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

Tammy, appreciate you joining us today. Almost every entrepreneur we know has considered donating a portion of their sales to an organization or cause – how did you make the decision of whether to donate? We’d love to hear the backstory if you’re open to sharing the details.

Yes, Qute Cosmetics is a platform to raise awareness and funds to families affected by cerebral palsy. A percentage of our sales goes towards Their Voice of Greater Cincinnati, a non-profit organization whose mission is to uplift, inspire and support families affected by cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy, a congenital disorder that affects muscle tone, posture and or movement. I chose to directly help the cerebral palsy community in honor of my son D’Jonte who was diagnosed at birth with cerebral palsy and epilepsy. He passed away at the age of 15 years old January 3, 2011. I wanted to give support to those families because I know the lack of support, resources and finances that we endured and wanted to help be the voice for other families.

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.

The influence behind Qute Cosmetics is because of my beloved son D’Jonté. I gave birth to D’Jonte at the age of 15 years old. He came out not breathing and blue. Once they brought him to he immediately went into a seizure. He was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and epilepsy. From that point on my life was bombarded with doctor and therapy appointments. Not having the resources readily at my finger tips all I knew at hat time was to be a mother because I knew nothing about cerebral palsy, except that my son would never walk or talk. My son passed away at the age of 15 years old due to complications of cerebral palsy January 3, 2011. 11 months later I gave birth to my 3rd born child, a baby girl. I didn’t realize what my purpose was after my son passed away because I thought caring for him was my purpose. A year in a half after his passing I discovered that I was meant to be the voice that he, D’Jonte never had. Not sure what that meant or how to go about it.

My daughter at the time was almost 2 years old and she had a love for lip gloss and her favorite word at that time was “cute”. A light went off and thought about starting a kids lip gloss line and naming it “Qute”. Long story short, we launched a lip gloss line in 2014, now today we have a full line cosmetics business carrying lipsticks, lip gloss, eyeliner, foundation, mascara, blush, eyeshadow etc.
When you shop Qute, you get Qute for the cause and is helping a family who is affected by cerebral palsy. We donate diapers, wipes etc, things that insurance will not cover. We were able to do a city tour and donate 100% of our proceeds back to organizations that help families affected by cerebral palsy.

I am proud that we are still up and running after 9 years! I want the 10th year to be a year that blows my mind! Our products are amazing. In order for us to continue to spread the word we need everyone to continue to get Qute for the cause.

Have you ever had to pivot?

2020! covid 19 is a time when I believe most of us had to pivot in business, life and career. I am a Licensed Practical Nurse and at that time it was very scary for those of us in the health care field. Once the world was shut down, I stopped working as much because I had no idea what we were facing. My career and my business was up in the air. No one was really purchasing cosmetics due to us wearing mask. Social media became the only way to really sell your products and if you are not tech savvy life myself then it is a very difficult task. Because of my story and own personal walk with having a child with cerebral palsy I was able to keep business afloat. I took a nursing assignment in 2021 and was able to save money and pour back into my business. I took to social media more and began being more vulnerable about my journey.
It is still a journey and I am still working on my social media presence. I know that my purpose is much bigger than selling a lipstick so I will continue to stay focused and keep encouraging people to get Qute for a cause

How did you build your audience on social media?

I build my audience with my daughter! She has such a big personality and is not afraid to be in front of the camera. People love her and since she is the COO of Qute I lean on her for making videos.

I have done different live videos with people I know in the makeup field as well that helped out a lot as well. I will tell people that you have to step out of your comfort zone to be an entrepreneur in this day and time.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.qutecosmetics.com
• Instagram: qutecosmetics
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/QuteCosmetics
• Youtube: qutecosmetics1@gmail.com