CEW US : How Olamide Olowe Built a Gen Z-Crazed Skin Care Brand
9 May 2025
How Olamide Olowe Built a Gen Z-Crazed Skin Care Brand
At only 23 years old, Olamide Olowe tapped into an unaddressed market, Black skincare, by launching Topicals, a cutting-edge, science-backed skincare brand that is now one of Sephora’s fastest-growing lines.
In 2017, Olamide Olowe was a UCLA student planning to become a dermatologist when her life took an unexpected turn. Her college roommate’s father owned Shea Moisture, the pioneering Black-owned hair care brand, and Olowe landed an internship there shortly before Unilever acquired the company for $1.6 billion. Witnessing that deal — and the cultural power it represented — changed everything.
“I saw that Black consumers weren’t just a niche market; they were the drivers of beauty innovation,” Olowe recalled. “But skin care hadn’t caught up.”
Olowe next to Topicals Faded Serum poster
As a pre-med student, she had noticed her textbooks barely addressed ethnic skin care concerns. “The diagrams didn’t show all skin tones,” she recalled. “I kept thinking, what about the rest of us?” The oversight wasn’t just academic — it was a billion-dollar blind spot in the beauty industry, and she intended to correct it.
Three years later, at just 23, she launched Topicals, a clinically backed skin care brand that merges cutting-edge science with bold branding and social activism. Today, Topicals is one of Sephora’s fastest-growing lines, beloved for its cheeky but effective treatments for hyperpigmentation and eczema (and for donating over $250,000 to mental health causes).
The Road to Sephora
A track star who ranked top five nationally in the 400-meter dash, Olowe earned a full scholarship to UCLA. “I wanted to be a dermatologist because I’d struggled with skin issues my whole life,” she said. “But interning at Shea Moisture showed me I could have more impact outside the clinic.”
That experience taught her the alchemy of grassroots marketing and cultural storytelling — skills she’d later deploy at Topicals. Still, her scientific training remained central. While most skin care brands rely on cosmetic chemists to determine their formulations, Olowe dove into dermatology journals to understand why traditional hyperpigmentation treatments failed darker skin.
“Melanocytes in Black skin aren’t more numerous — they’re more active,” she explained. “Most products only target one pathway. We formulated Faded Serum with six actives, like tranexamic acid (a blood-clotting drug that inhibits melanin) and melatonin (which calms overactive pigment cells). When you design for the most complex skin, it works better for everyone.”
The Launch: A Masterclass in Modern Brand-Building
When Topicals debuted in August 2020, it sold out instantly — a feat Olowe credits to pre-launch community-building. Months earlier, she’d created “Skin, Sun & Stars,” an astrology quiz that matched users to skin care ingredients based on their birth charts. It went viral, allowing the brand to nab 10,000 emails.
“Gen Z doesn’t want clinical jargon; they want personality,” she said. “We made skin care feel like a horoscope — something fun and personal.”
That ethos permeates Topicals branding: from vibrant packaging to playful product names that avoid shame language (for a product that targets keratosis pilaris, there’s Slather). “We’re not a ‘fix your flaws’ brand,” Olowe emphasized.
“We’re a ‘it is what it is at any stage of your skin’ kind of brand.”
Her approach hit a chord. Most of Topicals customer base is non-Black, a rarity for a Black-founded brand. “Inclusivity isn’t just about shade ranges,” Olowe noted. “It’s about showing up in the culture authentically.”
The Funding Hurdle — and Breakthrough
Topicals Faded Serum and Clearly Breakout MaskAs a young Black founder, Olowe faced a venture capital landscape that often overlooks women of color. But in 2022, she shattered barriers by becoming the youngest Black woman to close a $10 million Series A, with backers such as Jay-Z’s Marcy Venture Partners, Kelly Rowland, and Gabrielle Union.
“Investors often pigeonhole Black founders as ‘ethnic’ brands,” she said. “But I pitched Topicals as the skin care brand for an entire generation that cares about efficacy and social impact.”
Her edge? A razor-sharp grasp of both science and pop culture that transcends ethnicity.
Mental Health and the “Soft Life” Era
Topicals mental health advocacy — it donates 1% of revenue to therapy access nonprofits —isn’t just philanthropy; it’s integral to the brand DNA. “Skin conditions are emotional,” Olowe said. “We’re normalizing that struggle.”
That mindset extends to her team. Last winter, Topicals sponsored “Soft Life Ski,” a 1,000-person event for Black skiers, funding trips for influencers and customers. “Wellness isn’t just about face masks,” Olowe laughed. “It’s also about joy.”
What’s Next? A Beauty Empire
Fresh off acquiring hair care brand Bread Beauty Supply, Olowe, who is now 28 years old, is busy plotting her next move. She’s focused on “intersectional storytelling,” creating campaigns reflecting blended identities (Black-Asian or Latinx-White consumers, for example). “The next frontier isn’t just diversity — it’s complexity,” she said.
“This isn’t just about Topicals,” she said. “It’s about building a new playbook — where culture drives commerce, and no one gets left out of the conversation.”
Olamide Olowe has been named a 2025 Visionary — an inspiring group of female founders redefining beauty. On May 13, CEW will celebrate nine female founders as part of this year’s cohort at an uplifting awards ceremony and networking cocktail event at Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica, CA. Join us to honor their achievements — click here to attend.
