Owner of this KC cosmetic brand found her way playing makeup with her little girl

Editor’s Note: This interview is part of Voices of Kansas City, a project created in collaboration with KKFI Community Radio and Kansas City GIFT, a nonprofit supporting Black-owned small businesses, to highlight the experiences of Kansas Citians making an impact on the community. Hear the interviews on KKFI 90.1 FM, Fridays at noon, or at KKFI.org. Do you know someone who should be featured in a future “Voices of Kansas City” season? Tell us about them using this form.

Kenyatta “Pinky” Gant has taken her brand, Pink Lipps, to another level through brand partnerships and being stocked on store shelves in Target, and now, Hy-Vee.

She’s an award winner, too, snagging Best MUA (makeup artist) in 2019, Best Business in 2021 and Best Female Entrepreneur in 2022 for the Kansas City People’s Choice Awards. But Kenyatta’s humble beginnings and her passion started in her kitchen making lip gloss with her little girl, Coco.

The Kansas City Star invited the 38-year-old entrepreneur to the Prospect Avenue studio, at GIFT, a nonprofit that supports Black business, to participate in a new project — “ Voices of Kansas City” — launched in partnership with GIFT, and KKFI Kansas City Community Radio.

Gant, founder and CEO of Pink Lipps Cosmetics Company, sat down for an interview with Star Opinion Editor Yvette Walker to tell the story of her entrepreneurial journey. Their conversation, edited for length and clarity, is presented in a question and answer format to share Gant’s story in her own words.

Meet Kenyatta “Pinky” Gant

Yvette Walker: I’d love to talk to you a little bit today about how you got started with Pink Lipps. Pink Lipps with two Ps! How did you come up with that?

Kenyatta ”Pinky” Gant: Well, the name came from my nickname, Pinky. And at the time when I started Pink Lipps, I was only creating lipstick and lip gloss. So we just put the two together.

I understand nicknames are really important to you. Tell us why?

So I’ve been having my nickname Pinky since I was born. And I was so pale when I was born that my family was like, “Well, we can’t call her Whitey.” So my mom said, “Well, let’s just call her Pinky.”

So that’s where that came from. All right. So tell us how you started Pink Lipps.

I always wanted to be an entrepreneur because I grew up under the umbrella of my parents. They were entrepreneurs. My mom was in the beauty industry. And my father, he just owned businesses around Kansas City. So I knew that I wanted to follow in their footsteps.

I just was unsure of what I wanted to do. But it wasn’t until I had my 2-year-old daughter, who was this fearless little girl who just loved lip gloss. And it became an obsession. And so just one day I was like, “Well, as a mommy and daughter project at home, let’s make some lip gloss.” And so I ended up making the lip gloss, and it turned out to be really good.

Apparently, my family was like, “You should sell this.” So that’s when my mom was like, “Well, this could be your business.” And so that’s how we got started.

You told me that some of your friends couldn’t believe it when you made the lip gloss at home.

You know, put in all those chemicals and powders together. I didn’t think it was a thing until I tried it.

So you started getting into this and you said, “OK, this could be my business,” but I’m sure there were some hurdles along the way. How did you get to where you are?

Well, one day, I decided to tweet on Twitter. I needed an investor because, of course, I needed money to fund this project. You know, I was a single mom at the time. I had a really good job, but I needed to take care of my daughter, so I needed financial backing. So I tweeted, “I need an investor.” And someone in-boxed me and said, “What do you need an investor for?” We sat down and (after explaining my business plan) that person gave me $10,000. So he was an angel investor to my business. And that kick-started Pink Lipps.

And you also received a grant from GIFT as well?

Yes, I received a grant two years ago for $50,000.

Congratulations. So with that first $10,000, you probably had to figure out … get strategic about what you wanted to spend that on. So what did you do?

I knew that I needed inventory. I needed a good amount of product and I needed it to be good quality. So I researched manufacturers and I found one. And we started with lipstick and liquid lipstick and lip gloss, because at the time those three products were the top three products in cosmetics. And so I knew that I needed inventory and I needed some type of presentation to make this product look good. So that’s what we spent the money on. And then we had a launch party here in Kansas City and everybody came out. It was a huge success. We ended up selling out that weekend.

How many different kinds of colors or flavors of the lipsticks and lip glosses do you have now?

We have a wide range.

What was your first one?

The very first lipstick we had was called Juicy Mac. It was a red lipstick.

Of course!

And we named it after my mom. But now we have about 112 products – yes – in about six categories.

What are the categories?

We have lipstick, liquid lipstick, lip gloss, lip oil, lip care, matte liquid lipstick.

And then we have face products. So I forgot about that. We have concealer, setting powder, blush, and then we have makeup accessories. So makeup bags, makeup mirrors, and we just released brow products. So we have a wide range.

So who is your audience? Do a lot of makeup artists buy your products or just folks like me, regular people?

Both. We have makeup artists who love our products to use on their clients. I used to be a makeup artist, so I used my product on my clients and they purchased it and they love it. But then the everyday woman who just wants to feel good and feel confident and feel bold, they will buy our products, our lipstick and all of that.

So. Now, you mentioned your baby. So in the beginning, you’re a single mom. I’m going to talk about that wonderful husband here in a minute, but in the beginning, you were a single mom and you talked about your daughter. Now we know you love the nicknames, so Coco is her nickname. And she kind of inspired you. But as she got older, she helps you now. Tell us how your children are really a part of the business.

So first of all, Coco, she still loves lip gloss and she wants to use all of my products. And some of the products I do let her use because she’s age appropriate now. And so she does help me pack orders from our online orders. So, yeah, she’s helping with the business and she enjoys it.

So for the moms out there, I think this is really interesting. You said age appropriate. So you actually had an age where you felt that your daughters were OK to wear it. They liked the lip gloss before and thought it was fun, but they were not able to wear it. So is that age 14?

Yes.

OK. OK. Very interesting.

Yes, age 14, she’s able to try out some of our products.

So I mentioned your husband. Is he a big cheerleader?

He is. He’s the number one supporter for sure.

In the beginning, you were very busy. And I know you told me that he had to, maybe not be a “house dad,” but he had to take care of a lot of things around the home. Tell us a little bit about that.

Yeah, me being a full-time makeup artist and just running the business, there were times where I missed out on a lot of things at home and I would get home pretty late and so he had to take care of the kids a little more than he probably would have liked to.

And him working a full-time job, nights. I would come home. He would be leaving for work. So, yeah, it was tough. But now that I’m in a more established place in my business, I’m able to be at home more and help out a lot more.

And you have helped too, because you first had the $10,000 gift from the investor, but then the $50,000. You were able to do something different with that $50,000 and get some help. Tell us about that.

We were able to do some hiring. I knew then my business was growing and I wanted to scale it, but I knew that I couldn’t do it alone anymore. So I decided to hire. We hired a social media manager/content creator, and she absolutely took our business to new heights.

You could have done a lot with that money, but you decided to focus on social media or to hire someone who could do that. Why did you do that? Why was that more important to you than other things?

It was important because I knew that I needed that piece to help grow the brand. And I wasn’t an expert at it. I did OK. But I knew that in order for my business to grow to the next level, I need to hire someone who’s smarter than me, who’s more skilled than me.

So it was really a strategic move to grow the brand. Do you think that’s what helped you get some of the successes that you’ve had?

Oh, yes, the stores.

You’re in a couple of stores. You have had a collaboration with some companies.

Our first collaboration was with the Vans Shoe Company. They reached out to us because they were doing a Black-owned business program and they wanted to highlight Black-owned businesses that they thought were doing pretty good in their industry. And so they reached out to Pinks Lipps. We created our own shoe with Vans and our own T-shirt, and we received all of the earnings from that. So that was their gift to us. Also, we had eyes on us from Target. That’s how Target noticed us. They really loved our brand from our social media and it was right when we introduced our concealers and setting powders that really caught their eye.

So now we’re coming up on our third year being in Target and we’re in 65 stores and we’re looking to do an increase here soon. And we’ve done a sponsorship with the WNBA. The Washington Mystics. So we were able to go out there for a game and they raved about Pink Lipps. And so we were able to give out lipstick bundles to all the home games.

We have another collaboration coming up, but I can’t speak about that yet. And we’re actually also being sold now in Hy-Vee.

That’s great. So there’s probably some people listening who are entrepreneurs and want to have their own business or are in the beginning of it. And they want to be where you are. What advice would you give to someone who is maybe where you were in 2011?

OK. So my advice to new business owners, and business owners who are even thinking of giving up: What kept me going was my why – you want to always remember your why. Why did you start? Who are you doing this for? And also whatever you do, have some passion behind it because there’s going to be days where the money is going to be slow. The creativity is not going to be there and you’re going to want to give up. But if you continue to stay passionate and keep that on the forefront and your why, you’ll keep going and you won’t give up. So I encourage all business owners to just remember their why and to always do things that you’re passionate about.

So having that passion is really important, but you’ve got to have something to keep you going. You’ve got to have some money. You had that angel investor. It was really important. But then you also applied for grants. How would people look for resources where they can apply for or perhaps get some help?

So I would definitely say hop on the internet. The resources are there. There’s a particular website that I like to go to called HelloAlice.com. They offer a lot of Black-owned businesses and people of color grants and that’s where I actually received my first grant. I received the $10,000 grant from the Beyonce Foundation. So Hello Alice is a great resource to apply for grants and actually receive them.

You talked about that passion. Are there some kind of signature statements you have? Maybe even things that you’ve told yourself during those times when you are trying to keep yourself going?

One thing that I like to remind myself of and others is very simple: What’s for me, is for me.

What does that mean?

That means that what’s for me, will happen for me. And it will not not happen. Because if it’s meant to be, it will be. So a lot of times we deal with imposter syndrome and we look at other brands and we say, Oh, I want that to happen. Or why doesn’t that happen to me? And it’s like, it’s just not time yet, and it will happen when the time comes. Or maybe it won’t, but something else will happen for your business to take it to new leaps. And so for me, I’ve been able to keep going, knowing that what’s for Pink Lipps is for Pink Lipps. And it will happen no matter what.

You were very strategic about when you scaled. That’s a decision to make. Some people could scale too early or too late. Can you talk a little bit about making that decision and when you knew it was time to scale?

I knew it was time to scale when the business was just kind of steady. And we weren’t really growing. And I knew that it was something that I was lacking. So I studied the brand, I studied what we needed, and that’s when I said, “OK, you know what? I’m going to apply for some grants and I’m going to hire people who can really take the brand to new heights.” And that’s when I knew that we needed to scale. Once I did that, the scaling happened.

How is the community, your community, perhaps even your faith community, how have people rallied around you?

You know what? They really believe in me as an entrepreneur and they believe in the brand. They see what it can be. And they in my community have always poured into me. They pray for me. They’ve purchased our product. The support is real here in Kansas City. And I’m super grateful for our community, our lipstick lovers. That’s what we call them. And so, you know, they don’t miss the opportunity to support. And I’m super grateful for that.

You grew up in a family of entrepreneurs. Tell us what that was like and exactly what you think you learned from your parents.

My parents were always on the go, and I guess that’s a testimony that is an entrepreneurship life. You’re always on the go. You’re always busy making decisions and you’re always working. So my father worked. He had businesses that he opened, cleaners, clothing businesses, businesses where he would clean people’s clothes. So he had about three of those.

And then my mom was a hairstylist, so she had tons of hair salons. But it was my dad’s work ethic that I admired, and it was my mom’s ability to make her clients feel so beautiful. And after getting their hair done, they would look in the mirror and they would be in tears because they loved the way they looked once she did their hair. And so those two things stuck with me, and I knew that I wanted to be a part of that in some kind of way. And I just loved the hustle and bustle of their day-to-day operation.

But my father was killed when I was 9 years old, and so things changed in our home a little bit because he was the provider. And of course, I was so young, I didn’t understand what was going on. And so humble beginnings begin to happen. We experienced not being able to have the things that we had when my dad was alive. And so it was hard on my mom because here she is with two kids and having to do this on her own, which all, you know, mothers … We can do it on our own. We prefer not to, but that was our life starting at the age of 9. And so it was tough on my mom. And I saw her lose her passion a little bit and she stepped away from doing hair years later. And I always said that I would continue to honor my parents when I became an entrepreneur because I knew I was going to be one.

I can’t imagine what that’s like for someone so young to lose their father. But that changed things in your household. When you looked to your mom, and you saw that she was struggling, but then when she pulled it back together, did that somehow ignite something in you, even as a young person that you think is even with you today?

Yeah. Just to, you know, stay strong, keep God first. And just know in your heart that things are going to get better.

Now, she was in beauty and you’re in beauty. And, you know, there are some concerns from people to not only focus on beauty for young women. Being beautiful is great, but you need to be smart, you need to be inquisitive and curious and all of that. So how do you – with your own girls who love lipstick – how do you instill that in them as well? You know, it’s fun to play with lipstick. But are you concerned about them only being interested in beauty?

Oh, yes. Because, like I said, age appropriate was my thing. My daughter, out of the hundreds of products we have, she’s only allowed to wear two, you know. And so for me, education is first. And knowing that beauty starts from within is very important to me, too. I don’t want my child to ever feel like she needs these products to go about her day, you know, because life is much more than that, you know?

And so I have instilled in my own children that you have to be a good person before you try to present to this world that you are this made-up person. It starts inside. So for me, age appropriate was a big thing. And then just instilling in my children that those morals and that beauty is everything. But it definitely starts inside.

And you do have two more girls. And so, obviously, they have to wait for 14. But what do they think about the business and how do they see mommy?

Well, my stepdaughter, she loves my business. She loves helping me. She has a big heart, period. And she loves to help me. So when it’s time to pack orders, she’s excited. She loves to be a part of something. She talks about my business to her friends at school, to the teachers, at school. They even purchase products. So she’s a huge advocate for Pink lives as well.

It sounds like it. So you have come a long way. And we talked about what it was like at the beginning. But let’s go back there and talk about before you got that first investor. So you just told everyone that you’ve got to have that passion, you gotta stay strong. But in the time when you knew you had a nugget of an idea for the business, but you didn’t know how to get there.

I don’t know if GoFundMe or things like that existed back then, but is that something you would have done today?

Probably not. I would have just worked hard to make it happen for myself. I would have probably worked doubles and double-doubles to make it work. I am a person that if I want something, I know I have to do the work to get it. And so yeah, I would have done the work to definitely make it happen. It may have been a slower process and that’s OK because I’m OK with taking the stairs. I’m not in this to rush things and to rush the outcome, like, “It needs to happen today.” That’s not my mindset. It happened when it’s supposed to.

And before you got that first $10,000, do you recall a time when it just wasn’t coming together and maybe you didn’t feel like quitting, but you felt …?

I felt like maybe, maybe this is not going to work. How can I change it up and do something different? Because I was having a hard time figuring out the proper way to start a cosmetic line. I’m like, I know I can’t make tens and thousands of products in my kitchen, so, what do I do? I’m a research type of person, I’m going to figure it out. And so I got on the internet and then my answers started to come. I just didn’t give up.

So you were making it for a while, and then you farmed that out?

I made it for about a month, maybe two months. And then I was like, “I can’t keep doing this because I don’t even know if I’m doing it right. You know, I don’t even know if I’m following the safety guidelines on how to do this.” So that’s when I started to research manufacturers.

And for someone who is maybe at that process now, where did you go? How did you find that information that you needed?

I went straight to Google, right?

Either Google or YouTube University. (Laughter)

Right. Because there wasn’t someone who I could literally call and say, “How do you do this?” Because no one thought that it was something that we could do. You know, now we’re able to talk to business owners who own L’Oreal or other companies, you know, But back then, no, it wasn’t a thing.

And so with social media, I could inbox a cosmetic brand owner and they’ll talk to me back. But back then it was like we had to just figure it out. So I couldn’t physically, like, call somebody or email somebody. I had to literally try to go pick up a book and figure it out.

And of course, today there are resources like GIFT that can steer you in the right direction.

Correct.

So what’s next for Pink Lipps? What’s on the horizon?

Well, we have more partnerships coming this year for the holidays. We have a really big product we’re going to be dropping finally for the holidays. And then we’re focused on retail. We’re trying to get into more retail so we have those opportunities coming soon, too.

No exclusive? A little sneak peek today?

So our next partnership will be with Mahogany Hallmark.

Wow. Congratulations.

Thank you. It’s a full circle moment for me because I was a child actor and …

Hold on, we really need to come back to that. But yeah, go ahead.

I was a child actor and I did a lot of print work. And from my knowledge, I was one of the first Black girls on a Hallmark Mahogany card for Valentine’s Day.

So how did you get in touch with them or did they reach out to you?

Well, my middle name is Star. My dad named me that. And so my dad always said that “she’s going to be a star.” My mom said, “OK, well, let’s get started.” And so she signed me up for talent agencies and model agencies. And I got into some and they found jobs for me. So I did a lot of commercials and did a lot of magazine, print magazines. And I went to New York and all that. And then I was on some Hallmark cards for Valentine’s Day.

Wow. Wow. Now, how long did you do that?

I did that for probably about four years.

OK. And when did your father pass?

When I was 9.

He was there, he saw all your success.

Oh, yeah. And I still did it after him.

Oh, that’s beautiful.

Yeah. I wish he was here now, but yeah. Yeah.

And you have a new product line coming out?

We’re adding to our product line. We’re going to be adding foundation finally. OK. Yes. That is the last piece to complete our product line. And of course, we’ll still add more things later. But that is the last piece to where you can literally come to Pink Lipps and complete a full face.

Do you have any influencers out there that you’re looking at, that you would like to be associated with?

Oh, you know what? The beauty industry is so wide-ranging. Our influencers are really just Black women who love beauty, true love, who love to inspire and empower women, and who are just beautiful inside and out. So any Black woman of that kind.

Kenyatta, thank you so much for speaking with us today.

Of course. Thank you for having me.