Building a 20-Year Old Empire Upon Word of Mouth Marketing, with Mahisha Dellinger, Founder of CURLS

Dear FoundHer...

Lindsay Pinchuk

Entrepreneurship, Small Business, Bobbi Brown, Careers, Female Founder, Entrepreneur, Pivot, Ceo, Marketing, Business Owner, Business, Women In Business, Foundher

5 • 854 Ratings

🗓️ 4 August 2022

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

“We went where she was,” explains Mahisha Dellinger of the marketing strategy that built CURLS, an organic hair product line she founded 20 years ago. This was the strategy Mahisha used to launch her brand and grow it through a DTC model before it was one of the first four brands to launch the ethnic hair category in Target. Word of mouth spread and a customer base was built that doubled as a data source. Today, ambassadors across the country are still dispatched to concerts and comedy shows to hand out samples. Even with social media, nothing beats a boots on the ground approach.

In addition to CURLS, which is available in over 400,000 stores, Mahisha runs the Black Woman Making Millions Academy, which is set to help 25,000 Black female-owned businesses with over 450 million dollars of free resources. She knows good mentorship is priceless, and Mahisha is determined to return the favor to other Black women who encounter obstacles in the business world. If you plant good seeds, she says, you will always yield good crops.

There is nothing quite as strong as the force of word of mouth marketing. Join the conversation to hear how Mashisha built her business from the ground up, what’s next for both of her ventures, and the two words she had for her former boss who once subjected her to racism prior to CURLS became a phenomenon.

Quotes

• “I knew that once you tried it, you would love it. So, a substantial marketing budget toward samples is important when you’re product based.”(8:41-8:51 | Mahisha)

• “Whatever you put out there is what you get back and you get it ten-fold. I believe in planting good seeds and harvesting.” (30:54-31:04 | Mahisha)

• “Don’t wallow in what you don’t have, or your disadvantage, or whatever obstacles you have. Use that to propel you to drive forward. That’s what I did.” (35:29-35:41 | Mahisha)

• “Please hear me when I say, failing to plan is planning to fail. You have to make sure you create a robust business plan. You have to have that road map. If you don’t have a road map to success, how are you going to get there?” (37:32-37:50 | Mahisha)

Connect with Mahisha Dellinger:

Instagram Mahisha | https://www.instagram.com/mahisha_dellinger/

Instagram Curls | https://www.instagram.com/curls/

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Dear Founder, as you know, there's no blueprint for entrepreneurship. You wear so many hats,
0:09.7	you burn the men'side oil, you pour your heart and soul into everything that you do. But without a
0:14.8	doubt, the journey is worth every single second that you put into it. I'm Lindsay Pinchuk,
0:20.6	host of the Dear Founder podcast. I say this
0:23.3	because I've lived it for over a decade. I started my first company with $500 in my pocket and a
0:29.2	baby in my belly. I grew it and I sold it all. This podcast is my weekly letter to you. We'll talk
0:36.1	all things starting, growing, nurturing,
0:39.1	and in some cases even selling a business. Together with some of my closest contacts,
0:44.1	I'm here to help you find your own success, whatever that means to you. The ride as a founder
0:49.0	is the ride of your life. So come on and join me for another episode that will get you one step closer to
0:55.0	reaching your own founder goals.
0:59.3	Welcome back to another episode of Dear Founder. I'm really excited for you to hear this conversation.
1:04.4	And as you hear me say in the interview today, I didn't know a lot of the background about
1:09.9	Mahesha Delinger and her amazing company
1:12.5	curls before we hopped on this interview. But so many of what Mahisha says is what I believe in
1:20.0	and what I preach and what I share every single day. She started her company 20 years ago
1:25.6	before social media and has built an empire for people
1:30.5	with curly hair like myself, which you wouldn't know because I don't wear my hair curly
1:35.4	very often, but Mahisha has been very inspiring in terms of trying to embrace that curl and
1:41.6	maybe embrace that change a little bit. But founder Mahesha Dellinger pioneered the newly natural market when she launched
1:48.8	curls back in 2002.
1:51.0	The brand was one of the first four brands to launch the category at Target.
	...

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