WATCH | Brand New Afro Tech that will cut your washday in half and leave your curls with a healthy bounce!
On this episode of Shop Essence Live in partnership with New Voices Foundation, we talk to Dawn Meyers a former Legal Professional and Founder of The Mint by Richualist.
NöNe:
But before we get into it, tell me about you tell me about how you came up with this incredible technology. I mean, this is Afro tech life-changing.
Dawn:
Yeah, well, I mean this is one of those like very typical founder stories. The founder has an issue and feel out to other people, they also have that issue. You realize that the market has a huge whitespace and you attack it. And you know, I'm a lawyer by trade, so I was coming from the legal space, ended up quitting my job. And I saw there was this book in people's eyes when I told them they were just pause,
NöNe:
Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. We had in one show a former neuroscience researcher and a former lawyer.
Dawn:
That's right. (laughs)
NöNe:
Can we just drop some applause emojis in the chat right now to recognize how incredible Black Women are?! Okay. I'm sorry, continue.
Dawn:
No, yeah. So this was kind of thing where I saw that a lot of people have this problem. There was a whitespace and I just had this crazy idea that doing our hair doesn't have to be hard, right? Like we can streamline the process. We can make detangling easier. We can leverage heat differently, not that high heat that we see with straighteners and curling irons, but gentle warmth to open up our cuticle. Get that product to penetrate and make the wash day experience just more uplifted. And when I started telling people about this concept, when I tell you people's eyes would light up in this really special way, right? Like I've been starting businesses for a minute, right? But when I saw people respond to this, I was like there's something here. I left my job. I sold my house, which was also an investment property. And I've used that capital...that to build this technology which has taken, it's taken five years to perfect, it is taken five years to refine it. So we're finally getting into it and customers hands. We're very proud!
Shop the full episode on Essence IG page NOW!
NöNe:
But before we get into it, tell me about you tell me about how you came up with this incredible technology. I mean, this is Afro tech life-changing.
Dawn:
Yeah, well, I mean this is one of those like very typical founder stories. The founder has an issue and feel out to other people, they also have that issue. You realize that the market has a huge whitespace and you attack it. And you know, I'm a lawyer by trade, so I was coming from the legal space, ended up quitting my job. And I saw there was this book in people's eyes when I told them they were just pause,
NöNe:
Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. We had in one show a former neuroscience researcher and a former lawyer.
Dawn:
That's right. (laughs)
NöNe:
Can we just drop some applause emojis in the chat right now to recognize how incredible Black Women are?! Okay. I'm sorry, continue.
Dawn:
No, yeah. So this was kind of thing where I saw that a lot of people have this problem. There was a whitespace and I just had this crazy idea that doing our hair doesn't have to be hard, right? Like we can streamline the process. We can make detangling easier. We can leverage heat differently, not that high heat that we see with straighteners and curling irons, but gentle warmth to open up our cuticle. Get that product to penetrate and make the wash day experience just more uplifted. And when I started telling people about this concept, when I tell you people's eyes would light up in this really special way, right? Like I've been starting businesses for a minute, right? But when I saw people respond to this, I was like there's something here. I left my job. I sold my house, which was also an investment property. And I've used that capital...that to build this technology which has taken, it's taken five years to perfect, it is taken five years to refine it. So we're finally getting into it and customers hands. We're very proud!
Shop the full episode on Essence IG page NOW!