Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kendra Miller. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Kendra thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

So I took a leap of faith and moved my daughter and I from my small hometown to a city where dreams are made of for business owners and entrepreneurs, especially minority owned. I always wanted to make the big move, but fear was always in the way. As I look back i don’t know if I could have handled what all I’ve endured during the transition of the leap I took. I had way more growing and learning to do before I took the leap. It was risky because no job offered to move us, I was taking it upon myself and betting on myself to make the move. And although the story is still being written I don’t regret it one bit. I feel like I’m still in the early stages of it so there isn’t a lot to talk about, but what I can tell you is that I won’t give up. During the few months that I’ve been here in my new city Ive endured many obstacles and bumps in the road. There have been times where Ive doubted the decision, and thought maybe I did something wrong, but one of the things that reassures me that I’m in the right place is my daughter loving it here and loving her new friends. I can’t tell you how the many times I’ve endured some rough days that her happiness of being here overrides it. I made a move that most people dream of and are scared to take because of complacency and fear. I would say “well what if this happens, or what if this, or that.” But then I’d ask myself well what if you don’t go? You will always wonder what ifs.” Was it scary ? Heck yeh! But I’m a risk taker and I wanted to go see what was on the other side of fear. It feels like you’re walking in a dark tunnel with no directions hoping you find some light. But, you will find the light at the end of the tunnel. Moving to a new city, especially a big one is the scariest yet, biggest life Changing moment in life. You leave a place where that’s all you know, comfortable with, to move to unfamiliarity and build all over. That’s some rockstar ish, and you have to be a big risk taker to do something big like that! If you have been thinking about doing it? This is your sign. GO FOR IT!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m Kendra, Owner of Hair Kouture. Hair Kouture is a Hair company serving the community and online community great hair extensions and hair products. Hair Kouture was originated in 2016. I’ve always had a passion for hair and hair products. I had family members who were hairstylists and Salon Owners. I never wanted to be the one behind the chair, but I’ve always had a passion for Owning my own hair products. Back in the day people would come by the salon and sell their products to the hairstylists and that would excite me every time I saw them. I would always say “one day that will be my Hair products being sold to hairstylists or people will buy my products one day.” I was always so intrigued by hair products and how they were used to create a style. I would go into the beauty supply store or stores that sold hair products and just walk down the product aisle and look at each product. I would read the ingredients on what its used for and if It caught my eye I would put it in my buggy or cart to purchase. I couldn’t wait to get home and try out the product. Friends and family would come over to my house and see that I had products for anything they needed, whether it was to create a sleek ponytail style, curls, straight hair look, braids, or a natural look. Over time I was investing into so many products and hair extensions that one day an idea came to me about creating and starting my own brand of hair products and extensions. So, I did some research and lots of trial & error figuring out the right formulas for my products and extensions that would be great to provide to people that are just like me. The one hair care product in particular that started the first of my hair products was Hair Kouture edge control. Edge control is a smooth gel-like product that has a stronghold used to put on your edges to control them. There are many different edge controls, but a lot of them didn’t work for my textured hair and other people who have hair texture like mine, or as many call it 4C textured hair. I needed an edge control that could at least get me through the afternoon because most edge controls would last maybe an hour or 2. So through trial and error, I created a stronghold edge control formula that would work and hold down 4C textured hair throughout the day.

For Hair Kouture Hair extensions I wanted to create a quality experience for people to experience long-lasting extensions. Over the years I would go into beauty supply stores and invest in so many extensions that wasn’t really useful after one wear. I wanted to bring in and create a quality experience that would allow people to feel good about investing in Hair Kouture’s Quality extensions. They are able to get as many re-installs of their extensions instead of having to continuously purchase hair extensions. Which can last them up to 2 years with great care.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Being authentic, engaging and product usage. People like authenticity in my field of business. Engaging with my customers on social media. Doing “start from the beginning to the end” videos. In the beginning I would do professional photo shoots and post on my social media page. Although it was professional it wasn’t gaining me the customers. People like to see the actual product being used and the outcome of it. You go online and see a product it may look good, but if there is video of the product being worn or being used, that’s your deal breaker for the customer.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

There isn’t just one lesson I had to unlearn it’s so many, and I’m still unlearning things. I am unlearning so many things that I was taught growing up that showed up strong in my adult hood. It wasn’t until I became a mother that I realized I had to unlearn a lot of habits my child wouldn’t learn. It’s tough unlearning things because a lot of things were programmed, you believed that was the way of life. I can speak on one lesson I had to unlearn because it’s apart of business and that was self doubt, and hoping for the worst. I had to shift my mindset and reprogram my mind to say that if it works out it’s meant to be, if not, it’s not meant to be and God has something better. Shifting my mindset in that way has gotten me so far.

Image Credits
Yonata Solomon