Curls Understood is more than a media platform for women exploring or embarking on the journey to become natural, we also aim to inspire other entrepreneurs in the natural hair care business. We’re honored to have Delali Kpodzo, co-founder of the innovative beauty subscription box We Are Onyx, talk to us about what inspired her to start her business.
Delali, and her co-founder Myriam Bocobza, came up with the idea in the Spring of 2012. By September 2012, she had left her full-time job and in December 2012 We Are Onyx was officially launched. Learn how she set about making her dream a reality.
What inspired you to start We Are Onyx?
It came out of a personal experience that I had with my own hair 2 years ago. I was working a very stressful, corporate job and had been braiding my hair because it was easier for my lifestyle.
Once a month I would take it down on Friday, get it washed and conditioned on a Saturday then have it re-braided on Sunday. On Saturday morning my stylist’s salon called and said she had a flat tire and couldn’t get to work that day. I called around trying to get anybody else to do my hair. Somewhere around 8pm I came to the realization that I was going to have to do it myself.
So I went online and searched “how to wash natural hair” and all sorts of things came up but there weren’t any practical instructions like, “you get in the shower and do this…” Eventually I started picking up on certain words like, transitioning and co-wash – words I’d never heard of before. I started to search those terms and then a video came up demonstrating literally how to wash natural hair in sections. I had no idea people were doing this on YouTube! What really stuck out though was that the girls hair wasn’t quite as kinky as mine. She had much bigger curls.
The next morning I was on my way to brunch with my boyfriend and my friend Myriam. I told them wouldn’t it be amazing if there was this place that Black Women could go to learn how to manage their hair. Myriam immediately whips around and tells me that she has this amazing business idea to go along with it. That’s when Onyx was born!
So how does We Are Onyx work?
Initially Onyx was really just about hair. As we started to talk more, I realized we had other issues with our beauty. So Onyx blossomed into a larger beauty destination where women could learn all aspects of their beauty. From cosmetics, to skin care nutrition. Health to wellness. All wrapped around the concept of a beauty box.
The Onyx online store allows you to continue the conversation once you sample something you like [you can buy products directly on the Onyx site].
I also wanted to introduce women to brands they’d never even heard of. We didn’t know that there were companies out there like Cocoa Curls and Herban Body Care which are companies started by Black Women who saw a gap in the market. Both products are amazing and we wanted to introduce women to these new brands.
We’ve had enough of companies thinking that they know what Black Women are interested in. All they do is slap a Black Women’s image on a product, make the background brown… and we’re supposed to sign onboard?!
What separates We Are Onyx from the crowd?
Right now we are the only beauty box on the market that actually lets the subscriber pick their own samples. We round the box out with one full-size sample we really love and know will work for everybody.
Onyx really allows you to be involved in the process. You can scout out the products on the website, watch video tutorials on that product, see what the experts like Felicia Leatherwood are saying, see what the regular women are saying, and if you really like the product, you can come back to the website and buy it.
Over the last 5 years we’ve seen beauty marketing to Black Women become more sophisticated. How did you and Myriam come up with the branding for We Are Onyx?
One of the very first things I said about the process is if we’re not going to do this perfectly, we’re not going to do it at all. We’ve had enough of companies thinking that they know what Black Women are interested in. All they do is slap a Black Women’s image on a product, make the background brown, play soul music and we’re supposed to sign onboard?!
Myriam and I really wanted to address that. We wanted to present a space that is both aspirational and beautiful but also connects and listens. All of that went into devising the concept.
When it came to figuring out the name of the company We Are Onyx – the “we are” speaks to the community and we chose “Onyx” because onyx is actually a curious stone with the black onyx being the most rare of all types. Onyx stones are multi-layered, multi-colored stones, so that literally went into the construction of the multi-colored logo. All the colors are different but they work together to make something special.
When you’re amongst the highest spending group of women in the United States; when you’re spending three times as much as any other demographic in the market; you should be able to look at a website that represents you and looks beautiful. We should really be considered and praised as highly as we deserve to be because we’re a money powerhouse in the beauty industry. This is something the industry is only now waking up to.
Well said! We couldn’t agree more. Branding is an integral part of any company’s identity. We Are Onyx succeeded with its vision.
How did your partnership with Felicia Leatherwood come about? She’s very talented!
Felicia Leatherwood was somebody who kept coming up as we were doing research to lay the groundwork for Onyx. I’m seeing images of work that she’s done. Beautiful hairstyles and testimonials and I thought, “who is this person?!” I should just reach out to her and I am the Queen of cold calls!
When you work in the film industry sometimes you just have to put your big girl pants on and call someone out of the blue and just pitch yourself and see where it goes. I wasn’t adverse to doing it. So I found Felicia on Facebook and I sent her a message. I said, “Hey, I’m a huge fan of yours. I’m hearing your name everywhere. I’m working on something and would love to sit down with you and see if this is something you’d be interested in.” She actually got back to me and I was flawed!
When we met she told me I was the only person that had ever just reached out to her. Everybody else thinks because she’s a celebrity stylist that she’s unreachable. She said I was the first person that reached out and said, “hey can I meet you?!”
When you’re amongst the highest spending group of women in the United States you should be able to look at a website that represents you and looks beautiful.
Do you work for We Are Onyx full-time or is this something you’re creating in your own time?
No, this is my full-time job.
Many women in their late 20’s/early 30’s are pursuing other dreams on the side because they don’t want to do the same career for the next 30 years. So your story would be very inspiring for female entrepreneurs, especially in the natural hair care industry.
How were you able to make that transition? Did you work part-time then take the leap or did you wait until We Are Onyx took off before leaving your job?
Well I was really, really lucky because we were able to find an Angel Investor almost immediately and that investor believed so strongly in the concept of the platform and its potential that he budgeted for us to have full-time positions.
Before then I was working in a completely different industry. I was working in the film industry. It was a very big decision to leave that and do this because when you’re on a specific career path for several years you’ve made contacts and really embedded yourself into that industry. That was a big decision for me but ultimately I’m fully aware that it’s a very unique scenario to have the ability to work full-time at We Are Onyx from day one.
What can we expect from We Are Onyx in 2014?
We have a lot planned for 2014. A lot of amazing brand partnerships in the works which are unbelievable for a company that’s just crossed the one year mark. We have something very exciting planned for April. Also look out for limited edition boxes coming up in the next few months.
Cold Calling
Delali's Three Tips
