CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Two Charlotte moms are making waves on a national stage with their one-of-a-kind new business launch.
It’s all about helping women look their best, without ever having to leave their homes.
The pandemic delayed their launch but may ultimately have been the best timing possible.
The women were literally in New York city taking important meetings and about to launch this new business the week before everything shut down last year. At one point they even worried the business might not happen.
Instead, they’re a COVID-19 success story.
Lindsey Regan Thorne made a name for herself in Charlotte with her popular online hair and makeup tutorials.
Two years ago she teamed with another Charlotte mom, Leigh Humphrey, to create Swan Beauty, an online personalized makeup and skincare service. They were supposed to launch in May 2020 but like many, worried they might lose it all last March.
"We had no idea what was ahead we had to pause and pivot and that’s what’s nice about being a small team, you can pivot from what initially set out to do," Humphrey said.
As working moms, they also had to figure out their new COVID-19 induced work-life balance.
"We had the other challenge of homeschooling children that we hadn’t been doing before," Humphrey said. "It was an interesting ride."
Swan Beauty is something totally new – and all online.
"You’re going online take a 5-minute quiz- get to know skin type, hair color- glam girl or out the door in 5 minutes," Thorne explained.
They pair you with specialists who then send samples to try before you buy. COVID-19 put an end to samples in stores, so big-name beauty brands started to take notice of the new curated beauty boxes when Swan Beauty finally launched in November.
"Lindsey and I sat down one day and thought wow we might really have something here some of these bigger brands are paying attention to us- we might have hit the timing perfectly so that made us keep our heads down and work even harder," Humprey said.
The women said it’s a combination of artificial intelligence and real experts teaming up to make this work and because it’s all online, it’s perfect for this time when many are still too nervous to spend a lot of time in stores.