Entrepreneur Nyakio Grieco cofounded the beauty retailer Thirteen Lune in 2020. The platform carries 90% BIPOC-owned brands, including Pattern Beauty, Ami Colé, Bomba Curls, and Macabalm. In 2022, she also launched Relevant, a skincare line that puts inclusivity at the forefront. Last month, Relevant forayed into color cosmetics with the launch of lip and cheek tints and lip gloss.
On this week’s episode of the Most Innovative Companies podcast, Grieco talks about being one of the few Black female founders to raise more than $1 million, her experience working in the beauty industry over the past 20 years, and bringing Thirteen Lune to JCPenney. Here are some of her insights, in her own words.
On starting Thirteen Lune
“My first skincare brand, called Nyakio Beauty, was acquired by Unilever. When we joined the Unilever portfolio, we moved over to Target. Nyakio Beauty launched into Target in January 2020. Because of the impact of the racial reckoning, Nyakio Beauty all of a sudden received more attention than it had ever received in the 18 years since I had first developed the brand. All of a sudden I was on all of these listicles of top Black-owned beauty businesses to shop and follow. While it was lovely for the brand to receive that attention, it was a very hard time. The impetus for creating Thirteen Lune came out of my deciding at that moment to take that pain and turn it into purpose.”
On investing in BIPOC businesses
“Black women are the fastest-growing segment of entrepreneurs in this country, yet we still receive less than 1% of venture funding. There’s a lot of work to do, but I usually try to come from a place of hope and optimism. When I started out on this journey decades ago, I never met anybody that looked like me—and definitely no women in private equity and venture capital. That’s starting to change. What gives me hope is that there are more diverse fund managers and diverse check writers coming onto the scene. I think a lot of people wanted to do “the right thing” and got very enthusiastic and maybe overpromised and underdelivered during the pandemic. When it comes to the way this world is going to look in the next decade . . . making investments in people of color is the right thing to do and a good business move.”
On partnering with JCPenney
“Thirteen Lune is the new beauty partner within the JCPenney stores. The most important thing is that all of a sudden, because of the brands that we carry on Thirteen Lune, we can turn JCPenney into a place of discovery. The partnership lets us help brands that may not otherwise have had the opportunity to go into national retail scale, while nurturing them in the process.”
For more from Grieco and to hear our thoughts on the anniversary of Musk’d Twitter takeover, listen to Most Innovative Companies.
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