Meet Dami Babaniji | Physician and Entrepreneur

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dami Babaniji and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dami, how did you come up with the idea for your business?

The V.I.P. LIPPY story is interesting because it was not birthed from a place of fun and fluff but rather from the pain that turned into purpose. As a board-certified internal medicine physician, I never once imagined or even considered going into the cosmetics industry…like never! I have always loved and enjoyed wearing lipsticks (and have acquired a ton of them over the years), but that’s about it.

My journey into the lipstick world began after I experienced significant burnout at the height of the once-in-a-lifetime pandemic as a frontline doctor treating hospitalized COVID patients. Even though I knew I was delivering great patient care, I remember feeling so worn out, empty and didn’t have anything left to give to my family or myself at the end of the day. It felt like the world was burning up and I didn’t feel like I was making a difference or an impact anymore. What I had worked so hard to achieve felt forced, dry, and lifeless. I felt trapped and stuck and knew I was not living up to my fullest potential. Something was missing.

I have always been all about living a life of purpose and called it my LIP service (Legacy, Impact, Purpose) to the world…ironically, without any thought or reference to lipsticks at that time. However, my burnout experience had me questioning everything about my life’s mission, vision & purpose as a human being and physician.

The turning point for me was an encounter with a young patient who reported “not being ready to die” but who still, unfortunately, passed from the devastating effects of the virus. I still remember the look of regret in the patient’s eyes. That experience made a significant impression on me and became my eye-opener. I realized time was my most expensive commodity and didn’t feel like I was using it well. I wanted to live a more fulfilled life by spending my time wisely without regrets. I decided to be more intentional about my self-care practices, so I worked with a coach to help me navigate my experience which helped me tremendously. I started to explore more of what it meant for me to live a more fulfilled life and coaching helped me re-discover my hidden passions — one of which is to inspire women to live up to their greatest potential.

You may be asking, how V.I.P. LIPPY fits into all of this?

You see, as I cared for patients, despite the layers of personal protective gear I wore, I always had my lipstick on. It was interestingly one of the few pleasurable things that helped boost my mood, spirit, and confidence while I worked. It wasn’t really about the attractive element that lipsticks are commonly known for as no one could see it under my masks. It was something else.  My lipstick had somehow become my invisible BFF and confidence booster during that very challenging period in my life.

As a side note, did you know this positive impact of lipstick has been proven? During my extensive research before launching V.I.P LIPPY, I found out about the “Lipstick Effect”- a psychological phenomenon described in a study by Harvard Medical School in which wearing lipstick can make one feel a sense of overall enhancement in self-esteem, attitude, and personality. Isn’t that so awesome?

During one of my quiet moments of prayer, reflection, and meditation (an aspect of self-care emphasized in coaching), I became inspired by the story of a lady called Hannah, a woman who persevered in the face of unspoken prayers, dashed hopes, and unfulfilled dreams until they became a reality. I saw myself in Hannah.

I realized that there were likely other women who, like myself and Hannah, had these same unvoiced hopes & dreams yet kept them hidden/ignored/suppressed to fit the status quo of societal expectations and life circumstances. I felt the need to disrupt that flawed system and give a voice to every woman’s unspoken dream and untapped potential starting within my own circle of influence.

I imagined a world where every woman lives intentionally to her fullest potential while using her lipstick as her confidence booster (think of what a world that would be!). I believe that this is possible but begins with addressing our limiting beliefs and shifting fixed mindsets. I am a firm believer that you are what you think & become what you speak over yourself. It was at this point that I decided to turn my LIP service into a lipstick brand called V.I.P. LIPPY.

I named it V.I.P LIPPY, which is an acronym (physicians love acronyms lol!) with the goal to inspire our clients whom we call “V.I.P LIPPY ladies” to clarify their life Vision, make an Impact, fulfill their Purpose, Live & Leave their Legacy, be an Inspiration, live with Passion, unlock their Potential,…and every time they apply any of our beautiful lippies, they are saying a resounding ‘Yes’ to all that! This is what makes us different from any other lipstick brand on the market.

As a physician, it was also important for me to have a clean, nontoxic brand, so all our lip products are vegan, gluten-free, paraben-free, and cruelty-free.

To honor our pledge to spread inspiration, positivity, and encouragement, we use our beautifully designed lipsticks with inspiring lip shade names and corresponding EmpoweHER affirmation cards, coaching programs, and online courses as tools and daily reminders to help women on their respective journeys of becoming their best HER.

Bouncing back from burnout gave me vision, clarity, and a clearer purpose to use my experience as an opportunity to help other women to find inspiration, hope, and encouragement despite their circumstances.

In summary, V.I.P LIPPY is an inspirational lipstick brand designed for women who love clean beauty and a dose of hope and encouragement infused into their everyday life as they become the best version of themselves. Our hope is to inspire them to reveal their inner beauty while enhancing their natural outer beauty. Think of V.I.P. LIPPY as your daily cheerleader and beauty bestie! 

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am a board-certified Internal Medicine physician that treats acutely ill patients in the hospital setting. I still work full time as a physician and don’t have any plans to quit medicine anytime soon. Medicine is a part of my core and becoming an entrepreneur re-fueled my passion for it. After my burnout experience, I got passionate about physician well-being and got certified as a Physician Peer Coach. Sadly, a lot of physicians are leaving healthcare due to burnout, systemic failures, and of course considering the difficult COVID burdens on them, yet we need to help physicians remain in medicine now more than ever. I believe all healthcare workers are truly remarkable people and I feel the need to help our physician healers by creating a safe space for their well-being.

Whether as a physician or an entrepreneur, the road and journey to and through both is no cakewalk. Neither is for the fainthearted. Stepping into the unknown without prior experience/guidance as an entrepreneur was quite nerve-wracking, because, unlike medicine with its prescribed path to training & practice, running a small business was a different ball game with almost no rules or roadmap yet requiring LOTS of patience. It has been an exciting adventure for sure, and I am still figuring things out. Lol! However, the grit, hard work, and resiliency I learned on the arduous path to becoming a physician definitely helped and I have been able to draw strength from that.

I have also had to get comfortable with failure and had to unlearn that failure was a “bad” thing and instead learned to fail forward while learning new ways of doing things in the process. All the successful entrepreneurs I had learned from told me failure was a prerequisite to success in business, so I welcomed it, learned from it, and pivoted when needed.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Monday: Fort Worth Zoo Tuesday: Grandscape experience (andretti, ferris wheel etc)
Wednesday: brunch and hangout with friends
Thursday: Legacy West shopping & food hall
Friday: A musical show at the Majestic Theatre or Music hall at Fair Park, downtown Dallas exploration/sightseeing
Saturday: watch a good movie at Moviehouse & eatery
Sunday: Go to church, have a good lunch in the Richardson food district area

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I especially want to give a special BIG shoutout to my husband. He has been my rock as I have navigated the bumpy and lonely ride that entrepreneurship can be. Even though I can’t always count on things going the way I would like them to, he is one person I know that I can ALWAYS count on. He is an amazing partner, friend, confidante, and my forever favorite human! For every lipstick swatch, wild business idea/rant, and women’s only pop-up event he has endured, I am SO thankful to him for his wisdom, patience and support. V.I.P LIPPY won’t be what it is today without his labor of love.

I have had such incredible love from my family and friends. I am so grateful for each one of them that have been very supportive of my business – through their purchases, referrals, and most importantly, their uplifting words of encouragement. They have literally been the wind beneath my wings.

I’d also like to dedicate this shoutout to every VIPLIPPY lady that has purchased our products! I want to express my sincere gratitude for their love, continued support, and loyalty. It means the world to me.

Finally, my faith in Jesus is my personal lifeline to be and do what I do. I will not be who I am without God’s grace and love toward me. He deserves my biggest shoutout and deepest gratitude!

Website: www.viplippy.com

Instagram: viplippy

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VIPLIPPY?ref=py_c

Other: Courses: https://viplippylady.heymarvelous.com/

Image Credits
Audrey – Yobo Photography