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Gwen Jimmere of Naturalicious: “The number one idea I would suggest to feel beautiful is find what helps you boost your confidence level”

The number one idea I would suggest to feel beautiful is find what helps you boost your confidence level. Confidence is sexy, it’s bold and it’s attractive. Do things that make you feel sexy. Personally, I attend a twerk dance fitness class 3x a week. When I’m in that element, you can’t tell me a thing! Do whatever that “thing” is for you that makes you feel powerful and unstoppable.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Gwen Jimmere of Naturalicious.

Naturalicious is an organic, all-natural hair care brand with products for women with curly hair, with a focus on women of color with natural kinky or curly hair with a mission to eliminate the frustration, time and expense that can come with hair maintenance. As the first African American woman to own a patent for natural hair products founder and CEO Gwen Jimmere is a true trailblazer. Having started her company after getting laid off, going through a divorce with a young child, she created and grew Naturalicious out of the ashes of her life and from the ground up. 13 employees later with a growing brand, she is now managing her small empire remotely all while raising and educating her 8 year old son. Naturalicious is sold in hundreds of stores nationwide including Whole Foods and Sallys. Above all else, Gwen wants women to feel beauty as they are. Naturalicious exists to enhance the beauty that’s already there and give you more time for the things that matter most.

Thank you for joining us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

After being laid off from my job at Ford Motor Co, my life quickly started to spiral downward. But there was one night that gave me the idea of what is now a multi-million dollar company. I was watching a movie that was produced by Chris Rock named Good Hair and there was a scene where a can was dropped in a tub of hair relaxer. The can completely disintegrated! Being pregnant with my son added to my fear that if this chemical was able to disintegrate a metal can, it had to be highly damaging to my unborn baby, and even to me.. In many ways you could say I was frightened into my destiny. That’s when I began

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

I was once on a Delta flight, and one of the flight attendants kept walking past me, staring at me. This was a 4 hour flight, and this went on for about half of the time. So for 2 whole hours she was walking back and forth, staring at me as she passed. My mind was racing as to why she was looking at me specifically. I wondered if maybe I had accidentally sat in someone else’s seat or something. After a while of this, she finally stopped and asked me, “Is your name Gwen?” Of course I responded with “Yes”, but at that point I was super confused. How did she know my name? Then she said, “Do you own Naturalicious?” And of course, I said, Yes!”. She immediately got excited and said “I’m a Claymate! I’m in the Naturalicious Nation! I’m so excited to meet you!” When the flight was over, I waited for everyone else to get off the plane so she and I could talk for a while. We ended up making a video and going live for my tribe of customers. And I even sent her a gift in the mail. It’s always an awesome surprise to meet customers out and about, and they actually know who I am. I’m such a low-key person, it usually shocks me when someone recognizes me out and about, but it actually happens pretty often.

Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that?

I started being more visibly present to my customers. I started showing up more as the face of the company and the expert of my industry. I no longer wanted to hide behind the brand. The tipping point came when my customers realized that I cared about the health of their hair and that I cared about them as people, not just dollars. I really strive to build emotional connections with every one of them, not just transactional ones. Maya Angelou said, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person to whom you are grateful who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

The people who are game changers for me. Is my mother and my partner Michael. When times were toughest they were both there every step of the way and helped in more ways than I count. The successes I have had only could have been accomplished by her tough love and teaching.

Can you tell us about the “cutting edge” (pardon the pun) technologies that you are working with or introducing? How do you think that will help people?

Right now we are working on a brand new business model concept for the textured hair industry. We are still refining it, so I can’t spill too many beans right now. But it’s definitely a disruptive game changer and I’m incredibly excited about it.

Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?

I think there could be drawbacks. But both Black Mirror and Law of Unintended Consequences both share the commonality of the unforeseen future that could punish our actions and people should deeply think about. It just goes back to the principal of thinking before your actions, to calculate your actions to see the end result.

Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the “beauty-tech” industry?

Augmented reality excites me. The possibility of customers being able to see how they’ll look before they buy makes for better business for everyone. That means less confusion, less returns, more customer satisfaction, increased happiness all around.

Smart mirrors and customized products for face and hair are exciting as well. We are rapidly moving toward a hyper-personalized society and everyone wants something made just for them

Speaking of personalized products, we are seeing makeup companies begin to develop at-home tools that custom blend makeup colors and foundations for consumers, on demand. And exciting innovation will be the same thing created for hair care.

Can you share 3 things that most concern you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to reform or improve the industry, what would you suggest?

One is “fake inclusivity”. Many brands are including “natural hair” but it’s still the “socially acceptable” version of natural hair. The loose curly textures that are closer to the universally accepted standard of beauty is what we usually see when they’re talking about being inclusive. Rarely do we see images of coarse, kinky, highly textured hair in all its gorgeous glory. If you’re going to be inclusive, be completely inclusive. Don’t just check a box to say you did it.

The other thing that grinds my gears is the plethora of half truths, incomplete information and just straight up falsified details when it comes to beauty overall. There are so many people giving “expert” information and they’re not experts at all. They make very definitive statements, which consumers believe. This then leads people to be utterly confused my so much conflicting info all over the web.

The last thing that concerns me is that so many companies are selling snake oil to customers with promises of “miracles in a bottle.” This makes the customer jaded and frightened to try other products. Who wants to keep spending money and time on something when so many others like it have fooled them over and over again? By the time they get to a legitimate company, like Naturalicious, we have to undo so much of the damage the customer has suffered that it makes serving them even harder because they’re scared to even try something new to them.

You are an expert about beauty. Can you share 5 ideas that anyone can use “to feel beautiful”? (Please share a story or example for each.)

The number one idea I would suggest to feel beautiful is find what helps you boost your confidence level. Confidence is sexy, it’s bold and it’s attractive. Do things that make you feel sexy. Personally, I attend a twerk dance fitness class 3x a week. When I’m in that element, you can’t tell me a thing! Do whatever that “thing” is for you that makes you feel powerful and unstoppable.

Next, understand that beauty is not vanity. It’s a foundational element for how we show up in the world. When you feel gorgeous, you show up differently. There’s a different sway in your swagger. You stand up taller. You own more of the room. You are less apologetic for being you. You deserve and are worthy of all of this.

Third, stop wishing you had someone else’s hair, face, or body. You were created in divine order and you are absolutely perfect. There is nothing about you that you need to fix. Buy from brands that exist to support your glow and help you shine brighter, like Naturalicious.T Truth be told, the people who you are envying very likely have their own set of insecurities.

Fourth, get up, get dressed and show up for yourself every day. Put in the time and effort to make yourself look beautiful for you. This is not about looking great for your partner or for any one else. Personally, I can go without a face full of makeup but I have to fill my eyebrows in. It makes me feel pretty, so I do it, even if there’s nothing else on my face. It’s easy and comfy to walk around in leggings and big sweats every day. But the moment you get the energy to truly get dressed in something you feel pretty in — even if it’s just jeans and a cute blouse — your whole mood will immediately change.

Lastly, self care is not selfish. You cannot pour from an empty cup. Take care of you and let everyone else benefit from your overflow. It’s impossible to be at 100% for everyone if you’re not at 100% for yourself.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-))

Personally I would definitely lead the eradication of domestic abuse. I was a victim and it can be traumatizing. 1 out of 7 women in America are victims of domestic violence. And 1 out of 16 men also report domestic violence. I will never understand it. Violence literally has no upside. I often hear people assume that victims are “stupid”, “dumb”, or “weak” when that’s not the case. The vast majority of abusers also control the finances of the household. It’s almost impossible, as an abuse victim, to completely leave a situation such as this and pull yourself up by your bootstraps when you have no money to do so. When we can begin to empower abuse victims with financial literacy, and actual funding to care for themselves and their children independent of their abusers, that’s when we will see a drop is such cases.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Speak what you seek until you see what you’ve said.” I completely believe in the law of attraction. I’m a living testimony that when you speak what you want, and truly believe it is not out of reach for you, the desires of your heart will manifest. But it’s not enough to just speak it, you have to believe you’re worthy of it. And when you do that frequently and consistently, nothing is out of your reach.

How can our readers follow you online?

You can reach us at Naturalicious.net. On Instagram we are @naturalicious_beauty and on Facebook, we are at facebook.com/naturalicious.


Gwen Jimmere of Naturalicious: “The number one idea I would suggest to feel beautiful is find what… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.