Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Isis Nakia. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Isis, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
1st of all thank you for having me. It’s certainly a pleasure and honor to have my story shared on the Canva platform.
So the back story would be my upbringing and how that transformed into the mission of The Beauty of Rashida when I found my calling as a natural hair stylist.
Let me explain
Working as a stay-at-home mom and wife I began to search for my purpose and a way to earn my own income. I failed at babysitting and baking cakes. However, frequently ”I have to do someone’s hair” would magically come out of my mouth. I felt pretty weird saying it because I never had the desire to become a hairstylist and I had planned on resuming my career as an accountant and author once my son turned 6 years old. However, natural hair was extremely popular at the time, and growing up in a nurturing ”conscious” household, I was very familiar with the effects and benefits of natural ingredients such as Shea butter and Aloe Vera. I had years of experience nurturing my parents’ beautiful locs. So I gave being a natural hair care stylist a try. I transformed my dining area into a hair studio. In that area, I introduced Black women to their own natural coils and curls that were often very foreign to them.
I would often hear new clients complain about just how dry their hair was and how it was a struggle for them to see any coils, curls, or definition. I would make the analysis that natural hair is like grass and no matter what style you have in your hair it needs to be nurtured for it to grow full and blush, if not it will grow, but dry and lifeless like weeds. Before styling I would always moisturize their natural hair first, my clients would be amazed at how soft their hair felt. My clients were always impressed with how their hair grew.
At that time back in 2015, there were no protective-style products in the market. So I decided to create a hair product line that caters to nurturing your hair while protective styling. Growing up in a conscious home my parents encouraged my sister and me to love, appreciate and nurture our natural hair and our dark skin, we were taught that being Black was beautiful. I also wanted this for my clients and now customers, I didn’t want them to become slaves to wearing weaves and wigs. I believe Black women and all women should always have the option to wear their own natural hair. At that time The Beauty of Rashida Protective Style Collection was born.
Since then our mission has grown from us encouraging Black women to love their natural hair to helping women love themselves using a holistic approach. We believe there is a higher level of natural beauty hidden in many women that desperately want to come out. A version with healthy hair, beautiful glowing skin, a version that is healed from emotional trauma, energetic and confident in who she is. Through our books, hair, skin, and wellness products, we are dedicated to helping women discover their natural beauty at its highest level.
Isis, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Isis Nakia. I am the owner of The Beauty of Rashida. We are excited about our transformation into a holistic brand especially in these times when I feel we don’t necessarily need more products, but more healing. We believe beauty begins with our minds. It begins with how we feel about ourselves, so we created a publishing company Beauty of Rashida Books that creates books to help women heal from low self-esteem and emotional trauma. Our 1st release is entitled “Sis Hair Growth Begins in the Mind ” which is a self-help book that helps Black women who struggle with loving their natural hair, heal from traumatic experiences that caused them to develop a dislike for their natural hair as well as help them to create a mindset shift by showing them how their negative thoughts, feelings, and words towards their natural hair can prevent them from reaching their hair goals. In the book, we also created powerful affirmations and hair care solutions that will help them love their hair and reach their hair goals.
Self-love and self-preservation are a must! The Beauty of Rashida loves to feel glammed up and pretty with hair extensions and makeup, however, we also believe that we should all have the option to feel beautiful and confident wearing our healthy hair and healthy glowing skin. We understand that even though most women want to take better care of their hair, they don’t have the time to commit to long wash day routines. So we made it easier to grow healthy, longer hair while protective styling with our Braid Growth Box. It’s a complete hair growth system that enables our customers to grow healthier hair, and longer hair by being able to cleanse, stimulate growth and keep natural hair underneath moisturized and healthy while protective styling. We have also created a skincare trio that allows beauties to detox, brighten and beautify their skin to keep it in optimal condition!
With our hair and skin products, we understand the importance of using natural and organic ingredients. They are not just effective, they are great for our health so we created green non-toxic beauty products ( aside from preservatives needed to products from creating mold and bacteria) using natural and organic, non-gmo, no soy ingredients to help ensure we are creating the healthiest and safest products possible.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
When you have a brand with a new product or product idea be prepared for others to be inspired by it as well, especially now in the sharing age in social media where you want to share the benefits of your products with your customers and potential customers. It is so easy for someone with more financial resources and exposure than you to run with their inspired product and sell it to the masses. It can suck and be truly heartbreaking, especially when you are so passionate about the purpose behind your business and you have effective products. After a while I learned that is the nature of business and what God has for you, truly won’t miss you. I learned that God is truly the source of all knowledge. I learned that business is not a race, it’s a marathon. Through the years I learned the blessing in the disguise of having your business not blow up as soon as you launch it. There are so… many lessons that can be learned through failure. I learned to keep building behind the scenes. Keep perfecting your formulas, something that is good can be made even better. I also learned the science behind hair and skin and the importance of not just selling popular ingredients, but the importance of researching ingredients and knowing the effects it can have on different hair and skin types and women’s health. I also learned to not be afraid of being innovative. There were no Aloe Vera Hair Growth drops in the market when I created them (giving thanks to God here) but thru trial and error the formula was perfected and it has helped people grow longer and healthier hair without using any oil.
During my building phase, I also wanted to learn more about the people I wanted to serve and create products that can really assist with their needs and lifestyles. I learned to truly be successful you have to stay ten toes down and work your butt off. I learned to never give up when it gets tough, to never lose focus of your why. Now at this point The Beauty of Rashida relaunching as a women’s holistic lifestyle brand, I am the silent owner of several other hair care brands as well as a growing accounting firm. My journey was definitely hard (I didn’t even get into how hard my life had gotten soon as I decided to start a business), it’s not over, it’s really just getting started, but now I have an in-depth understanding of who I am and who I want to serve. I am so excited for the future as I plan on helping women to discover their natural beauty hidden and them as well as helping them heal from trauma to help them become better versions of themselves.
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
The initial capital for my business derived from the money I made being a hairstylist. It helped me to get the inventory, website hosting, and marketing expenses I needed to get the ball rolling with my business. I would suggest start-up companies start with a smaller budget because I think it’s best to make mistakes on marketing, and formulas, with smaller /debt-free money than to make mistakes or large sums or borrowed money. It’s better to get a good understanding of your market, work those kinks out 1st, and then go bigger with more significant funding.
Contact Info:
- Website: thebeautyofrashida.com
- Instagram: @thebeautyofrashida
- Facebook: Facebook.com/The-Beauty-of-Rashida