Ep 21: Nyakio Greico, Nyakio Beauty & Thirteen Lune- Building Inclusive Beauty Brands

May 4

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Today’s guest, Nyakio Greico, is a serial beauty Entrepreneur, Founder of Nyakio Beauty and Thirteen Lune. In this episode, Nyakio and I talked about her resilient twenty-year journey in the beauty industry, and how she is not afraid of making mistakes, because pitfalls and blunders are essential for growth and can inspire creativity.

Her brand Nyakio beauty was named after her grandmother, who inspired her at the age of eight. As a first-generation American with Kenyan roots, her first visit to Kenya granted her access to her grandmother’s beauty secret. This secret ingredient eventually became a major part of the first beauty product that she launched in 2002 after she quit her job at the age of twenty-seven.

About twenty years after her first product launched, Nyakio realized that her purpose in life was bigger than the beauty industry. In 2020, her brand gained renowned recognition during the Black Lives Matter movement and sales skyrocketed to a whopping 435%. While this was great, her mind was on the future. She was concerned about the implication of the recent events on people of color and the future of their children.

I am sure you can relate? 2020 was a year that forced you to reflect!

To ease the angst she was feeling, she found herself binging beauty sites and discovered many under- the-radar efficacious beauty brands founded by Black and Brown Entrepreneurs. Ninety percent of these brands were direct to consumers. It had always been Nyakio’s dream to get Black and Brown Entrepreneurs on the road to success quicker than she did. It took her years to get on the shelf (her products are now in Target stores nationwide).

She saw an opportunity and she took it.

Nyakio’s discovery led to the birth of Thirteen Lune, a brand she launched with her co-founder Patrick Herning in 2020. It is the first inclusive beauty platform, and one of her goals is to change the narrative that assumes that Black and Brown products were only created for Black and Brown people. Thirteen Lune serves a community of ninety percent Black and Brown founders and ten to fifteen percent is dedicated to fostering allyship.

This episode will compel you to dream again and keep the hope alive when challenges stare you in the face. Amidst all the struggles that building from the ground up brings, Nyakio never gave up; even when she had to shut down her business and start over. She took the time to reflect and grieve but kept believing because she knew that her dream was bigger than her.

It is okay to not know it all or have it all figured out. As Nyakio stated, perfection is a disease that is often associated with Entrepreneurs. She believes that we are all here to be catalysts of change; with her brands, she shows us that it is possible to be the change you want to see.

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About Nyakio Grecio:
Nyakio (pronounced Neh-Kay-Oh) Grieco is a beauty entrepreneur with two successful businesses: her eponymous beauty brand Nyakio™ launched in 2002 and Thirteen Lune, which she launched with her co-founder Patrick Herning in 2020. Nyakio has long been an advocate for clean beauty for all skin colors, types, and needs. Using beauty secrets she learned from her Kenyan background and travels around the world, she successfully launched Nyakio™ to a marketplace desperately in need of clean beauty products. Today, Nyakio™ is also carried at Target stores nationwide.

In 2020, when the world was profoundly impacted by Black Lives Matter racial justice movement, Nyakio noticed a plethora of Black-owned beauty brands finally getting due recognition from mainstream media. Yet, there was no central community hub where consumers could seek them out efficiently. Additionally, she noticed the misconception that BIPOC beauty Founders were only creating products for BIPOC consumers. Thus, Thirteen Lune launched as a community-based allyship to highlight BIPOC founded brands in one shoppable location, making products for all people in an effort of true amplification and allyship that lasts beyond a particular time of year.

To connect further with Nyakio Grecio and her Brands:
Visit Nyakio Beauty websites: https://www.nyakio.com/us/en
Visit Thirteen Lune website: https://thirteenlune.com
Follow Nyakio Grieco on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nyakio/?hl=en
Follow Thirteen Lune on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thirteenlune/?hl=en
Follow Nyakio Beauty brand on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nyakiobeauty/?hl=en
Follow Nyakio Grieco on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nyakiogrieco?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor