My Beauty Kit: How Shay Bailey Redefined Beauty Entrepreneurship
Written by, Will Johnson.
Shay Bailey took a college hobby and turned it into a life changing career in make-up artistry and leadership. After spending 13 years at MAC Cosmetics, Bailey would eventually pivot into an independent venture by launching “My Beauty Kit”, a personalized beauty experience aiming to shape both established and start-up beauty brands.
In the early stages, Shay says that she has always had a creative side. It was in her last semester as a college undergraduate where she would explore her creativity through make-up. “My class load was pretty light at that point, so I just decided to explore makeup artistry,” stated Bailey. “It was meant to be just a little summer hobby that turned into a full-blown career,” she states. What she had started then would be a launch pad for a stellar leadership role later.
For 13 years, Bailey led multi-million-dollar locations for MAC Cosmetics after starting off as a make-up artist. At that time, she explains that it was considered an accomplishment working for MAC. “I had several locations that were under my leadership for several years, so I'm really learning to navigate the beauty space from a business perspective, managing our retail partnerships, managing our staffing stock levels… it was a space where I felt I could thrive,” stated Bailey. The experience Shay gained would transfer over into her next venture into the beauty space.
In 2019, Bailey decided that her experience at a multi-million-dollar company would be greatly beneficial to both established and start-up beauty brands. She started her beauty consultancy “My Beauty Kit” that same year, which would leverage her leadership experience. When discussing the importance of knowing your audience she stated, “When you know who you're serving and you offer up exactly the perfect product or service that fits and nestles into their world, you'll certainly see success.” When asked if that same approach was used in starting her consultancy, she expressed that she initially broke the rules. “I literally started ‘My Beauty Kit’, breaking rules, trying to do all the things, not properly, researching what steps I should take,” stated Bailey.
Eventually, the Detroit native would utilize the assistance of a local organization known as “Tech Town” to build her tech experience. “Once I went back to the drawing board and really worked with them on some of the things that I skipped over in my own excitement. I was able to get a solid MVP, which is a minimal viable product out into the marketplace,” stated Bailey. As of today, “My Beauty Kit” is what consumers all use currently.
With 20 years of experience and relationship building, Shay still has more left in the tank. She claims that the partnership with the Pistons opened her ability to expand across the league. “We forget that there are certain professions where beauty is a must. Knowing how to execute your own makeup look is a must, and the professional performance community could really benefit from having a tool like my beauty kit,” stated Bailey. She also mentioned pitching to certain pageants as well.
Hearing Shay Bailey’s rise into the beauty and business realm was an absolute pleasure and even inspiring for myself. Her contributions are groundbreaking, and I hope anyone reading her story can feel inspired to take action themselves.