In a new i-D interview, Beyoncé says she’s Cécred’s founder, visionary and sole investor, and she built it to work for everyone, even people who don’t love her music.
Photo by Jamiisca, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Beyoncé could sell almost anything with her name on it. With Cécred, she’s betting on something harder: products good enough to stand on their own.
In a new interview with i-D, her first cover for the magazine in 20 years, Beyoncé made clear what her role is. “I’m the founder, visionary, and sole investor,” she told Eni Subair, “not the face or model for this brand.”
Then she said the line everyone is repeating. “I had a vision to build something that solved real problems and performed so incredibly that the people who can’t stand my music still use Cécred, haaaa! … because it works.”
It’s a joke with a serious business strategy behind it.
Built on Results, Not Hype
Celebrity beauty brands are everywhere, and shoppers have learned to be skeptical. Beyoncé knew that going in. She told i-D that, in the beginning, “it took some conditioning from the world’s perception of how to launch a brand founded by someone like me.”
So she made a choice most famous founders don’t. When Cécred launched in February 2024, she stayed out of the ads. “The brand’s first impression needed to stand on its own merit, not be swayed by my influence,” she told GQ that year.
The brand spent six years on research before launch, according to Vogue Business. And she paid for it herself. “That is why Beyoncé fully funded the business on her own, to not be beholden to any other investor’s agenda,” Cécred CEO Grace Ray told Fortune in September.
A Legacy That Started in Her Mother’s Salon
Cécred isn’t a side project. It’s a family story. Beyoncé grew up in the Houston salon run by her mother, Tina Knowles, and has said her first job was sweeping hair there. Knowles is the brand’s vice chair today, and the two talk about their shared hair journey in i-D’s new Beyoncé zine.
“My mother and I poured decades of experience, tradition, and love into Cécred,” Beyoncé said, “so seeing our community grow across every ethnicity, texture, generation, and gender is so fulfilling.”
Even the name carries meaning. Beyoncé took the “Cé” from the end of her own name and used it to begin the word “sacred.”
The Numbers Back It Up
The results-first strategy is working. In April 2025, Cécred launched in more than 1,400 Ulta Beauty stores, the biggest exclusive hair launch in the retailer’s history.
This September, the brand crossed the Atlantic. Cécred arrived in the U.K. through Space NK, rolling out to 90 stores across the U.K. and Ireland. It became the biggest launch in Space NK’s history and hit its projected sales for the whole week by 1 p.m. on launch day. Restoring Hair & Edge Drops led the launch, followed by Temple Oud Hair Perfume, which the brand introduced earlier that month.
“The UK has been our largest market outside the US since day one,” Ray said.
Cécred is also investing in the people who do hair for a living. Through the Cécred x BeyGOOD Fund, now in its third year, the brand committed $250,000 across the U.S. and U.K. to hairstyling education and training.
What Founders Can Take From Beyoncé’s Playbook
You don’t need Beyoncé’s fame to use her strategy. Owning your business means owning your decisions. As Cécred’s sole investor, Beyoncé answers to her own vision, not to outside backers.
The product also has to earn the loyalty. A famous name can get someone to try something once, but results are what bring them back. And your story is an asset. Her mother’s salon gave Cécred something no marketing budget can buy.
Beyoncé doesn’t need you to love her music. She needs you to try the product. And if it works, she’s confident you’ll be back.
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