For Black History Month, we are honored to highlight Black women, who we consider to be Beauty Trailblazers in the makeup, skincare, hair, and wellness spaces. These women are making a positive impact in the beauty industry through their brands and missions.
One Beauty Trailblazer paving the way is Aishetu Fatima Dozie, Founder of Bossy Cosmetics, whose brand is reimagining beauty for ambitious women. Read more about this beauty boss from our interview below.
We are honored to feature you as a Beauty Trailblazer for Black History Month due to the unique mission of your brand. How is Bossy Cosmetics shifting the narrative around the "bossy" image for women in professional spaces? Why is your mission important in the beauty industry?
First of all, thank you so much for the honor. I am so inspired by your journey as a beauty founder as well and seeing women like you excel gives me the confidence to keep pushing. You are exactly the woman that I am building my brand for. I wanted to reimagine how working women saw themselves in the beauty purchase and experience process. I always want women to feel not only empowered but powerful in their ambition and that is what Bossy seeks to do. Our mission is to empower women to look, feel, and do good in the world. We feel that igniting confidence in our customers is a critical way to support their journey toward achieving their dreams.
What a difference a year makes! You have grown so much in 2021 going into 2022 (Amazon, QVC, JCPenney, Oprah's Favorite Things)!!!! What was one of your biggest challenges in the past year and how did you overcome it?
Gosh! 2021 was definitely a testimony year and it’s crazy because it truly feels like the team deserved it. We have worked so hard to design products for women that are exquisite, exceptional, and highly-efficacious. Every single one of those accolades that you mentioned was HARD to achieve AND execute. It’s one thing to get the recognition and it’s another thing to deliver. Our biggest challenge as a team was to not let distractions get in our way and to remain focused on our goals of reaching thousands (and millions) of women discover and delight in our brand. It’s so easy to get distracted because you don’t always know what to put your energy into and for every win that you see, there are probably 5 to 6 losses that you don’t know about. It's failing and getting up with as much confidence as possible, that is hard and believing that you can surpass your goals if you just stay in the arena.
What has been your favorite part of your journey with Bossy Cosmetics so far?
When women post on social media and basically key into our distinctiveness. I saw a tweet the other day that went “I love buying and wearing cosmetics made by a woman that knows I do it for myself and not for the male gaze. #DeliberateBeauty.” Or when I see reviews from customers that talk about the superior quality of the product in addition to how the product made them feel exceptional as a person. This is what fuels my passion because I am so focused on Bossy living and creating at the intersection of purpose and passion and I get excited when customers show me that we’ve done that.
What is one thing you'd like to accomplish with Bossy Cosmetics this year?
We are on QVC, going from 10 doors at JCPenney to 300 doors, and on Amazon. I really want to grow those channels. That’s a lot, no? I want to be very successful in building a truly omnichannel business that meets their customers where they are. I also want to sell products in the United Kingdom this year. Bossy is going international for sure!
What advice would you share with others seeking to blaze a trail of their own in the beauty industry?
It’s hard but don’t give up. You don’t have to be perfect at the outset. Just start and learn from your customers and there will be time to get better and better. Believe in your own exceptionalism while being obsessed with your customer’s needs.
Thank you Aishetu for those great words of wisdom! We are so excited to have witnessed your continued growth and success.
Love the Bossy Cosmetics brand? Please leave a comment below of your favorite Bossy Cosmetics lip color 💋