Yeleen Beauty Makerspace helps emerging beauty founders turn their ideas into market-ready products. Based in DC, we provide product development, small-batch manufacturing, and hands-on education for entrepreneurs building skincare, haircare, and body care brands. We serve founders who are often overlooked by traditional manufacturers, especially women and entrepreneurs of color facing high minimum orders and limited resources. By making manufacturing expertise, equipment, and training more accessible, we help founders bridge the gap between creating a product and building a business. We exist to make the beauty industry more equitable, one brand at a time.

I am a first-generation Ghanaian-American entrepreneur building a more equitable beauty industry. My journey began as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Mali, where I saw the disconnect between women producing shea butter and the wealth generated by the global beauty market. I founded Shea Yeleen to bridge that gap, connecting women-owned cooperatives in Ghana to U.S. consumers and supporting incomes five times Ghana’s minimum wage.

Building Shea Yeleen revealed how difficult it is for emerging beauty founders to access manufacturing, expertise, and capital. That inspired Yeleen Beauty Makerspace, a shared manufacturing facility and teaching lab in DC’s Ward 7, helping founders turn ideas into market-ready products.

I work at the intersection of international trade policy, beauty, and women's economic development.  I served on the President’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa, including as co-chair from 2022–2024. My honors include the 2025 African Diaspora Luminaire and the 2023 DC Chapter of the National Black MBA Association Entrepreneur of the Year awards. Across my work, my mission is to expand who gets to create, own, and prosper in beauty.