For young cosmetics entrepreneur Amir Dawkins, selling out within weeks of her first products’ debut was unimaginable. For the junior at North Atlanta High School, her business — Catastrophic Cosmetics — was formed out of passion for doing makeup and a desire for a solid paycheck in the midst of a pandemic. Once a mere dream, this creative teen’s lucrative enterprise is quickly expanding and gaining a name for itself on the local cosmetics scene.

Dawkins first got the idea to start her own business from her mother in April of this year, but it wasn’t until June that the idea fully took root. She was going to sell lashes, both regular and bedazzled (sequined), to her customers. Starting in early-July and spanning just three weeks, Dawkins built up her company. She found a vendor quickly with the help of a family member and obtained the packaging relatively quickly as well. Dawkins had ordered 100 pairs of regular lashes in bulk from the vendor, but she was going to sell half of them “bedazzled” or sequined. Once she received her materials, she prepared and packaged her products in the company’s glammed out packaging. She made sure to take proper safety precautions while prepping and packing up the lashes — wearing a mask and gloves at all times — and soon had them ready to be shipped. Like all those who start a business, she was eager to get the word out about her product. “I believe that lashes can completely transform a look,” she said. “I’ve seen it for myself and I want the same to be true for others.”

On July 19, Dawkins began marketing her products to the public. She started by posting about Catastrophic Cosmetics on her personal instagram account, but soon moved to create a business-specific page under the tag @catastrophicosmetics. After getting some positive feedback from her followers on instagram that day, Dawkins decided to take it a step further and make a TikTok that night marketing her lashes to the public. In it, she explains her decision to start Catastrophic Cosmetics and markets her products as affordable and inclusive, as well as specific to her as a person. “I aim to create a brand that is unique and represents my personality as a whole,” Dawkins said in her Insta video, “My brand is inclusive, geared especially for my women of color, those who struggle to find products that cater towards them as well.”

To her amazement, Dawkins’ TikTok blew up. It has more than 931,000 views and 363,000 likes on the site as of November 5, and the numbers just keep growing. Due to the high publicity created by her viral TikTok, Dawkins managed to sell all 100 pairs of lashes in just under two and a half weeks on social shopping site Depop. Fueled by the success of her growing business, Dawkins quickly restocked her debut products while simultaneously adding new ones to the lineup. Within a few weeks of selling out, she was back at it again, releasing lashes, lip glosses, and lip oils on her new website, catastrophicosmetics.bigcartel.com. Still going strong to date, she is blown away by the support she has received. Dawkins never expected her business to sell out period, much less sell out so quickly. “I was really overwhelmed,” she said, “I had to be sensitive to time because I was getting so many orders in such a short period.”

Today the young cosmetics entrepreneur is still going strong, with profits recently reaching upwards of $500 and her following on social media continuing to grow. For Dawkins, her business has become more of a form of self expression than anything else. She appreciates that her business has given her a stage with which she can share her true self and show people her skills. To her, that is the true success that came out of this business and why she continues to run it today. “It gave me a platform that I can use to show people my talent and my capability,” she said, “That’s the true profit for me because it’s not something you can get every day.”