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TONI KO
Serial entrepreneur Toni Ko best known for her global beauty empire NYX, sits down with WOTC to discuss life after NYX, being an Angel investor and founding her new beauty love-child, Bespoke Beauty.
Interview Phadria Prendergast
Phadria: Tell us how it all started for you; before establishing this beauty empire and cementing yourself as a successful businesswoman?
Toni: I almost fell into it, but I have always known I was going to be an Independent woman. In third grade in Korea in the 1980s, I always said I won’t get married, but that I will be a self-made entrepreneur with great success.
My family have always been entrepreneurs so I will be the third-generation entrepreneur from my maternal and paternal side. The idea of running a company was normalised in my family.
We immigrated from South Korea to the U.S when I was thirteen, and they built a beauty business. I worked there from an early age between 14 and 15, so it all came very natural to me. I loved makeup. It is less of a job and more of a playground to explore my passions. It raised questions about; what the consumer wants, what products need to be displayed together and what what was needed to upscale. I was absorbing information like a sponge. So, all these factors combined while working in the family business till my early 20s. I lived in my family house till I was married as that was our custom.
At around 25, I had the idea to combine the products that would be sold in a department store at affordable prices and be sold at a drug store instead. This was unheard of as it was before 1999, where such products were sold at a more distinguished and expensive department store that was not easily attainable to the masses.
The main aim was to ensure the quality was top-tier and due to the connections with manufacturers through my family business, I was able to contact a manufacturer of make-up pencils to help launch a line of lip and eyeliners.
I spoke to my mother about it and she was my main investor compared to these days when there are a lot of terms for seed funding and capital to be raised. I didn’t have that. Instead I borrowed money from my mum. She had this unwavering belief in me and it gave me the confidence to risk everything in a bid to achieve my dreams and gain experience in my youth than in old age.
I developed 12 coloured lip liners and 6 coloured eyeliners, and it was made in May of 1999, when I launched the company.
In the first 12 months of the business, I sold in retail value 4 million dollars’ worth of lip and eyeliners which was insane. So, I did 2 million dollars in wholesale in the first year, and I was the only employee and did everything from answering calls, designing products even stocking, packing and delivery.
Eventually, the brand just took off and it was like a once in a lifetime scenario.
Phadria: Wow! And you mentioned your family business, what is it that they were doing?
Toni: In Korea, we were in the textile business, then we moved over here, and my mum wanted to continue our textile business, but the capital was very high, and we couldn’t afford it.
While the beauty supply business was less expensive, my mum is the matriarch of the family so based on her decision we went into the beauty supply industry. We started as a retailer and as a typical neighbourhood business, but then we expanded into multiple stores. Due to my mum’s leadership, we successfully expanded to the point where we became a wholesale distribution business. A very significant part is that from a young age, I was interacting with customers and then the wholesale business taught me how to manage retailers.
Phadria: When did you bring your idea to life and know this is what you wanted to do?
Toni: I wanted to be an autonomous person who was financially independent from a very young age. I was very fortunate that my family started a beauty supply, business that was in line with my aspirations. I have a passion for the products, and I am a consumer so I can solve problems that arise with the product. Then I had this epiphany for business. I loved the initial part of the business and the different possibilities that can come from starting a business. At 25, I started thinking about a cosmetic company that marries the high quality of a department store, and the affordability of a drug store.
Phadria: Was it at 25 that you knew you would be an entrepreneur or from early on in your childhood?
Toni: It is more like a knowing there wasn’t an age target. I wasn’t chasing it, but it just happened naturally.
Phadria: What do you think the beauty industry has been like since the birth of your first company, the pandemic and its effect on peoples’ shopping patterns?
Toni: Since 1991 and 2021 making it 22 years it is vastly different. My first company in cosmetics, which I sold I 2014 - that was 7 years ago and from 2014 till now, it has changed dramatically.
The beauty business was on a high rollercoaster and the business to be in as many businesses were being created m, but since the pandemic, it seemed like no one was going to buy makeup anymore and the company would go out of business. We went into lockdown in March 2020, leading to a transition and peak in online shopping because everyone was confined at home. Everyone started using Zoom and people needed makeup to look good on camera; they watched loads of make-up tutorials at home and the demand for make-up climaxed. As lockdown has eased brands are comparing their sales to last year and realising the numbers were hyper-inflated, so it’s unclear if those kinds of numbers will be achieved again. Currently, people are regathering and for the entire beauty industry, the next 12 months is crucial and those that make it will triumph while some brands will fold.
Phadria: What are the other ventures that you are doing?
Toni: After I sold NYX cosmetics, I got a huge financial reward, so I decided not to spend it frivolously but to invest it, by splitting my portfolio into 60% real estate, 25% stock and 10% bond. I gave myself 5% as a reward for working non-stop for 15 years.
Finally, I put aside money for a Capital Venture company called Butter Ventures to invest in female venture companies, I have invested in 15 female-founded companies. The fund is retired now, but I plan to set up a new fund in a few years. I had a 5-year non-compete and when that ended, I got back into the beauty business and my new company is called Bespoke Beauty Brands.
Phadria: What was it like not being in the beauty industry for so many years?
Toni: The first few months after I sold my company, I was clinically depressed. When you are an entrepreneur whose entire identity is shaped by your company, when you no longer have that, it causes you to reflect on life. Once you let negative thoughts affect your mind, you become erratic, a bit unstable but eventually, you find peace in the change and can focus on the next stage in your life. Yoga, meditation and finding myself-centre again were significant.
Phadria: Regarding your new beauty brand, Bespoke Beauty Brands, where do you see this going and what is your vision for it?
Toni: This is different to my last company. It’s a portfolio of companies instead of being one brand. So, I partner with different influencers and celebrities and we launch a brand that is very narrative-focused, distinguished and authentic to each influencer or celebrity and their character.
Phadria: Wow! And what is next for you outside of the business, and how do you self-care away from work?
Toni: When you are an entrepreneur, it's almost impossible to turn it off completely, but I work out and do a lot of yoga and meditation and a lot of massages. Travel helps. It’s mind joy and I look forward to it. The majority of the time is about how focused I am on the work, compared to a mellow time when I just relax. For instance, driving in silence helps me come up with different ideas. It’s about the volume, so there’s no ‘off’ bottom, but finding random moments to relax and take time for yourself.
Phadria: What would you say to your younger self?
Toni: Less anxiety, more patience and the process is the best part.
Phadria: Tell us about some of the female-businesses you have invested in?
Toni: I have a brand called Rael and it's founded by three Korean American women, and they found a space within the organic feminine Net game. Saint Reeves a handbag company I’m an investor in, Good Die Young by Hallie Williams and it’s an organic hair colour company. Alice Brooklyn is by organic fragrance company. I am drawn to organic companies.
Phadria: How did you select them?
Toni: My biggest deciding factor is that I try the products, and if I like it and if the founders of the company have passion and determination, as well as ensuring the numbers are significant. I’m not a huge investor, but it aids the companies.
