SAN FRANCISCO – Shan Berries is a proud mother, radio host, and CEO of her own makeup line that is having its biggest year yet.
The San Francisco native is behind the popular makeup brand, Shades By Shan Cosmetics. She co-founded the business with her sister Erika Clark, who serves as the company’s COO.Â
“We are a company that is Latina founded, but it’s for everybody,” she said.
Shades By Shan recently launched 40 shades of makeup foundation in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, catering to women of all colors. The brand is an exclusive partner at JCPenney stores nationwide.             Â
“We are the first Latina indie brand to have launched foundation and concealer at the same time at a major retailer ever,” Shan said.
The foundation is already one of the top three selling foundation products at JCPenney.
“We went to Korea and formulated what we believe is the best foundation on the market,” she said.
The product is infused with a 10-molecule hyaluronic acid complex, and ingredients like rosa canina, a fruit oil known for its moisturizing, anti-aging, and skin-conditioning properties. Shan said her family members used rosa canina in their beauty regimen, which was important for her to include in her product.
Company origins
Timeline:
Shan and Erika started the company in 2018 in their mother’s basement after Shan was regularly disappointed with other makeup products on the market. The sisters initially offered two products, the Berry Obsessed eyeshadow palette and Hyphy highlighter palette, a nod to their Bay Area roots. The products sold out in minutes.
“Every time we launched, people came to support,” Shan recalled. “We just kept growing, slowly, but surely.”
They held pop-up events at various locations like Stonestown Mall in San Francisco and Southland Mall in Hayward.
Their products caught the attention of IPSY, a beauty subscription service that delivers personalized products to customers’ homes. The company and Shades By Shan agreed to have SBS products in 1 million subscription boxes.Â
To date, Shades By Shan products have been in 10 million makeup subscription boxes through IPSY and BoxyCharm.
The company has been featured in Forbes, Vogue, and Elle. In 2024, it won the IPSY Award for best indie brand, complete with an ad in Times Square, New York City.
JCPenney partner
The backstory:
In 2022, not long after the success of their products in the subscription boxes, JCPenney reached out to Shan and Erika. They offered Shades By Shan the opportunity to become an exclusive partner in all 600+ stores nationwide.
Shan said JCPenney gave Shades By Shan money upfront to bring its products into all JCPenney stores, after every bank the sisters went to turned them down for a loan.
“They came back and said ‘we believe in you so much,’” Shan said. “They’re out here changing lives and we’re proud to say we’re a JCPenney exclusive partner.
The sisters have since moved their operations from their mother’s basement to two warehouses, on the East and West coasts.
“From going from literally nothing to JCPenney and being one of their top five beauty brands, it’s a pinch me moment,” she added.
Family life
What we know:
Shan and Erika were raised by a single mother, Ximena Cordova, in San Francisco. Cordova immigrated to the United States by herself from Ecuador. Despite English as a second language, she worked hard to give her daughters a brighter future.Â
“My mom, she always instilled in my sister and I, ‘Tiene que comenzar algo de ustedes propia.’ You have to start something of your own. You’re never going to make money working for somebody else,” she said.
Some product names pay homage to their family, like a highlighter palette with colors labeled “Dora,” “Luchi,” “Irma,” and “Marjorie,” in honor of Shan and Erika’s “tias” or aunts who helped raise them.Â
Shan is married with two children of her own. She is also a radio host at Mix 106.5 in San Jose, with 15 years of experience in Bay Area radio. She started working in radio at age 19.Â
“I have a partner that supports my dreams and ambitions,” she said. “I didn’t come from a makeup world, I came from radio, I came from television. I want to show my daughter and my son that mommy went after her dreams.”
Giving back
What you can do:
In 2018, the sisters created the MamaBerries Foundation in honor of their mother. A portion of every purchase from Shades By Shan goes to the nonprofit, which supports single parents through monetary gifts. It has helped more than 100 families to date.Â
To nominate a single parent in need, visit the MamaBerries Foundation website.
Shan’s next goal is to take the company global.
“I want to be a household brand,” she added. “I want people to know what we do for single parents.”
The Source: Interview with Shan Berries, the founder of Shades by Shan, a makeup brand created in San Francisco that is now sold in more than 600 JCPenney stores.