Inside LYS Beauty's Founder Friendsgiving, Where Collaboration Was the Main Course
LYS Beauty founder Tisha Thompson, our Volume 3 cover star, filled a New York dining room with women founders, a TikTok Shop partnership and one simple rule: there is room for all of us to win.
By Black Beauty Founders Staff
LYS Beauty founder and Black Beauty Founders cover star Tisha Thompson hosted the Collaboration Over Competition Founder Friendsgiving in New York, presented by TikTok Shop. The intimate dinner brought women beauty founders together around one idea: there is room for all of us to win. Black Beauty Founders was honored to be invited, and here is a look inside the evening, from the handwritten notes to a gift bag full of founder-made products.
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The chairs were set, the candles were lit and the place cards were waiting on gold pumpkin holders. Before a single guest walked in, Tisha Thompson asked the question that shaped the whole evening: what is the vision for this room?
Her answer became LYS Beauty's Collaboration Over Competition Founder Friendsgiving, an intimate dinner in New York presented by TikTok Shop. The goal was never just to fill the seats. “Not only was the vision to fill the room, but to fill it with women who believe there’s enough room for ALL of us to win,” Thompson shared after the night.
Black Beauty Founders readers know her well. Thompson was our Volume 3 cover star in February, when she shared how she turned vision into LYS Beauty, the first Black-owned clean beauty brand to launch at Sephora. Nine months later, she is still opening doors, and this time the room was her own.
A Table Set for Founders
The setting matched the mission. Long wooden tables ran beneath warm candlelight, dressed with blush florals, deep red peonies and tiny white pumpkins. Every seat carried a TikTok Shop tote on its chair back and a blush pink LYS Beauty pouch on its plate.
Tied to each pouch was a handwritten note from Thompson to “the visionary behind the brand.” It reminded every guest that the founder journey will stretch you, and to bend, not break. Inside was a bracelet meant as a keepsake of that promise. The card closed with the line that named the night: “There is room for us all. Collaboration over competition, always!”
A Room Full of Beautiful, Amazing Founders
Thompson, glowing in a red off-the-shoulder dress, welcomed a room of women building in beauty. Founders arrived dressed for the occasion in velvet pinstripes, satin slips, statement prints and faux fur cuffs, then traded the step and repeat for real conversation over dinner.
Thompson described the night as a room of women breaking barriers, challenging industries and building incredible businesses. What made it powerful, she said, was not the list of accomplishments. It was their willingness to show up for one another.
She was clear about why that matters. “Entrepreneurship can be lonely,” she wrote, “and sometimes the most valuable thing we can offer another woman isn’t advice or opportunity.” Sometimes, she added, it is simply the reminder that she does not have to do it alone.
No Gatekeeping, No Comparison
Thompson has long believed that change in an industry has to be created, not waited on. To her, that means sharing the playbook, opening doors and celebrating each other’s wins. Her summary of the night was direct: “No gatekeeping. No comparison. No scarcity mindset. Just powerful women making room for more powerful women.”
She also credited TikTok Shop for partnering with her to bring the vision to life, a fitting match for an evening built on founders growing together. Her hope is that the relationships formed around the table turn into partnerships, opportunities and friendships that last well beyond one evening.
Inside the Gift Bag
The goodies were a founder showcase all their own. Guests went home with LYS Beauty’s limited-edition Speak Love 3-Piece Mini Lip-Plumping Glossy Lip Balm Set in Charismatic, Centered and Audacious, a high-shine, hyaluronic acid trio that hydrates and visibly plumps, plus an LYS makeup brush and sponge.
The bag also carried a lineup from fellow brands across hair, skin and fragrance, including Rose Ingleton MD Signature Moisturizer, Harlem Perfume Co. Sensual Muse eau de parfum, Octavia Morgan Room 33 eau de parfum and Bask & Lather Edge Control, from fellow BBF cover star Shaina Rainford. Rounding it out were the Indie Lee skin set, Beachwaver Co. Luxe Leave-In, Kulfi, Neen and a Jenny Patinkin mini tweezer set.
More From the Night
The Energy That Stayed
Days later, Thompson was still smiling about it. “Can we relive this night one more time?” she asked. She remembered the laughter, the hugs and the joy of watching women founders genuinely connect and celebrate each other.
She was especially moved that busy founders chose to give up a precious night to pour into one another. As she put it, the love was real and the connections were genuine.
“Collaboration over competition isn’t just a phrase,” Thompson said. “It’s a mindset, a commitment, and a responsibility to be the change we want to see.”
One guest summed up the evening in a single line: an exquisitely intentional night of learning and connecting.
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