How a Hairstylist Built a Million-Order TikTok Shop Empire

Simply Mandys founder Mandys Peña shares how she leveraged Spanish-language livestreams to drive over 1 million orders and $1 million in single-session sales on TikTok Shop.

Three years ago, Mandys Peña was a hairstylist with a small beauty business and a modest online following. Today, she is one of TikTok Shop’s biggest beauty success stories. The founder of Simply Mandys became the first creator on TikTok Shop to generate $1 million in gross merchandise value (GMV) during a single eight-hour livestream—a feat she has since repeated multiple times. Her self-funded haircare brand now derives roughly 85% of its revenue from TikTok Shop and recently surpassed 1 million total orders. The platform has become a primary launchpad for haircare innovation, as seen when e.l.f. Beauty launched its haircare line to drive next phase of growth with an exclusive debut on TikTok Shop.

What makes Peña’s rise particularly noteworthy isn’t simply the scale of her business; it’s the audience she built it with. While many brands focus primarily on English-speaking consumers, Peña cultivated her community through Spanish-language content and livestreams. She speaks directly to an audience she understands intimately as a Mexican immigrant, salon owner, and hairstylist with more than two decades of experience behind the chair.

The timing is significant. Hispanic consumers represent nearly 20% of the U.S. population and command approximately $2.7 trillion in buying power, according to NielsenIQ. The firm reports that Hispanic consumers are among the most influential growth drivers in beauty, particularly in haircare. Yet relatively few American beauty brands have built businesses specifically tailored to Spanish-speaking consumers at scale. For Peña, TikTok Shop, a social commerce platform, has provided an unusually effective vehicle for doing exactly that.

Rather than treating livestreams as infomercials, she shows up with the ease and spontaneity of a salon appointment. Her sessions often last eight hours, during which she answers questions and speaks candidly about her life, business, and products. This approach has helped transform Simply Mandys from a stylist-created haircare line into a breakout brand in livestream commerce. Heading into Simply Mandys’ fourth year, Peña is navigating a new challenge: transitioning from creator to CEO while preparing the business for its next stage of growth.

In a conversation, Peña discusses building trust through livestreaming, why she ignores standard TikTok Live playbooks, working alongside her husband and CFO Sven Greany, and where she sees Simply Mandys heading next.

How did your journey in beauty begin?

I grew up in Tepatitlan, Jalisco, Mexico, and started working in a hair salon when I was 16 years old. I was an assistant in a small garage salon, sweeping floors and washing hair. That early experience sparked my passion for hairstyling and led me to work in various salons.

When I was 20, I moved to the United States in search of a better life. I attended cosmetology school in Selma, California, earned my license, and worked in a salon for about a year before opening my own space.

I always loved the beauty industry, but I also knew I wanted to build something of my own. I never liked working for someone else. I was 23 when I opened my first salon, and that is really where my entrepreneurial journey began.

You’ve become one of TikTok Shop’s biggest success stories. What made you embrace livestream selling so early?

I was selling before TikTok Shop even existed. I had created a small cosmetics line, and before the shop feature launched, I was hosting TikTok Lives and directing viewers to my website. I would tell them, "Go to my website, use this coupon code, and get a discount." People were already buying from me because they wanted that personal connection.

When TikTok Shop launched, we were among the first to adopt it. It is now a massive part of our business, accounting for about 85% of our revenue. Once I could sell directly through Lives, customers could purchase without ever leaving the platform. I always say that hosting a TikTok Live feels like opening a physical storefront every day. A traditional store opens at 9 a.m. and customers walk in. My livestream is my storefront. Every day, I open the doors and welcome people in.

What do you think most brands misunderstand about TikTok Shop?

People often think it’s just another sales channel. To me, it’s about connection. Authenticity and organic engagement are everything.

I treat my viewers like friends, and it’s a constant two-way conversation. I read all their comments, answer their questions in real time, and listen to what they need. They are hearing directly from the person who created the product, which builds a completely different level of trust. Many brands sell products on TikTok, but customers rarely get direct access to the founder or CEO. My customers do.

What does a successful livestream look like?

My Lives are a mix of entertainment, education, community, exclusive discounts, and product education. In the beginning, TikTok tried to give me a structured playbook for my livestreams. They wanted me to say certain things and follow a specific format, but I never liked that.

I don’t want my Lives to feel scripted or like a hard sell. Some brands come in with highly calculated strategies and don't get the same results. People always ask me what the secret sauce is. I wish I knew, but I’m really just being myself.

Do you think TikTok Shop is changing retail?

Absolutely. I think TikTok Shop is capturing market share from Amazon and other traditional retailers because the experience is so different. This shift is not unique to the U.S.; globally, TikTok beauty sales explode in Southeast Asia as localized strategies pay off for brands that understand regional consumer behaviors. When someone reviews a product on video, you can see exactly how it works. It’s a world away from reading written reviews.

If you’re selling a shirt, you can show how it stretches, how it fits, and what body types it flatters. If it’s a beauty product, you can see the immediate results. People feel much more comfortable purchasing because they are getting real-time information.

How much planning goes into your Lives?

Almost none. That’s what drives my team crazy. For major campaigns like Black Friday, everyone wants meetings and training sessions and planning documents. Meanwhile, I’m saying, “Just trust me.” For daily Lives, I don’t plan at all. I just show up and talk. People see the real me. Some days I’m very happy. Some days I’m stressed. Some days I’m tired. They see all of it. I think that’s why they trust me.

On my daily Lives, there are around 1,200 people actively participating and interacting with me. For major campaign Lives, it can be 8,000, 10,000 or even 20,000 people at a time. Over the course of a long livestream, millions of people may watch portions of it. We had one Live where more than 20 million people watched throughout the event.

You built this business primarily through Spanish-language content. How important has that been to your success?

It’s very important because I’m speaking to my community in the way that feels most natural to me. I don’t try to be somebody else. I don’t try to change who I am. When I go live, people know they’re getting the real Mandys. We’re talking about beauty, hair, family, life and everything else. It feels natural. I think people appreciate that authenticity.

Language has always been an intentional part of who I am and who Simply Mandys is. Connecting with our Latinx community in Spanish is something I’m very passionate about since it’s so personal to me. This focus on cultural authenticity is proving highly attractive to investors and retailers alike, much like when fellow Latinx-founded brand Nopalera raised $4 million Series A to fuel retail expansion. I do try to incorporate some English into my sessions, so Simply Mandys continues to grow and reach new audiences, but I haven’t done fully English livestreams yet.

I’m always looking for ways to be more inclusive and show more people how Simply Mandys can change the way they feel about their hair, so an English livestream is a great way to introduce people to me.

What has it been like learning to become a CEO while the business is growing this quickly?

That’s probably the hardest part. I was a hairstylist. I didn’t go to school to become a CEO. I didn’t study entrepreneurship. I didn’t know anything about campaigns, PR agencies, strategy or finance.

As the company grows, I’m learning all of those things very quickly. Creating products and selling products isn’t hard for me. What’s hard is learning how to build an organization. You need the right people. You need systems. You need strategies. At the beginning, I did everything myself. Now I’m learning how to delegate, and that’s difficult because nobody is going to do things exactly the way I would do them.

How many employees do you have today and what are their key functions?

We have 12 employees. The team works together to drive brand growth, customer satisfaction and operations. I lead the vision, product development and brand presence. I handle product development, formulas, fragrances, design, branding and everything creative. The team supports daily operations, social media, affiliate management, customer service, partnerships and fulfillment. They create a seamless experience from product creation to customer delivery.

My husband Sven is the CFO. He oversees finance, inventory and operations, all the business strategy and growth. He joined the Army at 17 and later spent 25 years in the automotive industry. When the business started growing quickly, I told him I needed help, and he left his career and joined Simply Mandys full time. I don’t know much about finance, and he’s taught me a lot.

Running a business together is definitely a journey. People always tell you not to work with your spouse because it’s hard. And they’re right. At the beginning, it was difficult because we talked about business all the time. Eventually we realized that wasn’t healthy. Now we’ve learned to divide responsibilities and trust each other. We trust each other in our respective areas. Once we learned how to do that, everything became much easier.

Simply Mandys derives roughly 85% of its revenue from TikTok Shop. Its daily livestreams attract around 1,200 active participants, while major campaign livestreams can draw as many as 20,000 viewers at a time.

How has spending more than 20 years behind the chair shaped your approach to product development?

It’s everything. When you’re a hairstylist, you know immediately whether a product is good or not. If I wash somebody’s hair with a shampoo, I can tell after one use whether I like it. I know what works. I know what doesn’t work. That’s helped me tremendously when creating formulas because I have very specific expectations for how a product should perform. I always tell customers they’re going to know if they love my product the first time they use it.

How hands-on are you when it comes to product development?

I’m very involved. I speak directly with the chemists and explain exactly what I want the product to feel like and which ingredients I consider important. Sometimes it takes many rounds of samples because they don’t understand my vision immediately. I’ll tell them, "No, this is too oily," or "This doesn’t feel right." I’m extremely specific. It can take a long time to get the formula exactly where I want it.

Tell us about your hero product, Nutritive Leave-In Conditioner.

I created our hero product, Nutritive Leave-In Conditioner, a hair care essential, because I was looking for one product that could do everything. When my salon clients used to ask me what they needed, I had to recommend a heat protectant and something different for frizz, shine and softness. People don’t want to buy four different products, so I created one product that addressed all those needs.

It’s formulated with keratin to control frizz, provide heat protection, and leave hair silky and shiny across multiple hair types. It’s lightweight, easy to use, and can be applied to either wet or dry hair. Every detail of this formulation comes directly from my hands-on experience behind the chair, understanding what clients truly need.

Where do you see Simply Mandys in five years?

I see us on retail shelves. Over the next year, our primary focus will be crafting the right strategy for brick-and-mortar expansion. In five years, I want Simply Mandys to be a household haircare brand that consumers can easily find in major retail stores, bridging the gap beyond TikTok Shop.

I started with a dream inside a small salon, but I truly believe that soon, shoppers will walk down retail aisles, see the Simply Mandys name, and instantly know what we stand for. We currently offer 12 haircare SKUs. While we have a few other products on our site, haircare remains the core of Simply Mandys, and we will continue to focus our product development there.

What would you tell someone who’s hesitant to put themselves out there online?

Don’t let fear hold you back. People are often terrified of criticism and vulnerability. They hesitate to show the world what they’re building, but running a business means you have to open your doors. If you bake cookies, post videos of your cookies. If you formulate beauty products, show people what makes them special.

I was terrified when I started, and honestly, I still get scared sometimes. But if you truly want something, you have to push through the fear. One day, the very people criticizing you might just find themselves inspired by what you’ve built.