Untold Story of Curl Fest: Black Women Plan to Bounce Back After Shutdown | DEI, Hurdles & Funding
Earn Your Leisure
EYL Network
4.8 • 7.8K Ratings
🗓️ 31 July 2025
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode of Earn Your Leisure, we sit down with the founders of Curl Girl Collective to unpack the journey behind one of the most iconic cultural celebrations in beauty—Curl Fest. From humble beginnings to national recognition, they share the origin story of their collective and how they built a movement that resonates deeply with the natural hair community.
We discuss the business behind hosting large-scale live events, the hidden costs they faced, and the reality of still working full-time jobs while building Curl Fest. The founders open up about how DEI cutbacks and sponsorship losses forced them to pivot, cancel events, and rebuild stronger than ever.
They also break down how Curl Fest sets itself apart from other beauty festivals, what it takes to compete in the event space, and the importance of community. We dive into the challenge of access to capital, offers to buy the company, and the need to be intentional with partnerships.
This is an essential conversation for entrepreneurs, event organizers, and anyone invested in culture, community, and ownership.
Invest Fest Ticket Link: https://investfest.com
#EYL #EarnYourLeisure #CurlGirlCollective #CurlFest #BlackEntrepreneurs #BusinessBehindTheBrand #BeautyIndustry #DEI #EventPlanning #NaturalHairMovement #AccessToCapital #BlackOwnedBusiness #CommunityOverEverything #Entrepreneurship #CulturalEvents
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | All right, guys, welcome back. |
| 0:02.1 | Special episode of Earn Your Leisure. Yes, we have two of the co-founders of Curly Girl Collective and Curlfest, Melody and Simone, and Simone, somebody that's been on the show early. Early, like, episode maybe 15? Yeah. I got the number right? I think so. I'm not sure the number, but it was early. Yeah, shout out to the hometown. So first of the foremost, thank you guys for joining us. |
| 0:02.3 | Thank you for having us. So, okay, so for people that might not be familiar, right? Before we get into it, can you talk about what Curl Girl Collective is in Curlfest? And how it came about, like how it hit origin story. |
| 0:38.9 | Yeah. |
| 0:39.2 | Okay. |
| 0:39.5 | So Curly Girl Collective is an organization that we founded and created with our business |
| 0:46.2 | partners. |
| 0:47.1 | And what we're most notably known for is Curl Fest, which is one of the largest natural |
| 0:52.5 | beauty festivals. |
| 0:54.3 | And essentially, we created a space for a population that literally had no exposure to. |
| 1:02.9 | And really, it's an opportunity to be educated, celebrated, provide resources for women with natural hair. |
| 1:11.6 | So this is, I know last year celebrated year 10. |
| 1:16.6 | Yeah. |
| 1:17.6 | Year 10. |
| 1:18.6 | Yeah, it is. |
| 1:19.6 | Which is a huge accomplishment. |
| 1:20.6 | Congratulations to that. |
| 1:21.6 | It would start out with five women. |
| 1:24.6 | How, what is the situation now? |
| 1:25.6 | I know you two are here and there are other partners. |
| 1:29.4 | What do we look like now, present day? Yeah, sure. So there are, there will always be five founders, |
| 1:35.6 | five beautiful black women. Right now we have three operating members, Melody, myself, |
... |
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