On the final day of the 30th ESSENCE Festival of Culture, our Passion To Profit series closed out the Beautycon stage. Chairman of Essence Ventures Richelieu Dennis moderated a conversation with PDC Brand CEO Tarun Malkani about the next generation of Black beauty businesses. Fitting, as PDC— who owns brands such as Cantu, Eylure London, and now Dr. Teals— has a strong stake in our community. “Every person has a deep association with Dr. Teals, in the African-American community particularly,” Malkani told Dennis.
Like Cantu, Dr. Teals’ products have had an impact on our body for the past 20 years. “When you’re sore, when your ankles are swollen, when your back hurts, have a headache, that’s where I go to self-medicate,” Dennis said. With the intention to facilitate healing in the Black community, we should support businesses we feel support and represent us, and understand our spending power. “This community has put this product on the map,” Malkani said. “I think you have to respect the physiological needs, the needs for hair and skin. The requirements for the Black community in terms of hair is quite unique.”
Cantu’s newest brand ambassador Skai Jackson appeared at their Beautycon booth, helping tell the story about the evolution of the brand. “As her target evolves, her audience evolves, that’s how she thinks of Cantu,” Malkani said. From reformulation to product performance, storytelling to community building, Malkani explains how it is important to remain connected to your consumers. However, as brands scale, it often becomes more difficult to maintain trust with your target audience.
“The bigger you get the more regulations play a role, and the less you understand how to manage through those regulatory changes,” Dennis said. “The biggest downside of it is when your customers think you’re trying to fool them.”
Dennis then explained an issue he ran into with paraben-free hair care brand Shea Moisture, and how the ingredient japonica caused consumers to lose trust in the brand. With parabens linked to cancer, they removed the ingredient and replaced it with the plant extract. But “turns out, over time, japonica started to behave much like a paraben,” he said. “We end up with people saying ‘oh, you guys are changing the formula, you’re watering it down.’” This is similar to what Mielle founder Monique Rodriguez received backlash for: selling her brand to P&G, and losing trust from Black consumers as a result. That said, “always communicate with your consumers,” Dennis shared with the audience as an entrepreneurial learning. “The good things and the bad things, not just the marketing things.”
