On her brand’s 4th anniversary, founder of Ami Colé Diarrha N’Diaye-Mbaye sat down with ESSENCE for a conversation about how she got her start. Now, a few months later, the beauty brand is officially closing its doors.
This morning, the founder announced she’s closing her brand down this September in an article she authored for The Cut. “My beauty brand offered Black women shades they couldn’t find elsewhere,” she wrote. “Why wasn’t that enough?”
While Black beauty brands saw record numbers in the early 2020s (N’Diaye-Mbaye was one out of 30 Black women to raise over $1 million dollars for her start-up), a number of brands shut down, filed for bankruptcy, or were acquired by conglomerates just to stay afloat in the years after.
N’Diaye-Mbaye’s brand, named after her mother Aminata “Ami” Cole, launched in 2021 just a year after George Floyd’s murder. She first received rejection from over 150 investors, just for some turn around and fund her brand during the Black Lives Matter movement. But, their support had a detrimental catch.
“I received an influx of requests to bring my ‘deserving brand’ to life,” she wrote, with investors now calling her brand “the future” and rushing her through the start-up process. “All that I was expected to do in return? Well, I’d have to figure it out myself.”
The success she’s achieved in the past four years cannot be overlooked. She took home over 80 awards for her products, including a spot on “Oprah’s Favorite Things” list and the ESSENCE Beauty Awards. Her Lip Oil turned into a viral craze, and her products were found in the bags of celebrities, like Kelly Rowland, Nia Long, and Martha Stewart. But, she still needed more to survive.
“We started fundraising for our latest round shortly after I gave birth to my second child in March of 2024,” N’Diaye-Mbaye tells ESSENCE exclusively. “Despite the tough market, we were able to gather support from our existing investors with the hope of a 2025 reset and final close in 2025. Given the market and staggering traction—we never closed the round.”
This year was marked by ups and downs for most founders—Carol’s Daughter’s Lisa Price bought her brand back from L’Oréal and Topicals founder Olamide Olowe acquired Bread Beauty Supply with her holding company CODB. But, the unpredictable market—ridden with tariffs, DEI rollbacks, and recession beauty indicators—put surmounting pressure on brands like Ami Colé.
“Under this administration, tariffs can be as high as your cost of goods and breaks through marketing comes with expensive price tag,” she says. While she affirms the market is tough for all founders, not just Black brands, “the unfortunate news is that when the economy feels uncertain, funding becomes even more risk adverse which often means underfunded minority owned businesses will suffer.”
Many Black brands find support with a predominantly Black and POC customer base. But, with those communities also being the most disenfranchised, inclusivity comes at a cost. Conflicted, “selling consumer goods is a numbers game,” she says. “Black-owned brands must evolve to include a wider demographic and greater purpose.”
Now, with her brand shuttering in under two months, she’s forced to go back to the drawing board. When asked what’s next: “I am not sure. Rest? I want to also make sure my existing team land on their feet,” she says. “Then, I guess the job search will start.”