Beauty on the Block: Street-Level Marketplace Revitalizing Black-Founded Beauty Brands

Black consumers account for 11.1 % of total U.S. beauty spending, yet Black-founded and Black-owned brands capture only 2.5 % of industry revenue (McKinsey). The shortfall is attributed to a “discovery problem”: many high-quality brands remain invisible to the consumers most likely to purchase them. Funding for Black founders has also declined sharply since 2021, limiting access to traditional wholesale and retail channels that concentrate in New York and Los Angeles.

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• Tomi Talabi – Founder of The Black Beauty Club, former global communications director at Bobbi Brown and senior communications executive at Pinterest.

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• The Black Beauty Club – Organizer of “Beauty on the Block” events; has hosted more than 100 gatherings since its inception as a Clubhouse conversation in late 2020.

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• Dujon Smith – Founder of sun-care brand My Block Skin, vendor at the Harlem event.

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• JolieDen – Black-owned salon that recreated a full-scale braiding operation at the plaza.

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• Cash App & Square – Provided card-reader technology and a 20 % discount for cardholders, framing their role as infrastructure rather than sponsorship.

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On the third Sunday in June 2026, over 4,000 attendees gathered at Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Plaza in Harlem for a free block party that combined music, food, a braiding lounge, an affirmation station for girls, and a marketplace featuring more than 20 Black-founded beauty brands. Several vendors sold out, and My Block Skin “made money” and “did good,” according to Talabi. The event emphasized community access: free entry, high-quality production, and a focus on lasting consumer relationships rather than one-off influencer impressions.

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• 4,000 + attendees; 20 + participating brands.

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• 100 + events hosted by The Black Beauty Club to date.

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• 11.1 % of U.S. beauty spend by Black consumers vs. 2.5 % of revenue captured by Black-owned brands.

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• Cash App offered 20 % off the first two purchases; Square supplied the point-of-sale hardware.

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Talabi describes Black beauty as a market driver that “builds businesses, shapes consumer behavior, and moves markets.” She stresses that infrastructure—physical venues, payment rails, and community-focused programming—is essential for scaling. Cash App and Square position their involvement as providing the transactional “rails” needed for vendors, rather than traditional sponsorship. Talabi also notes that funding alone is insufficient without mechanisms that enable vendors to sell directly to consumers.

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Talabi acknowledges that community-first events are not a complete replacement for other channels. She states that “you always have to have more than one channel of reaching your audience,” emphasizing the continued relevance of influencers and retail partnerships alongside block parties.

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• “Black beauty does more than influence trends. It builds businesses, shapes consumer behavior, and moves markets,” — Tomi Talabi, Founder, The Black Beauty Club

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• “He made money. He did good. They did really good,” — Tomi Talabi, commenting on My Block Skin

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• “I really don’t believe that just because it’s us, it needs to just be whatever,” — Tomi Talabi

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• “It was always ‘sell this lipstick,’” — Tomi Talabi

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• “We talk a lot about funding, which is important, but we never talk about how that funding is used for actual infrastructure,” — Tomi Talabi

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• “I want us to move away from showing up for the Black community during these moments,” — Tomi Talabi

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The next installment of Beauty on the Block is scheduled for August 8 2026 in Chicago’s Fulton Market and West Loop, featuring a mix of returning New York vendors and local Chicago brands. Organizers intend to sustain the model beyond cultural moments, leveraging the established payment infrastructure and community-first approach to expand the marketplace nationwide.

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