Taken from the Autumn/Fall Issue of Wonderland. Order your copy now.

When you ask people if they have any advice for their younger selves, most tend to respond with a sentimental cliché — but Kristen Noel Crawley isn’t most people. “You know what? No,” the beauty entrepreneur decides, her confidence radiating through the Zoom screens between us. “We go through life and we make mistakes, and that’s how we end up where we are.”

If you aren’t familiar with Crawley, you’ve surely come across her company, KNC Beauty, on social media. Its instantly recognisable, oversized millennial pink lip masks have been seen on everyone from A-listers to influencers since the brand launched in 2016, all praising Crawley for creating the latest (and cutest) ‘clean beauty’ staple.

Growing up in a small town in Illinois, Crawley’s introduction to the beauty industry began like most of ours: by borrowing her mum’s lipstick and dousing herself in her sister’s Victoria’s Secret Love Spell Body Mist before school. Skincare wasn’t a buzzy subject like it is now, and her love affair with it didn’t truly start until she began travelling in her 20s.

It was on a fateful trip to Tokyo that Crawley discovered what became her brand’s staple product: collagen-infused lip masks. The problem? There wasn’t a cruelty-free, natural alternative in the States. “I was like, ‘Wow, I haven’t really seen this, and I write about beauty, so that’s interesting [and] it’s a problem that needs solving,’” she says frankly. “I just went for it. I can’t really explain it because I have a lot of ideas and a lot of them I don’t move on, but that one, for some reason, particularly stuck out to me.”

So the idea for KNC Beauty was born — but when an established brand released a range of lip masks three months before her launch date, it almost didn’t come to life. “I was devastated,” Crawley recalls. “When you have an idea it’s out there in the universe, and so it’s anyone’s to grab.” With a push from her friends she went ahead with the launch, but not without nerves and reservations. “I had to just get over my own insecurities… I made the right decision, but it was difficult, and there were hurdles.”

Crawley has overcome countless hurdles since then, and this year she’s starting a new venture to pass on what she’s learned. “Being an entrepreneur, I just wanted to share what I could because I men- tor quite a few young women and I get messages every day [from] women wanting advice and needing help,” she says. “I found that, especially during these times we’re all at home, the Black Lives Matter movement had me really thinking a lot about what I can do in my community to help Black women and people of colour. So that’s where I came up with the School of Beauty.” A virtual programme designed to uplift Black female beauty entrepreneurs, Crawley’s new initiative will provide free resources and advice, as well as a $10,000 grant to help launch or support an emerging business. “It just happens to go hand in hand with KNC Beauty because we are just all about supporting our community,” she adds, explaining that ultimately she wants her brand to stand for “just having fun, taking care of yourself, and supporting each other.”

In an industry that often profits from women’s insecurities, Crawley’s ethos and values are refreshing, necessary and long overdue. As she grows KNC Beauty further (when I ask what’s next she proudly shows me her new babies — a trio of adorable face masks with 70s-inspired packaging), its expansion will be guided by a commitment to providing a natural, ethical, inclusive range of products. Using her platform to empower her community in the process, Crawley’s vision cuts through the industry’s elitist struc- tures and damaging beauty ideals, calling for long-term change. “Hopefully by the next generation, or the one after that, it’ll be in- grained into our children that different is good and it’s normal,” she tells me, her two children clearly in mind. “You don’t have to go and get Botox or you don’t have to have a face full of makeup to be beautiful, to feel beautiful, because everyone is beautiful. I think once people start seeing that representation, it’ll change the narrative.” Cheers to that.

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