Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Armani & Ameela Covington . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Armani & Ameela, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard

The large majority of beauty supply stores are Korean Owned. This is not something we’re against however it does become an issue when we’re trying to enter the space and we experience discrimination. We feel that industry needs more diversity! African American women are their number one customer but owns less then 10% of all beauty supplies. We want to provide an more inclusive and diverse shopping environment for all.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Ameela and Armani are sisters who have always had a passion for the beauty industry. Growing up they would visit the beauty supply store very often. However, many times they felt more like a dollar then a valued customer. The employees at the store did not look like them nor did they understand their hair needs. This motivated them at a young age to get in the industry. Ameela attended cosmetology school and barber school. Armani started an e-commerce site selling hair accessories. They then became serious about opening a beauty supply store in 2020. In 2023 there dream became reality by opening the first black owned beauty supply in Southgate. There passion and goal is create a safe and inclusive shopping experience.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Starting a beauty supply store requires a lot of capital. This is something that Ameela and Armani underestimated in the beginning of this process. Not having enough inventory for there customers has been really challenging. However, they keep going and try to find ways to increase there inventory in an efficient manner. They’ve also experienced difficulties with vendors not wanting to sell to them because they don’t believe there is a need for the products in this area.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

The Gallery Beauty Supply has gained almost all of there customers from social media! Advertising, posting content and going live has helped bring in customers. Another tip is starting a rewards program to keep customers coming back.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://gallerybeautysupply.myshopify.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gallerybeautysupply/?igshi=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/TheGalleryBeautySupply?wtsid=rdr_02lxxAjyds6qtioWL
• Other: TikTok: Gallerybeautysupply