How Karen Mitchell Turned a Side Hustle Into an Eight-Figure Hair Empire
From Rihanna to Demi Moore, Lizzo, and even Beyoncé, Hollywood’s biggest stars have turned to True Hair Company for luxury hair extensions and wigs.
Alex.Haynes
From Rihanna to Demi Moore, Lizzo, and even Beyoncé, Hollywood’s biggest stars have turned to True Hair Company for luxury hair extensions and wigs. But behind the glam is Karen Mitchell, a Jamaican-born, Brooklyn-bred entrepreneur who transformed a side hustle into an eight-figure business that’s redefining the Black hair industry.
The company not only supplies hair pieces for A-list celebrities, but also provides professional women, businesswomen, and the everyday fabulous woman with premium hair units and pieces, giving them the confidence they need to walk into any room while building their businesses and careers.
New York (@trueindianhair)Mitchell, a noted hair extension expert, launched True Indian Hair, the product brand under the umbrella of True Hair Company, after noticing a lack of diversity in ownership within the billion-dollar Black haircare industry. Coupled with her passion for hair and beauty, she embarked on a mission more than two decades ago to provide career women with high-quality extensions and wigs.
“I started True Hair Co/True Indian Hair in 2004 as a side hustle while working my 9-to-5,” she told BLACK ENTERPRISE. Initially, it was “just something to make extra money for my social activities,” she said. However, she realized that selling imported Indian hair to friends and family was a lucrative business that eventually mirrored the $60,000 yearly salary she earned as a production coordinator in the fashion industry.
“So, when I got laid off from my 9-to-5 in 2006 and was unable to find another job, I decided to gamble on myself and open a store,” she said.
With just $15,000 in savings, she cashed in her 401(k) retirement fund and used loans from family and friends to open the first official True Hair Company store in Brooklyn, New York, in 2007.
“It was the scariest decision of my adult life because I had no business knowledge outside of college economics classes. But I felt I had no other option.”
Mitchell’s lack of financing and experience as a full-time entrepreneur presented a new set of challenges, forcing her to survive on canned soup for months. She realized that stocking a hair store with bundles, closures, frontals, and wigs, along with purchasing stock goods for online orders, required hundreds of thousands of dollars in upfront costs. “I didn’t have the funding for that,” she said.
“The first two years, my store stock was pretty weak,” she admits. At the time, “there was no other hair store in Brooklyn selling raw Indian hair, and everyone wanted some True Indian Hair. So, there was a huge demand for my product and customers were willing to wait,” she explained. The high demand forced her to learn what she calls “the flipping game” quickly.
“I would sell and use the profits to buy twice the amount of the last order, and then three times the amount, and so on. Eventually, the positive cash flow flowed enough from flipping bundles to fully stocking my store.”
Today, True Hair Company has become an eight-figure business, providing clientele with luxurious hair ethically sourced directly from donors in India. In addition to the original brick-and-mortar in Flatbush, Brooklyn, Mitchell also runs a 3,000 sq. ft, multi-level flagship store in the heart of Manhattan as well as a successful e-commerce website.
“True Indian Hair was one of those side hustles that evolved beyond a hustle into a real business. It wasn’t planned, but once I saw the trajectory. I knew I had something special to offer,” she said.
Beyond business success, Mitchell founded the nonprofit True Strength, which provides monthly hair and beauty makeovers to women who have experienced hair loss due to cancer-related treatments.
Mitchell and her team intend to expand within the next couple of years to other markets, including Atlanta and New Jersey. Her long-term goals include franchising, launching a new haircare product line, and opening locations in Houston, Miami, Washington, Washington, D.C., and London.
In an interview, the hair mogul shared insights about her journey, building her celebrity clientele, and strategies for those looking to launch or expand a business.
BE: Where does your entrepreneurial spirit stem from?
I have always had an entrepreneurial mindset since I was in high school and college. From selling Avon to selling bracelets out of catalogues, I just had a thing for business. My long-term goal was to open a hair salon.
I think my entrepreneurial mindset comes from my mom, who sold commodities in Jamaica for a living. Also, my first job out of college was for a fashion company led by a woman. I stayed with that company for 10 years and, looking back, I now see how my boss influenced me as a woman in business.
BE: What makes True Hair Company different from other hair extension and wig companies?
We set our company apart by primarily focusing on ethically sourced raw Indian hair for our hair bundles and wigs. We have partnered with our factory in India and have our own team on hand in the factory to select only the best premium raw hair for our production. The quality control continues to our NYC hub where every piece of hair is rewashed to ensure there are no tangles or visible hair issues before it is sold to customers. Because of this, we have a less than 3% return or complaint rate. I think being a woman who actually wears my products has been a great asset. I look at every piece of hair as if it’s going into my head. I’m not only the owner; I’m also a client.
BE: How did you build and maintain relationships with celebrity clients?
We have been blessed to have an amazing list of celebrity stylist and brands who trust our products for their clients. Normally, they will reach out to us with their specific needs. Yusef, who styles Rihanna, to Tokyo Stylez, who styles Cardi B, to Hairassasin, who styles JT, to Tym Wallace who styles Mary J. Blige and Taraji P. Henson, to Chis Appleton, who styles Kim Kardashian, and [celebrity hair stylist] Q Hardy, who has trusted our products from day one. This includes working with fashion brands such as LaQuan Smith for NYFW. They love and trust our quality, and we nurture those relationships.
BE: What tips would you share with entrepreneurs struggling to generate revenue and build their business?
- Access to information for funding is easier now than it was when I started my journey almost 20 years ago. Small Business Loans (SML) are available for businesses to borrow for startup or reinvestment. There are also grants available for startups. I find that we sometimes do not do enough research in our communities. Information will not come to you. You have to seek it out. Start with Google. Visit your local chamber of commerce. They are there to serve you.
- Find a mentor to guide you and be a sounding board, but do so only after you have done your own research and can communicate your wants or needs. No one wants to help someone who doesn’t want to help themselves.
- Before starting a business, an entrepreneur must know who their target audience is in order to know who to market to. Today, digital marketing is huge, and the best free digital marketing is social media. Use it to your advantage. You have to know your audience and engage your audience with content that not only appeals to them but drives them to buy.
- Build relationships with your customers to create trust and repeat buyers.
- Hire strategically. Your team has to add value to your company.
- Lastly, cut unnecessary expenses that are not contributing to the growth of your business.
