Spring 2019 Bootcamp Member
Company Website: https://lamikbeauty.com
Kim Roxie, the founder of LAMIK Cosmetics, a clean cosmetics brand for women of color, is on a mission to combat the negative statistics related to Black women founders. And with high-caliber women of color from Grammy winners to Congresswomen wearing LAMIK’s products, and a new online presence, Roxie is getting there.
After selling their products on the shelves in Macy’s for a few years, Roxie noticed retailers were still not answering the needs for women of color. After more research with the University of Texas at Austin, Roxie was astounded to find women of color buy 80 percent more cosmetics than their counterparts and spend nine times the amount on makeup and only get about 10 percent of the retail shelf space. Roxie knew that LAMIK Cosmetics would need to become a tech-enabled startup in order to go to the next level and make the products available to women of color around the globe.
She shut down her store and pulled the product from Macy’s. With the global pandemic, the business model pivoted even sooner than expected, and Roxie attributes its success to the Founders First Bootcamp: “The last accelerator program I was in was a virtual program out of San Diego and I won first place in the pitch competition. During this time, I got everything I needed to launch LAMIK 2.0, and we are going to use a subscription model.”
Since completing the program, LAMIK Cosmetics now focuses on e-commerce, particularly its virtual capabilities to help women find natural and organic makeup that matches their skin color. The virtual try-on, which launched in March—powered by AlgoFace—allows users to try new products before ordering. Roxie plans to add other products to the try-on studio, including foundation sticks, eyeshadow palettes and lip gloss. The vegan cosmetic company is hopeful about the future and believes the pandemic has not been a disruption, but more of a true acceleration in the right direction. LAMIK is poised to reach new heights.
