This post originally appeared on Entrepreneur.com - #StartingABusiness
After overcoming challenges at a young age, the makeup mogul is living the sweet life with her cruelty-free cosmetics brand.
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A feature interview on Beyoncé’s website gave Beauty Bakerie founder and CEO Cashmere Nicole the push she needed to expand her beauty brand, but Nicole’s entrepreneurial spirit had been years in the making.
When Nicole became pregnant at 15, she worked tirelessly to put herself through school, relying on food stamps to keep her small family afloat.
While working full time as a nurse, Nicole decided to dive into the cosmetics industry, creating the brand’s now-signature Lip Whip, a favorite with celebrities like Cardi B. and Olympic gold medalist Gabby Douglas. However, her budding business was thrown a curveball when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. As a 26-year-old single mother, she battled constant fear, but her resilience would later inspire her company’s motto: Better Not Bitter.
“I just hope to continue to spread the mission of being sweet and sweeting the lives of others,” says Nicole.
Since her recovery, she has channeled her energy into creating products free of harmful chemicals that represent all skin tones and gender identities.
In 2017, Beauty Bakerie received $3 million in funding from Unilever and has since expanded its products to online shops in over 120 countries and 750 brick and mortar stores, including Ulta and Forever 21.
Nicole’s mission to spread love and give back is the key to her brand’s success. “All of us contribute to that beauty of the world, and there is no one standard for beauty,” she says. “Representing that in the brand really gives the customers a sense of home…They feel loved for just who they are.”
In this episode of How Brands Are Born, follow Nicole’s journey to sweet success and see how she overcame the odds to build a beauty empire.
How Brands Are Born is presented by Cardone Ventures, in partnership with Original Stories Media. Learn how Grant Cardone and Brandon Dawson can help your business transform and scale to 10X levels HERE.
