How Founding Curlkalon Hair Led This SHEeo To A Seven-Figure Business
With the rise of more and more black women breaking away from traditional 9-5s to become their own bosses, the CEO is getting a revamp as the SHEeo. In the Meet The SHEeo series, we talk to melanated mavens leveling up and glowing up, all while redefining what it means to be a boss.
In 2014, Shavone Riggins was in search of a protective style that matched her naturally textured hair. As a mom of six, it was important for her to have a good quality product that was both time-saving and convenient without sacrificing the look and style. She decided to take matters into her own hands, and within a year she launched her crochet curl brand Curlkalon— a natural-looking synthetic hair that delivers "effortless curls in a box" to women looking for textured hair protective style solutions. As the first brand of its kind, Curkalon quickly amassed a large following and seven-figure sales within months of its release. In December 2018, the company was acquired by True Glory Brands.
In this week's feature, meet Shavone Riggins of Curlkalon.
Courtesy of Shavone Riggins
Brand: Founder of Curlkalon Hair/SHE Everyday
Location: Atlanta, GA
Year Founded: 2014
# of Employees: 10+
30-Second Pitch: "Curlkalon Hair answers the call of delivering 'effortless curls in a box' all around the world to women looking for textured hair protective style solutions. In becoming the first company to market, I like to think I revolutionized the once tedious process of creating crochet curls at home into a high quality time-saving solution without any sacrifice of look and style. As a mom of six, I recognized the need for convenience in protective styling and how it could meet the look of naturally textured hair while struggling with my own natural hair routine 2014. I thoroughly enjoy helping women find effective and time-saving solutions by taking the stress out of protective styling, business and life."
What inspired you to start your brand?
My inspiration for Curlkalon came about in 2014 after 11 years of being natural and wanting to find a natural-looking protective style that matched my texture of hair. Upon coming across the crochet braid method, I was pleased on having the look I desired.
What was your a-ha moment that brought your idea into reality?
My a-ha moment happened in the kitchen at my stove as I was cooking up curls that there has to be a better way. My light bulb came on and I knew I had to build the brand. I hit the pavement running with my talent and skills as a digital marketing designer in creating everything from the curl prototype, the logo, the website to the product design.
Who is your ideal customer?
Curlkalon's ideal customer is a woman who is looking for a quality textured hair solution and wants to add a time-saving ease to her daily hair routine with a "effortless curl" protective style that lasts 6-8 weeks.
What makes your business different?
Curlkalon is different in the hair space because we're the first crochet curl brand to the niche market of synthetic hair with use of high quality fibers that gives a true showing of textured hair as that of African-American women. Plus, we have a great story behind the brand!
What obstacles did you have to overcome while launching and growing your brand? How were you able to overcome them?
One of the first obstacles I faced with launching Curlkalon was keeping up with the fast growth. Upon launching Curlkalon in May 2015 on Mother's Day to mid-2016, I found myself as the Founder and CEO of a seven-figure brand. The next obstacle was staffing the brand to keep up with the demand. In which, I grew the team to a 12-member team from executive level, customer service, along with shipping and warehousing.
What was the defining moment in your entrepreneurial journey?
The defining moment in my entrepreneurial journey was when I was able to employ others and see their lives expand into being able to buy a home, purchase that new car, and have health insurance, on top of seeing women all across the world confidently rocking Curlkalon with smiles and joy from ear-to-ear.
Where do you see your company in 5-10 years?
I see Curlkalon as a community brand that will continue to meet the need of women who are looking for a quality textured hair solution and wants to add a time-saving ease to her daily hair routine with a "effortless curl" protective style. Alongside helping women
Where have you seen the biggest return on investment? (i.e. marketing, ads, vending, social media)
Curlkalon's biggest return is on marketing. In knowing our idea customer, we're able to deliver them awareness through ads, influencer marketing, and partnerships.
Biggest lesson you’ve learned in business?
The biggest lesson in business I've learned is knowing when to pivot. As a CEO of a new and growing brand comes with the wearing of many hats, you can find yourself in a loop of what you know that works and be stuck there. However, things change; the market changes, numbers change, and honestly you change too. There comes a true point of evaluation that needs to take place so that key changes can be made at pivotal points.
Anything else you would like for people to know, or take away from your entrepreneurial story?
In December 2018, I released my title as CEO with an acquisition of Curlkalon to True Glory Brands. I knew that I wanted Curlkalon to make it to greater heights and my vision had evolved to being more supportive to my brand with carrying my founder title with works on expanding the brand's audience with communications, education and strategic marketing.
Follow Shavonne on social media: @curlkalon and @shavone_riggins.
Beyond Burnout: Nicole Walters' Blueprint For Achieving Career Success On Your Own Terms
Nicole Walters has always been known for two things: her ambition and her ability to recognize when life’s challenges can also double as an inspiring, lucrative brand.
This was first evident more than a decade ago when she quit her job as the corporate executive of a Fortune 500 company during a Periscope livestream. “I’m not sure if there’s an alignment of [our] future trajectory. I’m going to work for myself. I'm promoting myself to work for myself,” she said at the time before flashing a smile at the viewing audience. As she resigned on camera, a constant stream of encouraging messages floated upwards on the screen.
By 2021, she’d fashioned her work as a corporate consultant and her personal life with her husband and three adopted daughters into a reality show, She’s The Boss, for USA Network. This year, she released the New York Times bestselling memoir Nothing Is Missing, written as she was in the process of getting a divorce and dealing with her eldest daughter’s struggles with substance use.
Convinced that there’s no way the 39-year-old has achieved all of this without intentional strategic planning, I asked her about it when we spoke less than a week before Christmas. I’d seen videos on social media of her working on 2024 planning for other brands, and I wanted to know what that looked like following her own year of success.
She listed a number of goals, including ensuring that the projects she takes on in the new year align with her identity “as a Black woman, as an African woman, as a mother, as someone who has lived a [rebuilding] season and is now trying to live boldly and entirely as themselves.” But, I was shocked by how much of her business planning also prioritized rest.
Despite the bestselling book, a self-titled podcast, and working with numerous corporations, Walters said she’s been taking Fridays off. This year, she doesn’t want to work on Mondays, either.
“A lot of us think we work hard until retirement hits. I want to progress towards retirement,” she said, noting that she’ll check in with herself around March to see how successful this plan has been. The goal, Walters said, is to only be working on Tuesdays and Thursdays by sometime in 2025. “It is intentionally building out what I know I would like to have happen and not waiting for exhaustion to be the trigger of change.”
"A lot of us think we work hard until retirement hits. I want to progress towards retirement... It is intentionally building out what I know I would like to happen and not waiting for exhaustion to be the trigger of change."
Walters said the decision to progressively work less was partially in response to her previously held notions about her career, especially as an entrepreneur. “When I first started, I thought burnout was a part of it,” she said. “What I didn’t realize is that even if you’re able to bounce out of burnout or get back to it, there’s a cumulative impact on your body. If you think of your body as a tree and every time you go through burnout, you are taking a hack out of your trunk, yes, that trunk will heal over, and the tree will continue to grow, but it doesn't mean that you don’t have a weakened stem.”
But, the desire for increased rest was also in response to the major shifts that occurred three years ago when she was experiencing major changes in her family and realized her metaphorical tree was “bending all the way over.”
Courtesy
“One of the things we have to recognize, especially as Black women, is that there is this engrained, societal, systemic notion that our worth is built around our productivity,” she added. “That is some language that I think is just now starting to really get unpacked.” In recent years, there’s been an increased awareness of achieving balance in life, with Tricia Hersey’s “The Nap Ministry” gaining attention based on the idea that rest, especially for Black women, is a form of resistance. Even online phrases such as “soft life” and “quiet quitting” have hinted at a cultural shift in prioritizing leisure over professional ambition.
"One of the things we have to recognize, especially as Black women, is that there is this engrained, societal, systemic notion that our worth is built around our productivity."
If companies are lining up to consult with Walters about their brands and products, then women have been looking to her for guidance on starting over since she invited them to livestream her resignation 12 years ago. As viewers continue to demand more from content creators in the form of intimate, personal details, Walters has navigated her personal brand with a sense of transparency without oversharing the vulnerable details about her life, especially when it comes to her family.
The entrepreneur said she’d been approached to write a book for several years and was initially convinced she was finally ready to write one about business. “I started to do that, and then I went through my divorce. When that happened, I said, why would I write a book telling people to get the life that I have when I’m not sure about the life that I have,” she said.
Instead, she decided to write Nothing Is Missing and provide a closer look at her life, starting with being born to immigrant Ghanaian parents (“You need to know my childhood to know why I’m passionate about entrepreneurship.”) through the adoption of her three daughters and eventual divorce. Despite her desire to share, however, she said she felt protective of the privacy of her family, including her ex-husband.
When discussing this with me, Walters said she was reminded of a lesson she learned from actress Kerry Washington, who released her own memoir, Thicker Than Water, just a week before Walters’ book release. Washington’s memoir grapples with family secrets, too, specifically the fact that she was conceived using a sperm donor and didn’t learn about it until she was already a successful TV star. While Washington reflects on how the decision and subsequent deception impacted her, she’s also careful to hold space for her parents’ experiences, too. “A lot of things she said was that she had to recognize where she was the supporting character and where she was the main character,” Walter said.
This is something Walter worked to do in Nothing Is Missing when discussing her daughter’s struggles with addiction. “I was very intentional about making sure that I did not reveal more than what was required,” she said. “If I say something about someone’s addiction, I don’t need to go into the list of the substances they used, how they used them, what I found. [I don’t need to] walk into a room and paint a picture of what it looked like for people to understand.”
Walters said some of the most vulnerable moments in the book barely made a ripple once it was released. She was extremely nervous to write about getting an abortion, she said. But no one has asked her about this in the months since the book was released. Instead, people have been more interested in quirkier revelations, such as the fact that she once appeared on Wheel of Fortune.
“I have bared my soul about this thing I went through in my youth that has changed me for people, and people are like, ‘So how heavy was the wheel when you spun it?’” she said, chuckling. “It just goes to show that people never worry about the thing that you worry about.”
With the success of Nothing Is Missing, Walters said she still isn’t planning to release a business book at the moment. But, as she navigates parenting a teenager and two adult children while also navigating a relationship with her new fiancé, Walters said she believes she has at least one or two more books to write about her personal journey. “There is sort of an arc of where my life has gone that I know I’ve got something more to say about this that I think is important, relevant and necessary,” she said.
In just three years, Walters’ life has undergone a major transformation. There’s no telling what the next three years will have in store for her, but it seems likely she’ll retain an inspired audience wherever life takes her.
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The first Full Moon of 2024 is on January 25, and we are letting go of all that no longer serves us. This Full Moon will be in Leo, and it’s only fitting we start the year on a confident tone like this fire sign. This Full Moon is all about releasing past versions of yourself that were aligned with self-doubt, honoring the gift of who you are, and choosing to forgive. When the Moon is in Leo, emotions run high, and you can expect people to speak their truth, open up emotionally, and connect deeper to the heart. An opportunity for reflection and redirection is being given now, and this Full Moon is a powerful one.
What Full Moons Mean in Astrology
Full Moons are the time of the month to let go, heal, renew, and rest. They are a time when matters from the past month come full circle, and when you get to gain some much-needed clarity needed for closure. The past month comes into focus during a Full Moon, and what you were once just initiating or pondering over prior, is now illuminated. Whereas New Moons are a time to set intentions, Full Moons are a time to seek gratitude for what you already have. With this Full Moon being a Wolf Moon, this particular Full Moon signifies a time of fulfillment, awakening, and recognition.
The First Full Moon of 2024
During the Full Moon, take time to acknowledge how worthy you are to live in your truth, to love yourself unconditionally, and to be confident in what you have built and are building for yourself. As the Aquarius Sun opposes the Leo Moon, we are being reminded that loving yourself isn’t selfish, and being in this energy only attracts those who recognize the love within you and match that. Let go of anything that makes you feel unworthy of all that you are capable of or want for yourself, and give gratitude to where you do feel authentic love.
Full Moon In Leo: How The First Full Moon Of 2024 Will Affect Each Zodiac Sign
Read for your sun, moon, and rising sign below, to see how this Full Moon will be illuminating your life.
1.ARIES
The first Full Moon of the year is happening in fellow fire sign, Leo, and things are heating up for you in regard to romance right now, Aries. This Leo Full Moon will be moving through your 5th house of love, joy, pleasure, and self-expression, and this is an exciting time for you overall. More opportunities for fun, creativity, and entertainment come to fruition for you now, and your heart is opening to the love that is here for you.
Life is coming full circle, and your heart is getting a clear view of how much love you are truly worthy of.
The clarity you are gaining this Full Moon is healing things for you in love and is creating an opening for a fresh start to take place for you in life. Luck is on your side during this Full Moon.
2.TAURUS
This Full Moon is bringing matters of the home to the front and center of your life, Taurus. You may be feeling some conflicting energy here with family and close loved ones as you seek to let go of any misunderstandings or miscommunications that have left you feeling unstable. This is a time for gaining some much-needed clarity when it comes to your support systems and sense of safety in life, and you are getting the opportunity to regroup and maintain that.
This is a very karmic time for you overall, with this Full Moon being in your 4th house of destiny, and a lot is changing and coming to light when it comes to your foundations in life. Honor your need for more rest and nurture, and reset if you need to.
3.GEMINI
The Leo Full Moon is a time of culmination for you financially and when it comes to communication matters, Gemini. Past hard work and efforts have come to fruition for you now, and you are seeing your due rewards and recognition. Abundance is blooming, and you have everything you need beside you. Allow yourself to consider how one culmination can lead to many other doors that will open, and know the successes you are seeing right now are only the beginning of what is possible for you.
Honor your goals and inspirations, communicate from the heart, and connect with like-minded souls with whom you resonate. Messages and divine guidance are coming in for you during this Full Moon, and you are creating space for dreams to be fulfilled.
4.CANCER
You are letting go of fears and aligning with self-trust and abundance during this Full Moon, Cancer. This Full Moon for you is reminding you to be patient on what you are building for yourself and to trust that your intentions will see manifestation when they are ready to. This is a good time to plan long-term financially, pay off any debts, clean out your purse or wallet, and clear things up in this area of your life.
Remember the gifts that come from valuing yourself rather than valuing what you have, and be confident in where you stand right now.
This Full Moon is giving you clarity on financial matters, clearing things up here, and helping you see where you can grow, let go, and replan.
5.LEO
The first Full Moon of the year is happening in your sign, and it’s setting the tone for the spotlight that is going to be on you this year, and also on the major culminations and changes you will be moving through as well. With this Full Moon occurring in your 1st house of self, this is one of the most important Full Moons of the year for you. A lot is wrapping up for you at this time; past goals are coming full circle, and you will soon be beginning anew in your personal life.
This is a time of being seen, recognized, and supported, and for seeing yourself with new clarity, love, and acceptance as well. This is a good Full Moon to honor your renewed passions and interests in life and to do what feels good for you right now.
6.VIRGO
Passion and creativity are high for you during this Full Moon, and things are especially inspiring for you right now, Virgo. This Full Moon will be happening at the very bottom of your chart, and you are going through a major release and regrouping in your life. You are letting go of any heaviness that has been weighing you down and keeping you stuck and uninspired, and are seeing the gifts in showing up and being confident to put yourself out there.
You deserve to be heard and you deserve to take up space, and you are letting go of shying away or isolating yourself from potential connections and opportunities. You are living in your truth and doing things your way right now, and this Full Moon is a time of healing through self-love.
7.LIBRA
The Leo Full Moon is a chance at clarity and acceptance, Libra. This Full Moon will be in your 11th house of friendship, community, hopes, and dreams; and you are getting the full picture on these matters right now. During this Full Moon, you are thinking about your destiny, life purpose, who you surround yourself with, and what your overall dreams are in life. Circumstances within your friendships, social circle, or finances may be changing right now, and you could feel more pressure to hold onto things that need to be let go of for now.
Closures happening in your life during this Full Moon, but they are leading to more fulfilling experiences for you. Know that what ends or transforms for you right now is helping you gain a new perspective and facilitate the manifestation of your dreams.
8.SCORPIO
This Full Moon is all about your career and professional goals, reputation, and achievements. Scorpio, you are getting a clearer view of what accomplishments you can settle into now, and which goals don’t make sense for you anymore. You may be feeling more pressure to perform, to complete projects, or to be in a more successful state than you currently feel. Allow yourself to gain a new perspective, and to believe in yourself and what dreams you want to go after in life, no matter how impossible they may seem to you now.
You are on your own timeline, and there is a lot to be grateful for here.
This Full Moon overall is helping you do a major let go of what’s been hindering your personal growth and is giving you the space and freedom to forge a new path for yourself. Think more long-term right now and give yourself grace.
9.SAGITTARIUS
There is a lot to grasp during this Full Moon, and you need some time and space to do so, Sag. This Full Moon is occurring in your 9th house of perspective, expansion, travel, and the higher mind- and is the time to get aligned and get centered. You are thinking a lot about your belief systems and which ones have been serving you or limiting you, and are getting some much-needed personal clarity. This is a good time to find healthy ways to mentally heal, gain peace of mind, and be in spaces where you don’t have to overthink.
This is a more spiritual, intuitive, and eye-opening time for you, as you awaken to more than you could have ever dreamed of. Take a moment of gratitude for all that’s become clear to you, and keep the faith.
10.CAPRICORN
Everything is coming into balance for you right now, Capricorn. This is a Full Moon where the clarity you gain changes everything moving forward, and one when your past investments are seeing a return. What you have been putting your time, energy, and dedication into is coming full circle, and you are recognizing where your commitments have served you well, and which ones have felt more like time wasted. You are ready to make some important decisions right now, and you are being supported as you do so.
Financially, you may be seeing some wins now as well, as you are being recognized for your savvy mindset and ambitious energy. You are ready to let go of past fears and are overcoming a lot during this Full Moon.
11.AQUARIUS
Aquarius Season is underway, and the first Full Moon of the year happens in your sister sign, Leo. With this Leo Full Moon, love is the focus, and relationship matters are coming full circle for you right now. This Full Moon is a time to let go of what’s been keeping you away from feeling more connected and in tune with your relationships, and to give this area of your life more of your attention. Romance wants to bloom for you now, but you may need to let go, forgive the past, and create some space to allow more of that energy in.
This Full Moon is teaching you to be confident in love and to know that you deserve all the good you dream of here. Life is reflecting to you how you have been feeling within, and you are coming to some conclusions on what you want to do from here.
12.PISCES
This is an exciting Full Moon for you Pisces, and a time when things begin to move forward again where they were once stagnant. The Full Moon is transiting your 6th house of health, work, and daily routines, and you are moving through a culmination here in your life. You are focused on taking care of your well-being, doing things that benefit your body, handling your responsibilities, and letting go of any unhealthy habits that have been restricting you in any way.
You are ready to let go of what isn’t serving in mind, body, and soul overall right now, and this is positively benefiting you. There is a lot of growth taking place in your life during this Full Moon, and support is coming in for you.
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