When you hear the success stories of most businesswomen, you will find there was a lot of discouragement along the way, but they continued thanks to their determination succeed.
Melissa Butler, founder and CEO of The Lip Bar, Inc., is one of the people who were discouraged when she started her lipstick business.
Last year, when she celebrated a decade of being in the beauty business, she threw shade at Mr Wonderful in response to what he had said to her in the previous years.
In 2015, she and her business partner appeared on a show called "Shark Tank”, where they showcased their products and were called “colourful cockroaches” by Mr Wonderful and his guests, also known as the “sharks”.
“10 years later and we’re still 💯 % that Bawse. The sharks told us to quit, but we kept going. 2 million units later… thanks, Mr Wonderful. Here’s to many more years of challenging beauty standards and ignoring the haters,” wrote The Lip Bar on their billboards.
While many people are happy that Butler is thriving, others point out that Mr Wonderful didn’t mean any harm when he called them “cockroaches”, because he uses that term for all small businesses.
“Let me start by saying I am so proud and happy for the success of their business. I own several of their lipsticks and love them all. Now… I’m an avid ‘Shark Tank’ watcher. My husband and I watch every night.
“So of course, I saw this episode. I’m not dismissing his comment, but if you watch the show, you know that Kevin calls every small/starter business that doesn’t have a large amount of sales a ‘cockroach’.
“Not in a racist regard, but more so as in, the business is going to get crushed by the bigger competitors. Kind of like how cockroaches almost always die… they get crushed. The colourful was not about them being black.
“It was about the many different colours they presented of their lipsticks. As a black woman, I would never condone any form of racism, but this instance had nothing to do with race.
“This man has called everyone’s small business a cockroach, whether they’re black, white, blue or green. Is it rude to say? Yes. But this is taken wildly out of context. Details matter,” said @cupofconsuella.
Most responded by saying that although Mr Wonderful means no harm, it’s not a nice thing to say, especially to newbies who are still trying to find their feet.
This month, Butler announced another huge milestone – that The Lip Bar is available in 3 000 CVS stores.
“I am a lady in red right now because I am on my way to CVS to check out my product on the shelf because the Lip Bar just launched in 3 000 CVS stores. I am so excited.
“This is such a big deal like, 3 000 CVS stores, we’re not in 3 000 stores right now combined with all our retailers, so to launch in CVS on an endcap, all about ombre lips in 3 000 stores is crazy,” she said.
Butler is an inspiration to many women in the beauty business because, at the end of the day, every entrepreneur wants their business to thrive and be accessible.