House of Mikko: Beauty Recommendations for Women of Color
House of Mikko is more than just a concept. Kimberly Dillon has worked since January to launch the site in beta form single handedly. Not to say she didn’t have help, she did, but when it comes to Founders it’s just her. While her previous background is also impressive, she use to work at various digital agencies, and after graduating with her MBA decided to move west to work for a year, and then launch her own business. She is still working full time while running House of Mikko and has gain some traction while she’s at it since its launch in March.
House of Mikko sounds like an uber expensive haute couture house, but it’s not. The name comes from Miko which means pretty girl in Japanese. And the sites focus is pretty (no pun intended) simple. Its goal is to provide intelligent recommendations on beauty products and make-up to women of color. It’s recommendation engine took about 3 months to develop solely and also gets smarter the more it is used. Right now it matches you on complexion, skin type, hair type, and beauty goals and eventually it will also provide recommendations on products from her best girlfriends OR just other chicas with the same style sense or even skin tone as her.
Dillon, plans to monetize the site by providing vendors in the beauty biz a targeted audience to distribute their samples to. Women on the site will be able to choose which samples are relevant to them and go to town.
Plans for expansion in 2011 include integrating Beauty School content (videos, tutorials, and blogs) and the ability search across all products not just your recommendations.
You can sign-up for House of Mikko at www.houseofMikko.com or follow them on twitter @HouseofMikko or Kimberly directly @prettylittleCEO
Category: Featured, Interviews | Tags: building while brown, house of mikko, kimberly dillon
About the Author Angela Benton is the Founder and Publisher of BlackWeb20.com. Her experience spans a variety of industries including consultative relationships with companies such as UPS, Bizjournals.com, Realestate.com, and Lendingtree.com.
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