Tabitha Brown and Gina Woods are co-founders who brought the heat to natural haircare with their brand, Donna’s Recipe. As a celebration of natural beauty, Donna’s Recipe was inspired by Tabitha’s transition from her big chop back in 2017 and her journey through all the milestones of regrowing her hair. The co-founders paved their own route with vegan haircare products that focus on natural, plant-based ingredients are high-quality rich ingredients like sweet potato, shea butter, avocado butter, mango butter, and rosemary oil. Since its debut Donna’s Recipe has developed two major collections with hallmark ingredients like Sweet Potato and Whipped Vanilla to help cleanse, condition, and style all hair types and textures. We connected with co-founder, Gina Woods to chat about the evolution of their brand, developing a vegan haircare line, and what we can expect from Donna’s Recipe in 2025.
What are your roles as co-founders, and how did your strengths support the development of the products?
As co-founders of Donna’s Recipe, we each bring unique strengths that balance and complement each other. Tabitha focuses on brand storytelling and community building, ensuring that every product aligns with our mission of supporting healthy hair journeys. Gina excels in strategic vision, partnerships, and product development, ensuring that our products meet the highest standards of quality and affordability. Together, we created products inspired by real needs, like moisture retention and hair growth, using clean, effective ingredients that our customers can trust.
Hair transformation and evolution are key to Donna’s recipe. What brand transformations have you made as co-founders of which you’re proud?
We’re incredibly proud of the way we’ve evolved alongside our community. A big transformation has been scaling from a self-funded startup to a thriving brand available at Ulta Beauty and Target while staying true to our roots. We’ve also embraced innovation in our product lines, like the Sweet Potato Pie collection, to offer our customers aka “cousins” a newness and familiarity with their haircare experience. Personally, as co-founders, we’ve grown into better leaders—learning to trust our instincts, delegate effectively, and constantly adapt to the ever-changing needs of our customers.
Who are your hair heroes?
Our hair heroes are the everyday individuals in our community who share their stories of perseverance, self-love, and confidence through their hair journeys. On a personal level, Tabitha Brown, the face of Donna’s Recipe and co-founder is a hair hero. She embraces her hair by naming her “Donna” and letting Donna be free most times.
What’s next for Donna’s Recipe in 2025?
2025 is all about growth and innovation for Donna’s Recipe. We’re expanding our product line to address even more hair care needs while staying rooted in our commitment to clean, high-quality ingredients. We’ll also focus on global distribution, bringing Donna’s Recipe to more cousins worldwide and building deeper connections through educational campaigns and community events. Our mission to mentor and empower individuals on their healthy hair journeys will remain at the heart of everything we do.