Jaclyn Hill is taking a step back.
The YouTube creator announced that her jewelry brand, Jaclyn Roxanne, and her leisure wear brand, Koze, will soon close.
In a video posted to her 5.5 million subscribers, Jaclyn opened up about the difficult decision. She claimed that after the failed launch of her lipstick line in 2019, she decided to open Jaclyn Roxanne and Koze to make a point.
“The way I handled [my lipstick launch] is my biggest regret ever, because it’s not just like I gave up on cosmetics, I gave up on myself,” she explained. “Instead of pouring myself back into cosmetics, taking accountability, and not giving up on myself, I decided, well, gotta create new brands. Gotta prove myself to my followers that, you know, I’m a bad bitch and I can do this.”
Jaclyn said that owning these brands is not “serving” her nor does it bring her “happiness.”
“I definitely went through a phase where money was a driver, fame was a driver, and that no longer is even part of my desires in life,” she said. “I’ve been so lost due to the decisions I’ve made surrounding my cosmetic line and leading into Jaclyn Roxanne and Koze.”
Jaclyn went on to say that she doesn’t thrive as a business owner and she would rather focus her time on being creative.
Jaclyn Roxanne launched in November of 2021, while Koze launched in October of 2022.
Since Koze’s inception, however, Jaclyn has faced backlash for the brand name, as YouTuber Kalyn Nicholson already had a lifestyle brand named Koze which had been in business for five years. Kalyn was forced to close her company about a month after Jaclyn’s brand launched, as she had not trademarked the name and was not interested in entering into a lengthy and expensive legal battle with Jaclyn.
Jaclyn addressed this situation in her video, insisting that she did not know about Kalyn’s brand when she decided on her name. Jaclyn said she reached out to Kalyn as soon as she discovered this, but never heard back.
Jaclyn finished by saying she doesn’t know what the future holds for her beauty brand, Jaclyn Cosmetics, because she “did the bare minimum” as a founder after her botched lipstick launch.
“Even if it ends up shutting down too, on the way out, I’ve got to just stay true to myself,” she ended.