
Show Notes
AJ Addae, founder, chemist, and CEO of SULA Labs, shares her expertise on formulating and clinically testing beauty products tailored for melanin-rich skin and textured hair. With an impressive client list including Pattern Beauty, The Honey Pot Co., and John Legend’s skincare line, AJ knows exactly what it takes to build innovative, inclusive products that work. In this episode, AJ dives into the biggest challenges beauty founders face, from navigating claims testing to balancing clean beauty with product efficacy and shelf life. She shares why inclusivity starts in the R&D lab and offers actionable advice on creating scalable formulations, leveraging ingredient research, and meeting industry standards to secure retailer partnerships. Plus, AJ unpacks key beauty trends like the rise of hybrid skincare-makeup products, niche body care, and textured hair solutions, giving founders a head start on what’s next. Whether you’re launching your first product or scaling your brand, AJ’s practical insights and expert perspective will help you create beauty products that stand out and succeed. LINKS:
Become a Business Bestie subscriber: https://bestie.femalefounderworld.com
Learn more about SULA Labs: https://www.sulalabs.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
More from Female Founder World
Get 15% off your Female Founder World Summit ticket with the code JASMINE15: femalefounderworld.com
This week, Jasmine, Nat and Paige break down Emma Grede's viral take on personal branding and whether you need one to build a business, then dig into Revolve's $15 million investment in 437 and what founders can learn from how it came together. They also unpack the week Fenty Skin, Glow Recipe and Huda Beauty all launched near identical eye patches.
We are back! Female Founder World Summit is happening November 15th in New York City at Chelsea Piers with early speaker revealed here first (Tara Bosch, Kira Mackenzie Jackson, Nadya Okamoto), Nike's S&P 500 exit is a signal legacy brands are losing ground to founder-led ones, we have a wild story about The Prospector's Club, Meta is kind of turning Instagram into a paid B2B tool, microdramas are trending, and we need to dive into the Beis/Samsonite acquisition and what its 1x revenue multiple says about brand value right now. There's a lot ot cover in the group chat today.
Nadya Okamoto is on the show!! She built a nonprofit at 16, co-founded a period care company that's in Target and Walmart, and is now the cofounder and CMO at Pie, a social network powering your IRL connections started by Bonobos founder Andy Dunn.
There's a marketing trend that has been steadily growing inside the creator economy for the last two years, and in 2026 it has officially gone mainstream. Brands are spending millions on it. Most consumers have no idea it exists. And it could be one of the most cost-effective awareness channels available to founders right now. It's called clipping and we're going to break down exactly what it is and how it works in this week's episode of the Build In Public Challenge Presented by Adobe Express.