Strong roots: Monique Rodriguez is taking textured-hair products global

From an early age, Monique Rodriguez was obsessed with making sure her textured hair was always presentable and healthy. But as passionate as she was about it, she never imagined her love of hair care would lead to her creating a successful beauty brand poised for the global market.

"I grew up in a very traditional environment where my mom always instilled in me to go to school, go to college, find a stable career, work your nine-to-five job and then retire and collect your pension," the Mielle Organics Co-Founder tells The CEO Magazine.

For years, she tried to follow that path, first completing college and then working as a labor and delivery nurse. But deep down, she knew that something didn’t feel right.

"There was something about that that never resonated with me," she recalls. "I remember setting foot on the labor and delivery floor and telling myself that this was not something I saw myself doing for the rest of my life."

But it wasn’t until the tragic loss of her son in a high-risk pregnancy that she took some time out for deep self-reflection, which eventually triggered some important spiritual realizations and shifted her sense of purpose.

Sharing her passion

"I had the vision to go on social media one day to just talk about what I loved as a kid growing up and that was hair care," Rodriguez remembers. "The thought wasn’t to create this mega brand that Mielle is today; it was really to just share with my community different hair tips and tricks."

Because of her science background, she could offer insights from a health perspective on how to take care of and maintain textured hair.

"That was something that really resonated with my community," Rodriguez says.

She started experimenting with various concoctions and ingredients, mixing together foods from her kitchen with haircare products she had at home, and then sharing the recipes and results with her followers on social media.

"I was helping people navigate what can be a challenging hair journey," she says. "I was very passionate about connecting with people first before I even had a product. And once I developed this community, I had the idea to come out with one product. That was my light bulb moment."

She immediately got to work, researching how to bring this first product to life while ensuring it was both stable and sustainable for its consumers. The result was the Almond Mint Oil, which became an instant success when it launched in 2014, with those first hundred or so bottles selling out within the first couple of days.

"I knew from that very day that I was onto something great," Rodriguez recalls.

"I remember writing out and typing out my resignation letter to my job and saying to myself, ‘I’m not going to give it to them yet, but I want to type it out because I want to visualize it and see how it looks to say, "I’m leaving."’ Then, I hung it in my closet and I looked at it every day until I resigned."

From that first oil to an entire range of hair and skincare products, Mielle has indeed transformed from those early days. But its commitment to its community has remained an unwavering constant, which Rodriguez believes is Mielle’s special sauce.

"Even to this day, we focus on people first, then product," she stresses. "People in entrepreneurship say, ‘I want to become an entrepreneur because I want to be my own boss.’ But you’re never your own boss. The people who you serve, they are your boss. And that’s the primary foundation of why Mielle has been able to scale and grow the way we have."

Reaching the world

While the brand was built on years of bootstrapping and learning the rules of business the hard way, Rodriguez’s determination to continue strengthening Mielle saw her seek assistance from experts who could help her in that ambition.

"My whole goal from the very beginning was to create a global beauty brand," she explains. "I think, as an entrepreneur, you have to know when the time is right. You have to be able to raise your hand and say, ‘I’ve been able to scale and build this brand so far, but I want it to go further. I know I need to ask for help and have the right people so this engine can skyrocket to the next level.’

"There’s a lot of humility in saying, ‘Yes, I’m the CEO, but I don’t know everything.’"

Mielle’s first tie-up came in 2021, with Berkshire Partners – the ideal choice to give the company the expertise, access and infrastructure that it craved. The deal made Rodriguez the first Black woman to raise a non-controlling nine-figure investment.

But as the business grew further and was ready to scale to the next level, Rodriguez sought out a new strategic partner to provide global access to the right consumers.

"We feel that all consumers with textured hair should have access to high-quality products, no matter where they are," she explains.

Procter & Gamble (P&G) presented itself as the perfect partner at the right time. The fast-moving consumer goods multinational acquired Mielle in January 2023, with Rodriguez seeing the vast potential associated with such a collaboration.

The impact has been overwhelmingly positive, according to Rodriguez. Already it has delivered big results such as Mielle’s partnership with the Women’s National Basketball Association, which saw the September 2023 debut of its first-ever ad campaign: ‘From One Queen to Another’. The campaign, starring both Rodriguez and women’s basketball champion Angel Reese, aimed to empower women while spotlighting the award-winning Mielle Pomegranate & Honey collection.

That milestone was followed earlier this year by a partnership with the Paris 2024 Olympics. "We were the first textured haircare brand to have a salon in the Olympic Village for athletes," Rodriguez reveals excitedly.

"That means that we had access to athletes from all across the world and they could come and experience the Mielle brand. And that was because of the partnership with P&G."

Indeed, international expansion is already well underway with a rising presence across Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Australia.

But it’s a global reach that isn’t coming at the expense of the brand’s authenticity, Rodriguez insists.

"Our formulas haven’t changed, the products still remain the same, but for us it's like having access to more. And that’s what I’ve always wanted."

The same message was echoed amid controversy when TikTok influencer Alix Earle revealed her love of Mielle’s Rosemary Mint Hair Oil, which prompted some customers to express concerns that the brand would sell out, or alter its formulation. But Rodriguez reassured customers that the line of textured-hair products wouldn’t change.

And while the brand’s expansion means that Mielle’s customers have evolved over time, she is adamant that the company’s focus on the textured-hair market remains as strong as ever.

"Our target market has definitely broadened over time," she admits. "Our initial mission was to educate, empower and excite women. But now I say to educate, empower and excite people because we see that our brand has broadened and we don’t just have women using our products now. We have the whole family using our products."

Strengthening ties

With community the driving force behind Mielle’s success, maintaining the company’s line of communication with its customers is crucial. Safeguarding this connection as the company scales is therefore a top priority for Rodriguez – a commitment that has seen the birth of a new CSR program, entitled Mielle Cares, as part of its deal with P&G.

"It was great to have the conversation and to sit down with P&G to acquire our business, but for us it was like our community is what got us here so how can you invest in the community that supports us? And so that was very important to us, and they saw the importance of that," Rodriguez explains.

"So we created an initiative to support mental health and build a positive, resilient mindset so we can set tweens, teens and underserved communities on a career path of entrepreneurship or whatever career path they may choose."

Mielle Cares is especially important in a climate where less than one percent of Black women have raised over a million dollars, yet they are the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs. By providing the support that Rodriguez wishes she could have accessed in those early days of Mielle, particularly around funding, she hopes to boost that momentum.

It starts with building resilience at a young age, she explains, particularly with mental health still such a taboo subject within the Black community.

"When you think of your basic needs, if you don’t have your basic needs met, you’re not going to be able to focus on school, you’re not going to be able to focus on education, let alone focus on what your career path should be," she says.

"So we are creating mental health programs inside of the school, and our goal is to have at least two therapists in each school in underserved communities to help kids navigate certain challenges at home, so they can truly focus on school."

P&G has pitched in US$10 million to this effort – a hefty amount that Rodriguez and her husband Melvin have matched.

"We actually started the program at the school that Melvin and I attended when we were in high school," she adds.

The plan is to scale the program to more schools within the area, with the goal of eventually going nationwide across the United States.

Even with such an ambitious vision within her sights, Rodriguez remains true to the age-old adage, ‘slow and steady wins the race’. It’s a piece of advice she is keen to share with the next generation of leaders.

"Even though it seems like we grew super fast overnight, our strategy was very slow," she explains. "We were very strategic. We were not afraid to say ‘no’ because we believed in our brand that much."

It’s a belief that still holds true for Rodriguez and one she is confident will keep Mielle authentic, even as it enters the world of big business. And with her passion for textured hair and doing the right thing by her community as strong as ever, she couldn’t be more excited to take her haircare mission global.