Cora: We definitely didn’t think we’d ever be entrepreneurs at all, not even a little bit. We both were really successful in our corporate careers. My background was all responsibility and working for United Health Steph was the director of marketing at Red Bull, but also has an extensive marketing background. But when we had our son in January 2017, everything really changed. He had a head full of hair and I didn’t want to cut his gorgeous curls. And I was looking for products for him to really help me style his hair but when I was looking down the textured hair aisle in my Googling and looking online, I noticed that there wasn’t anything that really felt representative for a young boy of color.
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When you think about the textured hair space, everything is so female-dominated, from the marketing to the fence to just even, like, the overall look and feel of the packaging. And so I firmly believe in representation, and I feel like you should be able to see yourself in the products that you use. And so for me, being the do-gooder that I am, as my husband called me, I was like, we just have to do something about this. I was like, I want my son to feel like there are products made with him and mine and not just something after that. And so that’s kind of how Young King got started, and really took about almost two years to get it going before we launched in December 2019. It’s been an amazing journey working together and seeing each other thrive in our own areas of the business. I’ve fallen more in love with Stef than I ever have in this chapter of our lives.
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Black Love: What’s the greatest lesson you’ve learned in starting a business, and how does it feel to have been on “Shark Tank?”
Stef: Everything we’re doing, we’re doing for the first time, there is no guidebook. There is no hey, here’s exactly how to do things. So we just try to take the time equally to appreciate the journey as we’ve been going through it. And it’s been fun. We built this business. It’s a family-owned business. And for us, that’s the legacy that comes along with everything. So that’s what really helped us to truly stay grounded. With “Shark Tank,” we are super excited for the opportunity. It was a crazy experience, Cora and I in the early days before we even launched the business, we actually watched the show all the time. We were in our corporate jobs and were like; there’s no way we’d ever do that. But we loved the entertainment. Then years later as we launched the business, we were like, one day we’ll be big enough, and maybe they’ll give us the opportunity to share our mission and what we’re trying to drive. And then we went from having a call with “Shark Tank” to ending up on the show after months of prep!
Black Love: Let’s talk more about “Shark Tank” for a minute because it can be tough to pitch an idea and have someone tell you “this business won’t be successful.” We saw that scenario with The Lip Bar during Season 13, and despite what they were advised, they went on to sell millions of units! Having been on “Shark Tank,” what advice would you give to entrepreneurs who’ve had their confidence shaken?
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Cora: My biggest piece of advice and what I always tell other entrepreneurs is stay true to your why. Why you created your business in the first place, who you’re trying to serve. If you stay focused and grounded in that, then there’s no stopping you. For us, our why is easy is because it’s our son. And with that, that means for us; we know we can’t settle because we’re doing all of this for him and for young men of color that look like him. And so being grounded in Ry, which is our son, we couldn’t care who told us no. We got a lot of people that said we’re too niche. We got a lot of people that said, are you sure you want to focus on that? But we knew what we were doing. We knew who we were for, and that remained important to us, and that remained our guiding star. And I think because of that perseverance, that grind, that hustle to make a way out of no way, I think that honestly has what has helped us get to where we are now. We firmly believe if you stay true to that, why and use that as your guiding star, then there’s really no stopping you.
Black Love: So we know that you’re appearing on “Shark Tank” tonight, but aside from that, what’s next for Young King Haircare? Is a there a Young Queen Haircare in the future now that you’ve welcomed a new addition?
Stef: (Laughs) We get that question all the time. Now that we have two children, we believe that each child should have their own business. But in terms of Yonng King, we’re really excited to expand Young King Haircare to be more of a holistic grooming brand for young men of color. We recognize when we started the company, we were meeting the needs of hair styling and providing those tools. But through this journey, we got awesome feedback from parents and young men. They’re looking for items and personal care products to really help them feel good, look good, and give them that confidence and self-care that’s often missing for young men of color.
Young King Hair Care is currently sold in over 1,500 Target and Walmart locations across the country and available on Amazon.com. To learn more about their brand, head to their website, and make sure you tune-in their episode tonight (3/25) at 8 p.m. PST on “Shark Tank!”
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