Maekaeda Gibbons turned a $300 investment into Brown Sugar Babe, a self-funded fragrance company that generated $21 million in gross revenue in 2025 without outside investors, Business Insider reports.
Gibbons launched Brown Sugar Babe in 2018 while working as a loan officer at Bank of America. After paying her bills, she used about $300 she had left to experiment with creating her own versions of expensive fragrances
. She spent about $54 on bottles and used the remaining money for carrier oils to test formulas.What began as a hobby in her kitchen developed into a side business after Gibbons’ co-workers started asking to buy her fragrances.
Seven years later, Brown Sugar Babe generated $21 million in gross revenue, according to digital sales dashboards and financial records reported by the outlet. The company has remained self-funded throughout its growth.
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Gibbons said operating without outside investment has required the company to remain lean and delay some ideas until it had enough capital to pursue them. She has also relied on customer feedback, including surveys of the brand’s social media community, to help determine what products to develop.
“If it meant I had to max out a credit card to accomplish getting the ingredients, raw materials, and vessels that were needed to do that, that’s what I did,” Gibbons told the outlet.
As Brown Sugar Babe expanded, so did its investments. Gibbons said the company made several purchases totaling about $5.5 million over three months to secure roughly two years’ worth of inventory and ingredients. She considered financing the purchases but ultimately decided to pay for them over time.
The move allowed the company to secure raw materials and reduce concerns about potential supply chain volatility.
Brown Sugar Babe has built its business primarily around fragrance oils rather than alcohol-based perfumes. Its product line also includes body oils, scrubs, butters, and skincare products.
The company’s expansion has extended beyond e-commerce. In 2025, Gibbons opened Brown Sugar Babe’s flagship store in Atlanta, investing about $1.2 million in construction, branding, and the grand opening event.
The physical location was designed to give customers another way to engage with the brand, which has also built its community through live events and pop-ups.
Despite the company’s growth, Gibbons has continued to build Brown Sugar Babe without raising outside capital, maintaining the self-funded approach that began with her initial $300 investment.
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