Why LOUD Exists

LOUD has never been a single story. It was founded with intention, carried with care, and allowed to grow. That matters.

LOUD began with Mel, who built it out of frustration with being told how women should exist in the beauty space. She was tired of men deciding what women should want. Tired of being labeled too aggressive or too loud for having opinions. That refusal to shrink is part of LOUD’s foundation and it still lives here.

When I took on LOUD, my job wasn’t to replace that mission or rewrite it. It was to keep it going honestly, and to let my own lived experience shape where it goes next. LOUD can hold more than one truth at a time. It always has.

Designed to Take Up Space

LOUD is designed to take up space.

For me, that means being visible without apologizing for it. Choosing color without feeling like I have to justify it. Using my voice without constantly softening it. Setting boundaries without guilt.

Taking up space is something I had to learn. And now it’s something I work to protect, both for myself and for the community around LOUD.

For a long time, I was told being smaller made life easier. If I was agreeable enough, flexible enough, quiet enough, things would go more smoothly. People pleasing came very naturally to me. So did pushing my own wants down to keep the peace.

Taking up space became a practice. A reminder I still need sometimes that my thoughts matter. My preferences matter. My boundaries matter. Not just in business, but in life.

LOUD exists as part of that reminder.

Feminism and Femininity Are Not Opposites

I used to be deeply anti-pink, anti-girly, anti-anything that felt soft or ornamental.

& y’all will remember me complaining about pinks constantly on Lives in the early days of LOUD. (I know, I know. A girl hating pink? so original.) I avoided them whenever I could. I pushed back on collections that leaned feminine. I genuinely thought I was taking some kind of principled stand.

At the time, I believed femininity existed for male approval. That embracing it was counterproductive to feminism. That strength meant distancing yourself from anything coded as pretty.

At my core, I have always been a feminist. But my understanding of what that meant was honestly pretty narrow.

Something shifted as my daughters got older. They chose pink. They chose sparkle. They chose softness and brightness for themselves. Not for attention. Not for permission. Just because they liked it.

That cracked something open in me.

Pink stopped feeling like compliance and started feeling like choice. Femininity stopped feeling like a performance and started feeling like ownership. Enjoying feeling cute didn’t weaken my values. It strengthened them.

Changing your mind doesn't always mean you were wrong before. It just means you learned something.

Once that shifted, I started noticing how often color gets dismissed for the same reasons women do. Too loud. Too showy. Too obnoxious. Too much.

That is not accidental.

Color is not frivolous, femininity is not weakness & brightness is not a flaw.

Color is for everyone. Equally.

Being Perceived Is Not a Threat

Taking up space also means accepting that you will be seen. And that not everyone will like what they see.

For someone wired toward people pleasing, that can feel unsafe. There is a deep instinct to smooth edges. To be palatable. To shrink just enough to avoid conflict.

LOUD is a refusal of that instinct.

It’s a reminder to myself, and hopefully to others too, that being perceived isn’t a failure. It isn’t something to manage or minimize. It’s just part of existing fully. (I’m still working on this, by the way.)

You don’t owe anyone softness to earn respect. You don’t need to be less to deserve space.

What LOUD Exists to Do

LOUD exists to embrace creative weirdos. To celebrate color as expression, not performance. To create a space where being too much isn't something that needs fixin'.

It exists for people who were told to tone it down. For people who learned to make themselves smaller to survive. For people ready to choose visibility on their own terms.

LOUD is about expressing yourself authentically in spite of societal standards and norms. Sometimes that looks playful. Sometimes it looks bold. Sometimes it looks confidence wrapped in bright color.

And yes, sometimes it looks like tearing down the patriarchy one manicure at a time.

What LOUD Refuses to Be

LOUD refuses to be palatable.

It is not here to blend in. It isn't here to be softened for comfort. It's not here to disappear quietly.

LOUD is designed to take up space.

Stay LOUD, Babbs.