Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / Rizos Curls Latina-Founder Julissa Prado on why you can negotiate ANYTHING & how she started her community in the 9th grade without actually knowing it

Transcript

Rizos Curls Latina-Founder Julissa Prado on why you can negotiate ANYTHING & how she started her community in the 9th grade without actually knowing it · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  This is Julissa Prado for Female Startup Club. Welcome back. It's Dune here, your host and hype girl. On today's episode, I'm chatting with Julissa Prado, the founder of Rezo's Curls.
• 0:22
  Founded in October 2017, Rezo's Curls is a clean hair care brand creating products that embrace and celebrate the beauty of curls, coils and waves everywhere. In just under three years, Rezo's Curls has amassed a global following of more than 300,000 followers on social media and ships to 57 countries.
• 0:42
  Today we're chatting about the origins of Julissa's business, creating her own potions and formulas for hair to give to women and girls since she was in the ninth grade, and how she took her $80,000 of savings since she was a little girl and went all in to develop hundreds and hundreds of samples over four years before finally landing on her best-selling products that we see today.
• 1:05
  We also talk through the importance of small business owners standing up and shouting really loudly to get noticed in big key retailers. The key thing to remember here is that everything is negotiable, but we'll get to that in the episode. There's so much love and energy and emotion throughout this talk, lots of lols and even some tears.
• 1:26
  I could speak to Julissa for literally ever and ever, and I came away feeling so grateful to have met her and to hear this incredible and deeply personal story. I hope you love it just as much as I do.
• 1:39
  Now, I feel like I've had so many exciting announcements lately, but the truth is I have another one and it is a real treat. To give you a hint, it's what you've been asking for and we have been listening really well. In the next episode, I will reveal what's coming next for Female Startup Club and trust me, it is going to be a cracker. Let's get into this episode. This is Julissa Prado for Female Startup Club.
• 2:06
  Julissa, hi, hello, and welcome to the Female Startup Club podcast. How are you? I am so great now that I'm chatting to you. This is definitely the best part of my day, getting on these recordings. So thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having me. Can you start by introducing yourself and telling us a little bit about what your business is?
• 2:30
  My name is Julissa Prado. I'm founder and CEO of Riso's Curls Hair Care Line. And we create hair products for people with wavy, curly, or coily hair textures. Amazing. I know from reading about you that your story has so much love and soul in its origins. Could you take us back to where it all began? Yes.
• 2:56
  So I've been pretty much doing hair and been attracted to hair ever since I was a teenager. I never did it professionally, but I grew up with a really big family in Los Angeles. And inevitably, by having over 60, 70 first cousins just in LA, I had a lot of clientele. And so I've been doing hair.
• 3:18
  Starting in ninth grade, I remember as a ninth grader, I was like any homecoming or prom season, I was booked up like seniors would literally book me to style their hair. So I was always very attracted to hair. I was always good at it. I've always said like I have the hands for it. And during that time too, I wanted to start wearing my hair natural because back then I was straightening it, straightening it all the time.
• 3:43
  And it was very normal to me to like turn to the earth and turn to natural ingredients to care for my skin, my scalp, my hair.
• 3:52
  And it was all from my own grandmother's teachings. So I just started making my own concoctions. If my scalp had something going on with it, I could cut some aloe vera plant. If my hair was feeling like I needed more holes, get some flaxseed, boil it. It was something very normal. So I had my own concoctions. And styling natural became just another of the options that I had when doing hair on the side while in high school.
• 4:20
  Oh my God, that's amazing. When you were doing hair for these women, did you actually think like, oh, I want to turn this into a business in terms of a hair salon? Or did you think, oh, I want to turn these concoctions into a business or didn't even cross your radar at that point?
• 4:38
  So what's crazy is that I never thought I would ever be a hairstylist. I never thought as that as a potential job, I didn't even cross my mind that I would ever even go in that direction. You know, I went to UCLA for undergrad and then I got my master's in business and I was like always very much in the corporate world. And at the time back then I wanted to be a lawyer. Like that's what I wanted to do at that time. So hair was just kind of like a fun little side hobby that,
• 5:06
  that I would do, but I never even thought it could turn into anything business for me. But I was a big saver. And I knew ever since I started working when I was around like 14 years old, but at 15, I remember saving half of my money starting since then. And I would put it away for either like a business or just in general, I did want to make out of convenience. I knew that I wanted to make my product professionally, but for myself.
• 5:35
  Like I didn't really think of it as a business per se, but I would save my money because I was like, I want to make this is so inconvenient for me to carry this around in Ziploc bags to have to refrigerate this to like it goes bad after a little while. Like this is very inconvenient. I'm going to say start saving my money. So it's just crazy how I kind of didn't know what I was doing, but I was making the correct decisions to start being able to eventually self-invest.
• 6:02
  And I think it's also so crazy that like you hadn't recognized the idea yet that you could start a business and view yourself as an entrepreneur. You were, you know, doing all these things and doing, taking these steps, but it hadn't clicked and fallen into place yet. Not at all. Like I've always said that.
• 6:20
  it's hard to become what you don't see. And for me, like, I remember not even knowing what college was. Like, I never had met anybody that had gone to college. I never knew what university was. I literally learned English in third grade. Like, my parents...
• 6:36
  They're both from Mexico. My dad crawled through a sewer when he was a teenager to get to this country. He worked in the fields picking oranges. Like, you know what I mean? Like they never went to school at all. They barely know how to read and write. So I think where I started, it was just very different life than, you know, than this entrepreneur life that I now have. But back then,
• 6:58
  It was, I remember like the first time I ever met somebody that went to college and they were studying, weren't going to college to become a lawyer. And then that's why I wanted to be a lawyer. Cause it was like my second cousin. She was like from our neighborhood too. And then she wanted to be a lawyer. And I was like, you're my idol. Like, that's what I want to do. So yeah, that's.
• 7:20
  kind of how it went. Oh my gosh, what a story. That's wild. So you go to school, you graduate, you're in the corporate world. When does the aha moment happen where you think, oh, hang on, I'm actually going to start formulating my products and using my savings? How much savings did you have, by the way, before we start that? In total, it was close to $80,000. By the time I like
• 7:49
  ended because I was able to get like I got scholarships in undergrad for grad school. I applied to a fellowship and PepsiCo. I was a PepsiCo fellow. So they gave me like this like really dope scholarship. And I worked for PepsiCo while in grad school. Ever since I turned 15, like I've been working and I would always save my money. So I didn't have that many expenses because I was able to
• 8:14
  save my money. And luckily I didn't have to like help my parents with their expenses. So it was just savings for me. Savings for you. Right. Okay. So you've got the 80,000 in the bank. When is the, a half moment that you think I'm going to take that 80,000 and I'm going to spend it on my formula? Yeah. So yeah.
• 8:34
  All throughout high school and grad school and all this time that I'm in this amazing, like by this time I'm already in grad school working for PepsiCo and then I'm going to go work for Nestle. And this whole time I've never stopped doing hair. Like so many of my best friends, I met them in grad school. I'm at the elevator and I see this girl and I would call them undercover curlies, women that you would never know that have curly hair. And
• 8:59
  They would be like, how do you get your hair like that? And I'm like, meet me in the bathroom in an hour. I'll help you. And I would bring on my concoctions and do their hair. And then I would teach them and they would see their hair naturally for the first time. I would hold dorm sessions. I would hold, like, I was always known for that. And the amount of women that I met throughout high school, college, and even in the workforce and grad school.
• 9:23
  that I styled their hair and helped them, taught them about their own hair, and they saw it natural for the first time. It was like hundreds of them. You were building your tribe. Yeah. So by the time, once I decided, you know, I want to make these professional, I still didn't think that
• 9:42
  it was gonna be enough for me to leave my corporate job. But I just thought it's very inconvenient. Like every time I'm helping these people, which I'm doing it all the time, like it would be easier if I didn't have to write down all these instructions and like, it was more of a convenience thing. And I thought, you know what?
• 10:01
  This is a big risk, but like worse comes to worse. I have a lifetime supply of hair care products for me and my huge family. Like, again, just on my dad's side in LA, I have like over 60 first cousins in total. I probably have over a hundred. Like, it's crazy. Yeah.
• 10:19
  So yeah, that's when I decided to make it professional. And it took me four years. And I worked with multiple different chemists before I was able to land the formula that I really wanted. And I think the reason why when I did launch, it did so good is because it actually works. It's because I spent those four years, I knew exactly what I was looking for. I had been working with so many different scalps, so many different hair textures, so many different ingredients. I had been
• 10:48
  doing all of that work of like testing out and understanding what is going to work in what environments and what climates, what hair types, et cetera. So I was very, very focused and knew exactly what I wanted. And no chemist, no big fancy lab could sway me in a different direction. Like I remember the first lab that we went with that I was trying to go with, they were like very fancy, big time. And then they kept telling me like, this is how you should do this. And I was like,
• 11:17
  Me, like no experience. I'm this little like 21 year old girl. I'm like, nope, that's not going to work. You know, like who am I? But you stuck to your guns. Yeah. Yeah.
• 11:30
  So in that four years that it took for you to get to the formula, so are we talking like you launched in 2017? So is this 2013? You start this process of, okay, I'm going to formula. Why did it take four years? Is it also because you were still working full time, so you were moving at it slower? Or was it because you had to kind of like restart again with new manufacturers along the way? I had to restart again. So I went through a ton of different chemists too.
• 11:58
  And that was a moment transitioning, especially from like the first two years of trying over and over with one lab was like so much money that I invested because each sample is $500. Like that's a lot of money of two year rounds and rounds of samples that take, like, I give comments. It takes a few months to come back. I'm like,
• 12:23
  redoing this, you know, it takes a long time and a lot of money was invested. And I remember at that moment that I couldn't get it right with like the multiple chemists in that first lab that I had already put so much money into. I was like, maybe it's impossible. Maybe I'm not going to find what I'm looking for here. But I was very glad that I didn't settle because I could have easily settled the first time around and been like, I guess this is good enough. But I didn't
• 12:53
  Like three months off between the two manufacturers before I kind of like re-upped again and really went for it to start all over again from the beginning. Oh my gosh. But I'm glad I did because eventually I did land the formula that I loved and wanted. You made the magic, it sounds like. Yeah. How many samples do you think you made in that four-year process? Oh my god, like
• 13:21
  Hundreds, like a hundred, like I don't even, it was just so many. And so the way that it works, I mean, I don't know how it works in other industries, but at least most of the time with pretty the standard with hair care is you get like, depending on the contract that you have, you either get two or three versions of that one sample and each time it's $500.
• 13:42
  So yeah, it's expensive. It's really expensive. It's going to take a lot of money. Holy moly. Okay. Yeah. So you move manufacturers, you find the magic, they're on board with what you're doing. You're happy. You're like, okay, I'm going to place an order. What was the minimum orders like for you at that time? And what happens next? Yeah. So there's so many, it's crazy because
• 14:09
  I feel so blessed and so lucky that I got in the industry at the time that I did too, because now that I'm in it and after, you know, COVID and all the different things, the manufacturers now have such high minimums that had I tried to start now, there's no way I would have been able to afford those minimums. Now it's like at least 10,000 minimum per SKU.
• 14:33
  Before, there was maybe like $5,000, and I was able to convince my manufacturer to bring it down to $1,500 per SKU, which for me was a lot and so much money. But I was really lucky in that it was like a really great time for the industry where
• 14:57
  you know, there wasn't like supply issues. There wasn't like crazy competition in that, you know, and I think that because of that, these labs were more willing to risk bringing on board this girl that has not a company. She has no customers, no guarantee. It's like, it's not usually would it be worth their time. And I think that had I tried to do that now, what, like, I don't know how I would have
• 15:21
  been able to get my foot in the door because I can't afford their minimum. Right. Someone on the show the other day, a woman by the name of Zenia Chen, and she has a company called Threads. She was saying, and one of her key takeaways from the lesson was, you know, everything is negotiable. Everything is negotiable. And so what I'm wondering is, how did you actually negotiate from 5,000 down to 1,500? Because that sounds bloody amazing. Yeah. So I don't know if I'm like these...
• 15:50
  Let me just put that out there. And we have the gift and I was born with the Pisces gift of being able to relate and being able to really connect with other humans and being able to like have a really strong sense of like empathy and how others empathize with myself as well. And yeah.
• 16:15
  I don't know, we just like get people and they get us for some reason. And so many of these people that I was meeting along the way, they would literally tell me like, I've never done this before, but like, I believe in you. I believe your story. I want to support you. Like, I would never lower my minimums like this, but like, I believe in you. Like, I want to support you. I see your passion and your da-da-da-da. Like, you know, cause I was like, literally this girl, like,
• 16:44
  okay, I know I don't have anything right now and I don't want to da-da-da-da, but like my formulas are going to be so good and I know what I'm looking for and I know I don't have any customers right now, but like, trust me, I know they're there and da-da-da-da, you know? So I'm like selling myself with nothing, you know? I'm like, I can make a really dope PowerPoint deck
• 17:06
  With pretty colors, but I don't have any data. I don't have anything to support it. Other than the fact that, you know, I have, I'm a hard worker with a lot of heart and they're like, girl, I don't know, but it worked out. And I was really lucky that people were put in my path that were willing to take a risk on me. Mm hmm.
• 17:26
  And I think as well, you had true conviction. You just knew. You knew and maybe you didn't have the data, but you actually, if you think about it, you did have the data because you had these women who you had been working with since you were in grade nine. So you actually did have the data. Yeah. It just came in a different way than versus like numbers on a spreadsheet. Yeah. So I grew up in predominantly...
• 17:52
  Latino neighborhoods my whole life. And when I was telling them, I'm like, you guys don't understand, like, the natural hair movement has missed so much of the Latino community because of the language barriers. I'm like, all of my tias, all of my cousins, like, everywhere that you're in here,
• 18:08
  No one knows the slight bit of information about textured hair. All they know is about straight hair. I'm like every hairstylist that I meet, all they teach them in cosmetology school is how to straighten hair. When it comes to textured hair, they don't teach them how to treat a real scalp, the ingredients that you need to use. They're using chemicals. They're using silicones. They're using sulfates. They're using all of these ingredients that are working against all of these women's natural hair texture. Yeah.
• 18:35
  And I'm like, I'm going to the store and there's nothing out there for me, for us, for my community, for every single woman that I see out there. There's nothing that is helping their hair be beautiful today and also good for the long term health of our scalp and hair. And I was telling them, like, Latinos, we care, especially we care about natural. We care about quality ingredients like we care about organic because it's part of our culture. But.
• 19:02
  society and all of these stores that we go into, it's all like super GMO. It's all super cheap, like harsh chemicals, like all these things. But I'm telling you, like one thing that I know is my culture, my community, my people, and I know what they want. And I know what the market is lacking from them.
• 19:21
  And that's one thing that I tell everyone that wants to go into an industry that they are unfamiliar with, or they feel like it's too saturated, or they feel like they are the super underdog. What I tell them is you don't just create a business. You create a solution to a problem. And if you have the solution to a problem and you're looking around and there's all these people that also need that solution to,
• 19:46
  Like, you know, more than you can make up in creativity, in your knowledge, what other companies will need millions of dollars to do the market research and need for marketing dollars. Like that is knowledge that is unmeasurable. And if you have that, the world is going to help you.
• 20:06
  like get that solution out to people. It's like your own inner, like internal secret sauce or something. Yeah, for sure. Okay. I want to talk about the launch. You've got your MOQs back. You have got the magic in your hands. How do you launch and what's it like? What happens? Yes. So yeah,
• 20:28
  I was also in a very interesting time that later on I realized how much it played into it. But it was right before like the political era of the time, especially United States. It was a really weird political climate where it was like very anti-Latino. And it was
• 20:48
  Oh my God, so much hate crime, this and that. Like, so I saw a switch, like a huge switch, even in just noticing my mom, how she would answer the phone that time versus after. So for example, somebody would call her in English to like, I don't know, sell her something before she would be like, oh, so sorry, so sorry. No English, no English. I'm so sorry. She's like very apologetic. Like, oh, I'm so sorry. Okay.
• 21:15
  During that time, after like, you know, when all the anti-Latino stuff was going on, she was answering it like, no Spanish, no money. You want my money? You call me Spanish. Click. I'm like, okay, mom. Earning it. Oh, so that's what we're doing. Okay. So it was a time where I feel like,
• 21:42
  I saw Latinos, especially everybody. It seemed like every culture wanted to unapologetically be their culture and they wanted to own it and they wanted to wear it on their sleeve because they were like, I don't want you to confuse, to feel comfortable being racist around me. I don't want you to feel comfortable like putting down my culture. I want you to see how beautiful and how successful and how well spoken I can be and be part of this culture or whatever.
• 22:08
  So it was a really interesting time that it was like the communities in general were realizing their power and they were realizing how much money is not just a transaction. Money is a transaction of power. And I feel like we were in a time where people were saying that.
• 22:32
  I don't want to just give power to people and companies that are going to mishandle it, that are going to use that power to misrepresent my community, to attack my community, to put people in power that, you know, are going to create policies and things that are putting down the people around me. So...
• 22:57
  in came the rise of like all these different like small businesses that I was like seeing pop up. And I was one of them. And like, really, all I did was I turned on, made a Facebook page. I made an Instagram page. And mind you, at this point, I have zero marketing dollars because I've already spent all of my money towards buying all of this inventory, buying all of these labels and bottles and da, da, da. And like,
• 23:24
  All of these things, I went into it. And I don't have any money. I mean, I have my own income. I'm still working at Nestle. But I don't have marketing money. So I just made an Instagram page for the business. I made some videos with my phone. And I just uploaded it. And I made the website myself on Shopify. The models were me and my cousins. The photographer was my brother. The drawing on the bottle, my cousin drew that. A super family experience.
• 23:53
  It was like, all right, so you know how to draw? Great. Can you draw this drawing on my model? Susie, come over here. Let me brush up your hair, all right? One of my cousins, that his picture ended up being like the featured picture in an L feature that they did for us. He had never used a camera before in his life, okay? I borrowed a camera and I handed it to my cousin, Ed, and was like, Ed, you know what? You have a good eye. You look like you could be a photographer. Come take these pictures of us.
• 24:22
  First picture, fresh photo we ever took literally ended up in Elle magazine, which is crazy. That is crazy. Yeah. So I was just like utilizing my friends and family and I would make these little videos and whatever. And I posted it on there. And I remember the very, very first day that I opened my website and I posted my little videos and I announced it. It was, Oh my God. Like even just thinking about it right now gives me like goosebumps. I want to cry because I,
• 24:56
  It's profound. Wow. Okay. Wow. I'm loving this. I'm loving this. Don't be sorry. I love it. Okay. Okay. Sorry. So, yeah. So, pretty much the first day that I launched, it was like an outpour of support of just... God. All the love. You felt all the love.
• 25:25
  Yeah, no. So pretty much like all those women that I had been helping for so long, little did I know they would all become my first customers. So it was just really beautiful and kind of like full circle moment when. I am sorry. Don't be sorry. I love this. God, why did God make me so emotional? So annoying. Yeah.
• 25:54
  I had a good streak before in the beginning. Anytime I did interviews or whatever, I would start getting teary-eyed. And I had a whole year where I was like, I'm not doing that anymore. I would look in the mirror like, tough enough. We're not doing this. So I had a whole year where I hadn't shed one tear. And then over here, Leo comes with Pisces energy.
• 26:18
  Ask me one question. Honestly, I can get teary like real easy myself. So you never know. You might make me cry over here. No, not doing this. It might come to me. It might come through the computer. Okay. So yeah, so pretty much they all became my first customers. I didn't realize that I was
• 26:41
  Pretty much, like you said, building all of the supporters, like building my trust in the community. So it was really nice when I launched and pretty much most of the customers, I was receiving so many testimonials. And in the comments, I was like, when you purchase on Shopify, it lets you leave a comment in the notes.
• 27:01
  And there was messages like, I don't know if you remember this, but in 2012, I ran into you at this student conference and you did my hair in the bathroom. And I've been wearing my hair natural ever since then. So of course, I'm going to support the products. Oh my God. Wow. Yeah. Crazy. So I think the very first day we had over like a hundred orders, which is crazy. It's crazy. Crazy. Crazy.
• 27:31
  Yeah. And oh, so then 100 orders, they got to get fulfilled. And I'm still working full time. You have a job. Nestle, I have a full time job. So I was really lucky in that that could have been a moment where I lost it. Like I, the business just, that's it. You have all these orders, like,
• 27:53
  how are you going to fulfill so many at one time? I don't even have all the supplies. I think I had enough supplies for like 20 orders. Like I didn't think that I had like 20 boxes. I had like 20 tissue papers. Like I did not expect to have more than like 10 orders. Okay. So I
• 28:15
  called, was calling all these different places. Okay, where am I going to get these more boxes? I found a place called Paper Mart that they did overnight delivery. And what I did have is a bunch of cousins. I have a huge family and a bunch of cousins that I, at the time I was living in Mid-City where all of my family lives. So I just drove down Washington Boulevard, picked up all my cousins on Redondo, the one cousin, Prim Powell, two cousins on Vineyard,
• 28:45
  So I just like picked up all my cousins and was like, let's get to work. They're just like teenagers. They'll literally do all this work for like hot Cheetos and like a white cheese table. So it worked out. So that was us just going hard. My mom, like all of my family was like, okay, what can we do to help you? Like, you know, there's just so much support. I have the most amazing, loving, I cannot stress enough how much
• 29:11
  of a family effort, my business and my whole life has been. So I'm just really lucky. That is so amazing. Gosh, how beautiful. I love that for you. So at what point do you quit your job? At what point do you think, okay, like there's something here for me to do and I can't keep managing both. What are the next steps? Yeah. So I quit my job
• 29:40
  that I quit my job. Granted, I was really lucky in that I had been able to start working from home during that time. So I was like really trying and hoping to balance both. But the moment that I felt like I had no choice,
• 29:56
  was when I had to do like a work trip and I was gonna have to be gone for a week. And they didn't know I have like, literally have like all these little teenagers and like these orders and these things. And by this time we moved into my Fio Juan's garage. So I was really lucky within a week, I was like, I can't support this in my apartment. Like this is not gonna work out.
• 30:20
  So my uncle that lives down the street from where I was living off Washington Crenshaw, he's like, wow, garage, come over, like, you know, use my garage. And I just remember that feeling when I saw the garage. I'm like, I did it. I made it this big time. Look how much space garage is like, which is hilarious. I'm thinking back of like how crazy.
• 30:42
  impressed I was by that garage and how quickly we grew out of that garage oh my god but I was like I did it like are you kidding me like I my business is huge I'm in my deal one garage I've got this garage my business is here I have interns people are working for me that is so low yeah you can't tell me nothing nothing
• 31:05
  How much revenue had you done in that year, like up until November 2017? What was the kind of numbers that you were looking at? So it had only been officially launched like two months.
• 31:18
  Literally, like it was very, I think I had opened up the social media pages earlier on, but like full on website and fully going. It wasn't until October. So I was not even two months in and I was doing really good. Like within the first full year of actually doing business, of being open, we made like a million dollars in sales. What? Yeah.
• 31:48
  Okay, so that was a real serious move into the garage. Mind you, well, the garage, we moved into the garage within the first month. So I had no idea that it was going to grow to that. And...
• 31:59
  You know, I didn't know like, oh, I was going to eventually if I keep going for 12 more months, I'm going to make a million in sales. Like I didn't think that was the case. But yeah, the garage was like within the month and everything was just moving so fast. I was really lucky to. Yeah, go ahead. Had you set yourself any goals like personally of what you thought you were going to do or what you kind of hoped you were going to do in terms of revenue?
• 32:29
  I've surpassed like every goal I ever had for myself in life. I'm like, girl, what? Like, how did you, like, you went to college? You graduated high school? Like, you went to grad school? You started a business and it's like, you're not just selling out of your trunk? Like, yeah.
• 32:46
  you have customers and they're like another country, like, like anything more on top of this. I'm like, Oh my God, you know? So I'm already like surpassed my biggest imagination of where this could go, but I'm also very competitive and I'm also wanted to grow and continue. For me, it was more of like the why behind it wasn't necessarily like, I want to make a bunch of money. It was like,
• 33:12
  Every time these women are trying this product, they're sending me these testimonials like, I've never seen my hair curly. This is my first time seeing it natural. I feel so much more confident. We had this one lady send us this whole thing like wearing my hair natural for the first time gave me so much confidence. I even decided to leave my abusive husband, blah, blah, blah. Wow. I was getting the craziest testimonials and I was...
• 33:40
  seeing that because for me too, I feel like learning to love my hair and learning to love myself and my natural state was a big part of learning to love me, you know, like self-love. And I was really lucky that I was able to go through that process in high school. But what I didn't realize was how many women, especially were in their 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and were still in that process of self-acceptance and self-love and
• 34:09
  I learned so quickly how hair is so much deeper than just hair for so many people. And it was like every time I would read these testimonials, I was like getting goosebumps. And like I would be like reading it, crying and really into it. So, yeah, it was just like a really, really crazy experience.
• 34:31
  Wow, that's a crazy year. A million dollars in revenue is a lot because obviously word of mouth is something that would have been key in building that. But what else was driving that growth? Like how do you actually make a million dollars worth of sales in a year? In your first year, rather. Yeah, it wasn't like the year from like November and October to the
• 34:52
  It was funny because like when I first got asked this question, I was like, chismosa culture. Anybody Latino that I say chismosa culture to, they're going to be like, ha, ha, ha. Well, chismosa means almost like gossip, like spreading gossip or something. And in our culture, we always say like, oh, you're chismosa. I like love the tea. You love to hear what's happening.
• 35:12
  And there's like a running joke about if you live in predominantly Latino neighborhoods, it's like, you don't need security cameras. You have your neighbors. And it's like, everyone's like nosy looking at what's happening. Yeah.
• 35:24
  And what I would joke around and say lovingly is like, she's most like culture, like this part of like the Latino culture of like, when you have something that you love, you don't keep it for yourself. You tell your grandma, your mom, your Uber driver, the lady at the grocery store, you tell everybody. When I tell you, there were women that have never met me before in their life. They were in Puerto Rico. They were in New York. They were in Florida. Never met me before in their life.
• 35:52
  they were like going on Facebook, writing long testimonials in Spanish, like this young lady right here reminds me of my own daughter. I use her products and look at my hair. If you believe in me and you are my family, you will support this young lady literally. Oh my goodness. Wow. It was like, every time I would read it, I would like get emotional, but then I would like, think it was just so crazy. And I think that
• 36:21
  God, again, there we go, there we go, okay, no, passing. To Woosa, I feel like me and my story, oh my God. Oh my God. Mind you, I've done a lot of podcasts and interviews. I don't understand why this one's just so, like, I feel like you're really in front of me. I am really in front of you.
• 36:50
  I feel like I can feel your energy. I'm like, I don't know. That's so cool though. Yeah, so I feel like my story and me represented so much more to people than I realized. Like they had a piece of you in them and they were like, that's me, that's my auntie, that's my mom, she's doing it for all of us.
• 37:21
  And also, I think that sense of like, she gets us. She truly understands what I go through on this deeply personal, intimate thing, which, you know, hair gives you confidence. It's part of your identity. All these things. Every woman was being like, you feel me. Yeah, totally. And so I think for me at that moment, like it was very apparent that
• 37:46
  with great gifts, with great talents, with great things, like comes big responsibility. And I think that that moment was what I realized, like, what am I going to do with this power that they're giving me? You know, what am I going to do with every time they're giving me their dollars, that's power. So they're allowing me to grow, allowing me to have, you know, a platform, allowing me to have everything I do have. So what am I going to do with that? So with that said,
• 38:16
  from the very beginning, like I've always said, Rizos Girls, my little like personal mission statement is girls community culture. And so every step of the way, the way that we started growing, especially in the beginning was,
• 38:30
  actually being in the community, like being there, like I was holding all these different events, whether it was like curl classes, I was holding like, there was, for example, like during one of the times, there was a lot of ice raids going on, where literally ice was going into restaurants and schools and just taking all these people and arresting them without even asking for identification. It was just like really shitty things. So I remember having an
• 39:00
  she was able to hold kind of like a Q&A session with like all these different people that wanted to come in and we would hold them in Spanish and English and she was giving legal advice. And that was like one of my friends who I connected with. And so Riso's Curls was like less of just like, oh, hair education. It kind of became like a community center for whatever's going on. Another time we were raising money for the families
• 39:29
  that were affected by the Mississippi ice raids. And I was like, what should we do? What should we do? We came together and we threw like the most fire reggaeton party in LA. We raised like over like $8,000. When I tell you like all these DJs that like,
• 39:47
  Big time, cool DJs came and like donated their time. The venue, the local bar in downtown donated their whole space for us. We sold tickets. Like people volunteered to bartend. And like my cousins have this like ice cream shop. So like they were giving away ice cream. Somebody else was like, I have a cotton candy business. So yeah, we were like. Love cotton candy. Bring it along. Yeah. They're like, I have a cotton candy business.
• 40:14
  I'm going to go and get free call and candy to people so they could come and support this cause. So we were just like, almost like every weekend we were participating in events, whether it was about hair or not. And I feel like people really got to know me. I even went to New York. I was going to be our first time in New York.
• 40:33
  I was like, what event do you guys want? Mind you, this whole time I'm talking to my customers on social, like they are my best friend. And then that's another thing that I tell people. I'm like, if you don't have money, marketing money, you know what is the best marketing tool? Turning your front camera on.
• 40:49
  Getting right in front of the people and talking to them, talking to them like they are your friends, just directly talking to them. If you have a question about innovation, what should I do here? There is a great tool like Instagram stories, for example, that's called polls. You can ask them, like, are the first new product that we had after the initial launch was Refresh and Tangle Spray?
• 41:10
  And it was one of like the best launches that I have even had till this day. And it was because I asked the customers, what do you guys want? They were like, can you make me a lighter curl cream for refreshing? Okay, done. So I feel like so much of my role in the business is,
• 41:26
  has literally been less of telling people what they should need, like selling things to people and more of them telling me what to do and what they want and me taking their orders. Like me being like, I'm on it. I will work my butt off to give you what you are requesting right now.
• 41:42
  You know, so I think that's been part of the reason why it's been doing good is because I listen to them. Truly like active listening and putting it into action. Because for me, when I hear this, I'm like, this is amazing. Like you did a million dollars in your first calendar year, but then you also figured out like, okay, well...
• 41:59
  you know, you also need to become a legitimate business and be like, you know, hiring all the people that you need, not just kind of people out the back and in the garage and all these kinds of things. You had to become this empire to get it all done and then keep growing and retain your customers and do all the other things. Yeah. So I truly believe that
• 42:26
  there is no such thing as bad luck or there's no such thing as good luck. The world and the universe generally want you to be happy. It wants you to be here to love and spread love. And I truly believe that when you're having bad luck, it's like there's something happening. You're not aligning. Like,
• 42:45
  You know, obviously like things can happen that are like not good, but it's like looking inward, listening to your intuition, seeing how have you not been listening to your mind, to the world, to yourself since forever and like looking back and analyzing like, how can I realign? How can I realign to pivot towards so that more doors can be opening? Because I truly believe that when people start having a lot of like good luck, it's not good luck. It's you're living in your purpose. You're living and doing what is meant for you.
• 43:15
  that what is meant for you will always be for you, you know? And then when doors close, when I fail at something, I'm grateful. I'm so grateful that I failed because it means that the universe paused me and it told me, stop, this is the wrong way to go. This is not for you. And I don't want something. If it's for somebody else, I don't want it. I want them to have it because that is in their purpose and that is how they will be happiest.
• 43:42
  And we'll be able to give the most love on this earth. And I think that, you know, like when doors start opening, I'm like, okay, I need to like be really prepared and use everything that I've had in my tool shed of knowledge and grow, go grow and keep doing this, you know, because it's not enough for the universe to like throw little luck your way to open a door. You have to be prepared. You have to not let it fall like...
• 44:10
  opportunity and preparation have to meet each other equally, you know? And I was really lucky in that I had been preparing for this type of business growth my whole life. Like who told me to go to grad school? Why did I do all that? Like my last position before leaving Nestle, I was the account manager working directly with the buyer for Target, representing the world's largest food company, literally, you know? And then
• 44:37
  Within the year, my whole life, my brother has been the person that I've, since I was a little girl, I thought he was the smartest human being on this earth. You couldn't tell me anything. Like I would be learning about Einstein and I'm like, he's not smarter than my brother. My big brother, Tony, he's smarter than them. So at one year, I convinced him to leave his corporate job. And mind you, him too. He had been studying business his whole life. He went to business school as well.
• 45:04
  what? Like, who told him to do that? You know, but his type of business, he's had very heavy numbers, very heavy finance. And so it was literally the opposite. Like, it was almost like when we came together, we made a full circle. Because he's very antisocial. He's very, like, introverted. He's very like, give me a spreadsheet, give me some numbers. And I will be here all day long. And I don't want to want to talk to me like I want to be behind the scenes. And like,
• 45:32
  But his specialty is numbers. So it was almost like when we came together, oh, there is no business person, no fancy schmancy office and education and experience that could literally try even a pinky of the power that my brother and I have together. That's so cool. That is so, so cool.
• 46:00
  I have a few quick questions left before we do our wrap up six quick questions at the end. Where is the business today? What exciting things can you shout about? How big is the team? Can you share any revenue numbers? Hit me with the highlights. Yeah, well, we're on track for 10 million a year this year. Oh my God, that's so cool. Yeah. Wow. So we are going to be forwarding
• 46:28
  four years old in October of this year. And we're just growing. And we launched into large retail last year in 2020 into Target. And we're continuing to go into way more doors. We're in 57 countries now. And yeah, we have like a really big launch of new innovation this year. Expect a bunch of new products.
• 46:58
  and just continue growing. I mean, I'm so lucky to be able to employ such talented, amazing people. And I've just been really focusing on what I love most now, which is, you know, innovation, like products, development, all of that, especially the last year that was really difficult with the pandemic and everything that was going on. It allowed me to go back to my original love, which was innovation. So yeah.
• 47:27
  I've been really lucky to now be able to finally launch it.
• 47:30
  That is so cool. I'm really excited to see what you come out with. I think I also read you're completely bootstrapped still, right? Yes. So to this day, completely 100% self-funded. My brother is still my right-hand man. You know, so much of my family still works with me. Our team is actually all Latino people from LA. Like we're all LA-made days. We're all from like the same neighborhood. Like it wasn't even on purpose. I just kept meeting these people. And I feel like one thing that my business...
• 47:59
  we've been able to show is how much raw talent there is in these communities. And I feel like as soon as you give them a chance, it's like they show out. So I'm so proud of my team. Yeah, and we're still bootstrapped. And what allows us to be bootstrapped is that
• 48:15
  We've been very conscious of profit since day one. You know, like, I think that that's a conversation that I have with my retailers all the time. It's like, no, no, no. You cannot compare us to these big, huge companies with lots of investors that have never been profitable, have these financial statements that literally say they don't plan to ever be profitable. The cost of acquiring customer is greater than the actual cost of the product.
• 48:40
  You know, that's not me. I can't afford that. Like in order for me to grow, I have to have profit. So because of that, you can't have the same policies in place.
• 48:49
  You can't expect me to compete with these marketing numbers. We can't compete in the same campaigns. Like I can't pay that. I'm not about to do this. I can't pay you a thousand dollars for a sign on your store per store. Like the bank will literally laugh at me when I try to go get a loan for that. So I think it's like, I've realized, and I'm on this, like, almost like mission every time step into like a new space where it's their first time interacting with a business that kind of looks like mine.
• 49:16
  So our first big retail collaboration was with Nordstrom's Hot Look. And it was their first time working with a multicultural brand, like self-funded, multicultural, whatever. And we ended up being the highest selling hair care brand during that time period. And then next with Nestle, we started a whole new category within hair care called Latina hair care. And this category launched with me. And there's been so many other places and spaces where that's their first time like,
• 49:46
  dealing with a business that looks like mine. And I feel like it's my responsibility that in order for me to leave that door open for other businesses that have a similar background, I have to fight these battles. I have to educate them. I have to let them know that in order for two diversity to exist behind the scenes as well, not just a model that you post on this ad for one week, you have to analyze these gatekeepers.
• 50:13
  have to analyze the policies that they have in place that are keeping out diverse businesses, are keeping out self-funded businesses, are keeping out these businesses that may not have these crazy marketing dollars and budgets, but they have really quality products and really quality missions, really quality things that they're doing for their industry.
• 50:35
  Totally. Gosh, that's amazing. And something that, yeah, it never even crossed my mind that you need to like go in there and put your foot down and be like, hey, of course I can't compete. Of course we don't have the same dollars as these big conglomerates. Wow. That's amazing. Holy moly. I fight these battles like on a daily basis. That's crazy. Go you. But I've been really lucky to, you know, for example, have like a target who...
• 51:03
  has been able to be understanding and compromise and work with us and has gone back and reanalyzed their own policies. And like my beginnings with all those other labs, all those people that were changing and making exceptions for me, it's like they're understanding that as well and they're willing to change. So I really am grateful for that. Yeah, that's amazing. What is your key piece of advice for women who have a big idea and want to start their own
• 51:33
  Girl, trust me. Like I said, if this business is solving a solution,
• 51:44
  All you can do is truly, truly understand your target demographic. Hone into that person. Is she in LA? Is she in New York and London? Where is she? Who is she? Where is she? What does she do? What pages does she follow? What businesses does she support? Get in there. Really hone in and serve her. F everything else. F everybody else. But if you have a solution and you understand who you are serving,
• 52:11
  Don't let anything keep you from them and don't let anything distract you from getting to her or him. And that is one big thing that I've been very lucky that I've been very lucky.
• 52:22
  consistent on is understanding my target demographic and not letting me so much noise distract me at the end of the day serving that person because it doesn't have to be so complicated sometimes we over complicate things we make business too difficult we're out here trying to serve everybody like unless you have a huge huge marketing budget you cannot afford this huge marketing demographic
• 52:43
  But you can afford a niche and you can serve that niche and you can be the best person serving that niche. It doesn't mean that people outside of that niche won't buy. They probably will because we have customers from everywhere. But as long as you are the best one serving that niche, you can grow and other people will see it and want it as well. Love that. So true.
• 53:06
  Okay, we are up to the six quick questions. We're going to breeze through it because I'm super aware of the time here. Are you still good? Yeah, I'm good. You're all good? Okay, cool. All right, six quick questions. Let's go. Question number one is what's your why? Why are you doing what you do? Curl love is self-love and I'm here to convert undercover curlies to the curly world. I love that. That's so cool.
• 53:32
  Question number two is what do you think has been the number one marketing moment that made the business pop?
• 53:38
  One really big moment that I did not expect it to be so big was Ryan Seacrest with Patty Rodriguez called me and they wanted to highlight my small business on the radio show in the middle of it. Patty Rodriguez, I met her briefly during an event one time and little did I know she was going to have Ryan Seacrest call me. Do you know who Ryan Seacrest is? Yeah, yeah, yeah. He has a big radio show on Kiz FM in L.A. And they called me and said,
• 54:05
  they did like this whole little thing on me when I tell you our sales and our inquiries and it was just insane. And I think that was like the first step towards like a mainstream audience seeing my little business. Wow. That's amazing. Gosh. Question number three is where do you hang out to get smarter? What are you reading or listening to or subscribing to that is helping you get smarter? I love marketing.
• 54:32
  audio books. I love reading. I love podcast. Like I love, I'm here for it. But the last book that I read, just like gems, gems, dropping gems. It's called Rework. I really recommend Rework. It's by the founders of Basecamp and read it. It's so amazing. Love it. Great. I'm going to link that in the show notes. I'm definitely going to check it out myself. That sounds so cool.
• 54:55
  Question number four is how do you win the day? What are your AM or PM rituals and habits that keep you feeling successful and motivated and happy? Work-life balance. I think that was a lesson I learned early on was that in order for my business to run well, I have to be healthy. I have to take care of myself and I have to understand that at the end of the day, it's just hair. So I cannot kill myself over this. I cannot like, you know, I can't compromise my health over this. So yeah,
• 55:25
  I make work-life balance a really big part of the business culture. So I make sure that if I'm happy, our employees are happy. I feel like we will be way more productive and do much more quality work and it will come off to the customers as well. So like eating right, working out, having moments to disconnect, all of these things have been really important for me and the business. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
• 55:51
  Question number five, we're almost there, is if you were given a $1,000 no strings attached grant, where would you spend that money? I would just get more product or like new product, anything new that I could afford, whatever, as many units I can afford with that $1,000. As long as I have my phone, that's exactly what I would do. And I would tell people about it and make a really fun video. And then I would make the video on TikTok. By the way, anyone who's
• 56:18
  starting or growing a business, do not sleep on TikTok. TikTok is the future. It's so good, isn't it? I've been loving watching all the small businesses blow up on there. Yeah. And question number six, last question is how do you deal with failure? What's your mindset and approach when things don't go to plan? I think we might've already touched on it, but all the same. Yeah. I'm grateful. I'm grateful because what is meant for you will always be for you. Yeah.
• 56:44
  And when a door closes, it's because that door wasn't for you and the universe and life has a different plan for you. So when something closes, don't be upset. Be grateful that you didn't go in a direction that wasn't going to serve you.
• 57:02
  Julissa, thank you so much for taking the time to be on the show. I am just in awe of you and your energy. I loved this chat so much and I'm so grateful that you gave me so much of your time. Thank you so much. No, thank you. I'm honored to be on here and thank you so much for having me.
• 57:25
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 57:50
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 58:12
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.
• 58:29
  Hey, it's Dune here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 58:54
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 59:16
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.