If you’re a naturalista, or even just a babe who loves to take care of her natural, textured hair, you’ve heard of Miss Jessie’s. The popular hair brand is the brainchild of Miko and Titi Branch, two sisters who sought to help the natural hair community long before it even was a “thing.” And despite setbacks along the way, Miko and Titi used it as a setup for their success. Today, Miko has led the charge for a brand that has been spotted everywhere, from some of the most-known magazines to A-list celebrities.
Interestingly enough, Miko’s decision to wear her natural hair came as a result of her blowout constantly getting wet during bath time. “My son would get water all over the place, so since I couldn’t keep it straight, I decided to just wear it natural,” she told TheBlondeMisfit. It was at that moment that Branch realized that this scenario wasn’t mutually exclusive — there had to be a need for women who also needed to know what options they had for their hair. Thus, the beginning stages of Miss Jessie’s unfolded.
Named for their grandmother, Jessie Mae, the brand started out in 2004 and has since grown into a multimillion-dollar hair brand beloved by all. However, more important than a thriving business is the brains behind it, or rather, the person turning all the wheels. Miko grew up in Queens, New York, and from a young age, knew she wanted to do hair. And even though it wasn’t always easy, Branch has a story and testimony to share with us all.
Nielsen reports always offer insight into the buying trends of Black consumers. When you guys were starting Miss Jessie’s, did you look at stats or research before taking the plunge?
Before the statistics came out that marked our spending habits, my sister and I decided to start a business based on necessity. It wasn’t really as much a business at first because we weren’t seeing the spending habits of women of color, but more for us to enable women with textured hair to care for their hair. One of the challenges was really changing our business model and format to market to women who primarily didn’t even know they had curly hair. We started a business marketing to people who didn’t even know our product could be helpful for them.
We decided to stay true to our desire to be helpful and we have the right idea. People love to trust us and believe that Miss Jessie’s will work. The efficacy of our products is there.
I think people use statistics and reports to inform them about going into business and if there is a market available. I think in the spirit of the success of our business, we didn’t put that report before our report and our good intentions.
For a short time, you worked in your family’s cleaning business and you didn’t like it. Are you doing what you like now?
I’m doing exactly what I wanted to do. I didn’t always have the courage to say that I wanted a salon. In my family, I was under the impression that my mom and dad wanted me to pursue education in a more traditional way. They didn’t consider the beauty industry as artistic. I really felt I was too bashful to let them know that was what I wanted to do. In my early twenties, I was working at a family cleaning business and I realized I didn’t want to do this. Then I went to FIT, and even though I loved fashion, I didn’t love the technical side of it. I also realized that I would need a lot of money, so I decided to re-strategize and go back to doing something that was natural for me, which was doing hair. So I went to hair school.
Going out into the world as an entrepreneur, were you afraid you wouldn’t be financially successful?
It was a decision made that I knew if I worked hard at it, I knew I could put a dollar to it. Before there was Miss Jessie’s, there was Miko Branch, the stylist. By the time my sister and I got together to go into business, we both brought our own thing to the business that helped us in our success. From the beginning, my sister and I didn’t have any capital. Even though we were talented in our skillset, we didn’t have money. So, what did we do? Sacrifice.
Sacrifice is something that gets downplayed so much. Can you elaborate on how you and your sister made sacrifices for the business when you were first starting out?
We shared clothes, we drove the same car, we lived together, we even took an additional roommate. We decided not to be big spenders, and when we pulled our accounts together, we had to work to build that capital.
Sacrifice and keep overhead low. With that formula, we were able to build our business slowly but surely.
What advice would you give to someone starting their own business, especially with what you’ve learned about sacrifice?
You really don’t need those red bottoms while building your business. Even if you’re spending a lot of money on makeup, maybe you can wear Wet ‘n Wild. You’d be surprised how an extra $20 can do a lot — you can apply it to a bill or the rent.
Every single way you can keep as much money in your pocket and still applying it to savings and the tools for what you need to win, that’s the route to win. After you’re confident, and you know you’re skilled, then you can rethink how much you’re charging people. You’re an apprentice, and then after you feel confident in your work, then you should consider your rates. Saving money, applying it to your tools, and then putting a price to your work. You really have to put the hard work in before you start charging people.
