The Lip Bar founder Melissa Butler describes the supply chain barriers and lack of accessible lipstick mold suppliers when starting her company in 2012.
Assertion Supported
Black women start U.S. businesses fastest but receive disproportionately low venture funding
“The reality is, guy, black women are starting businesses faster than any other group of people in this country, but we're not getting funding, and also, because we're not getting funding, we can't really grow our ideas, so if we really wanna, like, reduce the …”
Assertion Supported
Butler: Black women launch businesses fastest in US but lack funding
“Black women are starting businesses faster than any other group of people in this country, but we're not getting funding, and also, because we're not getting funding, we can't really grow our ideas, so if we really wanna, like, reduce the wealth gap in this co…”
Opinion
Butler: Black professionals in corporate America are rarely treated as individuals
“And this is oftentimes the plight of a black person working in corporate America. You're never able to be an individual. Like, so every day, I had to answer for the entire black race, and it was exhausting.”
Insight
Consumers should buy Black-owned products for quality, not out of charitable obligation
“And that's the thing, like we don't, as a black business owner, I don't want you to support my business. I want you to shop my product because you think that this is great. Exactly. Because we make it easy for you to understand what products work for your comp…”
Insight
Butler: Black professionals in corporate America are rarely allowed individuality
“I was constantly, like, asked about either my hair or my clothes or if something happened in the media with a black person, and this is oftentimes the plight of a black person working in corporate America. You're never able to be an individual.”
Disclosure
The Lip Bar was designed with Black women as the default consumer
“I think the goal was to create a brand where black women could be the default brand. So we create products, like you said, for every single skin tone. But when we first launched in 2012, I was just like, I don't want black and brown women to feel like they hav…”