After Aishetu “Aisha” Fatima Dozie found out last fall that her brand, Bossy Cosmetics, would be launching on QVC, she began weeping.
The tears were prompted by a mix of feelings: surprise, joy and relief. Like a lot of beauty businesses, Bossy Cosmetics ran into roadblocks during the pandemic. “We had such severe supply chain challenges in 2020, as everybody did, and I was really just like, well, will we still exist as a company the way the world is turning?” reflects Dozie. “Just imagine, September of last year, I’ve got three kids I’m homeschooling, I’m trying to build this business, and we’re still coming out of the whole racial reckoning, and it was a miserable time to be honest. It was a miserable time to be a Black woman, period.”
Winning The Big Find, QVC’s annual search for emerging brands, landed Bossy Cosmetics a spot on QVC’s website, and the opportunity to reach the network’s audience of over 90 million homes. For its forthcoming QVC launch, Dozie developed four limited-edition long-wear lipsticks, including two neutrals (Soft Power and Graceful) and two bolds (Resilient and Tenacious). The lipstick names pay homage to working women like Dozie dealing with a host of struggles amid the pandemic.
“Many of us who are moms have been homeschooling our kids while running businesses. There are many women losing their jobs. Many women having to take multiple jobs while managing kids,” says Dozie. “Those four words were words that I really wanted to dedicate to women out there who still use lipstick and makeup to bring them joy. I really wanted to be a part of that process of getting through these difficult days and reminding them to call to mind resilience, tenacity, grace and soft power.”
Bossy Cosmetics’ core customers are women between the ages of 25 and 45 years old not afraid to identify as ambitious. “She enjoys being beautiful, but for a purpose,” says Dozie, pointing out there’s significant overlap between Bossy Cosmetics’ consumers and QVC watchers. “They’re very knowledgeable women. They have earning power, but they’re also very particular about the types of products they bring into their homes, and use on themselves and their families.” Dozie adds Bossy Cosmetics isn’t “only about women wearing lipstick or wearing eyeshadow or eyeliner, but we’re also about her whole self, how she shows up, how she takes up space, how she uses her voice for change and how she levels up in her career.”
Bossy Cosmetics is currently available on Amazon and Thirteen Lune. The brand will enter JC Penney’s stores as part of Thirteen Lune’s partnership with the retailer. Dozie describes her distribution approach as methodical. “I want to be smart so that I can have better products, better content, better services,” she says. For now, Dozie is generally avoiding huge brick-and-mortar retailers out of concern they could stretch her company thin. Of QVC, she says, “They understand that we’re a small brand, we’re learning, we’re leveling up. I don’t have a budget of five distributors and supply chain people. I don’t have that, so I need to take my time to build that capability.”
Bossy Cosmetics founder Aishetu “Aisha” Fatima Dozie
Dozie has a similarly slow and steady approach to product expansion. “I remember speaking to a big retailer, and they were like, ‘When are you making foundation? When are you doing this? When are you doing that?’ And I’m like, ‘You know, for me to give you hundreds of thousands of units of all these things, that’s a $3 million bill. I don’t have that,’” she says. Bossy Cosmetics released its first eyeshadow palette, $25 Style Meets Substance, this year, and has two other versions with blush and highlighter in the pipeline for 2022. Eyeliner and a reformulated version of lipgloss are in the works, too. The brand’s Power Woman Essentials Bullet Lipsticks are its bestsellers. Dozie says, “It’s very important that we’re comfortable and know what we’re doing, and that our customers really like what we produce.”
The company has survived off of $500,000 since its launch two and a half years ago. Dozie shares one of the hardest aspects of spearheading a bootstrapped brand is a lack of capital. “I don’t have millions of dollars to run Facebook ads. I don’t have money to hire a PR agency, and the cost of acquisition for a customer is so high right now,” she says. In a scrappy manner, Dozie has created newsletter and Instagram Live content to grow Bossy Cosmetics’ community. “That’s really been helpful in solidifying who we are as a brand,” she says. “We’re more than just cosmetics. We go deeper than that in terms of the story of who we are.” The company has also kept up with its Beauty Meets Wisdom program providing customers purchasing over $50 worth of products with a free hour of coaching services on topics such as pubic speaking, career pivots and marketing.
“If I was going to give up every time I got punched, this business wouldn’t have been more than 6 months old.”
Dozie has tried unsuccessfully to fundraise in the past. “I haven’t had thousands of conversations, but I’ve had a number, and it’s either really pleasant where they’re really nice to you and they just come back and they say, no, or I’ve had somebody say to me, ‘Oh, you know, we’re already invested in a diverse founder, so we’re OK,’” she recounts. “It’s really hard for you as a business owner who is emotional about your business by default, right? It’s like your child. So, to dress your child up, drop everything else you’re doing and constantly be told, ‘Yeah, your baby’s not cute, it’s very demoralizing.’”
Instead of focusing on the money everyone else seems to be getting, Dozie instead focuses on Bossy Cosmetics’ customers—she calls them the brand’s Evangelists—who fund and spread the word about its products. “If I was going to give up every time I got punched, this business wouldn’t have been more than 6 months old,” she says. “I’ve been punched multiple times, rejected, and you just keep going. You celebrate the wins and the biggest celebration is your customers. Literally, every single order you get is a huge celebration.”
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