We’re in full swing of fall and with cooler temperatures comes the need to moisturize a little more and to keep that lip gloss or lip balm on standby. Ashy and cracked lips are unflattering, and we want to help you avoid those conditions at all cost. 20-year-old Howard University student, Aysia Hilliard, is the founder of TrapStix, a lip balm brand inspired by the names of music artists under the genres of hip-hop, rap, and trap music. The young entrepreneur has managed to build a following of just under 100k followers and to sell over 50,000 units in the first two years.
What makes this lip balm brand special? It’s Hilliard’s creative approach to naming the various flavors after popular music artists. For example, her first flavor, Gucci Mango, was launched in 2018 and now, the assortment has grown to include other flavors like Cardi Bees, Tina Snow Cone, Leminem, and J. Cola. And what made her brand blow up to have 96,000+ supporters? Tik Tok.
Hilliard tells ESSENCE, “I was happy that with the pandemic and so many people being on social media and on their phones, especially Tik Tok, that I was able to take advantage of that, which actually wasn’t my original plan.” It was an Instagram influencer that reached out with interest to promote TrapStix on Tik Tok in exchange for products that initially brought Hilliard to the platform. “I quickly made a Tik Tok and put a video out and that video went crazy. And I was so close to not posting because I did not like the video,” Hilliard said. Her first video was a 15-second introduction including her name, the brand, and some examples of flavor names, which was laid over “Do It” by Chloe x Halle. The video that Hilliard almost didn’t post received over 400,000 views and 130,000 likes – not too bad for her first Tik Tok post.
The Howard University student is able to manage her studies and her growing business thanks to her mom and dad. While her dad manages the finance, and her mom handles logistics, Hilliard is able to focus solely on making new products and creating content to engage and grow the audience. She is committed to giving the people what they want and maintaining the excitement around the brand. “It’s not about me,” says Hilliard. “I put artists out that people want to see. It’s really for the people.”
Right now, TrapStix is operating out of a mighty dining room, but Hilliard hopes to expand and take the business a step further. While Tik Tok has been a blessing to her business, Hilliard hopes to develop different revenue streams for TrapStix that don’t rely on Tik Tok views, like being carried in stores. Until then, you can shop all of the fun flavors on trapstixlipbalm.com.