We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Schellcy Turner a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Schellcy, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What do you think Corporate America gets wrong in your industry?

Being a small business owner within the black and brown community; helping to break the stigma around dress code in Corporate America has been an uphill battle. Still prevalent in 2022, many Corporate American companies still seem to lack a sense of diversity and social ethnicity when it comes to black culture and how it is portrayed within their organization. The upper echelon of Corporate America has defined professionally acceptable dress code in the workplace without having the input of a culturally diverse setting for many decades. Growing up Trinidadian/American, I would watch my aunt’s and mother hide their ethnicity when it came time to step into a work environment. On Sunday nights, they would straighten their kinky hair and set their hoop earrings to the side in exchange for pearl studs; just to conform to the “Corporate” professional look. The idea of not being able to express the things they loved about their ethnicity through clothing and accessorizing was very saddening to me. This ideology carried on with me throughout my college years. I attended a well-known HBCU and even on campus my business teachers would express the importance of “dressing the part”. This meant not wearing hair braids or locs, no big earrings and absolutely no hair wraps allowed in a work setting. This felt like an attack on my culture and on my community. However, I went on to graduate with a major in Accounting and I dressed the part of what Corporate America felt comfortable with.
After spending 13 years in the oil and gas industry, I was laid off due to the pandemic and spent nearly 2 years being a stay-at-home mother. It was during that time that I decided to start my hair wrap company called Wrapped Right. For most of my life, I watched my ancestors adorn their crowns of mane with gorgeous fabrics of all sorts. This trend could be attributed to African culture which made its way to Black America through the transatlantic slavery trade and migration. Still today I feel as though hair wraps are an over-looked and under-utilized accessory. This is why it was important for me to start my hair wrap line and bring hair wrapping to my community. I am breaking the stigma that hair wraps are seen as not being professional in any setting. I no longer ask for or seek permission from my corporate peers and I wear my gorgeous handmade hair wraps to work and I don’t apologize for it. I am giving a face to being black, professional, and classy within a work setting while rocking my hair wraps, colorful blazers, and eclectic earrings. I believe it was this shift in thinking along with various culture movements that has given Black-Americans this “my hair doesn’t define me” attitude.
Gradually I am starting to see many corporate companies establish diversity groups within their organizations to help gain a direct insight into what culture and diversity means to their employees. This year I saw many corporate companies such as HP and Enbridge celebrate Juneteenth with their black and brown employees by inviting local black vendors such as myself to sell our products at their Juneteenth event. These aren’t giant leaps, but they are small steps in the right direction and it is my social responsibility to keep the moral and ethically cultured compass pointing in the wright direction.

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

I am a Texas native, born and raised in Houston with a strong West Indian heritage and influence from Trinidad and Tobago. I am a wife and mother of 3 awesome boys. I graduated from a local HBCU; Texas Southern University with a major in Accounting. After college I spent 13 years in the oil and gas industry before being laid off due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Being a stay-at-home mom was just as busy as working a full-time job, and I found that hair maintenance had fallen to the bottom of my priority list. I needed a quick look that would allow me to step out looking fashionable and effortless. Hair wrapping has always been a go to for the women in my family and I found myself wearing them more and more. However, it wasn’t making sense that I was laid off and spending a large amount of money on hair wraps. It was during that time I decided I would turn my love for fashion and hair wrapping, coupled with my love for crafting into a business. On June 1st, 2021, Wrapped Right was launched. I create handmade hair wraps for both men and women of all colors, especially my black and brown kings and queens. My hair wraps are high quality, affordable and can be worn in any setting, for any occasion. It was very important to give people an affordable alternative to hair care without sacrificing style and finances. I want to be able to take the hassle out of spending hours in the mirror for that on-the-go parent who’s shuffling between the grocery store, car riders’ line and date night. My hair wraps are also a quick and fun accessory for the corporate mom shuffling between board meetings and happy hours with friends. It’s important that my hair wraps are versatile and affordable without having to give up quality and style. While it has only been one year since being operable, I’ve learned and grown in ways I didn’t think possible. Being able to sell my hair wraps within my own community and teach men and women how to wear hair wraps has been culturally rewarding.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Being an online company primarily, I would say that having a strong presence on social platforms is a must for small businesses such as Wrapped Right. However, as I grow as a brand, I am finding that the best source of new clients for my business has been at popup events. For those who may not know, a popup event is a temporary storefront where a group of vendors come together in one setting to sell their merchandise to the public. I have found that when people are able to touch my products and asks questions in person, this gives them the confidence and trust in my hair wraps to not only spread the word about them but to also become repeat customers. Building that rapport with the very people wearing my merchandise has helped my brand to grow and improve while providing a human feel that cannot be achieved online.

We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.

I am so ecstatic to answer this question because I feel as though I never give my business partner the recognition he deserves. Yes he; my husband of 10 years. Anthony has been one of driving forces behind my brand. Having a full-time job of his own he still finds the time to dedicate to Wrapped Right. Although I am the face of the brand my husband is the hustler behind the scenes. He helps me with everything from production, shipping and even sometimes modeling. I met Anthony at the age of 15 and we reconnected in 2008. We’ve been rocking since then. I couldn’t be happier to grow my brand with anyone else.

Contact Info:

• Website: wrappedrightetc.com
• Instagram: wrappedrightetc
• Facebook: wrappedrightetc
• Youtube: Wrapped Right
• Other: Linktree: https://linktr.ee/wrappedrightetc

Image Credits
Photography Credits goes to Wrapped Right (Anthony/Schellcy Turner)