We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tanika “niik” Lennon a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Tanika “Niik”, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

My Natural hair oils:

I started by doing research on different natural ingredients to see what works best for natural hair. I suffer from seborrheic dermatitis , which is a skin condition that causes flaky, red, or scaly patches. Some dermatologists mistreat or misdiagnose this condition so I figured it was time for me to figure it out. From having conversations with others, I later found out that some of my family and friends have this same condition. This was a great opportunity to help all of us out.

My family and friends did a trial run on several oils I created to see what works best. I had to see what types of products they would rather use.

This took months to find out what oils or sprays would not irritate the scalp. How long would it last? How much I would charge? Will it even work?
Adding herbs to my hair oils definitely worked and I knew I was ready to my product out there.

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

There is alot more to learn when you put your brand out there. You will definitely have some trials and tribulations but that’s called growth. I took months to launch any of my products. The first thing was worrying about other people’s opinions. In reality that’s something you shouldn’t worry about. Also, worrying about finances and business management.

Thinking of other ways to expand my business, I decided to become a loctician. My business sells loc gel so it only made sense. It was time to invest in myself so taking a loc class would be perfect. I met with the owner of Locs of Honey in Baltimore, who a great instructor by the way.

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

When I first started out business was slow, this is new to everyone and people are feeling you out. After gaining more clients, still making hair products and dealing with personal life it became a challenge. I had to find a way to make all of this work. With the help of my two daughters,Chantice and Chanyai things have been better. I also try to balance things out.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

This is still a side hustle for me. When I gain more clients/customers this will become my main. I won’t rush it but it’s something I’m looking forward to.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @urstrulyniik

Image Credits

I want to thank my daughters who definitely help me out with the business. I respect their opinions when it comes to any decision making.