Sarah Brown, an entrepreneur in Columbia, Missouri, has opened the first Black-owned beauty supply store in her city. Brown attended cosmetology school after high school and continued to work in the industry for over 25 years before opening Beauty Trap on July 2. The Columbia businesswoman said her ultimate goal is to inspire other Black entrepreneurs.
“My company’s mission is to mentor, uplift and encourage young African American girls,” Brown said in an interview with Columbia Missourian.
Brown’s shop is one of two beauty supply stores in Columbia. Mary Smith, who owns Mary Smith’s Beauty Salon in Columbia, is a local business owner who’s been helping out Brown for many years.
“I taught Sarah how to do hair for Black customers, something they don’t teach you at school,” Smith told the Columbia Missourian. “Sarah and I have both taken classes for hair over the years and we teach each other what we have learned.”
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Brown previously opened two other beauty stores in Columbia. Her first store shut down due to the pandemic.
“While we were closed, I was able to save my money wisely and it gave me the idea to start my own store and line of products,” Brown said. “Now my goal is to make this a family business.”
Brown’s second store, D’mmi-Stylez Beauty Bar, is a beauty salon that continues to operate near her new beauty supply store. The salon is named after Brown’s 8-year-old daughter D’mmi, who is already learning the business by practicing hair styles on mannequins. Brown looks forward to uplifting her community for many years to come.
“If we take our money and keep it in the community and spend it with each other, then we can build our dollars up,” she said.
