The Brown Beauty Co-op

BEAUTY IS COLORFUL!

Welcome to the Brown Beauty Co-op! A cooperative partnership between Marjani, the premier indie beauty retailer for “brown girl approved” skincare and cosmetics, and Product Junkie, a natural hair start-up that aims to offer naturalista DIY-ers an in-store haven. Located in the District of Columbia, this one of a kind cooperative beauty space is not only a one-stop beauty and shopping experience, but it is also the place to be for brown beauty focused events and an Incubator for emerging beauty brands to showcase their products and services and learn more about the retail landscape.

Making its debut in December 2018, the Brown Beauty Co-op is a Washington, DC beauty boutique and the brainchild of two best friends Kimberly Smith and Amaya Smith (no they’re not related) who love to hit the DC streets in makeup and heels.

In 2017, Kimberly founded Marjani as an e-commerce beauty destination for women of color, focusing on a highly curated collection of person of color owned skincare and makeup brands. The venture was welcomed into the market with great success and was featured in numerous publications including Ebony, Women’s Wear Daily, Cosmopolitan and Instyle, just to name a few. Amaya embraced her own natural hair journey of twenty years and witnessed the buzzing natural hair revolution but realized there was no real location that catered to women of color who wore their hair naturally. After years of marinating, Amaya officially launched Product Junkie in 2018, infusing her “education first, product second” philosophy.
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The “Aha” moment. Early summer 2018, over cocktails and appetizers, both still working in their full time careers, Kimberly, an ivy league trained attorney working in healthcare, and Amaya, a senior communications professional working for a women’s rights non-profit, decided to join forces and create, what would become, an innovative retail space. Both having a passion for the empowerment of women of color through beauty and wellness, they came together to form a beauty cooperative that would serve as a sanctuary for women of color to shop, learn, network and find community. They realized what they were doing separately, could be done better together…The Brown Beauty Co-op!

This Business Supports “Minority Economic Development”