The Origin — Beautyque NYC, 2020
Beautyque NYC opened in New York in 2020 — the worst possible year to open a physical retail store, and exactly the right time to build something different. The thesis was simple: independent beauty brands were doing some of the most interesting work in the industry and had almost no pathway to serious retail presence.
The store became a curation engine and a technology laboratory simultaneously. VR shopping. AI-powered discovery. A 50-brand portfolio built entirely on the BeautyQode standard — a standard that existed years before it had a name.
"I was doing the research anyway. Every week, every month — reading everything, synthesizing everything, figuring out what the technology shifts meant for the brands I carried. At some point the question became: why is this only for me?"
The Disruption — AI changes everything, 2023–2026
By 2023 it was clear: AI wasn't a feature on the roadmap. It was rewriting the map entirely. Every channel, every format, every consumer behavior was shifting simultaneously. Beauty brands needed intelligence, not just inspiration.
Beautyque.ai was built as a direct response — five disciplines structured so that a solo founder or a senior buyer could maintain genuine mastery across the full landscape, not just the headline trends.
The Practice — KYU, the path
KYU — 級 — is a Japanese concept meaning a level of study on the path toward mastery. It's used in martial arts, in tea ceremony, in Go. The idea is that mastery is never a destination — it's a commitment to the path itself.
That's what these briefings are. Not news. Not content. A practice. Show up 2–3 times per week, do the work, stay on the path. The disruption will not slow down. The practice is how you stay ahead of it.