We were lucky to catch up with Alyssha Dairsow recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alyssha, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with 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 had just moved to Salt Lake City, Utah in 2013 with the plan to only be here for 2.5 years. After 2 years of ups and downs and finding my way, I decided to stay here on what I call my “purpose journey”. By way of speaking to several families and friends that had Black girls in the state, I found myself wanting to be a resource to a problem I was seeing. The idea of Curly Me! was born. However, the idea didn’t become a reality until I spoke to a random grandmother about her granddaughter’s hair in a retail store. Fear almost kept me from making the biggest and best shift in my life (at the time).

From that interaction, I was able to reach and curate an event surrounding hair care for families with Black girls. With our first event being August 2015, additional events were created the following year to educate, empower, and encourage Black girls to be their best selves. By 2018, we were registering as a 501 c3 in the state of Utah providing flagship events, other resources, and planning programs.

Alyssha, 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?

Alyssha Dairsow has engaged with the community since she moved here 10 years ago. And as the founder and executive director at the nonprofit Curly Me!, she’s passionate about helping her community see its beauty. Focusing on young Black girls ages five to 14, Curly Me! provides mentoring and hosts events that help children of color embrace their best selves. From book clubs to panels to hangouts, she’s building a village around an underrepresented community and empowering them to embrace their uniqueness.

Mrs. Alyssha works to provide a platform where the voices in her community are heard, including her own. “Things will not change if I, or anyone else, stays silent,” she says, and laying the foundation for the future of the young Black girls in her community is what she believes will change Utah for the better. I personally would like to foster diversity in Utah because I would like to live in a state that includes me in major decisions are made in government, workspaces, and all the way to the services I receive in a restaurant.

We decided to be a reliable resource for parents, Black girls, and the community because we noticed there weren’t many fun and reliable resources for our girls, says Mrs. Alyssha, describing where the idea for the nonprofit started. I am confident Curly Me! will continue to grow into bigger and better events, programming, and outreach that will cross state lines and country borders.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I can say being now in our 5th year as an official 501c3 organization in the state of Utah, being reliable and consistent has allowed us to build the reputation we have today.

Families know we will have quarterly events and other resources for them to bring their children to. Their children will see other children that look like them, which sometimes is rare (Utah’s Black population is 2% spread out across the state). Parents can connect with other families that have the commonality of wanting to raise their Black girls 5-14 years to be their best selves.

Community members know that they can rely on Curly Me! to be a resource as well to advocate for this population in the state. They, too, can learn from and with us on how to be better advocates for our girls and their families when it comes to everything from books to hair to belonging.

Being a reliable and consistent resource has been a joy to provide to our community.

Any advice for managing a team?

I understand we are, currently, a small non-profit, but we are mighty! As non-profit ED, I have had to learn and figure out how to set the tone and keep it with unpaid help and assistance. We have great volunteers for our events and amazing professionals who serve on our Board. However, sometimes “life be lifing” for EVERYONE at the same time. I have been clueless earlier in the organizations creation. But what I’ve learned to do is keep in close communication with these folks who see and believe in the mission of Curly Me!.

Having a newsletter has been one way to maintain a positive morale with folks. Since our events aren’t every month, we can keep the Curly Me! community up to date via this monthly newsletter. We have gotten great board members and volunteers from that. We are looking to see what shifting to specific messages being sent to parents/community in 2024. Check back with us to see how that has gone, haha.

In 2023, we hired our first paid part-time employee. Super exciting, but it didn’t come without its challenges. Questions I had to ask myself are:

How do you delegate? How do you download all the details you’ve carried for years to someone else? How do you build trust?

Taking those questions apart and critically thinking about them allowed me to figure things out. Having a mentor didn’t hurt either. Through make weekly sessions with the staff member, being honest, open, and transparent (within reason), we are at a point of building a trusting and understanding relationship.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.curlyme.org
• Instagram: @curlymeslc
• Facebook: Curly Me SLC
• Youtube: @curlyme2018