Jamie Grady has taken a love of chemistry, first discovered in classes at Pierce County High School (PCHS), and turned it into her own line of cosmetics.
XOXO Jamie is the name of her company, and she has plans to eventually expand beyond lipsticks, lip gloss and lip liners to a full line of cosmetic products.
Grady, 25, graduated from PCHS in 2016 and then dual enrolled as a chemistry major at Valdosta State University (VSU) and at Wiregrass Technical College as an aesthetician focused on skincare techniques.
While studying, Grady was also working at Valdosta’s Honey Pot. One of the coworkers apprenticing under her at the Honey Pot became her best friend and another woman entrepreneur familiar to Blackshear residents, Carly Popham of Esthetic Central.
“I always looked to her as a big sister,” Popham says, “I learned more apprenticing under her than I did in my classes.”
Graduating from VSU in 2020 with a bachelor’s of science in chemistry, Jamie began looking for a new base of operations. “The opportunities I was chasing I knew I had to go somewhere bigger.”
She wound up in Austin, TX, working at a microbiology testing facility. Jamie worked the cosmetic end of the business and gained valuable experience. “I learned a lot of things I would have never known,” she recalls, “But I didn’t have the flexibility and creative outlet I needed.”
Leveraging her contacts in Austin she became the manager of Blast Blowdry, where she has the balance she needs to run both the salon and her own company. “My new boss relates to me, pushes me, and supports me,” Jamie reflects.
On the salon’s busiest days they want her running things, but the rest of time she has the freedom she needs to develop XOXO Jamie to the next level.
Her company website launched Jun 9, but she has been tirelessly working on it since Feb 2022. Starting in July, XOXO Jamie will be available at Esthetic Central in Blackshear or go to xoxojamie.com to order the signature line of lip care products.
