Style & Vibes Podcast Ep. 50 – Beauty Entrepreneur Saraa Green’s Braid Releaser

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Produced by Breadfruit Media

We’re celebrating our 50th episode! Special thanks to all the listeners, it wouldn’t be possible without you. 

In this episode we speak with beauty entrepreneur, Saraa Green about her new product the Braid Releaser. We discuss her journey in the fashion industry and what led her to developing The Braid Releaser with her mom, her Jamaican-American upbringing and more!

KICKSTARTER for the Braid Releaser

Stylin’ on: Cloth masks created by Caribbean designer sales D’Marsh and Territory Six. 

Vibin’ to: Quarantine Clash hosted by Walshy Fire

KEY

Key points from our interview with Saraa Greene:

On her career:

“I started interning for Tommy Hilfiger at 14 years old. So I really got an opportunity to really get my hands on internships before internships became like a thing you know. Now, with interning, you have to make sure that you know people are getting paid and people are getting treated well, so I got in at a good time. And I mean, just you know, Fast forward, I just after college, I went into, again hustling and then I got my corporate job and from my corporate job, that’s pretty much when things started to kind of manifest and happen for me.”

I’ve been with Adidas almost four years. My first corporate job was at an knitting manufacturer and I actually studied the last two years of my bachelor program. I studied knitwear design. The narrative have has always been, especially for women of color that we start brands and we become entrepreneurs and CEOs, because we don’t like our job. But I know so many women that are very successful in their corporate job and continuing to climb that corporate ladder, but also have lucrative businesses on the side. So I think that has been my mission to change that narrative. 

On creating the Braid Releaser:

It actually came from me doing my MBA where things sparked. I got my MBA and our graduating project was to be about something we would like to fix within our jobs or something that we’re really passionate about. In 1992, my mother created a hair tool that was meant to To take out braids, and as a little girl, you know, mothers have to deal with tender-headed children, it’s painful, we really don’t want to sit down and get our hair done or taken out. Through my mother’s frustration,  respectfully, she created this tool that makes it easier for mothers, salon owners to take out their clients’ hair. For mothers to take out their daughter’s hair, pain-free and it’s more, it’s quicker at the end of the day. 

Predominantly women of color, we suffer from hair loss. There are causes like alopecia, but also different hairstyles that put a strain on our hair. So when we’re wearing braided hairstyles or locs like or anything like that, we have to be really careful. And very gentle with our hair. So when we’re using a rattail comb to take out braids, either that be extension or natural, we’re ripping out our hair and really not realizing that so my mom created this tool to have a smooth exterior so that it glides through the hair and prevents hair loss.

On the journey:

I needed to find a community. There is actually a program that’s called 100 k incubator and I joined that community so that I can meet with women who are in the same process. They were already CEOs with six, six-figure businesses, or just starting like me, so it was very important for me to kind of say.

I had to really not listen to people and really enforce what I was doing and what I was passionate about. And I think sometimes we lose that passion in the process. The journey is hard. It’s, you know, I’m still going through the journey of emailing people and talking to people and making sure lawyers are paid and, you know, my savings is like, pretty much gone. But you know what, that’s what CEOs and that’s what entrepreneurs go through when they believe in their vision. So I just keep trucking away, you know, nothing’s gonna stop me at this point. When you are part of a community and when you see women who have children full of families and they’re doing it.

Raising funds & gaining momentum:

We are launching our Kickstarter campaign, January 26. So excited. Because, you know, at this point, my parents and I were kind of at a point like, okay, we funded what we needed to fund to this point. So now we need a little help to make sure that we get the braided release out into the market. We’re probably looking at Spring Summer 2020. 

We will be selling them online and we are hoping to do a braid release a tour where we go to salons in Atlanta New York City Los Angeles and really have a launch at any partnering salons who are willing to sell the broke braid beliefs are so we were just you know, gearing up and like I said, just gearing up for people to see us and see more of us.