Monique Rodriguez has loved all things beauty and hair care since she was a young girl. But if you’d asked her back then if she ever thought she’d be the CEO of a global beauty brand found in more than 100,000 stores across the United States, she probably wouldn’t have believed you. But today, as the founder and CEO of Mielle Organics, she’s managed to do exactly that. And with nearly 945,000 followers on Instagram, she’s showing no signs of slowing down. We spoke exclusively with Monique Rodriguez on how she turned her dream into a very successful reality.
“The notion of you can’t be what you can’t see was very real for me,” Rodriguez said. “I didn’t see entrepreneurs growing up. I saw women who went to work every day to take care of their families.”
Growing up, Rodriguez thought the only way to get into the beauty industry was as a model. So she set her sights on posing for the side of a perm box. “I never got picked. But now I realize that it wasn’t my purpose. God had a bigger plan for me,” she laughs.
Rodriguez followed her mother into a career in nursing. But she quickly realized that profession wasn’t her passion. “I didn’t feel like I had a creative outlet. I wore the same scrubs every day. I couldn’t really do my hair because I had to wear a surgical cap. It was very boring,” she said.
Rodriguez eventually turned to social media to talk about hair care and quickly developed a community of women who shared her passion. She made products in her kitchen and shared the recipes with her followers. And when she found a chemist to help her launch her first product, Mielle Organics was born.
Rodriguez says she created her products in response to a lack of relatability and education in the marketplace. “I knew there were a lot of products out there. And I felt these brands were making products for a one-size fits all approach,” she said. But one thing she knew for sure is that all textured hair is not created equally. And in order to find the right products, you need to understand your hair type and texture, your hair goals and even what environmental factors come into play.
As someone who truly understood the natural hair journey, Rodriguez believed she could help product junkies find their way. “When I figured out how to master and work with my own hair texture, I felt that was the missing link. I tapped into the emotional part of natural hair whereas other brands couldn’t,” she said. It also doesn’t hurt that she has gorgeous hair.
Another thing that makes Mielle Organics stand out in a crowded hair product market is their focus on healthy hair and scalp. Along with products that keep your curls poppin’, scalp treatments, oils and vitamins are important to the brand. “The scalp is the foundation of healthy hair. I just wanted to start my brand by focusing on the hair as an inside-out approach,” Rodriguez says. “If your scalp is suffocated with dirt and product build-up, that can inhibit hair growth and cause skin conditions like eczema or psoriasis. If you’re not cleansing your scalp, it’s kind of like not taking a bath. You can’t have healthy hair without a healthy foundation.”
Looking ahead, Rodriguez says she’d like to apply the same systematic approach she’s used with hair care to tap into other categories, including skin and body products. “To this day, the community is our foundation. We’re rooted in culture and overserving our community with excellence,” she said.