Thirteen Lune's Nyakio Grieco Has Spent Over 20 Years Making Beauty More Inclusive

Nyakio Grieco's reputation in the beauty industry speaks for itself. She's a savant when it comes to launching brands with a unique point of view—her first, Nyakio Beauty, debuted in 2002 and celebrated the skincare rituals taught to her by her Kenyan grandmother. Twenty years later, she released Relevant, a skincare and cosmetics range made with melanin-rich skin in mind.

Outside of bringing innovative products to market, Grieco is deeply passionate about lifting up her fellow founders of color and making the beauty industry a more inclusive place. Her commitment to making this mission a reality led to the launch of Thirteen Lune in 2020—the platform provides virtual and IRL shelf space to Black and Brown founders, giving each brand the spotlight it deserves and providing them with access to a wider audience.

Ahead, we chatted with Grieco about her 20-year career in beauty, the lessons she's learned as a seasoned entrepreneur, and her favorite products (of course). Keep scrolling to get to know the Thirteen Lune co-founder.

What was your earliest introduction to beauty?

"I was born in New York and am a first-generation American of Kenyan descent. My earliest beauty memory is going to Kenya for the first time when I was eight and meeting my grandmother, Nyakio, for the first time. She taught me how to make my first beauty product using Kenyan coffee beans and sugarcane, which she grew on her farm.

My mom's dad was also a medicine man. My grandfather could go into nature to extract oils that treat skin and ailments. My mom always said, 'Even kids in the village get pimples, and your grandfather knew exactly what plants to get.' Because of this, she would use things that come from nature to treat my skin and hair."

What were your professional aspirations during college? 

"Eventually, I left New York and moved to Oklahoma. My father started the African studies program at the University of Oklahoma, and I later studied marketing there. Beauty was always part of my DNA, but I didn't foresee being in the beauty world. When I left Oklahoma after college, I moved to Los Angeles and worked as an entertainment assistant. I started gravitating toward the representation aspect of entertainment and worked with many actresses in the early 2000s. That was an exciting time in beauty because they were beginning to replace models with actresses on covers. Actresses were also starting to get beauty deals and become the faces of brands. Through that, I discovered I liked beauty and fashion more than entertainment."

When did you set your sights on entering into the beauty industry?

"When working with A-list talent, you see how many products they get sent. When I looked at the labels, I noticed that many brands used African ingredients like marula oil, Kalahari melon, or coffee extracts. However, none of these brands were talking about Africa back then. Nobody celebrated the sophistication of Africa. I left my job at 27 to start making my grandmother's coffee scrub and launched Nyakio Beauty. 

My parents thought I'd lost my mind to leave the career field I'd worked in for seven years. But what that experience did for me was give me insight into what it's like to be a Black female entrepreneur in premium skincare. While I had many wins, I experienced many challenges. First and foremost, there was a lack of access to capital to take the business to the next level. I had the opportunity to start over a lot, but through that, I learned about the impact [the Black community] can have on the industry."

You sold the brand in 2017 to Unilever. At that point, did you immediately have plans to launch another beauty venture? Or did you have your sights set on something else?

"I knew I wanted to stay in beauty after selling the brand in 2017. I continued working with the brand and Unilever until 2020. As we were experiencing the global pandemic and the most heightened moment of racial reckoning we have seen in our lifetime, Nyakio Beauty suddenly topped all the beauty lists. The brand had never received that much attention—and while it was lovely, it was also heartbreaking. I had been thinking long before 2020 about what I wanted to do next, but it was at that moment that I realized my next move was way bigger than a beauty brand. When I looked at those lists featuring Black-owned brands, I was floored by how many on that list that I didn't know existed. I wanted to celebrate them and help them. That's when the idea for Thirteen Lune came to me. I realized that an inclusive beauty retail platform hadn't existed before. We wanted to flip the virtual shelf where 90% of our brands are created by people of color."  

Tell me what scaling Thirteen Lune has been like over the last three years.

"Working with my co-founder and longtime friend, Patrick Herning, has been the greatest blessing. Being an entrepreneur can be a lonely journey, so having someone to do the work with is incredible. We conceived the idea in June 2020 and launched it in December 2020. We knew we'd always wanted to be an omnichannel business, but we didn't expect to get a call from JCPenney 60 days in. That opportunity has helped with visibility and scaling—we've brought brands to a large retailer that may not have had the chance otherwise.

Even though we have a fast-growing startup, we step into everything we do with intention. This rings especially true when it comes to raising money. As a female founder, I would get so desperate to keep the business going that I would accept a bad deal to stay on the shelf. But I've learned that investment is an invitation into your mission, so I'm proud we've partnered with like-minded investors who are there for us. It's been amazing to implement my experiences into my own business and share them with the founders so they can be successful. Not on my watch will they make the mistakes I made."

While building Thirteen Lune, you launched a skincare brand, Relevant, in 2022. What inspired you to create the brand?

"This is the first time I've had the autonomy, infrastructure, team, and data to see where there was space to innovate. With my first brand, there was a big focus on ethically and sustainably sourced ingredients, but I never had the chance to dive deep into the science. When I started developing Relevant, it was during the same time I was working on Thirteen Lune. I hired two Black chemists who have created some of the most award-winning brands, and we started creating Relevant in 2020. Through talking to them, I understood how left out melanin-rich skin is when it comes to products on the shelf. I'm a beauty fanatic, and I try everything, but there are times when I look at a product and know if I were to use it, it would cause so much trouble for my skin. While you can't serve everyone, you can be mindful and create products that make people feel considered. Relevant has allowed me to bring joy to people's beauty routines, bring science back to formulas, and lean into my heritage."

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What's in the works for Relevant and Thirteen Lune this year?

"Relevant just launched with Sephora UK, and I hope to continue expanding within the Sephora regions. I met with Sephora several times while running my first brand, but I never felt I had the resources to succeed on the shelf. So, this has been a 20-year dream realized. With Relevant, we've also expanded from skincare and launched fragrance and skin-first cosmetics. Relevant is a brand that taps into the power of global beauty, and I hope we continue to grow. 

With Thirteen Lune, I've always considered us a platform, not a retailer. I want to dive deeper into that as we grow. Launching all of the Thirteen Lune at JCPenney stores has been amazing. Our flagship store in Los Angeles is an exciting place where we tell stories and amplify the brands we carry. I want to continue rolling out standalone Thirteen Lune stores in key cities in the United States." 

What are your current favorite beauty products?

I always use the Ami Colé Lash Amplifying Mascara and Lip Treatment Oil. From Relevant, I use our One & Done Everyday Cream SPF 40. I also feel like I'm becoming a master at color correcting, so I use our Rele-Flex Priming Color Correctors. I like multipurpose products, so I always apply our Lip & Cheek Multi-Tint. For skincare, I'll use any of Joanna Vargas' sheet masks and the Sundree Cooling Facial Globes. I have a lot of expensive tools, but I use these globes daily to minimize inflammation. With hair care, I love Inala's Power Potion. One of my favorite fragrances is Golf Le Fleur's French Waltz Eau de Parfum.