Angela María Romero, Latino Immigrant With a Successful Venture
The COVID-19 pandemic has made us overcome adversities and use our intelligence to find new opportunities. This is the case of Angela Romero, an empowered Latina who created two successful companies that distribute cosmetics worldwide.
The Woman Post | Catalina Mejía Pizano
Listen to this article
In a recent interview, Angela Romero, Founder & CEO at Wholesale Makeup Inc and Cosmeticos al Por Mayor, said, "I always tell women not to stop dreaming, and to believe in themselves."
Every year, millions of people from all over the world migrate to the United States searching for better opportunities. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), during 2019, 51 million migrants arrived in the United States of America. However, few of them manage to build the American Dream. Angela Romero was raised in a middle-class family in Cali, Colombia. She was the sixth of seven siblings. When she was only 8 years old, her father left home and since then she realized that she would have to work hard like her mother did, to make her dreams come true.
After concluding her studies in business administration at the Universidad Libre in Colombia, she decided to go to the United States. When she arrived in Miami in 1997, she was 23 years old and had just completed her bachelor's degree. Back in that time, Romero mentioned that there were more jobs available for immigrants than nowadays. She worked in several jobs as a babysitter, doing house-cleaning, and as a bartender. Angela mentioned that no matter what she had to do for a living when she arrived in the United States, she always put the effort into doing it as well as she could.
Also read: CAREER ADVICE FROM THE YOUNGEST WOMAN BILLIONAIRE
In 2010, she created her own company in the world of beauty products and since then, her business has grown every year. In a recent interview, she mentioned: "I was fired from a settlement company and I started to sell several products until I realized that I wanted to stay in the cosmetics world. This is when I started my dream in a small apartment, where I sold and distributed products. Nowadays, and thanks to god, that little space has grown into an exhibition room and a store, larger than 22,000 square meters."
When interviewed, Romero also highlighted that her mother, who passed away, was her biggest inspiration in life. She remembers when her father left them, and how her mother always worked hard to educate her children and never gave up. Angela mentioned "I have always stood up, despite all difficulties in my company, even during the pandemic. I constantly tell my team that even in COVID times, we grew more than 100%. This is why I always advise women to dream big, to believe in themselves, and to fight for their financial Independence."
Currently, Cosmeticos al Por Mayor, has more than 40 employees, in Colombia and the United States. On the other hand, Wholesale Makeup is focused only on the English-speaking market. Despite the COVID pandemic, her business has grown more than 100%, in the distribution and marketing of more than 50 popular brands, such as Revlon, L’Oreal, Maybelline, and CoverGirl.
