In a captivating conversation with Buku, host and founder of the podcast "God is my Creative Director," Olamide Olowe, the CEO of the skincare brand Topicals, shared how her unwavering faith in God has been the driving force behind her remarkable success.
Olowe, the youngest Black woman to raise $10 million in venture funding, credit's God's divine guidance for her path to entrepreneurship, even before the launch of Topicals. She recounted how, during the planning stages of her podcast, God specifically directed Buku to invite Olowe as a guest, despite Olowe's limited connection to the show's faith-based focus at the time.
"God kept repeating your name over and over again," Buku shared, "and I was like, 'God, are you sure? He has no idea what this show is about.'" But Olowe's response was profound: "Nothing is random when it comes to God."
Olowe's journey to Topicals was marked by several pivotal moments where she saw God's hand at work, from the unexpected loss of her full athletic scholarship at UCLA to the serendipitous meeting with Richelieu Dennis, the founder of Shea Moisture, which led to Olowe co-founding a skincare brand during her undergraduate years.
"I always felt like for example, in hindsight, now knowing about Topicals, I didn't understand at the time that the story was being written," Olowe said. "But then when I launched Topicals, people were like, 'It's almost like God knew that you were going to need that training to be able to launch Topicals and it be so successful.'"
Even during the challenging two-year period of pitching Topicals to over 100 investors, all of whom said "no," Olowe remained steadfast in her faith, tithing and praying regularly. Her unwavering trust in God's plan ultimately paid off when an investor who had previously turned her down, wrote her a $2 million check, launching Topicals into the success it is today.
Olowe's story is a testament to the power of faith and the importance of surrendering to God's plan, even when it doesn't make sense in the moment. As she navigates the continued growth of Topicals, Olowe remains committed to maintaining her sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, recognizing that true wisdom and foresight come from aligning her mind, heart, and actions with God's will.