Latest / Black Business Live Podcast / The CEO Who Said, 'I'll Do It Myself' | Kim Roxie (Lamik Beauty)

Transcript

The CEO Who Said, 'I'll Do It Myself' | Kim Roxie (Lamik Beauty) · Black Business Live Podcast

• 0:03
  Belva: Welcome to the Black Business Live Podcast today, and we are so honored to have on camera in virtual virtual reality our CEO and founder of LaMique Beauty, miss Kim Roxy. Thank you so much for joining us today, Kim.
• 0:23
  Kim: Hi. So excited to be here.
• 0:26
  Belva: We're so excited for you to be here as well. Where are you calling in from?
• 0:31
  Kim: I am calling in today from Tulsa, Oklahoma, home of Black Wall Street.
• 0:35
  Belva: Oh. Wow, that's I love Black We're Wall so glad that you're here. We've been following you online as well and seeing your tremendous progression of bringing LaMique Beauty to the retail market space so we just really wanna tap into your journey today and learn more about you, your company, your journey, your inspiration behind the beauty products and all that you have to offer. We'll kick it off.
• 1:06
  Tolu: Absolutely. And in this season of Black Business Live Podcast, we have spent time to explore the brands in our communities who are in the manufacturing space. So we've had the chance to speak to an electronic manufacturer and today, we are so excited because you are in the beauty industry and not just beauty, but you are also really focused on women of color and your products are more vegan and sustainable as well. So we wanted to explore that with you and we'll start our questioning along those lines. Yeah.
• 1:44
  Belva: So, can you take us to the first part, like, take us back a little bit about Lameque Beauty and what was your inspiration for creating such a brand, especially focusing on women of color?
• 1:57
  Kim: Well, I like to say, first of all, I am a woman of color, So I think that for me as a black woman, our makeup line is for all women, all shades, because women of color come in all shades, actually. It comes from albino to a beautiful deepest hue that you've defined. So I like to say a lot of makeup brands are leaving deeper skin tones out, and we just included all. I've included myself. That's all I've done in this.
• 2:28
  So it's not so much unique that we're approaching women of color. We're actually a brand that's inclusive of all. And so unlike others who sort of exclude certain shades, we're not doing that. And so I'm excited that I can be a black woman who's making makeup for all women because I understand all of the different undertones of skin. Uh-huh.
• 2:52
  And so it's really started so we could celebrate all of our different looks. But then at the same time, when I looked at the beauty industry, 75% of beauty products marketed to us were toxic, and I wanted something about that. My mother actually passed away from metastatic breast cancer, and she loved makeup. And one of the things that I thought, what is something I can do something about? And makeup was one of the things.
• 3:22
  I had started in the beauty industry at 21 years old, opening up a makeup shop in a mall in Houston, Texas. And so I had that experience working with customers every day. And so when my best friend, my mom, passed away from breast cancer, and I looked at this number, this this jarring number of 75% of beauty products marketed to us are toxic, I said, I can do something about that. And that's where I met my when I went out to meet my chemist and do all of those things and started to create Lamit. And, really, it it came from me wanting to pay honor and pay tribute to my mother and what give her the makeup brand that she deserved.
• 4:04
  Belva: Absolutely love that. Thank you for sharing.
• 4:06
  Tolu: Yeah. And the name Lamick, what was the inspiration behind that name? Tell us about that.
• 4:11
  Kim: Yeah. So Lameek stands for love and makeup and kindness. Love and kindness is your true makeup because beauty is revealed and not applied. So LAMIC is an acronym that reminds you of who you are, and I had to use that acronym as my affirmation. I was diagnosed with a form of alopecia that caused hair loss.
• 4:35
  And for me, I felt like what I looked at as, you know, a part of my beauty was my hair, and I had to redefine what that looked like for me. So that love and kindness, being your true makeup is something that I had to tell myself and rely on and affirm myself in. And so Lameque is an affirmation. It is a reminder of who you are. Even in our products here, this is our Revelation Brow Duo, it has beauty is revealed not applied Wow.
• 5:09
  On the inside compact. So it can just remind you every day to go out and reveal your beauty to the world, give it the best you have, and it's not looking good on the outside is important, and you should feel like you look good. But always know, that what's revealed from you is is the best that you're really given.
• 5:29
  Belva: That is so special, I love that and it's those little reminders, right? I use post it notes, I stick them up all over the place to remind me of things with affirmations and stuff in the morning, all in the refrigerator or wherever throughout the house and so what a great place to have that in your makeup compact, how you look at yourself in the mirror, so I love that. So tell us, as someone scaling a retail product line, what does black excellence mean to you, Kim?
• 5:59
  Kim: I think that black excellence is is normal from from what I understand. I am, you know, sitting here in the home of Black Wall Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where we have expanded our distribution, and we actually ship our products from here. And we act and we also opened up our storefront here. Store here off of Breewood 0. Down on the end there.
• 6:26
  And I, you know, I look at black excellence as, you know, not something that's rare and, like, you gotta go find it. And I look at it as as very normal. The the neighborhood I come from, I can think of so many, like, excellent people that I was around. I think about the teachers that I had in school. I think about even I was kicked out of high school and even, you know, when I had to go to alternative school and and God that, you know, I wasn't excellent myself, that actually that was just the the rock or the foundation that I needed to really motivate me to reach for higher.
• 7:02
  So black excellence for me is just not like this sort of fantasy. It's it's real life. It's reality. It's the people that I'm around all the time. Yeah.
• 7:11
  I love that.
• 7:12
  Tolu: Yeah. And, you know, that's an interesting topic because many of our speakers have said the same thing as the people we surround ourselves with. And and we have the community that helps us to to to achieve that and to to believe in ourselves. So just wanted to, you know, just give you a quick shout out there because you're also now propagating that same community through the affirmations that you're sharing in your in your, beauty products as well. So you talked about being in, in Oklahoma, having your distribution center there, So you've navigated lots of, too, lots of just your skills through lots of challenges on the retail side.
• 7:53
  I saw a video of you at JCPenney recently, I know you're out there in many of the retail stores. Tell us about that experience. How did you get through that? Because you said you started, you know, with your own, makeup store and then now you're manufacturing and you're breaking the barriers in retail and distribution. Tell us about that.
• 8:15
  Kim: Yeah. I mean, it is happening in real time, and then I didn't really understand or know how much of a barrier I was gonna be breaking. If I would've known, I don't know if I would've done it, you know, because it had so I didn't know it was such a glass shattering thing. I thought that, you know, what I was doing was just, you know, trying to make a mark. I knew what I was doing was missing in the market.
• 8:42
  That's the reason why I decided to do it. Mhmm. But I didn't understand the the real challenges and the real barriers that we have to break through just to see just for the brand to see the light of day. You know what I mean? So our products are Carrie first.
• 9:01
  We launched March 2020 as a national makeup brand on our own website, ecommerce, direct to consumer, being able to buy there. We did live shopping shows on Facebook. I did a live shopping show on Facebook with my daughter for four years consecutive consecutively from 2020 to 2024 every Friday night. And then we expanded to ulta.com, which we're on now. And then we we we won a pitch a pitch competition to get on ulta.com, and then we got on jcpenney.com.
• 9:38
  And you've seen us with the trunk shows. We're the first brand that JCPenney Beauty has ever done trunk shows with. Wow. So are really creating a playbook for how independent brands can actually launch into retail.
• 9:52
  Tolu: Yeah.
• 9:53
  Kim: And we just launched on nordstrom.com recently, and we're doing trunk shows inside of their stores now. And then we also launched in 35 Hy Vee stores in the Midwest. Wow. We're actually sold there. You know, when I think about Lameenque, I think a little bit of, like, a science experiment.
• 10:16
  You know, it's it's all an experiment. It's all you know, you understand that it's needed, but everything that's needed doesn't mean it's gonna be easy to get it there. And so we continue to strive and build and opportunities like this to share our story and to tell people about Wamut Beauty. Let other people know, and, hopefully people will go directly to our website and shop us and wanna see a brand like ours prosper. Yeah.
• 10:42
  Belva: Absolutely. I mean, your trajectory has been phenomenal. Right? So many brands are out there and struggle to figure out how to get partnerships with major retail stores such as yourself, right? And so, are you How do you share those strategies?
• 11:00
  Are you sharing those strategies? Will people be able reach out to you to get more information to kinda follow your exact playbook? What does that look like?
• 11:09
  Kim: Yeah. I mean, anyone who actually follows me on social media is already getting the playbook. Oh. I'm on LinkedIn. I'm always sharing on LinkedIn.
• 11:20
  I am on Instagram. I am on Facebook. Me personally, Kim Roxy, k I m r o x I e, and then Lamique Beauty as well. We're always doing things too. But, yeah, I mean, I think it's all about if you wanna know, you can find out because we always are sharing.
• 11:43
  I'm always sharing opportunities. Sometimes I'm get giving I'm doing videos on grant opportunities that are around. I'm giving, tips that I have. I do business coaching. So all of those are opportunities to connect with me rather it be just through social media and getting the information out.
• 12:02
  But now, or for a more formal relationship, I also have those opportunities as well. So it's not hard to find me. If you just contact me online through social, you can you can get me.
• 12:15
  Tolu: Yeah, and we'll make sure we share your social handles as well. But Kim, I mean, I've seen your brand in so many places, remember, in fact, the Lemiec Beauty, I just took it as a household staple, so testament to just the success of what you're doing. You you are a Tony Bert, Torrey Bert fellow. You were mentioned among the top 100 American Express women, 100 women program. You've been involved with the US Black Chamber of Commerce.
• 12:44
  I mean, you're out there in in community. So tell us about that, and tell us how that has impacted your success as a black woman navigating these uncharted waters.
• 12:55
  Kim: Yeah. So I think that it's really important, you know, not to get the lonely going on. You know? Entrepreneurship can feel very lonely because you're having to make decisions, and you're having to always pivot and be adaptable and all those things. And so I believe doing a e community makes it better.
• 13:12
  Mhmm. We a community driven brand. So meaning that, you know, some brands are influencer driven. Some are celebrity driven. We're community driven.
• 13:23
  Okay. We wouldn't hear if it was not for our community. I I was making a phone call yesterday looking for a makeup artist for a friend of mine who and she's actually another founder, who me and her do a big event together on Martha's Vineyard during the summer, buying black marketplace. And anybody gets arrested, please contact me. But but we do me and her do this event together.
• 13:50
  Well, she was going to San Francisco this week for a pitch that she does coming up, and she needed someone to do her makeup. And so she was like, Kim, I know you know somebody, and I'm thinking to myself, I don't know if I know anybody. So, anyway, I'm looking around. I'm trying to see who's in San Francisco who can do her makeup. I finally a friend one of my customers referred someone that they knew.
• 14:12
  Their sister referred someone that they knew. So it was a couple of diff degrees of separation. Well, I call her up, and I say, hey. You know, this is Kim. You know, you may not know me, but I have a friend who's a different makeup artist.
• 14:26
  Are you available this, such and such time? And then she goes, yeah. I'm available. Very nice. Very pleasant.
• 14:32
  And she goes, what is your name again? And I said, Meroxic. I you know, you may not know me. I was like, but, you know, such and such gave me your name. And she was like, no.
• 14:42
  I do. She's like, Lamicte. Right? And I was like, yeah. He was like, I contributed to your I Fund Women campaign, a rewards based crowdfunding campaign in 2019 to be able to launch Lameque nationally in 2020.
• 14:56
  She actually was a contributor to that campaign. Never met her before. She never had met me, but she ran across my story, and she has been following me. And she was just like, I can't believe I'm on the phone with you right now. Wow.
• 15:08
  And so I say that to say that, you know, a lot as a black woman, it's hard to raise venture capital.
• 15:16
  Tolu: Mhmm.
• 15:17
  Kim: Statistics talk about how we only raised point 006% or something crazy, less than 1% of venture capital to build our companies. And with a company like mine, most cosmetic brands raise a lot of venture capital to to go out in the marketplace. Well, we have not, and I had to turn to crowdfunding, particularly this platform called iPLEN Women where people would just contribute for different rewards and things like that to be able to raise the money. We raised $50,000 in a month to be able to launch Lumi nationally. But my point is is that, you know, what, almost six years later, I'm on the phone with a person who didn't even know, just read the story, contributed, and has been following the journey, and it's been inspired by it and everything has been a customer.
• 16:03
  And I was on the phone with her, and she's a makeup artist in San Francisco. So now we're connected. All those things are happening. But it just goes to show that sometimes your struggle, which was Raizen Capital, and it was a struggle, and I and I leaned towards this crowdfunding, which I did not wanna do. I'm a be honest.
• 16:18
  Mhmm. Who likes I didn't wanna look like I was begging for money for my business. Like, why don't you have it on your own? But I had to do it or or less we wouldn't have been able to go on. And I did that, but look at this inspiration connection, everything she said.
• 16:34
  She's so inspired. She's looking to do something and come out with the company and just she's been inspired by my journey the way that we've been able to grow from that happening. So those are the things that you don't even dream of, but the that's the impact that we're making. Yeah.
• 16:52
  Tolu: And fundraising, you you touched on fundraising, but fundraising in community and with those who believe in your mission, I think that's that's that's the difference because, yes, people are fundraising all the time, they're looking for venture capitalists and angel investors, etcetera, but one thing that you've done is you have you've worked with people at the grassroot level, people who are just everyday beauticians, moms, daughters, you know, community people, but they believe in your mission and they were able to take your mission from that stage to the next level that you needed to get to. And and look, they're still part of the community today. So I think it's a it's a lessons learned for many brands as well, because sometimes we're aiming for those VC funding or trying to get the seed funding, etcetera, but sometimes that power is right there in your community and it's connecting with the community, with your story that helps to bring that vision to light. What do you say, Belva?
• 17:49
  Belva: I think that's phenomenal because without community, you really can't go anywhere. Literally, right? And one thing that I'm getting from this conversation as well and seeing your content online is that you're a leader and being in such a broad cosmetics, right? Cosmetics is such a broad industry but you've narrowed it down to a niche to really specifically highlight products for people with melanin skin and all the many shades, right, that we come in and you being that voice of inspiration for other smaller brands to say, I can follow the same format that Kim Roxy is doing and I can, you know, even if you broke it down in different parts, not everything that you've done but I like how you've done it in a very grassroots way and That's a way that people can not only join your community and follow you, but network with you, partner with you, come in and support each other and one another in the events. So I'm looking forward as Yes.
• 18:53
  The Black Business Podcast. I'm feeling like we need to pop up at What Have We And Missed in the community? We need to talk, support you, bring in our cameras and our crew, and just elevate and amplify what you're doing live on the scene. So can you talk about maybe some of the events that you might be having coming up or how can we support you?
• 19:16
  Kim: Yeah. So I'm already it's like talking about your grandparents and your great great grand Yes. And your family. It doesn't go away. The spirit of Black Wall Street, the spirit of Bringwood, which is the neighborhood Yes.
• 20:11
  In Selju Yeah. Is so strong and is so vital that it is not something that just, like, washed away or just got burnt. And so I'm excited as well. I just had a group here in Tulsa from Utah, the Utah Black Chamber of Commerce members and president and the president of the New Mexico Black Chamber of Commerce convened in a delegation, and I led that delegation here in Tulsa and took them around. It, had someone do a walking tour with them.
• 20:44
  Some of the descendants of Greenwood spoke to them. We met with some business entities here. So, yes, I am hosting, actively hosting delegations to come here so we can definitely do something in that regard and you all can tell that tell that story and make people aware for your own knowledge and understanding but then also for the ones that you all reach.
• 21:08
  Tolu: Yes, we
• 21:10
  Belva: would love that, thank you so much for the invite, we're family now so we don't need an invite, we'll just pop up anytime in Tulsa, like what is Black Business Live doing here now? Yeah. Just popped up to come in and see what's going on. But you all do annual events there, think. Isn't there like a annual commemoration for Greenlit?
• 21:31
  Mhmm.
• 21:32
  Kim: Yeah. So there is the Legacy Fest, which is the annual commemoration put on by the Terrence Percher Foundation, and that happens May 31, June 1. K. It's at a very right time here, and it is in observance and commemoration. There's usually a concert.
• 21:52
  There's a business forum. There's a whole lot of activities that happen during that time. So that is a great time to come and really soak in and and get all of that full experience as well. So, yes, there are some some very poignant events that happen here.
• 22:10
  Tolu: That's exciting, and we'll we'll certainly circle back to make sure that we can make a a live show out of that. But let's go back to manufacturing because it intrigues me a lot. I'm very passionate about manufacturing and I believe Belva knows that and she's also quite passionate on that front too. Tell us about the challenges you've faced because it's one thing to make a formulation in a lab. Right?
• 22:34
  It's another thing to find a good contract manufacturer to replicate the exact thing. Then then at some point, you probably wanna have your own manufacturing facility or you probably have one already. Tell us about what it's been like, just going into that path for your business. Yeah. What I've learned is that for
• 22:56
  Kim: us, everyone is different, but for us, it is we have a special sort of case scenario where I started off with a chemist who retired from Estee Lauder, got time on his end. No more with me, mentored me on, you know, how makeup is made, all the things. Like, that's that's what he that's what we did. And that was special because they gave us the opportunity to they gave me the opportunity to learn the behind the scenes part of it. What I understand now after my chemist, passing me along to his, former colleague, who opened up a state of the art manufacturing facility in Houston, Texas where I'm from, is that owning and honing in on an entire manufacturing facility is not particularly necessary for a brand like mine.
• 24:03
  So, however, it is very important for us to have insight and have the capabilities to experiment, to formulate, but then also to scale and produce. And so we're able to do that with our contract manufacturer, and we're able to have really good relationship where we're able to go in the lab, work on formulations, work on different ideas, really put and play different things, but then at the same time, be able to produce them right in my backyard where I grew up. And it happened. A lot of products are made overseas, and and you can look in your own makeup bag, and things like that personal care products, and you see it. It it says it on the products.
• 24:54
  For us to be able to be made in The US, in right here, a lot of our products have made in The US, and to have insight. And even if we're formulating in The US, that is something extremely special, that we're able to do. And I have back to that community piece, instead of us only just producing these products and sort of, you know, being fine with that manufacturing these products and being fine with that, I've actually taken girls and groups to our manufacturing facility where we manufacture our products, and they have experienced being a chemist for the day. Oh, nice. They have spent an entire day at the lab on the in the manufacturing side of things, all of that in the ingredients and how things come in and seeing the whole scope of that process.
• 25:51
  And the reason why I did that was because I had no insight on the scope of that process growing up, and I you know, and that could have helped me to make different professional decisions as I started coming to my career and what I wanted to be. And so I just wanted to give girls and young ladies insight into that to help them to make decisions based on, you know, that and what classes they should take and what school they should go to, all of those things, and how they should study based on that experience and that insight. And so, yeah, so our our manufacturing is mostly happening in Houston, and it's happening through a real partner, it is one that is very intimate in regards to the way that we're able to produce and formulate as well as expose others to this world.
• 26:45
  Tolu: So you're a truly, true made in America brand. That's so just something to be so proud of, made in America, formulated in America. You're teaching girls around STEM and the science of cosmetology, I mean, that is so much success right there. So congratulations for what you're doing because sometimes when we especially this year when they made the announcement about Made in America, it was almost like Greek to certain people. Like, how is that even gonna happen?
• 27:15
  But that this is and here you are telling us how you've been doing it for so long, and you're not just not not just producing the the the the the products, but also educating and helping to groom the next generation of of leaders who are going to be in that space as well. So thank you for what you're doing. Thank you, Kim.
• 27:36
  Belva: Yes. Because we say here all the time at Black Business Live that representation drives aspiration. And so you giving back and pouring into those young ladies and baby, young men too.
• 27:48
  Tolu: Yeah.
• 27:49
  Belva: And giving them an example, being a living example first of all and then showing them from the end, right, so they can see the success that Lanique is already a brand in the stores and doing all the things, but walking them through that process of how you got there, right, and how you create the formalizations and how you determine, you know, what's the next brand and all, everything, everything that goes into it. I think walking them through that and sees, gives them an idea of, oh, I can be a chemist, I can be, you know, a brand specialist, I could be an influencer with a brand. I mean, there's so many opportunities for them to figure out where do they fit and what might spark their interest to continue living on the legend of who Kim Roxy is. Yeah. Right.
• 28:36
  And as a pioneer here in art in this day and age. I think that's beautiful.
• 28:40
  Tolu: It's beautiful. It's beautiful.
• 28:42
  Kim: So Sorry, go on. It's good. And think it's good and also, I mean, believe it or not, people may not realize that usually men are the ones in that or chemists. You know? If they're the right, they'll major the chemical engineering, and they need my office to become chemist, or they're mechanical engineering, and then he wants to machinery
• 29:05
  Tolu: Mhmm.
• 29:05
  Kim: For the products. So people will be surprised, you know, you know, the cosmetic industry being a male dominated industry, and you just assume that because of the consumer. But you can't look at the consumer. That can be very it'd be it's it's very fooling because the consumer doesn't match it to the producer. Absolutely.
• 29:24
  And that's you need to go after.
• 29:26
  Tolu: Yeah. But you're bringing representation to the full spectrum, representation that I can I mean, I I studied microbiology? Like, I could I could play in your I could easily play in your industry one way or the other because you also have to look at the shelf life of your products. Right? But, you know, being able to see yourself in the story, you know, it's an amazing thing and for girls to say, Yes, I want to be part of this as well, it doesn't have to be a man, you know, a process engineer or whatever.
• 29:55
  I can be a process engineer and I can be a woman too. So, that's the representation that we we like to see, we like to drive through our podcast. Yeah. As well.
• 30:05
  Belva: Thank you. Do you have any questions for us, Kim, before we go on? Because we have one more pending one that we just wanna know. But before we get to that, do you have any questions for us?
• 30:16
  Kim: I would love to know from you all what what has been one of the challenges that you all working together had have had to sort of get over to get your podcast out into the world? Like, you know, we know that a lot of things are, like, relationships driven and things like that. How have you taken, you know, both of you, what you've done in the past to bring that to you, what you do now to push the push the podcast forward?
• 30:47
  Tolu: I think it's really community. It's community. It's the people that you know that know you, that you've worked with or done stuff with, that you've you've heard their story that and they believe in in that mission, and they're just contributing one way or the other to it. I think that's that's really what has contributed to the podcast being where it is now and where it's going. There's so much more in the horizon that we'll be sharing on in in the coming weeks as well, but it's it's community and and I think that's the fundamental and you touched on that as well, is when communities rally together and believe in something, there's a lot that can be done and that's one of the reasons why we're doing the podcast in the first place, is so that people are aware of the work that is going on with successful entrepreneurs and we can all rally around together to support each other to do even more.
• 31:36
  So, it's community, really, that's it.
• 31:38
  Belva: Absolutely. And that's the only way that we're gonna make it, right? You can only go so far by yourself alone, right? It definitely takes a community of folks to come together to be able to push the momentum forward. And one thing that I love about the podcast that we've created here is the synergy that Tolu and I have, right?
• 32:01
  Coming together from different backgrounds, marketing, creativity, and strategy, and micro Microbiology? Microbiology, right? And you go, how does that fit in the But it's really process driven and so we're very technical, we're very anal about things, but we want the message overall to be able to land in our community for black people, right? So many people, people businesses are having to pivot because of all the things that are happening in the world right now, the economy specifically. So we said, you know, this is a global podcast, this is affecting black businesses worldwide.
• 32:45
  Yeah. And this is a place where we can come together and share resources and the process, what was the process? How did you get, go from ideation, right, to manufacturing such a brand, global brand, right, and sharing those ideas with people because there's quite a few folks that are sitting here that are watching our broadcast and saying, I have these patented ideas, you know, I have these, I want to have a beauty brand or a hair care product or manufacture bags, we've had such a great response with the folks that have been on the show so far and in the manufacturing space from beauty to other products. And so just having that representation and being able to inspire and motivate and encourage other people to say, hey, Kim Roxy can do it, so can you.
• 33:39
  Tolu: So can you.
• 33:40
  Belva: You know, we've done it and so can you. So coming in and having a place where folks can share that type of information and resources, it's the sweet spot.
• 33:49
  Tolu: It's the sweet spot. Yeah. And and, you know, that's where we're here and then going back to that question, Kim, you know, we're here to also amplify what you're doing. Yeah. So if we were to ask you, what is that one thing that you would like our community to know about Limik and also what is next for Kim Roxy.
• 34:09
  What would that thing be?
• 34:13
  Kim: So for us and for Lamek, I think that I just want people to to put themselves in your Lameek and put Lameek on them. Mhmm. That's the main thing. That's the reason why I created it. So just give it a try.
• 34:30
  That'll be my my my main thing is that you would experience it, and you would try it and not just think about it, but actually be active on it. Because in this day and time, if you are not active on the things that you believe in and the brands that you believe in, you may not see them tomorrow. Yes. And so you must be very you must execute on on on that thought or that, you know, that, yeah, I wanna try it. Okay.
• 34:58
  Well, go ahead and try it. Right? Well, go ahead and do the thing and go ahead and wear it and go ahead and talk about it and be a part of it. The the time is is now. So that's the one thing I would say about that for for Lameet Beauty and what's next for Kim Roxy is a couple things.
• 35:17
  One is continuing to to forge ahead, continue to press towards the mark of a higher calling. You know, as I like to say, you know, me being in the beauty industry is a calling. Mhmm. So I feel like I just have to continue to press towards that. And so, actually, being and showing up in the spaces that I am supposed to be at is one of the things that I take very serious.
• 35:49
  So going out meeting people, so if you ever meet me somewhere at an event or something like that, you know, I love to engage with people and share what I know or, you know, just really engage and really just be on a human level one on one with people. Is very important to me. We are definitely on LinkedIn, and I love to share my thought leadership there. And so any, you know, ways that people would like to invite me in to be a part of their events that they're doing or movements that they have going on, please invite me as well. And, also, coming up through 2026, we'll be launching something new with Lameque that I'm excited for everyone to be able to come onboard with.
• 36:33
  It kinda reminded me of how when my girl said, you know, she was a contributor. I'm like, we wanna just sort of create establish our commute community from a structural level, and so it'll give an opportunity for people to be a part of it from from from a structural sort of ground floor, founder's club type of deal. And so I'm excited about that opportunity and what'll be coming up. So but definitely stay tuned to ways that you can continue to grow. And I'll say this, there is no way for you to engage with people with momentum and you not be able to catch the wave.
• 37:13
  Tolu: Yeah. Yeah. Well, well, count me in because I I I'm not a Texan as you can tell. I'm I'm British Nigerian. I was dragged into Texas kicking and screaming, but now I've made Texas Texas my home.
• 37:26
  Belva: We've kidnapped her over here.
• 37:28
  Tolu: We're not letting for go. But I I would love to support a Texan brand, so and obviously, who who what which other brands to support than a beauty brand? So, Catherine, I'm Ziyuk, Farmers Club, and we'll be in touch because we are going to be supporting You as you made me realize something about, you know, as we were talking, was like, okay, what products do I use in my my makeup cabinet? And I was just doing a mental inventory of that. I'm like, I need to get myself some more Lameque products.
• 37:57
  So so thank you for inspiring me on that. And yes, we will be in touch, right?
• 38:03
  Belva: We will absolutely be in touch.
• 38:05
  Tolu: Yes. So
• 38:06
  Belva: yes, thank you so much for the invite. We're family now so you Yes. Can't get rid of
• 38:10
  Tolu: So we're coming, we're coming to you.
• 38:13
  Belva: Yes. And we're always, our doors are always open so if you have meetings or something here in the Dallas area just reach out let us know and we would love to catch up with you live and in person.
• 38:28
  Tolu: Yes, Yep. Yes. Indeed. Mhmm. Well, thank you so much.
• 38:32
  Kim: So I am grateful for this opportunity. Thank you for giving me this platform to speak on. Thank you for allowing me to activate all the listeners who are listening. Mhmm. And I must say, yes.
• 38:50
  Born and raised Texas, but by DNA, I am Nigerian as well. So, you know, but they're all cousins. Yeah.
• 39:01
  Belva: My Nigerian sister. Love it.
• 39:04
  Tolu: We need to give you a name. We're like when we said we're gonna give Belva a Nigerian name, so we'll probably give you one too.
• 39:09
  Belva: A whole ceremony, and it will be recorded. Yes.
• 39:14
  Tolu: Love it.
• 39:14
  Kim: At 16, I was actually kicked out of high school, labeled at risk, really didn't feel beautiful in the neighborhood and the society I was sort of a part of. Felt like my complexion was too dark. Felt like my hair texture was too kinky, curly. So for me, the beauty industry and all that was nothing that I thought I'd be going to, but it called me. I was in college.
• 39:37
  I needed a job. I started working a part time job at the mall, helping women buy makeup at a makeup counter, and I fell in love with making women feel good about themselves. At that moment, I felt like purpose. I felt like I was purposed to work there, purposed to make these women feel good about themselves, and in turn, it made me feel better about me. So at 21, I did the craziest thing.
• 39:58
  I saved up $9,500. My mom gave me 500, and I opened up this makeup shop. Well, Lameek, love and makeup and kindness. I just thought about the fact that we all are made up of love and kindness. That's what makes us beautiful because beauty is revealed and not applied.