Entrepreneur and chemist Alyssa Space recently visited the Downtown Boxing Gym and gave an empowering talk about pursuing your dreams. Space is the owner and founder of ForHerCosmetics. Our girls had a blast learning about her journey and how she created her own makeup line.
There are valuable lessons to be learned from lipstick. Like the chemistry involved in making it and the business savvy it takes to market and distribute it.
The Downtown Boxing Gym’s girls got the chance to learn those lessons and more June 19 when Alyssa Space, Founder and CEO of ForHerCosmetics, came in for a special career day talk.
Space grew up in metro Detroit and attended Detroit schools. She went on to study chemistry at Michigan State before starting her own makeup line aimed at empowering women.
“I think it’s really vital for kids to see people that look like them doing things that they love,” says Alyssa. “When I was a kid, I was inspired by Mae Jemison who was the first African American woman to pursue science. I want to be that inspiration for someone else.”
Space tested the group’s knowledge with a chemistry pop quiz for the chance to earn candy and makeup prizes. Hands shot in the air to name the three states of matter and the elements that makeup up H2O.
DBG’s STEAM Lab hosts a year-long curriculum focused on science, technology, engineering, art and math. Space visited in preparation for chemistry month in July.
“We try to give our students exposure to as many possibilities in terms of careers,” says Academic Director Katie Anderson. “Alyssa came to us as a chemist who has her own makeup line, so we thought it was the perfect way to connect the science that the kids are learning in school to the real world.”
So how did Alyssa create her own makeup line?
“From an early age, [her] involvement in dance, pageants, and science fairs inspired her love for beauty, fashion and science,” says her website. “As she grew into womanhood in college, so did her admiration for science… So Alyssa set out to create highly pigmented lipsticks and other natural products straight from her heart and her kitchen.”
The vision of ForHerCosmetics is to promote positive affirmation amongst women while empowering all. Alyssa is also working to increase the retention of young women in STEAM through chemistry in cosmetics. She wants young people, especially girls, to know they can “be a scientist and a fashionista” at the same time.
Alyssa left our girls with the message that they can do anything they put their minds to, something our tutors, mentors, coaches, volunteers and staff reinforce every day.
Learn more about ForHerCosmetics at ForHerCosmetics.com.