Retail Visionaries Podcast: From Rejection to Revolution with The Lip Bar's CEO

Recorded on 06/18/25

We host Melissa Butler, Founder & CEO of The Lip Bar, to discuss her journey building an inclusive beauty brand rooted in authenticity and community. From crafting lipstick in her kitchen to now being a national leader in Target, Walmart, and Amazon, Melissa shares how purpose, performance, and customer connection power growth and cultural relevance for The Lip Bar.

Brand Building With and For Community. In this episode, Melissa Butler, CEO of The Lip Bar, shares how she’s scaled a brand that’s as bold in performance as it is in purpose. Headquartered in Detroit, The Lip Bar blends cultural authenticity with data-driven product development, delivering high-efficacy formulas designed to show up on every skin tone and last all day. Melissa discusses how the flagship store serves as a real-time R&D lab, why retention, not virality, is the true measure of success, and how she leads with both community connection and operational clarity. From navigating tariffs to decoding TikTok, she offers a rare look at what it takes to build a brand that endures.

https://go.td.com/PodcastDisclosure