Fluency Beauty Founder Ada Hsieh Shares the Story Behind the Brand’s Plant-Based Pigments
With its clean ingredients, plant-based pigments and dedication to sustainability, Fluency Beauty is anything but your average makeup brand.
It all began with Ada Hsieh, who actually worked trading hedge funds in New York City for more than a decade before making a big switch, following her passion for special effects and editorial makeup to launch her own cosmetics brand. After dealing with allergies to ingredients in staple products—including makeup—and realizing that lipstick wearers consume a little bit of their lipstick with every bite and sip, she set out to make a different type of beauty company.
Today, Fluency Beauty combines Ada's love for nature and making an impact with clean ingredients, because makeup should help people feel their most confident while also being healthy to wear. The brand is known for its multi-functional Beauty Sticks for eyes, lips and cheeks, which are fully plant-based and colored with plants from regenerative agriculture and marine sources. Even the biodegradable packaging is made from plants. As major fans of Fluency, we just had to learn more, and Ada shared her story with us in the interview below.
Name: Ada Hsieh
IG handles: @fluencybeauty and @ada1127_nyc
Hometown: Dallas, Texas
1. Ada says that beauty was a bit of a weird concept for her growing up.
"I definitely felt like an ugly duckling and awkward all around. It wasn't until my 20s that I started to grow into myself, and then my 30s is when makeup became my mental health savior. I had a huge passion and interest in special effects and editorial makeup and that just changed my entire life. It was how Fluency Beauty was born."
-Ada Hsieh
(via Fluency Beauty)
2. She realized her future was in the beauty industry once she started her journey as an artist for special effects and editorial makeup.
"I took a lot of classes and practiced almost every night. I fell in love with the peace and fulfillment it brought me."
-Ada Hsieh
Also read about: Samreens Vanity Founder and CEO Samreen Arshad on the Power of Makeup and South Asian Artistry
3. The name "Fluency Beauty" is about being fluent in who you really are.
"We're raised on societal norms, and somewhere along the way, our inner child, our inner voice gets stifled. It's about listening to ourselves and living fluently in our passions, our dreams."
-Ada Hsieh
4. The brand's mission is to "create makeup products that live in alignment with who you are—mind, body and spirit with carefully crafted formulas enriched by the sun and the sea."
"Unifying mother nature with science for every day conscious luxury. Our makeup pigments are purely from plants. That red shade is imparted from beets. Show your true colors."
-Ada Hsieh
Also read about: How Mia Zotos Followed Her 'Innate Calling to Fashion' to Create Mode Mischief Studios
5. Her one must-have makeup product is Fluency's red shade, I am.Brave.
"Of course I'm biased, but I love it and it's so good! It's a beautiful everyday red, which looks amazing on the cheeks and lips. Since the formula is so versatile, I can dab it anywhere for a tint. If I have something more important, I can go in for that pow! red lip moment."
-Ada Hsieh
(via Fluency Beauty)
6. The best advice ever got is that "Progress isn't linear."
"Said by some revered thought leader who I can't remember, but said to me as a reminder by one of my best friends when I was having a tough time and I remember it still when she said it to me."
-Ada Hsieh
7. She says her habit of persistence has gotten her to where she is today.
"Passion and talent alone don't get anyone anywhere."
-Ada Hsieh
Also read about: How Linda Wang Changed the Skincare Landscape With Her Skin-Healthy Brands, Karuna and Avatara
8. Her biggest makeup tip has everything to do with application.
"Brush up and back (snatches the face up)—not back to down (drags the face down)."
-Ada Hsieh
9. She says the most rewarding thing about the work she does is making people feel good.
"I get to help make the world a better place by boosting the feel-good emotions of people and share with them my dreams with no fear."
-Ada Hsieh
(via Fluency Beauty)
10. If there's one thing Ada wants people to know about her, it's that she doesn't have all of the answers.
"I may have some, and some of it may even be wise, but others are not. I'm a work in progress like everyone else."
-Ada Hsieh
For even more on the entrepreneurs who inspire us, click HERE to learn all about Squeeze co-founder and CEO, Brittany Driscoll.