Beauty Foundation Set

by PAUL BASS

A budding beauty products entrepreneur scored a bottle of Kiehl’s creme de corps body lotion — along with inspiration from an elder whose heels she could picture inhabiting.

The budding entrepreneur, ninth-grader Layla Travers, gained that lift Monday at Engineering and Science University Magnet School (ESUMS).

She and 16 fellow seventh through 11th graders spent a class session hearing from a visitor from the upper echelons of the beauty biz, L’Oréal General Manager and Brand President Erica Culpepper.

Culpepper offered the students tips on chasing their dreams. Raised by her grandfather in Memphis, Culpepper recalled working hard every summer to make sure she had enough money to continue her studies at Howard University, then, with the help of networking and focus and vision boards, climbing the rungs of the beauty industry at Johnson & Johnson and Maybelline and then L’Oréal. She offered tips on pursuing internships through companies’ social media platforms. She spoke of helping change the industry paradigm to “show people of color a vision of beauty they can be proud of.” She told stories about bringing successful products to market like Magic Shave, originally marketed to older Black men, then retooled for other markets when “all these young girls” posted viral TikTok videos about it. Layla sat rapt throughout Culpepper’s presentation.

“You know the influencer Mikayla?” Culpepper asked.

“I remember that!” Layla responded. “She lied.” (After the session, she ex- plained to a reporter, in the below video, what that was all about.)

Layla raised her hand immediately in the question portion to ask about the “process for getting your product in stores.”

She has more than a passing interest in that question. She has always dreamed a career as both a make-up artist and beauty products designer, she said. She hopes next month to launch her first line of lip glosses and eye shadow palettes. She’s calling the business Strawberry Xpress; orders are in for the materials for the first batches.

“You go, girl!” Culpepper told her with a high-five when learning after the talk about the business.

ESUMS Principal Medria Ellis-Blue invited Culpepper, a friend since their undergraduate years together at Howard, as part of a series of talks by leaders in science, the arts, business, law and social justice. Inspired in part by a Fulbright fellowship in Singapore last Summer, EllisBlue had her team survey students about their life goals and career dreams. The speaker series grew from the survey results.

Before the students headed to their next classes, Culpepper offered a preview of a cream foundation currently in testing with a planned 2024 launch. She handed out product samples …

Layla was excited to take home the tube of Kiehl’s, and more excited to have heard Culpepper’s story.

“It was inspiring to see somebody succeed in the field I want to succeed in,” she said, “how she started from humble beginnings.” Her family, too, has had financial struggles, she said. She, too, sees a bright beauty future worth chasing.