February 9, 2025 • 33 mins
Listen as Raven Heyward, founder and host of DiversifyHER, converses with Alycea Rae. Alycea Adams is an entrepreneur who embodies authenticity and grit. A fourth-year student at UNC-Chapel Hill, she will graduate in May with a B.S. in Information Science and minors in Entrepreneurship and Urban Planning, earning Summa Cum Laude honors. With 1.2M+ followers across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, Alycea collaborates with top beauty brands like Aveda, Mielle Organics, and Sephora. She was recently named a Sephora Squad 2025 creator.
Passionate about technology and storytelling, she co-founded HairMatch, a consumer app recommending hair products based on hair type. She also launched the She Means Business podcast, featuring industry leaders. After graduation, Alycea will join IBM as a brand specialist in their sales program.
Connect with Alycea!
Instagram/Tiktok/Youtube: Alycearae
Podcast: Shemeansbusinesspodcasts
HairMatch: HairMatchapp
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi everyone and welcome back to Diversify Her
Podcast.
I'm your host, raven Hayward,and today I'm joined with Alicia
Rae Adams.
This is such a special episodefor me.
Not only is it going to be thefirst episode where you guys
will actually be able to watchand listen, but also I've known
Alicia since what senior year inhigh school, when she came to
(00:21):
my track practice to meet mebecause I was interested in
joining the Carolinacheerleading team.
So I'm really excited for thisepisode today.
So Alicia is an entrepreneurthat embodies the power of
authenticity and grit.
She's a fourth year student atthe University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill who willgraduate this upcoming May with
her BS in information science,with a double minor in
(00:42):
entrepreneurship and urbanplanning with highest
distinction, summa cum laude.
She's a social media influencerwith 1.2 million and plus
followers across Instagram,tiktok and YouTube.
Her partnership portfolioincludes household names in the
hair care and beauty space, suchas Evita, miel, organics and
Sephora.
(01:03):
Recently, alicia was announcedas one of the creators for the
Sephora Squad 2025.
With a passion for technologyand storytelling, alicia retired
from her three years of collegecheerleading to launch an app
focused on natural hair care.
She is the co-founder of a techstartup called Hair Match,
(01:23):
which is a consumer applicationthat brings synergy to natural
hair care to provide recommendedhair products based on users'
hair types.
This year, she launched herpodcast she Means Business on
Spotify, where she curatesconversations with individuals
excelling in their field.
After graduation, alicia will bestarting in her full-time job
at IBM as a brand specialist intheir sales program.
(01:45):
So I just read her lengthy bio.
You guys know that she has herhands in a lot of different
things.
So, alicia, I'd love for you tojust start off by telling us
how you even got to this point,to where you have basically like
your jack-of-all-trades.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah, raven, I think it really starts from high
school.
So, going back to when I wasprobably like 14 or 15 and
seeing how I was always doingsomething extracurricular wise
and I was always pretty muchhustling, trying to figure out,
okay, like, do I want to dopre-med, do I want to do
something involved in technology?
Because my brother's involvedin technology?
(02:23):
So high school is reallypivotal for me because I really
figured out, okay, what drivesme to get up every single
morning besides, like you know,doing something as far as like
for the outside validation.
So I kind of like did a lot ofsoul churching in high school
and then I decided to come hereto Carolina, where it's been not
like the easiest road but it'sdefinitely molded me into like
(02:44):
the woman that I've become.
So came into Carolina.
Pre-med.
Neuroscience quickly changed mymind.
Organic chemistry took that outfor me.
But then I realized the majorthat I'm currently in was like
something really new and growingand like just talking with my
brother, my mom, christina, asyou know, someone really close
to me and a role model.
So it's just a lot of hard work, a lot of long nights, but
(03:08):
realistically it's just everyday I wake up wanting to be
better.
So if that means I'm going totry something new each day, then
I'm OK with that and I kind ofembrace that, because the
journey is really up to you.
And that's something I had tolearn and not kind of look at
social media so much.
So now that I'm in social mediaI'm kind of desensitized to
(03:30):
like the things that sometimesin the past, when I was in high
school, would like make me feellike, oh, I'm not ahead of the
game enough, I'm not moving fastenough.
So now, being a creator, I justkind of like stay in my own
lane and just keep doing goodwork.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
So you're mentioning social media and the number was
huge 1.2 million, plus with theamount of followers you have
across the platforms.
Could you just talk a littlebit about what made you get into
social media and how you wereable to grow your platform?
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Yeah, social media for me.
It started off for me being auser and then I realized, okay,
a lot of people ask me questionsabout my natural hair, whether
are you mixed?
Is it real Like, what productsdo you use?
And so initially I was like, ok, cool, I'm not a dancer, I
can't dance.
Cheerleading and dance arecompletely different.
I give props to anyone who candance, I applaud you, but I'm
(04:19):
just not blessed with that skillset.
So when it came to TikTok, Iwas like, okay, I know what's
authentic to me and that's myhair.
So I just started making videoswith that, primarily on TikTok.
I kept my Instagram separatebecause it's kind of like the
social LinkedIn for people ourage and, honestly, it's just
become a growing platform.
So it was very separate.
But then I had a video blow upthat was like 100,000 views
(04:43):
overnight and I was like, mom,I'm famous, oh, jk.
I didn't really say that.
But she was like what does thismean?
Because she's not on socialmedia.
So I'm like, OK, so I'mexplaining it to her.
And she's like OK, that's cool.
And I just started beingconsistent with it, literally
recording on, I think, like myiPhone 13, like some trash and
growing it where it really liketook off.
I signed with my agency,Dulcido Group, that I'm with
(05:04):
currently June 2023.
And so I've just been verystrategic about posting like
cross-platform posting for likeInstagram, YouTube Shorts and
TikTok, so it's very much.
My face is saturated on allplatforms surrounding about
natural hair and started for meto kind of be like the building,
the confidence of like.
(05:25):
You know, I would kind of belike weirded out somewhat when
people ask me like can I touchyour hair?
Or like, is your hair real?
And I was like why?
does everyone think my hair islike fake and then you know it's
an education piece into thatand like maintaining natural
hair is a very huge task.
So I just took what I learnedhad to learn by myself by
watching like YouTube videoswhen I was like 12 years old and
put it on a platform likeTikTok.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
So you mentioned you signed with your agency in June
of 2023.
When did you start social media?
And then what made you decide,OK, I should sign with an agency
?
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Yeah.
So I would say I startedcreating content on TikTok going
into my sophomore year ofcollege and I kind of did it as
like a get back, like, oh, like,people are not understanding my
hair, like okay, like let mejust make a video and explain to
them.
Like this is my daily routine.
And I didn't really necessarilytake it serious, I just thought
(06:18):
it was, oh cool, I have likeTikTok followers, but I didn't
understand the monetizationthat's behind that.
So my agent, my past agent,olivia, she reached out to me.
She's not an agency called kgand they're like huge agency,
amazing agency as well.
Um, and I thought she was ascam.
I was like I don't know.
But she caught my eye becauseshe's black and I was like, okay
(06:39):
, like I can, I can vibe withthis.
So we had a meeting while I wasat delta at my internship and
and she explained it to me andshe asked me so, like
transparently, like, how muchare you charging for like a
video?
I was like girl, like $250.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Like that's enough for like groceries gas.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
It's a college student and it's like 30 seconds
and she was like people withyour numbers are like charging
like $1,400 for a 30 secondvideo.
And that's when, like, myfollowing count was probably
like 42,000 on like, I think,maybe like 30K on Instagram and
159,000 on TikTok, so I was likejust getting started in a sense
(07:15):
.
But she took a chance on me and, like saw my potential to be
able to like really hone andlike own this space that I'm in
with natural hair care.
So the rest was from history,but I thank her all the space
that I'm in with natural haircare.
So the rest was from history,but I think her all the time
because I was literally justdoing it for fun.
I didn't think of doing it forlike monetary purposes, because
I didn't really understand themoney behind social media or
(07:37):
marketing.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
And you mentioned something saying you thought she
was a scam, but then younoticed that she was black, and
I think that that's somethingthat's super important,
especially in your industry andjust in life in general.
You want that representation.
You want someone that sees you,that understands you, that
knows you for you.
So could you just speak on alittle bit about what it's been
like being just a black woman inthis industry?
(07:58):
Have you had to face anyadversity and what has that been
like?
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Yeah, and what has that been like?
Yeah, so, being a black womanin the space of natural hair
care, especially like largebrands like L'Oreal, garnier,
fruits, tresemme and sometimesthe person on the bottle doesn't
look like you and so I thinkit's my due diligence to be able
to really be authentic when I'mworking with these brands.
Like I tell them all the timeno, I'm not straightening my
(08:22):
hair for any campaign.
First of all, I can't do itmyself, I'm not going to go get
it done, but that's just not howI naturally wear my hair, and
so just breaking those beautystandards of straight hair is
more, I guess, pleasing on theeye than curly hair has been
something that I've tried toreally stay firm with.
So a lot of my partnershipsthat I have don't involve heat,
because it's just not reallyauthentic to who I am.
(08:43):
Heat because it's just notreally authentic to who I am.
And when it comes torepresentation, especially in
this space as a young blackwoman, I think it's really
important for me to explain tobrands outside of what I do with
social media, like a lot oftimes we'll have briefing calls
and I'm explaining to them.
Yeah, so I have three classesthis day.
I'm a senior in college andwhen I was cheering at the time,
(09:03):
I really had to be transparentwith them.
I have a schedule, I have agame to cheer at, and so they
just really kind of looked at melike, oh, like she really has a
lot of stuff going on.
I'm like, yes, so I'm not justdoing social media as like full
time, as people would say, butit's pretty much a hobby that I
really enjoy.
That happens to pay me verywell.
(09:24):
And when it comes to therepresentation piece, that
starts with the agent for sure,because, like my agent Olivia
told me, not everyone is lookingout for you in this business.
At the end of the day, you're apart of a portfolio of a brand,
so essentially you're makingthem money.
So you want to work withsomeone that's like one going to
do well behind you and not tryto rip you off, but also pitch
(09:46):
you very well to companies thatare of your interest.
For me, like I'm a part of thesephora squad now, so like
getting into the makeup space,right, but you know I don't know
anything about makeup.
I don't know anything aboutmakeup, but it's okay because
I'm going to learn.
So it's just like you knowdoing different master classes
of that nature and seeing likeokay, like I'm more of like the
natural glam type of look andjust telling them what my
(10:08):
interests are up front, andthat's the biggest thing with
representation being vocal.
You know, I've never beenscared to be vocal.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Never been scared to be vocal, but really knowing how
to work a room and that'ssomething that in the space of
content creation and workingwith brands who have like a huge
dollar sign behind them,building that relationship,
because at the end of the day,they're using me as diversity,
so I want them to respect youknow my wishes and things of
that nature, but it's really atwo-way street when working with
brands right and it's so funnyy'all me and Alicia we lived
(10:35):
together my sophomore year, herjunior year, and so her just
telling y'all the story, Iremember like sort of being in
the background or know I'mgetting ready and I'm hearing
that she has a meeting going onin her room, so being able to
like kind of see this in realtime and it play out like truly
am so happy for her, so proud ofyou, like I've seen all the
(10:55):
hard work, the late nights, andon top of that you were cheering
because we were past teammates.
So how was that decision?
What went into it?
I know what went into it, buttell them what went into it when
you had to ultimately decide tokind of part ways with cheer.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Yeah, so I think so, probably last year, you know,
like for real, for real, likeour coaches knew they were like
I think this might be like theend of Alicia's like story when
it comes to like cheerleading,because fun, not only is it like
physically taxing, sometimes itcan be mentally taxing.
When you're dealing with okay,I'm diving into content creation
and last year I flew out to LAfor that CurlyCon event and I
(11:35):
was like okay, so I have torearrange two exams.
I have to tell my professors.
I have to tell my professorsthat I'm a content creator,
which is so cringy to thinkabout back then and and so it
was a lot of moving pieces but Iwas able to do it and that was
a time I missed, I think, theCampbell football game.
So just communication up front,like with the coaching staff
and like my professors, kind ofreally helped me.
(11:56):
But going into the summer, Iwas like okay, like sitting down
.
I'm like, all right, I'm aboutto be 21.
Okay, body is not the bestshape right now.
Like I can't like my back, myknees, and then, you know, my
freshman year had a concussion.
So I was like, okay, all thesedifferent moving pieces.
So when it came down to what Ithought would add value to my
(12:18):
current situation, I thoughtabout what if I didn't have
cheer in my life at that currenttime.
So, you know, you know I wasgoing through the phases of like
okay, like dang, I'm going tobe left out, I'm not going to
like see, like the friends thatwe've made, and like I was kind
of on the edge.
But I was really focused ongetting a job.
Like I think that was thebiggest thing that I was worried
(12:38):
about post graduation.
Okay, cool, cheerleading is notgoing to pay my bills.
So I'm trying to figure outwhat full-time job do I need to
get?
So I started the recruitmentprocess for like full-time
positions in the summer.
So, like June, july, august, Iwas applying, like, doing like
briefly, first round interviewsand then, come September, like I
kind of figured out and honeddown, like cut down my list of
(13:00):
like different places, becausenow I'm considering, okay, where
do I want?
You know, I want to live inAtlanta.
But then I'm like, okay,there's positions in Austin,
there's positions in Charlotte,la, but I'm like I can't.
California, that's like a hugejump to be from, like Charlotte,
north Carolina.
So I'm like all these differentthings are going through my
mind so I'm like, okay, I'mstressed out, what on the table
can I take away that could freeup time, free up stress and just
(13:24):
a lot of different things.
And so, like I had a heart toheart with like our coaches and
like everyone on the team prettymuch knew, but I think it was
just like a homecoming for me tobasically know that I paid like
three years of, like UNCcheerleading, which has been a
phenomenal experience of justexposure, traveling for
tournaments and all thesedifferent things.
So I have that experience thatI can speak to and now, like my
(13:48):
body feels a lot better.
So it was hard, but justtalking to my mom, grandpa and
brother, and especiallyChristina, because she, you know
, she's my coach for since highschool and she was telling me,
well, you know, I stoppedcheering my senior year because,
like everything just got reallyhectic.
So I was like okay, and like Ikind of went back like this year
and wanted to see, do I want todo it, do I not want to do it?
But I would just like I can'tbe overwhelmed by school cheer
(14:13):
having a startup too, and thenlike the social media, space and
after you stop cheering yourealize how much time you have.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
And especially with cheer, we don't get paid, we
don't get scholarship.
Unc barely recognizes cheer asan athlete yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
So that's another thing and that's that's one
thing that I wish, like at thencaa level, that they would.
You know, we're not considereda varsity sport out of like, I
think, 28 sanctioned varsitysports for ncaa.
But you know, we have practicemonday, wednesday, lift tuesday,
thursday.
If we have a saturday footballgame, we have field practice on
friday, lift tuesday, thursday.
If we have a saturday footballgame, we have field practice on
friday, saturday game all day,depending on when it starts.
(14:52):
If it's a hot game it starts at3 pm.
We're there until like maybelike eight o'clock.
So it does take up a lot oftime, but you don't really
notice that when you're in it,but when you're outside of it
I'm like wow I have a lot oftime to really feed into myself,
and I think that's the onething that I can say about
cheerleading.
I think people just think likewe shake our pom poms.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
I'm like no.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
I'm literally standing on a guy's hands who's
like six feet plus.
So it's like a lot of bodycontrol, body awareness, core
strength, all these differentaspects.
Flexibility for her,Flexibility for me, and it's
just, but it can be taxing onthe body For her.
Flexibility for me, and it'sjust, but it can be taxing on
the body, I know.
Shout out to Elisa best trainer.
We shared her with UNT footballLike she would do acupuncture
(15:33):
and sim on my back like everyweek.
So it's a lot to have thatimpact consistently.
Don't even get me started onthe tuck.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Oh my goodness the mental blocks, the mental blocks
.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
That's so huge and that's the one thing that
cheerleading like really liketaught me is how to really get
over a mental block.
But it's also, if I can do atuck in front of like 20,000
people, I can get up in a classand talk in front of 200
students.
So you kind of like put intoperspective different things
that you've done, especiallywith cheerleading, and it's just
(16:07):
like wow, like it really helpsyou really build that confidence
.
So that's something I'm superthankful for.
But I'm glad my knees feelbetter.
And life skills like having tosmile through I know, you know,
knowing how to fake a smile islike one of the best things ever
, and facial expressions, butalso just body language and
being able to draw people in.
I think that's the one thingthat cheerleading really
(16:29):
amplifies, is like theperformance art aspect of it,
because people want to be ableto watch you and not be boring.
So, you know, just adding alittle pizzazz here and there,
right.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
So now to the meat and potatoes, as you like to say
, I'm a country girl.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
I love meat and potatoes, it's all the things.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Let's talk about your app, startup, hair Match.
I remember you saying that youwanted to get into it.
It was one of your goals andnow you're making it happen.
So can you talk about how youwere able to put it into
fruition?
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Yeah, so it started off as an idea Initially.
Just the hard pain points oflike finding hair care products
for me was just like okay, I'mtired of like wasting money
every time trying new productsthat don't end up working for my
curls and like my porosity andthings like that.
So I ran the idea by one of myintern friends that I met while
I was at Delta, the first summeractually, and then I went back
(17:27):
to Delta but he went back toMicrosoft.
So his name is Matthew, he's asenior also at Georgia Tech and
he's wicked, smart, comp scimajor.
But we kind of bonded over likeour athletics because he used
to be a swimmer for Georgia Techand he went to like the Olympic
trials.
And I was like Matthew like sohe had to make that decision of
like swimming his whole life, toretire from swim so he can
(17:47):
invest into his comp sci major.
So he like is an avid coder,avid builder, and he was like I
think I can make this idea work.
And I was like cool, like Ithink it would be cool if I
could like take a picture of myhair and be recommended hair
care products.
So we started in July meetingbi-weekly on top of everything
else we had going on.
I was taking an online class aswell, so I was busy in the
(18:09):
summer, but I was just trying toget ahead.
So I knew that the fallsemester for my senior year it
wouldn't be too overbearingbecause I knew that hair match
would pretty much be coming tofruition.
So we started July.
We ended up launching inNovember.
Right now we're like over 4,000downloads, generating over like
like $1,000 in revenue, 1,100followers across different
(18:30):
social media, primarilyInstagram, and we're in two
accelerator programs, one that'sat Georgia Tech called CreateX,
and then another one with isMicrosoft for Startups Founders
program.
So it's been.
I just like it because it'ssomething very authentic to me.
I could have joined, like you.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
I don't know a sports app.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
But I'm like okay, whatever, but natural hair care
is so underrepresented in justlike the beauty space, so I
wanted to do something that'skind of like, you know, paying
tribute to the lineage.
You know, black History Month,a lot of different aspects
coming to natural hair.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
The crown act, like just accepting natural hair, has
been a big thing for blackwomen so to create an app that
can potentially help millionsand thousands of people, I think
is something that I really amjust excited about so I mean,
maybe y'all know and I don'tknow, but what goes into
creating an app like how are youable to actually start from
(19:23):
scratch and build?
Because there's nothing I don'tthink like hair match yeah so
it starts off with the designthinking process.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
So that's something that I've learned through my
entrepreneurship minor program,shuford, here at UNC, chapel
Hill, and we're pretty muchtrying to figure out is this the
pain point that other peopleexperience besides myself?
So early on, we created userinterviews and talked to
probably like eight to 11 peopleand just seeing how OK, what
pain points do you have withyour hair care or finding hair
(19:53):
care products?
And what we saw in the customerjourney, like discovery, was
that a lot of people were eithergetting recommendations from
online influencers or from, like, their hairstylist and so,
outside of that, they reallydidn't have a roadmap to follow
to find hair care products.
So that's when we had thatbasically confirmation that this
is a problem that people areexperiencing.
And so, going from that initialstep, figma Figma is your best
(20:17):
friend for creating wireframes.
I started knowing how to useFigma from a system designs
class here at UNC with my major,so a lot of school things that
I was learning really applied tothe aspect of building an app.
And now, on the softwaredevelopment side of things,
that's where Matthew pretty muchspearheads.
So we use a lot of cloudcredits, which is a general like
(20:37):
from either Azure, which isjust cloud computing, like
inside the cloud.
It's kind of like a complexthing to explain, but building
it out is.
I think he uses so for iPhones.
It's Swift, which is like thisbuilding language type thing.
I really couldn't explain it toyou but just meeting Matthew
(20:57):
and him explaining to me likehow little things like UX design
are super important, like color, abstract, making sure that
people it's very accessible, soif people you know may have
vision impairments or hearingimpairments, that they're able
to navigate the app like withoutfeeling, without feeling like
they can't do it the right wayor effectively and I just
(21:21):
figured out through the space ofbuilding an app.
it's very it's, it's quick, likeespecially with AI.
Ai is running.
Ai can be expensive when itcomes to like computing and like
you have users that are callingquerying information because we
use right now like open AI forcertain stuff and like, but a
lot of times you can do awireframe or like a prototype
(21:44):
for mobile applications withlike a no code, like AI.
So it's pretty cool just to getthat you know MVP the minimal
viable prototype just into themarket and like seeing how
customers interact with it andhow do you scale from there.
So we're in the process ofscaling right now, figuring out
you know where subscriptionbased consumer applications, so
finding a price point that'ssticky enough for users where
(22:05):
they either have the monthlysubscription option or annually.
So we're just doing a lot oflike data analysis to figure out
what works best for our targetmarket.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
That's really cool, like you explaining using all
the coding terms, like I'm kindof picking up.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Because you're a data science minor.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Yes, so I'm able to like pick up on some of this
stuff.
So I also know you started yourown podcast.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
I know you were the inspiration, yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
So tell me about your podcast and what motivated you
to start that, and was that alsoin tandem?
As you were building up HairMatch, you were also like, ooh,
let me start this podcast.
Tell me how your brain works.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
You're already doing different things and you're like
oh, let me add this on too.
Yeah, I think when it comes topodcasts, I just love the
conversation piece and I learn alot from listening instead of
reading per se.
So just hearing from differentpodcasts and just listening all
the time, I was like I love totalk, so why not do something
where it's like I can share whatinformation I've learned with
(23:02):
my network to other people,because I'm just trying to
positively, positively impactpeople as much as I can.
So I started the podcastJanuary of this year, so January
2025.
And I was doing outreach likearound the holidays and yeah,
it's just pretty much from therehas grown.
I've had three guests so far.
(23:23):
First episode was reallyknocking the ball out of the
park with Brandy Marshall fromNetflix.
And she's like a luxury realestate agent out in Orange
County, california and she'samazing and we connected over
social media because shefollowed me, because of her
daughter, because her daughterhas hair similar to mine, so it
always goes back to that hairpiece and just social media
being a very powerful tool forconnectivity and using that to
(23:45):
my advantage to basically sharethe stories of others who've had
monumental journeys, and justhaving like an outlet for people
to listen into.
Because we're college students,a lot of people right now are
trying to figure out OK, what amI going to do after graduation?
What internships am I lookingfor?
Do I really like my major?
What can I do with my major amI looking for?
Do I really like my major?
(24:05):
What can I do with my major?
So just providing them withlike a podcast to show them like
, hey, this is what someone'sjourney has looked like.
It's not the easiest, it's notthe prettiest, it's not the
flashiest, but this is somethingthat you can do too.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
So you mentioning just college students and
wanting this to be a platformwhere you're able to kind of
showcase other people's journeys, what would you say has been
the most critical part of yourjourney thus far of just being a
college student, being able tobalance all that you're doing?
You now have a secure job inthe future, working at IBM.
(24:37):
What would you say has beenlike the most critical piece in
your journey to lead you towhere you are?
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Yeah, I think probably the second semester of
my sophomore year when Iliterally crashed out after
failing a biology exam and I waslike I don't even enjoy doing
this, like I can do it, but it'sjust I'm not seeing the return
on investment right now, whichyou know may be my impatient
nature, but the stress fromacademics at Carolina,
(25:07):
specifically for STEM and thesciences, I was like, do I
really want to go into medicine?
And then I had an internshipthat I've kind of spoke to with
the University of Florida, Ithink the sophomore, my
sophomore summer, and it waslike an immersion program and I
realized, yeah, health care isnot for me.
And I think that's the onerealization that I had that kind
(25:28):
of made me feel set backbecause I said like since high
school, oh yeah, I'm gonna doorthopedic surgery and this and
a third I want to do for like asports franchise, all these
different things.
And so once I kind of like, allright, scratch that plan, like
what are we going to?
I had to figure out what skillsI was good at, trying to figure
out.
Okay, what do I?
What am I interested in?
(25:48):
Learning and technology wasalways something in my family.
My dad majored in mechanicalengineering.
My mom she's in education, butshe did psychology, as everyone
back in the day did Not too much.
And my brother he's in thesoftware development side and I
was like OK, william, I don'twant to be a coder, OK.
I don't want to sit behind adesk all day and just code and
(26:09):
just look at my screen.
And so when I had my internshipat Delta, that kind of showed
me what technology looks likefrom a business standpoint.
So I was in business strategyfor IT operations and so that's
when I was like, ok, what majorsdo UNC have?
That's not comp, sci, but stillin that technical space.
And that's how I landed oninformation science and I
actually didn't get acceptedinto the program until my junior
(26:30):
year because I waited to switchmy major.
So I had to take all theseprereqs.
So I was pretty much like ashoo-in because I already took
like some of the electives thatare not required but like you
could still take them even ifyou're not declared that major.
Not required, but like youcould still take them even if
you're not declared that major.
And that was basically like themost pivotal moment for me,
just recognizing the change thatI wanted and being willing to
(26:51):
say it out loud, because a lotof people I feel like don't want
to say out loud that, oh crap,like I don't want to do this
anymore.
I'm all for saying, yeah, I'mgonna wipe my hands of this, I'm
not doing it anymore and movingon to the next thing, and I
think that's what has helped mein the journey Just like okay.
I might have my moments whereI'm just like okay, in my room,
stressed out, cry a little bit,but you know, I regroup and I
just keep moving forward.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
And I think we do have the luxury of that, since
we are still so young to realize, like you know what this is not
for me.
I don't foresee myself wantingto do this for the rest of my
life.
So let's pivot.
Let's switch to something newwhich I think is really cool,
and all about just diversifyingyour kind of network.
Excuse me, I'm sorry, I got tolock in, ok.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Y'all it's been hard.
It's so crazy Like we'reactually being serious yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
And not too much, before I start laughing into
this mic.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Ok, and not too much before I start laughing into
this mic.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
Okay, well, that's leading us to our last question,
which is my signature questionthat I have on my podcast, which
is what's one piece of adviceyou would give Gen Z?
To go out and diversifythemselves, go out and be bold
(28:08):
and be resilient in the sensethat ask questions and be
prepared for people to say no.
A lot of times I so in highschool.
I quote for my senior um quotewas a quote from kobe and it was
essentially around like youmiss 100% the shots that you
don't take.
Like send somebody emails, sendsomebody linkedin, like people
are really eager to help collegestudents and that's something
that I've learned.
There's no real other answerbesides no and that's the worst
(28:29):
that it can get.
And just don't feel embarrassedwhen you're trying something
new.
Like everyone has to learn howto walk and fall before they can
run.
So for me, the advice that Iwould give Gen Z because we are
very ruthless and we're veryblunt with a lot of things that
we want be bold and go out forwhatever you want to achieve,
because no one is stopping.
Literally the world is ouroyster, even though right now,
(28:50):
everything that we're in is veryeverything feels like on edge,
like someone's waiting for ashoe to drop, but I've always
felt like, even though, like youknow, I'm from Charlotte, that
doesn't mean that I can't, youknow, be a.
I'm a black woman fromCharlotte.
You know two parents, militaryfamily.
That doesn't mean I can't be aCEO of YouTube one day.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Shout out that.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
But be bold and go whatever.
Go for whatever you want inlife.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
I think that's great, and also you saying that like
send that cold email.
That just reminds me LinkedIn.
That's also something that Iwanted to talk about on this
episode episode.
Could you just speak on howyou've been able to like utilize
LinkedIn?
Speaker 2 (29:30):
yeah, LinkedIn.
I started using it seriouslyearly on in high school because
I just had I was in the APcapstone program, so we talked
about LinkedIn.
I'm like what is this thisfeels like for adults?
So I started using it in highschool just to you display
different volunteer things thatI was doing community engagement
, things of that nature.
But it's really theprofessional Instagram, like I
(29:52):
was speaking to earlier, andusing it as a way to connect
with people, whether it be likeI randomly connected with a lady
who's like a global director atIBM and I was like hey, like I
applied for this position.
X, Y and Z.
We connected and she was likehey, like I applied for this
position x, y and z we connectedand she was like, yeah, feel
free to like schedule time on mycalendar.
(30:13):
I was like there's no way it wasthat easy.
But I've just, I've learnedthat, like, for example, when I
had a um like connect with, uh,georgie, who was like the former
um agent for shador sanders,like travis hunter and shiloh, I
got connected with her becauseI sent the agent for Deja that I
know.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
Cecil.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
White and he just put us in a group.
Chat was like you know, sointroductions.
But relationships go a long way.
Relationships and impressionswith people go a long way and
LinkedIn is just basically likethe icebreaker.
I got my job from a codeapplication I didn't know anyone
at IBM, and a lot of peoplewere like like, what referral
did you have?
And I was like all my referralsare at Delta.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
They're not.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
IBM, but just like having that resume, which is a
big key, and then theinterviewing skills, but also
LinkedIn, to ask people who arelike in a similar space of like.
Hey, also, if you have aninterview with a person, stalk
their LinkedIn before Research,research, because you always
want to have like a casualconversation even though it is
an interview.
Because people remember that,like one of my interviews, we
(31:12):
were on Zoom and he hadMinnesota in the back and we
just played Minnesota and barelybeat them.
And then our startingquarterback broke his leg, so it
was so much to talk about, andhe was just like yeah, we're a
huge sports fan, we loveCarolina too and stuff like that
.
So the connections go a longway.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
And especially everyone's always preaching.
You know, your net worth isyour network.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
And I think social capital is key.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
So key.
But also you want to be genuineand authentic and I think that
that's something that's kind ofbeen hard for Gen Z or even just
people that I know in myclasses.
You know one of their alwaysfollow up questions is OK, but
how do I maintain thatrelationship and stay genuine?
And, you know, don't make itseem like I'm trying to get
something out of them.
Just like Lisa said, like doingyour research and actually
(31:57):
having casual conversations thatcome up just naturally as
you're talking to someone,because I think that's really
imperative.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
come up just naturally, as you're talking to
someone, because I think that'sreally imperative, yeah, and
even if you have like anopportunity in mind for somebody
or, like you know, podcasts area great way to have people like
to build conversations with,but that doesn't mean you
necessarily have to go out andstart a podcast, but it's a lot
of ways of like, if you havetheir phone number, just be like
hey, happy holidays, like stufflike that, like I always do
that.
But it also goes back to, Ithink, like how I was raised,
(32:25):
like my mom has always been,like you know, like the kindness
that you put out will like bereturned to you and things like
that.
So it's just by nature.
I'm like hey, girl, like youknow, I saw you did x, y and z.
Congrats on that.
And just being authentic, itreally does go far, because I
would rather it be authentic andthey think of me for an
opportunity than me being likehey, so I need a job, what you
(32:47):
got for me so it's just a.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
It goes a long way of being authentic and kind and I
think that is the perfect placefor us to end this episode.
Thank you again for coming on.
It's been a long time comingwith having you on the podcast.
Thank you all so much forlistening and watching and be
sure to tune in next time fordiversify her podcast.
Hi everyone and welcome back to Diversify Her
Podcast.
I'm your host, raven Hayward,and today I'm joined with Alicia
Rae Adams.
This is such a special episodefor me.
Not only is it going to be thefirst episode where you guys
will actually be able to watchand listen, but also I've known
Alicia since what senior year inhigh school, when she came to
(00:21):
my track practice to meet mebecause I was interested in
joining the Carolinacheerleading team.
So I'm really excited for thisepisode today.
So Alicia is an entrepreneurthat embodies the power of
authenticity and grit.
She's a fourth year student atthe University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill who willgraduate this upcoming May with
her BS in information science,with a double minor in
(00:42):
entrepreneurship and urbanplanning with highest
distinction, summa cum laude.
She's a social media influencerwith 1.2 million and plus
followers across Instagram,tiktok and YouTube.
Her partnership portfolioincludes household names in the
hair care and beauty space, suchas Evita, miel, organics and
Sephora.
(01:03):
Recently, alicia was announcedas one of the creators for the
Sephora Squad 2025.
With a passion for technologyand storytelling, alicia retired
from her three years of collegecheerleading to launch an app
focused on natural hair care.
She is the co-founder of a techstartup called Hair Match,
(01:23):
which is a consumer applicationthat brings synergy to natural
hair care to provide recommendedhair products based on users'
hair types.
This year, she launched herpodcast she Means Business on
Spotify, where she curatesconversations with individuals
excelling in their field.
After graduation, alicia will bestarting in her full-time job
at IBM as a brand specialist intheir sales program.
(01:45):
So I just read her lengthy bio.
You guys know that she has herhands in a lot of different
things.
So, alicia, I'd love for you tojust start off by telling us
how you even got to this point,to where you have basically like
your jack-of-all-trades.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah, raven, I think it really starts from high
school.
So, going back to when I wasprobably like 14 or 15 and
seeing how I was always doingsomething extracurricular wise
and I was always pretty muchhustling, trying to figure out,
okay, like, do I want to dopre-med, do I want to do
something involved in technology?
Because my brother's involvedin technology?
(02:23):
So high school is reallypivotal for me because I really
figured out, okay, what drivesme to get up every single
morning besides, like you know,doing something as far as like
for the outside validation.
So I kind of like did a lot ofsoul churching in high school
and then I decided to come hereto Carolina, where it's been not
like the easiest road but it'sdefinitely molded me into like
(02:44):
the woman that I've become.
So came into Carolina.
Pre-med.
Neuroscience quickly changed mymind.
Organic chemistry took that outfor me.
But then I realized the majorthat I'm currently in was like
something really new and growingand like just talking with my
brother, my mom, christina, asyou know, someone really close
to me and a role model.
So it's just a lot of hard work, a lot of long nights, but
(03:08):
realistically it's just everyday I wake up wanting to be
better.
So if that means I'm going totry something new each day, then
I'm OK with that and I kind ofembrace that, because the
journey is really up to you.
And that's something I had tolearn and not kind of look at
social media so much.
So now that I'm in social mediaI'm kind of desensitized to
(03:30):
like the things that sometimesin the past, when I was in high
school, would like make me feellike, oh, I'm not ahead of the
game enough, I'm not moving fastenough.
So now, being a creator, I justkind of like stay in my own
lane and just keep doing goodwork.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
So you're mentioning social media and the number was
huge 1.2 million, plus with theamount of followers you have
across the platforms.
Could you just talk a littlebit about what made you get into
social media and how you wereable to grow your platform?
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Yeah, social media for me.
It started off for me being auser and then I realized, okay,
a lot of people ask me questionsabout my natural hair, whether
are you mixed?
Is it real Like, what productsdo you use?
And so initially I was like, ok, cool, I'm not a dancer, I
can't dance.
Cheerleading and dance arecompletely different.
I give props to anyone who candance, I applaud you, but I'm
(04:19):
just not blessed with that skillset.
So when it came to TikTok, Iwas like, okay, I know what's
authentic to me and that's myhair.
So I just started making videoswith that, primarily on TikTok.
I kept my Instagram separatebecause it's kind of like the
social LinkedIn for people ourage and, honestly, it's just
become a growing platform.
So it was very separate.
But then I had a video blow upthat was like 100,000 views
(04:43):
overnight and I was like, mom,I'm famous, oh, jk.
I didn't really say that.
But she was like what does thismean?
Because she's not on socialmedia.
So I'm like, OK, so I'mexplaining it to her.
And she's like OK, that's cool.
And I just started beingconsistent with it, literally
recording on, I think, like myiPhone 13, like some trash and
growing it where it really liketook off.
I signed with my agency,Dulcido Group, that I'm with
(05:04):
currently June 2023.
And so I've just been verystrategic about posting like
cross-platform posting for likeInstagram, YouTube Shorts and
TikTok, so it's very much.
My face is saturated on allplatforms surrounding about
natural hair and started for meto kind of be like the building,
the confidence of like.
(05:25):
You know, I would kind of belike weirded out somewhat when
people ask me like can I touchyour hair?
Or like, is your hair real?
And I was like why?
does everyone think my hair islike fake and then you know it's
an education piece into thatand like maintaining natural
hair is a very huge task.
So I just took what I learnedhad to learn by myself by
watching like YouTube videoswhen I was like 12 years old and
put it on a platform likeTikTok.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
So you mentioned you signed with your agency in June
of 2023.
When did you start social media?
And then what made you decide,OK, I should sign with an agency
?
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Yeah.
So I would say I startedcreating content on TikTok going
into my sophomore year ofcollege and I kind of did it as
like a get back, like, oh, like,people are not understanding my
hair, like okay, like let mejust make a video and explain to
them.
Like this is my daily routine.
And I didn't really necessarilytake it serious, I just thought
(06:18):
it was, oh cool, I have likeTikTok followers, but I didn't
understand the monetizationthat's behind that.
So my agent, my past agent,olivia, she reached out to me.
She's not an agency called kgand they're like huge agency,
amazing agency as well.
Um, and I thought she was ascam.
I was like I don't know.
But she caught my eye becauseshe's black and I was like, okay
(06:39):
, like I can, I can vibe withthis.
So we had a meeting while I wasat delta at my internship and
and she explained it to me andshe asked me so, like
transparently, like, how muchare you charging for like a
video?
I was like girl, like $250.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Like that's enough for like groceries gas.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
It's a college student and it's like 30 seconds
and she was like people withyour numbers are like charging
like $1,400 for a 30 secondvideo.
And that's when, like, myfollowing count was probably
like 42,000 on like, I think,maybe like 30K on Instagram and
159,000 on TikTok, so I was likejust getting started in a sense
(07:15):
.
But she took a chance on me and, like saw my potential to be
able to like really hone andlike own this space that I'm in
with natural hair care.
So the rest was from history,but I thank her all the space
that I'm in with natural haircare.
So the rest was from history,but I think her all the time
because I was literally justdoing it for fun.
I didn't think of doing it forlike monetary purposes, because
I didn't really understand themoney behind social media or
(07:37):
marketing.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
And you mentioned something saying you thought she
was a scam, but then younoticed that she was black, and
I think that that's somethingthat's super important,
especially in your industry andjust in life in general.
You want that representation.
You want someone that sees you,that understands you, that
knows you for you.
So could you just speak on alittle bit about what it's been
like being just a black woman inthis industry?
(07:58):
Have you had to face anyadversity and what has that been
like?
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Yeah, and what has that been like?
Yeah, so, being a black womanin the space of natural hair
care, especially like largebrands like L'Oreal, garnier,
fruits, tresemme and sometimesthe person on the bottle doesn't
look like you and so I thinkit's my due diligence to be able
to really be authentic when I'mworking with these brands.
Like I tell them all the timeno, I'm not straightening my
(08:22):
hair for any campaign.
First of all, I can't do itmyself, I'm not going to go get
it done, but that's just not howI naturally wear my hair, and
so just breaking those beautystandards of straight hair is
more, I guess, pleasing on theeye than curly hair has been
something that I've tried toreally stay firm with.
So a lot of my partnershipsthat I have don't involve heat,
because it's just not reallyauthentic to who I am.
(08:43):
Heat because it's just notreally authentic to who I am.
And when it comes torepresentation, especially in
this space as a young blackwoman, I think it's really
important for me to explain tobrands outside of what I do with
social media, like a lot oftimes we'll have briefing calls
and I'm explaining to them.
Yeah, so I have three classesthis day.
I'm a senior in college andwhen I was cheering at the time,
(09:03):
I really had to be transparentwith them.
I have a schedule, I have agame to cheer at, and so they
just really kind of looked at melike, oh, like she really has a
lot of stuff going on.
I'm like, yes, so I'm not justdoing social media as like full
time, as people would say, butit's pretty much a hobby that I
really enjoy.
That happens to pay me verywell.
(09:24):
And when it comes to therepresentation piece, that
starts with the agent for sure,because, like my agent Olivia
told me, not everyone is lookingout for you in this business.
At the end of the day, you're apart of a portfolio of a brand,
so essentially you're makingthem money.
So you want to work withsomeone that's like one going to
do well behind you and not tryto rip you off, but also pitch
(09:46):
you very well to companies thatare of your interest.
For me, like I'm a part of thesephora squad now, so like
getting into the makeup space,right, but you know I don't know
anything about makeup.
I don't know anything aboutmakeup, but it's okay because
I'm going to learn.
So it's just like you knowdoing different master classes
of that nature and seeing likeokay, like I'm more of like the
natural glam type of look andjust telling them what my
(10:08):
interests are up front, andthat's the biggest thing with
representation being vocal.
You know, I've never beenscared to be vocal.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Never been scared to be vocal, but really knowing how
to work a room and that'ssomething that in the space of
content creation and workingwith brands who have like a huge
dollar sign behind them,building that relationship,
because at the end of the day,they're using me as diversity,
so I want them to respect youknow my wishes and things of
that nature, but it's really atwo-way street when working with
brands right and it's so funnyy'all me and Alicia we lived
(10:35):
together my sophomore year, herjunior year, and so her just
telling y'all the story, Iremember like sort of being in
the background or know I'mgetting ready and I'm hearing
that she has a meeting going onin her room, so being able to
like kind of see this in realtime and it play out like truly
am so happy for her, so proud ofyou, like I've seen all the
(10:55):
hard work, the late nights, andon top of that you were cheering
because we were past teammates.
So how was that decision?
What went into it?
I know what went into it, buttell them what went into it when
you had to ultimately decide tokind of part ways with cheer.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Yeah, so I think so, probably last year, you know,
like for real, for real, likeour coaches knew they were like
I think this might be like theend of Alicia's like story when
it comes to like cheerleading,because fun, not only is it like
physically taxing, sometimes itcan be mentally taxing.
When you're dealing with okay,I'm diving into content creation
and last year I flew out to LAfor that CurlyCon event and I
(11:35):
was like okay, so I have torearrange two exams.
I have to tell my professors.
I have to tell my professorsthat I'm a content creator,
which is so cringy to thinkabout back then and and so it
was a lot of moving pieces but Iwas able to do it and that was
a time I missed, I think, theCampbell football game.
So just communication up front,like with the coaching staff
and like my professors, kind ofreally helped me.
(11:56):
But going into the summer, Iwas like okay, like sitting down
.
I'm like, all right, I'm aboutto be 21.
Okay, body is not the bestshape right now.
Like I can't like my back, myknees, and then, you know, my
freshman year had a concussion.
So I was like, okay, all thesedifferent moving pieces.
So when it came down to what Ithought would add value to my
(12:18):
current situation, I thoughtabout what if I didn't have
cheer in my life at that currenttime.
So, you know, you know I wasgoing through the phases of like
okay, like dang, I'm going tobe left out, I'm not going to
like see, like the friends thatwe've made, and like I was kind
of on the edge.
But I was really focused ongetting a job.
Like I think that was thebiggest thing that I was worried
(12:38):
about post graduation.
Okay, cool, cheerleading is notgoing to pay my bills.
So I'm trying to figure outwhat full-time job do I need to
get?
So I started the recruitmentprocess for like full-time
positions in the summer.
So, like June, july, august, Iwas applying, like, doing like
briefly, first round interviewsand then, come September, like I
kind of figured out and honeddown, like cut down my list of
(13:00):
like different places, becausenow I'm considering, okay, where
do I want?
You know, I want to live inAtlanta.
But then I'm like, okay,there's positions in Austin,
there's positions in Charlotte,la, but I'm like I can't.
California, that's like a hugejump to be from, like Charlotte,
north Carolina.
So I'm like all these differentthings are going through my
mind so I'm like, okay, I'mstressed out, what on the table
can I take away that could freeup time, free up stress and just
(13:24):
a lot of different things.
And so, like I had a heart toheart with like our coaches and
like everyone on the team prettymuch knew, but I think it was
just like a homecoming for me tobasically know that I paid like
three years of, like UNCcheerleading, which has been a
phenomenal experience of justexposure, traveling for
tournaments and all thesedifferent things.
So I have that experience thatI can speak to and now, like my
(13:48):
body feels a lot better.
So it was hard, but justtalking to my mom, grandpa and
brother, and especiallyChristina, because she, you know
, she's my coach for since highschool and she was telling me,
well, you know, I stoppedcheering my senior year because,
like everything just got reallyhectic.
So I was like okay, and like Ikind of went back like this year
and wanted to see, do I want todo it, do I not want to do it?
But I would just like I can'tbe overwhelmed by school cheer
(14:13):
having a startup too, and thenlike the social media, space and
after you stop cheering yourealize how much time you have.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
And especially with cheer, we don't get paid, we
don't get scholarship.
Unc barely recognizes cheer asan athlete yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
So that's another thing and that's that's one
thing that I wish, like at thencaa level, that they would.
You know, we're not considereda varsity sport out of like, I
think, 28 sanctioned varsitysports for ncaa.
But you know, we have practicemonday, wednesday, lift tuesday,
thursday.
If we have a saturday footballgame, we have field practice on
friday, lift tuesday, thursday.
If we have a saturday footballgame, we have field practice on
friday, saturday game all day,depending on when it starts.
(14:52):
If it's a hot game it starts at3 pm.
We're there until like maybelike eight o'clock.
So it does take up a lot oftime, but you don't really
notice that when you're in it,but when you're outside of it
I'm like wow I have a lot oftime to really feed into myself,
and I think that's the onething that I can say about
cheerleading.
I think people just think likewe shake our pom poms.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
I'm like no.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
I'm literally standing on a guy's hands who's
like six feet plus.
So it's like a lot of bodycontrol, body awareness, core
strength, all these differentaspects.
Flexibility for her,Flexibility for me, and it's
just, but it can be taxing onthe body For her.
Flexibility for me, and it'sjust, but it can be taxing on
the body, I know.
Shout out to Elisa best trainer.
We shared her with UNT footballLike she would do acupuncture
(15:33):
and sim on my back like everyweek.
So it's a lot to have thatimpact consistently.
Don't even get me started onthe tuck.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Oh my goodness the mental blocks, the mental blocks
.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
That's so huge and that's the one thing that
cheerleading like really liketaught me is how to really get
over a mental block.
But it's also, if I can do atuck in front of like 20,000
people, I can get up in a classand talk in front of 200
students.
So you kind of like put intoperspective different things
that you've done, especiallywith cheerleading, and it's just
(16:07):
like wow, like it really helpsyou really build that confidence
.
So that's something I'm superthankful for.
But I'm glad my knees feelbetter.
And life skills like having tosmile through I know, you know,
knowing how to fake a smile islike one of the best things ever
, and facial expressions, butalso just body language and
being able to draw people in.
I think that's the one thingthat cheerleading really
(16:29):
amplifies, is like theperformance art aspect of it,
because people want to be ableto watch you and not be boring.
So, you know, just adding alittle pizzazz here and there,
right.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
So now to the meat and potatoes, as you like to say
, I'm a country girl.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
I love meat and potatoes, it's all the things.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Let's talk about your app, startup, hair Match.
I remember you saying that youwanted to get into it.
It was one of your goals andnow you're making it happen.
So can you talk about how youwere able to put it into
fruition?
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Yeah, so it started off as an idea Initially.
Just the hard pain points oflike finding hair care products
for me was just like okay, I'mtired of like wasting money
every time trying new productsthat don't end up working for my
curls and like my porosity andthings like that.
So I ran the idea by one of myintern friends that I met while
I was at Delta, the first summeractually, and then I went back
(17:27):
to Delta but he went back toMicrosoft.
So his name is Matthew, he's asenior also at Georgia Tech and
he's wicked, smart, comp scimajor.
But we kind of bonded over likeour athletics because he used
to be a swimmer for Georgia Techand he went to like the Olympic
trials.
And I was like Matthew like sohe had to make that decision of
like swimming his whole life, toretire from swim so he can
(17:47):
invest into his comp sci major.
So he like is an avid coder,avid builder, and he was like I
think I can make this idea work.
And I was like cool, like Ithink it would be cool if I
could like take a picture of myhair and be recommended hair
care products.
So we started in July meetingbi-weekly on top of everything
else we had going on.
I was taking an online class aswell, so I was busy in the
(18:09):
summer, but I was just trying toget ahead.
So I knew that the fallsemester for my senior year it
wouldn't be too overbearingbecause I knew that hair match
would pretty much be coming tofruition.
So we started July.
We ended up launching inNovember.
Right now we're like over 4,000downloads, generating over like
like $1,000 in revenue, 1,100followers across different
(18:30):
social media, primarilyInstagram, and we're in two
accelerator programs, one that'sat Georgia Tech called CreateX,
and then another one with isMicrosoft for Startups Founders
program.
So it's been.
I just like it because it'ssomething very authentic to me.
I could have joined, like you.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
I don't know a sports app.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
But I'm like okay, whatever, but natural hair care
is so underrepresented in justlike the beauty space, so I
wanted to do something that'skind of like, you know, paying
tribute to the lineage.
You know, black History Month,a lot of different aspects
coming to natural hair.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
The crown act, like just accepting natural hair, has
been a big thing for blackwomen so to create an app that
can potentially help millionsand thousands of people, I think
is something that I really amjust excited about so I mean,
maybe y'all know and I don'tknow, but what goes into
creating an app like how are youable to actually start from
(19:23):
scratch and build?
Because there's nothing I don'tthink like hair match yeah so
it starts off with the designthinking process.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
So that's something that I've learned through my
entrepreneurship minor program,shuford, here at UNC, chapel
Hill, and we're pretty muchtrying to figure out is this the
pain point that other peopleexperience besides myself?
So early on, we created userinterviews and talked to
probably like eight to 11 peopleand just seeing how OK, what
pain points do you have withyour hair care or finding hair
(19:53):
care products?
And what we saw in the customerjourney, like discovery, was
that a lot of people were eithergetting recommendations from
online influencers or from, like, their hairstylist and so,
outside of that, they reallydidn't have a roadmap to follow
to find hair care products.
So that's when we had thatbasically confirmation that this
is a problem that people areexperiencing.
And so, going from that initialstep, figma Figma is your best
(20:17):
friend for creating wireframes.
I started knowing how to useFigma from a system designs
class here at UNC with my major,so a lot of school things that
I was learning really applied tothe aspect of building an app.
And now, on the softwaredevelopment side of things,
that's where Matthew pretty muchspearheads.
So we use a lot of cloudcredits, which is a general like
(20:37):
from either Azure, which isjust cloud computing, like
inside the cloud.
It's kind of like a complexthing to explain, but building
it out is.
I think he uses so for iPhones.
It's Swift, which is like thisbuilding language type thing.
I really couldn't explain it toyou but just meeting Matthew
(20:57):
and him explaining to me likehow little things like UX design
are super important, like color, abstract, making sure that
people it's very accessible, soif people you know may have
vision impairments or hearingimpairments, that they're able
to navigate the app like withoutfeeling, without feeling like
they can't do it the right wayor effectively and I just
(21:21):
figured out through the space ofbuilding an app.
it's very it's, it's quick, likeespecially with AI.
Ai is running.
Ai can be expensive when itcomes to like computing and like
you have users that are callingquerying information because we
use right now like open AI forcertain stuff and like, but a
lot of times you can do awireframe or like a prototype
(21:44):
for mobile applications withlike a no code, like AI.
So it's pretty cool just to getthat you know MVP the minimal
viable prototype just into themarket and like seeing how
customers interact with it andhow do you scale from there.
So we're in the process ofscaling right now, figuring out
you know where subscriptionbased consumer applications, so
finding a price point that'ssticky enough for users where
(22:05):
they either have the monthlysubscription option or annually.
So we're just doing a lot oflike data analysis to figure out
what works best for our targetmarket.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
That's really cool, like you explaining using all
the coding terms, like I'm kindof picking up.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Because you're a data science minor.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Yes, so I'm able to like pick up on some of this
stuff.
So I also know you started yourown podcast.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
I know you were the inspiration, yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
So tell me about your podcast and what motivated you
to start that, and was that alsoin tandem?
As you were building up HairMatch, you were also like, ooh,
let me start this podcast.
Tell me how your brain works.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
You're already doing different things and you're like
oh, let me add this on too.
Yeah, I think when it comes topodcasts, I just love the
conversation piece and I learn alot from listening instead of
reading per se.
So just hearing from differentpodcasts and just listening all
the time, I was like I love totalk, so why not do something
where it's like I can share whatinformation I've learned with
(23:02):
my network to other people,because I'm just trying to
positively, positively impactpeople as much as I can.
So I started the podcastJanuary of this year, so January
2025.
And I was doing outreach likearound the holidays and yeah,
it's just pretty much from therehas grown.
I've had three guests so far.
(23:23):
First episode was reallyknocking the ball out of the
park with Brandy Marshall fromNetflix.
And she's like a luxury realestate agent out in Orange
County, california and she'samazing and we connected over
social media because shefollowed me, because of her
daughter, because her daughterhas hair similar to mine, so it
always goes back to that hairpiece and just social media
being a very powerful tool forconnectivity and using that to
(23:45):
my advantage to basically sharethe stories of others who've had
monumental journeys, and justhaving like an outlet for people
to listen into.
Because we're college students,a lot of people right now are
trying to figure out OK, what amI going to do after graduation?
What internships am I lookingfor?
Do I really like my major?
What can I do with my major amI looking for?
Do I really like my major?
(24:05):
What can I do with my major?
So just providing them withlike a podcast to show them like
, hey, this is what someone'sjourney has looked like.
It's not the easiest, it's notthe prettiest, it's not the
flashiest, but this is somethingthat you can do too.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
So you mentioning just college students and
wanting this to be a platformwhere you're able to kind of
showcase other people's journeys, what would you say has been
the most critical part of yourjourney thus far of just being a
college student, being able tobalance all that you're doing?
You now have a secure job inthe future, working at IBM.
(24:37):
What would you say has beenlike the most critical piece in
your journey to lead you towhere you are?
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Yeah, I think probably the second semester of
my sophomore year when Iliterally crashed out after
failing a biology exam and I waslike I don't even enjoy doing
this, like I can do it, but it'sjust I'm not seeing the return
on investment right now, whichyou know may be my impatient
nature, but the stress fromacademics at Carolina,
(25:07):
specifically for STEM and thesciences, I was like, do I
really want to go into medicine?
And then I had an internshipthat I've kind of spoke to with
the University of Florida, Ithink the sophomore, my
sophomore summer, and it waslike an immersion program and I
realized, yeah, health care isnot for me.
And I think that's the onerealization that I had that kind
(25:28):
of made me feel set backbecause I said like since high
school, oh yeah, I'm gonna doorthopedic surgery and this and
a third I want to do for like asports franchise, all these
different things.
And so once I kind of like, allright, scratch that plan, like
what are we going to?
I had to figure out what skillsI was good at, trying to figure
out.
Okay, what do I?
What am I interested in?
(25:48):
Learning and technology wasalways something in my family.
My dad majored in mechanicalengineering.
My mom she's in education, butshe did psychology, as everyone
back in the day did Not too much.
And my brother he's in thesoftware development side and I
was like OK, william, I don'twant to be a coder, OK.
I don't want to sit behind adesk all day and just code and
(26:09):
just look at my screen.
And so when I had my internshipat Delta, that kind of showed
me what technology looks likefrom a business standpoint.
So I was in business strategyfor IT operations and so that's
when I was like, ok, what majorsdo UNC have?
That's not comp, sci, but stillin that technical space.
And that's how I landed oninformation science and I
actually didn't get acceptedinto the program until my junior
(26:30):
year because I waited to switchmy major.
So I had to take all theseprereqs.
So I was pretty much like ashoo-in because I already took
like some of the electives thatare not required but like you
could still take them even ifyou're not declared that major.
Not required, but like youcould still take them even if
you're not declared that major.
And that was basically like themost pivotal moment for me,
just recognizing the change thatI wanted and being willing to
(26:51):
say it out loud, because a lotof people I feel like don't want
to say out loud that, oh crap,like I don't want to do this
anymore.
I'm all for saying, yeah, I'mgonna wipe my hands of this, I'm
not doing it anymore and movingon to the next thing, and I
think that's what has helped mein the journey Just like okay.
I might have my moments whereI'm just like okay, in my room,
stressed out, cry a little bit,but you know, I regroup and I
just keep moving forward.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
And I think we do have the luxury of that, since
we are still so young to realize, like you know what this is not
for me.
I don't foresee myself wantingto do this for the rest of my
life.
So let's pivot.
Let's switch to something newwhich I think is really cool,
and all about just diversifyingyour kind of network.
Excuse me, I'm sorry, I got tolock in, ok.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Y'all it's been hard.
It's so crazy Like we'reactually being serious yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
And not too much, before I start laughing into
this mic.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Ok, and not too much before I start laughing into
this mic.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
Okay, well, that's leading us to our last question,
which is my signature questionthat I have on my podcast, which
is what's one piece of adviceyou would give Gen Z?
To go out and diversifythemselves, go out and be bold
(28:08):
and be resilient in the sensethat ask questions and be
prepared for people to say no.
A lot of times I so in highschool.
I quote for my senior um quotewas a quote from kobe and it was
essentially around like youmiss 100% the shots that you
don't take.
Like send somebody emails, sendsomebody linkedin, like people
are really eager to help collegestudents and that's something
that I've learned.
There's no real other answerbesides no and that's the worst
(28:29):
that it can get.
And just don't feel embarrassedwhen you're trying something
new.
Like everyone has to learn howto walk and fall before they can
run.
So for me, the advice that Iwould give Gen Z because we are
very ruthless and we're veryblunt with a lot of things that
we want be bold and go out forwhatever you want to achieve,
because no one is stopping.
Literally the world is ouroyster, even though right now,
(28:50):
everything that we're in is veryeverything feels like on edge,
like someone's waiting for ashoe to drop, but I've always
felt like, even though, like youknow, I'm from Charlotte, that
doesn't mean that I can't, youknow, be a.
I'm a black woman fromCharlotte.
You know two parents, militaryfamily.
That doesn't mean I can't be aCEO of YouTube one day.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Shout out that.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
But be bold and go whatever.
Go for whatever you want inlife.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
I think that's great, and also you saying that like
send that cold email.
That just reminds me LinkedIn.
That's also something that Iwanted to talk about on this
episode episode.
Could you just speak on howyou've been able to like utilize
LinkedIn?
Speaker 2 (29:30):
yeah, LinkedIn.
I started using it seriouslyearly on in high school because
I just had I was in the APcapstone program, so we talked
about LinkedIn.
I'm like what is this thisfeels like for adults?
So I started using it in highschool just to you display
different volunteer things thatI was doing community engagement
, things of that nature.
But it's really theprofessional Instagram, like I
(29:52):
was speaking to earlier, andusing it as a way to connect
with people, whether it be likeI randomly connected with a lady
who's like a global director atIBM and I was like hey, like I
applied for this position.
X, Y and Z.
We connected and she was likehey, like I applied for this
position x, y and z we connectedand she was like, yeah, feel
free to like schedule time on mycalendar.
(30:13):
I was like there's no way it wasthat easy.
But I've just, I've learnedthat, like, for example, when I
had a um like connect with, uh,georgie, who was like the former
um agent for shador sanders,like travis hunter and shiloh, I
got connected with her becauseI sent the agent for Deja that I
know.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
Cecil.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
White and he just put us in a group.
Chat was like you know, sointroductions.
But relationships go a long way.
Relationships and impressionswith people go a long way and
LinkedIn is just basically likethe icebreaker.
I got my job from a codeapplication I didn't know anyone
at IBM, and a lot of peoplewere like like, what referral
did you have?
And I was like all my referralsare at Delta.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
They're not.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
IBM, but just like having that resume, which is a
big key, and then theinterviewing skills, but also
LinkedIn, to ask people who arelike in a similar space of like.
Hey, also, if you have aninterview with a person, stalk
their LinkedIn before Research,research, because you always
want to have like a casualconversation even though it is
an interview.
Because people remember that,like one of my interviews, we
(31:12):
were on Zoom and he hadMinnesota in the back and we
just played Minnesota and barelybeat them.
And then our startingquarterback broke his leg, so it
was so much to talk about, andhe was just like yeah, we're a
huge sports fan, we loveCarolina too and stuff like that
.
So the connections go a longway.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
And especially everyone's always preaching.
You know, your net worth isyour network.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
And I think social capital is key.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
So key.
But also you want to be genuineand authentic and I think that
that's something that's kind ofbeen hard for Gen Z or even just
people that I know in myclasses.
You know one of their alwaysfollow up questions is OK, but
how do I maintain thatrelationship and stay genuine?
And, you know, don't make itseem like I'm trying to get
something out of them.
Just like Lisa said, like doingyour research and actually
(31:57):
having casual conversations thatcome up just naturally as
you're talking to someone,because I think that's really
imperative.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
come up just naturally, as you're talking to
someone, because I think that'sreally imperative, yeah, and
even if you have like anopportunity in mind for somebody
or, like you know, podcasts area great way to have people like
to build conversations with,but that doesn't mean you
necessarily have to go out andstart a podcast, but it's a lot
of ways of like, if you havetheir phone number, just be like
hey, happy holidays, like stufflike that, like I always do
that.
But it also goes back to, Ithink, like how I was raised,
(32:25):
like my mom has always been,like you know, like the kindness
that you put out will like bereturned to you and things like
that.
So it's just by nature.
I'm like hey, girl, like youknow, I saw you did x, y and z.
Congrats on that.
And just being authentic, itreally does go far, because I
would rather it be authentic andthey think of me for an
opportunity than me being likehey, so I need a job, what you
(32:47):
got for me so it's just a.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
It goes a long way of being authentic and kind and I
think that is the perfect placefor us to end this episode.
Thank you again for coming on.
It's been a long time comingwith having you on the podcast.
Thank you all so much forlistening and watching and be
sure to tune in next time fordiversify her podcast.
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