Nichele Washington is a sophomore at Spelman College from Silver Spring, Maryland who majors in Political Science on the prelaw track and has a minor in Philosophy. Her inclination towards rectifying injustice and passion for equity has been with her for as long as she can remember, and both are responsible for the desire she has today to become a Civil Rights Attorney. As an individual who loves mental evolution and considers herself a “student of life”, Nichele has maintained a 4.0 GPA during her matriculation at Spelman, is a member of the Ethel Waddell Githii Honors program, the Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society, and the Social Justice Program as a Georgia Women’s Policy Institute Fellow. While her love for human/civil rights and entrepreneurship inspired her to create a small business that donates 10% of its proceeds to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the ACLU Racial Justice Program, her love for environmental justice is what inspires her to create a product with the ability to minimize waste pollution generated by the cosmetics industry. As an Innovation Lab Maker Fellow, Nichele is looking forward to being able to begin her 2-year-in-the-making project of manifesting such a product.
Osun Cosmetics
For as long as I can remember, I have had an innate aversion to inequity as well as a passion for rectifying it. Though the impacts of my passion have typically been of use to marginalized human beings, there has always been apart of me that has wanted to help rectify the inequity that Earth has been subjugated to for the past 400 years. She has been put through unimaginable trauma, is mildewed from unjustifiable blood shed, and has long been taken advantage of and abused for her gifts and resources. Within the United States, the cosmetics industry has been one of Earth's most wicked abusers. Because of my interest in this industry, I felt called to create a solution (or the beginnings of one) that has the capacity to greatly minimize the waste produced by makeup packaging—refillable lipstick. With lipstick being a staple cosmetic product in the purses and bags of many, I wanted to find a way to extend the life of this product so that it did not have to be discarded and could instead be reused time and time again. My idea for a refillable lipstick cartridge allows for just that as consumers will be able to switch out the actual lipstick product when they have used it all OR when they simply want to use a new color. Later down the line, I hope to be able to expand reusability to makeup products such as eyeshadow, lip liner, foundation, etc. Because this is an idea that is 2 years in the making, I have done most of the required work as it relates to creating a business plan, conducting sound research, and more. Thus, the majority of my time will be spent creating a prototype of the actual product which can be showcased and used to establish my business. Time will need to be spent on website creation (which I have experience in), creating well-advised prices for my products, marketing, and social media outreach as well. With these goals in mind, I believe my greatest challenge will be creating a successful prototype who's mechanics mimic those of a finished product. It is important to me that I have a prototype so that I can be competitive in events where I could win financial aid to start my business. With all this in mind and depending on how much access I have to a 3D printer, I believe it may take me 4-6 months to complete this project. Because this is a solo project, I inhabit all the roles from scribe to software tester.
Please click link to see the website I created for my cakesicle business
https://msha.ke/cakey/