How one persistent founder never gave up on her beauty dream
Written by Marianne Olaleye, JAIKU
Born from personal frustrations, Jay & Co Beauty is committed to creating nourishing, skin-loving formulas that don’t break the bank.
Photographed by Krystal Nuevill
Yvonne Jokogbola is resilience personified.
“I would say I'm very persistent,” she laughs. "I'll keep trying until someone goes, ‘Yvonne, no’”.
Since founding her skincare brand Jay & Co Beauty in 2021, she’s been on a mission to create cosmetics that cater to the complexities of Black and Brown skin.
Starting her career journey with a politics degree, the polymath trialled multiple fields in the creative space before finding the perfect fit. Flitting from photography, pattern cutting and design, it was beauty that maintained her attention.
While working with the likes of Space NK and Kate Somerville in 2018, she noticed a lack of representation in front of the lens and behind the scenes, but when she brought up the topic of diversity, she often wasn’t listened to. Frustrated, she decided to take matters into her own hands.
Image courtesy of Jay & Co Beauty
Pivoting to a course in cosmetic science, things started to fall into place.
“I didn’t want to review products anymore – I wanted to make them,” she says. “My mum was suffering from adult acne. My sister had PCOS. I just wanted to help them.”
Drawing from personal frustrations, Jokogbola registered her own brand in 2019 and started going deep into research.
“I would literally go to Selfridges, stop Black women and ask: ‘What skincare issues are you dealing with?’,” she says. Many people recalled issues with dry skin, so she drew inspiration for her first product, the Glazed Nourishing Face Oil, which brightens skin and reduces dark marks. With few resources Jokogbola took a DIY approach from branding to formulation. “I did everything myself,” she says, “I didn’t have many resources and just used my salary.”
Image courtesy of Jay & Co Beauty
That hands-on approach stood her in good stead, but she became increasingly more motivated to win BGF and Glossier’s Black Beauty Grant – not just for the money. “We’re aligned perfectly in our branding, and our mission,” she says. “I just felt there's no way we can't work with them.” Fortunately, 2025 is her year. “Honestly, I had applied twice before and I didn’t get it,” she confesses. “I thought, ‘Let me just try one more time!’”
Immersing herself in the programme, Jokogbola has realised the need for more brand awareness. To achieve that, she’s set her sights on curating community-focused events to build her audience in the UK and US.
“I really want our community to be rich and thriving,” she says. ”Our brand is still young… it would be amazing to meet our community in real life.”
Of course, she’d love to be stocked in retail spaces too. But for now, she’s strategising an event idea based around her best-selling product, the Eraser Multi Task Face Mask, so watch this space.
Thank you so much to Yvonne for sharing such inspiring words with us.
Connect with Yvonne or read more about the Black Beauty Grant programme here.
We’re eager to learn, collaborate, and share knowledge, so if you’re interested in working with us, say hello@blackgirlfest.com
BGF x
