In LumiNicole, an attractive opportunity for Adelphi

By GREGORY ZELLER //

An innovative collaboration with an up-and-coming lifestyle brand will put Adelphi University students on the forefront of beauty, wellness and alternative retail.

The Garden City-based university has announced a promising partnership with LumiNicole Beauty, an Illinois-based cosmetics and wellness startup launched in 2025 by cofounders Kendra Bracken-Ferguson and Leslie Roberson. Adelphi is the first campus selected to host LumiNicole “automated retail stores,” featuring cutting-edge kiosks and “smart” vending machines loaded with personal-care essentials.

More than a simple convenience for students and staffers, the alliance positions the university as “a national model for integrating retail innovation with student success,” Adelphi said in a statement.

LumiNicole kiosks are already in place in the lobby of the Ruth S. Harley University Center and on the lower level of Adelphi’s Center for Recreation and Sports. A special March 26 ribbon-cutting ceremony will officially christen the collaboration, with more pomp and circumstance scheduled during Adelphi’s annual Women’s Leadership Conference on March 28.

Adelphi Associate Vice President of University Advancement & External Relations Maggie Yoon Grafer said the collaboration – which also includes professional-development opportunities for Adelphi learners – is all about “meeting students where they are and continuing to evolve the campus experience.”

“As the first university to bring LumiNicole’s automated retail technology to campus, we’re … positioning our Garden City campus as a leader in retail innovation, creating meaningful job opportunities for our students and ensuring this partnership gives back to our community,” Grafer noted.

Bracken-Ferguson and Roberson are experienced entrepreneurs with a track record of successful retail strategy and an impressive history of upscaling beauty-related brands.

Bracken-Ferguson is a general partner of the Los Angeles-based BrainTrust Fund, a VC fund focused on breakthrough beauty and wellness products. In 2021, she launched the BrainTrust Founders Studio, a nonprofit growth-advisory platform focused exclusively on the beauty and wellness industry.

Roberson, a board member of the Illinois-based Rockford Association of Minority Management, is a veteran professional recruiter with stints at Wayfair, the CNO Financial Group, Ernst & Young and Meta under her belt.

With LumiNicole, the duo aims to solve access and distribution challenges known to plague the beauty-and-wellness sector – specifically, by reaching consumers in high-traffic, nontraditional environments via next-generation retail opportunities.

Already established in hospitals, hotels, airports and various pop-up retail locations, LumiNicole is now focused on creating an alternative-retail presence at higher-education institutions – making the Adelphi collaboration both a trial run and a bold advance.

“The Adelphi University launch represents an important milestone for LumiNicole and for how campuses can thoughtfully support student wellbeing,” Bracken-Ferguson noted. “This partnership provides convenient access to beauty and wellness essentials that meet everyday needs while intentionally creating paid, on-campus opportunities for students.

“Together with Adelphi, we’re reimagining how retail, education and career exposure can intersect in ways that meaningfully support academic success and long-term career readiness,” the co-founder added.

To that end, LumiNicole is working with Adelphi to create various professional-development opportunities – including internship and brand-ambassador programs and a scholarship program targeting students focused on science, technology, manufacturing, marketing, communications and supply-chain logistics.

While certainly providing new revenue opportunities for the up-and-coming brand, the ambitious Adelphi collaboration speaks directly to LumiNicole’s soul, according to Roberson, who noted the 2025 startup was founded “to do more than sell products.”

“It was built to create pathways for career advancement and education,” the co-founder said. “The LumiNicole Beauty & Wellness Scholarship reflects our shared commitment with Adelphi University to experiential learning, industry alignment and career readiness.

“Through hands-on retail experiences, paid internships and our student ambassador program, we’re helping prepare the next generation of professionals for the evolving beauty and wellness industry.”