Building Your Brand Brick by Brick with Highbrow Hippie’s Kadi Lee

Summary

Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan: Building Your Brand Brick by Brick with Highbrow Hippie’s Kadi Lee

Hosted by Lemonada Media | Released on April 22, 2025

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Introduction

In the latest episode of Confessions of a Female Founder, host Megan engages in an inspiring conversation with Kadi Lee, the co-owner of Highbrow Hippie, a thriving hair salon based in Venice, California. This episode delves deep into Kadi’s entrepreneurial journey, highlighting the challenges, triumphs, and the meticulous process of building a brand from the ground up.

Early Beginnings and Education

Kadi Lee’s path to entrepreneurship began with her passion for hair care, nurtured from a young age. Growing up in Connecticut as one of the few Black children in her school system, Kadi taught herself to manage her hair texture, experimenting with various styles long before the advent of the World Wide Web provided easy access to tutorials.

• [20:56] Katie Lee: "I've always been very self-sufficient, handling and figuring things out on my own."

Her educational journey took her to Spelman College, a pivotal experience that fostered her confidence and provided a supportive environment among intelligent, beautiful Black women. This foundation was critical in shaping her entrepreneurial spirit.

• [18:59] Katie Lee: "Spelman was a really special, safe space for me because I'd never been around so many smart, beautiful black women before."

Launching Highbrow Hippie

After completing her studies, Kadi moved to New York City to attend beauty school at Aveda. Her talent and dedication quickly propelled her to work with industry leaders like Serge Normont and Frederick Fauci. However, a desire for a more serene and personalized salon experience motivated Kadi to transition to California.

• [24:15] Katie Lee: "I love art, and it always felt like, okay, this is a canvas. It felt really freeing to me."

In collaboration with her long-time friend and business partner, Micah, Kadi founded Highbrow Hippie. The salon was conceived as a tranquil space that diverged from the typical loud and bustling salon environment, prioritizing peace and a regulated atmosphere.

• [28:16] Katie Lee: "We wanted to create a physical space that feels good when you're in it, that actually regulates your nervous system."

Navigating the Pandemic and Building Community

The COVID-19 pandemic posed significant challenges for Highbrow Hippie, forcing the salon to close temporarily. During this period, Kadi and Micah adapted by offering home color kits, which not only sustained the business financially but also strengthened their relationship with clients.

• [09:12] Katie Lee: "We did enough sales in just a few months to pay our rent on time and make sure our team had some sort of money coming towards them."

Understanding the heightened social tensions during the pandemic, Kadi initiated Patio Chats, open discussions on race, feminism, and intersectionality. These conversations fostered a sense of community and positioned Highbrow Hippie as more than just a salon, but a hub for meaningful dialogue.

• [13:12] Katie Lee: "We wanted to really dive into how things affect you if they don't directly affect you."

Expansion into Product Lines

Recognizing a gap in the market for hair health and wellness products, especially those created by salon experts, Kadi and Micah expanded Highbrow Hippie into product development. Their focus shifted to creating products that promote hair health, responding to a growing trend of stress-related hair issues exacerbated by the pandemic.

• [35:27] Katie Lee: "We knew that if we were going to launch a product, it just became really clear that it had to be about hair health and wellness."

Their dedication paid off when their product line, including a hair supplement and hair serum, received acclaim, with the serum being named Best Hair Serum by Oprah Daily.

Securing Funding and Growth

Despite the notorious challenges Black women face in securing venture capital, Kadi proactively sought education and support through accelerator programs like Dream Ventures. Her relentless pursuit of knowledge and strategic planning culminated in winning top honors in her accelerator program, providing the necessary funding to scale her product line.

• [37:07] Katie Lee: "I knew it might be an uphill battle, so I needed to have the knowledge to execute this."

This achievement not only validated her business model but also highlighted the importance of community support and fiscal responsibility in entrepreneurial success.

Maintaining Values and Future Aspirations

Central to Highbrow Hippie’s success is its unwavering commitment to excellence and a strong value system. Kadi emphasizes the importance of building a brand brick by brick, staying true to core morals, and fostering a supportive team environment.

• [03:12] Katie Lee: "This was all brick by brick. But we always just stuck to our vision of excellence."

Looking ahead, Kadi envisions expanding her horizons beyond Highbrow Hippie, aspiring to return to her English major roots, possibly writing, and exploring life in different countries. Her forward-thinking approach ensures that Highbrow Hippie remains a dynamic and evolving brand.

• [43:17] Katie Lee: "I want to kind of go back to my English major roots. I want to get some writing done."

Key Takeaways and Insights

• Community Building: Kadi’s approach to fostering a strong community through open dialogues and personalized services underscores the importance of authentic connections in business.

• Adaptability: Navigating the pandemic by pivoting to home color kits and launching product lines demonstrates resilience and adaptability in the face of unforeseen challenges.

• Commitment to Excellence: Maintaining high standards and a strong value system has been pivotal in Highbrow Hippie’s growth and reputation.

• Strategic Growth: Kadi’s proactive engagement in accelerator programs and strategic funding approaches highlight the importance of continuous learning and smart financial planning.

• Future Vision: Balancing current success with future aspirations ensures sustained growth and personal fulfillment.

Conclusion

Kadi Lee’s journey with Highbrow Hippie is a testament to the power of perseverance, community, and unwavering commitment to one’s vision. Her story serves as an inspiration to aspiring female entrepreneurs, showcasing that building a brand brick by brick leads to remarkable success and meaningful impact.

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Note: This summary excludes advertisements, intros, outros, and non-content sections to focus solely on the substantive discussions and insights shared during the episode.

Transcript

[Megan]

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[Katie Lee]

Lemonada. I think about what I knew back then, which was absolutely nothing about color and like, the gall that I had to like, be like, yeah, I'm going to be a colorist. And the first day showing up and them handing me my shampoo apron.

[Megan]

I'm Megan and this is Confessions of a Female Founder, a show where I chat with female entrepreneurs and friends about the sleepless nights, the lessons learned.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Ooh.

[Megan]

And the laser focus that got them to where they are today.

[Katie Lee]

No time to get down Cause I'm moving up no time to get down? Cause I'm moving up? No time to get down? Cause I'm moving up.

[Megan]

Okay, real talk. Running a business is a lot. Building something new is a long road of making decisions in the dark and then holding this vision in your head when no one else can even see it yet it can be slow it can be scrappy. It can be exhausting.

[Unnamed Speaker]

It's a process.

[Megan]

And there's no roadmap. There's no manual. And if you knew how hard it would get, you might hesitate to start at all. But that initial bravado, that initial going in like, I've got this, maybe it's essential.

[Katie Lee]

I feel really lucky. But I also know that I created that luck because none of this was overnight. You know, this was all brick by brick.

[Megan]

And for today's guest, brick by brick is literal. Katie Lee is the co owner of the hair salon Highbrow Hippie in Venice, California.

[Unnamed Speaker]

She's also a go to colorist for.

[Megan]

A lot of names you'd be familiar with. And she's recently launched a product line that sold out not once, but twice. Look, it's clear that Highbrow Hippie is on a serious roll. And I wanted to talk to Katie, who's also a dear friend, about what it's like to continually iterate and build on your brand. Her business started as a blog, then she opened a brick and mortar, and now she's selling products that people can't get enough of. Let's get into her story.

[Unnamed Speaker]

There she is.

[Katie Lee]

Hi.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Disregard the state of my hair right now. I'm so excited I'm seeing you next week. I should have a baseball cap on, really. I mean, there's a lot going on, my friend.

[Katie Lee]

Mm.

[Unnamed Speaker]

A lot indeed. But all good stuff. And even more the reason that it's exciting to talk to other female founders right now about their journey, their experience, their all the twists and turns that come with the choice to be a female entrepreneur and especially one of color and what that means.

[Megan]

So let's start when we first met.

[Unnamed Speaker]

What year was that?

[Katie Lee]

Oh, it was 2020.

[Unnamed Speaker]

It was 2020. It was very much.

[Katie Lee]

It was very much 20, 20, 20. But as all good things, a lot of good things in my life, the origin starts with Serge Normont.

[Megan]

Oh, does it ever. Serge. Serge Normont, leading hairstylist in the industry. And you know him because you worked at his salon in la Way back, man. He and I became friends after he did my hair for my wedding. So my family had just moved to California. We were staying in our friend's home.

[Unnamed Speaker]

And because it was the pandemic, I kept ordering boxed hair dye. And I thought, I'm gonna look just like she does on the box. And instead it was this very inky, almost Elvira esque black hair. And I had texted Sergeant and he said, you need to see Katie, and you came over we were masked and all the thing. I mean, it was such an interesting time, but I remember that day so well.

[Katie Lee]

It's so vivid in my memory too. You know, so much was happening that day with LA in general and the city and the protests and I mean, I remember meeting you guys and A, you were so warm and both you and H, like wrapped us up in these big bear hugs and I was like, I don't even know these people and I'm not a hugger, but let's do it, you know, because I think everyone was just so. Just needed like this exhale of okay, like it's going to be okay. But what now?

[Unnamed Speaker]

Well, cause for people who don't remember, this is at the height of George Floyd and just so much unrest and as we met. And I also hadn't realized until I was doing my research I'd known you had your salon, but I didn't know that you had just opened it, what, eight or nine months before that, that we had met. I mean that. What was that experience like to have opened it, to feel like you finally gotten there and then things really come to a full stop.

[Katie Lee]

It felt like such whiplash and it felt like, gosh, we cannot get a break, you know.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Oh, I understand.

[Katie Lee]

Yeah. We just said, you know, what else do we have to do? And it felt like we had just conquered this big mountain. My co founder and I, Micah and I just remember when we'd made the decision to close, when it just started feeling so unsafe. I mean, I literally am in a touch point business, you know, like I'm in very close contact with people and I just remember feeling scared for my own, obviously health and safety. But then just the numbers running through my mind of rent and my team, how are they going to pay their bills? And then my clients, like, will they still be here when we, you know, if and when we reopen and when, when is that gonna be? And it just felt like we were entering the unknown and it was really frightening. I mean, there's a photo that a team member took of me was just starting to happen and my head is just literally in my hands.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Oh.

[Katie Lee]

And yeah, it's. And I, my heart breaks when I look at it because it just, I think is every founder who has just poured their everything into launching something and then being like, not really sure what's next. Yeah. So it was though it was a low time about, I want to say two months had then gone by before I met you. So in that two month period we had, like we always do because we figure things out, especially as black women. We had been mixing home color kits for clients. I mean, I was going around. My clients called me the Florence Nightingale of hair color, because I'm going around in my car in, like, a full hazmat suit, throwing hair color over their fences or leaving at their door at nighttime and just scurrying away like a little mat. And. But we did enough sales in just a few months to pay our rent on time.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Wow.

[Katie Lee]

Make sure our team had some sort of money coming towards them. I had a few clients who asked how they could help. Some paid for their services a year in advance so that I could write a check to every team member. So all of this happened. It was incredible.

[Unnamed Speaker]

But also what's incredible about that is it speaks to everything that I think is the ethos of what you've built, the salon and the brand off of which is community.

[Katie Lee]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Right. So for you, you had already invested so much in the relationships that people were going to show up for you in the same way that you've showed up for them. And I remember as well you saying, when the salon was going to reopen, how were you going to address these big conversations and topics?

[Katie Lee]

Yeah, that was. I mean, it's obvious. I am a black woman, and most of my clients. Many of my clients are not. And then there's this conversation that's taking place in the world at large that is not taking place in real time in the salon. And now we have to come together again and talk about that big elephant in the room. And as we geared to reopen, I had clients calling, texting, emailing, in tears, wanting. I think they were. A lot of them were dealing with feelings they'd never felt before, thoughts that they never had to think about before, whether that be guilt, whether it be just, wow. I've never had to really step back and say that Katie's existence may be very different than mine. And now here I'm asking her to take care of me once again when really we should be taking care of her.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Wow.

[Katie Lee]

Yeah, I guess.

[Unnamed Speaker]

How did that make you. How did that make you feel? I mean, what was coming up for you? Every day must have felt different.

[Katie Lee]

You know, my body was steeling itself for heaviness. We worked for, like, 42 days straight. No days off. That's how booked we were when we reopened.

[Megan]

Whoa.

[Katie Lee]

Yeah. So imagine just the physical tol.

[Unnamed Speaker]

But the emotional toll of 42 days straight of a lot of feelings.

[Katie Lee]

Yeah. You know, it was hard. I definitely felt that was probably one of the Loneliest periods of my life at the time I was single. So then coming home felt like a relief. But then also like, what now?

[Unnamed Speaker]

Are you saying you're not single now? Have I missed something in the past couple weeks? What's happening?

[Katie Lee]

Can we stay focused, please?

[Unnamed Speaker]

Okay, well, you just said it. I was like, oh, my. Okay, perhaps stay on track. Perhaps we'll save this for a glass of. A glass of wine on Sunday after all this.

[Katie Lee]

Yeah, I mean, by the way, lots of wine consumption during that time. True fact, you know, just sitting down with a glass, trying to let each day go, leaving it in the past. And, you know, you're actually touching people. So it's like an energy exchange. And, you know, everyone knows I'm like the least woo woo person out there, but after that period, I really believe in it because I would go home some days and be completely and utterly depleted, you know, and other days people really tried to pour back into me. So it just was like this big opening, I think, for everybody. And then Micah and I had the, I don't know if it was grand or silly at the time, idea to have these patio chats. Because the patio is really the center of our Venice atelier at Highbrow Hippie. And, you know, it's where services are performed, clients can lounge out there. And the patio was so off limits. And when we were closed that before we reopened, we decided to go on Instagram live and have a patio chat about race in America.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Okay, well, so you've always been fearless and just getting right to the point, my Leo sister.

[Katie Lee]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Okay, so how did those go?

[Katie Lee]

You know, for us, it felt great. For us, it was a release throwing another Leo into the mix. So is my business partner. She's a Leo. So we don't know how to do things halfway. Like we are doing them with our full heart and our full heads, you know, and really talking about subjects that we were never afraid to talk about, you know, within our own community or within our own safe spaces. But it was also in continuation of this conversation that we had started on MLK Day before the pandemic happened, we decided to have a salon chat, in a true sense of the word, because we always saw highbrow hippie as a real salon, an old school salon where ideas were exchanged, et cetera. And it was always going to be a safe space of an exchange of ideas. So we decided before the pandemic happened that we are going to talk about race and feminism and intersectionality. And we invited clients of all walks of life. I mean every religion, every color, and everyone sat next to someone they didn't know and we just went for it. We wanted to really dive into are you looking at how things affect you if they don't directly affect you? We had probably one of the most emotional dinners I've been a part of.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Wow.

[Katie Lee]

And people still to this day talk about that Patio Chat. So that was the original Patio Chat. And then George Floyd happened and the pandemic happened and we're like, okay, I guess this is going virtual to the point where we ended up having a reunion online the next MLK day of the original Patio Chat invitees. And everyone was in tears, couldn't believe it that they were like, you guys were talking about this stuff way before anyone else was.

[Megan]

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[Unnamed Speaker]

It's interesting because you started your company first as a blog, which I didn't know.

[Katie Lee]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

So then it was really a means to connect in a way that was virtual, but to create community. And then the evolution of brick and mortar. But how did you and Micah decide to do that first?

[Katie Lee]

Gosh. I mean, so we've known each other now. Cannot believe it. Going on almost 30 years.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Wow. Met at Spelman.

[Katie Lee]

Met at Spelman College. Micah was an outgoing senior. I was a freshman. We worked in the same store at BCBG in Lenox Mall in Atlanta.

[Unnamed Speaker]

I used to work at Bebe. That sparkly Bebe shirt. It was that time.

[Katie Lee]

And honestly, Atlanta, late 90s, early 2000s, like, we were having the time. I mean, it was. We had so much fun. Spelman is obviously a very special place. I was born in Jamaica and then immigrated to Connecticut when I was around 11. Micah is born and raised in Atlanta. So we have very different backgrounds. But when you get to Spelman, at the time, it was a really special, safe space for me because I'd never been around so many smart, beautiful black women before. And to spend four years out of your life not having to worry about being judged for anything else but just your pure merit was the most freeing place on the planet. I mean, plus we were fly. Plus we were cute. Like, you know, like, it was just like. I mean, you couldn't tell us anything. We had the time.

[Unnamed Speaker]

You had it going on.

[Katie Lee]

We just had a great time. And people often think because it's, you know, an hbcu, all black women that, you know, oh, is that, like, the only people that you guys spend your time with? But weirdly enough, we all came from, like, private white high schools. And the fact that I went to Spelman and now, you know, known for, like, my blonde highlights is, like, no one's even surprised.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Well, and especially because you were doing hair at 11 is when you realize in Connecticut, there weren't a lot of people there that could do your hair, the texture of hair. So you started experimenting on your own. I can't imagine what that was like. It kind of reminds me of when I was at Northwestern and I moved into Kappa, our sorority there. I don't even think they made plug in flat irons at the time. They couldn't. If they did, I didn't know where they were because I had the little stove with the. With the flatiron that would go in, have a paper towel on the side. I mean, there's probably half the people listening to this going, what is she talking about? Or you'd pull it out. We'd have the little scorch marks. And I remember most of the girls in the sorority who were not black say, what's that smell? Is hair burning? And it was just what you would do to figure out how to grapple with this texture of hair. Were you using things like that back then or is that what you were doing in college?

[Katie Lee]

College was like when we entered, like the Flatiron era, but when I was in Connecticut, oh my gosh, my mom a did not have a lot of time to help me with any of this. So, you know, she's a housekeeper, still is, and was just busy trying to keep us afloat. So I was really. I've always been very self sufficient left to handle and figure things out on my own. So whether it be putting my hair in braids or, you know, just learning my texture. And I experimented with everything. I've worn my hair in every single hairstyle you could ever imagine on the planet.

[Unnamed Speaker]

But also, this is before, I mean, U11 in Connecticut. This is before the World Wide Web. It's not like you were googling different ways to do your hair and your hair texture. Where were you finding inspiration for that?

[Katie Lee]

Well, there was a town next. I grew up in Westport, Connecticut, which anyone is familiar with. Connecticut is like, wow, is there an.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Immigrant community there at all?

[Katie Lee]

Not really.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Not really, No.

[Katie Lee]

I mean, my brother and I were two of maybe for black children in the entire school system, so. And then immigrants, like, we were it. That was it. But quickly, obviously lost the accents and, you know, now I sound like a freaking Connecticut newscaster. But when I'm back in Jamaica, I'm back, you know, like, there was a town next to Westport called Norwalk that had a bit more of a diverse community. And I started working as, you know, soon as I could have an after school job. And I met a few girls that lived in Norwalk and then discovered there was a salon there that had these hairdressers that knew how to do my hair. So I think just learning just by watching. But I never thought it would be a career. Like, I got this. Spelman had fun doing it, like just playing with hair and then realized that I could, like make money doing it. It became like the side hustle in the dorm. And I mean, to this day, my friends from Spelman will comment on some photos that I'll post on Instagram and be like, we cannot believe this is your job. Because, like, you know, like, you literally used to go to the pharmacy and just do color on us. And, you know, they just. They think it's the wildest, greatest, you know, manifestation of just your natural talent. I just always knew how to do it.

[Unnamed Speaker]

What did you think you were going to end up doing professionally?

[Katie Lee]

I mean, I was an English major, so I maybe wanted to be a writer. I worked in PR briefly. I didn't know what I wanted to do. I lost my job after the soft recession of 2000, when people were just getting laid off left and right. After I was done with Spelman, and I ended up back at my mom's house in Connecticut. And, you know, like all good Jamaican mothers, she's like, well, you're not staying here.

[Unnamed Speaker]

So she's like, what's the plan?

[Katie Lee]

Yeah, literally figure something out. And so my mom had this friend, Ms. Lindsey, who used to take care of us, this older Jamaican woman who immigrated to Connecticut and was like a janitor in our school system. And Ms. Lindsay took money that she had saved, and she gave it to me for my train fare to go to New York City and enroll in beauty school.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Oh, wow.

[Katie Lee]

So I started beauty school in New York, and I was at Aveda, and the minute I started, I just knew I was where I should be. It felt like home. It felt completely natural. I could do it with my eyes closed.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Did you ever think that you would start your own business? Did you think you would have a chair at a salon? Was that the ultimate goal? Or did you always feel entrepreneurial and what you were really sort of striving.

[Katie Lee]

For at that point? Not entrepreneurial. There was a job fair, and all the top salons came to recruit. And one of the salons was Frederick Fakai, which at the time, in, you know, early 2000s was the salon. And I remember being like, oh, great. Amazing. I'll just be a colorist at Faki, you know, not really realizing that they'll hire anyone to be an assistant or to shampoo, but, like, you're not a colorist right away. Like, you don't. I think about what I knew back then, which was absolutely nothing about color, and, like, the gall that I had to, like, be like, yeah, I'm gonna be a colorist. And the first day showing up and them handing me my shampoo apron and, like, you making your, like, $4 an hour, and. But for color, it was. You know, I always painted. I loved art, and it always felt like, okay, this is a canvas. And it felt really freeing to me. And I just I loved every bit of it. And not ever thinking that there would be a roadblock because I was black, because there weren't any black colorists. But it never even crossed my mind that it would be an issue.

[Unnamed Speaker]

When did it start to cross your mind?

[Katie Lee]

Then when I showed up at Frederick Faki and saw that there were no black people that were actually colorists there. There were a couple of black assistants. And I was like, well, does anyone ever get promoted to be a colorist? And they were like, maybe then you start really doing some research in the industry. And you're like, it actually just doesn't exist. But I don't know if I was going through life naively. I just never think until this day, I still think that anything is off limits for me. Like, that's what I feel like doing. Great. I'm gonna do it. And I knew obviously that I had the artistic ability. I knew that I had the intelligence. But when you realize and get into the real world that, like, there is no one else that looks like you, you're like, huh.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Did it ever create any anxiety for you, though?

[Katie Lee]

Yeah, that anxiety was there. But I had such wonderful mentors, you know, the color director, Constance Hartnett, her and I really. Yeah, we bonded. And I think she never saw, you know, me as, like, a black colorist. I was just like, her amazing assistant, you know, who showed up every day, never missed a day of work, and had the talent. So she was appalled when I told her I wanted to transfer to Californ, because in her mind, like, New York was just it. And you know, her. Her clients were just, like, the most sophisticated women on the planet. We're talking like, Nan Kempner and Sigourney Weaver and this, you know, Meryl and all these women that I'm learning literally how to do color corrections on. And I just, one day was like, I'm cold and I want to live in sunny California. And Frederick Py had, like, an outpost there. And. And I was like, to Cali, I.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Go, I love that. You were just like, I'm cold. This doesn't work for me anymore.

[Katie Lee]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

So you go to the LA salon, you obviously start working up in the ranks. And, I mean, a lot of that, I think, feels like it's part of your journey as a colorist. But then at what point does it shift that you say, I am going to have my own brick and mortar. I am going to open a salon and a space because I find it really interesting to go from. You've had two entrepreneurial journeys from that to then creating the brand and how different those experiences have been for you.

[Katie Lee]

Well, first I was working with Serge, our mutual friend.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yes.

[Katie Lee]

And when his LA outpost closed, I found myself wanting to only work if I couldn't find anyone as elegant as Serge. Then I had to only work for myself.

[Unnamed Speaker]

That's such a beautiful compliment. That's so sweet.

[Katie Lee]

Yeah. And the answer was there wasn't anyone as elegant as Serge. And as the time was ticking by, it just became clearer that there was a need for. It was a huge white space in just how people approached the salon experience and how they had become something that was honestly untenable for me to work in.

[Unnamed Speaker]

In what way?

[Katie Lee]

Too big? Too loud? I don't know. I don't know if you find the older you get, I just need quiet. I need peace and quiet. And like you, peace and quiet does not really equate to a salon environment. So we started with, with that as our driver of how could we create a physical space that feels good when you're in it, that actually, you know, regulates your nervous system instead of having you like be completely hopped up on overdrive when you're walking out. Could the music be better? Could the just approach to the business be better? And that's where we started from and, and I think we really just hit it on the nail when we opened Highbrow Hippie. I can like confidently say there was nothing like it in the country.

[Megan]

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[Unnamed Speaker]

The name highbrow hippie, which I love. We love. I know the origin, but for people who don't. Can you share that?

[Katie Lee]

Yeah. I mean, Micah and I were chatting one day, and we were like, what would it be? And she had a boyfriend who used to call her a bourgeois bohemian. And then we were like, people will never know how to spell that. They'll butcher it. And then I was like, I love the name highbrow. And then literally at the same time, we both, like, screamed out, highbrow hippie hippie. And it's just we've had the name for so long, same thing, Kept it under wraps. Like, it felt like this, like, big secret that we had that, like, we just knew was going to be our future. And we're talking 2009, 2008.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Oh, my gosh. But you knew.

[Katie Lee]

We just knew.

[Unnamed Speaker]

You knew. And also the alliteration is so good. And it's a perfect barefoot chic. All the things that you are. So I love that. And also to be working on something quietly.

[Katie Lee]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Had secured as ever as a name in 2022. And then as everything started to evolve last year and bringing in a partner.

[Megan]

The size that it was.

[Unnamed Speaker]

And it was just so interesting because you remember I said, I like American Riviera as an umbrella.

[Katie Lee]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

And then to be able to have verticals beneath it and maybe have the orchard really small, but when that's not feasible, suddenly became this word salad. I didn't love that so much. He said, okay, well, let's go back to the thing that I've always loved. Let's use the name that I had protected. That had been sort of under wraps. And then we were able to focus in the quiet and put our heads down and build on something that no one was sniffing around to even see about. It was just really, really helpful to.

[Megan]

Have that quiet period, which you would know after spending so many years working on something, building it and the pivots that you had to take with it. Look at you now. I mean, the name Hybro Hippies. No longer just a blog and a hair salon. It's a product line, too. You have a hair supplement and a hair serum that you Just launched late last year and it's already been named best. Ha. Hair serum by Oprah Daly. How on earth did you go from getting your financing together, creating the business, having this incredible clientele, the most loyal people who've been with you from the beginning, from high profile to everything in.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Between, to then saying, in the midst of still being a startup in those.

[Megan]

First five years, we're gonna start something else too.

[Katie Lee]

Yeah, we always sell highbrow hippie as like this multi dimensional thing. I mean, we never put like any sort of box around what highbrow hippie could. So when the brick and mortar was built, it really was just supposed to be the landing spot for the community. Because people often launch a product and then try to have the community come to them. We were like, we've got this, like, gold mine of women who are just like the best women on the planet and who have all built incredible businesses or run incredible businesses or are running or are starting or. It's just this collective power of a lot of positivity. But really the record speaks for itself. You know, we have Lela Becker, who founded and built Mother Denim. I've got Kristen Davis, who actually just had a birthday yesterday.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Oh, she did?

[Katie Lee]

Yeah, she did.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Happy birthday. I will. And Julia. And Julia, who's like, championed you for so long. Julia Roberts.

[Katie Lee]

Yes. I feel really lucky. So we knew that we could create any sort of product because we had this community already. And. And when it was time to create the product, we took the downtime that kind of came with some of the pandemic. And we sent out a survey to our clients and it was like, what products are you using? Hair, skin, body. What kind of services do you get? What kind of procedures do you get? You know, what do you feel comfortable spending? I mean, we asked every question. It was probably like a 200 question survey. We sent it out. No. Was so in depth. And it was just. It was being super nosy. Not everyone answered it, but we had enough of a kind of a. Yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

A little R and D. Yeah, we.

[Katie Lee]

Did a lot of R and D. And it was just to inform ourselves, this is what people are thinking. This is what people need. And at that moment in time when we sent it out was when the impact of stress started really showing on people's hair. And so we knew that if we were going to launch a product, it just became really clear that it had to be about hair health and wellness. We've always included wellness. Literally. Our tagline from the very beginning of the blog was beauty, wellness, and conscious living. And we knew the product had to encompass all three of those things, which is why we were very quickly able to hone in on our growth serum and our wellbeing supplement. And then we worked on it for years.

[Unnamed Speaker]

But that, I mean, for years, because I remember for years because to go from what would be the natural and perhaps more obvious choice is people would say, great, you have a hair salon, so you're gonna make shampoo and conditioner.

[Katie Lee]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

And that's what it's gonna start with and that's what it will evolve into. Which I would also guess from an investor standpoint, it might feel like a safer bet, even if it's really saturated in the market. So what was it like for you when. When you guys were really sort of creating this business plan and ideating on the idea of something that is not perhaps most typical, but based on your own focus group from your clientele, you were able to really have a proof point and say, we know that there is a hole in the market for this. We can fulfill it in this way holistically. But that still feels like a gamble.

[Katie Lee]

You know, I guess it didn't feel like a gamble to me because I, I joined an accelerator program at the beginning of, oh gosh, I guess last year because I a raising money. I mean, we're talking about a whole world that I knew absolutely nothing about. And I think that especially knowing the numbers out there for how little black women raise, whether it be VC or. I mean it's. The number is so small, it actually is abysmal.

[Unnamed Speaker]

I don't know if it's shifted since last year, but, but 2% for just women from venture capital raise and what is it, 0,34,35% for women of color. Yeah, you're right. It is abysmal. It is a shockingly low number of investment that goes into black female owned companies and trade.

[Katie Lee]

Yeah. So I knew that it might be an uphill battle. So if I'm going to do it, I need to actually have the knowledge that I need to be able to execute this. So with the time that I do not have, I signed up for this accelerator, which was Monday and Tuesday mornings. And I definitely asked the most questions. But you learned really quickly, like there are no stupid questions. And any opportunity I had, whether they had like the extra office hours or anything that I could get some extra time with these two women, Kelly and Annie, who are just amazing. It was called Dream Ventures. I carved it out and just asked anything, whatever they could teach me. I was like Please just tell me what to do. Because I also wanted to respect my clients time. I knew I'd probably be doing a friends and family raise because luckily I have clients with the means to be a part of a friends and family raise. And I knew that the amount that we needed could probably be accomplished in a friends and family raise.

[Unnamed Speaker]

And it was.

[Katie Lee]

And it was. Yeah. So. So you still want to be respectful of people's time and their energy and that you're taking this really seriously. But I knew we were onto something when I did the accelerator and I won.

[Unnamed Speaker]

I know you were.

[Katie Lee]

And you were.

[Unnamed Speaker]

I was gonna. I mean, you were here. What was that? A week or two afterwards you were here and I. It was just. You were glowing. You won.

[Katie Lee]

Yeah. I was the top business out of all 25. And I mean, I. Someone caught it on camera when they said my name. I just burst into tears because it is just so unlikely, you know. But in my pitch, in my pitch contest, when I said the words, the world does not need another shampoo and conditioner, literally I could have heard an amen from the crowd. Like people were over it. You know, they wanted a real solution. And then with the statistic that like 80% of women are going to experience some sort of hair loss in their lifetime.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yes.

[Katie Lee]

It also just kind of took the band aid off. People were looking around. I asked everyone to raise their hands if they'd experienced any. And everyone's kind of peeking around and then the hands are slowly going up. And it felt like they were safe to finally admit it. And. Which we knew there was a market because, you know, look at Nutrafol, they literally just sold to Unilever for a billion dollars. So there is a market for this. Never one that was created by salon experts. Sure, there were some doctor created products, physician approved products, but we had the direct connection to the consumer. And I just knew.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah. And you live and breathe hair health.

[Katie Lee]

Yes, it's always been my thing.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah. And so much of that raise came from the fact that people feel so confident in their belief about. About you and your work ethic. And I think that's a piece that is such a common thread through how you show up in the salon, how you show up in those chats that you created. It's all about really just your ethos and of course, having a really strong business partner as well. What has it been like to have a friend that's your business partner?

[Katie Lee]

You know, there are good times and bad times.

[Unnamed Speaker]

That's life.

[Katie Lee]

And that's life. Yeah. I think that our biggest strength is that her and I are always on the same page when it comes to the bigger picture. We know that we want to build a company, and we actually also know that we want to sell the company eventually. Because we both have such varied interests and curiosity about the world and life. We want to have another chapter in our lives. And because that's always been the goal, when we find ourselves having a moment of friction, we come back to the goal.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah.

[Katie Lee]

And we come back to our dedication to that goal and to each other.

[Unnamed Speaker]

And to be really aligned in that. I mean, it's great that, you know. Well, one of our other really good friends, Vicky Tsai, I think, has been a mentor for both of us, certainly in what she created with Tatcha from her parents garage to also selling to Unilever for quite a hefty sum. But the level of dedication, work ethic, and her thoughtfulness in her approach is what I think is so key. But I remember very early on when I was talking about starting a business, she had said to me, okay, well, Meg, you need a reverse engineer. Who do you want to sell to? As opposed to just thinking, I'm going to create this thing and then we're going to see what's going to happen and then, oh, I think they might be interested. No, let's reverse engineer five, ten years from now, who's going to buy this? And everything you do starts at the intention of what the ultimate goal is. So you're not task oriented, you're goal oriented. And when you have that level of business savvy right out of the gate, you're looking at it through such a different lens. So let's imagine and assume when you sell.

[Katie Lee]

Yes.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Because you will.

[Katie Lee]

Yes.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Then it will be a great day of celebration. What would you do in your next chapter?

[Katie Lee]

Oh, gosh. I want to kind of go back to my English major roots. I want to get some writing done. I'd like to live in another country, perhaps my native land of Jamaica. Maybe I'll try a stint in Europe. I'm just a really naturally curious person, and I was not blessed with kids. I'm still holding out hope I might be a stepmomer, you know, one day. But for right now, I'm just super on.

[Unnamed Speaker]

I mean, our kids love Auntie Katie. It's their favorite when they run out with their cars like Katie.

[Katie Lee]

I know. I feel like I look for them first.

[Unnamed Speaker]

You do.

[Katie Lee]

Where are the kids?

[Unnamed Speaker]

It's okay. Where are the kids? Where are the kids?

[Katie Lee]

Have the kids And I don't know, I feel like with the freedom that that gives me, I should be able to just live a completely new chapter. And, you know, perhaps it's with this new love of mine.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah, I can't with you. That's so unfair. Because we have nine minutes and all I want to do is ask about, is it the.

[Megan]

Is it the.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yes, it is.

[Katie Lee]

It is.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Okay. Okay. Okay. Well, this is very exciting. Yeah, he's very handsome. Okay. So, yeah. A different chapter where you would have gone through all of this adventure. Yeah. All of these twists and turns we haven't even touched on. What was the one hurdle that you didn't see coming? What was the one mistake that you made? That, my gosh, if you could say to someone who was doing their own grind and building their own business, do not do that. That is a no trespassing. Don't go there. There.

[Katie Lee]

I mean, listen, there are a lot of predators out there, and predator is a strong word, but there are. There's a lot of ways for entrepreneurs to really waste a lot of money and a lot of time. And we definitely had some people who bill themselves as quote, unquote experts, and we didn't need them along the way, and certainly not for the amount of money that we paid for the duration that we paid. But. But we were able to spot it and, you know, pivot from there. It's really just keeping your wits about yourself and not getting too comfortable. We also always have our bottom line in mind. We are very responsible fiscally, and the reason why we were even able to get a small business loan to put into the product company where we didn't have to raise so much money is because we were able, with our small, mighty team in our atelier during the pandemic, still managed to net well over a million dollars in profit.

[Unnamed Speaker]

That's outstanding.

[Katie Lee]

Yeah. So we were able to literally provide the numbers to the bank. And, you know, very few people also get approved for those loans. So we are able to be fiscally responsible, which then created freedom and opportunity for us.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Right. So by instilling confidence in the people that were going to invest in you, it gave you freedom, which I think as an entrepreneur, a part of it too, is you've always kept a really tight team.

[Katie Lee]

Yes.

[Unnamed Speaker]

And even when you have a cap table and you have investors, I think all the investors that you've brought on, they are so emotionally invested in you as well as financially invested in you, so you don't have people breathing down your neck, which I think can happen. Quite a bit, certainly in private equity. But you have people that either have big businesses or, or big voices or platforms that in whatever way they can help support you in this growth and in this chapter. Yes, we show up for you.

[Katie Lee]

Yes. I feel really lucky, but I also know that I created that luck.

[Unnamed Speaker]

What does that mean to you?

[Katie Lee]

Yeah, I hope it's like the one thing that our team sees that hard work can really open up a lot of opportunities in your life. Because none of this was overnight. This was all brick by brick. But because we always just stuck to our vision of excellence. I mean, every little detail that we do, even at the atelier, is so well thought out. We serve everything with a linen napkin underneath it, you know?

[Unnamed Speaker]

You sure do. Everything is beautiful.

[Katie Lee]

Yeah, everything is beautiful. Everything should be beautiful. And I just feel that if you really stick to what your core morals and like, essence is, you're never gonna lose. So I don't know. Micah and I, we always feel like, of course we're here, you know, like we, we have. We have a lot of self belief in ourselves because the world is hard enough being a black woman. So we definitely lift each other up. We lift this business up. We're not going to be ever have any negative self talk. It's, you know, it's hard enough.

[Unnamed Speaker]

I'm so proud of you.

[Katie Lee]

Oh, thanks, Meg.

[Unnamed Speaker]

It's amazing. It's just so. It's just. Honestly, it's so amazing. And I'm sure there's so many women who are listening and people just in general who are listening that feel inspired and to go. There's a certain point where even if you don't know exactly what it is from the onset, as you're discovering, what is unwavering is your commitment to excellence and your value system.

[Katie Lee]

And your value system.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Right. So that. That appears in any of these iterations of what you did to now continue to build while you're still building. I know that sounds odd, but again, like, most people go, I built a salon. Not I built the salon, then the brand, and then still thinking about what could come next. I mean, I'm doing the podcast right now, the show and the brand. And I went, that's three launches at the same time. Yeah, it's a lot of moving pieces, but it's also energizing.

[Katie Lee]

Yeah, but I mean, I look at what's coming up for you and it all makes complete sense because nobody entertains like Megan. Okay. You know, everything is just beautiful and intentional and thoughtful, and that's why you're not gonna lose either.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Thank you, Katie. I love you. You're the best. Thank you so much.

[Katie Lee]

Thank you.

[Megan]

Next week we're talking to a founder who never let no get in her way.

[Katie Lee]

I had no idea how many no's I would get. No's from amazing experts in the beauty industry. No's from some of my favorite stores I would shop in. I mean, I would send our samples to everyone.

[Megan]

Can you guess who it is? And if you don't know, know next week you'll know. See you then.

Confessions of a Female Founder is a production of Lemonada Media created and hosted by Megan. Our producers are Catherine Barnes and Oha Lopez. Kristin Lepore is our senior supervising producer. Executive producers are Stephanie Little Wax, Jessica Cordova Kramer and Megan. Mix and sound design are by Johnny Vincevans. Rachel Neal is our VP of new content and production and Steve Nelson is our SVP of weekly content and production. You can help others find our show by leaving us a rating and writing a review. There's more. Confessions of a Female Founder with Lemonada Premium subscribers get exclusive access to bonus content when you subscribe in. Apple Podcast guests. You can also listen ad free on Amazon Music with your prime membership. Thanks so much for listening. We'll see you next week.

[Unnamed Speaker]

All the bleeps.

[Megan]

We hope you enjoyed Confessions of a Female Founder with Megan. If you'd like to support the show, the best way to do so is by leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcast Podcasts. It helps more incredible listeners like you discover the series. Thank you.