This week, Olamide Olowe—founder & CEO of Topicals—highlights her tenacity to constantly learn, the importance of mentorship and the journey that led her to earn her most recent title of “the youngest Black woman to raise $10MM in funding”.  She shares that her “strategy in life is to learn as much as [she] can about a particular topic”.  She also discusses how she has been forging a path for entrepreneurial young, Black women through her new platform: The Cost of Doing Business, and how the importance of the community is a core pillar for the brand. She expresses appreciation for the lessons she learned through being a student-athlete and for gaining her “MBA in the real world” through co-founding the beauty brand SheaGIRL, in partnership with SheaMoisture. All of these experiences prepared her to take advantage of what she calls “business rocket fuel.”

 

Olamide leaves us with several key lessons:

About Her Perspective on Building a Brand/Business

“Building your community starts with understanding what your brand’s mission is, what your brand stands for. Once you have that, you’ll understand how to draw the right customers to you.”

“Any business I start will have a component of doing social good.”

About Her Perspective on Fundraising

“Funding is rocket fuel, and you can’t put rocket fuel into a rocket that hasn’t even been built yet.”

“I am a reflection of what could happen when we invest in young Black women.”

“Everyone needs to be on this track and on this path to create equity in communities of color.”

About Her Perspective on Life

“I’ve always had the intention of doing things that were hard, things that would help others.”

“To whom much is given, much is expected.”

“The first thing is making sure you’re constantly consuming things that are teaching you something. Get into the habit of learning.”

Bio: Olamide Olowe, Founder and CEO 

(Pronounced Oh-LAH-mi-day Oh-LOW-way)

She/Her

Olamide Olowe is a recent graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles where she was a pre-Med student and received a B.A. in Political Science with a concentration in Race, Ethnicity, and Politics and a minor in Entrepreneurship. In 2015, Olamide co-founded the beauty brand SheaGIRL, in partnership with SheaMoisture. Sundial Brands, parent company of SheaGIRL, was later acquired by Unilever in 2017. Currently, Olamide is the founder and CEO of Topicals, a skincare company transforming the way people feel about skin through effective products for eczema and hyperpigmentation. Olamide is passionate about harnessing the power of culture, technology, and science to improve the relationship between women of color and the beauty industry. She has received notable recognition from Harvard Business School, Google, the PAC12, and the UCLA Alumni Association. Most recently, Olamide has secured the title of youngest black woman to raise $10 million in funding in a financing round led by CAVU Consumer Partners. 

“I’ve always had the intention of doing things that were hard, things that would help others.”

 

Follow  @olamideolowe and @topicals or visit https://mytopicals.com/!

Tune in to learn more from Kendra and Olamide!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.