Ingestible Brand Golde’s Inclusive Approach To Wellness Is Coming To Sephora

Golde is broadening the definition of wellness at Sephora.

In an ingestible field at the beauty specialty retailer that includes WelleCo and The Beauty Chef, the brand comes in at the lower end of the pricing spectrum with its $29 Turmeric Tonic Blend, $29 Cacao Golde Turmeric Tonic Blend, $29 Macha Golde Turmeric Tonic Blend and $22 Tonic Blends Sachet Trio Set. Golde is launching Tuesday on sephora.com, which will join Goop, Free People and Urban Outfitters in its retail network.

“Our goal at Golde has always been to bring superfoods to the wellness-curious consumer, and it’s hard to think of a better fit than the Sephora customer. She’s super tapped into beauty and has been engaging with natural skincare, but the ingestible side of things is new to her,” says Golde CEO and co-founder Trinity Mouzon Wofford. “One of the reasons Sephora brought us on was because of the way we speak to our community—the brand is about approachable, feel-good solutions, not arduous wellness rituals.”

While many consumer packaged goods startups have flocked to the direct-to-consumer model, two-year-old Golde prioritized a brick-and-mortar retail strategy from early on. In addition to well-known national retailers, it’s pushed into independent stores like Lemon Laine, Veer & Wander and I.O. Beauty Market, and most of its revenue is built upon a breadth of smaller outlets. Today, the brand is carried in about 100 retailers, and 80% of its business is wholesale.

“One of the reasons Sephora brought us on was because of the way we speak to our community—the brand is about approachable, feel-good solutions, not arduous wellness rituals.”

“These are the stores where the owner is in there all the time, they’re pushing to educate both their team and their consumers on every product they stock because they truly care. I think it was natural for us to form those types of partnerships because we’re an independent brand as well,” says Mouzon Wofford, discussing Golde’s independent wholesale partners. “From there, all of the major partnerships started to roll in inbound. I think today’s buyers want to connect their consumer to smaller brands with a real story.”

Sephora placed the largest purchase order the brand had ever received, forcing self-funded Golde to scale production, but it has done so carefully within its means. Mouzon Wofford explains, “We don’t have the luxury of just holding $1 million in product at all times the way a VC-backed company might. For us that mostly means being glued to our spreadsheets so we know where every dollar is going and how much we can afford to hold in inventory.”

At Sephora, where the wellness category remains in its infancy, Mouzon Wofford emphasizes education is paramount to encourage shoppers to experiment with nontraditional beauty items like its turmeric blends—and she commends Sephora’s commitment to educating its staff about Golde. In stores where staff members have little understanding of the beauty-from-within segment, she notes products are unlikely to sell. Beyond the products, Mouzon Wofford believes Golde’s unique background will distinguish it from other Sephora brands. In a wellness arena crowded with wealthy white women, Mouzon Wofford is a rare Black female entrepreneur.

“We’re a WOC-owned company focused on making wellness more accessible. I’ll be one of the youngest Black women to ever launch at Sephora…I think telling that story is what’s going to resonate with the Sephora community: Wellness can be cool, but also friendly to everyone.”

“We’re a WOC-owned company focused on making wellness more accessible. I’ll be one of the youngest Black women to ever launch at Sephora,” says Mouzon Wofford, adding, “I think telling that story is what’s going to resonate with the Sephora community: Wellness can be cool, but also friendly to everyone.”

Golde’s message stands to be amplified with an increased selection. It recently introduced Tonic Blends Sachet Trio Set and is set to unveil skincare products later this month. The sachets give customers a travel-ready option, provide an easy entry point for those testing out the brand, and enable Golde to seize upon store, subscription box and goodie bag sampling opportunities. The superfoods skincare arriving later this month is based on a solution Mouzon Wofford developed to help with pollution-driven chronic breakouts she’s experienced as a New York City resident. On top of the skincare and sachets, Golde is working on ingestible products for upcoming releases.

“Our goal is to really just build out a great suite of products across the superfoods space, keeping everything really consumer friendly and approachable. Over the past two years, we basically stayed true to just one product, the turmeric tonic, which was helpful while we really watched the market and learned more about our customer,” says Mouzon Wofford. “Today, there is so much pressure on brands to innovate upon their initial offering within months of launch, which I think is kind of insane. Now that we’ve got a nice footing in the industry, we have a good sense of what the next three to four SKU categories are going to be. It’s a thoughtful approach and, again, it all comes back to targeting sustainable growth.”

In the immediate future, Golde’s retail ambitions are to expand with its existing partners. Mouzon Wofford asserts, “I’m trying not to get too far ahead of ourselves right now. We’ve only been around for two years! The market is moving so quickly, and it’s important to be able to adapt to what you’re seeing. So, we have some longer-term goals for sure, but we try to stay flexible as the wellness industry and our community continue to evolve.”