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by Julianne Mosher |
At just 19 years old, Khadijah King had already launched her very own natural hair care line, called Inside Kinks.
The now-23-year-old from Bay Shore first came up with the online-based brand in June 2015 while she was studying in Hawaii. She said that finding hair care for women with natural hair was hard to come by on the island.
“I was in a rut,” she said.
So she started to research, mix and create her own products.
Nearly four years later — and lots of growth — King has just wrapped up her involvement in the Bank of America Institute for Women’s Entrepreneurship at Cornell University.
That’s a free 12-week online business certificate program, through which King and others like her gained skills, knowledge and other resources to help better her fledgling company.
Prior to being enrolled in the program, I was having issues with my pricing points as well as describing the value and intent of each product,” she said of her experience. “But after taking the Product Development and Digital Marketing course, I was able to successfully price my products so that the prices are not only competitive with similar brands, but also bring in a more favorable profit.”
King said that with the price changes, and revamping the description of her online products, she noticed an immediate increase in sales and referrals
“Although the program was fast paced and rigorous, the personable professors made the experience very rich,” she said.
Previously, it was just King working on the brand, but now she’s adding three new people to the team, in part to help expand her social media presence.
“Our clientele is constantly growing,” King said, “We sell to mostly women, ages 19-55, college-educated and who are health conscious.”
There’s also a community aspect to the line, which the site describes as “innovative products that make natural hair care simplistic, and foster community amongst naturalistas worldwide.”
Inside Kinks is sold completely online and offers an all-natural hair growth collection, hair care supplements, serums, butters and oils — for both men and women.
Though she started off formulating new products for the line, she said she wants to educate her customers on how to better their hair with all-natural ingredients.
“The brand focuses on making confident hair choices and natural hair management,” she said.
A natural hair care building regimen guide is available for purchase on the site and gives a step-by-step process on how to build a healthy hair routine.
Although the brand is locally based, King said her products have been shipped all over the U.S., and to five different countries as well.
“People should look into Inside Kinks because we’re not totally focused on products,” she said. “We’re here to promote self esteem and focus on all natural products for your hair through education.”
Links:
https://www.facebook.com/insidekinks
https://www.instagram.com/insidekinks/
