Dr. Anika Goodwin Hilderbrand is a Greensboro entrepreneur who successfully pitched her own magnetic lash brand on Shark Tank.
In her pitch, she talked about how the natural look is moving out of trend, and big, beautiful lashes are moving in. However, despite extensions being so popular, Dr. Hilderbrand herself constantly failed at correctly putting them on. Even worse, a lot of the products use harmful chemicals such as formaldehyde, which is especially dangerous to have near your eyes.
Dr. Hilderbrand gave the Sharks 5% of her company in exchange for a $75,000 investment. Her pitch won them over, and she walked away with fashion entrepreneur Kendra Scott’s offer of $100,000.
The doctor is the founder and owner of OpulenceMD Beauty. This is a luxury beauty brand that specializes in a range of eyelash extension products.
Her idea for the brand came about when she noticed a lack of comfortable, safe, and easy to apply eyelashes for professional women. She founded OpulenceMD Beauty in 2019 as a solution to that problem. As a beauty enthusiast and vision advocate, she wanted to show women that they no longer had to sacrifice their own safety just so they could look beautiful.
The company’s official launch was in June 2020. Despite launching the company in the middle of a pandemic, OpulenceMD Beauty was an instant hit. It immediately carved out its own slice of the beauty market, garnering six-figure sales in only a few months.
OpulenceMD Beauty’s main area of interest is magnetic lashes made out of cruelty-free Siberian mink. Plus, as promised, Dr. Goodwin-Hilderbrand made sure to leave out all parabens, toxic glue, or latex. The lashes are easy for users to apply, and they can be reused up to 40 times, which should get rid of some of the trial and error in the application. The lashes are also extremely light, which should get rid of fatigue.
Even though the Sharks were impressed by the concept of user-friendly, comfortable, and light lashes, the most beguiling bullet points were her unique background and story. Dr. Goodwin-Hilderbrand is a board-certified ophthalmologist who specializes in eyelid care and procedures. She graduated in 1997 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 2001, she received a Ph.D. from Medical University in South Carolina.
Along with offering up safe and affordable eyelash options, she also promises to donate some of her profits to people who cannot afford eye screening exams.
