The Lip Bar (TLB): Melissa Butler (2020)

How I Built This with Guy Raz

Guy Raz | Wondery

Business

4.8 • 31.1K Ratings

🗓️ 3 July 2023

⏱️ 76 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—rebranded in 2021 as TLB—has expanded to stores nationwide and is now the largest Black-owned makeup brand sold in Target stores.

This episode was produced by James Delahoussaye, with music by Ramtin Arablouei.

Edited by Neva Grant, with research help from Daryth Gayles.

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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.
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0:31.0	Ah, the Bahamas.
0:34.0	What if you could hang out with celebrities living a penthouse above the crystal clear ocean with all your best friends and have it be 100% paid for?
0:42.0	FTX Founder Sam Bankman freed made that dream a reality, but US prosecutors say he was hiding a dark secret.
0:48.0	Barely 30 the young crypto billionaire became a powerful financial figure, but in just one month his exchange would collapse.
0:56.0	An SPF would find himself in handcuffs.
0:59.0	It's one of the most dramatic faults from Grace and represents one of the most spectacular failures of corporate control in American history.
1:06.0	Here exclusive tape of Sam and his former girlfriend and business partner Caroline Ellison, who later admitted something had gone very wrong inside their operation.
1:15.0	From Bloomberg and Wondery comes Spellcaster, a new six-part docu-series about the meteoric rise and fall of FTX and its founder, Sam Bankman Free.
1:24.0	Follow Spellcaster wherever you get your podcast.
1:27.0	Hey, Prime Members, you can listen to episodes ad-free on Amazon Music.
1:31.0	Download the Amazon Music app today!
1:34.0	Hey, before we start the show, a question for you.
1:37.0	Let's say you post something on social media and you get lots of great comments and reviews, but there's one, just one that's negative or rubs you the wrong way.
1:47.0	Do you ignore it or does it stick with you? Kind of nod you.
1:51.0	Well, I recently talked with actor Nathan Lane, who had a story just like this where one sentence in an article about him really got on his nerves.
1:59.0	And what happened next changed the entire trajectory of his acting career.
2:04.0	You can hear my conversation with Nathan Lane on my other podcast. It's called The Great Creators.
2:09.0	Just search for the great creators with GuyRaz wherever you listen to podcasts or go to thegreatcreators.com.
2:15.0	And now on to today's show.
2:22.0	Hey, everyone. So last year to mark the 10th anniversary of her beauty brand, the lip bar, Melissa Butler hung a billboard in her hometown of Detroit.
	...

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