Ursula Dudley Oglesby, president of Dudley’s Beauty Corp. LLC, a black, family-owned hair care products company and beauty college that has been in business for 45 years, holds a degree in psychology from Harvard University. Oglesby says the degree is an asset in the beauty industry.
“Forty-five years ago my parents founded Dudley’s, this year [we plan] to take the company to a whole other level,” she tells rolling out. “Our theme this year is soaring to new heights, and includes our EMS, Educational Motivational Symposium to be held in Greensboro, North Carolina, from July 28-30th.”
How has your psychology degree helped you in this business?
It definitely helps me when you understand people and that people want the same thing, and that’s a little bit more. This type of business is about relationship-building. We have great products and they love our concepts, but they also love the fact that we want to build their businesses.
Having a psychologist degree helps me with the cosmetologist and the people that I deal with on a regular basis to understand them so that I can give them the things that they want.
Can you explain the connection between a black woman’s hair and her self-esteem?
The connection between our hair and self-esteem is tremendous we know when we look good, we feel good, and when we feel good we act better. When our hair looks good, it’s something about that that makes us feel happy, we spend two to three times more than the other races do, because we know that when our hair looks good, we feel good.
