We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ebony Little. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ebony below.

Ebony, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

Yes of course, I started with myself; growing up and into teenage and adulthood I had very bad acne and used makeup to try to cover it up. The more I applied it the more I feel in love with it! After a few years I thought that I could be a makeup artist but didn’t know where to start. I started practicing on my friends to build my skill and after a few years I felt that I was ready and announced on Instagram and verbally that I was now a makeup artist. I did freelance work for 5 years and started to love the chemistry and make of makeup products and during that time I naturally identified issues within products as an artist and consumer that I felt I could fix; this is how I came up with the idea of my own makeup line but knew it would take some time to develop. I started studying what was needed legally to start a legitimate business; insurance, EIN number, LLC vs s corp, website domains, business social media pages, business bank account(s), website coding, how to do business taxes, local business vs a retail ready business, and barcodes, etc. I then researched factories and in the meantime I kept building my makeup portfolio (to gain trust in my audience so that once I launched my makeup line the consumer would feel most comfortable buying from me/us) and after I found the best products from factories I tested them for a minimum of 2 years before launching the business/product. After I launched I continued to build my portfolio and work on the marketing for the company to increase sales and traffic.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Yes of course, makeup became the love of my life when I was a teenager applying it to attempt to cover my acne. This led to me becoming a makeup artist given I’d gotten so familiar with how makeup enhances features, how it’s made and what made products ‘good’ products, and often I practiced on my friends and family at no charge to gain more experience and skill. Once my makeup line Flavor was developed I felt very accomplished as it took almost 4 years to build and the problem of ‘’rushed products with no quality” had been gifted to the world! I am most proud of the fact that my makeup line doesn’t just give the consumer the physical item itself but has a mission to help uplift and inspire consumers; each product comes with a hidden message specifically to the consumer it’s being sold to, it maybe printed on the packaging box or inside the cap of a lipgloss. This is not advertised, but done so that consumers become emotionally connected to the brand for inspiring them. I did this because I remember when i was just starting out just gotten a car and an apartment, didn’t have much spending money after bills were paid at all so when I bought something like a makeup product or dress it was the only thing I could afford to splurge on that month and with that I mostly felt as though companies just wanted my money…I mean not even the receipt for the eyeshadow palette said “thank you” it was just a receipt. Flavor products after opened may say something like “you’re already doing a great job in life” and you will not see it until you open the product and prepare to put it on, this is what people need, no matter what age, gender or race everyone needs encouragement and Flavor was created to do just that. This is what I’m most proud of because I cannot think of any other company that does this.

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 had to unlearn getting upset and depressed when I failed or lost money in an investment. When this happens now I just put the day behind me and keep moving forward because fail means first attempt at learning.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

The most effective strategy that I have for growing my clientele is offering free services to models. Basically I’ll ask someone if they’re interested in getting glammed up for my Instagram portfolio, they 100% say yes and love their results. This then turns into a conversation that they have with loved ones and friends on how they loved the service and of course they have picture proof of how great they looked when I did their makeup. The referrals always come in this way because people will not know how great you are unless you put yourself out there. Everything is not always about money but moving strategically and with purpose.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.flavorcosmeticsco.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/makeupebony/
• Facebook: N/A
• Linkedin: N/A
• Twitter: N/A
• Youtube: N/A
• Yelp: N/A