The closing of @Ami Colé later this year is a tremendous loss for the beauty industry. It’s deeply disheartening to witness a brand so thoughtfully built to celebrate and serve melanin-rich skin face such challenges and lack of sustained support. Less than one percent of venture capital funding goes to Black founders, an even smaller fraction to solo founders and when you add the layer of being a Black woman, it can feel like we’re constantly fighting an uphill battle. As someone who dreams of launching a beauty brand one day, it’s incredibly hard to watch brands like Ami Colé & Pat McGrath Labs face such obstacles despite their innovation, passion, and purpose. It shakes the belief that there’s space for us, even when we’re building for ourselves. We need Black-owned beauty brands to thrive. We need the representation, the support, and the visibility. We need to see people who look like us leading these spaces, so future generations know what’s possible. But it’s hard not to question...