Maesa Koeber has always loved food and beauty and most importantly art. However, when she was pregnant at the age of seventeen she decided to pursue healthcare to ensure a stable future for her daughter. In 2016, when she and her daughter were watching a makeup beauty video, they came up with the idea of creating makeup inspired by the colors of food. Read on more to find out about Maesa and her innovative brand:
1) Can you tell us a bit about yourself and why you started about Gorjue?
I actually really wanted to pursue a career in art ever since I was a small child, but growing up, I came from a traditional Asian strict family and always felt the need to break free. I got pregnant at 17 years old, and gave up pursuing an art career to find something with more stability in order ensure a better future for my daughter. I got a lot of backlash for having a daughter young and many told me my life would most likely “be over.” I knew if I had the will and focus to succeed, I could make anything possible. I worked in healthcare for 13 years earning a doctorate degree putting 200% in providing for my family, but still, deep down inside, I still always had a love for art, but wasn’t sure how to or when to turn that into a professional dream. My daughter and I bonded a lot over makeup and food shows (a different form of art) and while watching a makeup tutorial, my daughter made a joke and noticed that the lipstick swatch was hotdog color! We both laughed hysterically! I knew I wanted to buy a hotdog lipstick for my daughter, but could not find one in the market. The idea came to me like lightening! I knew it made sense because food and makeup are two massively trending entities within social media. And just like that, we began working hard to build a foodie branded cosmetics line and we were creating the art I always wanted to do! I always says, “It’s as if I had to have my daughter or she was meant to come in to my life in order to lead the way for me in finding my dreams and helping them to come true.”
2) Your brand is quite unique from various other beauty companies? Can you tell us a bit more about the brand and products?
I’m one who really loves to think outside of the box, be innovative and create new, unique ideas. We knew we wanted something that really captured the essence of our theme which is “colors inspired by foods from around the world.” I went through a lot of different designs, spending many nights sketching what my visions and this is what really stood out to me. A lot of lipstick containers show the color of the formula at the bottom of the lipstick, so why not show the food at the bottom of the container that the color represents?
Our lipsticks are definitely inspirational of who we are as a brand. Working with cancer patients a majority of my healthcare career, I knew I wanted to create a clean brand. Our products are currently vegan, soy, gluten, and wheat free. We want to be able to continue perfecting our formulas by really learning about the cleanest ingredients that are not hormone or immune disruptors, and at preserving wearable quality. Perhaps one day, we will work towards becoming organic.
We knew we wanted something that really captured the essence of our theme which is “colors inspired by foods from around the world.
3) How are you looking into expanding?
We do have 12 new moisturizing matte lipsticks coming out in the next couple months, they will be even more adorable than the first line, with even more luxurious packaging. Our colors will also have more variety with more beiges, browns, pinks, and mauves. After this launch, skies the limit and we hope to be able to expand to create a full makeup line outside of just lipsticks.
Picture Courtesy: Gorjue Cosmetics
4) How has the experience been to launch this company with your daughter? Any advice to our readers who are planning to launch their own beauty lines with family members?
I think it has many advantages. For me, my family has always been a huge priority and I really see how building a brand with my daughter has helped to mold her maturity, given her experiences to gain humility early on, give her more networking and communication experience, and helped to expand her imagination and innovative spirit. Many don’t have the opportunity to experience all this so young and I know these are all skills and assets that she will use for the rest of her life. It’s great to have someone young by my side who can quickly fill in the learning curves I may have with tech skills. Not only has she lit the fire for my to pursue my dream, but the situation has also paved a way for her career. She now goes to New York Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) to pursue a degree in graphic arts and packaging design. It’s just crazy how everything aligns if you truly allow it to and have the focus and strong mind to pursue what’s meant to be.
To the readers who plan on launching a beauty brand with family members – For me, it is one of the best things I ever did. I think what really worked for me are these traits: patience, a calm attitude, positive communication, boundaries, and respect for one another’s character and space. I am very fortunate to have had a strong mind, high pain tolerance, and enigmatic will to go after what I want because those are the traits that carried me through every step of this journey.
For me, my family has always been a huge priority and I really see how building a brand with my daughter has helped to mold her maturity, given her experiences to gain humility early on, give her more networking and communication experience, and helped to expand her imagination and innovative spirit.
