She launched her own black-owned beauty brand with $1,500 in her pocket — now her products are on Sephora shelves.

“One of my earliest memories in the U.S. is my mother banning beauty magazines in our home. She thought the language they used was too disrespectful to women. She was right,” says Karen Young, CEO OUI People“My mother didn’t want the world to decide who we were. She wanted us to decide who we wanted to become.”

Young launched OUI the People, her beauty brand, with $1,500 in her checking account. The original products—razors—were a nod to her grandmother and uncles in Guyana. As a child, Young was in awe of their skincare routines and the joy she witnessed in those moments at the bathroom sink. Her uncles focused on shaving, while her grandmother paid special attention to her body care.

“My grandmother made sure I was covered in coconut oil,” Young says. “My family was fascinated by body care. It was an expression of self-love and caring for others. OUI the People is a celebration of that softness and strength.”

Image Source: Maria Be

Young stays committed to creating products that nourish “you” AND Your body, as an alternative of creating you are feeling inferior by using marketing terms like “ageless” and “flawless,” like those magazines her mother once shielded her from. Here are three lessons Karen Young shares on her journey to revolutionize the beauty industry.

1. Persevere in the face of setbacks

August is National Black Business Month in the US, a time when we rejoice and support over 3.5 million corporations which are black-owned. In 2004, Frederick E. Jordan partnered with John William Templeton to rework August into National Black Business Month. Jordan and Templeton wanted to focus on Black founders and encourage communities to support their businesses. And supporting Black businesses can’t be a checkbox exercise for just this month; it must be a year-round commitment.

In 2010 Jordan said Black Enterprise“It’s very difficult for black businesses to survive. Their obstacles are enormous.” Two many years later, Jordan’s comments still ring true.

Unfortunately, the decline in financing for businesses began by black people dramatically outweighs the overall decline in seed capital in the market.While total enterprise capital investment in the U.S. fell 37% last 12 months“funding for startups founded by black people has fallen by as much as 71%” in accordance with Crunchbase data. In 2023, total U.S. investment in Black-founded startups was the lowest since startups raised just $582 million in 2016.

“There’s a clear recession within a recession that black women founders are particularly struggling with,” Young says. “The recovery of capital has been visible and painful for many of us.”

As a black female founder, Young also shares her experiences with stereotypes encountered during meetings with investors.

“There’s this underlying disbelief that a woman of color can build a company that appeals to all consumers. There’s something suspicious about that, that only other people of color will find what we’re building valuable, or that it’s not a big enough market,” Young says. “Thankfully, our data shows that’s not true. And it can be hard when someone comes to the table with deeply ingrained false perceptions, and we persevere.”

2. Use the power of packaging

Young spent 4 years at Estée Lauder on the packaging design team, raising her hand in many projects, all the time asking questions and studying all the pieces she could.

“I stuck my nose in wherever I could to learn as much as I could as quickly as I could,” Young says. “I absolutely fell in love with branding at Lauder, especially the packaging. It’s the final, final step in history, and sometimes it’s overlooked.”

OUI the People’s packaging across its product lines is daring, distinctive, and refreshing. It’s clear what the product does and why the consumer would buy it. Young advises founders to rely on the power of packaging; not ignore it or dismiss it.

“You might only have two to three inches of space,” he says. “The customer picks up the package, and that’s the moment of truth. The contents of the package can make or break the decision to buy your product.”

3. Avoid the trap of launching too many products at once

“One mistake I made was launching too many products at once,” Young says. “I reminded myself that customers can only consume so much. As a founder, every product I launch is an act of love and dedication. But the consumer journey usually starts with one product.”

Young marvels at the beauty industry; how quickly it evolves and how many innovations are coming to market. And as a direct-to-consumer brand, Young says it’s easier to bring a great concept to market relatively quickly. She recalls launching multiple body scrubs based on market trends. A preferred influencer named one of the scrubs her favorite, and sales at Sephora skyrocketed. Young needed to make the difficult decision to discontinue one of the products; it wasn’t profitable.

“Don’t be afraid to do one thing very well,” Young says.

OUI the People is now expected to double in size this 12 months, with the brand expanding its store count from 260 to greater than 600. Young has raised enterprise capital before, but time is of the essence, and without an additional infusion of capital, it was difficult to satisfy distribution opportunities.

“Just as we’ve had incredible growth with retail, the door has been closed on funding. We’re setting the pace, including saying no to certain opportunities that could put too much stress on the business. Despite the current climate, I know we’ll persevere,” Young says.