EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — Prados Beauty, a Las Cruces-based beauty cosmetics company, will be featured on a Google advertisement during the Super Bowl.
The local business will represent the State of New Mexico as part of the mega-corporation’s “50 Stories, 50 States” ad campaign that will highlight how small businesses across the country are adopting artificial intelligence (AI) to help them grow their business.
“That came as a shock to me. I’m just really grateful that Google recognized my business and the work that I do in our communities, and that I get to be a part of it,” said Cece Meadows, the founder and CEO of Prados Beauty.
Meadows said she works with the Google for Small Business program, as a representative for the State of New Mexico. Under the program she learns tools on how to promote the growth of small businesses and then uses that information to mentor other local business owners.
“Being able to learn directly from Google and then bring all of those things back to my town, to my city, and to our people, and then teaching them about small businesses and how to run a small business, has always been super important to me,” Meadows said.
Meadows said the advertisement came as a surprise from Google, whose team had initially told her they wanted to feature her business on a short film about New Mexico for the program. She later found out it was an advertisement for the Super Bowl.
“As a small business owner, I know how much marketing and PR dollars businesses spend every year and we don’t have that budget,” Meadows said.
You can find the advertisement by clicking here.
Meadows said that at first she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to understand how to use AI. But she said she fully bought in once she got first-hand experience with Google on how to use it, and came to understand what AI is and how she could incorporate it into her business.
“I figured out that it was actually something that was going to be beneficial for me and my business, and I had a lot of pushback from my community about AI. But when you get to work with (Google) and help them build up this program, and how they use it, to me it became more of a responsibility to be able to use the tools in the right way,” Meadows said. “When you’re a small business owner like me, you don’t have time to sit around and do emails all day (or) be in meetings and stuff like that. So using AI to streamline those responsibilities so that I could create more (cosmetics) and be in my community more, that’s what I’m excited about and what I use AI for,” Meadows said.
Prados Beauty is a distinct cosmetic line, highlighting Chicana and indigenous culture, recognized by Allure Best of Beauty in 2022 as one of several winners for best eyeshadow pans, pots, and palettes.
As self-described indigenous and Chicana woman herself, Meadows said she wanted to create a unique cosmetic line that would be inclusive of her cultural heritage, and adapt to the unique needs of skin for darker-colored women.
“When I think about being indigenous and I think about being Chicana, I really just think about my grandmother and how my grandmother really just taught me about the love of beautifying yourself and making yourself presentable and being a representative of your community and your people,” Meadows said.
Prados Beauty collaborates with multiple artists of different native tribes who design the artwork of her different makeup products.
“I feel like when people come in here and they discover products, they see all the beautiful artwork, they see all the vibrant colors. And I think that that speaks to them because we are vibrant and colorful people. And so whether we have our abuelitas (grandmothers) coming in here wearing makeup for the first time, or we have young girls who are just starting to experiment with makeup, there’s something for everybody here. Whether it’s blush or highlight eyeshadows, lipsticks, we’re known for the pigment in our eyeshadows and in our powder products, Meadows said.
Meadows launched Prados Beauty from her baby’s nursery room back in 2019 with a budget of $250, shortly after obtaining her professional makeup artist certification at the New York Makeup Academy.
Today, Prados Beauty is headquartered in Las Cruces with a small warehouse space, from where they distribute their products all across the country.
Meadows said her products are sold at 609 JCPenney locations, online through the company’s website, and at small boutiques and gift shops across the country.
“That was really because of our community, because of our people. It was just really something that a lot of Chicanas, a lot of indigenous people didn’t really see happening in the beauty space. And so whether you followed me on Instagram as I was doing tutorials, or if I was doing videos on TikTok, that was the thing that made Prados be what it is,” Meadows said.
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