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It seems like everyone in Hollywood these days is releasing a fragrance, makeup line or other products. Yet with the success of Pattern Beauty by Tracee Ellis Ross, Kylie Cosmetics by Kylie Jenner and Beis by Shay Mitchell, among others, celeb-led brand success cannot be ignored.
And, in many cases, that success follows a deliberate strategy.
Many of these founders are focusing on a mission and ways to truly add value to their consumers’ lives, not just slap their name on a product that might’ve worked in the past. Take Selena Gomez’s brand Rare Beauty, which directs 1% of all sales to the Rare Impact Fund, an organization committed to addressing mental health and self-acceptance.
Actress and entrepreneur Tia Mowry is doing the same with 4U by Tia. The Sister Sister star created the natural hair care brand to focus on providing affordable products for curls, powered by science. Growing up in front of the camera as a child actor, having curly hair was seen as something different and viewed as difficult. Now in 4U by Tia’s first year as a business, Mowry is ready to even the playing field of products for curly hair.
A woman like me
As kids, many of us can recall the first time we felt seen or represented. It might have been a cartoon character who had a similar upbringing or an actor on a show with the same hair texture.
Nowadays, many shows like Netflix’s On My Block and ABC’s Abbott Elementary feature various characters of color, but this was not the norm for decades. According to data organization Beyond, the share of cable scripted shows featuring majority-minority casts topped 35% during the 2020-21 season—more than quadruple than the 2011-12 season.
“To be honest, when I was younger, I really didn’t feel like there was a lot of representation when it came to seeing women that looked like me,” Mowry told ADWEEK.
For Mowry and her twin sister, Tamera, keeping their hair natural on their ’90s sitcom Sister Sister was many people’s first impression of textured hair and helped others feel seen. “I’m glad that I was able to be that for other women,” Mowry said, although at times she felt societal pressure to change her hair. Crews on set, for instance, were sometimes unsure of how to style it, and products for textured hair were more limited.
In the past, brands that made products for textured hair seemed to take an approach that everyone with curly to kinky hair was the same. Most products for textured hair were found on a very small aisle that targeted Black hair. Nowadays, more brands like Carol’s Daughter, Shea Moisture and Mixed Chicks cater to various types of curly and kinky hair in major retailers like Walmart and Target.
