Faith Korode
Danielle Edmond is the founder and CEO of Stay Golden Cosmetics and uQueen Organics. She was born in Jamaica. The Jamaican was an athlete before launching her own company. Before moving to the United States to study Healthcare Management and Marketing at Monroe College, she was a co-captain of Jamaica’s national basketball team.
In addition to sports, Edmond had a modeling career that took her all over the world. She participated in various events as a model, which increased her capacity and desire to be an entrepreneur. Modeling provided her with an opportunity to learn she could achieve more before migrating. She was always redoing her makeup after sitting in a makeup artist’s chair as a model.
Her marketing education, on the other hand, altered gears for her. According to her, she learned to appreciate the idea of marketing to black women because the bulk of beauty commercials did not include people with her skin tone.
She subsequently left modeling to pursue a job in the beauty industry. This prompted her to establish Danz Distributors LLC, the parent company of Stay Golden Cosmetics and uQueen Organics, in 2013. Edmond’s goal in producing her beauty products was to use them to empower women.
Stay Golden Cosmetics, according to Girl Talk HQ, “offers vibrant and fierce eye and lip glam, while uQueen Organics is for the rejuvenation – of skin, body, and being.” Edmond launched her brand in her own room in Brooklyn, New York, with five glitter lip kits. She has since invented 20 new lip and eye pigments, and celebrities such as Nicki Minaj, Lizzo, and Cardi B have been spotted using some of them.
“These were all super organic approaches,” said Edmond on how she grabbed the attention of celebrities. “We created the buzz, and the creative directors or makeup artists of these amazing celebs saw it somehow. Once the alignment happens, we always support and show love to these major players,” she said.
Girl Talk HQ described her second brand, uQueen, as “naturally sourced alchemy,” with elixirs like Almond Shea Glow Butter. According to Edmond, she founded Stay Golden Cosmetics to mother her product Glitter Lip Kit after it went big on social media. Edmond’s main brand, To Be Golden, was a branding, events, and marketing consultancy for small businesses before Glitter Lip Kit went viral.
“Our aim was to help people transition to social media and utilize various platforms to promote their businesses. On our site, we had a Shop that had motivational pieces like mugs and journals and a very unique concept for Glitter Lip Kit, which was placed there as a test. We went from getting 7 orders a week to 600 one night after marketing placement and collaborations. From there, we quickly developed the brand and created its own platform,” she explained in an interview with Girl Talk HQ.
What began with simply five glitter lip kits has grown into a seven-figure enterprise. However, Edmond added that the path had not been without challenges. Even now, remaining consistent with what happens on social media is one of her most difficult difficulties. Another problem is selecting what her clients want to see and offering value as a beauty brand to them.
