We were lucky to catch up with Kalijah Stokes recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kalijah, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Grit. Discipline. Temperance. Passion As a business owner who also is pursuing an extremely rewarding, yet demanding corporate career, these 4 things are my personal keys to being successful in both my 9-5 and entrepreneur lives. I’ve been titled the “CorpreneuHER” as I continue to figure out how to balance and navigate both worlds. Grit and discipline work hand in hand as things aren’t always perfect, days are long and conflicts arise. Having grit and discipline is what allows me to keep pushing, put in the time, and overcome moments I may feel overwhelmed. Temperance and passion is what keeps me both levelheaded and steadfast on the goals just in a healthy way. I do what I love in both aspects of my life, so it’s easy for me to drown myself in work I’m passionate about, but practicing temperance stops me from overindulging and burning out so I can keep that passion and drive. :)

Kalijah, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Kalijah “Kali” Stokes is a media and tech professional and beauty entrepreneur. I hold an “unconventional background” coming from the world of sports, music and entertainment and have transitioned into Marketing in Tech and media. I have a huge love for marketing, enhancing user experiences with an emphasis on small business marketing and development. During the day, I work diligently to grant small business owners opportunities to share their stories and promote their growth through digital tools and platforms.

My brand, is NUDE Cosmetics. “To be bold at bare none is to be beautiful in bare NUDE”. NUDE Cosmetics is a lip gloss utopia designed with the classy, sassy, resilient woman in mind. In a world filled in artificial ideas of “beauty”, we pride ourselves in selling beauty that starts from within. Exuding confidence, humility, and full acceptance of oneself as you are in this present moment! We promote luxury as being attainable and deserving at all stages of life! At NUDE Cosmetics we sell strictly nude glosses for whatever hue of “nude” matches you.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

My business was born in my college dorm room in 2018. In the 4 years of business I have NEVER had an extensive marketing budget, never paid influencers, etc. Don’t get me wrong, these are all things currently in the works, but my point being that my reputation is SOLELY based on the quality of my product. I have been able to stay afloat and in business simply by word of mouth and customer retention. There are so many amazing cosmetics brands, especially lip glosses, but NUDE Cosmetics offers a product who’s quality is consistent. A product whom customers continue to re-purchase and love!

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

I do not manufacturer my own product, I work with a private label manufacturer for my glosses. For 7 months, I researched and tested different products from a plethora of manufacturers. I was looking for natural ingredients, proper texture, smell, perfect packaging you name it. I couldn’t settle for the sake of “just launching something”. It gets tiring and frustrating but it was so worth it. 4 years later I’m rocking with the same company dealing the same glosses the people love.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.nudecosmetics.co
• Instagram: @nudecosmetics.co (business) & @kstokesbrand (personal lifestyle + MarTech fun)
• Twitter: @nudecosmeticsco

Image Credits
N/A (2 customers, 2 product/marketing & promotional products).