Key Takeaways
- Spence founded Samir Grey to honor his mother and other women in his life.
- When Beyoncé’s mom posted a video featuring Spence’s fragrance, sales spiked and inventory sold out.
- Now, Spence continues to engage with the robust fragrance community online and grow the brand.
Kahh Spence spent more than a decade working as a celebrity hairstylist and beauty expert before writing his next chapter as an entrepreneur — but he didn’t start the business many expected of him.
Although applying his expertise to a haircare brand might have seemed like the obvious choice, Spence had a different vision.
“I want to make sure what I’m bringing to the marketplace is actually going to be valuable,” Spence tells Entrepreneur, “and I didn’t think I had anything, at that moment, valuable to say in haircare. But I did have something valuable to say in fragrance and in personal care.”
Founding a fragrance and personal care brand: Samir Grey
Spence was passionate about developing a fragrance and personal care brand rooted in approachable luxury and restorative rituals, so he founded Samir Grey, the name a riff on his middle name and favorite color.
The founder lost his mother to colon cancer, and he sees Samir Grey as a “love letter” to her, as well as a way to carry her legacy forward. “My mom and the women that were around me were the full inspiration — watching women and how they sacrifice themselves to take care of the world, essentially,” he says.
Samir Grey launched its fragrance ONE, with notes of candied peach and vanilla, in August 2025. Available on the brand’s website and priced at $138, the perfume is vegan, cruelty-free, IFRA-compliant and CMR-free.
Profitable from the start: $500k in sales, on track for $1m
Spence’s intentional approach to Samir Grey has paid off. Samir Grey has been profitable since day one, with more than $500,000 in sales so far and $1 million anticipated by the end of the year.
One of the biggest keys to success? Leveraging himself as an asset, Spence says.
Leaning into the network of creators and celebrity peers Spence cultivated over 10 years helped Samir Grey build a rock-solid social media strategy.
As a result, the brand even caught the attention of Beyoncé’s mom, Tina Knowles — leading to a viral moment that’s translated into sold-out inventory and hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales.
Beyoncé’s mom Tina Knowles sparks a viral moment
Like most successful new brands these days, Samir Grey tapped into a robust social media strategy from the start, sharing across platforms including TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook.
The business has its own dedicated social media team, but Spence also engages online from his personal account. One day, the founder posted several positive reviews on his Instagram story, and his former client Kelly Rowland asked if she could try the product.
Spence texted Rowland’s assistant to coordinate and shipped the perfume to her address — having no idea what would come next.
“When it comes to certain tiers of talent, it’s a slippery slope,” Spence says, “and I didn’t expect anything. I just wanted her to have it in her presence because who knows what the future could have held.”
When Spence woke up on a Saturday morning this past April, the first thing he saw was a video of Rowland that Beyoncé’s mother, Tina Knowles, had posted. Rowland and Beyoncé were both in the music group Destiny’s Child from 1990 to 2006.
Rowland was doing her hair in Knowles’ video, and Spence spotted his fragrance in the frame.
An “avid comment reader,” Spence began scrolling through the thousands left beneath the post. People kept asking about the perfume in the video, and Spence responded letting them know it was Samir Grey’s ONE.
Within two hours, Samir Grey sold out of its inventory anticipated to last two weeks.
“ It boosted things tremendously,” Spence recalls. “Our spike in site sessions that day was about 5X. Our email list had grown 3X to 4X during that time. We were sold out for about five weeks, and our traffic was some of the best it’s ever been.”
When the business restocked in May, it saw the equivalent of five months of sales in just one month.
The “trickle-down effect” and consumer psychology
Several months later, the founder says Samir Grey is still enjoying a “trickle-down effect” from Beyoncé’s mom’s viral boost. He recalls a recent conversation he had on TikTok Live with a young woman, who proudly shared that she wears the same fragrance as Rowland.
“ I love that,” Spence says. “That’s what a lot of consumers are feeling. Like when Hailey Bieber started wearing Cyklar, people ran to get Cyklar. There’s that consumer psychology of, If they have it, it must be really good. Their stamp of approval means something.”
Naturally, establishing a social media presence is critical for young brands seeking serious growth nowadays, but for Spence, his interactions online are about genuine connection before anything else.
“On my end, it’s really, how can I connect with the consumer and our community as best as possible?” Spence explains. “Because that was the idea going into this from day one, of wanting this to feel a bit more human.”
Key Takeaways
- Spence founded Samir Grey to honor his mother and other women in his life.
- When Beyoncé’s mom posted a video featuring Spence’s fragrance, sales spiked and inventory sold out.
- Now, Spence continues to engage with the robust fragrance community online and grow the brand.
Kahh Spence spent more than a decade working as a celebrity hairstylist and beauty expert before writing his next chapter as an entrepreneur — but he didn’t start the business many expected of him.
Although applying his expertise to a haircare brand might have seemed like the obvious choice, Spence had a different vision.
“I want to make sure what I’m bringing to the marketplace is actually going to be valuable,” Spence tells Entrepreneur, “and I didn’t think I had anything, at that moment, valuable to say in haircare. But I did have something valuable to say in fragrance and in personal care.”