We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dede Roberson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Dede, appreciate you joining us today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?
I was always the girl in school that did her own hair & people loved my hair & how I dressed. I actually got in the hair game on accident it wasnt my actual dream. I always tell people the hair game chose me I didn’t choose to be a hairstylist! It was a hobby that I got from my mom , who was a hairstylist when I was a kid that later turned into my career. I started doing my friends hair after graduating & it kind of took off from there. This was before social media was really a thing , just word of mouth . People would ask my friends who did their hair & they would pass on my information. I remember my very 1st promo pic was on Instagram , it was a sew in and some curls I did on one of my friends . Things just took off from there.
Dede, 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 Dede , born and raised in Austin tx. To be honest I actually use to want to be in the entertainment industry, I loved to dance , still do . I wanted to be a background dancer for different artists but after I graduated high school I needed something to help me take care of my kid who I had just had after graduating and hair was my outlet. It was a hobby , something I learned from my mom who was a hairstylist that turned into something I actually loved to do ! I use to do all of my friends hair, take pictures of them post them on Instagram and it kind of just took off from there . Word of mouth and self promoting ! I gravitated towards natural sew ins & Quickweaves because that’s all I use to watch my mom do , it came very natural to me. As time went on I wanted to learn different things because the hair industry is forever evolving , theres always something new going on , so I took a few classes & learned how to do faux locs & knotless braids ! I’m a perfectionist so it really took me some time to add other services , I was always known for my sew ins so added new services was very scary for me but now I take pride in knowing that I’m a multi talented hairstylist, I don’t just do 1 thing ! If I could tell any upcoming hairstylist anything it would be to learn different skills if you can , study your craft , perfect it & when you’re ready , showcase it!
How did you build your audience on social media?
When I first started promoting , Instagram was hot !! This was like 2012-2013 , I promoted a lot of my work on instagram before any app , then came Facebook ! On instagram I used hashtags a lot to push my content out . On Facebook I joined a lot of different beauty groups & hair groups in my city & surrounding cities . Started promoting everyday in those groups on Facebook & on Instagram. I don’t do it as much as I use to now because my portfolio speaks for itself now , thankfully I don’t have to promote as much but those were definitely the platforms that helped build my clientele. Now TikTok brings all my new clients !
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
Wearing my own work ! I do my own hair & when I post pics & videos or people see me in public they feel like if she can do this to her own hair , I can only imagine how she can make me look ! I always tell people self promo is the best promo ! Wear your own work ! I’ve had girls in the hair store stop me because of my hair & book apts with me right then & there ! It definitely gets the girls going !!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/thedededoll
- Instagram: Thedededoll
