We recently connected with ADRIA MARSHALL and have shared our conversation below.

ADRIA, appreciate you joining us today. Your ability to build a team is often a key determinant of your success as a business owner and so we’d love to get a conversation going with successful entrepreneurs like yourself around what your recruiting process was like -especially early on. How did you build your team?

In the beginning, it was just me. Literally me in my kitchen, making hair products and filling the seven little orders I got each month. When we suddenly went viral, everything exploded. I immediately brought in my oldest daughter and my mother-in-law to help. They were dedicated, but they just didn’t have the bandwidth to keep up with the growth. So I had to hire from the outside… and that’s when things got tricky.

I made so many mistakes. Because minimum wage was lower than I expected, I thought I’d discovered a smart, budget-friendly hiring strategy. Nope. You truly get what you pay for. Those “cost-effective” hires ended up costing me way more in money, time, and headaches. That’s when I learned the value of hiring people who are not just capable, but genuinely passionate about the work.

From there, I went all-in on my team – matching 401(k), paid volunteer time, paid vacation, remote learning, flexible hours, and snacks. Endless snacks. When I look at my team today, it looks nothing like those early days, and I couldn’t be more proud.

My interviewing and hiring process is definitely unconventional. For production roles, I don’t put too much stock in resumes or polished interviews. If someone seems like a good cultural fit and has the basics on paper, I get them on a trial as soon as possible. Not on payroll yet—just two weeks to sink or swim. Our culture is so strong and my team is so hardworking that if someone isn’t a fit, they usually bow out, or one of my staff will quietly let me know they’re not cutting it.

For higher-level roles, we go through several interview rounds and focus on questions that make candidates actually demonstrate the work they’ll be doing. There are a lot of sweet talkers out there – this helps us avoid hiring based on charm instead of capability.

If I were starting today, the one thing I’d do differently is hire quality from day one. It would’ve saved me a whole lot of money… and a whole lot of gray hairs. But every lesson shaped who we are now, and I wouldn’t trade that part of the journey.

ADRIA, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m Adria Marshall, CEO and Founder of Ecoslay. We’re one of only about 30 B Corps in Georgia, and we handcraft locally sourced, sustainably packaged products for wavy, curly, coily, and kinky hair. What makes Ecoslay special is that we partner directly with Georgia farmers who grow many of the ingredients that go into our products. It allows us to maintain true ingredient integrity – and it keeps our community at the center of everything we do.

Ecoslay has earned a reputation for having some of the most effective curly hair products on the market that just happen to be plant-based, sustainably sourced, and handmade to order by a Black-owned and operated company. But our work goes beyond great products. We’re committed to educating our customers about their hair and teaching them how to use our products so they can achieve their best possible results. We call our community “Slay Nation,” and they are truly the heart of what we do.

I always say I founded Ecoslay by accident. I just wanted products that worked for my hair – made with ingredients I could pronounce. When I couldn’t find them, I made them myself. What I didn’t expect was that my kitchen creations would resonate with people all over the world. But they did, and that’s how Ecoslay grew into a multi-million-dollar brand.

The real twist in the story came when we went viral and I tried to move manufacturing to a factory. I quickly discovered minimum order quantities, high price barriers, and constant pressure to change my formulas – the very ingredients I was intentionally avoiding. That’s when I doubled down. Instead of outsourcing, I committed to keeping production in-house and staying true to the formulas that built our community.

Fast forward to today: Ecoslay not only manufactures its own products, but we also support other founders through our Ecobator program – born from the challenges we faced early on. I’m incredibly proud that we’ve helped four brands successfully launch to market, with several more in development.

What sets us apart is simple: integrity. Ingredient integrity. Community integrity. Brand integrity. Customers trust us because we don’t cut corners, we stay true to our values, and we create products that solve real problems for real people.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

Ecoslay is proudly self-funded. I remember the day that I went to my partner and said, “Can I take $300 out of savings? I think I’m on to something”. That $300 has turned out to be money well spent – true “seed” money for my “organically-grown” business,

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

One of the biggest lessons I had to unlearn was the idea that I needed to be a jack-of-all-trades. In the early days, I tried to do everything myself – partly because I could, partly because I felt like handing something off meant giving away a piece of me. But that mindset was draining, unsustainable, and definitely not the way to scale a business.

What I’ve learned is the power of hiring and delegating to people who have the skillset, passion, or simply the joy in doing the things I don’t. I had to let go of the belief that I needed to control every detail. Now, I can take vacations and actually trust my team to handle things while I’m away. That didn’t come naturally to me – it took time, mistakes, and a lot of internal work.

But today, I can honestly say that letting go and empowering others has become one of the best habits I’ve ever formed. It’s freed me up to lead, to dream, and to build a company that doesn’t rely on me doing it all.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ecoslay.com www.adriamarshall.com
• Instagram: @ecoslay @iamadriamarshall
• Facebook: @ecoslay
• Linkedin: @adriamarshall @ecoslay
• Youtube: @ecoslay @leafnodes

Image Credits

Jaxon Photography