Auja Little, Founder of Beautyocracy
Auja Little is on a mission to build a better beauty industry for women of color.
Auja is the Founder and CEO of Beautyocracy, a social commerce platform where women of color can discover and shop beauty, together. Fueled by her own struggles developing a skincare routine that reflected her needs and values, Auja is dedicated to changing the beauty retail experience for the better — not just for consumers of color but for Black- and brown-owned beauty brands as well.
Prior to founding Beautyocracy, Auja worked in the commercial real estate industry, leading cross-functional teams to meet strategic objectives, building tech-enabled solutions to improve operational efficiency, and managing a $1B+ retail and office property portfolio. Auja holds a B.S.B.A in Finance from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and an MBA from Stanford Business.
Tell me a little bit about yourself.
I grew up in the South, between Dallas, Texas and Charlotte, North Carolina, and went to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte for undergrad. Like most college kids, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what I wanted to do. Between my dual tracks of computer science and finance, I ended up choosing finance. My first job happened to be at a commercial real estate firm; I fell in love with the industry and spent my first couple of years at private funds before working at a public REIT where I focused on asset management, investor relations, corporate strategy, and operations.
I loved the people I worked with and my job was always interesting, but what really energized me was the diversity and inclusion work I was doing in the greater commercial real estate community. I worked with numerous organizations to create opportunities for people of color to thrive in their careers. I knew from that experience that I wanted to pivot away from commercial real estate to do something that felt a little bit more mission-driven, so I decided to leave my job and go to business school in order to make that happen.
Around the same time, I was exploring a problem I was seeing in the beauty space. I had gone natural back in 2015. The journey of shifting away from relaxed hair to natural hair was a real struggle, not just on a societal level of going against the grain of traditional beauty standards, but also just finding products that worked. I spent years crafting a product-hunting system where I’d peruse a set list of sites and forums and then spend hours going through the Instagram rabbit hole looking for new brands and launches.I had packages coming to my door every single day. I had spreadsheets for tracking what worked and what didn’t. I was the de facto resource for friends and family. It honestly became like a part-time job, experimenting with these products and figuring out what was actually going to work for me–or other women of color in my life.
Sunscreen was my breaking point. I was on my way to an outdoor event and had made a last minute run down the block to Walgreens to grab some. While my Uber was impatiently waiting on my apartment curb, I was in the bathroom frantically trying to rub the resulting white cast from the sunscreen out of my skin. When defeated, I got into the car, started my usual search for products “sunscreen for Black women” but abruptly paused. It felt ridiculous. The right options for me should be obvious, easy to find, and accessible–and for so many reasons, they simply weren’t. I knew right then and there that I wanted to solve this large, complex problem in the beauty industry–one that would benefit all people of color.
Could you tell us what you’re building at Visible Hands?
I’m building Beautyocracy, a social commerce platform where consumers of color discover and shop beauty together. Users build their profile and digital shelf, then join an inclusive community that helps them build a better beauty routine, one new find at a time. What I learned on my own journey is that the problem is not supply, it’s access and discovery. Most importantly, women of color shop differently. Our purchases are more value-driven, we often rely on recommendations from trusted sources for product discovery and purchase decisions, and we spend far more on beauty products. Yet today, there are numerous polls and studies out there stating women of color still struggle to find brands that reflect their values and products that match their skin tone or skin needs.
Our platform is built to reflect how women of color shop while addressing the real pain points. Users receive ‘matches’ to similar users so they can explore their shelves for product recommendations. Through a hyper-personalized stream of video content, they can discover and shop both mainstream and independent brands and then review their finds or bond over beauty topics with a growing, inclusive community. It’s about bringing together consumers of color and the brands that serve them, uniting a fragmented beauty market, and making the process of finding and discovering products that actually work for you, faster.
What has your experience been like in the VH Fellowship program so far?
I have been blown away by the phenomenal set of founders, builders, and professionals that have been a part of this cohort. It’s been incredible. I’ve learned so much from the people around me and I’m always in awe of what we can teach each other. No matter what stage we’re at, there’s a massive amount of knowledge and expertise that every individual holds in their own domain. It’s been fantastic connecting with all of the fellows and being able to access that pool of knowledge.
What would you say is your favorite aspect of the program so far?
I really enjoyed the virtual events that Visible Hands held. They brought in a fantastic set of speakers who have brought different insights and unique perspectives that have really helped push my thinking around every step of the process. Additionally, some of the more informal stuff that happens between us as fellows when we get together and meet up; sometimes you need advice on your deck and sometimes, you just need a drink and a chance to vent with a founder who gets it!
What are you looking forward to the most by the end of the fellowship?
We’re in private beta right now so we’re really looking forward to moving into Version 2.0. Now that we’ve learned a ton through our private beta, we’re ready to build our full platform and launch an open beta in Spring 2022. We’re digging deeper into some of the areas that we found to be successful in the last couple of months related to content, community building, and hosting in-person events. We’re excited to expand on all that we’ve learned in our time with the fellowship, and use it to continue to grow our community.
Entrepreneurship is not easy. What is your motivation for doing this day in and day out?
I’ve been entrepreneurial since I was a kid, so I’ve always known I’d build a company someday. I feel like my decision to build a startup was sort of the byproduct of wanting to be in the driver’s seat, create something that I wanted to see in the world, and to scale it fast.
For me, building Beautyocracy isn’t about the glory of being a founder, it’s about building something that matters, that changes beauty for the better for the community I so deeply care about. I’m driven by the sheer fact that there was a clear problem for so many people in my life. The solution didn’t exist, and I was going to make it happen.
What does that mean when you say you were always entrepreneurial as a kid?
There are so many random examples. When I was seven or eight, I would figure out what crafts were trendy among my classmates, then run to the craft store and buy materials in bulk to sell them in the back of the school bus. In middle school, I had a cupcake business and a babysitting business. My dad was very into early tech — he’s a graphic designer who taught himself to code–so I knew my way around a computer. I had my ways of burning whatever music or movies you wanted onto discs for a price. I was doing a lot and when I was younger, I was always thinking about how I could find an opportunity and then capitalize on it.
Where do you see yourself in 5–10 years?
In five years, I hope we’ll have built an incredible company that other brands see as a true leader–in brand partnerships, in company culture, and in how we built our community. In ten years, I want to see Beautyocracy become the primary destination for consumers of color to discover inclusive beauty.
For myself, ten years from now, I still want to be solving those difficult, more complex problems that consumers of color face–whether that be in beauty, health care, education, or real estate. I want to work on solutions that could drastically change how communities of color experience parts of our society–for the better. I care about my community, and I want to use my potential to change the world we live in for the better.
