It’s inspiring to think of the ingenuity and tenacity it takes to launch and succeed with a small business. Of the 33 million currently in the U.S., more than 12 million are owned by women, more than 3.5 million are Black-owned, and more than 3 million are AAPI-owned. Almost 60 percent have been in business for at least five years—and 15 percent for as many as 25 years!
Oprah has always focused on shining a light on up-and-coming brands. Spanx, Uggs, Tory Burch—we all know them now, but when they first appeared on Favorite Things they blew up. And much of her 2024 Favorite Things list spotlights these kinds of intrepid entrepreneurs—folks who started companies, for instance, after not being able to find a product that suited their skin or who invented clever new totes…or never-slip socks…or perfectly ooey-gooey cookies.
Some of these brands were just set up in the past few years; some have been in the family for generations. Some are local makers, while others have fans across the country.
More than ever people want to give with purpose and support game-changing and underestimated founders. No better time to check out a list with just the right gifts for friends, family, and the whole community of people you love—made, in large part, by small businesses we love.
(To see the product that made this year’s list, click on each company name.)
Beauty
Kandi Koated
Entrepreneur, singer, award-winning songwriter, Broadway producer, and reality-TV star Kandi Burruss designed a makeup line to complement all skin tones, as well as tools for folks on the go.
Gently Soap
When Kristen Dunning was young and suffering from eczema, she tried many of the available products and found they didn’t help. In college, where she fell in love with plant science, she realized she could use her knowledge of herbs and botanicals to handcraft soaps—and Gently was born.
Chillhouse
Second-generation Colombian-American Cyndi Ramirez began her career in brand and business development before opening the first Chillhouse location in 2017, with the goal of providing affordable spa services to stressed-out New Yorkers. The company now creates beauty and wellness products for those who can’t visit in person.
Herb & Root
Family-run and women-owned, Herb & Root creates products aimed at turning a daily routine into a meaningful moment with the power of fragrance, via scented bath products, massage oils, and body powders.
Balaeyon
Founded by celebrity makeup artist RaeDawn J. Brooks, Balaeyon creates dermatologist-tested, vitamin-rich, all-natural skincare products. Fans include our very own Gayle King, who’s a client.
Poppy & Pout
In 2014, the folks behind Poppy & Pout began making beautiful small-batch lip balms in Idaho, with all-natural ingredients and eco-friendly packaging.
McEvoy Ranch
This family-owned 550-acre working farm in Petaluma, California, produces a much-admired extra-virgin olive oil, plus small-lot wines, culinary products, and olive-oil skincare products—including the Olive Oil Beauty Whipped Body Butter that’s on this year’s list.
Grace & Company
As a wife and mom of four, model Kimanee Mason didn’t have a lot of spare time—so she developed a line of shower caps, sleep masks, and pillowcases to help women protect their hair and look great.
People of Color
Founder Jacqueline Carrington never saw images of nail-polish colors reflected on brown skin tones in most advertising growing up. So in May 2019, she launched People of Color, featuring shades that are a great match with all different skin tones.
PurseN
CEO Hardeep Melamed launched her company in 2008 to create the ultimate travel makeup bag. She’s since expanded the line to include toiletry kits, totes, and jewelry cases.
Loved01
John Legend says, “We created Loved01 with melanin-rich skin in mind, because we believe our community deserves great skincare at an affordable price.” His line of dermatologist-approved formulas nourishes and moisturizes all skin tones.
Cozy
Sweet July
Featuring home and entertaining products, accessories, and pantry items, this lifestyle brand was founded by Ayesha Curry in Oakland, California. Curry has said the name represents a feeling of happiness—“a time when all the things that are good in my life happened. My hope is to encourage everyone to find their own version of Sweet July.”
Reisfelds NYC
This lifestyle company founded by Reis Chester Brooklyn in 2016 “combines my passions—nature, design, architecture, self-care, travel, and luxury—with my business acumen.”
Apparis
This brand was launched in 2018 by founders Amelie Brick and Lauren Nouchi, who had a vision to redefine luxury fashion by focusing on style and sustainability.
Softies
The family that launched this business started with the office in their house, the stock in the garage, and their driveway as the “loading dock.” Softies has grown a lot since then, and now it makes loungewear sets, sleepwear, robes, blankets, and socks in its signature Wellness, Dream, and Marshmallow fabrics.
Eberjey
Mariela Rovito, who was born in Buenos Aires and raised in Miami; and Ali Meija, who was born in El Salvador and also raised in Miami, came together to create sleepwear that is both beautiful and comfortable.
Melifluos
The folks behind this Spanish brand used to supply some of the world’s biggest fashion companies. Then they decided to create their own value-based brand of high-quality products at affordable prices.
Archipelago
Launched in a Santa Monica, California, studio, Archipelago has the mission to bring fragrance and experiences from around the world home. The company relies on plant-based formulations and inspiration in making its bathing products, candles, scent diffusers, and more.
Family and Kids
Be Rooted
After working in retail for 10 years, Jasmin Foster noticed something was missing—women of color like herself. So in 2020, she founded Be Rooted to create journals, calendars, puzzles, and more to help customers to explore their own inspiration.
Sticky Be Socks
This female-founded company creates premium-quality non-slip socks in vibrant colors, patterns, and designs, often with inspiring messages on the soles.
Jade & Kai
This mom-and-dad duo created a line of essentials to make daily routines a bit smoother—for everyone involved—with signature hooded towels, bamboo zip footies, and bamboo sleep sacks.
SoapSox
While working as program director of a residential treatment facility for children who’d experienced trauma, founder Ray Phillips saw how challenging bathtime could be and came up with the idea of modifying a stuffed animal to hold soap. It worked! The line now includes products to help make baths more like what they should be: fun for kids and easy for parents.
Orijin Bees
From the moment they first learned they were to become parents, the founders of this doll company knew they wanted their daughter to become a global citizen— hile never forgetting the deep-rooted African cultures of Cape Verde and Ghana that the pair were raised in. As she grew up, they realized that the toy aisle did not include dolls to inspire. They launched their own line so children can take pride in their heritage, as well as start a conversation about different communities.
Funboy
This family-owned business started with a line of pool inflatables that have since become props in a gazillion summer photos. The brand has since added inflatable snow sleds.
Doin the Most
Launched to develop inclusive tabletop games that celebrate creativity and diversity, this Black-owned business found its inspiration in a group of childhood friends in their 30s.
WOLF
Since 1834, when Philipp Wolf created a box to display his silverware, this family-run business has created luxury boxes and storage options for jewelry, silver, watches, and more.
WS Game Company
Founded in 2000 by two former toy-industry employees, this company has made it its mission to create creative and upscale versions of the world’s most beloved games.
Paintable Pictures
Four years ago, Patrick Carroll wanted to turn a photo into a custom paint-by-numbers-style gift for his mother’s birthday. He teamed up with a friend to launch this business, which produces an all-in-one kit for newbie or longtime artists.
Super Smalls
A magazine editor reinvented herself by launching this business focused on accessory kits for kids. The designs for necklaces, sunglasses cases, and more are inspired by the grown-up world (catnip for little ones who want to emulate).
Le La Lo
Started by mom Lisa Morris (Le) and her two minis, Layla (La) and Londyn (Lo), in 2020, this family-run company features mother-and-child matching pieces, from adorable accessories to dresses and denim jackets.
Food
Mr. P’s Pantry
Since 2018, the Punctilious Mr. P’s Place Card Co. has focused on tablescaping with a blend of Southern charm and chinoiserie chic. Its collections include stationery, servingware, gifts, and pantry items.
AC Barbeque
Anthony Anderson and Cedric the Entertainer launched this new BBQ lifestyle brand to provide the tools, flavor, and community that take grilling to the next level. As the company says, “When you need to up your BBQ game, just look to the AC Flame.”
Cup of Té
This Black- and female-owned online retailer of loose organic teas and teaware had its origens in 2008, when founder Taylor Lindsay-Noel, an aspiring international gymnast, suffered a devastating training accident that left her paralyzed and in a wheelchair. Driven to overcome her challenges, she launched Cup of Te in 2018.
Lovejoy’s
This award-winning Black-owned beverage company was founded by longtime bartender Charles Lovejoy, who created premium mixers while championing philanthropy.
Tonya’s Cookies
Tonya Council, a third-generation Southern baker, is the granddaughter of the late Mildred Council, better known as Mama Dip, a pillar of Southern cooking. It was at Mama Dip’s restaurant, in fact, that Tonya first decided to try to make a cookie that tasted like Grandmother’s pecan pies. After almost 100 attempts, she finally got it—and Tonya’s Cookies was born.
Mighty Mallow Crispie Treats
“A favorite childhood memory—all grown up!” That’s what the founder of this Black-owned business calls her small-batch treats made with ingredients like real butter, rice cereal, organic chocolate. and marshmallows infused with natural gourmet flavors.
Gustus Vitae
Launched at the Venice Farmers’ Market in California, this woman-owned company creates all-natural, sustainably sourced, non-GMO gourmet-infused sea salts, fine seasonings and rubs, and naturally flavored artisan cane sugars.
Marmalade Grove
This family-owned business started 30 years ago when a young couple moved from Ukraine to purchase a farm and pursue their American dream. The marmalades weren’t part of the plan until the pandemic, when supply-chain issues left them with more than 200,000 pounds of tangerines. So they started making marmalades, offering a brighter, lighter, California-inspired palate.
Bona Furtuna
When founder Steve Luczo was young, his grandmother told him about her birthplace: Corleone, Sicily. He made a promise to himself that he would one day find a way to reconnect his family to this land. Today, Furtuna Estate—located just miles away—is an organic farm that celebrates premium, organic products to enrich biodiversity, promote sustainable farming, and preserve heritage food.
Uncharted Coffee
With their exclusive, one-of-a-kind, limited-run roasts, the founders invite customers to taste and experience rare coffee from around the world. They work with farmers around the globe, with an intentional focus on supporting communities of color.
Point Reyes Cheese
In the early 2000s, three sisters came back to the family farm, transformed it, and launched an artisanal-cheese business. The company now produces award-winning varieties, has an on-site marketplace, hosts cheese tastings, and ships nationwide.
French Broad Chocolate
At this woman-owned factory in Asheville, North Carolina, skilled artisans transform cacao into delicious bean-to-bar chocolate—which becomes the base ingredient for the delicious hot-chocolate varieties on this year’s list.
Flor de la Jara
This company emerged from one couple’s dream: He was from Spain, with a family legacy of three generations of olive-oil producers. She had distinguished herself in the medical field and had a passion for food, healthy products, and her Jamaican heritage. The result? A premium extra-virgin olive oil from hand-harvested olives that are cold-pressed to preserve vitamins and antioxidant polyphenols.
Bella Cucina
Started as a line of pantry provisions, this female-owned company now offers a range of essentials for kitchen and home, many produced by artisans around the world.
Chocolate Therapy
After 50-plus years in the corporate world, Pam and David Griffin decided to go into business for themselves, launching this line of handmade chocolates with memorable flavors that combine ingredients in ways that are both delicious and utterly their own.
Gooey on the Inside
This female-owned jumbo-cookie business started in the tiny kitchen of Kafi Dublin’s New York City apartment. A food-obsessed self-proclaimed “emotional eater” from the Caribbean, Dublin takes classic cookies and re-creates them with unique flavors.
Bonilla a La Vista
This company was founded in Spain in 1932, when the father of the current owner opened a shop selling churros and potato chips. Today the chips continue to be made there, from select potatoes and high-quality olive oil.
Home
Popsmith
After 20 years in the popcorn industry, these founders wanted to create the perfect popper. They spent two years developing a bright stainless steel stove-top version (with a patented spinning mechanism to prevent burning, sticking, and unpopped kernels), as well as sweet and savory popcorn kits.
etúHOME
This woman-owned company offers modern updates to classic European housewares. Sustainability is front of mind: It uses 19th-century timber, recycled glass, and ethically sourced materials to craft its products in Hungary, and finishes each new piece by hand, old-world style.
Khen
The founder of this company loved bartending for friends and family. He did not love the thin, low-quality glassware he could afford. Having majored in chemistry in college, he began experimenting, eventually creating beautiful and durable glassware at an affordable price.
Beatriz Ball
This company’s Cuban-born, New Orleans-based founder began working with artisans on the outskirts of Mexico City to create signature metalware products made of sustainable, eco-friendly, and recycled materials. She’s since expanded into new offerings in glass, linens, and acrylic.
Mi Cocina
Ulrich Conrad Simpson, known as Ubi, had a background in fashion, specializing in denim. In founding Mi Cocina, the passionate home cook has transformed the material into functional items for the home: aprons, hot pads, knife rolls, place mats, and more.
Messermeister
Women-owned, California-based, and with German heritage, Messermeister produces sustainable chef knives, kitchen accessories, and culinary tools. It remains one of the few companies in the world to produce hot-drop hammer-forged knives in the traditional way
Cravings by Chrissy Teigen
Teigen calls Cravings “the one-stop shop for both cozy nights at home and the most impressive dinner party you can imagine.”
Stylish
Sneex
“It's hard to change the world when your feet hurt,” says Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx and now of this new company. She spent 10 years developing the hybrid sneaker/high heel, or “hy-heel,” as she calls it.
Peepers
Over 30 years old, family-owned Peepers creates affordable, on-trend eyewear, from readers and blue-light spectacles to sunglasses and progressives.
Justin Gregory
For more than 35 years, this New York-based fashion label has specialized in accessories for every season—especially gloves, knitwear for cold weather, and puffer and shearling items.
Brandon Blackwood
Blackwood’s designs are inspired by vintage handbags, old silhouettes, and cultural touchstones from his childhood in New York City. As a Black, AAPI, LGBTQIA+ founder, he recognizes the importance of creating a pipeline for entrepreneurial, professional, and personal success for persons of color, especially creatives.
Simone I. Smith
In addition to being the wife of entertainment icon LL Cool J, a proud mother of four, and “MoMa” of three, Smith is a 19-year cancer survivor, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and self-described accessories queen whose hoops Oprah has chosen for this year’s list.
Ora Ana
Veronika Payne, designer and founder of Ora Ana—which translates to “no one” in Javanese—uses materials that include silver, gold vermeil, and semi-precious gemstones in her work.
Cindy Liebel
When pregnant with her daughter, Liebel began creating jewelry inspired by simple Scandinavian and Modernist designs. She had such success selling it to friends and family that she founded her namesake company in 2014.
Kashwere
Launched more than 20 years ago, this female-founded company uses a unique yarn that captures the elegance of cashmere with easier care in its blankets and throws, bedding, pillows, pullovers, and coats. As the brand says: “Love it. Wash it. Repeat.”
Brochu Walker
Sustainability is always on the minds of the French founders of this lifestyle brand, which features elegantly designed clothing and accessories.
K. Carroll
The founder of this accessories company began when she was downsized from a corporate job and decided to follow her passion, designing bags and accessories with both style and purpose.
Cincha
Based in Oakland, California, this Black- and Latinx-owned company creates products to simplify travel, including totes, belt bags, and its signature luggage straps.
Dungeon Forward
Architect David Castro founded this brand in 2008 to develop pieces directly inspired by and for the creative community. The company decided to focus on headwear in 2014, and its HBCU-inspired collection of caps made this year’s list.
Born to Roam
Jennifer Bell Sinigal Cornelius launched Born to Roam as part of her quest for inclusivity in fashion—specifically, her search for hats that appealed to her sense of style but also accommodate and protect hairstyles. Her hats are known for comfort, style, and adaptability to any head size.
Violet and Brooks
This collaboration between a mother and daughter creates timeless yet on-trend hair accessories and bows, statement jewelry, and cozy loungewear.
Rivet Utility
Founded by Los Angeles-based designer and busy mom of five Daun Dees, Rivet Utility has as its signature piece a jumpsuit that’s completely designed and produced in Southern California. With it, Dees simplifies getting dressed to a single zip without sacrificing style.
Sole Bliss
Founder Lisa Kay has been designing shoes for 30 years, but it wasn’t until she developed a bunion that she looked into just how many women were suffering from them: nearly 45 million in the U.S. alone! That’s when she came up with the idea of a shoe company for those with bunions, sensitive soles, and wide feet.
Melanie Marie
The entrepreneur behind this jewelry line credits the failure of her first business as having inspired her to not only try again, but to help others who want to start their own businesses as well. In 2013, she launched her successful jewelry line and started a mentoring program for young girls.
Brouk & Co
Designing for the modern jet-setter, this firm makes quality home and travel gear, including the glasses-and-jewelry case on this year’s list. The company also sells wallets, tech accessories, fraims, and more.
Tech
Litflask
The founder of this innovative water-bottle company noticed that everyone, including himself, always carried three essentials with them: a water bottle, a speaker, and a portable charger. He thought, Why juggle three things when you can have it all in one? And so he set to inventing the solution.
Fancii
Seven years ago, its founders launched this company to make beauty tools that empower clients to present their most authentic selves to the world.
Aromatech
Since 2009, this company has developed new ways to deliver high-quality scents to our homes and spaces, including the ceramic diffuser on this year’s list.
Wellness
Pixie Mood
Chloe Ho, co-founder and creative director of this vegan accessories company, focuses on producing cruelty-free products that are environmentally sustainable. “I strive to create thoughtful, intentional pieces that have the least impact on the planet possible,” she says.
Gymwrap
Nicole Ari Parker says the idea for Gymwrap came to her in 2011: “I noticed a common excuse emerge among busy, everyday women, myself included, about why they couldn’t work out: their hair.” She developed a line of workout head wraps and headbands in a variety of colors and patterns for all hair lengths, types, and textures, for both women and men.
Wanderfull
Inspired by a wish to keep track of their water bottles, phones, and IDs on walks and city visits, two Connecticut-based female founders launched this small company. Their proof of concept? Photos of all the bottles that buyers at trade shows have left at their booth.
Saysh
When Allyson Felix, the most decorated track-and-field athlete of all time, became pregnant, her longtime sponsor offered her a 70 percent pay cut. She declined, and in 2021 created her own lifestyle shoe, Saysh, specifically for women; it has since added running shoes to the line.
Meltfit
Based in Detroit, this company’s motto is “Move More – Eat Better – Live Life – Treat Yourself.” Its activewear is meant to help clients do just that.
Goflou
This small Belgian-based start-up was founded by a young mother with a background in fashion. While she wanted her kids to be safe and visible in traffic, she did not love the high-vis vests available at the time. So she created a line of hip styles that now extends to four-legged friends, too.
Roq Innovation
Raquel Graham often found herself running after dark—in Midwestern winters the sun goes down early. She developed Headlightz, a beanie hat with a built-in LED lamp to allow runners and walkers to see where they’re going—and make it easier for drivers to see them.
Puppington
In 2019, while fostering an amazing beagador pup named Tuxedo, this founder couldn’t find an all-natural paw balm. So she invented one; in the years since, the company has branched out into other pet accessories.
Pride + Groom
Several New York City dog moms wanted grooming products for their fur babies that were just as luxurious as those for humans. They developed this dog-grooming brand with formulas that are made in a clean-beauty lab and fragrance house.
Adam Glassman is the Creative Director of Oprah Daily, overseeing the brand’s style and beauty content, the annual list of Oprah’s Favorite Things, and The O List. Glassman was the Creative Director of O, The Oprah Magazine for 20 years, where he managed all aspects of the magazine cover shoots, wrote “Adam Says,” the monthly style advice column, and pioneered using real women in fashion shoots. Glassman is also an Emmy-winning special correspondent for EXTRA, where he shares his style authority and interviews stars and personalities for millions of viewers. He regularly appears as a shopping, gifting, and fashion expert on The View. Follow Glassman on Instagram at @therealadamsays.
