Nikki Huebner, founder of Endure Beauty, may have been an accidental entrepreneur, but her company has allowed her to donate thousands of dollars to charity in memory of her daughter.
In November 2010, her 18-month-old daughter, Chyler Nicole, died after she was hit by an SUV in the family’s Raleigh driveway.
“Ever since then, my mission has been to be able to give back,” Huebner said.
Endure Beauty sells reusable makeup removal cloths and a variety of other skincare products. A portion of the company’s profits are donated to Ronald McDonald House Charities’ Family Room projects as well as Kids and Cars, a nonprofit dedicated to the safety of children in and around motor vehicles.
“My husband, John, is a McDonald’s owner/operator, so he is with the Ronald McDonald House charities, has been very involved with that,” she said. “After my daughter passed away, in November 2010, we were approached by the Houses to help with the Family Room projects.”
Ronald McDonald Family Rooms are located in the hospital, just steps away from a sick or dying child who might be in the intensive care unit. They offer a quiet place to rest, grab a shower, wash clothes or just regroup.
“My husband and I decided to go public with our story in December of that year, and we were able to raise about $200,000 in about a month,” Huebner said. “My mission through Endure Beauty has been to grow that whole charity across the nation.”
About five years later, the busy mother of three started wearing eyelash extensions to streamline her beauty routine. Despite the convenience, she says, the extensions were challenging to maintain and keep clean. She had almost given up on them when she had the idea for a super-smooth cloth that wouldn’t snag the lashes.
Not finding anything on the market, she arranged to have a few prototypes made in 2016. The result was an organic bamboo cleaning cloth and a French terrycloth drying towel.
She started pitching her lash-care system on Instagram, and the response was enough that she quit her medical device job in May 2017 to run Endure Beauty full time. Her hypoallergenic lash cloths now sell all over the world, and she has also added a variety of products in the organic skincare realm.
“The cloth was a simple concept that came to life, and I had no clue that it would. I just dove in with blinders on, and I still walk with blinders on,” she said.
“I never in my wildest dreams believed that all this would be happening.”
