Amy Liu is the founder and CEO of Tower 28 Beauty, one of Sephora’s fastest-growing clean-beauty brands and the first ever to meet the National Eczema Association’s ingredient standards.

Tower 28 was born from Amy’s lifelong struggle with sensitive skin and her desire to make beauty fun, safe, and accessible for everyone. She launched the company at 40 years old, with three kids and no outside funding, proving it’s never too late to start over or to start something that matters.

In under five years, Tower 28 has tripled sales year over year, gone viral on TikTok with millions of views, and expanded into 600 + Sephora stores and international markets. Its hero product, the SOS Spray, became a cult favorite and turned what began as a personal solution into a global movement for clean beauty that actually works.

Before founding Tower 28, Amy spent over two decades in the beauty industry at L’Oréal, Josie Maran, and Kate Somerville, where she learned what it takes to build a brand and why the industry needed change. Her vision was to create a space where clean beauty could be high-performance, affordable, and truly inclusive.

Unlike traditional beauty startups chasing trends, Tower 28 built its foundation on values. Inside the company, Amy developed what she calls the HOCK values—Hustle, Ownership, Cool, and Kaizen, the Japanese principle of continuous improvement.

It’s a culture that prizes curiosity, collaboration, and community, the same qualities that made Tower 28 resonate far beyond beauty shelves.

Amy’s journey is as much about leadership as it is about skincare. From immigrant roots in small-town Minnesota to running one of the most influential clean-beauty brands today, her story is one of resilience, reinvention, and heart.

In our conversation, Amy shares:

• How growing up as the daughter of immigrants shaped her drive and values
• The moment at 40 when she decided it was now or never
• What she learned from two decades in corporate beauty before launching on her own
• How Tower 28’s HAWK values define its culture and growth
• Why inclusion, empathy, and continuous improvement are her biggest competitive advantages
• The personal story behind Tower 28’s hero SOS Spray and how it became a cult product

This is a story about purpose, courage, and the power of starting late, proof that beauty can be both clean and groundbreaking when built on heart and hustle.

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