2024 is shaping up to be another exciting year in the beauty industry with innovative new brand launches from BIPOC founders. We spoke to three founders who are providing solutions in skincare, wellness, and fragrance, each with a unique backstory. Uzari and Nusa Holistick draw on their founders’ heritage as inspiration, while Her Juice Bar was founded to solve an ongoing health issue. 

If you haven’t of Uzari, Her Juice Bar, and Nusa Holistick yet, get to know them in our interviews and find out how these women of color-founded brands are shaking up the beauty and wellness landscape.

Yasmin Zachary, Founder and CEO of Uzari

Why did you decide to create Uzari?

Yasmin Zachary: As a global woman who grew up in Africa, I have always been puzzled by the fact that modern skincare seems to rely on harmful ingredients and marketing but has forgotten our roots and the simple recipes that have been around for thousands of years, especially in Africa. It makes no sense for our health or our planet. That’s why at Uzari we are on a mission to bring traditional recipes to modern skincare. 

What does the name mean?

Uzari is a ‘remix’ of the word “Uzuri” which means “beauty” in Swahili origins. This character is very self-confident, creative, ambitious, versatile, independent, and original. A leader who appreciates change and travel. 

What are your hero products and what do they do?

Our flagship product is a daily skincare routine that combines gentle exfoliation using our U-scrub sponge with the deep cleaning and moisturizing of African black soap. 

Just like when I was a child my mother would grab me and my siblings for a good scrub followed by a shea butter massage. A simple, natural, and effective way to get pampered and maintain healthy skin all year round. 

How does your background and being a Black founder influence your work? 

To be honest, it’s a blessing and a challenge all rolled into one. On one hand, my roots have taught me a lot of values including the ancient recipes that now form the foundation of Uzari and address the specific skincare needs that have historically been underserved or overlooked in the beauty industry.  

On the other hand, there are obvious challenges like systemic biases, lack of mentorship, and institutional support not to mention access to funding for black women-led startups.

On the bright side, I’m proud to be a part of the generation that is changing this narrative. 

Abigail Murdock, Founder of HER Juice Bar

Why did you decide to create HER Juice Bar?

A few years ago, I was battling with a lot of intimate health issues, mainly due to contraceptives. I was experiencing intimate dryness at such a young age. I was in and out of my doctor’s office for things like infections and BV and could never really find a true remedy besides the prescriptions. Eventually, I got fed up with seeing her all the time and decided I needed to figure out how I could holistically help myself. 

My sister and I put our money together and decided to hire a pharmaceutical company alongside gynecologists to formulate products that alleviate things like vaginal odor and yeast infections. And that’s how HER Juice Bar was launched.

What does the name mean?

My sister and I threw out names during our girls’ nights when we were having drinks and conversations with our best friends. I said, “What do you think about HER Juice Bar?” We were drinking together, mixing and mingling, talking about men, and talking about our intimate areas. I just thought it was perfect like a play on words. Our first product was the Wet Martini which treats intimate dryness and that’s still our bestselling product today.

What are your hero products and what do they do?

The most popular product to this day is our Wet Martini — we’re always completely sold out of it. We’ve had a woman buy ten of them on Black Friday! 

A lot of people have this misconception that only women in menopause go through intimate dryness, but there are so many things that can cause it, like medication, stress, or your diet. 

We just recently launched our turmeric tonic scrub and that’s becoming more popular. I specifically made it for the bikini line and your underarm areas because I suffered from ingrown hair and razor bumps that left marks. It’s just been flying off our shelves. That’s the runner-up next to our Tea Tree Feminine wash which deals with odor as it has antimicrobial and antibacterial properties. People love the Tea tree wash combined with our virgin cocktail suppositories. It’s self-care at home where women can pick their problem and find a solution to it.

How does your background and being a Black founder influence your work? 

Most of our customer base is Black women who support us and I love that. However, these intimate health issues are universal and cross all walks of life. I think our main mission with our brand is to open up dialogue to discuss intimate health issues. We’re not whispering or shy about our intimate wellness anymore. 

Tricia Chen and Rebecca Lambie, Founders of Nusa Holistick

How and why did you decide to create Nusa Holistick?

Chen: We came up with the idea for Nusa Holistick during our travels to Asia; every year Rebecca and I would go back home to our respective home countries. We would find these amazing ingredients for our hair and skin, as well as natural perfumes all with plant-based ingredients. We would bring back these natural products to North America where our friends and family fell in love with them. So naturally we started thinking about it as a business when we received that feedback. 

At the same time, Tricia and I both have really sensitive skin. We said, “Let’s create perfumes that are similar to conventional perfumes but plant-based.” We wanted to make them with fruits or oils which are good for sensitive skin. I have a background in holistic nutrition, and Rebecca was in the aesthetics field so our whole thing always was wellness, beauty, and skincare all interconnected.

We started with a few facial oils with a potent ratio, so many products are marketed with an ingredient but then when you read the list in the back of the product, it’s actually at the very bottom or barely in the product. We also launched with incense which is something that we grew up using. We wanted to create incense that was good for you, just infused with flower oils from Asia with no synthetic fragrances. 

What does Nusa Holistick mean?

Lambie: Nusa means island or homeland — we always say we are the home of holistic products, skincare, wellness, and beauty. We also spell holistic with a ck, holistick. Originally our brand was called Holistick without Nusa. We just rebranded to Nusa Holistic back in May, and we thought it was a great opportunity to incorporate Indonesian into our brand because a lot of the names of the products are based on Indonesian words.

What are your hero products and what do they do?

Lambie: Our most popular product and bestseller is our Bulan face oil which means moon, it’s blue and we recommend using it at night. Matahari means sun and you want to use that oil preferably during the day. 

Another popular product is our gua sha which we custom-designed. It’s not like the popular and traditional heart shape; ours has four edges so you can use all four sides. We work with aestheticians and spa professionals and our gua sha helps to sculpt the jawline. We hold a lot of tension in our jawline especially when we grind our teeth at night or when we chew our food, and the rigid side’s really good to break up stagnant lymph. The gua sha helps to promote lymphatic drainage and helps de-puff your face. It’s also really good for fine lines, like forehead lines, and crow’s feet, and also to massage your scalp.

How does your background and being Asian founders influence your work? 

Chen: Our values and the way we were raised play a big part in our business. We’re trying to be as accessible as possible with our products — we could price our things at a much higher price point but we value affordable luxury.

We believe that Asians are beautiful and we want to make sure that we’re always represented in our photos and in our marketing, as well as the team we’ve built. We’re happy to share our background and the stories of how we came about as a brand. Also, yes we’re a women of color-founded brand but Nusa Holistick is not just for minorities, it’s made for everyone. If you have skin, you can use our products!

Check out more women of color-founded beauty brands here