Superwomen with Rebecca Minkoff Breaking Barriers: Redefining Success for Black Female Founders in the Beauty Industry with Monique Rodriguez, CEO of Mielle Organics
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As Mielle Organics celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, founder and CEO Monique Rodriguez promises an enormous celebration! And there sure is a lot to be excited about. In recent years, the Queen of Hair has broken barriers and given Black female founders everywhere a reason to celebrate.
After losing her son during a high-risk pregnancy in 2014, Monique founded Mielle. Her turn to God and faith during this time led Monique back to her true purpose of working in the beauty and hair care space after working as a nurse for almost a decade. Through sharing her hair journey on social media Monique began to heal and was inspired to build a brand of natural hair products. She has experienced incredible success since the launch of her brand. Not only is Monique a self-made millionaire, but she has accomplished two historic milestones within two years: first, by becoming the first Black woman ever to raise the largest non-controlling investment of over $100 million with Berkshire Partners, and second, by being acquired by Proctor & Gamble, the largest exit a Black female beauty founder has ever made.
The focus of Monique's brand has always been her online community and keeping her consumers' needs at the forefront. While Monique remains CEO of the company, she believes the real work has just begun. She now puts her focus on her real-life community, including her family and her non-profit Mielle Cares.
Thanks for listening! Don't forget to order Rebecca's new book, Fearless: The New Rules for Unlocking Creativity, Courage, and Success.
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Big Ideas:
- Questioning the traditional route to success
- How a tragic loss led to a deeper relationship with God and revealed true purpose
- Using social media as a healing outlet and following what makes you happy
- Using a nursing background to formulate hair care products
- Starting small and honoring your journey
- Establishing an e-commerce brand with an upward trajectory of growth
- Building a brand in the natural hair space by focusing on connecting with the consumer
- The challenges of scaling a business and raising capital as a Black woman business owner
- The importance of hiring the right team of people and building your business’ infrastructure
- How mindset is the foundation of success
- Building generational wealth with a brand exit strategy
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