We recently connected with Danielle Jefferson and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Danielle, thanks for joining us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?
Its funny because a few years ago, I would’ve never thought this would be the name of our natural hair care business. Naturally Oranj is an expression for me now. Its. me getting to be naturally me. “Orange” is my maiden name and what some friends have nicknamed me over the years. “Jefferson” is my husbands last name. Put that together and it explains everything: “Oranj”. Our original name for our business was HoneyCurlz. When we were young in the industry in 2018, we never thought we’d be chased out of our name. The name was embraced to be something that would show empowerment over minority women and what it means to be proud of wearing natural hair. Milk, Honey, Gold, Black. It embraced all of these keywords that popped a picture in my head of a strong, black woman, unafraid to wear her natural hair in corporate America. Last year, 2021, was my last year using that name because a well-known company felt our names were too similar and that my brand was tarnishing theirs. I decided to change it to something that resonated more with myself. Something more vibrant that spoke to everyone and not just the strong black woman. But all women and men too. I’m hoping in the future to come this name, will be everywhere.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
For people who dont know, my name is Danielle Jefferson, I am the co-founder of Naturally Oranj, alongside my husband, Terry Jefferson. Naturally Oranj, originally known as HoneyCurlz, is a healthy hair care product supplying business. In short, we sell hair products. These products are a more healthier option, with the help of us to walk you through a natural hair journey OR just a healthy hair journey. I started Naturally Oranj as a hobby for myself. As a college student, who moved away from home, I didn’t have access to my hairstylist, even some hair products I could only find at my local hair stores in Miami, and at that point I used that as an opportunity to learn new things when it came to doing my hair. I didn’t know anything about doing hair. I thought washing my hair was as simple as it needed to be — scrub with shampoo, scrub with conditioner, go to a stylist to style it. Simple. I learned so much more about LOC methods, what my hair type was, what type of chemicals dry out hair, how important it is to deep condition every during wash day, what chemicals moisturized hair, and more. I’d make my own mixtures to deep condition my hair in my college apartments kitchen! When I saw how fast the state of my hair was changing, I realized I had something good going. My husband believed in this “hobby” I was growing a passion for and supported me through everything. I would post on social media the ingredients I was using, and show people the before and after of my hair. They would message me asking me to wash their hair and show them how to use certain products. Thats when I realized, it is not just me. There are so many people who feel they dont have the option of wearing their hair in a natural state because they dont know how to manage it, dont know how to help its health, dont know how to maintain its growth, and dont know how to style it. And so thats when I said yes. I started washing people’s hair for FREE. Teaching them how to manage their hair. They took the time trust me, so I took the time to help them. I decided I was going to do more research and formulate my own products. I created my shampoo and conditioner, and then my fast hair growth oil. As my company grew and grew, it truly produced positive results for people. Growing hair at a rapid rate, curls being defined, less shedding, taming psoriasis, helping people with alopecia. The positive results were and still are endless. I am most proud of the impact and the positive change and the message these products are sending.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Thats easy. 2021, going into 2022 is where I can say I had to grow tough skin and be my most resilient self. Although it was my choice to change the name of my business, I didn’t feel it was a choice I made with 100% happiness. I dont feel as if I truly had a choice, because if I didnt, I would be still waiting for a trial date to fight for a name. I would be fighting for a name, and not my business — because at the end of the day, I know I am capable of accomplishing my goals with ANY NAME. I was sad about the fact I started my business in 2018, and after almost 4 1/2 years of growth, almost getting to my $100K year, I had to stop and sell everything so I would get the opportunity to start over. II got comfortable with feeling sorry for myself. I was almost content with not having a business at all. It even became hard to sell out of the inventory I had left, people were unfollowing my social media pages lefthand right, its like they were more ready for it to end. I felt like a failure. I had a motto in my head that “it takes 5 years to build an empire”. Coming into my 5th year, I wasn’t reaping in the benefits of any empire, I was learning the importance of having the legalities straightened out from the start and not only when you “need” to. If I have to be the example of making sure you trademark your business from the START and not when “YOU’RE READY”, then so be it. I had to face my audience and tell them my business was closing down. And as I started over with this new name, it was as if I never existed. No one who I was, no one bought a thing. I didn’t sell anything for months. After a while I’d make about $20 in sales per week. I noticed I was up against an even bigger fight. I was facing an identity crisis. It has been an entire year, and people are still asking me when am I going to launch,,,but I launched my rebranding back in February 2022. A year later I am doing alot better. Way better.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
Right now growing clientele back up is one of my biggest goals. Most effective strategy is staying consistent with your content, and being relatable. People want to shop for what they want, what is useful, what makes them feel beautiful/handsome, what actually works and heals their problem. So with that being said be detailed. Be honest. Be informative, but dont bore anyone. Be entertaining. But best of all be consistent. No one wants to hear form you today, and then again in a month. I won’t remember you. Dont try to sell me a product, just tell me about the product. You can caption your instagram post as “BUY HERE $12.99”. You’ve gotta say “THIS LONG SLEEVE SHIRT LITERALLY FEELS LIKE A SOFT BLANKET. ITS PERFECT FOR WINTER & ITS AFFORDABLE”. Be relatable, tell them what works for them, dont reach out for whats going to work for you.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.naturallyoranj.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/naturallyoranj
- Facebook: Facebook.com/naturallyoranj
- Twitter: twitter.com/naturallyoranj