00:00Next up, we have Adiola Ogunaye, whose business is called Arome.
00:09Adiola, take it away.
00:11Hello, my name is Adiola Ogunaye, and I am the founder and CEO of Arome.
00:17Did you know that Black women are believed to have physically thicker and less sensitive skin than any other race?
00:22Well, that's not true.
00:24Our story begins with my dry, sensitive skin.
00:27Ten years old, I remember covering myself up because dry, ashy skin is significantly more visible on darker skin tones.
00:35I remember watching skin and beauty care ads, but never seeing anyone that even remotely looked like me.
00:41I remember my grandmother bringing shea butter all the way from Nigeria to solve my problems, but as an impressionable ten-year-old, I was so embarrassed by the strong smell, and because no one I knew at school used it or even heard of it.
00:54After countless years of searching for products that catered to my skin, Arome was born in my kitchen.
01:01Yes, in my kitchen.
01:04And who knew that shea butter would be one of our main ingredients?
01:07Thanks, Grandma.
01:08After extensive research, we created the Arome Skin Moisturizing Collection, formulated specifically with black and brown skin in mind.
01:16Our collection includes body butters, body creams, and hand lotions.
01:21Our butters are hand-whipped with all natural ingredients, including avocado, shea, and cocoa butter.
01:28They hydrate and condition your skin, providing long-lasting moisture.
01:32Each batch is infused with vitamin E and rice bran oil to provide healthy skin and provide a natural glow.
01:39Our body creams are water-based and enriched with skin-loving ingredients such as shea butter and glycerin that help provide maximum hydration.
01:48Shea butter contains vitamins A, E, and F that help restore skin elasticity, while glycerin locks in moisture, which helps to keep the skin supple.
01:57And the cherry on top is every single one of our products are sent with a positive affirmation that was submitted by real customers.
02:04We aspire to build a sense of community by connecting individuals through spreading these acts of kindness and love.
02:12So when it comes to improving skin health, Arome does things a little differently.
02:16We focus on the holistic approach of skin care, incorporating the mind, body, and soul.
02:22From the chemical reaction that takes place from the waters and oils emulsifying, to the physical daily application of the product,
02:30to the affirmations we encourage each customer to repeat as many times as they need to.
02:36We are proponents of intentional self-care that sets the tone for your day.
02:41We're passionate about overall physical and mental wellness that's often neglected in the Black and Brown community.
02:47We committed to content that reflects the true beauty of Black women, allowing us to feel seen, valued, and beautiful.
02:55We love to see it.
02:57As a result, our customer base started growing rapidly, and there were just not enough hours in the day.
03:02So I took a leap of faith and walked away from my full-time job in October 2020 to share my products with the world.
03:102020 ended up being our most profitable year with $10,000 in sales within our first three months of rebranding.
03:17Our sales grew 262% from 2019 to 2020.
03:22We're projecting a 200% growth in 2021.
03:26Within this time, we've also launched our products on Amazon Prime and sold out within two days.
03:31Our products are also available at Beauty Bees, a Black-owned retailer in Los Angeles, California.
03:36And after a three-month partnership with them, we completely sold out, causing the store to request three times the original inventory this time around.
03:44This grant from Aveeno, in essence, would be the catalyst Arome needs to scale our business.
03:50These funds will help us develop a team which will provide job opportunities within the community, allow larger production of our product, and investments in marketing strategies.
04:00Most importantly, though, Arome will be positioned to be more accessible to the Black and Brown community as we bring awareness to the true power of natural, holistic skincare.
04:09I am so honored and appreciative that Arome was hand-selected by Essence and Aveeno for the first ever Startup Accelerator.
04:18Having the opportunity to be a part of the final five with some truly inspiring women is simply priceless.
04:24This initiative gives hope to the young and impressionable Black and Brown girl, and that is truly everything.
04:31Again, my name is Adiola Ogunay.
04:34I am the founder and CEO of Arome, and I'm so grateful for your time.
04:42Thank you so much, Adiola, for sharing more with us about Arome.
04:47I'm going to give some of my judges an opportunity to ask you a few questions, and I'm going to go ahead and start with Suzanne.
04:53Thank you so much, Adiola, for sharing your picture with us about your business, Arome.
05:01I love your story, taking us all the way back to your childhood, and I'm so inspired by the impact that you're looking to make on Brown and Black girls and women.
05:11I'm also so inspired by your passion for natural ingredients and your belief in the power of natural ingredients.
05:18I love envisioning thinking of you in your kitchen, like whipping up these products and really offering superior solutions for these women.
05:27I'd love to hear your vision for where you'd like to take Arome next.
05:35You talked a little bit about your plans to scale, but when you think about the body collection that you have, where do you plan to take Arome next?
05:45What vision do you have to continue to grow this business and expand these solutions for these women?
05:52Absolutely.
05:52Thanks so much for your question.
05:54Honestly, with that, with our vision, again, the main thing for us is that self-love and that self-care.
06:01So we really want to grow the business so it becomes available to every single, both women and men are able to use the products.
06:07So I think just really expanding the network that we have currently, having it in, I'm sorry, large retailers such as like Target, Whole Foods, a lot of local retailers that we have here as well.
06:19I'm just really making it accessible so that people are able to be exposed to the product.
06:26And thank you, Suzanne, for your question and Adeola for your response.
06:30I'm going to go ahead.
06:30Arian, do you have a question?
06:32I sure do.
06:34Congratulations on everything, Adeola.
06:36This is my question because I'm in love with the Shea ingredient in any product.
06:42I'm definitely a big fan of that ingredient.
06:45You are in, you are marketing or doing your product in more of the luxury space, which definitely caught my eye because I've yet to see these ingredients looked at in that space.
06:56How do you plan to differentiate yourself and what is the incentive for the customer to purchase the luxury product when there are so many other products that are non-luxury that have the Shea ingredient?
07:10Great question.
07:11I think that that's perfect that you say that because, again, looking at the product, we are definitely going for that luxury.
07:17But we also want to bring that luxury into the everyday life, right?
07:20We don't want people to feel like self-care is only something that you can practice when you have a ton of money.
07:25So even for these, for the amount of time that it lasts, they're each, the butters are $24.99.
07:30So a lot of our customers find that to be extremely affordable.
07:33And then it does contain Shea butter, but also our primary ingredient is actually avocado butter, which is so thick and creamy.
07:40The combination of them together is like magic, honestly, if you ask me.
07:45So a lot of our customers truly love that.
07:48And I feel like it's something that you can take that luxury that's typically seen as something that, you know, you only do once in a blue moon and bring that to your everyday lifestyle.
07:57I guess what I'm asking is in a crowded space, what is going to be the main factor, the wow factor that says, oh, my gosh, I'm picking up this versus this?
08:08Absolutely.
08:08Yeah, so I definitely think, again, the affordability of the product, but then also the fact that it's the heart and soul in the product.
08:15It's the story that ties into it.
08:17A lot of people, honestly, you know, it's a great product.
08:20The product sells itself, but it's also the brand and it's the person that behind it that sells it as well.
08:24You know, you can have multiple people doing the same things, but it's how they present.
08:28It's how they commit to their customers.
08:31And again, we really work on building that community.
08:33So like I said, each of our products are sent with affirmations attached to them, and these affirmations are submitted on our website by real-time customers.
08:42So it's amazing when, you know, you're in Texas and you pick up a product and there's an affirmation on it that was sent from someone else that's in California on the complete other coast.
08:51So I think it's really just building that community and giving them that opportunity and that difference.
09:01So, thank you.
09:03Hanan, you had a question?
09:05Yes.
09:05Adiola, thanks for sharing your story.
09:08Definitely love your products and the packaging is very premium.
09:12My question is just around your ingredients.
09:14How are you sourcing them and specifically tied to, like, what's the story in that luxury space that you're tying to the ingredient?
09:22Yeah, absolutely.
09:23So in terms of sourcing, a lot of them, in terms of the shea butter, I am able to get that directly from Nigeria and Ghana is where I get those.
09:30So I'm able to have those in wholesale quantities.
09:33I do have websites online where I'm able to also ship, like, larger quantities of the rice bran oil.
09:38And so with that, that ties into us looking to be able to scale.
09:41So when we're able to purchase in larger quantities, that would definitely bring down the unit costs, which can also, in turn, bring down the cost of the product itself.
09:50No, thank you.
09:51Especially as you highlight some of those ingredients, such as shea.
09:55And it's really important, the sourcing and where they're from.
09:57So I love that some of them are coming from Nigeria and you have some locations attached to some of your hero ingredients.
10:04Thank you so much for that.
10:08Adiola, I am a girl from Kenya.
10:09So the other half of the African continent and have visited a lot of the places where the shea nut grows, right?
10:19And in West Africa, whether it be Ghana and in other places, I've also observed the impact that has on the economies there, right?
10:27So in your honoring your heritage and tradition and bringing a product that is native to your home and some of the other West African countries forward, what impact does that have on the lives of the folks back home that you'd want folks to know?
10:43Absolutely.
10:43Absolutely. I think it's an amazing question because it definitely provides job opportunities.
10:48These are a lot of women who are typically, honestly, sometimes the breadwinner of their households.
10:54You know, they're going to these fields day after day.
10:57You know, the shea butter is made by hand.
11:00So just something to keep in mind that, like, not only is this impacting all of us here in the U.S., but back home in Africa, it's like that's bringing income and money to their businesses as well and really funding, you know, putting food on the table for them and giving them those opportunities.
11:14So it really is, you know, a global impact.
11:18Thank you for indulging my selfish question for that as a member of the continent, but also good for people to know that this isn't just about what it does for your skin.
11:28It's what it does for communities.
11:30And that becomes just as important and is aligned to both what Essence and Aveeno believe.
11:34Thank you for that.
