Danielle Edmond is a Jamaican-born entrepreneur, founder and CEO of Stay Golden Cosmetics and uQueen Organics. Before starting her own company, the Jamaican was an athlete. She was the co-captain of Jamaica’s national basketball team before migrating to the U.S. to study Healthcare Management and Marketing at Monroe College.
In addition to sports, Edmond also had a career in modeling, which saw her travel across the world. As a model, she got involved in several events, which improved her capacity and desire to be an entrepreneur. Modelling presented an opportunity where she realized she could do more before migrating. As a model, she always found herself redoing her makeup after sitting in a makeup artist’s chair.
However, what shifted gears for her was her education in marketing. According to her, she came to love the idea of branding towards black women because the majority of beauty commercials did not represent people who had a skin color like her.
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She eventually ditched modeling to start a new career in the beauty industry. This led her to found Danz Distributors LLC in 2013, the parent company of Stay Golden Cosmetics and uQueen Organics. In creating her beauty products, Edmond’s aim also included using them to empower women.
According to Girl Talk HQ, Stay Golden Cosmetics “offers vibrant and fierce eye and lip glam, while uQueen Organics is for the rejuvenation – of skin, body, and being.” Edmond started her brand with five glitter lip kits out of her living room in Brooklyn NY. Since then, she has created 20 different lip shades and eye pigments and celebrities like Nicki Minaj, Lizzo, and Cardi B have been seen wearing 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.
Her other brand, uQueen, is naturally sourced alchemy, from elixirs like Almond Shea Glow Butter, Girl Talk HQ said. According to Edmond, she created Stay Golden Cosmetics to mother her product Glitter Lip Kit after it exploded in a series of viral events on social media. Before Glitter Lip Kit went viral, Edmond’s main brand To Be Golden; a Branding, Events and Marketing agency for small businesses.
“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 started with just 5 glitter lip kits is now a seven-figure brand. But the journey has not been rosy, Edmond explained. Even now, one of her biggest challenges is staying consistent on what happens on social media. Another challenge is curating what her customers want to see and adding value to them as a beauty brand.
