A pandemic wasn’t the only thing that shaped 2020: many businesses bloomed despite the dramatic changes in everyday life. Three years later, the boom of Black business seems to be catching a second wind, raising major capital. Among those on the ascent is The Black Beauty Club, a online-turned-IRL destination for Black beauty founders, users, and supporters by Tomi Talabi and Asmeret Berhe-Lumax.
The Black Beauty Club was first dreamed up on Clubhouse, the voice-only social media space that took off during the first months of quarantine. Talabi, who is currently in tech at Pinterest, and Berhe-Lumax, who successfully launched and sold a first-of-its-kind online retail platform in 2005, built the first Black beauty space on the app because “it just felt like nothing related specifically to Black fashion or Black beauty was happening to needle or propel people forward,” Talabi recalls.
Now, their unique skill sets come together to help push the mission of The Club, and topics that are up for discussion, further. “Beauty becomes very tied to health and wellness,” Berhe-Lumax says. This space amplifies and continues to celebrate generations of beauty rituals and wellness practices, while tackling important topics like Black beauty and classism, desirability politics, and decolonizing clean beauty.
The Black Beauty Club is intentionally growing with their audience, meaning that no topic will be off limits as they continue to foster a safe place for Blackness and beauty to thrive.. “We re a solutions-oriented enterprise, coming together and just sharing knowledge,” Talabi states.
Accessibility at the forefront—anybody who is unable to catch a conversation in real life will be able to access it online.
Just last week ahead of Fashion Month, the group hosted the first fellowship dinner in collaboration with Black in Fashion Council and Standard Talks, bringing beauty experts and emerging brands together. Of course, the work doesn’t stop there. As a small but mighty team, including the organization’s director of creative, Utibe Mbagwu, the group wants to offer growing founders the resources they need to legitimize their businesses, develop brand directories or guides, and eventually invest capital in these brands.
“There s space for everyone,” the founders share. And as the industry continues to expand, so does the number of Black beauty founders within it. The Black Beauty Club recognizes and represents that growth and is only just getting started.