We were lucky to catch up with Angel Hayes recently and have shared our conversation below.

Angel, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you come up with the idea for your business?

So, I’ve always had a “what if” thought about potentially pursuing a career in makeup. I was unsure of the route I would take in the beauty industry I just knew I wanted to be apart of it. I was a broke college student who couldn’t afford paying someone to do my makeup, so I started experimenting and fell in love. From there, I developed a passion and used makeup as a way to express my creativity.

I sat on the idea of owing my own cosmetic brand because it just didn’t seem attainable. I had no prior knowledge about anything related to owning a business and I didn’t believe I had what it takes to be a successful business owner. That changed for me in 2020 when I realized I wasn’t living up to my potential. I was truly unhappy with my current job as an Educator and having a lot of time to self-reflect led me to step out on faith and resign from my job. I was still unsure if jumping into the beauty industry was what I really wanted until I was invited to participate in a photoshoot for my sister-friend’s brand. Seeing my girl in boss mode put fire to my feet and I was motivated to put my plan of building my own cosmetic business into action. After months of researching, sourcing inventory, and formulating, I was ready to put myself out there. I think I had changed the name of my business about 10 times before settling on Jilly B. Cosmetics, haha. I thought I needed a huge backstory and history behind it all, but my heart was set on naming it after my pet maltipoo, Jilly. My pup is like my child and she brings me so much joy, so I said hey, why not. Once I got all of the legalities out the way, I launched Jilly B. Cosmetics in January of 2021!

The process of it all was very stressful since I had no prior knowledge of how to get started. I am an extremely emotional person, so I cry to get though my frustrations. But I’m also resilient and I know how to push through. To me, this had to work and even though it didn’t make sense to some, it made sense to me. I knew this was it for me and I put my all into building the foundation to make it work.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Hi everyone! My name is Angel Hayes, owner of Jilly B. Cosmetics. With the world filled with so many beauty standards, I created Jilly B. Cosmetics with the mission to provide the highest quality of products and encourage being yourself, unapologetically while looking & feeling like a Boss.

I am extremely proud of the growth and visibility my business has gained in just a year and a half. From gaining quite a few customers from three different countries, being featured in 3 magazine articles, to getting connected to notable names in business. It may seem small to others, but coming from humble beginnings- it’s means everything to me.

We are loved for our amazing lipgloss and semi-matte liquid lipstick formulas. We also offer the creamiest lip liners and our most recent launch, volumizing lip jellies- a glossy balm with a jelly-like consistency.

It bring me so much joy to know the impact my brand made so far and I can’t wait until Jilly B. Cosmetics become a household name!

Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?

I sell on my site which is through the Shopify platform. I choice Shopify because it helps streamline everything and keep my finances and business analytics organized and in one place. The only issue I’ve had with this platform is trying to navigate through building my site. If you don’t have any previous knowledge with coding and website building, it can be quite a task.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I’ve always been told, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. I’ve lived by that motto and it has pretty much shaped how I navigated through life. Before leaving the education field, I felt guilty for wanting to leave because I was respected by my students and the pay was guaranteed. With that, I was still unhappy because I did not feel valued and I knew I wasn’t living up to my fullest potential.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jillybcosmetics.com/ https://instagram.com/litorules?igshid=NWRhNmQxMjQ=
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/jillybcosmetics?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JillyBCosmetics/

Image Credits
Jeffery Harris Alexa Tokich Mecca Clarke