Krystal Phillips, slaying in her natural non-permed hair for the new cover of Her Image The InnovatHER issue.
The mother, wife, business owner, and beauty connoisseur opened up the doors of Epitome Beautique to us to dish it all. We sat down with the November Cover Queen as she revealed the good, the bad and the ugly side of starting and running a beauty supply store as a black woman. Shockingly enough, the struggle is real and Krystal was not afraid to get transparent with us about it because her mission is worth the trials and tribulations.
From the moment Krystal first walked into the beauty supply store and laid eyes on the pale skinned, small eyed cashiers she knew something wasn't right. That feeling stayed with her forever until she was able to do something about it. The great thing about passion and purpose is that no matter what you do, it'll always find its way back.
"As black women, we are the majority consumers in the beauty industry, however, we barely hold a share in the market when it comes to distribution and that in itself is a problem. We need to have a more significant presence and not only in the retail aspect but we need to get involved in manufacturing and distributing as well." - Krystal Phillips
Entrepreneurship can be challenging, especially in a market that is highly saturated by the asian market. Which explains why being a business owner in this industry can be trying. However, this is the exact motivation for Krystal and other women to get a piece of the pie, and not just as a consumer because we already do more than enough.
To top it off, our Account Executive Melinda Marie took a solo trip to China and brought back the real tea on hair extensions.
"Although we have made some major moves, my trip to China showed me that we still have a long way to go." - Melinda Marie
Sasha, Tanishia and Jenise from our newly expanded team interviewed 10 additional entrepreneurs including a Doctor, artist, solo traveler, fashionpreneur, media maven, publicist and more about their journey's. Every woman can take something away from the InnovatHER issue, available now.
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