Toni Ko (born 1973) is a Korean-American businesswoman and founder of NYX Cosmetics. She founded her company in 1999 and expanded it until she sold it to L’Oréal in 2014 for $500 million.[1] She lives in Los Angeles with her husband,[2] while also running two new businesses, a venture capital firm focused on funding female entrepreneurs and a beauty brand accelerator.[3]
Early life
editKo was born in Daegu, South Korea. In 1986, at the age of 13, her family immigrated to the United States. When she first arrived, she spoke no English and was placed directly in the seventh grade.[4] She spent most of her teenage years working for her parents, who worked in the cosmetics industry as wholesalers.[4] She attended Glendale Community College on the weekends, and operated the business with her parents during the week, but dropped out to work for her parents as a manager of their wholesale business full-time.[4]
Career with NYX Cosmetics
editWith her prior experience in cosmetics, Toni sought to fill a gap in the market for lower-priced, high-quality makeup products.[4] In 1999, Ko founded NYX Cosmetics, after being given $250,000 in startup money from her mother. The company was named after the Greek goddess Nyx.
Her original goal was to “... make a department store product with the price point of a drugstore product.”[4] The company earned $4 million in its first year.
The first NYX Cosmetics line consisted of six eye and twelve lip liners, which were priced at $1.99 each in comparison to their competitors whose prices hovered around the $10 mark.[1]
Her high-quality, low-price approach fulfilled a developing consumer need after increased demand due to the financial crisis of 2008 (Delmore). She also increased the company’s sales during the advent of the vlog on Youtube by partnering with trending beauty creators on the platform(Delmore). This unconventional marketing approach formulated a strong brand that appealed to a younger audience and set the company up for a potential buyout.[5] In 2014, Ko sold NYX Cosmetics to L'Oréal for an estimated $500 million.
Career after NYX Cosmetics
editDue to a non-compete clause with L'Oréal, Ko could not launch another cosmetics company during the five years following the buyout. In March 2016, Ko created the Perverse Sunglasses company, launching as a sponsor of Coachella. The retailer sells online only, following an unsuccessful attempt at opening brick-and-mortar stores. Ko changed the brand’s name to Thomas James LA in 2019 and sold the brand later that year.
She also is the founder and current CEO of Butter Ventures, a principal venture firm based in California that invests in start-ups, focusing specifically on those created by women.
On September 30, 2019, following the five-year non-compete agreement with L'Oréal, Toni Ko launched a new cosmetics-focused company, Bespoke Beauty Brands (BBB), which would build brands in cooperation with various celebrities and social media influencers. The company's first collection, KimChi Chic Beauty, launched on October 16, 2019, in partnership with drag queen Kim Chi. On January 17, 2021, Bespoke Beauty Brands launched Jason Wu Beauty at Target, in partnership with designer Jason Wu.
Awards and honors
editKo has received various awards in connection to her business work. According to Ko, the most meaningful award was her brand NYX Cosmetics receiving the WWD Inc. 2013 Beauty Brand of the Year.[6] In 2013, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Beauty Bus Foundation. In 2014, Toni added two more awards to her collection, winning the Entrepreneur of the Year Award from the Asian Business Association[6] and the Leadership Award from the NAWBO. The National Women's History Museum honored Ko at the 2016 Women Making History Awards. In 2021, Ko ranked #94 on Forbes’ list of American Self-Made Women, with an estimated net worth of $260 million.[7]
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- ^ a b O'Connor, Clare. "Banking On Beauty: How Toni Ko Built NYX Cosmetics Into A $500 Million Brand". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
- ^ "Toni Ko Interview: My Secrets for Business Success". ENTITY. 2017-04-14. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
- ^ Lagorio-Chafkin, Christine (2021-06-25). "Toni Ko Sold NYX Cosmetics--and Nearly Lost Herself. Here's How She Climbed Out by Starting Another Beauty Brand". Inc.com. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
- ^ a b c d e "Beauty Industry Veteran Toni Ko on What's Next in Beauty—and the Products She Can't Live Without". Coveteur: Inside Closets, Fashion, Beauty, Health, and Travel. 2020-01-16. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
- ^ "How a passion for makeup turned this founder into one of America's wealthiest self-made women". MSNBC.com. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
- ^ a b "Toni Ko". National Women's History Museum. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
- ^ "Toni Ko". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-04-27.