Yolondo Salmon Thomas, chief executive officer of Playing in Makeup by Yolondo (PIMBY), and her husband, Rayon, have turned a long-loved passion for make-up into an established multimillion-dollar business.
This is due, in part, to Yolondo’s experimental and adventurous approach to beauty. In her career, she has embraced bold, eccentric, fashion-forward looks that rival the runway and in the 10 years that she started honing her skills as a make-up artist, she has constantly pushed the boundaries and stepped outside her comfort zone, bravely developing her own niche of products, and boldly establishing her business as a high-growth brand, occupying the top one per cent of over one million brands on Shopify.
Originally from Mitchell Town in Clarendon, Yolondo migrated to the United States at 17 years old. She remembers observing her mother applying her make-up and red lipstick as a young girl. “I was fascinated by the make-up colours and the way it made her look even more beautiful. I started playing around with make-up then, and I loved the way it made me feel. It gave me an amazing feeling that I didn’t get when I was doing anything else,” she said.
While in the United States, Yolondo worked as a nurse and started practising her make-up artistry part-time. She was very dedicated to her craft, so much so that she applied herself and became a certified make-up artist. “Initially, I practised on a few people, then I got certified because I wanted people to take me seriously. After I received my certification, I started doing more make-up,” she said.
A budding entrepreneur at heart, she started selling eyelashes. However, business was not as profitable as she had anticipated. “I sold 20 different styles of lashes. They were the luxurious brands that lasted longer, but persons were willing to pay less for other brands. It took some convincing for persons to buy it. They were sceptical at first, but slowly gravitated towards it,” Yolondo said.
Yolondo was determined to be successful and started to utilise social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok to market her skills and products. “When I started to go Live on Facebook, in the first few weeks, nobody watched me except for my husband. Giving up was not an option for me. After several weeks, I had only about 10 people following me, and I was so excited. After the first month, I had my first purchase, and I kept calm and kept working hard,” he said.
In the first year, Yolondo made US$20,000 from her business which she was still doing part-time. However, when she lost her nursing job, after much thought and encouragement from her husband, she decided to give the business her full attention. “I am not a person that will start something and give up. It took a long time for things to get settled, but after I started doing more Lives on social media, more people started knowing me, and business started to look promising,” she said.
At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Yolondo thought the business would not grow, as people were losing their jobs and had less money to spend on make-up. “We were wrong. More people were going online, and we saw the opportunity to expand our reach to more customers. In the pandemic, within the first four months, we made our first million dollars, and our business has turned into a multimillion-dollar company,” she said.
Yolondo now has specific palettes designed for all skin tones with ultra-vibrant, ultra-pigmented colours and eyelashes, all packaged with the true Jamrock touch. She has a diversified client base in over 100 countries and a net worth of approximately US$5 million. She also has over 130 different products in her brand.
“I started doing palettes for different skin tones because it was hard to find eye-shadow that was easy to use and enhanced the appearance of the client’s skin tone. I would buy the most expensive palette, and I was not satisfied. I started ordering from vendors until I found a company that I could work with to make my own,” Yolondo said.
Browns and Nudes By Yolondo is her top-selling and most viral product that has received rave reviews from Mikaylano, who has a TikTok following of 13.6 million followers.
Yolondo is set to launch her latest palettes, Artistry Unleashed and Vigorously, on Friday.
