Born and raised in New Orleans, the Kaleidoscope Hair Products CEO has built a multimillion-dollar empire.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Kaleidoscope is turning 10 years old a lot of people call it an anniversary, but I say it's a birthday so
00:06Happy birthday to kaleidoscope and we are celebrating with essence. We are celebrating at essence festival. It is in the month of July
00:15So we are having a birthday party and going to be all up and through the essence festival
00:30Hey, this is Jessica Judy Harris Duport founder CEO kaleidoscope hair products, and I'm hanging out with essence
00:37My decision to enter into the hair care business was motivated by my childhood
00:42I started doing hair at a very early age. I am currently a licensed stylist, but
00:47When I was very young they have a photo of me sitting on my dad's back
00:51And I put borets all over his head and he had like a million ponytails
00:55My mom always tells this story about me cutting all of my Barbie dolls hair off and then trying to reattach it the moment
01:03That sparked me saying let me really get into hair care. I
01:09Had a client that decided to cheat on me for another hairstylist, and I know how to put ponytails in no bobby pins
01:16Okay, no bobby pins and I'll do it
01:18It's just a rubber band whatever so I know how to do that
01:19So she went and got a pin curl ponytail from a different hairstylist who used bobby pins
01:24She came back and she got a circular bald spot and I didn't grew her hair down to damn near her ass
01:29So I felt very responsible to make her hair come back and I felt like first of all you cheated on me
01:34But we are not gonna let that stop our relationship
01:37We're gonna continue to grow and it just made me feel like who am I to not fix this in this moment?
01:44And I felt like you know
01:46What was there out there? They had a couple of different things
01:49But I was like what is there that the a black woman could use to remedy to remedy something like this
01:55Oh, what is it that a black woman could use to kind of make it happen faster than normal growth as a hairstylist?
02:03Okay
02:03The reason why that's such a big thing because if I've nurtured you to have full healthy hair
02:09And then now you going to somebody that doesn't do the same practice
02:12It takes away years of the thing that we've been building. So it's not that I'm so mad that you went to somebody else
02:18I just want for the thing that we've been doing the thing that we've been building to be nurtured the same way
02:22so if you do have to go to somebody else because my books are full or you do have to go to somebody else because
02:27You're out of town or you do have to go to somebody else for whatever reason
02:30Just make sure that they take care of your hair the same way that I did don't just go to the quickest person
02:36Do some research
02:38Make sure you have not only a great experience there
02:41But so does your scalp and your hair because I would hate for you to go out of grew your hair long
02:47You didn't go you wouldn't got a full frontal and now your whole front is snatched off. We're not doing that
02:55Being from New Orleans or just being from the south in general we are friendly people we speak a lot
03:01We you know, we try to check on you make sure you're good
03:03So I feel like that rolled into my business and my business is success because I am very on top of my customers
03:10And how's everybody doing? You know, how do you like this?
03:14and then also
03:16You know, like our culture is rich
03:19Our culture is colorful. I am a person that absolutely loves all parts of the colors
03:25So when it comes to my packaging or when it comes to our different collections, you will see
03:30Vibrant colors and you will you will get like a vibrant Richie kind of feel
03:38It's huge for the community in New Orleans itself as a person that used to live there and was
03:45A service provider there when essence came to town we made a lot of money
03:49So essence brought a lot of money to us because everybody was trying to get their head done get their nails done get their outfits
03:55The restaurants was always packed people that had car services
03:59The hotels essence brought so much revenue to the city that you counted it during your year when you're planning for your money
04:06You planning? Okay, we know we're gonna have a spike for essence
04:09So I think it's important to essence continues to come to New Orleans
04:13Because now we're used to it and don't take that back
04:16I feel like kaleidoscope hair products plays a big part in fostering confidence, especially with our
04:24consumers because
04:26Prior to it being the in thing. We were a very inclusive brand. I have been that way since the beginning
04:33We accept curly we accept wigs. We accept braids. We accept, you know, whatever it is you have going on alopecia, whatever
04:40So I have created a community to be able to let the consumer define beauty in their own eyes and take it away from
04:47What the standards of what the world says?
04:49So with that being the case I do offer miracle drops if you want to grow your hair
04:53But then if you want to be short, I support that too. If you want to wear braids, I'm cool with that
04:58You want to wear a wig we have stuff for you when you take your wig out or in between your wigs
05:02Whatever it is that you choose to do for your beautification. That's on you. I support it. I'm right there
05:11When I first got into this thing, I honestly can tell you God has been driving
05:16I did not see it going as far as it has so when I first got into it
05:20I just was trying to service the people that were in my salon now that we have grown
05:24Into jumping into the big with the big boys now, it's learning
05:28About the competitive landscape learning the trends that are on the rise
05:32Most importantly listening to our consumer, but I feel like I don't know if it's just me being from New Orleans
05:38But I've been so authentic that it goes into the brand. Also. The brand is very very authentic
05:44I think the thing that sets up sets us apart from the other brands
05:48No names. It's just the fact that we get to do everything who we are
05:53We I'm a Christian, but I curse so we might have a twerk campaign with somebody else might can't you know?
05:59We are not cookie cutter. We are not black and white. It is not in the box
06:03We get to be exactly who we want to be whenever we want to be and because of that
06:07I think a lot of people navigate to us because they know it's not it's not bullshit. We're not just saying it
06:16Growing up
06:17My mom used to take me with her to the hair salon. It was it was a ritual
06:24It was every Saturday. So this is back where relaxers were happening
06:28So we would get a relaxer once a month, but then every other week we would get the roller sets. I think that
06:35That being instilled in me in a in a young age caused me to want to
06:40Continue. I think she kind of without realizing started to kind of grow my passion for hair and grow my passion for doing hair
06:47I feel like I would love it to not only just be a household name
06:50But because people trust us so much for us to be able to cater to multiple needs
06:57And kind of be a staple I see kaleidoscope in his growth
07:01Probably stepping off into different sectors like, you know, we are hair care, but then I have a baby, you know
07:08We have a kids line. So we thinking about a baby line, you know
07:11I was gonna dip off into skin, but I wasn't necessarily ready for it. I honestly think there's absolutely
07:17No way in hell to have a perfect balance at any point in time and anybody tells you that is a liar
07:22I feel like when you give a hundred percent to your home your business suffers when you give a hundred percent to your business your
07:28Home suffers so you have to learn and navigate the ebbs and the flows and be where you need to be when needed
07:32Sometimes your business is going to need you more. Sometimes your home is going to need you more
07:37So identifying those times and be willing to do the things to be able to be present. So if I know
07:43My child is going to be celebrating his first birthday that we need to figure out, you know, how what are we doing around that time?
07:50How can I step away from business or if I know?
07:52Hey, we're about to have a baby like when it was time to give birth
07:55What are the things that I need to have in place at the business to where people are not calling me all the time
07:59So I don't have to have these little meetings. I need y'all to take care of this
08:03I'm here
08:03But I need y'all to take care of this for at least four to six weeks while I'm trying to cater to my wife
08:08In her healing process and while we trying to get our baby, you know, all of the loving nutrients that he needs
08:18So my wife
08:20So my wife
08:22Is on our packaging as far as her being a part of the creative process. I try to limit
08:28The amount of questions that I have to ask her so I don't want to ask her like hey, you know
08:33What kind of ingredients do you want? I'm gonna tell her this is what I suggest or smellies for things
08:38Which which smell do you like or out of these colors out of these color blues? Which blue do you like?
08:44When it comes to like content creation or like when we're doing our content day
08:48She is very hands-on with that. But when it comes to the the process of the products
08:53I feel like that's the boring side for her
08:56So I just try to limit I try to just put it in front of her almost as finished and then she can pick it
09:01like that