It was New Year’s Eve night, and I needed to quickly grab a pair of jumbo, gold, doorknocker earrings. I headed to my usual stop in my neighborhood of East Point, the staple beauty supply store, “Make More Beautiful”.

Walking in, I was prepared to buy my earrings and leave, when I was stopped in my tracks by a surprising sight….a Black man behind the register.

Embarrassingly shocked, I asked the man behind the counter when he started working at this location. He warmly replied “oh no, my mother just bought this store from the owner, we own this now.”

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For the past 30 years, “Make More Beautiful”, has stood as the premiere beauty supply store for East Point and surrounding areas. And while serving a customer base made of Black women of all ages, the ownership and employees rarely reflected this. For its 3 decade long tenure, it had been Korean owned and operated.

I’d been coming to this store since I was around 4 years old , so to walk in and see Black faces welcoming me, with 70’s R&B playing in the background, was euphoric bliss.

I went to document the store and employees that were there working excitedly that day.

It was New Year’s Eve night, and I needed to quickly grab a pair of jumbo, gold, doorknocker earrings. I headed to my usual stop in my neighborhood of East Point, the staple beauty supply store, “Make More Beautiful”.

Walking in, I was prepared to buy my earrings and leave, when I was stopped in my tracks by a surprising sight….a Black man behind the register.

Embarrassingly shocked, I asked the man behind the counter when he started working at this location. He warmly replied “oh no, my mother just bought this store from the owner, we own this now.”

‍

For the past 30 years, “Make More Beautiful”, has stood as the premiere beauty supply store for East Point and surrounding areas. And while serving a customer base made of Black women of all ages, the ownership and employees rarely reflected this. For its 3 decade long tenure, it had been Korean owned and operated.

I’d been coming to this store since I was around 4 years old , so to walk in and see Black faces welcoming me, with 70’s R&B playing in the background, was euphoric bliss.

I went to document the store and employees that were there working excitedly that day.