How to Build a Beauty Brand People Believe In (ft. Tower 28, Danessa Myricks Beauty, Crown Affair)

About this episode

<p>It's easier than ever to launch a beauty brand—and harder than ever to make it last. In this first-ever Aspire founders roundtable, Danessa Myricks (Danessa Myricks Beauty), Dianna Cohen (Crown Affair), and Amy Liu (Tower 28) get honest about what it actually takes to build and scale a brand people believe in. <br><br>These aren’t early ideas—they’re Sephora-scale businesses: Tower 28, launched in 2019, now with a reported $228 million valuation; Crown Affair, launched in 2020 and scaled from roughly 55 to 600 Sephora doors, with a dry shampoo that has ranked #1 in the category; and Danessa Myricks Beauty, a profitable-since-launch business that had already grown to roughly 500 SKUs before entering Sephora.<br><br>From getting into Sephora and staying there, to raising capital vs. bootstrapping, to building community you can't reverse-engineer—this is the real playbook for 2026.<br><br>In this episode, you’ll learn:</p><ul><li>What separates brands that last, and why launching is easy but sustaining is hard</li><li>How to build community with soul, purpose, and mission</li><li>The truth about retail and the operational and financial discipline it takes to scale in Sephora</li><li>How to fund your vision, what outside money is really for, and why finding aligned investors is key</li><li>How founders evolve with intention and decide what to control, when to delegate, and different ways to lead a brand through growth</li></ul>