Monique Rodriguez, CEO and founder of award-winning hair care brand Mielle Organics, is one of the most sought-after natural hair care companies and a dominant force in the billion-dollar hair industry. The wife, mother, and beauty director attributes much of her success to taking calculated risks versus playing it safe. “Being comfortable and playing it safe will lead to modest results,” she says. “When you take calculated risks, you are betting on yourself.”
Coming from a passion project to build a multi-million dollar empire and after nearly a decade in the game, the global entrepreneur’s philosophy of “risk is worth the reward” has proven vital throughout her career.
“The journey to success involves a lot of failures. You have to have the mindset of knowing that you’re going to try something and you’re probably going to fail. You’re going to make a lot of mistakes, but that’s part of the risk,” Rodriguez said exclusively. xoNecole.
But most importantly, her undeniable desire to level the playing field by helping to encourage, uplift and educate women on how to fall in love with their natural curls and knowing their specific hair type needs is a concept that has allowed her company to thrive in the market through close communication with consumers. .
Photo courtesy of Monique Rodriguez
Monica Rodriguez
It’s no secret that for many women of color, our curls and coils have taken a complicated journey of self-discovery through self-love, for some, self-loathing, and for others, self-awareness. This sentiment is shared even among natural hair care crusaders like Rodriguez.
“I would describe my relationship with my hair over the years as a love-hate relationship. When I was younger, I didn’t really embrace my hair. I didn’t like the fact that my hair was so curly. I couldn’t find ways to manage it or style it, and I became very frustrated.”
But learning how to love and properly care for your individual hair care needs extends far beyond the surface. It’s a radical act of self-care. Women’s (and men’s) hair and their African-American identity have been closely intertwined for centuries, which is another reason she’s made it her mission to empower the next generation, especially her daughters, with confidence to embrace their natural curls.
“When I was younger, I didn’t see examples of women who looked like me, whether on the red carpet, on TV, or on the movie screen, embracing their natural curls. Now, my girls have the opportunity to see more women rocking their natural curls on the big screens.” Because it really impacts our culture and moves it forward.
So, how does Rodriguez suggest building a healthy relationship with one’s hair? “First, embrace the uniqueness of your hair, and second, don’t compare your hair journey to someone else’s hair journey. Just like our DNA and our fingerprints, no fingerprint or DNA is exactly the same. The first step in learning to love your hair is patience.”
Photo courtesy of Monique Rodriguez
Monica Rodriguez
She further emphasized, “Even though we see different curl styles and we see different women on TV, on social media with curls and we say, ‘I want my hair to look like this.’ “It’s great to use it as inspiration but not think about it. You have to think about what is healthy for you and your body and what representation you want to provide for your children and your community.”
That’s why her vision for Millie is built on it being more than just a beauty brand, but a purpose-driven company whose mission is to lift while you climb, as evidenced by its recent HBCU partnerships with the Howard University swim team and Florida A&M’s cheerleading squad ( FAMU). .
“Our goal is to bridge the gap between sports and beauty. We know that one of the big barriers that women athletes face, especially in swimming, is that maybe I can swim, but I don’t want to mess up my hair. I want to make sure that these women on these teams have access “To high-quality products, so they don’t have to worry about their hair.”
Photo courtesy of Monique Rodriguez Monica Rodriguez
With ongoing TikTok trends for various hair types and other social media hacks, hair psychology has become a global conversation. Many studies show that it can significantly impact our mental, emotional, and physical well-being, which the types of extracurricular activities we engage in contribute to how we look, feel, and see ourselves. A belief Rodriguez agrees with.
“I always style my hair according to my mood. No matter how I style my hair, it can improve my mood, and that’s the goal behind Millie: it’s a movement to empower and excite women, men and everyone in the family about healthy hair. I strongly believe that when you look good, you feel good.” “You feel good, you feel very confident and you can go out and conquer the world.”
For Rodriguez, her favorite styles that ignite her confidence to step out into the world and own any room she walks into range from “shower and go, bun, or I’ll do my hair.” With time, patience, and gentleness, the businesswoman has learned that her hair’s love language is good time.
However, even for the self-proclaimed hair queen, discovering her unique hair love language over the years hasn’t been easy. So, whether you’re just starting your hair care journey, overwhelmed with what works best, or don’t know where to start, she urges you to “give yourself grace.”
Establishing a healthy relationship with your natural hair takes time. It won’t happen overnight. It’s more than just skin deep. It is deeply rooted and is also a reflection of developing a healthy relationship with oneself because the two are closely linked.
This is where Mielle Organics steps in not just as a beauty brand but as a movement to bridge the gap — armed not only with products but also with support, community, and resources to pass the crown from one “queen to another” for the freedom to rock your natural curls with confidence, style, and ease. It is liberation, and it is a symbol of your personal identity.
Featured image courtesy of Monique Rodriguez
Understanding and caring for our hair is an essential part of practicing self-care, and nobody understands that better than Monique Rodriguez of Mielle Organics. As a seasoned entrepreneur in the natural hair care industry, Monique is a passionate advocate for helping individuals identify their hair’s “love language” in order to properly nurture and support their unique hair needs. In a world filled with unrealistic beauty standards and harmful hair care practices, Monique’s approach to embracing and celebrating our natural hair is nothing short of revolutionary. In this article, we will explore Monique’s insight on how to identify your hair’s love language, and why it is a radical act of self-care that can transform the way we care for ourselves.