We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lexia Perea a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Lexia thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?
Last summer I chose to live life in fulfillment & let go of temporary satisfactions. In the peak of July 2023 it had been officially over one year surviving day to day ‘life” in La La Land, California. Though Los Angeles is full of bright lights, getting past the gates to make strides in the real Hollywood was harder than I thought. School was one thing but actually stepping out as a creative on your own definitely takes guts & constancy, which I hadn’t mastered yet. Within that year & some post grad. I’d been through a world wind of jobs that were so miscellaneous no skill that I gained could correlate or translate to the next. Forgetting about my own divine talents, I was caught in a fog, just trying to survive. I was lost.
There comes a point in every creatives life where they must choose whether they will suppress their authentic self or walk in their anointing. For me the time of this life changing selection had come when I was packing lunch before going to one of my 9-5 jobs. I remember the moment so vividly. One instance I was cutting vegetables, a vegetable myself as a droned on with making my lunch, then suddenly I felt this burning in my chest. My eyes widen as if I was seeing for the first time. I had awakened from my year of disassociation & became enlightened to reality. In my mind something had clicked & I realized comforts was an illusion.
I had a revelation that the daily “comforts” I was accustomed to were merely excuses to remain in survival mode which hindered my creativity. I remember this heat in my heart which was hard to explain at the time but felt as if I was about to combust. The artistic spark I’d been searching for during my creative fog was finally coming to light. In this moment I knew what needed to be done. Once removing the rose-colored glasses, I saw the true path I was meant to take.
I followed this instinctual light which lead me to release anything that no longer enriched me. This is a nice way of simply saying : I quite my two jobs. I remember telling my mom on a phone call, kind of in frantic spirts, how I was no longer going to endure nor settle & instead the live life I deserved. Now was the time to nurture my creative spark so in time it’d become a soul flame.
Once I had broken free & began healing from the traumatic responses of survival mode, thus began my journey as a “creativepreneur”. Was it easy to leave everything behind? No, but I knew with focus & determination I’d be on the right path once again. Of course I had to come up with a new routine, it can be a challenge governing yourself when you’ve been taught to look to others. One has to be disciplined. I worked in the film industry as well as dusted off the tools used to formulate products for my hair wellness brand Crown Kurls. Starting out there were times I wouldn’t eat, but comparing that to being starved in the soul was nothing.
As the months went by I had earned more income in my creative endeavors than the two “conventional” jobs I had been slaving at. I had enough to even fund a trip across the world & live in Europe for 2 months. To think if I hadn’t chosen to live life authentically, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Creatives must learn there is a difference between comfort & nourishment.
When you are nurtured, you grow. When you are comfortable, you are settling.
We can not truly live up to our fullest potential remaining in our comfort zone. Put yourself in an environment that will nurture you then inspiration will hit. To live we must be authentic & let go of the comfort that temporary satisfactions bring. Wake up from the dreaming & manifest into reality, walk in your anointing.
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.
From an early age I was on a mission to change the world for the better. In fact, if you were to ask my mother she’d say I always aspired to be a friend to world, it’s even in the meaning of my name. Nonetheless, in addition to making strides within entertainment industry, I also considered myself a creative in all aspects of life. Just like in history, my hair became a path to my own liberation. What was once something I felt ashamed about, soon became my most cherished treasure.
This was not in a vapid sense but rather my hair became an exemplification of my internal growth, showing how gentle care toward self is better then self depiction. Creating Crown Kurls is a physical representation of the love I bore into myself & wish to gift to others. The instant I decided to go for the big chop I felt a sense of cleansing and release from what society wanted me to be. I finally found a sense of self after years of damaging the very crown that made me unique.
With ever curl and coil on my head, love also grew. I have faith that every person, curly and coily, will feel this way when using my botanical products because I craft love into every bottle. I seek to create a brand that not only exemplifies unity within the natural hair community but promotes self-acceptance. Crown Kurls is more than a brand, it’s a movement. Another push forward in strides towards forging new, more welcoming standards of beauty & uniqueness.
The Crown Kurls mission is to challenge & transcend current beauty standards and enlighten the world to all forms of strand glamour! Being a natural hair’d woman in this society with kinky hair can be challenging. I aspire to eliminate the narrative that curly nor kinky is hard to manage. Within every curl & coil there is a story. That being said Crown Kurls is here to listen attentively. My brand is really about unity & thrives on community. Crown Kurls provides representation for curly creations.
A lot of people grow up not loving their hair. Crown Kurls is designed to inspire those individuals to begin to embrace their natural hair texture, their trustiest self. I believe natural hair is elegant fun & most definitely manageable! We support & uplift our royal community! Thus, Crown Kurls provides the right tools, from hair wellness needs ( i.e hydrating mists, moisturizing cremes, styling custards, sealant butters, & stimulating elixirs) as well as affirming decorative stickers & even whimsical yet, educational content to help our community achieve their hair goals & inspire them to embrace their crown.
I formulate hair care products for not only my generation & for the next to feel free as well as represented, but also for our elders who suffered; I hope that Crown Kurls inspires them to perhaps believe they’ve been beautiful all along. All our botanical products are love in a bottle. Crown Kurls is a movement that aspires to inspire individuals of all ages to cherish their natural hair. Crown Kurls wants your self-love to grow one bottle at a time. We give room for customers to be their own beauty standard. Define beauty your way & may your crown reign supreme with Crown Kurls!
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
During the month celebration of Juneteenth, I decided to officially launch my hair wellness brand Crown Kurls. The theme of the party was “tea with the royals” as I respectfully see all the supporters of Crown Kurls as a royal family. I was inspired by the Bridgeton series as I had just binged watched the most recent season. With the help of my Godmother & God-sister I was able organized an event party at their family home. This came in clutch despite originally wanting to host the party in professional space. Unfortunately I couldn’t afford that level of Bridgeton bedazzlement because I had put most of my money into the manufacturing & formulation of my products. Nonetheless, I didn’t fret because I knew those ideas would blossom another time.
Everything was flowing nicely as we were setting up the decorations the previous day. The only thing left on my plate was formulating more hair products to sell, which at the time was no problem. However, all it takes is one mistake to cause a negative ripple effect. When it came time to get in the kitchen & start cooking up my products, I had made some basic chemistry mistakes & put to much of one ingredient with the other. Thus this ruined about 4 full bottles of my Miracle GloGro Hibiscus Creme!
I literally ran to my Godmother after it happened & we began brainstorming what to do next. After all the event was the following day; I had no time to reorder ingredients! Soon a light bulb dinged in my mind & I remember I had at least one additional bottle made aside from the one on display, so I still had product to use. Then I thought, ” Why not make some sample size products instead”! My Godmother & I quickly hopped in the car to get some tiny containers that I recalled seeing at a crafts store earlier that week. Luckily I was able to fill up about six to ten samples of product from my larger bottle for people to buy & try.
Though I did take a big loss with not being able to sell my original size bottles, at least I had something to give other than my hydrating spray & affirmation stickers. In the end I sold out of EVERYTHING! With that turnout, I decided to keep the idea of having sampler size products. I mean as a curly girl, there’s nothing worse then spending your hard earned money on an expensive product that doesn’t work! With these new trial sizes, that are also travel friendly, it’s more considerate & inclusive.
Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?
There is no real hard set guide to founding a business, for there are many ventures to explore. Of course there are a certain qualifications to meet depending on what industry aligns with your interest. However, in my experience thus far as an entrepreneur it’s been all about risk & being quick witted. At the start of my business I was really a curly girl with a dream, more creative than commerce savvy. Nonetheless in time I learned how to combine my imagination & new business skills to form a solid vision.
Being the virgo that I am, I know exactly what I want & will definitely be hands on in my creations. I’ve spent years alchemizing my various hair care formula’s to get it just right for the wide range of coily & curly kings & queens out there. At times I felt like a mad scientist in my mom’s kitchen. I’d say: “Oh this isn’t emulsifying with this — scrap it.” or ” The consistency is right, but the smell is a N.O!” I went through main trials & error, nonetheless it was all worth it because I know all it takes is one good formula, my diamond in a rough, that’ll help thousands of coily & curly royals have a solid hair care routine.
Crown Kurls shows that quality is the new luxury. Therefore, when it came the the formulations of my products I stayed true to the brands ideals of embracing the natural you by having the products be botanically crafted. That being said all the hair wellness products, ranging from hydrating mist, moisturizing creme’s & stimulating growth elixirs, are handmade by me with organic ingredients, all encapsulated in frosted, gold capped bottles, which I searched far & wide for. Crown Kurls is naturally regal.
My greatest lesson when it comes to manufacturing products is know what you want, but be ready for possible mistakes & learn how to evolve from there. You never know, you stumble upon something even better than before.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.crownkurls.com
- Instagram: @crownkurls & @lexiaperea
- Youtube: @themanecoarse & @lexiaperea
- Other: Within every curl & coil there is a story. That being said Crown Kurls is here to listen attentively. My brand is really about unity & thrives on community. As the owner I am hands on with crafting my products as well as speaking with my customers. Crown Kurls utilizes other social media platforms such as TikTok to educate people on how to take care of their patterned strands, show style inspo & be a foundation for community fun! Search for Crown Kurls on TikTok under: @crownkurls :)
