BAUCE Mag recently sat down with Brittney Ogike so she could spill the tea on how she effortlessly manages her many responsibilities, which include running multiple businesses, nurturing her family, and chairing a non-profit foundation. Brittney is the founder of BEAUTYBEEZ, a one-stop beauty supply shop for brown girls. Although her background isn’t in beauty, she considers herself an “avid beauty consumer and product junkie.” Brittney and her women friends of color were constantly dissatisfied with their inadequate and non-inclusive shopping experiences. BEAUTYBEEZ was created to challenge the narrative that multicultural beauty must be relegated to a few shelves in a large retail store. As a result, this space is solely dedicated to the needs of Black and Brown women.
BEAUTYBEEZ transitioned from an e-commerce store to a physical location in a short time. After the store opened, customers were requesting suggestions for hair braiders and estheticians. This obvious demand led Brittney to open a beauty bar that offers hair braiding, facials, and other wellness services a mere year later. According to Brittney, word of mouth has been crucial to the growth of her business. Her customers come back because of her team’s commitment to learn product information, hair types, skin types, and styles as well as their superior customer service. But the clients aren’t coming back alone; they’re bringing their friends and family members along, too.
BEAUTYBEEZ currently has ten employees that are thoroughly vetted and trained to ensure they fit into and uphold the company’s culture. To work there, it’s important to be passionate about multicultural beauty, possess an eagerness to learn, and have a broad knowledge of beauty trends. Due to the level of research undertaken during the interview process, Brittney finds it effortless to delegate tasks to them.
When it comes to the products offered by BEAUTYBEEZ, they are also put through a rigorous screening process. Products must provide effective solutions, have great packaging, and be safe for BEAUTYBEEZ customers. Brands created by people of color are prioritized.
A “normal” day in Brittney’s life starts at 5 am PST, due to her sports management colleagues being on the east coast. Then, she’s at the beauty bar for a good portion of the day, making inventory orders, planning marketing campaigns, scouting new brands, taking meetings, and even working on the sales floor a few times a week. By 5 pm, she’s back at home and spending time with her kids until it’s time for bed.
When asked how she juggles all of these important responsibilities, Brittney responded “I take it day by day. It’s all a balancing act. I’ve been learning some time-saving hacks to help balance it all like shopping online and strategically planning meeting times when I’m most productive. I have some hard rules when it comes to self-care and family life. My husband and I must go on a date once a week, and I don’t schedule anything after 5 pm so I can be home with my kids. In terms of self-care, it comes in a variety of forms—reading at night, binge-watching reality TV, a monthly spa trip, and weekly workouts.”
Brittney and her family are also committed to giving back. As the Board Chair for the Middleton Family Foundation, her mission is to help underserved communities, with a focus on women and children. Based on current events, personal experiences, and many other factors, the family decides what causes to donate to; most efforts in 2020 were focused on Covid-19 relief.
Some closing advice Brittney gave to aspiring BAUCES was to “be innovative and fearless. Find a problem that hasn’t been solved, and then find the solution. When building your business, don’t let fear get in the way. You will face many hurdles and challenges but be creative, bold, and unapologetic in overcoming them.”
BEAUTYBEEZ is located in North Hollywood, CA, but you can also shop online at https://beautybeez.com
