At New Company Erenzia, A Former Avon Exec Is Reinventing The Direct-Sales Model With Latinas At The Core

New beauty brand Erenzia is turning consumers into sellers using an affiliate business model.

Starting today, people can become affiliates or, in the brand’s Spanish terminology, “Amigas” or friends in English. Amigas pay $44.99 for a digital enrollment kit and receive 25% off of personal product purchases as well as 25% to 35% commissions on products they sell. Sold products are sent directly to customers. Amigas have access to an e-commerce app and get referral links that can be shared with first-time customers for a 15% discount.

“It’s really like a modern version I would say of Beautycounter or Mary Kay,” says Erenzia co-founder Alina Gonzalez, a former executive director at Avon and VP at L’Oréal. Referring to Amigas, she says, “They don’t need to carry inventory. With their enrollment, they get a link for their personalized online shop powered by Shopify Plus that they can share with family and friends, and when they shop, they will get their 25% commissions paid weekly and an additional 5% to 10% bonus at end of the month depending on total sales.”

Anyone can sign up to become an Amiga, but Erenzia, which is named for a play on the Spanish word “herencia” or heritage in English, is targeting Latinas. “The idea is to support these individuals who we know are already spending above and beyond the average group,” says Gonzalez. Market research firm Nielsen estimates Latinx consumers’ beauty spend is $167 yearly compared to $135 for the general population in the U.S. There are 62.1 million Hispanics in the country, accounting for 18.9% of the total population and the largest minority group.

Mentioning her mother was an Avon representative when she was young, Gonzalez notes Latinas aren’t only big beauty spenders, but big beauty sellers. She says, “Statistically, when you look at many of the direct-selling companies, their top sellers are predominantly Latinos, and it’s not just Latina women, but Latino men. They drive many of these companies like Mary Kay, even Avon.”

Multi-level marketing companies or MLMs are defined, according to U.S. Federal Trade Commission, as companies specializing in person-to-person sales. They’ve often recruited people with the promise of major money to solve their financial hardships. However, the people involved in selling can make little to no money. On its website, Erenzia invites people to join it as an Amiga to “earn extra income.”

In 2021, the median household income for Latinos in the United States was $57,981 versus $70,784 for the population overall. Gonzalez emphasizes that income statistics paper over important work dynamics such as immigrants taking odd jobs just to keep roofs over their heads. At Erenzia, she explains the social-selling aspect is intended to supplement wage gaps and help people earn extra cash when they need it. She says, “If someone sells $1,000 at 25%, they can basically make $250 a month, and for someone who’s making $35,000 a year, that’s the difference between taking the bus or having a small car payment.”

Erenzia’s product assortment includes Nourish and Hydrate haircare and fragrance lines. They both consist of $18.99 shampoos and conditioners, and a $21.99 leave-in treatment along with two $34.99 rollerball fragrance perfume oils, Sensual and Captivating. The ingredient stories for the products are grounded in Latino heritage. Gonzalez and her Erenzia co-founder Vanessa Ramos zeroed in on food as a key uniter of people across Latin America, and food ingredients like rice, cacao and jojoba oil are incorporated in the brand’s products.

Specifically, Erenzia’s shampoo, conditioner and leave-in treatment have rice water extract and rice protein. “No matter where you go in Latin America, rice is an integral part of your everyday meal,” says Gonzalez. “It’s an incredible ingredient not just for hair, but for skin, body, even in makeup.” Hair and fragrance are simply the beginning for Erenzia. The brand expects to eventually launch products that span all beauty categories.

Corn is another popular food ingredient in Latin America that will be incorporated in future formulas. “Corn appears in every single food mix of Latin America, either in a tamale and tortilla,” says Gonzalez. “And it’s a very old ingredient or old food, which tracks back to the Indigenous people that lived on the continent back in the day.”

Outside of its affiliate program, Erenzia is implementing an influencer strategy involving partnering with micro and community influencers. Ramos, a principal marketing consultant at Viva Hispanic! Consulting, has led social-selling enterprises in the past and will tap her network of social-selling influencers to build Erenzia’s network. Paid social and a roadshow that brings Erenzia to areas with large Latino communities is part of the outreach plan, too. The brand will donate to a rotating cast of nonprofits. The first is the Qualitas of Life Foundation, an organization focused on Hispanic financial education.

During her more than 20 years in the beauty industry, Gonzalez has frequently been the only person that looked like her in the room. She believes Erenzia’s social-selling network and its internal workforce can attract more Latinas to the industry.

“The Latina representation within the beauty industry is quite dismal. I personally never really saw a tremendous number of individuals who had my cultural background,” says Gonzalez, adding, “It would be phenomenal to be able to groom that next generation of beauty experts that could start with us as an opportunity and ultimately become executives one day of another beauty company or even my own. Hopefully, this business will take off, and we’ll have a legacy that will outlive me.”