Before Beauty by AD became a recognised Nigerian beauty brand with 37 foundation shades and sold-out pop-ups, founder Adeola Adeyemi, popularly known as Diiadem, was sitting in a hotel room in China with just $1,500 to her name.
That money had to stretch across everything: accommodation, her already-booked flight and the products she had travelled there to manufacture. Then came the reality check. The factory told her she would need to order a minimum of 12,000 pieces.
Instead of turning back, Diiadem stayed.
She managed to make a $1,000 deposit towards a $6,000 order, then spent hours calling her father and cousin from her hotel room, asking them to send whatever they could. She eventually returned to Lagos still owing the remaining balance. With no easy way out, she made another difficult decision: she signed over her car to a loan company in exchange for the money she needed.
“Collect the car. Just give me the loan,” she recalled.
That early gamble became the foundation for what Beauty by AD is today. A decade later, the brand has grown into one of Nigeria’s notable homegrown beauty companies, with 37 foundation shades and a growing presence beyond the country. Its three-day London pop-up even sold out on the first afternoon.
In a new episode, Diiadem takes us through the highs, risks and defining moments behind building Beauty by AD, from navigating manufacturing in China to growing a beauty business on her own terms.
Her journey has also taken her far beyond beauty. She joined The Real Housewives of Lagos in its third season, represented Nigeria’s beauty industry at the UK House of Lords in 2025 and became one of the first Nigerian creators to be paid by Snapchat.
Now, she is opening up about the journey behind the brand, the risks that shaped it and what it really took to build Beauty by AD from the ground up.
Watch the episode to hear Diiadem tell the story in her own words.