We recently connected with Joyce Choi and have shared our conversation below.
Joyce, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. Parents play a huge role in our development as youngsters and sometimes that impact follows us into adulthood and into our lives and careers. Looking back, what’s something you think you parents did right?
Growing up, I watched my dad’s tenacity and hard work put me and my siblings through private school, and eventually UCLA. I also saw him carry that same spirit, paired with deep compassion for others, into his business.
He worked several odd jobs to make this happen, including pumping gas at a small station in South Los Angeles. Years later, he bought that gas station. It wasn’t a large operation, but it was successful because of the community he built over the years while working there.
One day, a long-time customer shared that there was a real need for better access to affordable Black beauty products. My dad was Korean, but that didn’t stop him from stepping in to meet that need. That decision led to opening our family’s first Black beauty supply store – an 800 square foot space inside that same gas station, which would later grow into Diamond Beauty Supply & Accessories.
That moment taught me one of my most important business lessons: when you truly serve your community your business becomes more than a business, it becomes a platform for impact.
Meanwhile, the city I loved was grappling with the aftermath of the Rodney King trial and the LA Riots, which exposed deep tensions between Black and Korean communities. Despite that, I watched my dad build relationships and make friends on all sides.
Shortly after my father passed away unexpectedly, I met a man who told me that my dad quietly helped him for years when he was struggling. He said, “We need more people like Young Choi. “He never put color before people.”
After my dad passed away, I continued growing Diamond Beauty Supply & Accessories with the same philosophy. But I also began to see something bigger: that the success of Diamond Beauty Supply & Accessories could directly fuel something even more meaningful.
That vision became Joy2LA, our sister non-profit created for the purpose of serving and bringing Joy to the people of Los Angeles, made possible through the success and support of Diamond Beauty Supply & Acessories. Through Joy2LA, we provide food, supplies, support, toys, opportunities, and most importantly, Joy to people across Los Angeles, especially the unhoused and underserved.
Today, Diamond and Joy2LA work hand in hand – one sustaining the other – continuing the legacy my father started: building business through community and giving back through purpose.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I see myself as a hard-working entrepreneur, and woman of color working, serving the Black beauty community who has social justice woven into my upbringing, education, business, and personal identity. My journey into this industry began in the aisles of my father’s gas station convenience store in South Central Los Angeles. My father, Young Choi, was a North Korean refugee who survived through random acts of kindness from strangers, and he brought that spirit of grace to his business. Growing up as a child of the LA Riots, I watched him navigate cultural misunderstandings by building bridges. My father listened when his customers said the community needed affordable Black beauty products, and he integrated them right into his store. After his passing and my graduation from UCLA, where I studied African American and Chicano studies, I felt called to carry his entrepreneurial torch forward by instrumentalizing social justice as the engine for a successful business.
Today, I am the CEO of Diamond Beauty Supply and our sister nonprofit, Joy2LA, which I launched in 2015 to ensure our work serves as a community lifeline. We provide high-quality, affordable hair care and beauty essentials across four thriving locations, but what truly sets us apart is our commitment to humanity over profit. I want our followers and clients to know that Diamond Beauty Supply and Joy2LA are mission-driven organizations dedicated to uplifting minority voices and fostering peace in the communities we serve. My ultimate dream is to continue building the vision of personal joy and community connection that my father started, proving that a business can be both successful and a profound force for social good.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Like most business owners, we were deeply impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. It was unprecedented, uncertain, and at times overwhelming. While we were fortunate to survive, survival required us to do something we had never done before – we had to completely pivot, and we had to do it overnight.
We shifted our sales model and a significant portion of our inventory to essential goods, including N-95 masks, sanitation products, and basic hygiene essentials like shampoos and soaps. While others in our industry shut down, laid off staff, or stayed the course, we knew we had to adapt. Our community was hurting, and if we wanted to survive, we had to prioritize the community’s immediate needs.
We spent tens of thousands of dollars just to stay operational. Even so, we lost two of our stores. I’ve always thought of my stores as my children, so closing those locations felt like losing a part of my family’s legacy.
But what made that loss even more difficult was knowing that Diamond Beauty Supply & Accessories is more than a retail business. It is what has allowed us to serve our community on a larger scale through Joy2LA.
At a time when needs were at their highest, we couldn’t afford to disappear. So even as we struggled, we kept both the business and the non-profit moving forward.
We continued operating Joy2LA throughout the pandemic because our community needed us more than ever. Our volunteers, the people we feed and serve, the families we support, and the local schools we partner with were all relying on us. Diamond Beauty Supply & Accessories made it possible for Joy2LA to keep showing up.
There were moments when it felt like there was no end in sight. But we stayed grounded in our mission and in the people we serve: our customers, our employees, and our broader community.
Today, our remaining stores are not just surviving; they’re thriving. And I believe that’s because we made a conscious decision during our hardest moment: we chose to protect not just a business, but a purpose.
If you ask what I’m most proud of, it isn’t our revenue – it’s that even when everything was at risk, we preserved the foundation that allows us to give back.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
From the beginning, I knew I wanted to do things differently. I didn’t just want to be a store owner – I wanted to build something that truly served and reflected the community. That meant hiring locally, uplifting voices from within the neighborhoods we operate in, and building relationships. Over time, that approach shaped not only Diamond Beauty Supply & Accessories, but also the foundation for Joy2LA.
Much of my growth in this space is thanks to my longtime friend and mentor, Ken, the owner of Universal College of Beauty, one of oldest Black-owned businesses in Los Angeles County.
Twenty years ago, as a 22-year-old college graduate, I still felt like that “little girl” in my dad’s store – new to business and unsure of my place. But I was determined. So, I walked across the street to Ken’s cosmetology school, introduced myself, and asked how we could collaborate to support the community.
That single conversation turned into a two-decade partnership centered on community events, advocacy, and shared purpose. Ken taught me what it truly means to lead with integrity and to listen before acting.
Through these relationships, I learned that trust is built through consistency, not transactions. And that trust became the foundation of our reputation.
As Diamond grew, so did our ability to give back. That trust extended naturally into Joy2LA, where the same community we serve in our stores is the same community we seek to serve through our non-profit work.
Today, our reputation is not just about what we sell, it’s about what we stand for. Diamond Beauty Supply & Accessories and Joy2LA together represent a model where business success and community impact are not separate goals, but part of the same mission.
Contact Info:
- Website: Diamondbeautystores.com AND Joy2LA.com
- Instagram: @diamondbeautysupplyla
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joyce-choi-2726b8272
- Youtube: Joy 2LA AND Diamond Beauty Supply Group (@thejoyceChoi)
- Yelp: Diamond Beauty Supply
