Desiree Rogers, 60, is back in the cosmetics business as CEO of Black Opal Beauty after teaming with a former Johnson Publishing colleague, Cheryl Mayberry McKissack, to buy Johnson's Fashion Fair cosmetics line out of bankruptcy last year. Her résumé also includes serving as White House social secretary during the first year of President Barack Obama's administration and chairing Choose Chicago, the Chicago tourism board, from 2013 to 2019.
Are you going to keep both the Fashion Fair and Black Opal Beauty brands alive?
Yes. Black Opal is a "masstige" product, and Fashion Fair is a prestige product. They're very different. What they have in common is they are geared toward women of color.
You could do so many different things, why cosmetics?
Cosmetics are an opportunity to really have intimate conversations with women of color, and so part of what we think about as we continue to position Black Opal is this whole idea of financial independence, and the fact is the cosmetics are all under $20.
How did you attract the interest of Magnetar CEO Alec Litowitz, a hedge fund manager, as an investor?
Alec is definitely someone who really takes pride in supporting women-owned businesses, and I think that was important to him. We have friends in common.
What kind of globe-trotting are you doing to sell the products?
I'm spending most of my time in the U.S., with some time being spent in London because I believe London can be a great hub for us to have international people see our product.
What destinations are on your personal bucket list?
I would love to go to Vietnam. It's a culture that I'd like to know more about. It's visually spectacular, and I've never been.
You recently attended the Museum of Contemporary Art's annual benefit art auction. Did you buy anything?
I did not, but I'm thrilled with some pieces I've recently acquired with the help my daughter, in particular one from a Nigerian artist out of London named Ndidi. It shows these incredibly interesting-looking women of color.
What do you do for fun these days?
I'm from New Orleans so I try to celebrate every day, whether that is spending time with some of my favorite people in the world or checking out a new restaurant. I am also wanting to experience more culture in 2020, so I recently went to see "La Boheme" at the Met Opera in New York. And I got a saxophone and I'm hopeful that I can start lessons in 2020.
What was your upbringing in New Orleans like?
There were three important things in my family: education, entrepreneurship and community. My mother, and her mother, ran a neighborhood day care center business, so I saw women running businesses very early on. My late father and our family were very involved in our community in New Orleans, and he later wound up being on the city council there. Those three things stick with me in my adult life.
"mini" - Google News
February 06, 2020 at 06:10AM
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Desiree Rogers' mini profile - Crain's Chicago Business
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