As Texas continues to grow into a central hub for multiple industries, one Texan is doing her part to create a haven for beauty brands that cater to Black buyers. The brand, Aˈme-kə, is the phonetic spelling of her first name, Emeka, which comes from her father’s middle name, Chukwuemeka — an Igbo name which traditionally means “God has done great.”

The digital storefront opened for business in April of 2019, with a simple vision in mind: Help people of color connect with cosmetic, beauty, and grooming brands that are made with melanin in mind. Since then, they’ve brought on multiple brands including Curls, Scotch Porter, and Shea Moisture alongside many others centered around creating a better experience for the melanated consumer.

“When you look at the numbers and how much we spend in the industry — which is, I think, over 80% for ethnic hair and beauty products — it's surprising that in 2018, 2019, and 2020 it's still a big deal that we're on the shelf because that's reflective of the fact that we're not getting that shelf space on a regular basis,” Anyanwu explained. “So I wanted to create something that closed the gap between how much we're spending in this industry and how many of us are creating products in the industry, and our access to those products as well as customer service. I've created this retail space, where you can find products that are specifically made with us in mind — Melanin in mind.”

A Texas native, Emeka Anyanwu was born in San Antonio and grew up in the Austin area. After leaving Stanford University and the University of Texas with a combined four degrees under her belt, the young professional followed in her father’s footsteps, relocating to Dallas to practice law, ultimately working her way up to Senior Associate Attorney for Parkland Health & Hospital System over the course of more than nine years. It was during this time that she launched her business, adding entrepreneur to her list of accomplishments.

“I think it's important for people to have opportunities to open their own businesses, and rely on themselves for their income,” she said. “Especially as an African American woman in the United States, where there are a lot of barriers in corporate America as far as promotions and the pay gap. I want to be a part of creating generational wealth for my own family, and I felt like starting my own business was the best way to really do that. I think of [the name] as a reminder that when God created us with our different shades of melanin it was a great thing, so we want to support, recognize and shop and have access to those brands that see the greatness and value of our melanin and prioritize it when they create their products as opposed to seeing it as an afterthought or a trend.”

Anyanwu began to build, doing extensive research with a cynical eye on the market. She quickly recognized the ways in which industry leaders capitalized on the culture and sought out brands that were more committed.

“I went into my research thinking, ‘are there a lot of brands out there that really cater to our needs?’ Because now it's on trend,” she elaborated. “When you look at industry news, beauty diversity is one of the trends, but it's like ‘are there any brands out there that were actually created with diversity as part of their foundation?’ Meaning, when it's no longer a trend, they'll continue to do so. This became a really large list and I realized the brands are out there and the products are out there. That's when I started seeing that maybe the issue isn't that the products aren't there, but rather how do we help to increase access to them and awareness of them — creating a one-stop-shop where you can see multiple brands that are made for us.”

Creating the platform hasn’t been smooth sailing for Anyanwu. Now, just beyond the first year of operation, she and Aˈme-kə have had to face a hurdle nobody could have anticipated: a global pandemic. Although Aˈme-kə is currently online exclusively, that wasn’t always the plan.

“Initially, when I came up with the idea in 2018, I actually wanted to start with a brick and mortar from the beginning,” Anyanwu admitted. “After getting some guidance from other people who have businesses, I decided to go ahead and start online. If I had started a brick and mortar space, and being less than a year old, right now with the Covid-19 pandemic it would have been devastating to the business. In light of what's going on right now, I am actually kind of re-thinking that. This year, I planned to focus on building brand awareness and creating brand experiences for myself as a retailer and also the brands that I sell by focusing on doing a lot of vendor events and going to different events as a vendor...No one's creating new events and more events are being postponed, so that being my main goal of the year is obviously derailed.”

Curls is one of many brands available at Aˈme-kə, offering multiple products that cater to natural hair. Photo courtesy of Curls

Despite the global health crisis, things haven’t been all bad for Anyanwu. In the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, public interest has seen a shift towards uplifting Black businesses worldwide. With Aˈme-kə serving as a hub for some of these businesses, she has seen more consumers coming to her to find them.

“It is always painful to learn of Black lives being unjustly taken, and having videos of the deaths going around social media is triggering and traumatizing,” Anyanwu lamented. “Many people are dealing with their emotions in different ways, and having to deal with a variety of types of emotions — sadness, upset, frustrated, tired, and more. We are also doing our part to make change in this country, and we do it in different ways. Some are protesting. Some are making calls and signing petitions. Others are donating. Some, a mixture of things. One of the things that has been happening in the wake of the protests is this bigger push for everyone, not just Black consumers, to support Black-owned businesses. Those efforts have had a significant impact on my business. There's been increased engagement, sales, and collaboration.

In the spirit of economic independence and generational wealth, Anyanwu has stepped away from her position with Parkland to practice law alongside her father at Anyanwu, Izedonmwen & Betts PLLC. where she continues to work in healthcare law while shifting to a more general practice — all while running her own business.

To learn more about Aˈme-kə, or to see the brands they feature, be sure to check out Aˈme-kə.com and their Facebook page.