From Outcasts to Trendsetters: How These Twins Changed the Eyewear Game

What started as a shield of armor against high school bullies has turned into a global business that encourages customers—including Rihanna and Lady Gaga—to express their individuality.

By Callie Schweitzer

The Helm: Coco and Breezy, can you explain your company in a sentence?

Coco: We create beautiful, design-driven eyewear that gives you a luxury experience at a more accessible price point.

The Helm: You were teens growing up in Apple Valley, Minnesota when you began your entrepreneurial journey. Tell us more about that and how the glasses came about.

Coco: Growing up in Minnesota, there wasn’t a lot of diversity where we went to school. We were always bullied and we were misfits. We could have driven ourselves into depression from being bullied for our skin color or for our styles. We started making safety goggles because we had low self-esteem and we couldn’t even take someone looking at us. We were the only kids of color in our school. The glasses became our super alter-egos. It was something that we created for ourselves originally before we thought about it as a company.

Breezy: We also didn’t grow up with a lot. We had to create our own resources and so we are really grateful. Our parents couldn’t financially support us, but they 100 percent supported us emotionally to be individuals and to go for any dreams or goals that we had. We started going to New York to visit and at 18, we went to New York for two weeks. We wore our safety goggles with studs and spikes glued on them. Everyone was asking me how to buy them.