{"id":23762,"date":"2024-05-18T16:46:58","date_gmt":"2024-05-18T16:46:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carmelcosmetic.wp1.sh\/how-the-founder-of-byredd-beauty-left-a-six-figure-job-to-launch-a-skincare-empire\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T23:43:03","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T23:43:03","slug":"how-the-founder-of-byredd-beauty-left-a-six-figure-job-to-launch-a-skincare-empire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carmelcosmeticslabs.com\/en\/how-the-founder-of-byredd-beauty-left-a-six-figure-job-to-launch-a-skincare-empire\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Founder of byREDD Beauty Left a Six-Figure Job to Launch a Skincare Empire"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDaKira Taylor built her DTC skincare brand from scratch, and today she is working to share her experience with other entrepreneurs through a wholesale business.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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In many ways, 27-year-old DaKira Taylor, who also goes by Redd, had already made it. After earning a degree in computer science, she built a six-figure career in tech consulting. But something was missing. She felt spiritually called to leave her family in Texas and start over as an entrepreneur in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which she would soon discover was the birthplace of Black Wall Street.<\/p>

Three years later, DaKira owns a profitable skincare empire across several Shopify sites. Through two of her businesses, byREDD Beauty<\/strong> and byREDD Wholesale<\/strong>, she supplies both direct-to-consumer products and private label products<\/a> through popular offers such as turmeric rose body bars and lavender coconut facial toners. What started in her Tulsa apartment has since expanded into an 800-square-foot warehouse, where she ships products to customers around the world, many of whom follow her on social media. With her waist-length red braids and ombr\u00e9 nails, she films videos teaching basic skincare techniques and explaining what each ingredient<\/a> does.<\/p>

DaKira shares what she has learned along the way and her hopes for a bright future in Tulsa.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Two bottles of skincare oil waiting to be labeled in DaKira\u2019s warehouse.<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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On carrying on a family legacy<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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“When I started with wigs, hair had always been in my blood. My father, before he passed, was a big hairstylist – his name was known all over Dallas. And my mother, even though she wasn\u2019t a professional stylist, had her esthetician license for years. So hair played a very big role in my life. I started doing my own hair in high school. In college, other people asked me to do theirs. I had a little side business in college, but I didn\u2019t see it that way at the time. So beauty has always been, literally, part of my DNA.”<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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On expanding from wigs into skincare<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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“I started in the summer of 2018. My first business was actually called Wigs by Redd. I sold custom wig units and colors all over the world. Once I moved to Tulsa in December 2019, I decided to add beauty and cosmetic products like false lashes and lip gloss. That\u2019s when it became byRedd Beauty<\/strong>, at the start of the pandemic. Then I started formulating my own skincare<\/a>. And now that\u2019s what byRedd Beauty is all about.<\/p>

In 2021, I decided to go into wholesale as well. People kept asking me, “Do you sell these products wholesale?” So I decided to sell the same products I was already selling, just in larger quantities.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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DaKira labels some of her best-selling face creams<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Why positioning matters for a cosmetics brand<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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“When I tried to start my first business, I had no idea what I was doing. I invested in a business coach. He was someone I knew personally, but he had owned several businesses and helped people start businesses, a bit like I do now. He helped me understand brand positioning and things like that. Four years later, I thought, “Wow, I\u2019ve been learning this for almost half a decade now.”<\/p>

Today, I try to teach women – and some men too – to understand the foundations of a long-term business and get it past the startup phase. You have to understand your brand. Yes, it\u2019s nice to have a pretty logo and colors. But what does it actually mean? How is your brand perceived by strangers on the internet who have never seen you before? How are you going to stand out from big names like Target and Walmart?<\/p>

Make sure you have the basics down before you go for cute packaging and things like that. That can always change. It\u2019s how you stand out in the industry that will make your brand last.”<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The challenges of entrepreneurship <\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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“Entrepreneurship looks very glamorous, but it isn\u2019t. Even if someone makes a million dollars a day, there\u2019s still a lot of work going on in the background to make sure they can keep that kind of business going.<\/p>

Day to day, it\u2019s a real roller coaster for me, especially since I quit my job. It\u2019s real life. It\u2019s just a different kind of life. People don\u2019t understand that you really have to be made for this kind of world. Not everyone is meant to own a business. Not everyone is meant to be a chef, a rapper or a teacher. You are really called to this kind of life. Having a business and trying to make a lot of money sounds great, but if you\u2019re not ready to go through more bad days than good ones at the start, you won\u2019t make it. But when the good days come, they\u2019re really good.”<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Freshly cut turmeric rose soap bars sit in DaKira\u2019s Tulsa warehouse.<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Working smarter with private labeling <\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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“Even though I\u2019m still mostly a one-woman show, my experience at school and at work really taught me the value of processes and automation. For wholesale private label cosmetics, I made sure to set up a whole system so shipments go out automatically. That\u2019s going to help me, and it will be very useful when it comes to training someone.<\/p>\n

I believe in working smarter, not harder. Some people just want to be the face of something, and that\u2019s fine. Not everyone will have the drive to do all the work. So let me do the heavy lifting for you, teach you all the basics, or make the products and label them for you. And all you have to do is apply what I\u2019ve just taught you. You don\u2019t have to worry about trying to formulate anything, seeing whether it works, or trying to design something.<\/p>\n

When you think about it, Kylie Jenner and Rihanna aren\u2019t in their kitchen or warehouse making products. They use private label. So why not start with the same mindset as those big names? There are smarter ways to do things. I\u2019m just trying to help people in the best way I can. And if it saves them time, I\u2019m all for it.”<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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On the energy and impact of working near Black Wall Street <\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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“Tulsa is much smaller than people think. But that\u2019s also something very empowering. If you know one person, you know everyone in that circle. I\u2019ve met a lot of people in different fields, mostly artists and people like that. The love they have for their city and for Black Wall Street is just different.<\/p>

When I\u2019m in the area – because Black Wall Street is downtown – there\u2019s a shift in energy as you get closer to downtown or North Tulsa. I know a tattoo artist whose business is on Black Wall Street. I can feel how much her art means to her, especially because her shop is on Black Wall Street.<\/p>

I\u2019ve talked to people whose grandparents lived through that time. I can see through the people from here how much it matters. And if they\u2019re able to keep the legacy alive 101 years later for people who weren\u2019t there, then I feel like they\u2019re passing it on to me.<\/p>

I\u2019m happy to be here. Even though it\u2019s not like it used to be, of course, people are still trying to keep that vision of Black Wall Street alive. I\u2019m happy to be here to witness it. And, hopefully, to be part of it too. Because I\u2019m not here for no reason.<\/p>

I\u2019m trying to join more women entrepreneur groups and enter competitions. I\u2019m really trying to get more involved and more connected. Since all my businesses are online, I could live anywhere. It\u2019s not like I need to be here physically, but I\u2019d be limiting myself if I didn\u2019t try to build a local network.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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DaKira mixes a batch of skincare ingredients for a private label buyer.<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Putting her own mental health first when it gets to be too much <\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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“I\u2019m tired. I\u2019m tired every day. Self-care doesn\u2019t look the same for me at all. I watch a lot of TV. I love TV. I\u2019m probably one of the youngest people who still has cable. Sitting on my couch really relaxes me. In my apartment, I have one room set aside for work. Anything outside that door is not for work.<\/p>

Sometimes I go out and spend time with my sisters, because I have family here now. We can go to the park or a restaurant without talking about work. I\u2019ve been working on that for a year. I rest. Because if I keep working nonstop, I\u2019ll burn out. I know what extreme burnout feels like. I try to give myself time to recover, whatever that looks like.”<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Planning for the next decade <\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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“The work I\u2019m doing now will set me up for when I\u2019m 30 or 35. I don\u2019t really try to put time limits on my goals, but by 30, I\u2019d really like to buy land here in Tulsa, or on the outskirts of Tulsa, where I could build my own house and a workspace.<\/p>

By 35, it would be great to be overseeing everything happening with byRedd Beauty and byRedd Wholesale and to have a passive, ongoing course for the University of Redd by then. I\u2019m just trying to do the work now so I can stop working as the years go by.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DaKira Taylor created her DTC skincare brand from scratch, and now strives to share her experience with other entrepreneurs through a wholesale business. In many ways, 27-year-old DaKira Taylor, who also goes by the name Redd, had already succeeded. After graduating in computer science, she built a six-figure career in technology consulting. But something was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25735,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[195],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marketing-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carmelcosmeticslabs.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carmelcosmeticslabs.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carmelcosmeticslabs.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carmelcosmeticslabs.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carmelcosmeticslabs.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/carmelcosmeticslabs.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23762\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carmelcosmeticslabs.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carmelcosmeticslabs.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carmelcosmeticslabs.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carmelcosmeticslabs.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}