She remaining Bank of America to commencement a fragrance brand alongside $300. Last year, it made $21 million.

Back in 2018, Maekaeda Gibbons was a debt authoritative at Bank of America, spending her days evaluating another people's finances.

She had a problem: an expensive sensation in perfume that didn't equivalent a debt officer's salary. So she started experimenting alongside her own versions of pricier scents, alongside no genuine scheme beyond wanting item that smelled good, disbursal less, and perchance she could use as gifts for coworkers and friends.

"I had several finances remaining complete following I paid all of my bills, and I wanted to obtain a hazard on myself," Gibbons told Business Insider.

She took about $300 and went into her galley to chef up a scent she could autumn in affection with. Gibbons spent concerning $54 on bottles she ordered off Amazon, and the remaining prosperity was spent on transporter oils, or oils used as a basis for fragrances, for evaluation formulas.

What started as a hobby turned into a paid flank hustle formerly term dispersed about the agency and group started asking to buy it themselves.

Seven years later, Brown Sugar Babe earned $21 myriad in income revenue, according to digital revenue dashboards and financial records viewed by Business Insider. It additionally has a flagship shop in Atlanta, a cult following on TikTok, and no exterior investors. Here's how she did it.

The numbers rearward the bootstrap

Gibbons has never raised exterior prosperity for the company, and to her, that fact explains most of how the endeavor really runs. The tradeoff, Gibbons said, was speed.

Self-funding forced the endeavor to remain lean and develop slowly, alongside several ideas kept on the rear burner until there was adequate chief to prosecute them.

"As a endeavor owner and equal not having the capital, I really had to go off of vibes, and I cognize that appears really irresponsible," she said.

And by "vibes," she method leaning difficult into what customers say they desire (she runs surveys asking her social media community what to create next), afterward figuring out how to pay for it following the fact, not before.

"If it meant I had to max out a credit cardstock to accomplish getting the ingredients, raw materials, and vessels that were needed to do that, that's what I did," she said.

When Brown Sugar Babe needed to inventory up on approximately two years' value of inventory and ingredients, Gibbons made multiple purchases complete concerning three months, totaling concerning $5.5 million, she said.

She looked into financing the purchase, afterward decided to pay for it outright complete time. "I really wanted to remain harmless alongside our nest," Gibbons said.

It was extremely stressful at first, but Gibbons stated that knowing the raw materials for the next two years were locked in let her concentration on implementation fairly than worrying concerning provision sequence volatility.

Staying in her lane

Though she's extremely open to experimentation, there's one category Gibbons won't touch: alcohol-based eau de parfum. Brown Sugar Babe focuses on fragrance oils, which Gibbons sees as a category that another brands have yet to completely capitalize on

"There's a small difficult no for multiple reasons on going into EDP, atomized perfumers or liquor based perfumes," she said. "It's been done and overdone and continues to be done extremely fine by another brands."

A lot of Brown Sugar Babe's lineup is built about notes pulled from established luxury scents, and Gibbons stated so openly. She fair doesn't affection the term group attain for whenever they conversation on it — dupe.

She doesn't commencement from a particular luxury flask and set out to copy it. In her telling, it starts alongside loving a scent, afterward figuring out how to create it louder.

It does arrive alongside risk. For example, in 2024, Sol de Janeiro sued MCoBeauty, alleging false advertising, trade-dress infringement, and unfair competition. The business claimed that MCoBeauty's fragrance mists copied the appearance and awareness of its Cheirosa body-mist line, including the notes, packaging, and branding.

MCoBeauty pushed back, filing a motion in January 2026 to dismiss, arguing that the lawsuit amounts to an attempt to obstacle a lawful competitor. The case is motionless pending in national court.

Gibbons thinks the criticism looks distinct depending on the brand. "Are you going to be mad alongside person who made macaroni and dairy merchandise the identical way that you made macaroni and cheese?" Gibbons said.

And another brands have started duping her formulas, so she knows what it's akin to be on the another side. She stated that part doesn't annoy her, though. "Everyone needs inspiration," she added.

What it really costs

Many fragrance brands remain online and skip the overhead of a bodily space, but Gibbons wanted a bodily touchpoint for customers who appreciated in-person connection, which she felt her digital existence solitary couldn't provide.

After years of construction the brand, Gibbons opened a flagship shop in Atlanta in 2025, and the funding totaled concerning $1.2 million, including construction, branding, and the expansive beginning event.

"Sometimes I desire to do so much additional whenever it comes to giving our community item that they volition remember," she said, talking concerning how she ensures the brand hosts IRL, including live events and pop-ups. "Even bridling my imagination whenever it comes to our experiences has been a small durable to obtain sometimes."

Gibbons has additionally been incorrect concerning how much group desire what she's selling. Brown Sugar Babe has sold through complete launches additional than once, and website crashes are a acquainted headache at this point.

"Sometimes I go into a lot of our launches alongside naive glasses since I am continually shocked," she said.