Today, Grammy-nominated artist Gloria Woods, professionally known as GloRilla, is expanding her entrepreneurial portfolio with the launch of GloVerse . This technology platform modernizes the beauty industry by connecting consumers with trusted, culturally fluent beauty professionals through an on-demand marketplace. Built in partnership with strategic venture and boutique consultancy OUT.LI.ER, GloVerse aims to empower independent beauty professionals while making it easier for consumers to find trusted glam services wherever they are.

Launched initially as a two-sided marketplace for consumers and beauty professionals, GloVerse’s beta web-based platform is accessible now, with the full mobile app expected to launch by the end of 2026 on iOS and Android. The free app will allow users to discover, book, and connect with verified beauty professionals across services including hairstyling, makeup, braiding, locs, barbering, nails, lashes, brows, skincare, esthetics, henna and body art, men’s grooming, and special effects. GloVerse will also let fans connect directly with GloRilla through “Love Letter With Glo,” an in-app feature that lets the artist communicate with her supporters.

The beta rollout is focused on onboarding beauty professionals across the United States. Consumers and fans can also sign up, create profiles, secure their GloIDs, and provide feedback to help shape the platform as it continues to develop. The platform is designed to be inclusive of all races, genders, and sexualities; the person booking must be 18 years old to book services for minors.

The platform draws on GloRilla’s experiences touring, filming, traveling, and preparing for performances. Despite having access to industry resources, she often struggled to find reliable beauty professionals in unfamiliar cities. “I was having trouble finding beauty professionals when I first came up in my career, so I got the idea to make an app about it,” Gloria Woods, president and founder of GloVerse, told me during our interview. “A lot of it was my people having to reach out through DMs on social media. I had the idea back when it first started, but I didn’t act on it until now.”

That personal frustration ultimately evolved into a larger business idea: creating a platform that could benefit both consumers and the independent beauty professionals behind the industry.“GloVerse was built from real life,” she said. “I’ve been in situations where finding the right glam team wasn’t easy, even with all the resources around me. Then I realized this wasn’t just my experience; people everywhere deal with it every day. I wanted to build something that creates real opportunities for beauty professionals while making it easier for everyone to find trusted talent.”

For GloRilla, one of the platform’s biggest goals is helping beauty professionals build visibility without depending solely on social media to attract clients. “GloVerse will give beauty professionals a platform to be seen, so they won’t have to use social media just to find their customers,” she said. “They’ll get more visibility.”

The platform also lets users personalize searches based on individual beauty needs and preferences. “I didn’t want to make the app available for one gender or one culture,” GloRilla said. “I wanted everybody to be able to use it. I want every race, gender, ethnicity, everybody to be able to use the platform.”

She says she was deeply involved in developing the product alongside her business partner, Georgii Speakman, founder and CEO of OUT.LI.ER. “I was very hands-on with my business partner Georgii. We were talking weekly or almost every day about it, and gathering aspects that we think people would need,” she said.

Among her favorite features are personalization tools that let users enter details such as their hair type and face shape, as well as options that let customers choose whether to travel to a beauty professional or have the professional come to them. Once the beauty service is booked, the beauty professional goes to the customer. This particular function will be available by the end of this year, as part of their full mobile app launch by the end of 2026.

Additionally, GloVerse has built-in AI recommendations to suggest beauty professionals in your area based on key preferences and more. GloRilla and her team’s goal is to have on-demand beauty professionals available in consumers’ cities, which is why they are focused on building the supply side of the marketplace first before fully launching the app.

“Some of my favorite functions within the app are being able to put in your hair type and your face shape,” GloRilla shared. “That’s my favorite part because it’s very specific to what you want. And I like that we included a function where professionals can travel to their client, or consumers can choose whether they want to go to the place to get their services. I really like everything about the app.”

So how does GloRilla believe GloVerse stands apart from other on-demand beauty platforms? “I’m going to say this most humbly, as I know how, it is Glo,” she said with a laugh. For GloRilla, GloVerse is more than an extension of her celebrity brand; it also represents a longtime interest in and investment in technology.

When asked whether she viewed GloVerse primarily as a solution to a personal problem or as an opportunity to enter the technology space, she said it was both. “It was both. I most definitely wanted to solve a problem, but I always wanted to be in tech,” she said. “As a younger kid, I was big on tech. I always liked being on the computer. I used to ask my mama for laptops.”

Her interest in technology is genuine and intersects with experiences in the beauty industry and her relationships with hairstylists and makeup artists. “The development of this app comes from a tech standpoint, and from me needing glam, and also from knowing hairstylists and makeup artists, and knowing they do good work, but they don’t have the visibility,” she said. “So it was all of those factors.”

GloRilla has her own perspective on beauty and establishing a signature look. “I like a super soft makeup look,” she said. “I just got into wearing leave-outs for my hair because I’ve been trying to wear my natural hair, so a leave-out hairstyle has been my go-to.”

Could fans eventually see GloRilla share beauty tutorials through the platform? “I would,” she said. For the artist, beauty services matter beyond aesthetics. It is also an essential part of how people prepare for work, events, travel, and everyday life. “I would say it’s because it’s a very essential thing. I think people always need glam,” she said.

She hopes GloVerse will ultimately become a broader ecosystem for beauty entrepreneurs, creators, and consumers. Her plans include creator collaborations, commerce, live experiences, strategic brand partnerships, and additional tools designed to support independent beauty professionals and small-business owners.

“GloVerse will eventually entail more than a dual-sided marketplace,” said Speakman. We’re building infrastructure for one of the world’s most entrepreneurial industries. Our vision is to create a platform where independent beauty professionals can build stronger businesses, consumers can confidently discover trusted talent, and creators and communities can connect in entirely new ways.”

With the launch of GloVerse, the artist aims to build a legacy beyond music. As GloRilla continues expanding into entrepreneurship, she is also thinking about how she wants to be remembered beyond her music career. “I just want people to know that when I put my name behind something, that it’s a reason for it,” she said. “I just want my legacy to show that I took the opportunities I was living and created new opportunities for other people.”

For aspiring entrepreneurs, her advice is rooted in patience and faith. “I would say, pray about it,” she said. “That’s what I did. I prayed about when to act on it, and God just gave me the timing.”

As she enters this new entrepreneurial chapter, she is most excited for people to see the work that went into building GloVerse and her commitment to uplifting beauty professionals and helping those who need those services. “I’m excited for people to see that I really put a lot of time into this,” she said. “It’s a way of me helping people because I feel like this is going to help a lot of people, the customers and the beauty professionals using it. I’m just excited about everything.”

Ultimately, GloRilla describes GloVerse in three words: “finding your glow.” As the platform evolves, GloRilla and her team plan to build a broader ecosystem supporting independent beauty entrepreneurs, small-business owners and traveling professionals, while exploring partnerships with beauty brands, retailers, technology companies and cultural organizations.

For GloRilla, GloVerse represents more than another business venture. It is an opportunity to turn a problem she experienced firsthand into a platform that creates visibility and opportunity for others.

Access GloVerse here: https://www.gloverse.co/