April 30, 2024 • 36 mins
It all started with a wish for a satin-lined beach hat. When Rachel Osborne could not find one on the market, she set about creating her own. She spent 2023 researching and testing her concept for luxury satin lined, and adjustable hats that would offer "no-frizz" experience for curly and kinky hair. As a result, her brand RAINA was born.
The creation of RAINA is very much tied to Rachael's own natural hair journey, which resonates with anyone who's ever felt the pressure to conform to so-called conventional beauty standards. It took a while for her to accept and celebrate her own natural curls. Creating this line of high-end hats is a testament to where she is on her natural hair journey: she now sees her curls as the embodiment of elegance and beauty. She also believes that it is time for curly hair to be included in the development of all luxury hair products.
As every entrepreneur will attest, the entrepreneurial career and lifestyle choice is an opportunity for personal growth, and for building deep community bonds. Rachael shares her own learning curves and mindset shifts that have made her successful so far. She also offers some advice for aspiring entrepreneurs.
LINKS AND MENTIONS
- Jamie Kern Lima - Beauty entrepreneur and former founder of IT Cosmetics
- Psycho Cybernetics by Maxwell Multz
- Purple Cow by Seth Godin
- Naptural85
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hello and welcome to Shades and Layers.
I'm your host, KutwanosKosanarichi, and today we are
talking luxury hats for afrosand curls.
Rayna is a brand new hatcompany founded by
Colorado-based entrepreneurRachel Osborne.
The former software engineerknew that she was onto something
when she surveyed her communityto find out what was missing by
(00:26):
way of accessories for curls.
Rachel launched her adjustableluxury hat range at the end of
2023 and has since collaboratedwith some notable brands in the
hair care space.
We get into all of that duringour conversation, and she also
talks about some of thesurprises and affirmations she
has received along her journeyso far.
(00:47):
She talks her entrepreneurshipcurriculum as well as her vision
as a founder.
Without further ado, here isRachel Osborne.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
I'm Rachel Osborne.
I'm the founder of Reina, whichis a satin-lined hat brand for
women with curly and texturedhair, and so my brand was
inspired one by my own naturalhair journey, and its mission
behind it is to help other womenof color love their hair and,
you know, have with through abrand that really celebrates it
(01:18):
and all of its beauty.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Yeah, great.
And why didn't you create ahair product in the traditional
sense?
Great.
And why didn't you?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
create a hair product in the traditional sense and go
for a hat?
That's a great question.
I guess it was a couple ofdifferent things that went into
me deciding to create this brand.
I'd actually had the idea for asatin lined hat a few years
back, before I even startedReina.
I think I was walking on thebeach and I had I I love big
beach hats and I usually have topull my hair back in order to
(01:48):
wear them because my hair'spoofy and so I was just thinking
like, oh, it'd be really greatif someone made this like satin
line so it didn't like snag myhair and I could wear my hair
out yeah, yeah, yeah, and then,um kind of fast forward a few
years.
I started to really appreciatethe power of sharing my natural
hair story and kind of thepositive impact that that had on
other people and realize thatit's not.
(02:10):
This wasn't just something thatI went through in terms of
struggling to learn toappreciate and love my hair the
way that it is.
Um, it's something that manywomen work through and kind of
through looking through thatlens and also seeing how, you
know, a lot of brands don'tnecessarily cater towards our
hair or don't think of the needsof our hair in terms of, like,
(02:32):
you know, there are a lot of hatbrands out there, sure, but, um
, you know, like, I never wouldhave thought to wear a wool hat,
for example, sure, yeah, yeah,that's like a nightmare.
Yes, exactly like yeah youunderstand, it's the frizz, the
like dryness like it's so goodall the moisture, just
everything.
I was like there's no way, um,and so I felt like none, no
(02:53):
brands had really put our hairfirst really and.
I thought that could be bymaking a brand that puts our
hair first.
That's like almost a testamentto how we should be looking at
our hair like it's it's royalit's.
It's something that a testamentto how we should be looking at
our hair Like it's it's Royalit's.
It's something that deserves tobe put first in the product
space.
And so I guess, between thosetwo things, I was like this
could would be a great way tokind of spread my message and
(03:15):
empower others and then also,just you know, have product
that's functional and practical,that people like too.
And I felt like there was a gapin the market because I started
seeing some brands that werecreating satin line products,
like you know, satin linebeanies or sweatshirt, semester
thing, yeah, more casualproducts, and I love that too,
(03:36):
and I just I was thinking how,you know, it'd be cool if we had
more options and things thatwere maybe a bit like higher
fashion, or just like you knowthings you might wear out like
higher fashion, or just like youknow things you might wear out
on a date or like you know, Imean you can wear on a date, but
you know.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
I get you, I get you, but you know, but also the
emphasis on luxury.
Can you talk about what makesit products here?
Speaker 2 (03:59):
yeah.
So actually that's a great umsegue there, because because I
saw so many more casual itemscasual and also unisex I felt
like there weren't enough thingsthat were kind of more like
luxury feel, kind of showingthat our hair can be luxury
high-end too, and I just noticedthat narrative in general right
in our products and also,especially on social media, that
(04:21):
, like you, our natural hair isfine most of the time, but then
for like fancy events, it's like, oh, that's when you want to
straighten it.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
And.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
I kind of wanted to break that narrative a little
bit.
And it's not that I'm, like youknow, against straight hair
extensions or anything, but it'sjust it's like where is it
coming from?
Like, are you wearing your haira certain way because you just
like how it looks and you'relike you know you love the feel,
that's great.
Or is it because you want tohide something and or maybe
you're?
You don't feel like you'reaccepted with your hair the way
(04:51):
it is.
That's like the negative driverthat I'm kind of more focused
on changing, I guess.
And yeah, and so I felt likethere, like I wanted to have
something that celebrated allthe different hairstyles that we
wear in a more like higher end,formal, luxury field, and so
all of my products, some of itor part of it, is just the
(05:11):
quality of them.
So, this is a person wool.
There's no like plastic oranything in it, and it's slow
fashion, right.
So like a high quality wool hatshould last anywhere from like
five to 10 years.
So it's an investment Wonderfulif you take care of it and, like
you know, keep it clean and allthat stuff do you only make
(05:32):
wool hats or do you work withother materials?
I work with other materials too,so I have two wool hats.
I have this one this is afedora.
I have a boater hat, which isit's like a beige color, and
then I have a straw hat, andthat's that was actually at
first was going to be my onlyproduct, but I was like, let me
try some other like wool hatstoo right yeah um, and so the
(05:53):
straw hat.
it's wide brimmed, floppy, greatfor, like you know, sunny days
or going out on the beach.
Yeah, and that one I've like.
I have seen some wool hats thathave a satin lining but aren't
like adjustable, and they're notquite the same as mine, but
I've never seen a straw hat oranything like the one that I
sell before.
It's raffia straw, so it'snatural fiber, and that one too
(06:14):
will probably last anywhere fromtwo to five years if you take
good care of it.
So, yeah, it's the quality, thelongevity, it's an investment.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
And there's a keyword word that you mentioned they're
adjustable, huh yeah yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
So, because a lot of us change our hairstyles often,
I was thinking like you know, ifI, if I did want to straighten
my hair for a day or something,you know, like the, it's not
going to be as voluminous, right?
And so what if the hat doesn'tfit anymore, because now it's
too big?
and so because of that I wasthinking it would be cool to
have something that could kindof allow the hat to adjust to
our changing hairstyles and somany of us go from braids to,
(06:50):
you know, silk press, to fro orwhatever, and so the inside it
has like a drawstring, so youcan, you can adjust it down, and
right now I just have one sizefor all of the hats, so one size
fits most.
And then if you have a smallhead or you change your
hairstyle, you can change thefit, but yeah, thanks for
bringing that up.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Yeah, so this brings me to manufacturing.
But you've come on the marketwith something which is quite
different and isn't out there atthe moment.
So how did you go about findingpeople to make this product?
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Yeah, it was definitely tricky, especially as
a small business.
I'm bootstrapping everything,so that definitely had some
limitations in terms of, youknow, the order sizes I could
make in the beginning, like Ican't, I couldn't, just go and
order for a thousand hats.
I had to kind of start out withsmall orders, and I'm still
doing that.
And so one finding a supplierthat would accommodate that,
(07:47):
because a lot of them won'tcustomize products if you're
doing like under you know acertain quantity, like under a
hundred or under 50 or what haveyou.
And so that was the firstobstacle, just finding someone
who's willing to work with me,who could customize something
with a small quantity.
And then the other part of itwas helping them and this was
(08:07):
more on me just being able toarticulate exactly what I needed
.
And so the supplier that I workwith, it was kind of
interesting because they theydidn't understand at first why I
needed a satin lining Cause.
They were like, not reallythat's not common, like, are you
sure you want?
Speaker 1 (08:25):
that and I was like yes, not common.
Are you sure you want that?
Speaker 2 (08:27):
And I was like, yes, I know it's unusual, but yes, I
want that.
And then the whole thing withthe sizing too, because I think
the average woman's hat size islike a 57 and this is a 59.
And then my other wool hat isalso 59 and the straw hat is a
61, which is normally that wouldbe, like you know really big.
But, it's like we have a lot ofhair, we need a larger sizing,
(08:48):
and so I had to kind ofarticulate that, and so a lot of
it has been education likeeducating people through my
brand, which is something that Iwasn't expecting to do, but
right, that's interesting, anddo you find that there are quite
a few?
Speaker 1 (09:10):
I?
Speaker 2 (09:11):
mean, did you have options in terms of those
manufacturers?
A small batch, so to speak, oryou just had to zone in on this
one.
Yeah, right now I just have onemanufacturer.
They're only what I could findwho would work with me at that
quantity size.
But I'm hoping in the future Ican, as I scale up I'll have
more options and you know canplay with different
manufacturers, great, great.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
And in terms of materials, sourcing the
materials, do you do thatyourself or it's supplied by the
factory?
Speaker 2 (09:35):
No, it's supplied by the factory.
Yeah, one thing that I have beentrying to work on, though, is I
think you mentionedsustainability yeah, yeah, yeah
yeah, and so when it comes tolike packaging and shipping
things out to my customers,that's one thing that I thought
about really intentionally inthe beginning was how can I make
it so that this is, at the veryleast, all recyclable?
(09:57):
And because, for example, a lotof boxes, if they have plastic
tape, like that tape's notrecyclable, you have to take
that off before it can actuallybe recycled.
And so, um, even though it wasa harder option, I, you know,
kind of went through, did theextra work to make sure all my
packaging is recyclable, so Iuse paper tape which I don't
know if you've ever used wateractivated paper tape.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
It's a bit of a pain but it's appreciated when I see
it on packaging because itdoesn't put that extra burden on
you as the customer right,which is what prevents us from
being, you know, more consciousof how we consume things Exactly
.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Yeah, yeah.
So just thinking about thatgoing forward right now my
suppliers, when they send meinventory in bulk, it does have
plastic in the packaging, and sothat's something that I'm going
to be working with them onmoving forward is for like
future orders, trying to see ifthey can omit the plastic or use
like paper or something elsefor supporting it yeah, it's so
hard to break these cycles,isn't it?
(10:54):
yeah, it is yeah, but we have tothink about it because I know
the fashion industry, I think,is one of the top yeah.
I'm trying to be reallyconscious and intentional with
my choices, yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Yeah, and I like that .
You are a slow fashion brand.
You know you're notconcentrating on volume, so do
you sell any kind of bulk toanybody, or you know?
Yeah, you work to order.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Not yet.
Yeah, right now I justeverything's through my website.
I'm hoping that in the future,yeah, yeah, yeah, right now I
just everything's through mywebsite.
Um, hoping that in the future,yeah, maybe I can wholesale to
boutiques or that sort of thing.
But right now it's just yeah,yeah, this is to consumer, which
is kind of cool too, becausethen I feel like I get to build
that connection with mycustomers more too, and I like
the impact of that.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Yeah, I think luxury brands are lucky in that sense
that you know your customers cantell you what works and what
doesn't work, because they're soinvested in the product.
Right, it's a yeah, definitely.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
I've already gotten some feedback.
Some people have mentionedthey'd love to see like a red
fedora product development free.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's fantastic.
This is shades and layers, andtoday we are speaking to rachel
osborne, a founder of reina, aluxury adjustable hat brand that
centers curly and kinky hairinspired by rachel's own natural
hair journey.
This entrepreneurial venture isalso about making an impact on
(12:24):
the lives of others.
Up next, we get into whereRachel finds herself along this
journey and where her brand fitsinto their natural hair care
space.
You mentioned that this wasinfluenced by your hair journey.
Can you tell me where you arein terms of your hair journey
now?
Speaker 2 (12:40):
So I started when I was like little, like in middle
school, because growing up, allthe women in my family we
straightened our hair or hadrelaxers.
I never had a relaxer, but Ialways straightened it because
that was just kind of what weall knew in terms of how to take
care of it, in terms of what wethought made it manageable was
OK.
We got to straighten it andthat makes it look neat, and so
(13:01):
a lot of it was like unlearningthat YouTube was like a great
resource, yeah, so unlearningwell, unlearning that and
learning how to actually takecare of my hair, but then also
learning how to accept it Ithink that was the hardest part
for me was, you know, Idefinitely had a lot of like
limiting beliefs and fearsaround how people would think of
(13:23):
me if I wore my natural becausethat's just natural, because I
guess culturally that's just nothow I grew up, and so yeah, I'd
say now I'm definitely a muchmore positive place in terms of
the way I look at my hair andthe way I care for it, and I've
kind of gotten to a place whereI'm like I love my hair and if
(13:44):
someone else has a problem withit, that's on them.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
Absolutely yeah, yeah .
Speaker 2 (13:50):
But it's definitely.
It's been a long journey to getto where I am now with that
mindset.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Do you think it's influenced by the products that
are available in the market now?
Or you know, I know YouTube wasquite instrumental, but you
know you can watch all theYouTube that you want, but there
are other layers to.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Absolutely.
Yeah, I think it's multifaceted.
It's the products that we seearound us, it's like the
advertisers, the marketing,everything in media and then
also just our community, Because, like I mentioned, my family as
a whole we didn't really knowhow to take care of our hair and
I think not having those likein person role models who you
know could show an example ofsomeone wearing their hair
(14:31):
natural, confidently, definitelymade it harder, and so that's
part of it.
And then, like I said, media oreven just like the
advertisements we see forproducts, if those are kind of
showing that in order to be abeautiful Black woman, you have
to have straight hair.
That's like, especially as ayoung girl, it's very
impressionable.
Even if it's not overtly stated,those messages are absorbed and
(14:56):
so if we're seeing that ourwhole life.
It's like what is that?
What is that saying about me ifI don't wear my hair straight,
right?
So, yeah, I think that, um,it's definitely gotten better in
terms of the products that wehave now.
Um, and I remember I don't knowabout you, but when I was
younger, we just had like dorags or like scarves to sleep in
.
But now I have like all thesedifferent colored bonnets.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Oh, there's, everything.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Yeah, it's fun it is.
It's fun Like for me.
I feel like it tells me that myhair is thought of and it's
appreciated more just in general, which I think is a really
beautiful thing, but absolutelyin general, which I think is a
really beautiful thing, butabsolutely I think the products,
the range of products that wehave available to us, how the
advertising speaks to us, all ofthat plays a role for sure.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Where do you think Reina fits into the whole
landscape of this natural hairjourney?
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Yeah, good question.
I want to say I know about thename of my brand too, exactly,
yeah, so, reina, if you knowSpanish, it kind of sounds like
the word queen in Spanish, right, and then also across a couple
of different other languages, itmeans queen, and so there's a
lot of symbolism in there, ofcourse, of how, like, our hair
(16:06):
is a crown and it should bethought of like that, and that's
kind of the feel that I want toimpart on everyone who comes
into contact with my brand, andso the way that I see my brand
is just it's another piece ofthe puzzle in terms of building
up that positive representationof black hair and all the
(16:26):
different hairstyles that we,that we wear.
And so if you go on my site,like you'll, um, the three
models I have, they have youknow natural hair braids, one
has straight extensions andthat's like.
You know, as black women we wearall sorts of different
hairstyles and they should allbe separated, um and so kind of
just adding that extrapresentation so that you know,
(16:50):
as we go through our day-to-daylives, we we kind of start to
see more and more of this, andso that's kind of where to see
more and more of this, and sothat's kind of where I see our
brand.
Bidding is like it's a piece ofthe puzzle of the larger
landscape.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Yeah yeah, it normalizes in a sense.
Yeah yeah, that's great.
So you started the brandbecause you wanted to solve a
problem for yourself, like mostentrepreneurs.
Problem for yourself, like mostentrepreneurs.
But was this, uh, you know, astumble upon to go the
(17:20):
entrepreneurial path, or haveyou always wanted to own your
own business?
Speaker 2 (17:24):
I think I've always wanted, I've always been an
entrepreneur at heart.
Um, yeah, I think it's just inmy, my character, it's just part
of my personality.
I used to have like a nine tofive, and now I do Reina, and
then also I'm a realtor, whichis kind of like having another
(17:45):
business.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
It's great.
But yeah, to answer yourquestion, I think I've always
been an entrepreneur at heart.
I just didn't really realize ituntil the past few years.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Yeah, yeah.
And what's been the mostsurprising thing about running a
slow fashion brand?
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Hmm, well, I kind of say this before, and it's not
specifically related to the factthat it's a fashion brand, but
more so just the amount ofeducation or opportunities for
educating, like people who likenon-black people about our hair.
And I think that's been a reallycool thing to do, because some
people just don't know andthey're like, oh, like, what is,
what's the importance of thesatin lining?
(18:28):
And so I get to use that as anopportunity to explain why it's
significant and kind of whathair means to us in our culture,
and so that that was somethingI was not expecting, but I think
I'm really grateful for thatyeah, do you know Stephanie
Laflora?
Speaker 1 (18:42):
because that brings her to mind.
I do, yeah, okay, yeah, I'veinterviewed her before, so I was
like okay, an education part toit yeah yeah, I know her, she's
in Colorado.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Yeah, yeah, okay.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
All right, cool, and you know this education part.
I know it's a cultural thing,but you know how do some of the
you know?
Are there any similaritiesbetween being a realtor and
being a fashion brand owner?
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Hmm, that's a hard question.
I'm actually.
I'm a newer realtor so I'mstill kind of filling out the
waters in this market, butnothing that really comes to
mind immediately.
I mean, just as a businessowner for sure, all the like
marketing that is the same, likeit's the same sort of thing in
(19:32):
terms of email marketing andgetting your name out there.
So that has transferred oververy well.
But in terms of like a deeperlevel, I don't know.
I'll have to think about thatone Speaking of a deeper level.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
I mean, apart from you know personally, I would say
, what's the deeper meaning doyou attach to your day-to-day
activities?
Speaker 2 (19:57):
I guess it's hoping that my brand will help someone
or another woman in their hairjourney, make it easier for them
and so they don't have to gothrough the same struggles and
pains that I did.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Because I mean.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
I still have bad hair days or like days when I look
at my hair and I'm like you knowI have maybe a negative thought
about it, but it's definitelyway fewer and far between than
maybe a few years ago.
But, some of those moments of,you know, frustration were
really, really hard, and so Iguess my goal is that I can at
least like touch one person'slife and help them not have
those same negative feelings, orat least make it easier so they
(20:36):
don't have to.
You know, kind of struggle asmuch yeah, yeah, yeah, great.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
So what is?
Um, oh, sorry, lost my train ofthought.
I'm sorry.
There are so many things I wantto ask you.
That's why, okay, so we uh,yeah, so the entrepreneurial
journey, okay.
So what are some of thechallenges that you've come
across?
I mean, first, it was themanufacturing small batch, but
(21:04):
you know, in terms of theoperational stuff that you do
yourself, are there any thingsthat you had to overcome that,
yeah, that you can think of andshare for an aspiring
entrepreneur?
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Yeah, I mean the beginning.
So I just launched in Novemberso still relatively newer brand.
The beginning was definitely achallenge working with the
suppliers, even because for me,as a smaller brand and also
ordering in smaller quantities,it's a lot higher stakes if I
(21:37):
lose inventory or something.
And actually there was a wholething in the beginning where
FedEx delivered a large batch ofmy inventory to the wrong house
and I was freaking out.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
It was very stressful , but I found it.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Yeah, it was okay, little things like that.
Um again, because I'm a smallerbrand, I um so my packaging
it's like you have the box andthen the hat is kind of cradled.
There's like a, a cardboardsupport to make sure that
doesn't get crushed.
Um and so I like cut that outmyself and that's.
(22:13):
That's definitely definitely abit time consuming and because
right now I don't do like customorders of packaging.
And so that's like another, Iguess not exactly challenge, but
just something that kind of Ihad to account for that I wasn't
expecting.
I'm like, okay, how do I factorthat into my schedule, with, you
know, cutting out all theseinserts?
(22:35):
And then I think my ability topivot in terms of product
development has been somethingthat I'm kind of still kind of
figuring out.
Like I mentioned, I've had somepeople say like, oh, I'd love
to see this color or I'd love tosee like this style, and.
And so I'm like, okay, likewhen can I kind of fit that in?
(22:56):
How does that fall into mywhole product line and
development?
And so it's been a wholelearning process for me.
So every step of the way hasbeen there's been something.
But, yeah, I'm still stilllearning.
And at this point I'm pivotinga little bit and trying to
collaborate with other blackowned brands and build like kind
of grow in community together,and so that's something that I'm
(23:19):
playing with right now istrying to do like giveaways or
just other things with brands,content sharing and that sort of
thing.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Yeah.
Yeah, I saw that you had a livewith uh Avocurl.
Yeah, so it's, it's mostly hairproducts, yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Hair products.
Um, I have evo curl, yeah, soit's, it's mostly hair products.
Yeah, hair products, um, I haveI'm talking to a brand that is,
um, they're like natural hairextensions, so I said it's also
a hair product.
And then another brand I'mtalking to she does, um, like
luxury handbags and sunglasses,yeah, yeah accessories.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Yeah, it's nice you can touch all these different
adjacent products and industriesExactly.
Yeah, fantastic, that's great.
Rachel Osborne is the guesttoday on Shades and Layers.
Her luxury hat brand, reina,was created to give options to
(24:10):
the curly and kinky head when itcame to accessorizing.
To give options to the curlyand kinky head when it came to
accessorizing.
Up next, we get into all thethings and the people that have
inspired her throughout her life, as well as what she has in
store for the future.
So who are some of theentrepreneurs you look to for
inspiration at the moment orthat you've looked to as you
were trying to put this brandtogether?
Speaker 2 (24:32):
That's a great question.
Probably one of my favoriteentrepreneurs is Jamie Kern Lima
, who I don't know if you'veshe's the founder of it
Cosmetics.
Oh yeah, okay yeah.
And one thing that I think isreally interesting too about her
story.
So she, her brand, got boughtby L'Oreal and that made her the
first.
She was the CEO of the brand, Iguess, within L'Oreal.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
And so she was the first female CEO of a.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
L'Oreal company, which I think is wild Because,
like you know, L'Oreal, for mostof its history, has been
something that's marketed makeupto women, and I think that
parallels really well to a lotof these black hair care brands.
A lot of them are notnecessarily run by black people.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Which I think is interesting.
But yeah, I just I love JamieKern Lima's story.
It's really inspiring to me.
She's, I mean, as with mostsuccessful entrepreneurs, she's
jumped over a lot of hurdles.
She's had so many challenges inher path.
So I guess whenever I hitsomething that is challenging,
like when my inventory wasdelivered to the wrong place, I
kind of think of her and herstory and I'm like if she can do
(25:36):
it.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Yeah, yeah Great.
Speaking of stories, are thereany business books that you can
think of that you wouldrecommend to anybody who wants
to start a new brand?
Speaker 2 (25:48):
I actually I read a lot of self-development books,
so not business per se, but Ithink a lot of building a
business is working on yourselfbecause especially you learn a
lot about, especially in thebeginning if you're the only
person, you're the mostimportant part of your business,
so you gotta work on yourselfso um, yeah, my favorite book is
probably psycho cybernetics bydr maxwell malts.
(26:09):
it's about self-image and it'sreally interesting and
definitely kind of changed theway that I look at things a
little bit and then in terms oflike practical or not practical,
but you know more like logicalor strategies that sort of thing
.
I like Blue Ocean Sales andMarketing.
It's a good one, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
There's a lot of good ones.
Yeah, it's a classic, oh, and.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Purple Cow by Seth Godin.
That's a short one, oh yeah,purple Cow by Seth Godin, that's
a short one.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Oh yeah, that's cool, that's a good one.
Yeah, yeah, getting into yourpersonal story, are there any
events or people that you wouldcredit with contributing to how
you carry yourself in the worldtoday?
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Yeah, I mean I have probably a long list.
Honestly, I'm sure, yes.
I mean I guess this is a littlecliche but like both my parents,
they, I mean, I think in termsof the hair journey, they kind
of like I mentioned my mom, shedid the best she could in terms
of what she knew how to do andtaking care of her hair.
(27:06):
So a little bit differentperspective, but just in terms
of her, her own journey and hercareer and everything I feel
like I've learned from both ofthem to that's okay to go
against the status quo a littlebit and challenge ideas,
especially if you don't thinkthat they're correct, and that's
something that's been, I think,really instrumental on just my
growth as a person and even likemy career trajectory, of kind
(27:30):
of breaking out of my previouscareer, which you, you know,
some would say is like very, itwas a very safe career and
trying, you know, all thesecrazy things like starting my
brand and starting what were youdoing?
I was a software engineer, okay, yeah.
So yeah, I'd say definitely myparents, parents, my family, for
(27:51):
sure.
In terms of my hair journey,specifically natural 85, I don't
know I I've been watching her.
I don't watch her stuff as muchanymore, but like in the early
2000s, um, yeah, sure, yeah, shewas definitely.
She has uh been the guru formany many black women around the
(28:12):
world yeah, but I mean like,especially as a young girl and
then into a young woman, likehaving that example of someone
who appreciates and loves andhas beautiful hair was so
instrumental for me and so andalso I learned a lot from her.
So I've never met her beforebut I will shout her out because
she's definitely been a big.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Soon enough.
Yeah, if you had to summarizeyour life in a book, what would
you call the memoir, and why?
Speaker 2 (28:44):
So I don't think this is a word, but something to the
tune of like de-perfectionismor perfectionized.
I've definitely I've alwaysbeen a perfectionist and in some
ways it has served me well, butI've realized, especially over
the past few years, that I'vekind of had to unravel that a
bit to become who I am now, andI think that, um, trying to do
(29:08):
everything perfectly the firsttime usually just ends up in
spending a lot of time notwasting time but not doing
things as not achieving asquickly as maybe you could.
And so right now I'm trying tomove myself more towards just
taking messy action and gettingthat feedback and learning from
it and being okay with makingmistakes and falling down.
And that's something that I,for me, was hard to learn,
(29:30):
because just for a long time Iwas like afraid of failing, you
know, afraid of messing up thatsort of thing, and so that's
been kind of like somethingthat's woven through my whole
life, of just trying to unlearnthat and learn that it's okay to
fail and you actually can'teven succeed without failing
first.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
So yeah, fail fast.
Yeah, failing first.
So, yeah, yeah, fail fast.
Yeah, and um deep perfectionism.
Who would you?
Speaker 2 (30:02):
choose to be the lead actress in the film version of
the book.
So I I love holly bailey, likeI think she's amazing, um, and I
love that as her role in theLittle Mermaid.
She, for our younger generation, is now like that role model of
a Disney princess.
I think that's so awesome and,yeah, I just would be cool yeah,
she's the whole vibe man yeah,she's cool very, very cool.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Um, who would you invite?
Which famous black woman wouldyou invite to dinner, and why?
Oh, definitely Michelle Obama.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Good, good, good.
Yeah, I mean she's just like.
She's inspiring to me in termsof everything that she did as
the first lady and then evenafter she's you know, after
President.
Obama left office like she'sjust done so much and yeah, so I
would love to have aconversation with her and just
be in her aura.
Just breathing the same air.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
And what's the best advice you've ever received and
still live by today?
Speaker 2 (31:07):
That's a good one.
Let me think about that for asecond.
Sure, sure, yeah.
I mean talking about likefailure and everything there was
.
I don't remember who said it,but there's a quote that's like
you know, the best way tosucceed faster is to double your
rate of failure.
And so I think about that a lotnow of just like, how can I
(31:29):
kind of like or you can replacethat word with rejection to a
lot of people, like failure ofrejection are kind of similar
sort of things.
And so now, um, when I think oflike my achieving a goal or
something, I'm like, how do Ilike go for no's, like the more
no's I get, the closer I get toa yes, or like you know times I
fall down, the more, the fasterI'll learn and get to like the
(31:51):
thing that I'm really going for.
So so I think, of that quote alot in general when I'm going
through my day.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
And what's contributed to this mindset
shift.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Well, I think a couple of things.
One, my mental health.
I think that I realized myperfectionism wasn't like
supportive of that as much.
I kind of noticed variousdifferent things come from me
being a perfectionist that Iwanted to change just so that I
could be mentally healthier.
I think there's that Back in2020, that's kind of where my
entrepreneurial journey startedof.
(32:21):
Like, I started reading morebooks just about mindset and
about business and all thesethings and how you can really
change your whole perspective onlife by just shifting your
mindset, and so that's kind of.
I think I've kind of I've useda lot of books as mentors almost
, and through a lot of thoseit's a recurring theme of you
(32:43):
know, you have to take thatmessy action, and so I just kind
of tried to embody that more.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
Um, just as more yeah and um.
If someone wanted to start acareer like yours, where would
you tell them to start?
Speaker 2 (33:00):
definitely would tell them to like start with market
research.
I mean, that's I don't know ifthat's too obvious of an answer,
but I found that to be reallyhelpful for me, like I in the
beginning, to develop theproducts I did and just styles.
I had like a little survey Ityped up and I sent out to a
bunch of people who, like allthe people I knew who I thought
might be in my target audience,and then I asked friends and
(33:22):
family to send it out and likeseeing if you can get feedback
from real people.
I think, yes, definitely wasvery helpful for me, and then
also for me to see what'salready out there and what
hasn't been done, cause you know, at first I just had the idea
in my head but I was like Idon't know if this has already
been done, like there are otherthings that are similar, I'm not
(33:43):
sure.
And so how kind of validatingthat idea really thoroughly
before really going into it, Ithink was good, especially since
I again I'm bootstrappingeverything.
So it's like I wanted to bereally confident in my idea
before putting in that initialinvestment.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
And when did you realize you have a business?
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Like last March, I guess a year ago or so Cause
that's when I was doing thatresearch and I was trying to
find products that were likesimilar to what was in my head
and I was like there isn'treally anything here, and so
that's what I was like.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
Okay, I think I think I should just try it out.
So what is your vision forRayna in the future?
Speaker 2 (34:21):
yeah.
So I, like I've mentioned, Iwould love to be able to bring
in a few more styles, um, andjust, I have like some ideas in
mind already of okay things Iwant to try and bring in.
Maybe this winter We'll see.
Um, I would like to get intowholesaling in the future, like
not this year, but once I'vegrown a bit more um, and then
just, yeah, see where, where ittakes me.
Um, I like the collaborationsI've been doing.
(34:45):
I feel like that kind of givesme the opportunity to tell my
story to more people and at theend of the day, it's the impact
that I want.
I mean, like you know, sellingproducts is cool too, but I want
to have a positive impact onpeople.
And so.
I think I want to keep doingthose brand collaborations and
(35:05):
like the lives and those sortsof things to like just kind of
show other women who are maybein the middle of their journey.
To like just kind of show otherwomen who are maybe in the
middle of their journey,starting out at the end, that
they are not alone and you knowother people are going through
this too.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
So yeah, yeah.
Would you ever consider goingfor a round of funding?
Speaker 2 (35:22):
uh, possibly.
Yeah, I kind of.
I kind of want to grow it alittle bit bigger on my own
first, before I consider doingthat.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
But it's something I have thought about yeah yeah,
yeah.
Where can people find you ifthey want to buy a hat or just
you know?
Speaker 2 (35:35):
get in touch and hear your story yeah, um, so my
website is shop reenacom um,it's shop, and then r-a-i-n-a
and I also I'm on instagram atshop, underscore reena, and so
either one would be good.
And also, like I, I respond toall my messages so you can email
me or like dm me throughinstagram, like I love chatting
(35:58):
with my customers and justpeople.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
So yeah oh perfect, and that is all for me this time
around.
Links to rachel's work andother resources she mentioned in
this episode are included inthe show notes.
If you found this episodeinspirational or useful in some
way, please be sure to spreadthe love and share it with a
friend.
Thank you for listening.
(36:22):
I'm Kutwanos, kosana Ritchie,and until next time, please do
take good care.
Hello and welcome to Shades and Layers.
I'm your host, KutwanosKosanarichi, and today we are
talking luxury hats for afrosand curls.
Rayna is a brand new hatcompany founded by
Colorado-based entrepreneurRachel Osborne.
The former software engineerknew that she was onto something
when she surveyed her communityto find out what was missing by
(00:26):
way of accessories for curls.
Rachel launched her adjustableluxury hat range at the end of
2023 and has since collaboratedwith some notable brands in the
hair care space.
We get into all of that duringour conversation, and she also
talks about some of thesurprises and affirmations she
has received along her journeyso far.
(00:47):
She talks her entrepreneurshipcurriculum as well as her vision
as a founder.
Without further ado, here isRachel Osborne.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
I'm Rachel Osborne.
I'm the founder of Reina, whichis a satin-lined hat brand for
women with curly and texturedhair, and so my brand was
inspired one by my own naturalhair journey, and its mission
behind it is to help other womenof color love their hair and,
you know, have with through abrand that really celebrates it
(01:18):
and all of its beauty.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Yeah, great.
And why didn't you create ahair product in the traditional
sense?
Great.
And why didn't you?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
create a hair product in the traditional sense and go
for a hat?
That's a great question.
I guess it was a couple ofdifferent things that went into
me deciding to create this brand.
I'd actually had the idea for asatin lined hat a few years
back, before I even startedReina.
I think I was walking on thebeach and I had I I love big
beach hats and I usually have topull my hair back in order to
(01:48):
wear them because my hair'spoofy and so I was just thinking
like, oh, it'd be really greatif someone made this like satin
line so it didn't like snag myhair and I could wear my hair
out yeah, yeah, yeah, and then,um kind of fast forward a few
years.
I started to really appreciatethe power of sharing my natural
hair story and kind of thepositive impact that that had on
other people and realize thatit's not.
(02:10):
This wasn't just something thatI went through in terms of
struggling to learn toappreciate and love my hair the
way that it is.
Um, it's something that manywomen work through and kind of
through looking through thatlens and also seeing how, you
know, a lot of brands don'tnecessarily cater towards our
hair or don't think of the needsof our hair in terms of, like,
(02:32):
you know, there are a lot of hatbrands out there, sure, but, um
, you know, like, I never wouldhave thought to wear a wool hat,
for example, sure, yeah, yeah,that's like a nightmare.
Yes, exactly like yeah youunderstand, it's the frizz, the
like dryness like it's so goodall the moisture, just
everything.
I was like there's no way, um,and so I felt like none, no
(02:53):
brands had really put our hairfirst really and.
I thought that could be bymaking a brand that puts our
hair first.
That's like almost a testamentto how we should be looking at
our hair like it's it's royalit's.
It's something that a testamentto how we should be looking at
our hair Like it's it's Royalit's.
It's something that deserves tobe put first in the product
space.
And so I guess, between thosetwo things, I was like this
could would be a great way tokind of spread my message and
(03:15):
empower others and then also,just you know, have product
that's functional and practical,that people like too.
And I felt like there was a gapin the market because I started
seeing some brands that werecreating satin line products,
like you know, satin linebeanies or sweatshirt, semester
thing, yeah, more casualproducts, and I love that too,
(03:36):
and I just I was thinking how,you know, it'd be cool if we had
more options and things thatwere maybe a bit like higher
fashion, or just like you knowthings you might wear out like
higher fashion, or just like youknow things you might wear out
on a date or like you know, Imean you can wear on a date, but
you know.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
I get you, I get you, but you know, but also the
emphasis on luxury.
Can you talk about what makesit products here?
Speaker 2 (03:59):
yeah.
So actually that's a great umsegue there, because because I
saw so many more casual itemscasual and also unisex I felt
like there weren't enough thingsthat were kind of more like
luxury feel, kind of showingthat our hair can be luxury
high-end too, and I just noticedthat narrative in general right
in our products and also,especially on social media, that
(04:21):
, like you, our natural hair isfine most of the time, but then
for like fancy events, it's like, oh, that's when you want to
straighten it.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
And.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
I kind of wanted to break that narrative a little
bit.
And it's not that I'm, like youknow, against straight hair
extensions or anything, but it'sjust it's like where is it
coming from?
Like, are you wearing your haira certain way because you just
like how it looks and you'relike you know you love the feel,
that's great.
Or is it because you want tohide something and or maybe
you're?
You don't feel like you'reaccepted with your hair the way
(04:51):
it is.
That's like the negative driverthat I'm kind of more focused
on changing, I guess.
And yeah, and so I felt likethere, like I wanted to have
something that celebrated allthe different hairstyles that we
wear in a more like higher end,formal, luxury field, and so
all of my products, some of itor part of it, is just the
(05:11):
quality of them.
So, this is a person wool.
There's no like plastic oranything in it, and it's slow
fashion, right.
So like a high quality wool hatshould last anywhere from like
five to 10 years.
So it's an investment Wonderfulif you take care of it and, like
you know, keep it clean and allthat stuff do you only make
(05:32):
wool hats or do you work withother materials?
I work with other materials too,so I have two wool hats.
I have this one this is afedora.
I have a boater hat, which isit's like a beige color, and
then I have a straw hat, andthat's that was actually at
first was going to be my onlyproduct, but I was like, let me
try some other like wool hatstoo right yeah um, and so the
(05:53):
straw hat.
it's wide brimmed, floppy, greatfor, like you know, sunny days
or going out on the beach.
Yeah, and that one I've like.
I have seen some wool hats thathave a satin lining but aren't
like adjustable, and they're notquite the same as mine, but
I've never seen a straw hat oranything like the one that I
sell before.
It's raffia straw, so it'snatural fiber, and that one too
(06:14):
will probably last anywhere fromtwo to five years if you take
good care of it.
So, yeah, it's the quality, thelongevity, it's an investment.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
And there's a keyword word that you mentioned they're
adjustable, huh yeah yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
So, because a lot of us change our hairstyles often,
I was thinking like you know, ifI, if I did want to straighten
my hair for a day or something,you know, like the, it's not
going to be as voluminous, right?
And so what if the hat doesn'tfit anymore, because now it's
too big?
and so because of that I wasthinking it would be cool to
have something that could kindof allow the hat to adjust to
our changing hairstyles and somany of us go from braids to,
(06:50):
you know, silk press, to fro orwhatever, and so the inside it
has like a drawstring, so youcan, you can adjust it down, and
right now I just have one sizefor all of the hats, so one size
fits most.
And then if you have a smallhead or you change your
hairstyle, you can change thefit, but yeah, thanks for
bringing that up.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Yeah, so this brings me to manufacturing.
But you've come on the marketwith something which is quite
different and isn't out there atthe moment.
So how did you go about findingpeople to make this product?
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Yeah, it was definitely tricky, especially as
a small business.
I'm bootstrapping everything,so that definitely had some
limitations in terms of, youknow, the order sizes I could
make in the beginning, like Ican't, I couldn't, just go and
order for a thousand hats.
I had to kind of start out withsmall orders, and I'm still
doing that.
And so one finding a supplierthat would accommodate that,
(07:47):
because a lot of them won'tcustomize products if you're
doing like under you know acertain quantity, like under a
hundred or under 50 or what haveyou.
And so that was the firstobstacle, just finding someone
who's willing to work with me,who could customize something
with a small quantity.
And then the other part of itwas helping them and this was
(08:07):
more on me just being able toarticulate exactly what I needed
.
And so the supplier that I workwith, it was kind of
interesting because they theydidn't understand at first why I
needed a satin lining Cause.
They were like, not reallythat's not common, like, are you
sure you want?
Speaker 1 (08:25):
that and I was like yes, not common.
Are you sure you want that?
Speaker 2 (08:27):
And I was like, yes, I know it's unusual, but yes, I
want that.
And then the whole thing withthe sizing too, because I think
the average woman's hat size islike a 57 and this is a 59.
And then my other wool hat isalso 59 and the straw hat is a
61, which is normally that wouldbe, like you know really big.
But, it's like we have a lot ofhair, we need a larger sizing,
(08:48):
and so I had to kind ofarticulate that, and so a lot of
it has been education likeeducating people through my
brand, which is something that Iwasn't expecting to do, but
right, that's interesting, anddo you find that there are quite
a few?
Speaker 1 (09:10):
I?
Speaker 2 (09:11):
mean, did you have options in terms of those
manufacturers?
A small batch, so to speak, oryou just had to zone in on this
one.
Yeah, right now I just have onemanufacturer.
They're only what I could findwho would work with me at that
quantity size.
But I'm hoping in the future Ican, as I scale up I'll have
more options and you know canplay with different
manufacturers, great, great.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
And in terms of materials, sourcing the
materials, do you do thatyourself or it's supplied by the
factory?
Speaker 2 (09:35):
No, it's supplied by the factory.
Yeah, one thing that I have beentrying to work on, though, is I
think you mentionedsustainability yeah, yeah, yeah
yeah, and so when it comes tolike packaging and shipping
things out to my customers,that's one thing that I thought
about really intentionally inthe beginning was how can I make
it so that this is, at the veryleast, all recyclable?
(09:57):
And because, for example, a lotof boxes, if they have plastic
tape, like that tape's notrecyclable, you have to take
that off before it can actuallybe recycled.
And so, um, even though it wasa harder option, I, you know,
kind of went through, did theextra work to make sure all my
packaging is recyclable, so Iuse paper tape which I don't
know if you've ever used wateractivated paper tape.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
It's a bit of a pain but it's appreciated when I see
it on packaging because itdoesn't put that extra burden on
you as the customer right,which is what prevents us from
being, you know, more consciousof how we consume things Exactly
.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Yeah, yeah.
So just thinking about thatgoing forward right now my
suppliers, when they send meinventory in bulk, it does have
plastic in the packaging, and sothat's something that I'm going
to be working with them onmoving forward is for like
future orders, trying to see ifthey can omit the plastic or use
like paper or something elsefor supporting it yeah, it's so
hard to break these cycles,isn't it?
(10:54):
yeah, it is yeah, but we have tothink about it because I know
the fashion industry, I think,is one of the top yeah.
I'm trying to be reallyconscious and intentional with
my choices, yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Yeah, and I like that .
You are a slow fashion brand.
You know you're notconcentrating on volume, so do
you sell any kind of bulk toanybody, or you know?
Yeah, you work to order.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Not yet.
Yeah, right now I justeverything's through my website.
I'm hoping that in the future,yeah, yeah, yeah, right now I
just everything's through mywebsite.
Um, hoping that in the future,yeah, maybe I can wholesale to
boutiques or that sort of thing.
But right now it's just yeah,yeah, this is to consumer, which
is kind of cool too, becausethen I feel like I get to build
that connection with mycustomers more too, and I like
the impact of that.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Yeah, I think luxury brands are lucky in that sense
that you know your customers cantell you what works and what
doesn't work, because they're soinvested in the product.
Right, it's a yeah, definitely.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
I've already gotten some feedback.
Some people have mentionedthey'd love to see like a red
fedora product development free.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's fantastic.
This is shades and layers, andtoday we are speaking to rachel
osborne, a founder of reina, aluxury adjustable hat brand that
centers curly and kinky hairinspired by rachel's own natural
hair journey.
This entrepreneurial venture isalso about making an impact on
(12:24):
the lives of others.
Up next, we get into whereRachel finds herself along this
journey and where her brand fitsinto their natural hair care
space.
You mentioned that this wasinfluenced by your hair journey.
Can you tell me where you arein terms of your hair journey
now?
Speaker 2 (12:40):
So I started when I was like little, like in middle
school, because growing up, allthe women in my family we
straightened our hair or hadrelaxers.
I never had a relaxer, but Ialways straightened it because
that was just kind of what weall knew in terms of how to take
care of it, in terms of what wethought made it manageable was
OK.
We got to straighten it andthat makes it look neat, and so
(13:01):
a lot of it was like unlearningthat YouTube was like a great
resource, yeah, so unlearningwell, unlearning that and
learning how to actually takecare of my hair, but then also
learning how to accept it Ithink that was the hardest part
for me was, you know, Idefinitely had a lot of like
limiting beliefs and fearsaround how people would think of
(13:23):
me if I wore my natural becausethat's just natural, because I
guess culturally that's just nothow I grew up, and so yeah, I'd
say now I'm definitely a muchmore positive place in terms of
the way I look at my hair andthe way I care for it, and I've
kind of gotten to a place whereI'm like I love my hair and if
(13:44):
someone else has a problem withit, that's on them.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
Absolutely yeah, yeah .
Speaker 2 (13:50):
But it's definitely.
It's been a long journey to getto where I am now with that
mindset.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Do you think it's influenced by the products that
are available in the market now?
Or you know, I know YouTube wasquite instrumental, but you
know you can watch all theYouTube that you want, but there
are other layers to.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Absolutely.
Yeah, I think it's multifaceted.
It's the products that we seearound us, it's like the
advertisers, the marketing,everything in media and then
also just our community, Because, like I mentioned, my family as
a whole we didn't really knowhow to take care of our hair and
I think not having those likein person role models who you
know could show an example ofsomeone wearing their hair
(14:31):
natural, confidently, definitelymade it harder, and so that's
part of it.
And then, like I said, media oreven just like the
advertisements we see forproducts, if those are kind of
showing that in order to be abeautiful Black woman, you have
to have straight hair.
That's like, especially as ayoung girl, it's very
impressionable.
Even if it's not overtly stated,those messages are absorbed and
(14:56):
so if we're seeing that ourwhole life.
It's like what is that?
What is that saying about me ifI don't wear my hair straight,
right?
So, yeah, I think that, um,it's definitely gotten better in
terms of the products that wehave now.
Um, and I remember I don't knowabout you, but when I was
younger, we just had like dorags or like scarves to sleep in
.
But now I have like all thesedifferent colored bonnets.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Oh, there's, everything.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Yeah, it's fun it is.
It's fun Like for me.
I feel like it tells me that myhair is thought of and it's
appreciated more just in general, which I think is a really
beautiful thing, but absolutelyin general, which I think is a
really beautiful thing, butabsolutely I think the products,
the range of products that wehave available to us, how the
advertising speaks to us, all ofthat plays a role for sure.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Where do you think Reina fits into the whole
landscape of this natural hairjourney?
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Yeah, good question.
I want to say I know about thename of my brand too, exactly,
yeah, so, reina, if you knowSpanish, it kind of sounds like
the word queen in Spanish, right, and then also across a couple
of different other languages, itmeans queen, and so there's a
lot of symbolism in there, ofcourse, of how, like, our hair
(16:06):
is a crown and it should bethought of like that, and that's
kind of the feel that I want toimpart on everyone who comes
into contact with my brand, andso the way that I see my brand
is just it's another piece ofthe puzzle in terms of building
up that positive representationof black hair and all the
(16:26):
different hairstyles that we,that we wear.
And so if you go on my site,like you'll, um, the three
models I have, they have youknow natural hair braids, one
has straight extensions andthat's like.
You know, as black women we wearall sorts of different
hairstyles and they should allbe separated, um and so kind of
just adding that extrapresentation so that you know,
(16:50):
as we go through our day-to-daylives, we we kind of start to
see more and more of this, andso that's kind of where to see
more and more of this, and sothat's kind of where I see our
brand.
Bidding is like it's a piece ofthe puzzle of the larger
landscape.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Yeah yeah, it normalizes in a sense.
Yeah yeah, that's great.
So you started the brandbecause you wanted to solve a
problem for yourself, like mostentrepreneurs.
Problem for yourself, like mostentrepreneurs.
But was this, uh, you know, astumble upon to go the
(17:20):
entrepreneurial path, or haveyou always wanted to own your
own business?
Speaker 2 (17:24):
I think I've always wanted, I've always been an
entrepreneur at heart.
Um, yeah, I think it's just inmy, my character, it's just part
of my personality.
I used to have like a nine tofive, and now I do Reina, and
then also I'm a realtor, whichis kind of like having another
(17:45):
business.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
It's great.
But yeah, to answer yourquestion, I think I've always
been an entrepreneur at heart.
I just didn't really realize ituntil the past few years.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Yeah, yeah.
And what's been the mostsurprising thing about running a
slow fashion brand?
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Hmm, well, I kind of say this before, and it's not
specifically related to the factthat it's a fashion brand, but
more so just the amount ofeducation or opportunities for
educating, like people who likenon-black people about our hair.
And I think that's been a reallycool thing to do, because some
people just don't know andthey're like, oh, like, what is,
what's the importance of thesatin lining?
(18:28):
And so I get to use that as anopportunity to explain why it's
significant and kind of whathair means to us in our culture,
and so that that was somethingI was not expecting, but I think
I'm really grateful for thatyeah, do you know Stephanie
Laflora?
Speaker 1 (18:42):
because that brings her to mind.
I do, yeah, okay, yeah, I'veinterviewed her before, so I was
like okay, an education part toit yeah yeah, I know her, she's
in Colorado.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Yeah, yeah, okay.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
All right, cool, and you know this education part.
I know it's a cultural thing,but you know how do some of the
you know?
Are there any similaritiesbetween being a realtor and
being a fashion brand owner?
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Hmm, that's a hard question.
I'm actually.
I'm a newer realtor so I'mstill kind of filling out the
waters in this market, butnothing that really comes to
mind immediately.
I mean, just as a businessowner for sure, all the like
marketing that is the same, likeit's the same sort of thing in
(19:32):
terms of email marketing andgetting your name out there.
So that has transferred oververy well.
But in terms of like a deeperlevel, I don't know.
I'll have to think about thatone Speaking of a deeper level.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
I mean, apart from you know personally, I would say
, what's the deeper meaning doyou attach to your day-to-day
activities?
Speaker 2 (19:57):
I guess it's hoping that my brand will help someone
or another woman in their hairjourney, make it easier for them
and so they don't have to gothrough the same struggles and
pains that I did.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Because I mean.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
I still have bad hair days or like days when I look
at my hair and I'm like you knowI have maybe a negative thought
about it, but it's definitelyway fewer and far between than
maybe a few years ago.
But, some of those moments of,you know, frustration were
really, really hard, and so Iguess my goal is that I can at
least like touch one person'slife and help them not have
those same negative feelings, orat least make it easier so they
(20:36):
don't have to.
You know, kind of struggle asmuch yeah, yeah, yeah, great.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
So what is?
Um, oh, sorry, lost my train ofthought.
I'm sorry.
There are so many things I wantto ask you.
That's why, okay, so we uh,yeah, so the entrepreneurial
journey, okay.
So what are some of thechallenges that you've come
across?
I mean, first, it was themanufacturing small batch, but
(21:04):
you know, in terms of theoperational stuff that you do
yourself, are there any thingsthat you had to overcome that,
yeah, that you can think of andshare for an aspiring
entrepreneur?
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Yeah, I mean the beginning.
So I just launched in Novemberso still relatively newer brand.
The beginning was definitely achallenge working with the
suppliers, even because for me,as a smaller brand and also
ordering in smaller quantities,it's a lot higher stakes if I
(21:37):
lose inventory or something.
And actually there was a wholething in the beginning where
FedEx delivered a large batch ofmy inventory to the wrong house
and I was freaking out.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
It was very stressful , but I found it.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Yeah, it was okay, little things like that.
Um again, because I'm a smallerbrand, I um so my packaging
it's like you have the box andthen the hat is kind of cradled.
There's like a, a cardboardsupport to make sure that
doesn't get crushed.
Um and so I like cut that outmyself and that's.
(22:13):
That's definitely definitely abit time consuming and because
right now I don't do like customorders of packaging.
And so that's like another, Iguess not exactly challenge, but
just something that kind of Ihad to account for that I wasn't
expecting.
I'm like, okay, how do I factorthat into my schedule, with, you
know, cutting out all theseinserts?
(22:35):
And then I think my ability topivot in terms of product
development has been somethingthat I'm kind of still kind of
figuring out.
Like I mentioned, I've had somepeople say like, oh, I'd love
to see this color or I'd love tosee like this style, and.
And so I'm like, okay, likewhen can I kind of fit that in?
(22:56):
How does that fall into mywhole product line and
development?
And so it's been a wholelearning process for me.
So every step of the way hasbeen there's been something.
But, yeah, I'm still stilllearning.
And at this point I'm pivotinga little bit and trying to
collaborate with other blackowned brands and build like kind
of grow in community together,and so that's something that I'm
(23:19):
playing with right now istrying to do like giveaways or
just other things with brands,content sharing and that sort of
thing.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Yeah.
Yeah, I saw that you had a livewith uh Avocurl.
Yeah, so it's, it's mostly hairproducts, yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Hair products.
Um, I have evo curl, yeah, soit's, it's mostly hair products.
Yeah, hair products, um, I haveI'm talking to a brand that is,
um, they're like natural hairextensions, so I said it's also
a hair product.
And then another brand I'mtalking to she does, um, like
luxury handbags and sunglasses,yeah, yeah accessories.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Yeah, it's nice you can touch all these different
adjacent products and industriesExactly.
Yeah, fantastic, that's great.
Rachel Osborne is the guesttoday on Shades and Layers.
Her luxury hat brand, reina,was created to give options to
(24:10):
the curly and kinky head when itcame to accessorizing.
To give options to the curlyand kinky head when it came to
accessorizing.
Up next, we get into all thethings and the people that have
inspired her throughout her life, as well as what she has in
store for the future.
So who are some of theentrepreneurs you look to for
inspiration at the moment orthat you've looked to as you
were trying to put this brandtogether?
Speaker 2 (24:32):
That's a great question.
Probably one of my favoriteentrepreneurs is Jamie Kern Lima
, who I don't know if you'veshe's the founder of it
Cosmetics.
Oh yeah, okay yeah.
And one thing that I think isreally interesting too about her
story.
So she, her brand, got boughtby L'Oreal and that made her the
first.
She was the CEO of the brand, Iguess, within L'Oreal.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
And so she was the first female CEO of a.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
L'Oreal company, which I think is wild Because,
like you know, L'Oreal, for mostof its history, has been
something that's marketed makeupto women, and I think that
parallels really well to a lotof these black hair care brands.
A lot of them are notnecessarily run by black people.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Which I think is interesting.
But yeah, I just I love JamieKern Lima's story.
It's really inspiring to me.
She's, I mean, as with mostsuccessful entrepreneurs, she's
jumped over a lot of hurdles.
She's had so many challenges inher path.
So I guess whenever I hitsomething that is challenging,
like when my inventory wasdelivered to the wrong place, I
kind of think of her and herstory and I'm like if she can do
(25:36):
it.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Yeah, yeah Great.
Speaking of stories, are thereany business books that you can
think of that you wouldrecommend to anybody who wants
to start a new brand?
Speaker 2 (25:48):
I actually I read a lot of self-development books,
so not business per se, but Ithink a lot of building a
business is working on yourselfbecause especially you learn a
lot about, especially in thebeginning if you're the only
person, you're the mostimportant part of your business,
so you gotta work on yourselfso um, yeah, my favorite book is
probably psycho cybernetics bydr maxwell malts.
(26:09):
it's about self-image and it'sreally interesting and
definitely kind of changed theway that I look at things a
little bit and then in terms oflike practical or not practical,
but you know more like logicalor strategies that sort of thing
.
I like Blue Ocean Sales andMarketing.
It's a good one, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
There's a lot of good ones.
Yeah, it's a classic, oh, and.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Purple Cow by Seth Godin.
That's a short one, oh yeah,purple Cow by Seth Godin, that's
a short one.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Oh yeah, that's cool, that's a good one.
Yeah, yeah, getting into yourpersonal story, are there any
events or people that you wouldcredit with contributing to how
you carry yourself in the worldtoday?
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Yeah, I mean I have probably a long list.
Honestly, I'm sure, yes.
I mean I guess this is a littlecliche but like both my parents,
they, I mean, I think in termsof the hair journey, they kind
of like I mentioned my mom, shedid the best she could in terms
of what she knew how to do andtaking care of her hair.
(27:06):
So a little bit differentperspective, but just in terms
of her, her own journey and hercareer and everything I feel
like I've learned from both ofthem to that's okay to go
against the status quo a littlebit and challenge ideas,
especially if you don't thinkthat they're correct, and that's
something that's been, I think,really instrumental on just my
growth as a person and even likemy career trajectory, of kind
(27:30):
of breaking out of my previouscareer, which you, you know,
some would say is like very, itwas a very safe career and
trying, you know, all thesecrazy things like starting my
brand and starting what were youdoing?
I was a software engineer, okay, yeah.
So yeah, I'd say definitely myparents, parents, my family, for
(27:51):
sure.
In terms of my hair journey,specifically natural 85, I don't
know I I've been watching her.
I don't watch her stuff as muchanymore, but like in the early
2000s, um, yeah, sure, yeah, shewas definitely.
She has uh been the guru formany many black women around the
(28:12):
world yeah, but I mean like,especially as a young girl and
then into a young woman, likehaving that example of someone
who appreciates and loves andhas beautiful hair was so
instrumental for me and so andalso I learned a lot from her.
So I've never met her beforebut I will shout her out because
she's definitely been a big.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Soon enough.
Yeah, if you had to summarizeyour life in a book, what would
you call the memoir, and why?
Speaker 2 (28:44):
So I don't think this is a word, but something to the
tune of like de-perfectionismor perfectionized.
I've definitely I've alwaysbeen a perfectionist and in some
ways it has served me well, butI've realized, especially over
the past few years, that I'vekind of had to unravel that a
bit to become who I am now, andI think that, um, trying to do
(29:08):
everything perfectly the firsttime usually just ends up in
spending a lot of time notwasting time but not doing
things as not achieving asquickly as maybe you could.
And so right now I'm trying tomove myself more towards just
taking messy action and gettingthat feedback and learning from
it and being okay with makingmistakes and falling down.
And that's something that I,for me, was hard to learn,
(29:30):
because just for a long time Iwas like afraid of failing, you
know, afraid of messing up thatsort of thing, and so that's
been kind of like somethingthat's woven through my whole
life, of just trying to unlearnthat and learn that it's okay to
fail and you actually can'teven succeed without failing
first.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
So yeah, fail fast.
Yeah, failing first.
So, yeah, yeah, fail fast.
Yeah, and um deep perfectionism.
Who would you?
Speaker 2 (30:02):
choose to be the lead actress in the film version of
the book.
So I I love holly bailey, likeI think she's amazing, um, and I
love that as her role in theLittle Mermaid.
She, for our younger generation, is now like that role model of
a Disney princess.
I think that's so awesome and,yeah, I just would be cool yeah,
she's the whole vibe man yeah,she's cool very, very cool.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Um, who would you invite?
Which famous black woman wouldyou invite to dinner, and why?
Oh, definitely Michelle Obama.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Good, good, good.
Yeah, I mean she's just like.
She's inspiring to me in termsof everything that she did as
the first lady and then evenafter she's you know, after
President.
Obama left office like she'sjust done so much and yeah, so I
would love to have aconversation with her and just
be in her aura.
Just breathing the same air.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
And what's the best advice you've ever received and
still live by today?
Speaker 2 (31:07):
That's a good one.
Let me think about that for asecond.
Sure, sure, yeah.
I mean talking about likefailure and everything there was
.
I don't remember who said it,but there's a quote that's like
you know, the best way tosucceed faster is to double your
rate of failure.
And so I think about that a lotnow of just like, how can I
(31:29):
kind of like or you can replacethat word with rejection to a
lot of people, like failure ofrejection are kind of similar
sort of things.
And so now, um, when I think oflike my achieving a goal or
something, I'm like, how do Ilike go for no's, like the more
no's I get, the closer I get toa yes, or like you know times I
fall down, the more, the fasterI'll learn and get to like the
(31:51):
thing that I'm really going for.
So so I think, of that quote alot in general when I'm going
through my day.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
And what's contributed to this mindset
shift.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Well, I think a couple of things.
One, my mental health.
I think that I realized myperfectionism wasn't like
supportive of that as much.
I kind of noticed variousdifferent things come from me
being a perfectionist that Iwanted to change just so that I
could be mentally healthier.
I think there's that Back in2020, that's kind of where my
entrepreneurial journey startedof.
(32:21):
Like, I started reading morebooks just about mindset and
about business and all thesethings and how you can really
change your whole perspective onlife by just shifting your
mindset, and so that's kind of.
I think I've kind of I've useda lot of books as mentors almost
, and through a lot of thoseit's a recurring theme of you
(32:43):
know, you have to take thatmessy action, and so I just kind
of tried to embody that more.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
Um, just as more yeah and um.
If someone wanted to start acareer like yours, where would
you tell them to start?
Speaker 2 (33:00):
definitely would tell them to like start with market
research.
I mean, that's I don't know ifthat's too obvious of an answer,
but I found that to be reallyhelpful for me, like I in the
beginning, to develop theproducts I did and just styles.
I had like a little survey Ityped up and I sent out to a
bunch of people who, like allthe people I knew who I thought
might be in my target audience,and then I asked friends and
(33:22):
family to send it out and likeseeing if you can get feedback
from real people.
I think, yes, definitely wasvery helpful for me, and then
also for me to see what'salready out there and what
hasn't been done, cause you know, at first I just had the idea
in my head but I was like Idon't know if this has already
been done, like there are otherthings that are similar, I'm not
(33:43):
sure.
And so how kind of validatingthat idea really thoroughly
before really going into it, Ithink was good, especially since
I again I'm bootstrappingeverything.
So it's like I wanted to bereally confident in my idea
before putting in that initialinvestment.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
And when did you realize you have a business?
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Like last March, I guess a year ago or so Cause
that's when I was doing thatresearch and I was trying to
find products that were likesimilar to what was in my head
and I was like there isn'treally anything here, and so
that's what I was like.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
Okay, I think I think I should just try it out.
So what is your vision forRayna in the future?
Speaker 2 (34:21):
yeah.
So I, like I've mentioned, Iwould love to be able to bring
in a few more styles, um, andjust, I have like some ideas in
mind already of okay things Iwant to try and bring in.
Maybe this winter We'll see.
Um, I would like to get intowholesaling in the future, like
not this year, but once I'vegrown a bit more um, and then
just, yeah, see where, where ittakes me.
Um, I like the collaborationsI've been doing.
(34:45):
I feel like that kind of givesme the opportunity to tell my
story to more people and at theend of the day, it's the impact
that I want.
I mean, like you know, sellingproducts is cool too, but I want
to have a positive impact onpeople.
And so.
I think I want to keep doingthose brand collaborations and
(35:05):
like the lives and those sortsof things to like just kind of
show other women who are maybein the middle of their journey.
To like just kind of show otherwomen who are maybe in the
middle of their journey,starting out at the end, that
they are not alone and you knowother people are going through
this too.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
So yeah, yeah.
Would you ever consider goingfor a round of funding?
Speaker 2 (35:22):
uh, possibly.
Yeah, I kind of.
I kind of want to grow it alittle bit bigger on my own
first, before I consider doingthat.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
But it's something I have thought about yeah yeah,
yeah.
Where can people find you ifthey want to buy a hat or just
you know?
Speaker 2 (35:35):
get in touch and hear your story yeah, um, so my
website is shop reenacom um,it's shop, and then r-a-i-n-a
and I also I'm on instagram atshop, underscore reena, and so
either one would be good.
And also, like I, I respond toall my messages so you can email
me or like dm me throughinstagram, like I love chatting
(35:58):
with my customers and justpeople.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
So yeah oh perfect, and that is all for me this time
around.
Links to rachel's work andother resources she mentioned in
this episode are included inthe show notes.
If you found this episodeinspirational or useful in some
way, please be sure to spreadthe love and share it with a
friend.
Thank you for listening.
(36:22):
I'm Kutwanos, kosana Ritchie,and until next time, please do
take good care.
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