Making it up
Bell and fellow co-founder and Temple alum Jonathan Velazquez, KLN ’18, started working on the company in 2016 to cater specifically to people of color, who often struggle to find adequate products in a world where most cosmetics are designed for lighter complexions. Progress advanced in fits and starts. The COVID-19 pandemic, as well as issues with suppliers, repeatedly pulled out the rug from underneath the duo’s side hustle, as they also juggled the stress of full-time jobs. They were strapped for cash getting to the launch—Bell took a chunk out of her 401k to help finance the company—and with setbacks accumulating, she was eyeing the exit signs by the summer of 2021. “I was talking to my friends about almost doing a quiet quitting,” Bell said. “Maybe putting out a statement saying, ‘Thank you for following me on this journey,’ and kind of packing it up.”
The statement stayed a draft, and in 2022 Pound Cake’s fortunes dramatically changed. In rapid-fire order, good news arrived in triplicate. First came a $50,000 award from MUSE, a business accelerator program sponsored by cosmetics industry giant Ulta Beauty. Then, TIME magazine named Pound Cake’s products to its Best Inventions of 2022 list. And finally came the biggest of all: the million dollar check from Pharrell’s Black Ambition business pitch competition, which saw the company emerge on top from an original list of more than 1,000 competitors.