Melissa Butler, founder of The Lip Bar, knows what it’s like to experience failure — and on a very public level, too. When her inclusive beauty brand was three years old, she went on a national reality TV show to pitch The Lip Bar to a panel of investors…only to be told that her business would never grow. “They were so mean to us, they were so cruel. They said, ‘One of the big guys would crush you like the colorful cockroaches you are,’” she says in the latest episode of Go Off, Sis, recounting that devastating moment. “A lot of people have praised me for continuing: What gave you the courage to keep going forward? And I tell them: ‘I didn’t start my business for them, so I wasn’t going to end it for them.’”
Now, a decade later, The Lip Bar, is hugely successful, with its line of shades that complement *and* celebrate dark-skinned women available on the shelves at Target nationwide. But Butler credits her Historically Black College and University (HBCU) education for preparing her for the realities of entrepreneurship, for helping her develop the fortitude to keep going and to strive for excellence, and for equipping her with the tools to ultimately succeed.
As a graduate of Florida A&M University, Butler says that the competitive spirit at her school inspired her to push herself. “HBCUs remind you that there are no handouts, that you will have to work twice as hard,” she says. “Everyone knows that HBCUs are fun, for sure, but HBCUs have a unique ability to prepare students for the real world, and that’s the beauty of an HBCU — there’s that perfect balance.”
And that’s precisely the subject discussed at length in the most recent episode of Go Off, Sis, done in partnership with Target. Butler is joined by Kathleen Newman-Bremang, the senior content director of entertainment at Refinery29 (who went to a Predominantly White Institution); Sandy Pierre, brand partnerships lead at Unbothered (who attended a PWI that was really an unofficial HBCU), and Claire Ateku, social producer at Unbothered (who’s a proud HBCU alumna).
Listen to the podcast in its entirety to learn more about Butler’s story (and how she learned more from her time as a student at her alma mater than on Wall Street), the unique cultural experience that is Homecoming at an HBCU, and so much more.
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