Celebrating International Women's Month this year in 2020 feels different than any other year for me. Back in school, I remember learning about incredible women who made history such as Harriet Tubman, Amelia Earhart and Rosa Parks. I was always inspired by the women who stood up for their truth even when society told them otherwise.
Fast forward to 2020, we've come a long way! From gender equality to racial equality, the fight is still there but great leaps are being made toward a better and more equal future. That's not to say there aren't any challenges - especially for women business owners and entrepreneurs. According to Fundera, there are currently 114% more women entrepreneurs than there were 20 years ago, and yet only 2% of all women-owned businesses ever make it to the $1 million mark in revenue.
As we start off the new decade and celebrate women and their accomplishments, I'd like to reflect on the past 10 years. On today's post, I highlight 4 women who have disrupted the beauty and fashion industries in the past decade.
Emily Weiss turned her popular beauty blog into a billion dollar brand - all within the last decade. Back in 2010, Weiss worked as a fashion assistant at Vogue where she was surrounded by inspiration. "I was surrounded by so much magic… All these models and makeup artists," says Weiss in an interview with Fashionista. The female founder also noted her time at Vogue was a way for her to see how a well-organized, successful workplace runs.
It was her last year working at Vogue, when Weiss was inspired to create her own blog, Into The Gloss. Weiss described the blog as her passion - waking up at 5AM every morning to post the beauty secrets and routines of models and celebrities. The blog’s popularity grew and Weiss soon cultivated a community of beauty lovers and fanatics like herself. With the success of her blog, Weiss took on a new venture - Glossier, a beauty brand aimed to enhance natural beauty rather than cover it up.
Since launching in 2014, Glossier has transformed the beauty industry in such a way that it has built a community around its minimalist brand. Think Supreme mixed with early American Apparel, add some millennial pink, and you've got a recipe for Glossier.
Glossier is a symbol, it's a statement, it's even a movement. Just one look at their Instagram page and you'll find user generated content from happy, dewy-faced followers around the world. And speaking of community, that's what this beauty brand had over their corporate competitors. In its early stages, Glossier created a message board for it's top 100 customers where they communicated over 1,000 messages weekly, gaining valuable customer insight and feedback. This quote from Buzzfeed sums it up nicely, “if brands are your friend, Glossier wants to be your BFF”.
Currently in 2020, Glossier is valued at around $1.2 billion and still making waves in the social media space.
Pat McGrath launched her beauty brand in 2016 and since launch has grown in popularity and size. Surpassing, Kylie Jenner's cosmetic line which is valued at $800 million, Pat McGrath is now being valued at $1 Billion!
If you don't know Pat McGrath, here's the rundown. McGrath is a world-famous and talented makeup artist who has worked backstage with luxury fashion brands from Prada to Versace and more. McGrath became so popular that major beauty brands like Dolce & Gabbana AND Gucci (just to name a few) hired the beauty artist to develop their product lines. With experience and passion under her belt, McGrath started her own line, Pat McGrath Labs, in 2016 and the brand continues to flourish.
Of Jamaican heritage, McGrath grew up in England and credits her mother as her inspiration and early interest in beauty. She recalls early on watching her mother sitting at her vanity playing with makeup. Back then, there were very few shades for available for her skin tone, so McGrath's mother created her own formula sometimes even using cocoa powder. In an interview with Elle, McGrath states "Make-up and the arts brought my mother such immense joy - it was her happy place - and to see how much pleasure it gave her definitely had a hand in my own obsession with beauty and fashion."
Huda Beauty is a billion dollar cosmetic line filling the shelves of Sephora’s around the world. What's the story behind the name? Meet Huda Kattan, a University of Michigan graduate who struggled to find her passion and was glad she did.
After graduating from college in 2009, Huda was feeling lost and unmotivated. That's when she promised herself that she would find work in something she was passionate about - the challenge was finding that passion. In response to her dilemma, Huda's sister urged her to pursue an old time interest in make up and attend beauty school. Huda took this advice and went on to become a makeup artist by day and beauty blogger by night.
The beauty blog became widely popular and Huda was gaining a large social media presence. This sparked the idea to build a false lashes business under her name, Huda. The Huda false lashes were a success, even sparking early interest from Kim Kardashian West. Today, Huda Beauty is a billion dollar cosmetics company and Huda’s dream for her company is to sit on the same shelf as well known products such as L'Oréal.
Founded in 2011, Stitch Fix is a popular styling and shopping service all in one app. How does the service work? To start, the user fills out their profile by answering a series of questions based on style, size, and preferences. A stylist then handpicks outfits and accessories using AI technology and personalized outfits are boxed up and shipped to the consumer. If you don't like the items you have free reign to ship them back - free of charge!
Sounds like a genius idea now, but the female founder admits it was a rough start in the beginning. In an interview with Glamour, Lake shared it was an early struggle to raise money from male investors because they didn’t feel a connection to her company. “A lot of Silicon Valley investors are a very homogenous group of white men,” she recalls. After those early challenges, Stitch Fix saw tremendous growth and still continues to grow today. Valued at around $2B, Lake has since topped the lists of Fortune's 40 Under 40, Forbes Wealthiest Self-Made Women List, and in 2017 Lake became the youngest female founder to take a company public at age 34.