Today Minori turns 1 years old! I am so freaking proud of what our small team has been able to accomplish in these first 12 months. We launched a makeup brand that pushes back against our industry’s addiction to riding fast beauty trends that leads to clutter and impulsive consumption. Our first collection of true essentials carved out a real place in the makeup routines of our community.

I want to take this moment to say thank you to my team, and all the people who have helped us up to this point. I want to thank every customer who has consciously decided to support us and to buy our products in this first year. Thank you for telling your friends, sisters, moms, and colleagues about Minori. We know that you did.. because in 12 months we barely spent any money on paid ads, and yet somehow you found us and helped our small indie beauty brand have a wonderful first year.

Here are the 10 big and small moments I want to remember from this first year:

1. Celebrating launching Minori in Montreal, surrounded by my longtime friends.

2. Getting on a zoom call with my buyer Elena from The Detox Market and learning that they will launch Minori into all of their stores!
3. My sister sending my a photo of her first Minori purchase from The Detox Market!

4. Getting a package from an VOGUE Japan editor in the mail with Minori featured the December Vogue print. Surreal!

5. Realizing that our brand name is starting to get recognition when the receptionist at my Yoga studio who saw my email address and asked me: “Minori…is it the makeup brand?”

6. Visiting my warehouse in New Jersey for the first time and learning how to pack our orders.

7. Moving back from Montreal to San Francisco and decking out the second bedroom into the Minori office of my dreams.

8. Launching a slack channel with over 80 people who want to be active participants in helping us develop new products!

9. Doing makeup on my 93 year old grandmother-in-law with Minori products and seeing her light up in front of the camera. This will forever be my favorite piece of Minori content.

10. Our first TikTok going viral and getting excited to do KonMari work again with creators.

I also learned to be more resilient, to feel ok with not always feeling ok, to get less distracted by shiny project, to feel more confident and to be a better leader. I am constantly teaching myself to be more patient, and to be more kind towards myself, and to stay true to our mission of promoting mindful consumption.

I am very excited to see what year 2 brings us, and can’t wait to continue taking you on this journey with us!

Happy Birthday first birthday Minori! 

- Anastasia