Mango People Is On A Mission To “Genuinely Add Value To Our Community” With Flattering, Skin-Friendly And Eco-Conscious Makeup

Trained as a chemical engineer, Mango People founder Sravya Adusumilli is a problem solver at her core. When she had a problem locating a clean and inclusive makeup brand while in college, she decided to solve it by creating her own.

“I wasn’t really even trying to make a company out of it,” she says. “All I wanted was to make a nude pink lipstick for myself that didn’t make me look gray or washed out and one that’s made with really great ingredients that I can comfortably eat and feel good about.”

After she finished her homework, Adusumilli would put in long hours during the night to research cosmetics ingredients. Her father set up a DIY lab in the basement of her family home to assist with her research. By the time Adusumilli graduated college, she’d developed three products.

With $10,000 from her personal savings, Adusumilli launched Mango People in September 2020 with those three products in stick formats: Multistick, Highlighter and Bronzer. They each retail for $27. The Highlighter and Bronzer come in three shades, and Multistick comes in eight. The products are encased in recycled aluminum, and their water-free formulas are made without petrochemicals and petroleum byproducts.

Mango People’s bestseller is Multistick, which can be used on the eyes, lips and cheeks, in the shade Gulabi, the perfect nude pink color Adusumilli initially yearned for. Gulabi translates to “pink” in Telugu, a language spoken in southeastern India and Adusumilli’s native language. Other shade names like Jaipur and Tabla draw inspiration from her South Asian culture.

Los Angeles-based Mango People’s entire collection is infused with mango butter along with adaptogenic herbs such as ashwagandha, triphala and brahmi that have been incorporated in Ayurvedic medicine for thousand of years. Adusumilli explains, “When consumed, they effectively help the body adapt to stress and restore it to baseline. Directly applying adaptogens on the skin, our largest organ, can protect and calm the skin from external stress and exhaustion.”

Speaking of Mango People’s shade range, she says, “We tried our best to make it so that anyone, regardless of what skin tone you have, you’d be able to find at least one shade in our collection that works really beautifully with your skin tone that accentuates your natural features instead of trying to hide them.”

Adusumilli also tried her best on the color payoff of Mango People’s products. “One swipe is all you need, which is a huge issue with the BIPOC community,” she says. “We made sure you don’t have to apply it 10 times before you see a pigment.”

“One swipe is all you need, which is a huge issue with the BIPOC community. We made sure you don’t have to apply it 10 times before you see a pigment.”

To raise awareness of Mango People, Adusumilli has turned to TikTok and Instagram Reels. Her first four videos for the brand averaged 200 to 300 views. Then, a video featuring Adusumilli introducing herself and Mango People went viral, garnering over 1 million views on TikTok and Instagram. Adusumilli says, “We’ve had quite a few viral moments because of me storytelling my why, what makes the products different, my pain points, etcetera.”

Videos spotlighting Adusumilli’s mom have taken off, too. One mentions that her mom didn’t allow her to wear makeup growing up because she thought it would be bad for Adusumilli’s skin, leading Adusumilli to produce makeup beneficial for the skin. Adusumilli jokes, “She’s been asking me for an affiliate code because we go viral every time.”

Not jokingly, Adusumilli began experimenting with influencer marketing in January and has since dabbled in paid advertising. “It’s always important to diversify the income streams so you’re not relying on one channel,” she says. “We have been very fortunate to grow the brand so much organically so far.”

Mango People participated in Sephora’s 2022 Accelerate program. In recent years, participants in the program have been afforded spots in the beauty specialty retailer’s selection. Adusumilli describes Sephora Accelerate as life-changing, but notes she was initially wary of tokenism. However, she emphasizes Sephora isn’t just giving lip service to diversity.

“They genuinely want to bring the diversity and inclusion into the conversation,” says Adusumilli. “They genuinely care about these women of color-, BIPOC-owned brands, which was so incredible to see.”

Mango People has been focused on direct-to-consumer distribution to date, and Adusumilli plans to continue to build it in DTC while establishing key retail partnerships. She says, “I’d love for our products to be as easily accessible as possible for our potential client.”

New products are on Mango People’s roadmap as well as retail partnerships. Future releases will remain in stick form. Adusumilli says. “Our mission has and will always be to develop high-performing makeup products that genuinely add value to our community.”