Female Founders: Jacqueline Elkouby of Heatless Hair On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Some people will try to intimidate you or doubt you because you’re a young woman. I wasn’t really prepared for the skepticism I would face from people just because I’m a soft spoken woman. A lot of people initially didn’t think I had the bandwidth to run my own business. I was approached by a group of investors that essentially wanted to take over and didn’t think I was capable of growing the business myself. I had to decline their offer to maintain control of my company.
As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jacqueline Elkouby.
Jacqueline Elkouby is the founder and CEO of Los Angeles-based Heatless Hair. https://heatlesshair.com/. She invented the Curling Ribbon™ — an innovative beauty gadget made of silk that you wrap your hair around for beautiful, bouncy curls overnight without having to use appliances that damage hair with heavy heat.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
I don’t have a background in business but when I was 23, I was in school to be an esthetician. I’ve always wanted to be in the beauty industry. Most recently, before the pandemic I was working at a spa as a facialist. During the lockdown, there was a beauty trend going viral — people were using bath robe ties to curl their hair. This is when I got inspired to create the Curling Ribbon. I designed a prototype with silk and a cotton filling and had my friends and family test it out. I was really amazed with the results and how many different hair types it worked on. From there, I was launched on my new entrepreneurial path.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
One of the most interesting things that has happened to me and also contributed to the growth of the company was my overnight come up on TikTok. I posted a tutorial video of me using the Curling Ribbon. It was my first post ever on TikTok. I woke up the next morning to a mass of notifications on my phone and discovered my video was going viral. I hadn’t originally intended on being the face of my brand, but TikTok has become a very important platform for us to advertise as well as showcase other influencers who use our product. Through collaborations with other Tik Tok influencers, I’ve noticed that both of our followings grow symbiotically. Now we can help other influencers grow just as they’ve helped us.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
One of the funniest mistakes actually led me to creating a new product. I accidentally ordered the wrong size of cord, which is what fills the Curling Ribbon. It was a couple sizes smaller than what our Original Curling Ribbon is. At first, I was mortified. What was I going to do with all this inventory? I decided to get a little creative and make a new size. It turned out that the thinner curling ribbon yields different results and is actually better for thinner and medium length hair. The lesson I learned was that not every mistake Is a mistake.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
My whole family has been extremely supportive of me turning our home into a Curling Ribbon factory. My mom and sisters have stayed up all night helping me ship orders, but I’m particularly lucky to have a sister who just graduated accounting school. She has been my right hand woman, keeping our books and making the operation seamless. She triple checks everything, and makes sure every dime is accounted for. I am extremely grateful to have her.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this EY report, only about 20 percent of funded companies have women founders. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women to create companies. In your opinion and experience what is currently holding back women from founding companies?
I think a lot of women can feel intimidated or discouraged when starting a business venture because historically it’s such a male dominated field. Luckily for me in the beauty industry there are many successful woman entrepreneurs that have paved the way for young women like me. Nowadays there are also many resources for women founders that set out to fund and support female entrepreneurship. I think this is a great step towards leveling the playing field and encouraging more women to create their own companies.
Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?
I think as individuals and a society we’ve been making steps in the right direction with the increasing focus on creating funds and communities that support women founders.
This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?
I think that if you have an idea, you are passionate, and you believe in your product then nothing should hold you back from trying to achieve it. If anything, I think being a woman founder has motivated me even more to achieve my goals. I don’t come from a business oriented background, but I knew I had a product that could make people’s live a bit easier and I felt I had no choice but to pursue it. Women are generally very detail oriented and thoughtful and I think this is an important strength that a founder should have.
Is everyone cut out to be a founder? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful founder and what type of person should perhaps seek a “regular job” as an employee? Can you explain what you mean?
I truly believe that anyone can be a founder. I don’t think there is any formula that makes someone a successful founder other than creativity, hard work and discipline, which I believe everyone has in them and is capable of.
Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)
- Get a notebook or a planner. I tend to think of myself as a pretty organized person. I mean my closet is color-coded. But when I was being overwhelmed with a mass of orders, which admittedly is a pretty good problem to have, I soon realized that I didn’t have enough product to fulfill them. I had to get organized fast. My email was being flooded with customers wondering where their orders were, and I had to keep track of both the production and the outgoing shipments. Keep in mind, I’ve been running this business out of my home and hand packing every order myself. It doesn’t get much more bootstrapped than that. Now I keep a schedule and my thoughts organized with a planner. Don’t underestimate it!
- There is never enough time in a day. 8 to 10 hours is not enough time to get things done. Sometimes you might need the full 24. You’ll sleep someday. I’ve definitely had many sleepless nights but as long as I keep my customers happy, I am happy.
- Some people will try to intimidate you or doubt you because you’re a young woman. I wasn’t really prepared for the skepticism I would face from people just because I’m a soft spoken woman. A lot of people initially didn’t think I had the bandwidth to run my own business. I was approached by a group of investors that essentially wanted to take over and didn’t think I was capable of growing the business myself. I had to decline their offer to maintain control of my company.
- For every 100 No’s there will eventually be a Yes. This is a life path that is filled with obstacles and a lot of No’s. In the beginning it was easy to get discouraged by constantly hearing No. But if you keep going eventually someone will believe in you and your product as much as you do.
- Be ready to get married to your business. My business has become my best friend, boyfriend, and child.
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
Part of what I value in my company is that we are produced locally in Los Angeles. I was approached by manufacturers overseas who wanted to mass produce my product, but I ultimately turned them down. I felt strongly that the integrity of my company lies in keeping our operations local and creating jobs here at home.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
I would love to one day use my platform to create a charitable foundation like Locks of Love.
We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
Around the time I was starting my company, I watched Sara Blakely’s Masterclass in being a self-made entrepreneur. I was really inspired by her story and it really helped keep me going through some of the obstacles and opposition I’ve faced. I would love to have lunch with her and get her secrets to creating her empire.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Female Founders: Jacqueline Elkouby of Heatless Hair On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.