's not share,
but it's not dense. It covers and and and the range.
(14:04):
First of all, I can't even believe that you have
the name range, which is incredible, but your range is
spot on. But you talk about different undertone, so I
see I mean, I see yellow, I see orange, I
see pink. What's the fourth? So we have blue um
and our fair sheets, we also have a peach undertone.
(14:25):
We have all of undertone so each category, so we
have light to deeper brown. Each category has three to
four different undertones and those were picked from just kind
of doing a little market research. Hearing from fair skinned
women that it's so hard for me to find a
peachy undertone. It's so hard for me to find an
olive undertone UM. And then for the deeper brown ladies,
(14:47):
hearing all all we have is red undertones. Where is
our yellow? Where's are coolers, our neutral, so it's about
three to four per category. And how like do you go?
We go pretty fair. So we are pretty fair. And
that's just when I originally started my thought process was
like my shade are deeper. But then I wanted to
(15:09):
open it up because for one, black women, black people,
we come in all different types of sheets, Like I
have a cousin that is your shade body, so it's
like we come in all different sheets. And then it's
also to open up to white women whoever, women of
color whoever, who also have trouble finding their shade, their undertone,
or finding products um that irritate their skin. So I
(15:33):
wanted to make sure that we were inclusive. So we
got come pretty fair. It's pretty deep, yeah, and it's
and it's pretty amazing. As a makeup artist, I have
traveled anywhere from Mexico to the UK and you just
have no idea. There's you don't even know what people's
backgrounds are, you know, depending, So I think your range
(15:54):
could definitely suit many different many different skin colors. And
do you have other products on the pipe line that
you're like ready to launch, dying to create? Yes, I
have three that I am so ready to launch, and
I was so sad because I wanted to launch one
of them this year. Covid really stopped that in the trucks.
(16:14):
But um, we have Concealer coming up, we have Bronze,
They're coming up, and then we have a liquid blush
coming out. Yeah, a liquid blush. Yeah, yeah, so cool.
You're very good on social and you seem to have
a very engaged community, So talk a little bit about
(16:37):
how important that is in your business. It's so important
to me to have community because I think even in
my earlier years, like in my early twenties, when I
was starting to try and maneuver, what does the makeup
industry look like? What does it say to me? We
rarely had any brands that had a face to the brand,
(16:58):
that had someone that spoke to so it was usually
a large corporation. There wasn't any genuine brand voice there.
There wasn't any genuine connection being built there. I was
just kind of like, give me your money and go.
And so it's really important to me to have this
community to not only build me up and and validate
what I'm doing, but also when I see them in
(17:19):
the complements talking to each other and they're talking, Oh
my gosh, you know, I had really bad exma. I
was told that I wouldn't be able to wear makeup.
And seeing someone comment and saying, oh my gosh, that
was the same thing I went through. And just seeing
and I'm give each other advice and telling them how
to use the products and and what they do. It's
so amazing to see kind of like this family that
we've built, and it's it's a big thing for me
(17:41):
to engage with them. Also, um, my personal page is
also open. I integrate a lot of things from my
personal page onto the range page and a lot of
things from the Range page onto my personal page. I
have customers who d m me on my personal page,
who support me on my personal page. So it's just
it's it's major to have that community, especially when you're
(18:02):
an entrepreneur. It can be such a lonely journey at times,
and so having a audience is not just your customers,
but feel like your real supporters. I think it's crucial
to your success as an indie founder. What do you
think about being a black entrepreneur. Do you think that
is something that you have to overcome or you or
do you see the positive strength that comes with it.
(18:26):
It is definitely something you have to overcome. I think
when I started this journey and it really opened my
eyes to the things that black black entrepreneurs go through.
For one, the huge stigma around a black owned brand
that it's not as good as quality as the other brand,
that it's not as professional UM, that it's only it's
(18:50):
black owned, so it's only for black people. So all
these different stigmas and stereotypes around UM being a black
lead brand was a hurdle to over UM. And speaking
in the beginning two different UM investors at the time
just to kind of get a feel of where I
would need to be if I wanted to get an investor,
(19:11):
and seeing that a lot of them were white men
who did not understand what it was that I was
trying to do. Who would ask me things? And I'm
just like, I wonder if you ask other Graham's the
same questions, like what kind of things UM? I like
to kind of give a comparison. I had a call
with a black woman investor and our conversation was really
(19:31):
just about what it is that I created, who is
my audience, how has my audience received it? She had
her own research done about the brand about me, and
it was it wasn't even like some of your numbers.
And so my cause with white men would mostly be well,
what's your customer actorisition? Right? And I'm just like, do
(19:52):
you want to know what I even create? When I mean,
what do you want to know what my customer is? Like?
Just these these questions Where'm so you don't even know
what it is that I do. You just want to
know what my numbers are? Off that um. And then
seeing some of the other brands that they would invest
in and seeing that their footprint wasn't even near what
it was that I was able to achieve and really
(20:14):
made me back away from that world and just really
taking I mean, for me, it's just I feel like
black women entrepreneurs have to work four times as hard.
We just do and we get a sliver of what
everyone else gets only I think it's like point zero
two percent of us receive investments UM, and we're putting
out these quality brands and products, and so it's it's
(20:38):
always going to be as a black entrepreneur, especially as
a black man entrepreneur, as having to overcome and us
having to get creative and resourceful and and just make
sure that we're being seen and received and making sure
that we validate ourselves for others basically, and you've also
got to makeup artist that I'm a makeup artist for myself.
(20:59):
I thought you are a pro no and that, and
that's honestly what. That's another you know, inspiration behind the line.
As you mentioned before, our makeup is pretty much like
stripped down. I am not the super glam conto girl,
like this is my everyday tank of makeup um, and
(21:19):
so if you are, I probably wouldn't have damned you.
So I think we're on the same lines of just
you know, it's kind of like your skin but better,
just a little bit of that whole mindset, the makeup,
the no makeup makeup look. I love fresh, dewy, clean
skin and and I don't get me wrong, I love
a high glam moment. I love a go all out
(21:41):
type of moment. But I'm not that girl, and so
I feel I felt like it would have been weird
if I made a line that was like that. I
hear there's some exciting news about a new retail partner,
so I'd love to hear. I'm dying to hear we
actually entered Target dot com, and I am so excited.
It's been such a great relationship with Target. They have
(22:03):
been so supportive of me, and I'm happy to have
them as my first retailer. And I'm excited to start
off on dot com this year, kind of learn the ropes,
see where we land, and then make sure that we're
ready to go for in store next year. Well, I'm
I'm absolutely amazed how you're not one of these founders
that are like, I have to do it tomorrow, I
(22:24):
have to do all this. Like you realize that these
things take time. Yes, and you've got to let you
know the brand grow. Yes. And that's when I tell
a lot of other founders when they asked about, oh
my gosh, how did you find out about this or
how did you get into retailer? Da da da da,
And I'm just like, if I would have back in
October told Target, oh yeah, I'm completely ready to be
(22:48):
in store, I knew that I would have set myself
up for failure. And I just help found you don't
have to jump on every opportunity that comes to you
in the moment, like there are going to be these
amazing things that come to you, and you're going to
be so excited it's gonna be unbelievable. But I am
a strong believer and what's meant for you is meant
for you, and it will come back to you in
(23:09):
due time. And so I think it's just you doing
your due diligence. If you want to ensure you have
that relationship for the future when you're ready, to make
sure you're doing everything to maintain that relationship. And it's
just I mean, all partnerships are not good partnerships. All
money is not good money. So just being wise and
knowing being selective, just don't say yes to everything. And
(23:31):
what's your advice to people that are listening that says
I want to be a brand founder, I want to
brand what's your advice to them? My biggest advice is
to just do it. I it's so easy to get
stuck in your head and to think you have to
put out this perfect brand and have to have perfect
package in the perfect website, and when you do that,
(23:51):
you prevent yourself from ever launching. Like, if you do that,
you're always going to stop yourself and you're never going
to put it out. And I say, put it out
into the world and see how it's received and then
go from there. And and know that I mean I start,
I've gone through four different rebrands of packaging, So don't
get so caught up on colors and packaging and design
(24:13):
and this. Really think about the product that you're creating,
the solution you're solving, and the quality that you're providing,
like those that's what's most important. Let that speak for
your brand first, and then you can go back and
do like the cosmetic stuff. Um. And then I always say,
just we we tend to see the bad in the situation,
(24:35):
like if I what if I launch and I lose money?
But if I launch and no one purchases, instead of
reaching and thinking about the good. If I launch and
someone tells me that I really solved this problem for them.
If I launch and it takes off, So I say,
you know, don't let fear overwhelm you. I have this
quote from last year that I would have to say
(24:56):
to myself, and it's, uh, you shouldn't fear fail, but
you should be terrified of regret. And I think it's
so true because it's like, what don't you just learn
from what you do instead of sitting there like I
wish I would have done that. I wish I would
have done that. Just starting, just do it. So this
(25:19):
podcast is called Beyond the Beauty, and I'm always interested
in the simple question what does beauty mean to you?
Beauty to me is it's gonna sound sound crazy, but
it's honestly whatever I define it as in the moment.
I don't think that there's an actual definition for beauty.
It's whatever an individual wants beauty to be for them. Um.
(25:43):
I think what the the world defines as beauty, you know,
what society defines as beauty is just so wrong. And
for me, it's just what I feel inside, how I
feel about myself, how I feel about myself inside and out,
how I take care of myself, Um, the thoughts that
I have about myself. Um, So I think beauty is
(26:06):
just kind of however I feel for that day, whatever
I wanted to find beauty as that day. What is
your daily beauty routine both from makeup and skincare. My
daily routine, I wake up and I always have to
take a super hot shower. I know that's so bad,
but I have to get myself like going with a
(26:27):
hot shower, and then I have a very simple kind
of four step morning routine for my skincare. UM, I
use a lot of very simple clean products. I do
my cleans, my tone. UM, I hydrate with a moisturizer,
and then I top it off with my sunscreen. We
(26:47):
have to wear sunscreen. People, Please wear sunscreen, even if
it's cloudy outside. Please wear sunscreen. Even if you're in
your house, Please wear sunscreen. Uh. And then my makeup
is so easy. I usually apply my hydrating foundation from
range with my hands or with a sponge. For the day, UM,
throw on my golden hour highlight. UM. I always have
(27:08):
my wing eye. So definitely the black liner is my thing.
Some clear glass and I'm get to go. So what
about too many bad habits that you think really getting
the way of your beauty? You know what my bad
habit is not drinking enough water. Like sometimes I will
get so lost in what I'm doing in the day
(27:29):
and I'll look up and I'm like, oh my god,
I had one glass of water today. I only had glass.
I only had a glass of water with my breakfast,
or I only had tea at breakfast. I have not
had water throughout the day. And that is that's so terrible.
I find that I drink one or two glasses of
water before I do anything in the morning. It sets
the tone for the rest of the day. Yeah, that's
(27:50):
made a big help. But speaking of health, what is
your health diet and exercise life like, oh, exercise life.
Will have to come back to that. Diet wise, I
actually became Peskyterian around four years ago. I cut out dairy,
(28:10):
like completely cut out dairy this year, and um, I
just made that change because moving down south from New York,
New York, it's open access to whatever fresh food that
you want to eat. I already was eating a lot
of seafood and vegetables because that's what was easily accessible.
When I moved on to Atlanta. It is very neat
(28:32):
heavy down here. There's a chicken restaurant every corner. Just
you eat chicken for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And I
was overloading on it. And I felt a complete shift
in my body. I was sluggish, I was like moody.
It just I wasn't projective until I decided to completely
cut out meat. Um but I couldn't give up seafood.
(28:54):
I just te cre it is my life, and so
I held on the seafood, and then with the dairy,
I found out that the day was contributing to my
acne into my exma um, and it was also making
me very tired and sluggish, and so I cut that
out and I saw such a huge change. And the
cocktail of choice, Oh, cocktail of choices definitely tequila with
(29:17):
ginger beer and lime. It's kind of like a Moscow
mile um or I reached for red wine. Okay, Well,
everything you're doing seems to be working. I am really
proud of you. I love your enthusiasm, I love your tenacity.
I see, as I did from day one, so many
(29:38):
good things for you, and I want everyone to know
you and and you know we want to learn from you,
so keep teaching. Oh thank you, Bobby, and thank you
so much for just being a huge inspiration your own entrepreneur.
You worship journey and what you did. You saw a
void in the cosmetics industry and he created that, I believe,
right out of it. Out of your home as well.
(29:59):
I did my kitchen. Yeah, yes, in your kitchen, and
as I mentioned before, always making sure to include black
models in your campaigns and creating shades for us. That's
pretty significant. And just thank you for taking me on
as MNTE. It's so huge. It's so huge that I
can come to you for advice and come to you
for strategy, and it's it's major to meis and thank
(30:22):
you for having me my pleasure and I'll be back
at you asking you for some you know too, So
thanks so much for talking to us today. For more
podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app,
Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Beyond the Beauty is a production of I Heart Radio.
I'm your host Bobby Brown. Alicia's God is the founder
of Range Beauty. There's so much excitement around her brand.
(00:23):
It is exactly what is needed right now. I think
it's amazing that there's a clean option for foundation that
women of color can go to to get the right
foundation with the right formula. And that is what it
made me so excited about Alicia's God who created this
brand for a hundred and fifty dollars out of her
living room. And I'm watching her grow before my eyes
(00:47):
and really see a need and fill it. And I
love talking to her. I love watching her and I'm
really looking forward to asking her what's happening now? Hey, Alicia,
how are you? Hi? Bobby, and well, how are you you.
It's so nice to talk to you. And I get
the pleasure of seeing because we're recording this over zoom,
and I was, you're so beautiful, and oh, thank you.
(01:10):
You don't look dressed or anything, you know, never let
them see sweat. I guess, thank you so much for
having me. It's it's really an honor. Thank you, and
you are right now in Atlanta. I am I am
in my home in Atlanta. I'll head to the office
later today. But yeah, but but but I will say,
(01:34):
you are a Jersey girl. Yes. So, my mom's side
of the family is from Jersey Shore. My dad's side
of the family is from New York, so I'm split
between them. And so I get my seafood from the Shore.
I get my city like from New York. So, and
how long have you lived in Atlanta. It's been about
(01:56):
five years now since I moved to Atlanta. I actually
left for Glynn to move to Atlanta to start my business.
And when did you first have the idea for Range Beauty?
When did it even come to you that there is
a need for this? This was back in like, I
originally went to Virginia Attack for fashion design and merchandising.
(02:19):
After graduation, I went to New York worked lots of
different roles in the fashion industry um and throughout the
course of those roles, I often found my side myself
behind the scenes, and I noticed that black models were
coming to set with their own makeup kids. And it
didn't really strike me as anything shocking at first, because
(02:41):
we often would include little notes with our cast and
cause like make sure you bring, you know, a new draw,
make sure you bring miss to be prepared. And so
I thought it was just kind of a model thing,
and I finally just I was so curious. I just asked,
and a model explained the story about how a makeup
art as flat outside to her, I can't do the
(03:02):
look that the designer is requesting because I don't have
any products in my kit for your skin tone. And
her telling me that story, and just her explaining how
she felt so problematic and she felt embarrassed and she
thought it was her responsibility to make sure she came
prepared to set now with things that were as close
as a mutch to your skin tone as possible. It
(03:23):
just kind of started the wheel to turn in my mind.
And I thought about my own journey with makeup at
the time, and it was really not a real journey.
I was an eyeliner and mascara girl, because you don't
have to worry about your skin tone with that. You
can just go and makout one color and you're fine. Uh.
And so when she told me about that, I just
(03:45):
started thinking, you know, why do I have this this,
Why do I feel this way about makeup? And why
is it so difficult for us to find things for
our skin tone. And then for me at the time,
I dealt with really bad excellent acne. Why can't I
find products that don't inflame? This? These issues for me,
and so I really started. The seed was planted, and
(04:07):
I just started researching and thinking about what my dreamline
would be if I created a makeup line. So it
is a true you started this makeup line with a
hundred and fifty dollars. I did so being in New
York at the time, I did not have any savings.
I was just paying rent. I was living in the
New York lifestyle, you know. Uh. And so a big
(04:28):
thing for me was when I started, I wanted to
make sure I kept my cost very low. I didn't
want to be in the whole off the bat, I
didn't want to over extend myself financially. And so when
I was looking for manufacturers and I started, Google was
my best friend, by the way, at the time, I
just googled everything, and I found out that there are
(04:49):
manufacturers who have um m ocus minimum order quantities that
you have to hit and it's usually a very high
dollar amount. And so that was on my checklis off.
What I wanted a manufacturer. I wanted someone who would
be flexible with me not having that huge access to
capital off the bat, and I found them in a
manufacturer who I still work with today, who uh they're there.
(05:13):
MC was just a hundred and fifty dollars and you
were able to just kind of get what it was above.
You could just example whatever you wanted for that amount,
and I was able to create the first few shades
of the line with a hundred fifty dollars. That's amazing.
That that is amazing, and that's resourceful. But I also
wanted to tell everybody how we met. You tell the
(05:36):
story of how we met. Well, I received a shocking
d M from Bobby Brown herself, and it was a
GM from you saying that you see what I'm doing, Um,
you like what I'm doing, and if you could offer
any advice or we have any assistance, to just let
you know. And for me, there have been a lot
(05:59):
of when people say that and then you try to
reach out to them and they're like, I sent you
a message, that was it, And so I replied back
and I just you know, thank you, and I admire
you because you are one of the few makeup brands
who have created with black women in mind since the beginning.
But I replied and I was like, yeah, I would
love you know, I would love to talk to you
(06:20):
and get to ments for you. And you're replying with
your phone number call me any time, and I I
had to call my mom. I called my mom. I
told her that I had Bobby Brown's cell phone number
and that we were going to talk about range. And
so that's just kind of how our relationship started. And
(06:41):
I was so, you know, just so shocked, and and
the call that we had and the advice that you
gave in you offering to help me on this journey
and to be my mentor, was just let's even today,
I'm like I can say Bobby Proud is my mentor.
That's crazy. And just for people always ask me, how
(07:02):
do you find a mentor? And you know, I always say,
the relationships have to be organic, it has to just happen.
I literally found you through I don't even know where.
And I'm like, wow, I like what she's doing because
the foundations look like the people's skip and and and
it wasn't like there's no crazy makeup, there's no crazy
like you know, changing colors or contours fresh and as
(07:26):
the as the makeup all clean. Yes, so it's clean
beauty for the forgotten sheets. And that was a huge
thing for me because a lot of the ingredients that
would inflame my excellent acne um, like tow or fragrance
or synthetic guyes. I just knew that I didn't want
that in my line if I couldn't use the product,
and I didn't want to sell it. And so our
(07:48):
ingredients are clean. We mostly utilize botanicals to help with
UM acne and XML, like Clenchila flower. It came meal
and um. The part about the forgotten sheets big to
me because when I was researching about what making something
clean and and why else would that be important? And
I found that Black women are exposed to twice the
(08:10):
amount of toxic beauty products, mostly due to the lack
of clean alternatives in our skin tones. And so I
knew that I wanted to make sure I provided foundations
that looked like our skin, that felt like skin. It
wasn't kicking up and building up on your face. I
wanted you to feel like you didn't have anything on.
I just went to enhance what you already have not
cover it up, but you've had some you know, very cool,
(08:33):
interesting successes. You know, talk a little bit of how
you started growing your business and you know how you
got on the map and how you figured things out.
So really I started a soft launch. I call it
a soft launch. I launched in May of seventeen. It
was a completely different name and it was a completely
different concept that I had. The original concept was just
(08:55):
to focus on brown to deeper brunch sheets. So at
first I only had about sixteen shades that were just
honestly brawn to deeper brown shades. UM. And I first,
let's at the price at twelve dollars because I wanted
clean Beauty to become known as accessible and as affordable,
(09:16):
because that's not often what we see clean beauty as.
And so I launched, and I was about and so
for maybe two months. UM, I had a little bit
of legal trouble. In the midst of that, I actually
had someone say, oh, your name is already taken, like
you need to change your name. I didn't, okay, And
(09:37):
then UM, it just kind of works out because at
the same time, I didn't really like the concept that
the brand was developing. It didn't like the voice that
I was putting out, and so I went back to
the drawing board and I relaunched in August eighteen as
Range Beauty and really pushing the concept of UH makeup
with skin care benefits and making an inclusive range and
(09:58):
having more products. So they Noble And a few months
later I was contacted by a buyer for a Target,
which was I again it was the buyer actually deened
me and I thought it was spam, and she said
she asked him an email and that she would email me,
and she sent me an email and it was it
(10:19):
was an actual Target email. And said, Okay, this person
is real and I looked her up on linked and
it's like, no, this is the real buyer for Target.
This is crazy. Uh. And they actually came to Atlanta
and I presented the line to them and we had
a very open conversation just about what it takes to
be in retail, what that means for you as a
found or what it means for you as a brand,
And obviously I just let me know, this is amazing,
(10:42):
but I'm not ready at this time. But that opportunity
really lit a fire underneath me to want to take
this kind of from hobby and side hustle mode and
build it into a real brand and real business. And
so I continued that conversation and relationship with Target throughout
the years. I went to headquarters for a visit. We
did the Black Business Fair that they have every February there.
(11:06):
I did the Target Essence Market this past December. I
did the Target Takeoff Beauty program with them this past March,
and just made sure to maintain that contact with them,
ask them for advice um and and just different scenarios
like that where I realized that when I was putting
out of quality and was actually a necessity and really
(11:27):
filling in this this major gap, and those little instances
just kept me going. My first pitch competition, I pitched
at SPANKS headquarters and it was just it was so
everything every time I would be in these type of rooms,
and it's just so validating to know that I made
it this far. And then each time something else would happen,
(11:50):
then they comprec you can't beeeve I made it this far.
And so it's been really cool just having these things
pop up that you maybe don't normally have during your
entrepreneur a ship journey, but you are self funded, correct,
I am self funded. Yes, so I'm self funded. I
actually just left my nine to five in December last year.
(12:11):
So for most of the time that Range has been
an operation, I was working my nine five. Any extra funds,
any extra time that I had, I poured into Range
because I knew I wanted to leave eventually and and
take this on full time, and so I took the
leap in December of last year. I was just like, Wow,
this is that this is definitely meant to happen with
(12:32):
the timing. But I've been self funded. I do a
lot of pitch competitions, a lot of grant competitions. I
knew that I did not want to take on debt um.
I do not have any outstanding business loans or outstanding
credit card debt or anything for Range. It's been everything
(12:52):
for my own pockets from grants and then our profits
from the company I put right back into the business
um and just building it, just building it as I can.
(13:21):
So you've got foundations, we've got what else? So we
have foundations in twenty one shades and three to four undertones.
We have a bronzing primer, we have translucent powder, and
four shades. We have a dual Golden Hour which is
it's a dual I highlights. You can use us eyeshadow
(13:43):
and as a highlighter in five sheets. And then we
have the Body Full Body Glow, which is a face
and body oil. My faith, Yes, I love the products
and your foundation really is amazing formula. It's not share,
but it's not dense. It covers and and and the range.
(14:04):
First of all, I can't even believe that you have
the name range, which is incredible, but your range is
spot on. But you talk about different undertone, so I
see I mean, I see yellow, I see orange, I
see pink. What's the fourth? So we have blue um
and our fair sheets, we also have a peach undertone.
(14:25):
We have all of undertone so each category, so we
have light to deeper brown. Each category has three to
four different undertones and those were picked from just kind
of doing a little market research. Hearing from fair skinned
women that it's so hard for me to find a
peachy undertone. It's so hard for me to find an
olive undertone UM. And then for the deeper brown ladies,
(14:47):
hearing all all we have is red undertones. Where is
our yellow? Where's are coolers, our neutral, so it's about
three to four per category. And how like do you go?
We go pretty fair. So we are pretty fair. And
that's just when I originally started my thought process was
like my shade are deeper. But then I wanted to
(15:09):
open it up because for one, black women, black people,
we come in all different types of sheets, Like I
have a cousin that is your shade body, so it's
like we come in all different sheets. And then it's
also to open up to white women whoever, women of
color whoever, who also have trouble finding their shade, their undertone,
or finding products um that irritate their skin. So I
(15:33):
wanted to make sure that we were inclusive. So we
got come pretty fair. It's pretty deep, yeah, and it's
and it's pretty amazing. As a makeup artist, I have
traveled anywhere from Mexico to the UK and you just
have no idea. There's you don't even know what people's
backgrounds are, you know, depending, So I think your range
(15:54):
could definitely suit many different many different skin colors. And
do you have other products on the pipe line that
you're like ready to launch, dying to create? Yes, I
have three that I am so ready to launch, and
I was so sad because I wanted to launch one
of them this year. Covid really stopped that in the trucks.
(16:14):
But um, we have Concealer coming up, we have Bronze,
They're coming up, and then we have a liquid blush
coming out. Yeah, a liquid blush. Yeah, yeah, so cool.
You're very good on social and you seem to have
a very engaged community, So talk a little bit about
(16:37):
how important that is in your business. It's so important
to me to have community because I think even in
my earlier years, like in my early twenties, when I
was starting to try and maneuver, what does the makeup
industry look like? What does it say to me? We
rarely had any brands that had a face to the brand,
(16:58):
that had someone that spoke to so it was usually
a large corporation. There wasn't any genuine brand voice there.
There wasn't any genuine connection being built there. I was
just kind of like, give me your money and go.
And so it's really important to me to have this
community to not only build me up and and validate
what I'm doing, but also when I see them in
(17:19):
the complements talking to each other and they're talking, Oh
my gosh, you know, I had really bad exma. I
was told that I wouldn't be able to wear makeup.
And seeing someone comment and saying, oh my gosh, that
was the same thing I went through. And just seeing
and I'm give each other advice and telling them how
to use the products and and what they do. It's
so amazing to see kind of like this family that
we've built, and it's it's a big thing for me
(17:41):
to engage with them. Also, um, my personal page is
also open. I integrate a lot of things from my
personal page onto the range page and a lot of
things from the Range page onto my personal page. I
have customers who d m me on my personal page,
who support me on my personal page. So it's just
it's it's major to have that community, especially when you're
(18:02):
an entrepreneur. It can be such a lonely journey at times,
and so having a audience is not just your customers,
but feel like your real supporters. I think it's crucial
to your success as an indie founder. What do you
think about being a black entrepreneur. Do you think that
is something that you have to overcome or you or
do you see the positive strength that comes with it.
(18:26):
It is definitely something you have to overcome. I think
when I started this journey and it really opened my
eyes to the things that black black entrepreneurs go through.
For one, the huge stigma around a black owned brand
that it's not as good as quality as the other brand,
that it's not as professional UM, that it's only it's
(18:50):
black owned, so it's only for black people. So all
these different stigmas and stereotypes around UM being a black
lead brand was a hurdle to over UM. And speaking
in the beginning two different UM investors at the time
just to kind of get a feel of where I
would need to be if I wanted to get an investor,
(19:11):
and seeing that a lot of them were white men
who did not understand what it was that I was
trying to do. Who would ask me things? And I'm
just like, I wonder if you ask other Graham's the
same questions, like what kind of things UM? I like
to kind of give a comparison. I had a call
with a black woman investor and our conversation was really
(19:31):
just about what it is that I created, who is
my audience, how has my audience received it? She had
her own research done about the brand about me, and
it was it wasn't even like some of your numbers.
And so my cause with white men would mostly be well,
what's your customer actorisition? Right? And I'm just like, do
(19:52):
you want to know what I even create? When I mean,
what do you want to know what my customer is? Like?
Just these these questions Where'm so you don't even know
what it is that I do. You just want to
know what my numbers are? Off that um. And then
seeing some of the other brands that they would invest
in and seeing that their footprint wasn't even near what
it was that I was able to achieve and really
(20:14):
made me back away from that world and just really
taking I mean, for me, it's just I feel like
black women entrepreneurs have to work four times as hard.
We just do and we get a sliver of what
everyone else gets only I think it's like point zero
two percent of us receive investments UM, and we're putting
out these quality brands and products, and so it's it's
(20:38):
always going to be as a black entrepreneur, especially as
a black man entrepreneur, as having to overcome and us
having to get creative and resourceful and and just make
sure that we're being seen and received and making sure
that we validate ourselves for others basically, and you've also
got to makeup artist that I'm a makeup artist for myself.
(20:59):
I thought you are a pro no and that, and
that's honestly what. That's another you know, inspiration behind the line.
As you mentioned before, our makeup is pretty much like
stripped down. I am not the super glam conto girl,
like this is my everyday tank of makeup um, and
(21:19):
so if you are, I probably wouldn't have damned you.
So I think we're on the same lines of just
you know, it's kind of like your skin but better,
just a little bit of that whole mindset, the makeup,
the no makeup makeup look. I love fresh, dewy, clean
skin and and I don't get me wrong, I love
a high glam moment. I love a go all out
(21:41):
type of moment. But I'm not that girl, and so
I feel I felt like it would have been weird
if I made a line that was like that. I
hear there's some exciting news about a new retail partner,
so I'd love to hear. I'm dying to hear we
actually entered Target dot com, and I am so excited.
It's been such a great relationship with Target. They have
(22:03):
been so supportive of me, and I'm happy to have
them as my first retailer. And I'm excited to start
off on dot com this year, kind of learn the ropes,
see where we land, and then make sure that we're
ready to go for in store next year. Well, I'm
I'm absolutely amazed how you're not one of these founders
that are like, I have to do it tomorrow, I
(22:24):
have to do all this. Like you realize that these
things take time. Yes, and you've got to let you
know the brand grow. Yes. And that's when I tell
a lot of other founders when they asked about, oh
my gosh, how did you find out about this or
how did you get into retailer? Da da da da,
And I'm just like, if I would have back in
October told Target, oh yeah, I'm completely ready to be
(22:48):
in store, I knew that I would have set myself
up for failure. And I just help found you don't
have to jump on every opportunity that comes to you
in the moment, like there are going to be these
amazing things that come to you, and you're going to
be so excited it's gonna be unbelievable. But I am
a strong believer and what's meant for you is meant
for you, and it will come back to you in
(23:09):
due time. And so I think it's just you doing
your due diligence. If you want to ensure you have
that relationship for the future when you're ready, to make
sure you're doing everything to maintain that relationship. And it's
just I mean, all partnerships are not good partnerships. All
money is not good money. So just being wise and
knowing being selective, just don't say yes to everything. And
(23:31):
what's your advice to people that are listening that says
I want to be a brand founder, I want to
brand what's your advice to them? My biggest advice is
to just do it. I it's so easy to get
stuck in your head and to think you have to
put out this perfect brand and have to have perfect
package in the perfect website, and when you do that,
(23:51):
you prevent yourself from ever launching. Like, if you do that,
you're always going to stop yourself and you're never going
to put it out. And I say, put it out
into the world and see how it's received and then
go from there. And and know that I mean I start,
I've gone through four different rebrands of packaging, So don't
get so caught up on colors and packaging and design
(24:13):
and this. Really think about the product that you're creating,
the solution you're solving, and the quality that you're providing,
like those that's what's most important. Let that speak for
your brand first, and then you can go back and
do like the cosmetic stuff. Um. And then I always say,
just we we tend to see the bad in the situation,
(24:35):
like if I what if I launch and I lose money?
But if I launch and no one purchases, instead of
reaching and thinking about the good. If I launch and
someone tells me that I really solved this problem for them.
If I launch and it takes off, So I say,
you know, don't let fear overwhelm you. I have this
quote from last year that I would have to say
(24:56):
to myself, and it's, uh, you shouldn't fear fail, but
you should be terrified of regret. And I think it's
so true because it's like, what don't you just learn
from what you do instead of sitting there like I
wish I would have done that. I wish I would
have done that. Just starting, just do it. So this
(25:19):
podcast is called Beyond the Beauty, and I'm always interested
in the simple question what does beauty mean to you?
Beauty to me is it's gonna sound sound crazy, but
it's honestly whatever I define it as in the moment.
I don't think that there's an actual definition for beauty.
It's whatever an individual wants beauty to be for them. Um.
(25:43):
I think what the the world defines as beauty, you know,
what society defines as beauty is just so wrong. And
for me, it's just what I feel inside, how I
feel about myself, how I feel about myself inside and out,
how I take care of myself, Um, the thoughts that
I have about myself. Um, So I think beauty is
(26:06):
just kind of however I feel for that day, whatever
I wanted to find beauty as that day. What is
your daily beauty routine both from makeup and skincare. My
daily routine, I wake up and I always have to
take a super hot shower. I know that's so bad,
but I have to get myself like going with a
(26:27):
hot shower, and then I have a very simple kind
of four step morning routine for my skincare. UM, I
use a lot of very simple clean products. I do
my cleans, my tone. UM, I hydrate with a moisturizer,
and then I top it off with my sunscreen. We
(26:47):
have to wear sunscreen. People, Please wear sunscreen, even if
it's cloudy outside. Please wear sunscreen. Even if you're in
your house, Please wear sunscreen. Uh. And then my makeup
is so easy. I usually apply my hydrating foundation from
range with my hands or with a sponge. For the day, UM,
throw on my golden hour highlight. UM. I always have
(27:08):
my wing eye. So definitely the black liner is my thing.
Some clear glass and I'm get to go. So what
about too many bad habits that you think really getting
the way of your beauty? You know what my bad
habit is not drinking enough water. Like sometimes I will
get so lost in what I'm doing in the day
(27:29):
and I'll look up and I'm like, oh my god,
I had one glass of water today. I only had glass.
I only had a glass of water with my breakfast,
or I only had tea at breakfast. I have not
had water throughout the day. And that is that's so terrible.
I find that I drink one or two glasses of
water before I do anything in the morning. It sets
the tone for the rest of the day. Yeah, that's
(27:50):
made a big help. But speaking of health, what is
your health diet and exercise life like, oh, exercise life.
Will have to come back to that. Diet wise, I
actually became Peskyterian around four years ago. I cut out dairy,
(28:10):
like completely cut out dairy this year, and um, I
just made that change because moving down south from New York,
New York, it's open access to whatever fresh food that
you want to eat. I already was eating a lot
of seafood and vegetables because that's what was easily accessible.
When I moved on to Atlanta. It is very neat
(28:32):
heavy down here. There's a chicken restaurant every corner. Just
you eat chicken for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And I
was overloading on it. And I felt a complete shift
in my body. I was sluggish, I was like moody.
It just I wasn't projective until I decided to completely
cut out meat. Um but I couldn't give up seafood.
(28:54):
I just te cre it is my life, and so
I held on the seafood, and then with the dairy,
I found out that the day was contributing to my
acne into my exma um, and it was also making
me very tired and sluggish, and so I cut that
out and I saw such a huge change. And the
cocktail of choice, Oh, cocktail of choices definitely tequila with
(29:17):
ginger beer and lime. It's kind of like a Moscow
mile um or I reached for red wine. Okay, Well,
everything you're doing seems to be working. I am really
proud of you. I love your enthusiasm, I love your tenacity.
I see, as I did from day one, so many
(29:38):
good things for you, and I want everyone to know
you and and you know we want to learn from you,
so keep teaching. Oh thank you, Bobby, and thank you
so much for just being a huge inspiration your own entrepreneur.
You worship journey and what you did. You saw a
void in the cosmetics industry and he created that, I believe,
right out of it. Out of your home as well.
(29:59):
I did my kitchen. Yeah, yes, in your kitchen, and
as I mentioned before, always making sure to include black
models in your campaigns and creating shades for us. That's
pretty significant. And just thank you for taking me on
as MNTE. It's so huge. It's so huge that I
can come to you for advice and come to you
for strategy, and it's it's major to meis and thank
(30:22):
you for having me my pleasure and I'll be back
at you asking you for some you know too, So
thanks so much for talking to us today. For more
podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app,
Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.