WoW Woman in Beauty | Aishetu Fatima Dozie, founder of Bossy Cosmetics
Aishetu Fatima Dozie is the founder and CEO of Bossy Cosmetics. Bossy Cosmetics ignites confidence in ambitious women through high-quality cosmetics, topical content, and centered experiences. Aisha has always described herself as a "lipstick junkie" and never imagined that she'd start a global beauty brand when she started her career in finance over 20 years ago. She worked for several years as an investment banker and finance executive in the US, UK, Central and South America, and Sub-Saharan Africa. She's also founded a children's play and activity center called Paloo's Place and a media project which showcased successful African women called African HERstory.
Aishetu, tell us a bit about your background and your projects so far.
My full name is Aishetu Fatima Dozie but most people call me Aisha. I am a first-generation American born to Nigerian parents. I am married and have three sons. Being a mother is the best and most precious thing I have ever done and it is the hardest by far! You literally can’t afford to get it wrong. I spent almost 2 decades in the finance industry working in the US, UK, Sub-Saharan Africa, and other amazing regions. I loved my finance career but burnt out and took a year-long sabbatical at Stanford University. That one year process resulted in a transformative process for me culminating in the founding of my beauty company, Bossy Cosmetics.
How did you get into the beauty industry? Has it been an easy industry to get into or have you had many challenges?
As Nike says, “Just Do It!” I literally just jumped in and learned along the way. I’ve been working with incredibly experienced people as well and they have taught me the dos and don’ts of the industry too. I think the barriers to entry are incredibly low but the ability to succeed is incredibly tough. Just being different and being able to get the customer’s attention is very hard. I spent the first year of the brand’s life losing sleep about how to explain who we were and why we were in such a crisp and easily digestible way. I have definitely faced challenges but none that have knocked me down completely. You stumble and you might even fall but you get back up and keep going. Business is a sport of grit and resilience. You have to be prepared to fail repeatedly, quickly, and efficiently.
What inspired you to create Bossy Cosmetics?
I wanted to create a beauty brand that was equally about igniting confidence in women as it was in seeing those same women look beautiful.
How would you describe your brand in three words?
1. Ambitious
2. Wise
3. Purposeful
What’s your best-selling product and why?
Our bestselling product is our recently launched Style, Meet Substance eyeshadow palette. I think it not only came at the right time in the pandemic but it’s a beautiful blend that suits everyone who uses it. The packaging is beautiful and the colours in the palette are so diverse that you can rock them from day to night! Given that many people are wearing masks to go out, doing up your eyes has taken on a whole new meaning.
How long did it take you to be where you are now? What was the biggest obstacle? What are the challenges of being in the beauty industry?
I’m slightly over two years in the beauty game and that’s how long it’s taken me to get to this stage. I feel like I have accomplished less than 1% of what I hope to so the road ahead is long for us! I think the biggest obstacle has definitely been the pandemic! I wish I had more opportunities to meet women in person and talk about what we are doing and why. I have been able to leverage social media to a very large extent but there is nothing like seeing people in real life and talking about why you do what you do. If I had to think about challenges for me, it’s been trusting myself to lead this business in a way that isn’t traditional. There are so many other businesses that are doing amazing things and it’s tempting to want to look to your left or right and lust after their progress! I constantly have to remind myself that what makes Bossy unique is that I am different from every other beauty brand founder and my story, which is infused in the brand essence, has immense value. It’s hard to always be confident. Sometimes, I’m not.
How would you describe the beauty industry today? Is it inclusive? What are the demands of the customers?
I think the beauty industry is a massive behemoth that is impossible to describe as a monolithic group. My guess is that the largest owners across the space are white and so that hasn’t changed over the years. What has changed is that indie brands are eroded brand share of the legacy companies and many of us are led by people of colour. We still have to tackle the fact that many of us can’t get adequate funding so that we can really compete which then affects inclusivity as an industry. Your seat at the table is as important as your voice at that table. If you don’t have the wherewithal or financial muscle, you’re not really included, are you? I always look at the difference between diversity and inclusion. I went to a Beauty Summit a couple of years ago and every single image was “diverse” in that every variety of colour and gender was laid out in a well-depicted manner by all of the brands. However, the majority of the key speakers were white males. The “big boys and girls” are not as diverse as the customer base so that needs to change and it will take time. Customers want to change but not all of them do. Customers are diverse in their expectations and demands too and they will lead with their voice and feet. The customers that we have are so beautifully diverse from race, ethnicity, location, work background etc. It’s such a privilege of a lifetime to be a Black woman that is building a brand for all women. Most people told me that it wasn’t possible to do this when I started and I’m so pleased to share that they were wrong.
How do you create a brand people not only like, but love? And how important is social media today in building a brand?
Having done this for a short period of time, I am also still learning how to accomplish this. What I can say for sure is that being yourself is the MOST important place to start. I feel like oftentimes we are told that we need to create personas or narratives from which we act out a part as a brand owner. I don’t believe in that at all. I am a mom, wife, friend, daughter, person, dreamer, and business owner! That list isn’t in order of priority either because I’d certainly place myself first. The thing about this is that you start from who you really are and what you have to offer and why you think it’s unique. And then you move forward and learn whether it resonates. Your customers and/or community will give you the grace to learn, improve, and soar. Ask me again in five years and I may have a better answer than this one but for now, I think it is to trust your instinct, be yourself, and go out there and see what people think.
I have such a rough relationship with social media. I find it overwhelming. I try to remain disciplined when I use it for business purposes because it’s an excellent way for people to discover your brand. So many of our followers/customers come from Twitter and Instagram. We try to maintain a level of consistency and brand promise on social media so that when you engage us you immediately understand who we are as a brand. We want the right person to feel attracted, delighted, and interested in us from the discovery process to the ultimate conversion event. Social media is incredibly important but I am learning from experience that email is super important as well. In addition, the majority of our purchases come from organic searches of the brand! This makes me so so so so happy. People look for us and convert at a higher rate than scrolling through social media.
What are your biggest achievements to date?
That we continue to attract, delight, and convert self-identifying ambitious women to purchase and evangelize our products, content, and services. Every single order is a miracle and testament to this.
What are the projects you are currently working on?
EVERYTHING! It feels like we are working on everything at the same time. We feel like we are just getting started so everything remains “in progress.” We have a number of new products in the pipeline so that’s super exciting! We want to make Beauty Meets Wisdom even more powerful than it is and we are working on partnerships to build that out as well. It’s an exciting yet scary time!
Tell us more about your project Beauty Meets Wisdom.
Beauty Meets Wisdom is all about partnering with our customers - Bosses - in their “level up” journey. We are so eager to champion the effort of women owning their ambition and nurturing that drive to confidently go out in the world and achieve their dreams. Oftentimes, how she looks has a lot to do with the confidence she exudes but how she feels is also critical. We want to support our Bosses at that particular intersection between how she looks, feels, and eventually, performs. So we partnered with another woman-owned business to offer a complimentary hour of coaching services to women who shop for $50 and over on our site. The goal is to have her search on a platform that offers a number of experienced experts in topics such as PR, bookkeeping, how to create a pitch deck, public speaking, tax, etc and spend an hour seeking counsel. Should she decide to enter into a longer-term relationship that would then be a bilateral discussion?
It’s an area we are really excited to explore further this year. We’ve just signed up a really talented and amazing advisor who will be helping us to think through how to leverage technology to create services and experiences for our Bosses. We want to create a powerful offering that goes beyond how women look and we see technology as the engine upon which to design that.
What will be the key trends in your industry in the next five years and where do you see them heading?
We’re already starting to see that people are connecting with various approaches to beauty. Some prefer a skin-first approach while others like a fully made-up face. There is a beautiful community across that entire spectrum and they are increasingly discerning about how and with whom they spend their money and time. You need to stand for something as a brand in terms of differentiation. I used to think that innovative materials and packaging were how you stood out in a crowded market but the key is to represent something that is both authentic and original. Lean on your “why” always.
What is the most important piece of advice you could give to anyone who wants to start a career in the beauty industry?
Be resilient and dogged. Most things will not go the way you plan for them.. You’ll be told no more often than yes as you start to explore your idea in the world. Just keep going and find that very first customer. Learn from that person. Deliver value and then learn what worked and what didn’t. Build, test, learn, rejig, and repeat. Do that over and over again and remove ego from the process. Be patient with yourself. You will move at the speed that is best for you.
Everyone has their own definition of beauty, what would be yours?
Feeling totally in love and comfortable with my decisions regarding my body, my life, my community, and my mental health.
Who are three inspirational women in your respective industry you admire?
Rihanna
Coco Chanel
Tracee Ellis Ross
Find out more about Bossy Cosmetics on their website.
Follow Aishetu on her Instagram and Twitter.
Follow Bossy Cosmetics on Instagram.
Aishetu will be one of the speakers at our upcoming webinar “The Future of Beauty: Inclusive and Driven by Technology” in May. The webinar is FREE to join, register for your ticket here.
This interview was conducted by Anja Streicher, Chief Marketing Officer at Women of Wearables. Anja is passionate about women’s health and wellness and is inspired every day by WoW women in tech and business who are changing lives with their innovative products.