When Titi and Miko Branch introduced their homemade hair care products to their clients who had a burning desire to transition from relaxed to natural hair, they didn’t know that they would be considered industry pioneers. Their vision for their natural hair care line, Miss Jessie’s, could be likened to the business prowess harnessed by Madame CJ Walker, a legendary African-American businesswoman, hair care entrepreneur and philanthropist.
Here the curly-haired duo talks about their success, what it’s like running a family business and what the beauty industry has taught them. –yvette caslin
Share a little background information on your company.
Titi: We started a salon in 1997. We were focused on mainly healthy hair. Our product introduction came about in 2004, around seven years later.
You have arguably the most recognized natural hair care collection on the market. What steps did you take to reach this point of brand recognition?
Miko: We are honest in what we do. We are sincere. We are not a product company who puts products on the shelf primarily to make a buck. We [create] product for women to really discover themselves and we share every bit of knowledge that we have in order for them to do that. I think this message comes across to the customer, that support, going from relaxed to natural really is a scary time and at Miss Jessie’s, the messages that we send are clear that we are here to help.
Titi: We introduced our product at a time when women really started talking and having conversations online. I think having a presence online and being able to communicate with these women on the ground at an early stage really helped us to bring our brand to the point of recognition that it has today. We were one of the first brands that wanted to infuse information as an important piece in buying into the Miss Jessie’s brand. Not only are you getting a high-quality product but you are getting tips and information on how to use it through You Tube videos and styling guides created especially for customers who thirst for information.
What is an average work day look like?
Titi: We work four days a week in our product business and two days a week in our salon. I would say that Mondays are always crazy, getting to the office, doing meetings, evaluating new products to introduce, handling staff, handling production runs, meetings with retail partners, promotions, marketing – all of those things definitely add p to a very busy day.
Miko: We also work very closely with our staff. We have to hear what they like and the changes they want to make. We have to keep our staff healthy and inspired. I am working in the salon also, we spend long hours when we are there marketing our product and coming up with new concepts. Also being sisters, while we are working, that’s a job in itself [laughs].
How do you utilize social media to reach your customers?
Miko: We use social media and our Website as much as we can. The Website provides information. Someone can sit down and take a look at our pictures and read as much as possible and we try to make it as packed full of information as we can. The exchange on Facebook is a different experience. Our Facebook page is more of an interactive medium and we are able to hear our customers and we are able to answer them quickly and share information.
How has your relationship with Target helped your brand?
Miko: That’s been tremendous. We received the call that Target wanted to carry our line. The relationship with them has spread the word and it has created outlets where people can get the product in a lot of different states. Women weren’t able to now it is readily available in 422 Target stores.
Titi: We choose our partners very carefully. We knew and understood that Target has a great relationship with their customer base in the marketplace. It seemed like a good fit for us when we decided that we would come together in a partnership with Target to offer a very, very trusted product line like ours in a retail space that is as trusted as Target, so the relationship has been a great win, win for everybody.
How did you come up with the tag line: “the best darn …. period”?
Miko: We thought so highly of our grandmother that we named our product after her.
Titi: She would always use that word [darn], and we wanted to make the word endearing. We believe that it is the best because of everything that we have put in the product to make it the best. It is a tag line that we wholeheartedly believe in.
What have you learned about the beauty industry that you want to share with aspiring entrepreneurs?
Titi: I think that what Miss Jessie’s has learned that in the beauty business, you can have honesty, integrity and a great product our product has that unique combination of being honest, informative and performing; it takes a lot longer to get there when you are coming from a point of integrity and earnestness but you can get there.
