Building a beauty brand that celebrates Latin culture while competing on a global stage is no small feat—but for Babba Rivera, it’s not just business— it’s personal. 

Babba founded Ceremonia to create a haircare brand rooted in Latin heritage, ritual, and community. Today, Ceremonia is one of the fastest-growing brands at Sephora, has raised over $11 million, and just took home an Allure Beauty Award. In this conversation, Babba shares how she built a company that’s as mission-driven as it is profitable—cutting marketing costs by half while still growing revenue—and what it really takes to lead a fast-scaling startup as a founder and mom of four.

Babba also shares about her early days leading teams at Uber and Away, the power of saying no to investors who don’t get your vision, and why she believes the future of beauty is community-first, not celebrity-led. 

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Here’s what Sammi covers with Babba:

00:00 Babba Rivera’s Social Currency

02:27 Growing Up Between Cultures

05:07 Early Beauty Rituals and Haircare Influences

07:00 Lessons from Uber

10:48 The Wild World of Away

13:11 From Marketing Agency to Beauty Brand

15:53 The Birth of Ceremonia

19:44 Navigating Funding During COVID-19

22:36 Direct to Consumer and Learning from Customers

27:00 Strategic Move to Credo

27:16 Scaling with Sephora

28:04 Challenges of Big Retailers

30:27 Allure Best of Beauty Award

33:46 Focus on Profitability

38:01 Representation in Beauty

45:11 Balancing Motherhood and Business

50:05 Daily Routines and Systems

53:31 How to Show Social Currency Some Love

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