The Lip Bar: Melissa Butler

How I Built This with Guy Raz

Guy Raz | Wondery

Business

4.8 • 31.1K Ratings

🗓️ 23 November 2020

⏱️ 82 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

While working long hours as a Wall Street analyst, Melissa Butler started making lipstick in her kitchen as a hobby. But it soon turned into an obsession, costing thousands of dollars. She was frustrated by the lack of diversity in the cosmetics industry, and as a Black woman, wanted to create lipstick colors that complimented her complexion and style. So in 2010, she launched The Lip Bar, with bold colors like green and purple, and boozy names like "Cosmo" and "Sour Apple Martini." Undeterred by a disastrous appearance on Shark Tank with her partner Rosco Spears, Melissa was motivated to pitch her lipstick to Target, and in 2016, launched a new color on Target's online store. Today, The Lip Bar has expanded to 500 Target stores, and has continued to grow a following, despite the pain points of the pandemic.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, Prime members, you can listen to how I built this early and ad-free on Amazon Music.
0:07.0	Download the app today.
0:09.0	New years is here, and with it brings the possibility of change.
0:13.0	As one behavioral scientist put it, first starts are really powerful.
0:17.0	So as you head into 2023, LifeKit is a great resource to help you plan your life and tackle changes, both big and small.
0:24.0	Listen to the LifeKit podcast from NPR.
0:27.0	Hey, really quick before we start the show, the how I built this book is now a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller.
0:35.0	So thank you to all of you who ordered it and for your support of this show.
0:40.0	If you haven't picked it up and you want to learn the secrets of how to develop an entrepreneurial mindset, how I built this, the book is for you.
0:49.0	It's now available wherever books are sold and in most countries around the world.
0:54.0	Or by visiting how I built this.com or gyros.com. And thanks.
1:01.0	When people came to my house, it was literally a lab. I definitely didn't have an apartment.
1:10.0	Everyone stows, I've lost security deposits. People would come over my house and want ice.
1:16.0	And I have no ice because my freezer is filled with lipstick molds.
1:20.0	I'm like, oh, if you want ice, you're barking up the wrong tree. I don't have ice. Have a lipstick.
1:30.0	From NPR, it's how I built this. A show about innovators, entrepreneurs, idealists, and the stories behind the movements they built here.
1:40.0	I'm Guy Raaz and on the show today, how Melissa Butler launched a lipstick brand at her kitchen stove and got it into hundreds of target stores.
1:49.0	All the while challenging an industry to change the way it thinks about color and beauty.
1:56.0	There are some industries that are really hard to break into if you're looking to start a business.
2:03.0	For example, a car company. Just think how hard that would be.
2:08.0	Aside from lots of experience and engineering know-how, you need an insane amount of money just to get it off the ground.
2:15.0	Which is why you don't see that many new car companies every year.
	...

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