Why Angel Reese’s Topicals Investment Matters At A Critical Moment for Black Beauty Brands
Angel Reese closed out 2025 as one of the highest overall earners in the WNBA, and she kicked off 2026 making money moves. The WNBA Chicago Sky player, in addition […] The post Why Angel Reese’s Topicals Investment Matters At A Critical Moment for Black Beauty Brands appeared first on Essence.
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Angel Reese at the “A House of Dynamite” premiere during the 63rd New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center on September 28, 2025 in New York, New York. (Photo by John Nacion/Variety via Getty Images) 
By Andrea Bossi ·Updated January 12, 2026 < /> Getting your Trinity Audio player ready… Angel Reese closed out 2025 as one of the highest overall earners in the WNBA, and she kicked off 2026 making money moves.
The WNBA Chicago Sky player, in addition to Nigerian music artist Rema, just made an investment in Topicals. The Black-owned skincare brand — known for its pink, logo-embellished eye masks that retail for $22, its $16 lip balms, and more — announced it closed a funding round early January. It did not specify the amounts of the round nor how much individuals like Reese invested, based on reporting by Business of Fashion.
“When you think of [Topicals], you think of our marketing, storytelling and products, and you think a lot about culture,” co-founder Olamide Olowe told BoF. (She founded Topicals with Claudia Teng, who is no longer with the brand.) “These are people who control culture,” she continued, referring to her latest funders.
Since the brand’s August 2020 launch, including the most recent round of funding, it has since raised $22.6 million. Topicals has not only proved its prowess on the product side — launching with products that quickly sold out and continuing to provide items that keep people coming back — but the brand extends itself with its savvy marketing. It’s not just culture-driving ad campaigns but things Topicals’ Detty December brand trips and digital presence that’s authentically in tune. Getting names like Reese on board matters, too. The brand knows how to holistically make an impact.
Reese’s investment in Topicals isn’t just a savvy entrepreneurial move for the Bayou Barbie, and even if the timing wasn’t intentional, it comes at a pivotal point.
Just six months before Reese’s Topicals investment, Black-owned cosmetics brand Ami Colé shuttered because it didn’t have enough funding. This
The post Why Angel Reese’s Topicals Investment Matters At A Critical Moment for Black Beauty Brands appeared first on Essence.
