Aurora Diaz: La Jefa Behind The Jefas ~ Your Go-To Platform for Latina Beauty

The Mexican-American Latina Looking to Transform the Beauty Industry.

Photo Sourced: Aurora Diaz

Looking to redefine the beauty space, Aurora Diaz created The Jefas, an e-commerce site that platforms beauty and haircare products made by Latine founders.

We sat down with Diaz to learn more about her childhood, the influence of minority communities in the beauty space, and how being the only Latina in the room inspired her to start a business for herself and the Latine community. 

For Tilde, here is Aurora Diaz:

Tilde Mag: Thank you for talking with us. We're excited to have you here! Let's get into it. Can you share a bit of what inspired The Jefas? Why did you target the beauty space? 

AD: The Jefas comes from a place of wanting to see the representation that I didn't see growing up. My mom sold Mary Kay in the 90s, so I got to see the excitement around cosmetics from my tias. They would always buy everything, and I was always surrounded by lipsticks in my house. I got to see how much purchasing power we have as Latinas within the beauty space.

One of my first jobs out of college was working at Sephora corporate, and this was not the glitz-and-glam department; this was a client services department where people call and say, 'Where's my package?' It taught me a lot about the trajectory of customer experience as they're shopping and buying products. And I loved it. I love doing that. I love cosmetics and skincare. However, I quickly found that the people who looked like me and worked in the offices at Sephora were not the ones who were shopping in-store.

I always wanted to create a product that spoke to my community, and that's where The Jefas came from. 

Tilde Mag: What inspired the name? We love it.

AD: I always like to say the most difficult thing about starting a company is the name. I settled on so many different names and ideas, but ultimately landed on The Jefas; one, it's Spanglish. I speak half in Spanish and half in English if I'm having a conversation with my friends. And two, because it really represents the founders, what they're building —they are jefas. I want to someday hear, "Hey, where'd you get that lipstick?" And you can say, 'I got it from The Jefas.' [...] And that's why it's called The Jefas: they're all Jefas, all Latino founders starting their own beauty brands. 

Tilde Mag: Why do you think there was, for so long, such a big gap within the beauty industry?

AD: Two things. It takes a lot of money, traditionally, to start a company— and as Latinas, unfortunately, we're still the lowest in the wage gap; we're still underpaid even across traditional roles, and the resources are just not made for us. Many of us are not in these circles where we can just call a friend and say, 'Hey, how do I start a company?' That is far and few of individuals. That's shifting, thankfully, but it's still a huge barrier to entry for people who want to start their own company, not having the funding that people have access to.

I also think there was a gap because, as Latinas, we were purchasing from the Estée Lauder brands of the world. I still love a lot of their products; I still buy them, but I think you become a lot more cognizant of where your dollar is going. And I think now we're starting to demand that we want representation. [...] I think that brands are now becoming a lot more aware of that as the Latino consumer grows.

Tilde Mag: What has the reception been like from Latinas and other communities? 

AD: Everyone's super supportive! One of the beautiful things about The Jefas and our products is that they aren't just for our beauty box; they're not only for Latinas. Everybody loves lipstick. This is an assortment of Latina-founded beauty brands. However, it's for everyone. And people love supporting Latinas. 

I always like to say there's a Latino renaissance right now. There's a reason Bad Bunny is playing the Super Bowl. We're becoming a lot more understanding of where we're putting our dollars, what we're supporting, and what types of brands. So, it's been great to just get a lot of love from other women of color businesses or other people who are not Latina, but they also see that there needs to be a space like this.

Tilde Mag: You mentioned your mom doing Mary Kay when you were younger. How important was makeup for you growing up?

AD: It was very important. There were always these big boxes of lipsticks and powders and the little pink compacts. Being surrounded by cosmetics within my own household, I was like, "Wow, I love makeup. I love cosmetics.' It just made people feel empowered; I think that just gets thrown so loosely, and it's 'Oh, empowerment.' But I saw that. I was a 5-year-old, and I would see my mom go do these little makeovers at my tia's house, trying to sell them products. How beautiful is it that you can take a product and make yourself feel more comfortable, more confident?

As Latinas, we spend 12 billion dollars a year on cosmetics; I think more now. We're consuming these products more than anybody else. Black and brown communities are purchasing beauty and cosmetics at a faster rate than anybody else. We dominate in these specific industries. Why not build something for us?

Photo By: Aurora Diaz

Tilde Mag: So you started beauty with beauty boxes, and then it switched over to a website?

AD: Great question. So, we started off with the beauty boxes. And that was just to test our orange boxes. But people loved it. Within an hour, we sold out of our drop of a hundred boxes. I was like, 'Wow, people really want this. This is amazing.' I thought I wanted it, but the community wants it as well. And then we went out to build a couple more boxes. 

Last year, we didn't have a single box. I burned out. I was like, this is too much. It comes to a point where you can't do everything yourself. But I've always envisioned the Sephora for Latinas; that's always been my goal since starting this. I said we're starting off with a box because that's how I can secure these products to people, but I want people to shop on the Jefas. So that's always been a component that I've been working on in the back end.  

Right now on our website, there are maybe 10 to 12 brands, and there are another eight in the pipeline coming out within the next week. Hopefully, by the end of the year there's at least 30 to 40. 

Tilde Mag: What should people know about the founders and products you’re featuring?

AD: Most of the brands on The Jefas are also just getting started with very few marketing dollars, really building intentionally for our community. I want people to see those brand founder stories when they come to our website. For the new website, I intentionally had the designer build out a layout where we can feature a lot more of those brand founder stories. I want people to know who is building [the products]. How many times do we buy a product and have no idea who's actually the one who's building it? More often than not on The Jefas, it's somebody who looks like us. 

Tilde Mag: What else have you learned within this process of becoming a business owner?

AD: A lot of things. First and foremost, it's important to be scrappy with what you have. We don't have, again, a huge marketing budget. It's really about building authentic community. And again, community gets thrown around so loosely these days, but The Jefas has always been about community. We don't do any of the fancy influencer campaigns. We don't have the budget to pay influencers. If I'm sending you a box, it's because I love what you're doing, and I want you to have a product; I want you to get to support other Latina-founded beauty brands. And I think that's what's beautiful.

Photo By: Aurora Diaz

Tilde Magazine: What's your hope for the future of The Jefas, both for your business and in the Latine makeup space?

AD: So in the future, I want to walk into a place where eventually we have stores. We have a beautiful assortment of all these products for you to test because that's the beautiful thing about cosmetics when you actually get to see them and walk into a Sephora or an Ulta and test things. It's a very different experience than shopping online. One day, we will have an assortment of different stores throughout the country where you can walk in; Bad Bunny is playing, and Alejandro Fernández is playing, and there's a beautiful assortment of marketing that is made for us and not just to check a box. ___

To keep up with Aurora's journey, you can follow The Jefas on Instagram: @thejefas Shop The Jefas: HERE