Kim Roxie: What I don't know is the future

Kim Roxie started her first business when she was just 21. Working at beauty counters as a college student in Atlanta, she noticed that women of color were not being served by the makeup industry. Very few beauty companies were making products for darker skin tones, and there was—and remains—a huge gap in the industry when it comes to natural and organic ingredients. She researched the cosmetics industry, came up with a line of products that spoke to the community she wanted to serve, and then opened a store in a mall in Houston, her hometown. LAMIK Beauty became a cornerstone of the small business community in Houston, and Roxie became a successful business owner who regularly graced 40 under 40 lists and hosted fundraisers for local non-profits.

And then she heard the entrepreneur’s calling again. 

LAMIK, and the community that Roxie built around the store and the products she developed, resonated with women so completely that she became convinced she needed to reach a wider audience. While successful, the single flagship store in Houston did not make it possible to grow an online presence capable of delivering her product to the world. So she pivoted, hard.

In 2018, Roxie shut down her store and plunged into beautytech. She didn’t know anything about raising money, getting investments, venture capital, or ecommerce. It was humbling. What she did know is that there was a huge market for more inclusive beauty products and for makeup made from better ingredients. It was a market waiting to be served—not just in Houston, but around the world. 

Her timing, it turns out, was excellent. Roxie relaunched in 2020, at a moment in which ecommerce sharply increased due to the pandemic. Listening to her instincts about her business, and to her team at LAMIK, allowed her to tap into several trends that were already emerging in the beauty industry—direct-to-consumer sales, custom product based on photo color matching, augmented reality, and a new, more interactive version of shopping from home for digital natives. Her products are on the shelf at Ulta, the largest beauty retailer in the U.S. In two years she went from traditional store to fully online, vastly expanding her customer base and the brand’s potential in the process.

Sherrell Dorsey spoke with Roxie about how she led her team through a major change, what it’s like to shut down something successful in hopes of making something even better, and the power of not knowing. 

I want to launch right into your pivot. I think your story will resonate with so many founders.

In 2018, I closed my brick and mortar store. I stopped doing business the way I had been—and not because it wasn't working, it actually was working. I saw this vision for a new way.