We recently connected with NaChé Thompson and have shared our conversation below.

NaChé, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

I’m a dark-skinned woman, and despite having always believed that dark skin is beautiful, I have always struggled to find makeup that complements my skin tone. Years ago, I had a job interview that was scheduled for the very next day. I wanted to show up for that interview looking my absolute best. I wanted to be fancy and look polished but I didn’t have any makeup. So, after work I went to the nearest cosmetics store, and there were hundreds of products on the shelves, all made by companies claiming that they could make me feel more beautiful. Yet somehow, none of those products looked great on my dark skin. Instead of leaving feeling empowered and ready to crush my interview, I left feeling humiliated, excluded and overlooked. That wasn’t the first time and it wasn’t the last time. I didn’t want anyone to feel that way ever again. All over the world beautiful dark-skinned people like myself struggle to find makeup that looks great on them. Each of my negative experiences surrounding feeling excluded from the beauty industry led to me building NaChé Cosmetics. I believe people with dark skin deserve the same quality and care as everyone else, even when it comes to seemingly minor things like makeup. That’s the driving mission behind NaChé Cosmetics.

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?

My background is as an educator and project manager. Anything I have ever created has been to solve a problem I have personally experienced and didn’t want others to experience. That’s why I’m building NaChé Cosmetics. I am creating high quality, sustainable makeup products for people who are tired of wasting all kinds of time and money searching in vain for products that complement their dark skin. I want NaChé Cosmetics to be the brand that gets it right for dark-skinned beauties every time. I am most proud of being true to my vision even when certain people don’t understand it. I want people who are just learning about NaChé Cosmetics to know that we include people with dark skin in every stage of the product development process to ensure everything we make looks great on a wide variety of skin tones, especially dark skin tones. I am committed to keeping it that way no matter how big NaChé Cosmetics becomes.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

As a Black woman in America I have constantly found myself in spaces that were not designed for me. I was socialized to make myself small and take up as little space as possible in those types of places to avoid physical and emotional violence from people who feel threatened by women like me. When you are socialized to make yourself small, you start to really believe that you are small. I’ve had to unlearn that in my journey as an entrepreneur. I’ve had to rediscover my voice, learn to stand in my power, and remain my authentic self, come what may. It has been an enlightening journey and an empowering journey even when times get hard.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

I started off using money from my salary as an educator to fund my company. As time went on, my family and friends who are like family gave me the capital to keep going. Now I am seeking angel investments and venture capital investments to take my company to the next level.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://nachecosmetics.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/nachecosmetics
• Facebook: Facebook.com/nachecosmetics
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/nachethompson
• Twitter: twitter.com/nachecosmetics
• Youtube: NaChé Cosmetics on YouTube
• Other: TikTok.com/@nachecosmetics

Image Credits
Élishia Sharie and Brandon Bashir for the Headshot