Last Saturday, Canvas Beauty founder Stormi Steele sat behind a bright pink table full of her haircare and beauty products for more than five hours, phone camera and lights pointing at her. The TikTok livestream she was creating became a hit -- in fact, Steele claims it made her the first person to hit $1 million in sales during a single TikTok livestream.

More than 20,000 people purchased items from the Huntsville, Alabama-based business during Steele's livestream this past weekend, according to a post on Steele's personal Instagram account.

Steele believes it is her authenticity that has driven her popularity among consumers. "By the time you hit 'CEO status,' you're supposed to look a certain way. You're supposed to maneuver a certain way, you're supposed to have people on your team, have assistants -- and it's like, a lot of people who are just starting aren't there yet," Steele says. "So when I got on TikTok, they was able to see something that was successful, yet something that was still very close to home."

From the beginning, social media has been big for Steele's business. She launched Canvas Beauty in 2018 and sold more than one million units in its first year, according to AFROTECH. And in 2019, Steele says, Canvas Beauty's hair blossom serum went viral on Facebook.

But according to Steele, that sudden surge in demand was a blessing and a curse. Canvas Beauty did $20 million in business in 2020, she says, but "because I was so green and I didn't know anything, by 2022 I was virtually broken-even and almost losing the business."

Launching a new product -- body glaze -- on TikTok in 2023 revitalized the company, Steele says. The glaze immediately took off on the platform, where the company now has close to 400,000 followers.

Steele strategically posts to build hype on social media ahead of livestreams -- she does giveaways in almost every livestream video. According to Kyle Evanko, COO at Canvas Beauty, the team sometimes gives away hundreds of products during livestreams, which they host around once a month.

"It's not just about saying, 'Hey, give me your money.' Because that's not always what it's about," Steele says. "Sometimes it's about connecting with people, entertaining people, just being engaging."

Steele's approach seems to appeal to consumers: Her livestream this past weekend attracted more than 800,000 total views, with over 7,000 of those viewers becoming new followers, according to Steele's Instagram post.

Steele is eyeing further growth: In a May blog post, she noted that since last August, the company has grown to 10x its size, expanded from six to 60 employees, and moved into a new 30,000 square foot warehouse.