Rising Stars: Meet Latrisha Graves-Spencer of CookieFace Cosmetics®

Today we’d like to introduce you to Latrisha Graves-Spencer.

Hi Latrisha, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’m L. Graves-Spencer, founder and owner of CookieFace Cosmetics®. But first, I have to be completely honest with you; I accidentally started this company! It was an honest-to-goodness accident! As the world came to a screeching halt with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, this idea of launching my own beauty brand just kinda sorta popped into my head and stayed there. It all started with some good-natured self-doubt which sounded a lot like “Am I going to start my own beauty brand?” and quickly evolved into “Yes! I am going to start my own beauty brand!” As a Black mother of 2 brilliant sons and the wife of a super supportive husband, my coping mechanism for all the uncertainty we as a Black community faced during the pandemic was my enjoyment in the application of makeup. As I juggled home-schooling my then 3-year and 6-year-old sons, working from home, all the while simultaneously watching the number of lives lost to COVID-19 and police brutality climb higher and higher on the nightly news, I began to feel as though life was miserable, to say the least. Makeup became my escape! I looked forward to applying makeup as an effort to find my “normal” in a world full of “no longer normal”. All I needed now was a jazzy pair of faux eyelashes to make my brown eyes pop. My struggle in finding a pair of eyelashes to compliment my naturally light brown hair ended in audible frustration in the beauty aisle of a neighborhood CVS. After fruitlessly searching for ready-to-wear, brown eyelashes at every beauty supply store; only to find jet-black unflattering eyelashes, my friend who is a brilliant attorney informed me that I’d found my niche! What a watershed moment this was! Unbeknownst to me, she quickly pointed out there were plenty of other brown-haired women who probably found themselves in similar predicaments. From there, I started brainstorming. What started with a few hapless scribbles on a free Canva trial app quickly evolved into me meeting with a local patent attorney (shout out to Anitria Stevenson, Esq.) who successfully helped me launch my LLC aptly named Sugar Sugar Enterprises, LLC. Fun fact: I affectionately named my brand after both of my amazing sons, Richard and Peyton. They are my original little cookiefaces! All of our products are eczema friendly and are paraben and irritant-free, thereby preventing eczema flare-ups which might come as a result of using other makeup lines with harsh ingredients. As a lifelong sufferer of eczema, I knew removing harmful chemicals which can have the potential to cause flare-ups was an absolute must. 

Plucked from obscurity by amazing board members, NHPO President Ilsa Garcia and Communications Chairwoman Claudia Macias, I was fortunate to be invited to premiere my products during their National Hispanic Professional Organization (NHPO) Meet the Candidates Mixer in July of 2021. From there, our exposure really began to grow! As of August 2021, CookieFace Cosmetics® has been picked up by the ShopLC Home Shopping Television Network and their Catapult Program. CookieFace Cosmetics® can be purchased on their e-commerce site, ShopLC.com. In December 2021, CookieFace Cosmetics® was honored to be invited to attend the Walmart Canada Beauty Campaign. We’ve also recently partnered with a local brick-and-mortar boutique store in Houston’s prestigious West University Shopping District called The Hive- A Pop Up Collective! 

I have to admit, 2022 was an unbelievably awesome and prosperous year for me, my brand, and my amazing family. I couldn’t imagine taking this journey without them right by my side. I’m beyond the moon excited to see what 2023 has in store for CookieFace Cosmetics®! 

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Nope! The road has definitely been smooth! I am used to a typical 9 to 5, where routine rules the day. But there is no such thing as “routine” when it comes to owning your own brand. So, I struggle with uncertainty. 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
CookieFace Cosmetics® is best known for our line of brown eyelashes. Our most recent product launch of eyeshadow duos and cosmetics puffs are selling at a good and steady pace with our partnership with ShopLC Home Shopping Television Network! 

Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
I’m just honored and tickled pink to be interviewed for VoyageOhio! 

Contact Info:

• Website: www.cookiefacecosmetics.com
• Instagram: @cookiefacecosmetics
• Facebook: CookieFace Cosmetics