Behind Her Empire Podcast: NYX Cosmetics Founder Toni Ko On Building a $500M Brand When The Odds Are Against You
Yasmin is the host of the "Behind Her Empire" podcast, focused on highlighting self-made women leaders and entrepreneurs and how they tackle their career, money, family and life.
Each episode covers their unique hero's journey and what it really takes to build an empire with key lessons learned along the way. The goal of the series is to empower you to see what's possible & inspire you to create financial freedom in your own life.
Toni Ko is the Founder of NYX Cosmetics and Bespoke Beauty Brands. At 13 years old, Toni came to the U.S. from Korea and got started in business almost immediately. Through working in her family business and having a desire to buy makeup she could afford, she saw a white space in the market for quality cosmetics at drugstore prices. At the age of 24, Toni was inspired to launch NYX Cosmetics and disrupt the cosmetics industry, aiming to provide department store beauty at a cheaper price.
Fifteen years later, NYX became a household name and eventually sold to L'Oreal for a reported half a billion dollars. Although she instantly became one of America's richest self-made women, Toni has openly talked about the personal challenges she faced while building the business and life after selling it. Toni lost her sense of self and fell into depression which made her realize that although money is valuable, it's not the key to happiness.
As the natural serial entrepreneur that she is, Toni fell back into her passion of starting businesses, where she felt the happiest and most recently returned to the beauty industry with her latest company, Bespoke Beauty Brands.
We talked with Toni about the personal sacrifices she made in her life and what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur even when the odds are stacked against you. Toni shows us how being a college drop out, first generation immigrant and young woman in her early 20s was an advantage when it came to her fulfilling her dreams of starting her own business.
Want more? Subscribe to Behind Her Empire on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify iHeart Radio or wherever you get your podcasts.
Photo courtesy of Stephanie Yang Photography.
- Cherie, an App to Build Community Around Beauty, Donates $60k to ... ›
- Drybar of Blowout Fame is Bought for $255 Million - dot.LA ›
- Nyakio Grieco on Pivoting in Life and Business - dot.LA ›
- Poo-Pourri Founder Suzy Batiz on the 'Luxury of Losing Everything' - dot.LA ›
- Poo-Pourri Founder Suzy Batiz on the 'Luxury of Losing Everything' - dot.LA ›
- Coolhaus Ice Cream CEO Natasha Case on Building her Company - dot.LA ›
- Thrive Causemetics v Karissa Bodnar on Starting Her Company - dot.LA ›
- Shalini Vadhera on When to Double Down and When to Quit - dot.LA ›
- Shalini Vadhera on When to Double Down and When to Quit - dot.LA ›
Yasmin is the host of the "Behind Her Empire" podcast, focused on highlighting self-made women leaders and entrepreneurs and how they tackle their career, money, family and life.
Each episode covers their unique hero's journey and what it really takes to build an empire with key lessons learned along the way. The goal of the series is to empower you to see what's possible & inspire you to create financial freedom in your own life.
Image Source: Waymo
Image Source: Snap
Image Source: Dodgers 
Image Source: ChatGPT