A word from the founder: Naming Lillian Augusta Beauty
by Jannice Newson
Lillian Augusta Beauty is not a random name. I named the brand with purpose. But, before the beautiful, intentional name, we started somewhere else.
Once I decide to turn down the path of entrepreneurship, I started applying to grants from my university (Go Blue! 〽️). Filling out these applications meant something needed to go in the ‘Company Name’ section. In the interest of time, my business partner and I quickly landed on something for a placeholder: EcoEssence.
The name was unoriginal, unappealing, and, most importantly, already taken by someone else! On the hunt for a new name, I met another student with a beauty company, Terry Lu Naturals. I was drawn in by the name, and asked her how she chose it.
“It’s my grandmother’s name.”
I spent significant time with my grandmother, Lillian, as a child. I lived with her alongside my brother, uncles, and my mother. I relish in the memories of watching Price is Right, combing her hair, and drinking her “coffee”, even though she doused mine in 99% milk.
Naming the company after her made sense. A women who left home at a young age, and came the the Midwest during the Great Migration to find opportunity. From Alabama to Chicago, she made a decision that impacted everyone after her. Naming the company after her is my way of paying homage to women like her, who do it despite the obstacles, or possibly without evening knowing what “it” is.
Lillian Augusta Beauty shortens to LAB, a convienient acronym that creates a double entrendre for what it stands for. LAB literally started in a lab; the University of Michigan fiber lab to be exact. In the earliest days of LAB, my business partner and I made prototypes at our university’s facilities to create our product. From those humble beginnings, the concept of Hair Without Harm began to take shape.
While Lillian never beared witness to the company, I still take incredible joy in building this with her name on it. She was a multifaceted woman: giving to no end, but not without her ability to stand up for herself.
Love you, Grandma 💖