Ode to SKNMUSE
why did I start crying mid-writing this omg??
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My family over at SKNMUSE announced their closure yesterday.
Ezinne Iroanya-Price built the body-care brand alongside her husband Ambrose, which they’re shuttering after 6 years.
SKNMUSE launched as a premium skincare and wellness line rooted in West African beauty traditions and a clear mission to make Black women feel seen and centered in beauty.
You already know what I’m gonna say….
Good for them. I have the utmost respect for those who have the courage to understand when a chapter has served its purpose.
It feels bittersweet for me, because SKNMUSE’s journey has in some ways been woven with mine.
Ezinne and I met 4 ish years ago through the Glossier Grant Program back when body care was still a sleepy category, and we were the only two brands repping it. I had been admiring SKNMUSE’s stunning social creative from afar, and was excited when Ezinne won because I would’ve otherwise been too shy to get to know her.
From our first fireside chat, it was instant friendship for us.
We weren’t justtt trauma bonding the way us founders tend to do.
I have a distinct memory of sitting outside of a now defunct Philly coffee shop and laughing to myself as we texted about how far we stretched our $10/daily Facebook ad spends. Back then, you actually could do stuff like that and somewhat get web traffic. We both had experienced meteoric rises due to the surge of visibility that came with BLM. We laughed at our moms who bragged about our celebrity brand evangelists—mine in Kourtney Kardashian, while her mom told everyone in Nigeria how she drives a Mercedes and knew Beyoncé.
God I miss those times!!!!
With Ezinne I was most impressed with her will to connect with other people in the industry and source capital. She raised from everyone from angels to institutions, and even big dog firm Andreessen Horowitz. Unlike me, she wasn’t afraid to pitch or knock on any door to articulate her vision (although she was always very open about how much raising money came at an extreme personal health and mental wellness cost).
SKNMUSE sponsored therapy for their team before wellness adopted its current talking points, ran a recycling program before sustainability was a marketing vertical, and threw some of the best parties before brand events became a desperate way to foster community.
Me at a SKNMUSE event in 2021 via my Instagram
This is starting to sound like a eulogy, omg.
When I first moved to LA, it wasn’t long before my business and I were having a really hard time. Both cashflow and inventory were wearing thin. Ezinne didn’t ask for context or stipulations before she lent me money to make sure I could have the softest transition into my new move and accommodate a PO for one of my retailers.
Months later down the line, she made room for me to share space in her warehouse.
I haven’t told her this, but some of my favorite memories are of getting in my car and putting on Britney Spears’ The Woman In Me while I headed to the warehouse on the 101—sunroof back, with my cream top cold brew sweating in my cup holder and my purse sliding around my black leather seat. It was always a drive I looked forward to and one of the few times I got to feel a sense of family living in Los Angeles. LA can otherwise feel like such an isolating environment at times.
To this day, every time time I listen to Break the Ice (which is often) I think about pulling up to the warehouse high off caffeine, my car volume at the max, and hiding my Starbucks cup from her in the early days of forgetting we were supposed to be boycotting.
Prior to her announcement yesterday, Ezinne and I spoke about her decision. While I’ve decided it’s best to keep most of what we talked about private, here are some things I’ve found of note.
Supply chain volatility—With a shifting tariff policy and an unstable pricing environment, what costs $1 today could be $5 tomorrow and $0.50 next week. You can’t change pricing on a prestige brand with such an intimate customer base like that without violating trust, and Ezinne struggled to plan around pricing structure.
Ezinne decided to draw a line with the business consuming so much of her personal life—a boundary I deeply resonate with, as you know. She told me about a health scare she ignored at the height of fundraising, and how emotional it makes her even now to recall that vulnerable version of herself, who was willing to neglect her body until it became life threatening. She refuses to ever turn back to that place again.
Something I notice about female founders is that our priorities tend to shift in this way, shortly after age 31 specifically. Your internal world just changes, idk.
Retailers aren’t coughing it up! I won’t name names, but a major retail partner owes SKNMUSE over a year’s worth of revenue, and a handful of others have also fell behind. This is a reality for so many beauty and fashion brands that are retailing.
Ezinne has shared that if she were to do it again she would never corner herself into being known as a Black-owned brand, as the label has officially become a ceiling. It’s a recurring theme I’m picking up on a lot these days. It turns out “Black-owned” was never a sustainable marketing strategy. With added context from the recent Ami Colé closure, those dollars of support just seemed like entrapment in hindsight.
I think going forward, we have to keep the focus on telling great stories.
Other than that, Ezinne has said that her investors and stakeholders have been wildly helpful, understanding, and supportive of helping her make this as gentle of a landing as can be. Let this be a lesson to those that are hesitant about raising money in fear that you may one day be unable to make good on your promise. Investors don’t really care like that, lol. They build brand closures into their everyday math.
No ones gonna come out of the woodwork to take you away in handcuffs, and you will not be in trouble. That’s life!
It’s because I have someone in my life like Ezinne that when others call the beauty industry this cliquey girls’ club, I simply cannot relate. My experience has been proof that real love and support among peers exists, and it’s something I wish every founder would experience.
I didn’t really know what being community centered looked like in practice until I met Ezinne, and her ability to foster that alongside her impact measures is something I’ve always admired so greatly about her. She doesn’t talk poorly on others, she runs her own race, and unlike me doesn’t succumb to the paranoia that everyone is copying her. I can only aspire.
Hopefully Ezinne’s journey is a reminder that you don’t owe your business your health, your stability, your peace of mind, or your thirties.
I’m so grateful that she chose to build SKNMUSE when she did so that our paths could collide. And I have no doubt she’ll continue to succeed—not just because of her vision and savvy, but because she is, at her core, just an extraordinary person.
This newsletter went in an unexpected direction, but it feels right to end it as a love letter to a founder and friend who showed me what community really looks like.
And let’s shout out the fact that no matter how sticky things got, my sister NEVER missed payroll!
SKNMUSE will be opening a pre-order window for people who still want to get their hands on the final product.
Subscribe to their newsletter for dates and details on how to grab the last of the collection here.
xx,
SF