Penn Hills entrepreneur expands to college market with beauty business

Taylor Shealey wants everyone to feel beautiful — and like a boss.

The 22-year-old from Penn Hills has dedicated her life to the mission through one of her businesses, Boss Girl Collection, an LLC that umbrellas Shealey’s clothing, skin care, accessory and beauty companies. Her latest endeavor has been a Boss Girl beauty vending machine set up in the commons of Carlow University.

Shealey has experimented with different business types through her time at Penn Hills Charter School of Entrepreneurship.

“That’s whenever I first started my entrepreneur mindset,” Shealey said.

After moving on to attend Imani Christian Academy, Shealey started her first official business in 2020. She was 16 at the time and it was named Lashed by Tay.

Boss Girl Collections, an evolution of the businessed, launched in August 2020.

After graduating, Shealey focused her entire efforts into Boss Girl Collections. Since its inception, Boss Girl has grown to encompass clothing, skin care, accessory and beauty lines. The latest is Boss Girl Glow, an all-natural skincare line created for women and men.

“Our mission at Boss Girl Collections is for everyone to feel empowered because we are a diverse company,” Shealey said.

Shealey personally delivers local orders and she noticed one of her returning customers attended Carlow.

“She would mention there were no stores around,” Shealey said.

It planted the idea for an accessible, on-demand beauty supply, leading Shealey to come up with the Boss Girl beauty vending machine. She said some of the inspiration also was drawn from a snack and soda vending machine business, Iconic Vending Services, she shares with her mother.

As her business grew, Shealey’s customer base at Carlow grew as well. She began reaching out to the university’s leadership when she was 19 to arrange the placement of a Boss Girl beauty vending machine.

“It took about to years for us to actually get the machine on the campus,” she said.

The machine found its home on campus in July. Shealey received a $2,500 grant from Neighborhood Allies to put toward the machine. She funded the rest of it out of pocket.

Shealey said the machine and stocking it cost around a total of $6,500. She said getting the machine and its inventory was made more difficult and expensive because of tariffs.

The machine holds products that could be found at a beauty supply store — hooks to crochet hair, afro picks, earrings, makeup wipes, lashes and lash glue — plus Boss Girl matte lipstick and shampoo and conditioner from another local business, Eve’s Herbs & Oils. As its popularity grows, Shealey has been adding accessories such as earrings, hair clips and ski masks for the cold weather. Products usually land around $5, Shealey said.

“We do our research,” Shealey said. “We know the demographics at Carlow and what people want. There’s a lot of different people at Carlow, so there’s a lot of different things in the machine for everyone.”

Users are also able to suggest products for the machine through a QR code on the vending machine’s touch screen.

Shealey said she splits a percentage of the machine’s profits with Carlow and returns to the campus on a weekly basis to restock the machine.

“Carlow wasn’t really worried about the money,” Shealey said. “They were just trying to help a young woman who’s never done this before.”

Shealey is looking to partner with more campuses and local businesses to add vending machines in more places.