Diarrha N’Diaye-Mbaye Announces Closure Of Ami Colé, A Beauty Brand That Changed The Industry

After nearly four years in business, Diarrha N’Diaye-Mbaye, founder of beauty brand Ami Colé has announced the brand will officially close this September.

In an essay for The Cut, Diarrha shared the emotional and economic realities behind her decision.

“This decision was so hard for me — the business bears my mother’s name and, as I built it, my daughter’s name, too,” she wrote. “But after looking at every option, it became clear that continuing in this current market wasn’t sustainable.”

Ami Colé launched in May 2021 and quickly made waves by doing what few in the beauty industry had dared: centering Black and brown women.

The brand’s clean, skin-enhancing products earned a devoted following. At one point, Ami Colé was available in 600 Sephora stores nationwide. The brand’s products earned more than 80 awards, including several Allure Best of Beauty accolades and a coveted spot on Oprah’s Favorite Things list, Diarrha wrote.

But for Diarrha, Ami Colé was always more than a business. The brand was a love letter to her Senegalese culture, her community, and to women who had never seen themselves reflected in the beauty aisle.

“The brand is named after my mother, Aminata,” she said in a 2021 interview with Her Agenda. “My mother has a hair salon in Harlem and it’s been standing for about three decades now. I’m Senegalese and wanted to share that with the world… It’s such a special country.”

Born to Senegalese parents and raised in Harlem, Diarrha’s early experience with colorism, bullying, and skin-bleaching ads left her believing her deep complexion was less than beautiful. But over time she began to see her skin as something to be celebrated.

“I started thinking big and when it came to those who couldn’t see the beauty in my melanin, I thought, ‘You guys are actually late to the trend,'” she told Her Agenda.

That perspective formed the foundation of Ami Colé. The brand’s mission, she said, was never to mask but to enhance.

“We are all about formulas that really enhance your beauty as opposed to masking it,” she said. “We want you to still see birthmarks and things that literally make your face special.”

Despite a résumé that included roles at Glossier, L’Oreal Paris, and VIBE Magazine, Diarrha was candid about the struggles of running a startup. As a solo founder, she handled product development, marketing, operations, and investor pitches herself.

“Eighty percent of my time is trying to figure out what is the best decision to make,” she told Her Agenda. “It’s not as glamorous as people think.”

In her piece for The Cut, she elaborated on the painful contradictions of being embraced by an industry that wasn’t built for founders like her. While the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder in 2020 opened doors, that support, she suggests, was conditional and temporary.

“I rode a temperamental wave of appraising investors — some of whom seemed to have an attitude toward equity and ‘betting big on inclusivity’ that changed its tune a lot, to my ears, from what it sounded like in 2020,” she wrote.

Still, what Diarrha built cannot be undone. Ami Colé was the first foundation match for countless women, the first brand that made them feel seen, she said.

“One stranger — another woman I talked to online about beauty over the years, now that I think of it — wrote, ‘I am buying every single thing, because this brand is ME,’” she wrote in The Cut.

The brand may be closing, but Diarrha’s mission is far from over.

“I’m proud of what we built — for the women we built it all for — even as I navigate the grief of letting go,” she wrote. “To those who felt seen in our mission: Thank you. Thank you for letting me be part of your daily routines.”