Small Businesses That Inspire Us: Adwoa Beauty

Messenger is excited to spotlight another inspiring Black small business that you can support this month and beyond. Adwoa Beauty (ahh – ju-wah), a gender neutral, non- toxic beauty brand catering to multi-cultural hair textures.

Based out of Dallas, Texas, Adwoa Beauty takes its moniker from founder Julian Addo’s traditional name. Arriving in Staten Island at 2 ½  years old from Liberia, an ambitious Julian convinced her parents to let her become a hairstylist at the age of 14. She did all her friends’ hair and followed that passion towards building her own product when she noticed an imbalance in the beauty industry. 

“In my years of experience I saw that Black consumers were left out of the beauty industry,” says Julian. Julian also wanted to build a brand that didn’t skew to a particular gender. In pursuing this notion of gender-neutral inclusivity, Julian found a niche for Adwoa Beauty in the marketplace. 

This inclusive ethos extends beyond Adwoa Beauty’s products and translates to the company’s active role in both the local Dallas community and the Black community as a whole. “We gave to the Minnesota Freedom Fund last year during the height of the George Floyd Protests,” says Julian. “We also created ‘I voted’ stickers, and we are very proud of the work we’ve been able to do in mobilizing Black voters in the 2020 voting season.”

In addition to mobilizing the community around important causes, Julian places value in connection and transparency with Adwoa’s customers. Messenger helps Adwoa Beauty connect one on one with its customers  and answer questions on a regular basis. “We established our business in 2017 and created a Facebook page, so we’ve been using the Messenger tool since then. As an entrepreneur, I’ll [also] often share my journey on Instagram of how our brand became successful,” says Julian. “I pride myself on being able to connect with my community.” 

Check out Adwoa Beauty on Facebook or Instagram, and give them a shout on Messenger to show support. You can also learn more about Adwoa Beauty and other amazing small businesses through Facebook Elevate, a community and learning platform to accelerate the growth of Black and Latinx & Hispanic businesses.