While there are about five million Hispanic and Latinx-owned businesses in the U.S., most “start small and stay small” with just 3 percent generating at least $1 million in annual gross revenue, according to a study conducted by the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative — a collaboration between Stanford University and nonprofit Latino Business Action Network, which have collected data since 2015.
“Makeup for today’s Latina,” reads the tagline on Reina Rebelde’s site and Instagram, which has 52,600 followers. The brand, headquartered in Dallas, Texas and sold at Walmart Inc. locations nationwide, makes a point of highlighting its Mexican influence and roots.The reason there haven’t historically been more brands like hers on the market — those that boldly display their Latinx heritage — is because Latinx-founded labels are “treated as indie and niche,” said Merson.
It’s feedback she continues to receive from retailers, she added: “It’s still not working the way it should be, so it makes it very, very difficult for many brands that are Black or brown-owned to not be marginalized. It’s very sad that we still have this problem, but we do.” While receiving capital is a proven method of scaling a business, access to funds has been disproportionately unequal for businesses owned by people of color. And in some cases, the Latinx community has it the worst.
Cordero, who has Dominican Republic roots as an Afro-Latina, aims to showcase Latinx’s diverse community and broaden the idea of beauty in the mainstream, she said. American makeup artist and Beautyblender creator Rea Ann Silva, who’s Mexican, Portuguese and Irish, said there’s a power that brand creators hold today more than ever because of tools like social media and e-commerce .