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When Nancy Twine launched haircare brand Briogeo in 2019, Sephora was her first retail partner; and at the time, she didn t know how much that would change her life. “I didn t get my start in beauty, I got my start in finance,” she tells me over Zoom; emphasizing that what she lacked in beauty industry credibility, she made up for with passion and a distinct vision. Encouraged by her ideas around diversity and clean, prestige hair care, Sephora took a bet on the then-budding brand and in turn, transformed the hair care category (and ultimately, Twine s life trajectory).
Briogeo was the first clean haircare brand at Sephora; the first haircare brand actively speaking to all hair textures and types; and if you can believe it—even the first hair mask at Sephora (looking at you Don t Despair, Repair! Deep Conditioning Hair Mask). “When you re starting out in business, it s really important to align yourself with people who really believe in your vision and want to support your growth,” says Twine. “And that s exactly what I had from Sephora. If it had been another retailer, I don t think I would have gotten as far as I did.”
In September, Briogeo celebrated its 10 year-anniversary; a little over a year after Twine sold the company to Wella Professionals (the company also owns ghd and OPI). Off the heels of such momentous milestones, she sought to financially support emerging founders beyond her ongoing mentorship and advisory. Today, she s launching the Dream Makers Founder Grant—a $1 million dollar grant which provides early-stage funding to underrepresented female founders. With a focus on Black and BIPOC founders in the consumer goods industries, Twine will distribute $250,000 annually to selected grant recipients through 2027.
“This support is uniquely structured—it doesn’t involve surrendering rights, equity, or entail payback obligations,” Twine says in a press release. “It’s designed to let these founders concentrate on their vision while securing essential initial funding to bridge pivotal startup needs.” Without the stress of paying the funds back or reporting into investors, she s keen on recipients taking risks. “I want to encourage these founders to use this money any way possible because that s how you learn and grow; hopefully their investments will pay off. But even if they don t, it s a lesson that they learn that they can apply into the future.”
Risks aside, Twine encourages founders to align themselves with people who believe in their vision and support their growth; part of this is having diverse supporters in their investment seats, too. “It s one thing to keep your products on shelf, and keeping your products on shelf means having ample funding, but also having ample education and know how to make the right moves and decisions that are supportive of your brand s future.”
The Dream Makers Founder Grant is not Twine s first foray in cultivating emerging brands. She has been actively involved in Sephora Accelerate program since its inception. An effort to “create more Nancy stories” as Twine muses, the program is an incubator for underrepresented founders in the beauty space. (The program was revamped in 2021 to focus on founders of color as part of the Fifteen Percent Pledge.) The six-month program puts founders through a vigorous curriculum focused on building and sustaining a successful business, mentorship, merchandising support, and investor connections. She hopes to leverage her experience in finance to support creative founders to not lose sight of the financial and supply chain pieces of their business. “Because without those two things, even if you have the best creative and the best products, it can actually ruin your business if you don t create a solid backend infrastructure,” she explains.
“When you take a bet on people, especially underrepresented founders, you re not only helping to support their journey, but you re bringing diversity and new perspective, which helps to culturally, really change the landscape for what s possible.”
