Topicals Founder Olamide Olowe Steps Down As CEO
Olamide Olowe is stepping down as CEO of Topicals, the global skincare company she founded in 2020 at the age of 23. The following year, she raised $2.6 million, making...
Black News 
Olamide Olowe is stepping down as CEO of Topicals, the global skincare company she founded in 2020 at the age of 23. The following year, she raised $2.6 million, making her the youngest Black woman to raise $1 million.
Olowe will remain involved in Topicals’ day-to-day operations while Sukiana Chancy takes over as chief executive. Chancy joins the company from Fenty Beauty, where she served as general manager of the skin, hair, and fragrance divisions. She has also held positions at Winnie Harlow’s Cay Skin, DevaCurl, and The Estée Lauder Companies.
Olowe’s transition comes as Topicals reaches a new level of scale. She shared on X that the company has generated 12 times revenue growth over five years, sold more than 10 million eye masks, and raised more than $22 million in venture capital. AFROTECH also reports the brand is profitable at double-digit margins.
#1 Gen-Z skincare brand at @sephora
— Olamide (@OlamideAOlowe) September 2, 2026
10M eye masks sold
12x revenue growth in 5 years
Double digit profitability
$250K+ donated to mental health
$22M+ in VC funding
Now global expansion into the Middle East, Africa, and the rest of Europe led by our new CEO Sukiana Chancypic.twitter.com/uwfQGJX5dy
Known for products targeting hyperpigmentation, acne, and dark spots, Topicals is currently sold through Sephora in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. It also has a Beauty Hut in Nigeria. Topicals now plans to expand further across Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, including potential growth through Sephora’s international footprint. Olowe said her company had scaled to the point where it needed external experts for its next growth phase.
“I wanted to partner with someone who has worked their way up through marketing, built a global brand, and managed a profit-and-loss sheet much larger than ours,” Olowe told Business of Fashion. “Having a founder that people love is part of the game.”
Chancy said Topicals’ cultural positioning was among the factors that attracted her to the company.
“My role is creating more infrastructure to help amplify [the message] and bring it to as many eyeballs and faces as possible,” Chancy told Business of Fashion.
In January, WNBA star Angel Reese and Rema, the Nigerian singer of Afrobeats hit “Calm Down,” joined Topicals as investors.
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