Bold Pigments, Fast Face Makeup, and the Black-Owned Product Pipeline ft. Melissa Butler
Naked Beauty
The Naked Beauty Podcast
4.5 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 20 February 2023
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Recently touted as the largest Black-owned beauty company at Target, Melissa Butler’s Lip Bar is truly in a league of its own. But Melissa’s rise to the top was anything but linear. Starting her career out on Wall Street, the Detroit native quickly grew tired of the pressure to represent her entire community in predominantly white spaces. And as a lifelong beauty lover, she couldn’t help notice parallels when it came to diversity and inclusion within the cosmetic industry. From there Lip Bar was born. Tune in as we break down the intersection of colorism and beauty, the importance of giving grace to Black founders, launching her new Gen-Z beauty brand Thread, and so much more. Enjoy!
Links to Products/Resources Mentioned: The Lip Bar (Bawse Lady, Boy Trouble, Hot Mama), Al Jazeera Carnival, Byredo Vanille Antique, Hanae Mori
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, hello, it's Brooke DeVard and you're listening to the naked beauty podcast and I am so |
| 0:08.8 | excited about today's episode with Melissa Butler. |
| 0:12.1 | She's a Detroit native who is skillfully and strategically launched a startup beauty |
| 0:16.4 | brand, the lip bar into a nationwide phenomenon. |
| 0:20.2 | Now you have to know the lip bar is one of the, actually it is the highest selling black |
| 0:26.4 | own cosmetics brand at Target. |
| 0:29.0 | She's got a huge display and then she's also launched a Gen Z brand and she's introducing |
| 0:34.7 | skincare to the lip bar empire. |
| 0:37.1 | Melissa is just so impressive and it was really great talking to her about what it's been |
| 0:41.2 | like being a black woman and entrepreneur in this space, in this climate where a lot of |
| 0:45.6 | black owned brands are being purchased. |
| 0:48.1 | But also what is it like to create a brand where you see space in the market? |
| 0:53.2 | She was not seeing that beauty was inclusive. |
| 0:56.1 | She was not seeing that women with darker skin were encouraged to wear bold lip shades |
| 1:00.0 | and she said, I'm going to change that. |
| 1:01.8 | I am going to leave my incredibly well-being job and start this brand in my kitchen and |
| 1:08.2 | raise money and just really inspiring hearing how she was able to make the dream in her |
| 1:13.1 | head become a reality. |
| 1:14.4 | I know you guys are going to love hearing from her. |
| 1:17.9 | One of my favorite quotes from Melissa is that everyone deserves to have representation |
| 1:21.4 | and without it we're left seeking validation. |
| 1:24.2 | So it was this belief that she thought, okay, I'm going to make this amazing vegan lipstick |
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