Today we’d like to introduce you to Melissa Polanco.
Hi Melissa, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born in the states but raised in the Dominican Republic. I came to Michigan to attend college because I always thought Michigan was a very nice state to live in. We had some friends that were currently living in Grand Rapids, Michigan so my family and I settled with them until we were able to find a place of our own.
I attended Grand Rapids Community College first and later transferred to Michigan State University to continue my undergrad education. I wanted to be a veterinarian so I completed a Bachelor’s in Zoology. After graduating, I took a temporary job at GRCC and fell in love with higher education and helping college students. Later on, I went to graduate school to complete a Master’s in College Counseling. Been working in higher education for over 10 years now and I really love working in this area.
I, later on, founded Ella’s Eve Cosmetics along with my sister because I am also passionate about makeup and empowering others. I am an entrepreneur with a full-time job so I dedicate my free time to Ella’s Eve.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Being an entrepreneur and running a small beauty brand has his ups and downs just like any other business. We came into this journey with no knowledge about how to run a business or how to start a beauty brand, so there were definitely learning lessons along the way.
One of the biggest struggles that we have faced due to owning a small business is that we wear many hats to operate since we are self-funded and resources are limited. We are the customer service, the marketing team, the pr team, product development team, the shipping team, etc. Sometimes we do not have the answers to everything, but we always figure it out in order to continue to spread our message.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Ella’s Eve Cosmetics?
Ella’s Eve Cosmetics was founded by my sister Lissa and myself. We both had a passion for makeup and an entrepreneurial drive to create a brand where we could share about makeup but empower others as well. Ella’s Eve is a makeup brand that offers quality products that are cruelty-free and paraben-free. We carry an amazing collection of non-drying velvet matte liquid lipsticks, hydrating lip lacquers, and an eyeshadow palette that celebrates confidence.
We saw a lack of representation in the beauty industry when it comes to women of color or beauty brands owned by women and/or women of color. We wanted to join the beauty community to make a difference and also share our own struggles with confidence.
We love celebrating other women and their uniqueness and we share about confidence to uplift others. We are a Latina-owned beauty brand, so what makes us the most proud is when we are attending pop-up shops and we get to meet other women who relate to us and verbalize how proud they feel about us. It makes us feel very special because it shows we are doing what we wanted to accomplish, which is celebrate diversity and encourage others.
Both of our backgrounds are not related to beauty or business, but we had a passion that we wanted to share and make it a reality. We have been very grateful of all the women we have gotten to meet, our followers that support our journey, and other women-owned small businesses that we have had the opportunity of collabing with.
Our brand has been in business for almost 4 years now and we will be evolving into a new name. One of our goals when creating this brand was to be as inclusive as we can and a new name will certainly help us into that right direction. Ella’s Eve Cosmetics will be evolving into Ring of Color in early 2022! All of our products are currently 50% off to make room for our new name.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
They can support me by sharing about our brand or following us on social media to get to know us. You can reach us at:
Instagram: @ellasevecosmetics
TikTok: @ellasevecosmetics
Facebook: @ellasevecosmetics
Twitter: @EllasEveCo
Email: info@ellasevecosmetics.com
Pricing:
- Velvet Matte Liquid Lipsticks: $10.50
- Lux Lip Lacquers: $9
- Eyeshadow Palette: $13
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.ellasevecosmetics.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ellasevecosmetics/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ellasevecosmetics https://www.facebook.com/ellaseveco
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/ellasevecosmetics
Image Credits
Ella’s Eve Cosmetics
@jennydiscovers
