Toni Ko

Toni Ko (born 1973) She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, while also running two new businesses, a venture capital firm focused on funding female entrepreneurs and a beauty brand accelerator.

Early life

Ko was born in Daegu, South Korea. In 1986, at the age of 13, her family immigrated to the United States. and was placed directly in the seventh grade. She spent most of her teenage years working for her parents, who also worked in the cosmetics industry as wholesalers.

Career

NYX Cosmetics With her prior experience in cosmetics, Toni sought to fill a gap in the market for lower-priced, high-quality makeup products. The company was named after the Greek goddess Nyx.

Her high-quality, low-price approach fulfilled a developing consumer need after increased demand due to the 2008 financial crisis. She also increased the company’s sales during the advent of the vlog on Youtube by partnering with trending beauty creators on the platform.

In 2014, Ko sold NYX Cosmetics to L'Oréal for an estimated $500 million.

After NYX Cosmetics Due to a non-compete clause with L'Oréal, Ko could not launch another cosmetics company during the five years following the buyout. In March 2016, Ko created the Perverse Sunglasses company, Ko later sold the company in 2019.

Bespoke Beauty Brands On September 30, 2019, following the five-year non-compete agreement with L'Oréal, Toni Ko launched a new cosmetics-focused company, Bespoke Beauty Brands (BBB), which would launch brands in cooperation with various celebrities and social-media influencers. The company's first collection, KimChi Chic Beauty, launched on October 16, 2019, in partnership with drag queen Kim Chi. In 2013, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Beauty Bus Foundation. In 2014, Toni added two more awards to her collection, winning the Entrepreneur of the Year Award from the Asian Business Association In 2021, Ko ranked #94 on Forbes’ list of American Self-Made Women, with an estimated net worth of $260 million.