We were lucky to catch up with Laticia Munford recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Laticia 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.

I can definitely say that introducing my natural hair care brand was one of the biggest risks I’ve ever taken simply because there are a lot of unknowns. You don’t know how customers are going to perceive or respond to what you’ve created. What if they don’t like it? Could it hurt the credibility of my already existing brand? You don’t know the financial weight that curating a product line will bare… I mean, you really don’t know how any of this will play out. You just take a leap of faith. Ultimately, if who you are and what you’ve already built is important to you, when you step out and do something new like this it’s scary because there’s a possibility it can either make or break what you’ve worked so hard for. That’s the risk.         I am the CEO of Taraji Dalis Natural Earth Products, which is a natural hair care product line. As a cosmetologist with more than 16 years of experience, hair care has always been a main priority of mine. I believe that, in this industry, it has become secondary in my opinion. Stylists are so fixated on making sure that we get the style and the look to the point that we’re not concerned about the health of our clients hair. My inspiration to create a product line came from one of my most important clients, someone who is very special to me- my daughter, Taraji. She was a little girl at the time and she always had a head full of really beautiful healthy hair. As time passed, I noticed that the eczema she had on her skin had begun to spread to her scalp. It would get so dry to the point where it would crack and bleed til she would cry due to the pain and irritation it caused her. I felt so bad for her, I had to figure out what I could do to deal with what’s happening in her scalp. It was a lot for me to take on emotionally, especially since I’m someone who’s in the industry that knows how to fix everybody else’s problems but my own daughter’s. I started trying a variety of different products that were recommended to me by other professionals in my field. Some would work for a while then eventually they’d stop working. Something had to give, I need a solution not just a temporary fix. So I started doing research on different oils, natural products and ingredients that would not only comfort, but heal her skin and scalp issues. I didn’t want it to just be a thing that only made her feel better, I wanted her scalp to actually be better. I started mixing and trying new things. I would take pictures and track my progress. Five months later is when I noticed that I was able to do things with her hair again like putting extensions in her braids without it irritating her scalp. Her scalp was no longer dry, cracked or bleeding anymore. Another benefit from the product was that her hair grew… like a lot! When I was taking her hair down to wash it and do her next style I wasn’t prepared for the amount of hair that had accumulated. I took pictures and I was both happy and surprised at the same time. I showed the pictures to my family and they were impressed.
Boom! & just like that I had my family and others asking to buy some of my product, that is now known as “Shea butter baby”, for themselves. I was so excited about it I posted about how I had made this stuff and it got my daughters hair to grow. Shortly after, I started receiving messages from people asking me to make some for them as well. I would tell them that I wasn’t really selling it because I had no way of packaging it so they would ask “Well what did you put your daughters in?” and when I told them that it was in a mason jar, they said “Then go ahead and put mine in a mason jar, I want to get some!”. That was literally the start of Taraji Dalis Natural Earth Products. I had no idea what it would become. I didn’t know people would take to it, and believe in me as well as my product so much to where they would actually assist me in growing it and making it what it is today. The risks that I had to take paid off and I can proudly say that we are still growing as a brand daily.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Laticia Munford, also known as Laticia Your Beautician. I am a cosmetologist who specializes in natural hair and a certified loctician, although I’m pretty skilled and educated in styling all hair types. I have been doing hair professionally for over 16 years. I began building a clientele for myself at only 12 years old. I started off as a braider doing braids, locs, and extensions. I did not have my cosmetology license until I was in my 20’s. I do a lot of research on hair because it’s what I love, it’s what I do. I was always told that I have ‘growing hands’ and I love the idea of helping hair grow. Product wise, I have a whole line; Taraji Dalis Natural Earth Products. There’s our all natural herbal shampoo “Poo Mi Pleze”, along with the conditioner “Dry Gone Bye-Bye”, a rapid hair growth oil “Stimulations”, super growth cream “Shea Butter Baby” (the originator of the brand), our cool mint & green tea spritzer “Refresh” (this is one of my favorites), and lastly, the twist and loc gel “Loc’d Up”. You may actually buy the whole line together in a kit! The only product that’s not included in the kit is the “Loc’d Up” gel. The loc gel is a product that more so applies to those with locs or may be used as a curl definer. The kit on the other hand focuses on giving you strong and healthy hair, as well as helping your hair grow in the areas that seem more resistant to growth. The whole line is all natural. It’s some good stuff! The scents of the products are all natural aromas like lemongrass, grapefruit and rosemary. This product line is a    lifesaver for those with alopecia. You have a lot of people that have areas in their scalp that are hard to grow, they experience hair loss and my products can actually allow people to see growth in those areas. It moisturizes and soothes the skin irritation in your scalp, giving you a beautiful healthy head of hair! I really want people to know that this brand is created as a labor of love solely for my daughter.

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

There was a hair and beauty expo that I was going to attend. I planned to set up a booth and sell my products. I was a brand new business at the time, so this would be my first time having to mass produce a certain amount of product. This made me nervous, but not afraid because I believed i’m my brand so much that I was willing to take the risk. I’m in the hair industry so I had the inside scoop on what consumers needed. I knew my product was a necessity but could I sell it? To get ready for the event I had to purchase bottles, ingredients, labels, flyers, anything that had to do with marketing and selling product. THIS WAS A LOT MENTALLY & FINICALLY! The cost was my greatest concern because you don’t know if the return will be worth the risk. I made 100 bottles each of all 6 products. To somebody that may not be a lot but when you’re producing your OWN product to make a 100 of each product… that’s 600 products on your own. I mean, I had assistance from my family which meant a lot and it did help but there were some things they could not help me with which still made it a lot of work for me. I boxed up all my inventory and transported it to the show. It would’ve been a big win if I sold everything that I had. I did good, I didn’t do great because while i was busy making all these products, I had completely disregarded the fact that I needed a sales pitch. I had the banners, I had the look, I just didn’t have the verbiage. Make sure you cover all your bases, that was the #1 thing that I learned. It was a good experience, but I still went home with product. In some way I believe this was a blessing in disguise because if I had sold all my product at the show I would not have been forced to think outside the box. I was strolling on social media one day and I saw a new beauty supply store that was just opening and I had this thought to call. I never really thought to put my product in a store before. The store owner told me to bring a sample of the products to her so she could try it out since she was only considering putting the best products in her store. She tried them and she loved them so to see what her customers thought we put 6 of each product in her store. My product sold so well that people literally started coming back the following week asking for more. When we first put my product in her store I went under a consignment, so I didn’t get money from it right away I got money as the product would sell. After she saw how well it was selling she called me and said that she wanted to order everything that I had in larger quantities and payed an invoice upfront. That was my first wholesale order. To make the phone call was a decision that turned out great for my business. Having the product that I brought home from the show meant that I was able to supply what she needed at that time. It made me realize that you have to have a system, you have to always have inventory, and to make connections in other areas so you can expand your brand. This is my favorite marketing story because it was the first time I was ever pushed outside my comfort zone and made me grow in many ways as a business owner.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Before Covid-19, I heavily relied on in store sales. I didn’t have online presence or a way to purchase products online. I did great being that I am a stylist and I can suggest to clientele what they needed from their hair in person. Everything was going good and then BOOM! Just like that, Covid hit. When we were forced to quarantine, we had to close the store for a couple of months. During this time I didn’t know what I would do to make money. I started trying to think of ways to earn income while I sat it purgatory. I didn’t come up with anything. My friend, who designs websites, called one day and gave me this great suggestion to open an online store. I remember thinking “This could work”. She created an online presence for my brand and set up a store on my website for people to purchase product and have it shipped to them. My main responsibility was to make the product, package them, and ship them to the customers. This I could do since I was not able to go anywhere. I continued like this throughout the time of quarantine and it was a successful pivot. So much so that when the quarantine was lifted and we were able to go back to work, I decided to keep the online store going. I love talking to customers in person and suggestive selling my product but the online store made my product available to people everywhere, ultimately expanding my reach. While there was a lot of inconveniences with being on quarantine, this was definitely not one of them. In fact being on quarantine helped me elevate in my business.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tarajibraidstudio.com/?fbclid=PAAabiqZ4DSL5frQ4fnwCSXEhLMzmalXg7JmYwXD53QkCODHTPsiY6Vgh2t5o
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/tdnaturalearthproducts?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082803232470&mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@laticiayourbeautician3261

Image Credits
@stillwordss @greatidea.life