How grief transformed Suhay González’s life and inspired her to build Seis Cosmetics

For most of her adult life, Suhay González never imagined she'd become a beauty founder. Born and raised in New York City, the proud Latina always considered herself "good with numbers." She earned a business degree, became an accountant, and spent 24 years working in finance for the federal government. It was a career she enjoyed, one that provided stability and checked every practical box she had set for herself.

Then everything changed.

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Her mother was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive brain tumor, at just 59 years old. The diagnosis came so suddenly that González remembers not even being able to pronounce the disease's name before throwing herself into research, determined to understand what her family was facing. She watched the woman she describes as "an independent woman, a go-getter, a true Latina" become dependent on those around her after surgery, an experience that reshaped not only her family but also the way González viewed her own life.

"I knew I wasn't going to become that depressed girl," she tells HOLA!. "I grounded myself." Living in Florida, she found herself returning to the beach, where one thought kept surfacing: "Life is short. What am I going to do with my time now?"

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For years, she had focused on building a career, raising her son, buying a home, and creating a stable life. But after losing her mother, those accomplishments suddenly felt incomplete.

“I had checked all the boxes,” she says. “I’ve been married. I raised my son. I purchased the house. But what was my passion? What was my mission in life?”

The answer would come from a memory she couldn’t shake.

The Lipstick that started it all

Throughout her illness, González’ mother refused to let cancer define her. Even during chemotherapy and radiation treatments, she insisted on one small ritual before leaving the house. “Put lipstick on me,” she would tell her daughter. “I don’t want to look sick.”

“That’s when I realized there is power in cosmetics,” González says.

Months later, she walked into Macy’s to buy a lipstick and instinctively reached for her phone. Normally, she would have called her mother. They would spend hours talking about makeup, comparing shades, and sharing beauty finds. This time, there was no one to call.

Standing at the makeup counter, another thought crossed her mind. “What if I created my own line?” That question became the beginning of Seis Cosmetics.

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Building more than a beauty brand

Launching a cosmetics company wasn’t something González had planned. She started by researching everything she could, navigating legal requirements, meeting chemists, and learning an entirely new industry from the ground up.

“Google was my best friend,” she says with a laugh. She attended a cosmetic chemistry conference in New York, walked booth to booth asking questions, and slowly found the partners who could help bring her vision to life. She launched with eight lipstick shades.

Then came COVID-19. Rather than putting the business on hold, González used the unexpected pause to refine her products. Working closely with chemists over Zoom, she expanded the line into vegan, cruelty-free lip care and color cosmetics made with ingredients she believed in. Today, Seis Cosmetics is FDA-compliant, meets European Union standards, and is certified cruelty-free by Leaping Bunny.

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Never taking opportunities for granted

González believes every opportunity deserves her full commitment. She recalls attending a beauty event and meeting a woman with whom she shared both her products and her story. That contact and conversation led to an invitation to provide the signature red lipstick for a Miami Swim Week runway show. “Someone believed in me and gave me an opportunity to show up. I showed up, and they loved it. Every year it continues to grow.”

Three years later, the brand continues to be part of the event, has expanded to include New York Fashion Week, and has earned multiple beauty awards along the way.

For González, the greatest milestone isn’t simply being invited into the room. It’s knowing her mission continues to resonate long after she’s left. “My mission and my vision are being spoken about in rooms that I’m not even there,” she says. “That makes me feel that I am moving in the right direction.”

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Honoring both parents

While her mother inspired the mission behind the company, its name honors her father. González is his sixth child, making “Seis” a tribute to him while the company’s annual donations to brain tumor research honor her mother.

“When you lose both your parents, there is a sense...” she says, pausing. “I don’t want to call it abandonment, but there’s a sense of a gap.” She describes losing her mother after her father as feeling as though “my security blanket had been pulled away.” Creating Seis Cosmetics became a way to carry forward both of their legacies.

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Finding the ‘why'

Ask González what advice she’d give another entrepreneur, and she doesn’t start with funding or business plans. She starts with purpose.

"Figure out what your why is,” she says. “Anybody could get inspired, but the why is what’s going to keep you going.”

She encourages aspiring founders to do their research, surround themselves with people who understand entrepreneurship, resist the temptation to compare themselves with others, and stay true to their vision. “There is a community out there,” she says. “Stay authentic. Stay genuine. Take one step at a time...and just continue to push forward.”

Today, that "why" is reflected in every part of Seis Cosmetics. González thought she was building a lipstick brand. In the end, she built something much more personal: a place where the memory of both of her parents could continue to live.