Beyond the Bottle – Striving to go above Brand Ambassador

When I first decided to start rocking my natural curls, around 2011, I remember feeling like I was exposed to a whole new world when it came to hair care products. I’ve always been a little bougie when it comes to what I put in my hair so to know there were specific products geared towards my natural curls…I was all on top of it! Immediately I dived into research on how to obtain the few product lines that were available at the time. The first three product lines I specifically remember being drawn to were Jane Carter, Mixed Chicks, and SheaMoisture. It didn’t take long for me to realize there was so much more to this new world than just products. I was used to the Pantene’s, Herbal Essence’s, and Aussie hair care products that not only didn’t advertise people that looked like me but also didn’t advertise people I could relate to at all. I went from a world where the commercials and product bottles included out of touch models and hand selected faces to a world where these new companies incorporated the real consumers in ads, commercials, and online content. These were ordinary people, who set out to do extraordinary things. Their stories started humbly with a desire to create products for men and women like themselves, and for girls like me. From Jane Carter of Jane Carter Solution, to Wendi Levy and Kim Etheredge of Mixed Chicks, to Richelieu Dennis of SheaMoisture, I found myself intrigued with their story of success for building businesses based off of a need and for communities so many other brands seemed to be dismissing at the time.

It didn’t take long into my journey before I noticed a few changes. Yes, my hair was flourishing each day that I rejected the thought of putting heat to my curls. I was seeing curly length, shine, bounce, my moisture levels were going up, and I was getting stopped more by strangers who had questions lol! Physically my journey was going well. However outside of the physical happenings of the defined curls, I was beginning to notice a change in my mentality as well. This is the point that it hit me, this “journey” as I always call it was intended to be beyond the physical. I became excited to embark on the internal aspect, and although I could write for days what all that entails past and present, I’ll have to save that blog for another day. Fast forward a few years, we have the physical aspect going well and I’m still growing and learning more about myself each day. As more and more brands began to hit the market geared towards natural hair not only did the choices begin to become overwhelming, but it didn’t take long for me to see that one of these things is not like the other. Every trip down the hair aisle was a new experience as shelves became overloaded with brand after brand pumping out butters, creams, smoothies, whips, leave-ins, deep conditioners, masques, gels etc. etc. It became hard to tell the difference in products, and as my journey took me deeper into choosing products that offer natural ingredients (because too much of a good thing has got to have a catch to it) I quickly realized that some of these brands were solely in it for the money. There are a few things that a black woman like myself will throw her money at, and hair care products are certainly one of them! Listen, I know my truth, but that doesn’t mean I want to be taken advantage of! Anywho, back to the point. As the shelves were filling up I began to read product labels and realize so many of these companies were advertising me lies! You can’t call yourself a great moisture retaining deep conditioner if the moisture packed ingredient is wayyyyy down the list after a bunch of stuff that I can’t even pronounce! I felt downright used! Ok, maybe that’s a little dramatic because honestly I was good about steering clear of a lot of companies trying to “sell to the culture” because I immediately thought to myself how they weren’t concerned with girls like me before. I could see through them trying to “roll with the homies” and I disregarded them from the start. But for the companies that I did give a chance, that I felt were preying on my need for frizz free volume and definition, I started to question where their heart was?!

This brings me back to the purpose of this post. As my journey became more organic, so did my desire to use products from companies whose mission was coming from a good place. I began to think back to the beginning, back to the holy trinity. Back to a line that spoke volumes to me from the beginning, SheaMoisture. For those of you who don’t know the history, the roots of SheaMoisture begin with a woman by the name of Sofi Tucker, the grandmother of the man we know and love today, Richelieu Dennis.

“Our Story: Sofi Tucker started selling Shea Nuts at the village market in Bonthe, Sierra Leone in 1912. By age 19, the widowed mother of four was selling Shea Butter, African Black Soap and her homemade hair and skin preparations all over the countryside. Sofi Tucker was our Grandmother and SheaMoisture is her legacy. Through Community Commerce, you help empower disadvantaged women to realize a brighter, healthier future.” – SheaMoisture

The story of SheaMoisture is one that I have read countless times as I’ve sat and stared at the label on any of their products (typically as I distract myself from my woes and detangle in the shower). What Rich did was build up (not to be confused with build off) his rich history and find a way to continue to deliver products to his community just as his grandmother did so long ago. Did I mention he started on the streets of Harlem?! As a Harlem girl, yeah this fact MATTERS! As the company continued to grow and expand, so did the mission. In 2016 SheaMoisture launched the #BreakTheWalls campaign for ethnic inclusion and empowerment. Remember how earlier I stated other companies advertisement included out of touch models and hand selected faces that I couldn’t relate to? Well SheaMoisture was on a mission to change that. Hair care aisles everywhere began to transform from modern day subtle statements of shampoo segregation, and familiar faces of fellow curly head bloggers and vloggers were popping up all over advertisements and even in the commercials. Things didn’t stop there. The community commerce mentioned in their story is SheaMoisture’s promise to continually invest into our community. Not only does SheaMoisture continue to support communities in Africa that supply ingredients for their products, but also 10% of sales go to women led businesses as well as the Sofi Tucker Foundation. The Sofi Tucker Foundation was founded in 2012 by the owners of Sundial Brands, the parent company that created Nubian, Madame CJ Walker, and SheaMoisture. The Sofi Tucker Foundation provides financial grants to organizations that seek to economically empower women, their families, and communities in the United States as well as Africa.

As my research over the years dove deeper and deeper into the history of this company, the mission statement, and the continued efforts to invest back into our community it became harder for me to just look at them as a hair care product company. I mean sure, they deliver on creating the butters, smoothies, and masques that help to retain my moisture, but this company does more than fill up my product stash. SheaMoisture fills my spirit with the good vibes that instead of being taken advantage of, I’m being poured into as a black woman and the community around me is being poured into as well. Just when I thought to myself how could this get any better, SheaMoisture announces the launching of the #NewVoicesFund. The New Voices Fund is essentially a $100 Million dollar investment pot available to women of color entrepreneurs. This fund has what they call the “Ace Investment Model” that provides Access, Capital, and Expertise that is made available to support the women on their journey as they plan, launch and grow their businesses. I had been hearing a buzz about the New Voices Fund for a few months now but I was able to get an in-depth explanation at this year’s Summit21 Conference hosted by Blavity back in June. During his fireside chat along with New Voice Fund members Melissa Butler (TheLipBar – lipstick line now sold in Target) and Beatrice Feliu Espada (The Honey Pot – provides plant based feminine hygiene products), when asked about selling SheaMoisture, and thus Sundial Brands, to Unilever Rich stated the following:

“From a community perspective, we’ve always built our business with the intent to reinvest back into our community. How we create stability in the black community is to build businesses and reinvest back. Building a business and selling it to create wealth for your family and community is not a bad thing. What is a bad thing is when you do that and you walk away without reinvesting and building up your community to create generational wealth for your community.”

To me, Rich’s perspective embodies the idea behind the New Voices Fund. Here we have a black man who not only continued the legacy of his grandmother, but built that legacy up with the goal of continuing to also build up his community. When you ask any entrepreneur what are some of the challenges that they face when starting a business, many of them will tell you it’s about finding the willing resources to assist them financially and needing the expertise and/or guidance. The New Voices Fund addresses those challenges by providing support, a team filled with experience and knowledge and essentially a pot of money to pull from. I am assuming there are expectations that you pour back into the pot (with knowledge and financial contributions), so that the woman of color entrepreneur behind you can grow as well but I can confirm that as I research this opportunity more. The overall concept seems so simple, yet it’s genius in the sense that who else is doing this for our community? Who else is out there making the mistakes and learning the ropes with the intent to pour into women of color specifically with the knowledge, expertise, guidance, and money that we need to follow our dreams. I mean, at this point, screw the shampoo and conditioner combo!

What I haven’t mentioned thus far, is that somewhere early on in my journey I set my heart out on becoming an Ambassador for SheaMoisture. This was the very first goal that I set for myself, long before Cocoabrowncurlsxo had a name, and well before the shelves were flooded with various product lines. Something I could not at the time put into words had me very drawn to the company and I knew I wanted to work with them. As some of you may know, in February I applied to their Ambassador program and I was selected as one of the 2018 SheAbassadors. That moment was certainly a turning point for my brand as my eyes and heart were opened up to so many opportunities. Since then I have had the amazing chance to not only receive products to test out, provide honest feedback on, and promote on my platform, but I have also been selected to attend events in which I have been able to work right alongside the SheaMoisture team. I have made lifelong connections, been able to provide consultations and recommendations to other curly hair enthusiasts on the various SheaMoisture product lines, but most importantly I have been able to consider myself a part of something bigger! From the beginning I have admired this company and I want to be sure I never take this moment for granted. I anxiously look forward to each and every barrier that is broken and milestone that is met! I am grateful that throughout this journey I have achieved the goal of going beyond the bottle, and I’m striving to go above Sheabassador! Xo