How Melissa Butler Built The Lip Bar Into a Nationwide Beauty Brand

Melissa Butler was working at Barclays when she started making lipstick in her New York apartment. 1,500+ batches later, her scrappiness paid off with a spot on Shark Tank.

She didn’t get the deal, but she did leave with a powerful lesson in branding instead. Now, The Lip Bar is sold on Target shelves nationwide—the retailer’s largest Black-owned beauty brand.

In this episode, Melissa takes us through her incredible journey from the apartment kitchen to the CEO chair, including the advice from Mark Cuban that changed everything, how she landed a deal with a major retailer, knowing when it’s time to quit your job and go all-in, and much more.

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3 Takeaways:

1. Build your community before you build your product.
2. Know the difference between working capital and growth capital.
3. Your personal brand is your business’s biggest asset.

“I saw this group of women who felt like they were aging outside of their beauty—and this idea that beauty has a time limit. That’s another box I don’t appreciate and I don’t want to play up.”

“Beauty will happen wherever I choose.”

“A lot of founders make the mistake of thinking they need dollars when they need efficiency, or they need creativity, or they need to build a better community.”

[00:25] Meet Melissa Butler
[02:47] From Detroit Roots to Wall Street
[04:20] Quitting Finance to Start a Lipstick Brand
[07:23] Learning Cosmetic Chemistry from Scratch
[11:09] When to Quit Your Job
[14:26] Shark Tank: What Really Happened
[23:44] Raising Capital & Landing Target
[32:38] Scaling the Brand: Retail, Marketing & Growth
[45:30] Final Advice for Founders

Melissa Butler: linkedin.com/in/melissa-butler-4b7ba766/
Everett Sands: linkedin.com/in/everettksands

Learn more about Lendistry: lendistry.com
Learn more about The Lip Bar: thelipbar.com