February Spotlight: Black People of Interest – Lisa Price & The Kitchen-Built Beauty Empire That Came Home
Some of the most powerful business stories begin before there is a storefront, a team, or a polished pitch deck. They begin with an idea, a kitchen counter, and the courage to believe that a small experiment could become something much bigger.
That is the early story of Lisa Price, founder of Carol’s Daughter. Born on May 18, 1962, in Brooklyn, New York, Price transformed a late-1980s hobby into a groundbreaking beauty company centered on hair, body care, identity, and community.
But her story is not only about creating a successful brand. It is also about what happens when a founder learns how to grow strategically: and eventually returns to reclaim ownership of what she built.
From Television Production to the Brooklyn Kitchen
Before Carol’s Daughter became a nationally recognized beauty brand, Lisa Price was working in television production. In her spare time, she began making fragrances, lotions, and hair and body products in her Brooklyn kitchen.
What began as a personal creative outlet soon became a way to explore beauty on her own terms. Price was interested in ingredients, scent, texture, and the rituals that made people feel cared for. She was also creating products that spoke to the needs of Black consumers, particularly people with textured hair and deeper skin tones who were often overlooked by mainstream beauty companies.
The early operation was hands-on in every sense. Price mixed products herself, packaged them herself, and shared them with friends, family, and neighbors. Word spread through personal relationships: the original version of social commerce.
Her mother, Carol, recognized the potential before the business had a formal structure. She encouraged Lisa to turn the side hustle into a real company. In 1993, Price launched Carol’s Daughter, naming the brand in honor of her mother.
That name carried more than sentimental value. It communicated legacy, family, trust, and the idea that a business could be both commercially ambitious and deeply personal.
Building Trust One Market at a Time
Carol’s Daughter’s first sales did not come from a major retailer or a large advertising campaign. Price sold her handmade products at Brooklyn flea markets and craft fairs, meeting customers face-to-face and listening to their feedback.
That early stage offered something many businesses spend years trying to develop: direct customer insight.
Price could hear what people wanted, understand their concerns, and see which products created excitement. She was not simply selling beauty products; she was building a community around a shared understanding of hair, self-expression, and cultural identity.
Over time, Carol’s Daughter grew beyond local markets. The company opened a boutique in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene neighborhood, expanded through mail-order sales and an online presence, and began attracting attention from consumers across the country.
The brand became a trailblazer in natural hair and textured-hair care. At a time when the beauty industry frequently treated Black hair as a niche category: or ignored it altogether: Carol’s Daughter helped place curls, coils, and protective styling at the center of a larger beauty conversation.
The company’s visibility also grew through celebrity supporters and investors, including Jada Pinkett Smith and Jay-Z. Their involvement brought additional attention and credibility, but the foundation of the business remained the same: products created with a clear understanding of the customer.
That is an important distinction. Visibility can accelerate growth, but trust is what sustains it.
The 2014 Deal That Changed the Scale
In October 2014, L’Oréal USA acquired Carol’s Daughter in a milestone deal for a Black-founded beauty brand. Reports at the time estimated the transaction at approximately $60 million to $70 million, although deal terms were not broadly disclosed.
The acquisition gave Carol’s Daughter access to the resources, distribution, and infrastructure of a global beauty company. Price continued working with the brand after the acquisition, including in founder and executive roles.
For many entrepreneurs, selling to a larger company represents a major achievement. It can create liquidity, expand a product’s reach, and provide access to systems that are difficult to build independently.
At the same time, an acquisition can change the relationship between a founder and the company they created. The business may reach more customers, but the founder may have less control over decisions, operations, and the future direction of the brand.
Lisa Price’s next chapter would make that tension especially meaningful.
The Full-Circle Ownership Move
In March 2025, L’Oréal divested Carol’s Daughter. Lisa Price, in partnership with beauty entrepreneur Joe Wong, reacquired the brand.
Price returned as president and once again became an equity owner in the company she founded.
This full-circle move is the centerpiece of her modern business story. Lisa Price did not simply start a company and sell it. She built a valuable brand, navigated a major corporate partnership, gained experience from that chapter, and then returned to help shape the company’s next era.
Carol’s Daughter describes Price as its “Forever Founder and President and once again an owner.” That language captures the significance of the moment: ownership is not only a financial position. It is also influence, decision-making power, and the ability to help determine how a brand honors its roots while planning for its future.
Modern Money Move: Build the Business: and the Right to Own Your Story
Lisa Price’s journey offers several practical lessons for entrepreneurs and anyone interested in economic empowerment.
1. Start with what you have
Price began in a home kitchen while working another job. She did not wait for perfect conditions, a large team, or outside approval.
Starting small does not mean thinking small. A side hustle can be a testing ground for products, pricing, customer relationships, and brand positioning. It can also help an entrepreneur learn what deserves more investment.
2. Let customers help shape the business
Selling at flea markets and craft fairs gave Price a direct line to her audience. Today, entrepreneurs can create that same feedback loop through pop-ups, social media, email lists, product reviews, and marketplace sales.
The closer a business stays to its customers, the easier it becomes to improve with purpose.
3. Partnerships should expand possibility
Celebrity investors and L’Oréal’s global infrastructure helped Carol’s Daughter reach a larger audience. Strategic partnerships can provide capital, expertise, distribution, technology, and visibility.
The key is choosing partners carefully. A good partnership should help the business grow while clarifying what the founder wants to preserve.
4. Ownership is a long-term wealth strategy
Revenue matters. Visibility matters. Profit matters. But ownership determines who participates in the long-term value created by a business.
Lisa Price’s reacquisition is a powerful reminder that founders should think beyond the next sale. They should understand equity, intellectual property, contracts, governance, and exit options. Building a company means building an asset: and, whenever possible, maintaining a meaningful stake in that asset.
5. Reclaiming a business can be part of the growth story
Entrepreneurship is not always a straight line. A founder may sell, partner, pause, learn, return, or rebuild.
The decision to reacquire Carol’s Daughter shows that a change in ownership does not have to be the end of a founder’s relationship with their creation. Sometimes it becomes the beginning of a more informed and intentional chapter.
The Buyblack Connection: Every Purchase Can Move Money
Lisa Price’s story is deeply connected to today’s Buyblack movement.
Buyblack is not only about finding a product with a Black founder behind it. It is about recognizing how everyday purchases can support jobs, families, creativity, innovation, and business ownership within the Black community.
When shoppers intentionally purchase from Black-owned businesses, they help create visibility for entrepreneurs who may not have access to the same advertising budgets or retail opportunities as larger corporations. They also help build demand, which can lead to more inventory, more hiring, stronger vendor relationships, and greater economic circulation.
That is the purpose behind The Black Wall Streets. Our marketplace creates a centralized place where shoppers can discover products from Black-owned businesses: and where entrepreneurs can be seen, supported, and paid for what they create.
Explore the Bath & Beauty collection through our shop to discover self-care, hair care, skincare, fragrances, soaps, bath products, and other goods from emerging businesses. You can also browse lifestyle products, home décor, apparel, accessories, and more.
Bringing the Story Forward
Lisa Price’s kitchen-to-empire journey is a story of creativity, but it is also a story of strategy.
She noticed an unmet need. She started with her own hands. She listened to customers. She accepted partnerships that helped the brand scale. And when the opportunity came to return to the company, she stepped back into ownership.
That is the modern money move: build something valuable, grow with intention, and keep working toward the power to shape what happens next.
This February, celebrate Black excellence by learning from founders like Lisa Price: and by supporting the entrepreneurs building the next generation of community wealth.
Shop intentionally. Share Black-owned brands. Tell someone about a business doing meaningful work.
Start your Buyblack journey at blackwallstreets.store.
