We were lucky to catch up with Kim Serrano recently and have shared our conversation below.
Kim , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
The mission behind In Control Cosmetics is all about every individual taking control of their beauty. My cosmetics line is healthy, affordable & complementary for everyone.
My reason for starting for starting up my makeup back in 2021 is to introduce a healthy and affordable line of makeup, suitable for all skin tones. I am currently allergic to dairy, wheat, and soy. The struggle was extremely real, trying to find makeup (especially lipsticks & lipglosses) that were vegan, gluten free, affordable and complemented my stunning medium dark skin tone.
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?
Less than 10 years ago, there was not a lot of affordable and healthy makeup lines that cater to melanated skin. I remember back in 2018 (my son was two years old at the time) when I was diagnosed with all of these allergies, is went I searched at different stores trying to find healthy healthy makeup that complemented went with my skin tone.
I remembered sharing my frustrations with my. husband and girlfriends about the lack of affordable, healthy makeup for my skin tone. In 2019, I proceed by doing a survey, asking my friends, colleagues and strangers about all things makeup, their lack of, etc. I was from my findings from the survey when I realized that there is a need for my brand. I wrote a business plan in my car while on my lunch break from work.
Two years later both In Control Cosmetics (online) & Queen Kimmy in Control of Couture (my online luxury consignment shop) and was born on January 5, 2021.
In Control Cosmetics is vegan, gluten free, paraben free, talc free, cruelty free and free from cross contamination while continuously made in the USA.
What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?
Queen Kimmy in Control of Couture was my original side hustle from my eBay (Kimberlyp1230) account from the mid 2000’s era. As a college student, there were additional expenses that I needed to pay while I was a undergrad at CSUDH. For example I will sell /auction off some of my gently used coach bags and wallets on eBay if I needed some extra money for books, parking on campus or if I wanted a new Coach bag and/or Coach wallet at Macys. It was from there I enjoyed selling/auctioning off my items on Ebay (one of my favorite pastimes) and the rest is history with the opening of Queen Kimmy in Control of Couture.
How did you build your audience on social media?
Both Queen Kimmy in Control of Couture and In Control Cosmetics do have a small but loyal social media fan base. I currently run all of my businesses social media accounts and they started a blog on the In Control Cosmetics on the www.whencontrolandcouturecollide.com website.
As the Founder and Owner of my companies, I am big on the quality of my products along with my wonderful customers and not so much on quantity. I rather have a small group of followers who understand my mission behind both of my businesses while supporting it by telling their love ones about my businesses, then to have a “mass amount” of followers who do not fully understand what my overall brand is about.
My advice to the future entrepreneurs is personally engage with your customers while giving them what they want.
I’m all about connecting with my customers (I call them all “Queens”) while giving them affirmations. I also give my “Queens” a glimpse about my life with stories about the mission behind In Control Cosmetics through my blogs.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://whencontrolandcouturecollide.com/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/incontrolcosmetics?igshid=MjEwN2IyYWYwYw==
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063772251926&mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberly-phipps-serrano-165585226
- Twitter: https://Twitter.com/InControlCosme1
- Queen Kimmy in Control of Couture Instagram Page: https://instagram.com/q_k_i_c_o_c_?igshid=MmIzYWVlNDQ5Yg==
- Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@queenkimmyincontrol?_t=8dJGjTRkmIk&_r=1
Image Credits
Photo credit – Kim Serrano