Glow & Grow: Black Beauty, Haircare, and Skincare Tips
- Diarrha N’Diaye-Mbaye built a purpose-driven brand, yet industry realities and funding gaps still undermined longevity.
- Ami Colé had clean, community-first products but faced costly inventory, high retail demands, and influencer-driven sales volatility.
- Millions from funds like L'Oréal's BOLD could not replace marketing muscle, long-term support, and equitable infrastructure.
- Its legacy endures: representation, bold storytelling, and a call for future founders to build without compromise for Black beauty.
Ami Colé isn’t just a brand. It is a moment. A movement. And now, it’s closing.
Founder Diarrha N’Diaye-Mbaye announced on Instagram on July 17 that her beloved clean beauty, inclusive brand will officially shut down in September. For those of us who’ve followed her journey from Harlem to Sephora, this isn’t just another brand closing. It’s a beauty heartbreak and business warning.
N’Diaye-Mbaye built the brand from a sketch in her Brooklyn apartment, redefining what clean beauty could look like when melanin is the starting point, not an afterthought.
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With skin-first formulations and thoughtful storytelling, it offered more than lip oils and skin tints. It offered a place for women of color to be seen and celebrated. And, in just four years, took it to every Sephora store (600+) in North America.
“We were a brand rooted in purpose, storytelling, and the bold celebration of who we are,” she wrote in her announcement. “Let’s not forget bomb ass products!”
What makes it hurt even more is Ami Colé wasn’t struggling for relevance or chasing hype. With a growing cult following and glowing press, she was setting the standard. And, millions in corporate investments from such behemoths as L’Oréal’s BOLD fund made us all believe the brand was poised for longevity.
But her passion, performance, and purpose has proved to be no match for the weight of industry realities. Success is still elusive for too many Black women in beauty.
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“I rode a temperamental wave of appraising investors,” wrote N’Diaye-Mbaye in a farewell letter on The Cut. Behind the glow-up was the grind: costly inventory that she said could often moved at the whim of an influencer’s post, along with high retail expectations, and pressure to scale quickly.
“My story isn’t unique,” she wrote, but, “it still hurts to watch an industry preach inclusivity while remaining so unforgiving.”
We all know this story.
Ami Colé did everything the industry says it wants. Beyond diversity (and all of the melanin magic), she boasted clean ingredients, strong branding, community-first growth. And it still wasn’t enough. Because visibility alone doesn’t match powerhouse marketing dollars. Because systemic gaps in funding, infrastructure, and long-term support remain the norm, not the exception.
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Ami Colé may be winding down, but its impact is not. It lives on in every melanated beauty who felt seen in its shade range, in every founder now daring to build without compromise, and in every reminder that Black beauty is not a trend, it’s a legacy.
“To every Brown girl out there,” she wrote on Instagram, “don’t be afraid to fail out loud. Take it there! Dare to dream big! Learn, dust yourself and try again. Pay it forward.”
We mourn this moment, yes. But we also honor it. And we carry it forward. Because Ami Colé deserved better and so does the future of Black beauty.
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