Nyakio Grieco on What They Don’t Tell You About Entrepreneurship

Nyakio Grieco has been paving the way for inclusive beauty and supporting Black entrepreneurs for her whole career. She launched her first beauty brand, Nyakio Beauty, in 2002. Then in 2020, she launched Thirteen Lune, the e-commerce platform dedicated to elevating Black and Brown beauty founders. While Nyakio is one of the most celebrated entrepreneurs in the industry, the road to the top was paved with hurdles. Including shuttering and relaunching her original brand, watching that brand take off after she sold it, and starting over as a founder at 47. 

In this episode, Nyakio shares: 

• Her perspective on failure 

• How her optimism has served her throughout her career

• Why she’s focused on bringing her friends along on her journey

• How she stopped being a "people-pleaser"

On Finding Purpose

Nyakio: I had to start over at 47. You know, yes, my brand had exited to Unilever, but I hadn't been in a position, because I had struggled to just keep going for so long, that I had a lot of autonomy at that point in my career…. And so that fall-down moment was real because it was in the middle of a global pandemic and a racial reckoning, and I was being forced to just sort of throw my hands up and say, "Okay, I guess next." And the stakes are higher, now I've got two kids…a husband who got deathly ill from COVID, but…survived. So much happening, watching the world literally fall apart…. But from a place of optimism, it led me to what I think is the greatest gift. And I say it all the time, it's aligning my passion and my purpose.

On Being a "People Pleaser"

Nyakio: I'm a recovering people pleaser and I think what I'm best at now is not taking on negativity that isn't worth my time. And that's a key, important thing that I hope a lot of people get over before they're 50, the people pleasing aspect. Because it's what caused a lot of my heartbreak, was just wanting to be seen and do the right thing and all of those sorts of things that we, especially people of color come into the world with…. You don't have to be the smartest or the quietest or not stand up for yourself or not talk about money or take dumb money and bad deals, all lessons I'm actually grateful for. But a lot of that stemmed from people pleasing because I never wanted to upset the person in charge.