Throughout this Women’s History Month, we’ve celebrated the achievements and triumphs of women-owned brands, from Asutra to Sherpani. But we wanted to also shine a spotlight on the women-owned ecommerce agencies that work closely with Buy with Prime to help merchants grow. They make it possible for so many businesses—big and small—to thrive. Let’s take a closer look at four women who founded their own ecommerce agencies and are now creating powerful brand stories for their clients.
Diamond Sands, DS Creative Design Studio
Before she got her start in the agency world, Diamond was an art major at Spelman College and, in addition to her studies, had a lucrative side business as a hairstylist. She styled hair and sold hair extensions for eight years.
“The branding, the marketing, the web design, I was doing it all by myself, and it gave me a lot of field experience,” Diamond says of her small business.
Her time running her own business and serving other small businesses on the side would eventually inspire her to go full-time helping small businesses through an agency. Launched in 2019, DS Creative Design Studio is focused on serving Black-owned direct-to-consumer businesses that are ready for high-level branding support but need resources and guidance.
“Entrepreneurship is already difficult, but for Black women especially, it can be tumultuous, " she points out. “Having the right people in place to help you navigate is important.”
A common challenge for Black businesses? Diamond coins it the “mom and pop” effect: Many Black women-owned brands thrive on social media through an engaged community and exceptional products, but fail to develop critical branding strategy to scale and get shelf placement or funding. So that’s where DS Creative Design Studio comes in. Her agency provides end-to-end brand strategy, visual identity, and tailored guidance to set them up for growth online and through major retail partners.
“You can have an effective product that people love, but if you don’t have the branding vision locked, you can only grow to a certain point,” Diamond says. “I help fill that gap.”
Lara Schmoisman, The Darl
Lara was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and had a fascination with media from a young age. She remembers launching her first website in 1998 when the internet was still a mystery to most.
Her career path eventually landed her in another bright and sunny city: Los Angeles. Now, her omnichannel marketing agency, The Darl, helps brands transform into profitable, sustainable ventures. Her agency meets an important need in the market for small to midsize brands that are seeking an omnichannel strategy.
“I noticed that there were big agencies helping the big brands, but with the smaller companies, there would be a lack of a strategy,” Lara says. “Everything would be piecemeal, where they hired a freelancer for this and another freelancer for that.”
With its 20-person team, The Darl is able to bring that unified guidance to customized campaigns through SEO, email, SMS, and social. They can revamp a brand’s online presence, amplify its voice, and create cohesive messaging that resonates no matter the touchpoint.
Says Lara, “Omnichannel strategy is like a puzzle, everything needs to be connected or it doesn’t work.”
Amber Laur and Sarah Taylor, Glow Grow Brands
Amber and Sarah, two marketers based in Los Angeles, had grown tired of the “boy’s club” mentality that they would often encounter in ecommerce. The two were focused on fashion marketing and witnessed this mentality enter the space during the growth of online selling.
“When it came to fashion merchandising, Amazon.com had really opened up this whole new world,” says Amber, who had worked in marketing for brands like Anthropologie and American Eagle Outfitters.
“But then as Amazon grew, these outside aggregators started acquiring the smaller lifestyle brands on the site, and I saw a female-dominated niche became male-dominated.”
Amber worked with one of these aggregators and felt as though the channel strategies used for the women-owned businesses lacked perspective. A lot of the branding and messaging elements that made a small business unique would be overlooked. Glow Grow was born out of a desire to disrupt this landscape and give power back to women-owned brands. They do this by optimizing brand creative, brand positioning, and SEO.
One of their recent success stories came from the nursing and pumping bra Larken X, which had decided to explore ecommerce channels beyond Amazon.com after a negative experience with a third-party agency.
“The way this male-run agency tried to position the bra was abysmal. There were so many missed opportunities,” Sarah explains. “Whereas we were able to relate to the founder and understand her mission. Now they’re doing amazing and making six figures a month.”
Interested in working with a Buy with Prime Partner to grow your brand? Check out the agencies in our directory.