Impressions of Beauty

What Impressions of Beauty does

Impressions of Beauty (IOB) is an Atlanta-based, founder-led experiential marketing and community platform that connects consumer brands with Black Gen Z college women — primarily at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) — through on-campus activations, digital community programming, and influencer-driven campaigns. Founded in 2013 by FAMU graduate Ashlee W. Gomez, IOB has built a 60,000+-member free digital community called the AchieveHER Collective (hosted on Circle.so), supplemented by student programs including the Campus Ambassador Program, Content CreatHERs, Campus Queens, and Brand Ambassador Collective. The company also operates the Big Sis Masterclass Series and the Black Girls Matter Meetup Brunch Tour, and is launching its first self-produced annual conference, the AchieveHER Summit, in Atlanta in Summer 2026.

The company's core product architecture is a platform-plus-programs model rather than a technology product. The AchieveHER Collective provides year-round community infrastructure; surrounding student-development programs feed the community pipeline; and brand-partnership campaigns convert the community into measurable marketing outcomes for clients such as Sally Beauty, Walmart, Disney, Victoria's Secret, Head & Shoulders, HP, L'Oreal, and Estee Lauder. The technology stack is intentionally lightweight — Circle.so for the community, Shopify for a direct-to-consumer storefront selling beauty and lifestyle products, and standard digital channels (Instagram, email, SMS) for engagement. No proprietary AI, data, or software IP is disclosed.

Revenue is generated through two streams: (1) brand partnership and experiential marketing services, where IOB functions as an outsourced college marketing department for consumer brands running custom campus activations, sampling programs, digital campaigns, and influencer activations; and (2) e-commerce product sales through the Shopify storefront, shipping to the US and Canada. Pricing is opaque — community membership is free, summit tickets are sold but not publicly priced, brand campaigns are custom-scoped, and product prices are listed individually. The company is wholly owned by its founder, has 1-10 employees, has never raised outside capital, and has operated profitably across 12+ years.

Name

Impressions of Beauty

Legal name

Impressions of Beauty, LLC

Website

https://impressionsofbeauty.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Experiential Marketing Services

NAICS

Cosmetics, Beauty Supplies, and Perfume Retailers (45612), Health and Personal Care Retailers (4561)

SIC

Services-Advertising Agencies (7311)

akta.pro primary industry

Brand Activations & Experiential Campaign Design (MPAAAGAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Event Strategy & Experience Design (BPAFAGAA), Activation/Experiential Creative Agencies (MPAAAAAO)

Keywords

• Experiential marketing services
• College brand activations
• HBCU campus marketing
• Digital community platform
• Beauty brand partnerships

Headquarters

HQ city

Atlanta

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Brand Partnership & Experiential Marketing Services: IOB generates revenue by partnering with consumer brands (beauty, lifestyle, retail) to execute on-campus activations, sampling programs, digital campaigns, influencer activations, and brand experiences targeting Black Gen Z college women. This is the primary commercial model, positioning IOB as an outsourced college marketing department for brands.
2. E-commerce Product Sales: IOB operates its own online storefront (powered by Shopify) selling beauty and lifestyle products directly to consumers. Customers place online orders with credit/debit cards or PayPal. The company ships products within the United States and Canada.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Impressions of Beauty operates the AchieveHER Collective, a free digital community for Black Gen Z college women, paired with experiential marketing services for consumer brands targeting HBCUs. The company delivers on-campus activations, product sampling, influencer programs, masterclasses, the annual AchieveHER Summit, and a Shopify-powered e-commerce storefront selling beauty and lifestyle products directly to consumers.

Product overview

Impressions of Beauty (IOB) is a brand-fueled platform and community organization serving Black college women, operating as a platform-plus-programs architecture. The core offering is the AchieveHER Collective, a free digital community hub for Black Gen Z college women providing mentorship, education, and real-world preparation. Surrounding this core are student development programs including the Campus Ambassador Program, Content CreatHERs (influencer collective), Campus Queens, and Brand Ambassador Collective, all connecting students with brand partnership opportunities. IOB also delivers experiential programming through the AchieveHER Summit (annual conference), the Big Sis Masterclass Series (mentorship), and the Black Girls Matter Meetup Brunch Tour. For brand partners, IOB offers Campus Collectives—custom campus activations, sampling programs, and digital campaigns targeting HBCU students. The platform has reached over 100,000 students across 70+ campuses since 2013, connecting talent to opportunity through strategic brand partnerships.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• AchieveHER Collective: A free digital community and sisterhood for Black Gen Z college women and recent graduates, offering mentorship, educational resources, and real-world preparation for success in college and beyond.
• AchieveHER Academy
• AchieveHER Summit
• Big Sis Masterclass Series
• IOB Campus Queen Community
• Brand Ambassador Collective
• Influencer Collective

Quantifiable outcome

• 9 out of 10 students recommend IOB programs
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Sally BeautycoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 27 February 2026Sally Beauty partnered with Impressions of Beauty for the second year of its 'Rooted in Success' campaign, featuring a 13-stop HBCU campus tour running through June 2026. The campaign includes branded activations, product sampling, and educational programming focused on textured hair care, with the goal of engaging over 5,000 students. The partnership also highlights Sally Beauty's Texture ID brand refresh and reinforces its commitment to the textured hair community and next-generation consumers.
• ESSENCE MagazinecoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 27 February 2026ESSENCE magazine partnered with Sally Beauty and Impressions of Beauty to amplify the 'Rooted in Success' HBCU campaign, providing editorial media coverage and brand credibility in the Black women's beauty and lifestyle space. ESSENCE is described as amplifying the campaign across its media channels.
• Gain (Procter & Gamble)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerGain and Family Dollar partnered with IOB to transform Hampton University's laundromat into a high-energy back-to-school experience with product sampling, education, and swag. The activation exceeded goals across attendance, QR scans, and email sign-ups.
• Family DollarminorGTM or Marketing PartnerFamily Dollar partnered with Gain and IOB for a custom laundry activation at Hampton University. The activation exceeded attendance, QR scan, and email sign-up goals while delivering valuable student insights.
• Walt DisneyminorGTM or Marketing PartnerWalt Disney engaged Black female HBCU students across four campuses through a custom digital and on-campus campaign for the 'Wish' movie, centered on empowerment and storytelling. The program hit 100% of attendance goals and generated nearly 2,000 meaningful student impressions.
• Victoria's SecretminorGTM or Marketing PartnerVictoria's Secret partnered with IOB to execute its first-ever HBCU Wear Test experience centered on inclusivity and fit education. The activation exceeded all targets, fitting 250+ students, enrolling nearly 65% into a long-term wear test, and achieving 100% of appointment goals.
• Head & Shoulders (Procter & Gamble)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerHead & Shoulders activated a multi-market sampling campaign across 21 HBCUs and 4 major events in just three months. The program distributed nearly 130,000 samples, achieved 100% of goals, and generated over 130,000 student impressions through ambassador-led activations.
• HP (Hewlett-Packard)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerHP partnered with IOB on a targeted digital booster campaign for the HP Education Store to support back-to-school. The campaign drove 76,000 program exposures, 110,000 page visits, and engaged nearly 40,000 students across email, social, and SMS.
• WalmartminorGTM or Marketing PartnerWalmart partnered with IOB for a Back-to-College beauty tour reaching 13,000 students across 20 markets through on-campus and in-store activations. The campaign generated 2.3 million impressions and delivered a 2–4x lift in in-store beauty sales.
• The Honey Pot Co.minorGTM or Marketing PartnerThe Honey Pot Co. partnered with IOB to host a 4-market HBCU masterclass tour exploring the history of medicine in the Black community and the future of wellness. The tour engaged 400+ students, featured 14 speakers, and exceeded attendance goals by 134%.
• My Black Is BeautifulminorGTM or Marketing PartnerIOB executed a custom 6-week, multi-channel campaign for My Black Is Beautiful combining on-campus activations, YardFest Homecoming Tour sampling, and a digital booster. The program reached nearly 40,000 students and generated close to 2,500 new email sign-ups.
• Estee Lauder Companies (Bobbi Brown)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerFor Black History Month, Bobbi Brown (Estee Lauder Companies) partnered with IOB to host The Glow Sisterhood, a virtual masterclass celebrating Black beauty and HBCU sisterhood. The campaign exceeded expectations with 195% of registration goals met, 231% of attendance goals achieved, and 150 surprise mailings sent to engage HBCU alumnae.
• L'OrealminorGTM or Marketing PartnerImpressions of Beauty has partnered with L'Oreal alongside other major brands including Disney and Walmart to deliver impactful programs that resonate with multicultural communities and leave lasting impressions on HBCU students.

Scale indicators14 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• ESSENCE Communications: ESSENCE is a media and events company serving Black women, including the Essence Festival of Culture and a beauty/lifestyle editorial platform. IOB is already an ESSENCE partner (Rooted in Success amplification). Comparable on audience demographic (Black women) and brand-partnership monetization, with significantly larger scale.
• Blavity Inc. Blavity is a digital media and community platform for Black millennials and Gen Z, operating editorial brands (Blavity, Shadow & Act, Travel Noire, 21Ninety) and brand partnership businesses. Comparable to IOB on community-led audience engagement with Black Gen Z, though Blavity is content/media-led while IOB is campus-activation-led.

Direct peers

• Mosaic Group (Mosaic/North America): Mosaic is an experiential marketing agency within the IPG Mediabrands network focused on connecting brands with multicultural and general-market consumers through in-person activations, sampling, and event marketing. Directly comparable to IOB's brand activation model, with broader category and geographic reach.
• MKG: MKG is an independent experiential marketing agency specializing in brand activations, live experiences, and cultural marketing. Like IOB, MKG designs and executes brand experiences that drive consumer engagement, but at significantly larger scale and across a broader demographic base.
• Sparks: Sparks is a global brand experience agency designing and producing events, exhibits, and immersive brand experiences for Fortune 500 clients. Comparable to IOB on the experiential marketing services model but operating at substantially larger scale across enterprise B2B and consumer brands.
• Cashmere Agency: Cashmere is a multicultural creative and integrated marketing agency working with brands across beauty, lifestyle, and entertainment. Closely comparable to IOB on multicultural audience targeting and brand campaign execution, with a more developed creative production offering.
• Carol H. Williams Advertising: Carol H. Williams Advertising is an African-American-focused full-service advertising agency serving major brands across beauty, CPG, and entertainment. Comparable to IOB on multicultural audience focus and enterprise client base, with broader creative/media planning capabilities.
• Uniworld Group: Uniworld Group is one of the largest Black-owned, full-service advertising and marketing agencies, with deep relationships across multicultural consumer brands. Directly comparable on multicultural brand campaign execution, though IOB is more community-platform-led while Uniworld is more traditional agency-led.
• BPG Group (Black-owned experiential): BPG Group is a Black-owned experiential marketing and branding agency executing live brand experiences, sampling programs, and multicultural campaigns. Comparable to IOB on HBCU-style brand activations and experiential services.
• The Saturday Group: The Saturday Group is a multicultural marketing agency focused on Black, Hispanic, and Asian American consumer engagement across CPG, retail, and beauty brands. Comparable to IOB on multicultural brand activation work, with broader demographic coverage.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/impressionsofbeauty
• Xx.com/ioboncampus

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Impressions of Beauty