There are thousands of beauty supply stores in the Atlanta area. However, Charis McWhorter and Dana Hawkins are cut from a different cloth. These two women are the founders of Zoet Beauty Supply on Veterans Memorial Highway in Mableton. What sets Hawkins and McWhorter apart is that they own every step of the supply chain that most black business owners typically don’t have in the beauty industry.
“In 2017, we started selling bundles, virgin hair bundles online, and then we expanded it to the beauty store,” McWhorter explained. “So once we got into the industry, that’s when we started to learn more about how they’re trying to keep us out by not giving us certain accounts. , [certain suppliers] would refuse us for no particular reason. That’s when we started saying, Hey, you know, we were looking for particular brands or hair, we were like, “Hey, let’s go.” And we will try to place orders, however, the supplier will tell us that it is out of stock. But the stores up the street receive their products in boxes. »
Less than 10% of beauty and hair products stores are owned by African Americans, yet 90% of products in stores are purchased by African Americans. Hawkins and McWhorter believed the gap between what was needed and what was available was part of a larger challenge.
“The first part of the battle is financial literacy and getting your affairs in order because there are people who will work with us,” McWhorter said. “Now everyone, absolutely not. So we don’t focus on those who don’t want to work with you. You focus on those who do, then embrace your customer base. So that was part of our strategy.
This is when Hawkins and McWhorter began to develop their product lines such as crochet hair and locks, detangling brushes and parting combs, to name a few. Hawkins and McWhorter emphasized quality over quantity.
Speaking of quality, the ladies at Zoet Beauty Supply said COVID-19 hasn’t slowed their business, citing consumer confidence as more people start taking care of their beauty needs during the quarantine. They also noted their ability to carry disinfectant products, including KN 95 face masks, they were able to rotate and provide PPE to first responders.
“It put us on the map because a lot of people who didn’t know us taught us and we were able to stay up,” Hawkins said. “So people came from all over Georgia just to come here and get these supplies and to take care of their hair.”
Even though Zoet Beauty Supply is currently in the second year of its storefront in Mableton and the fourth year of operation, Dana Hawkins and Charis McWhorter credit their quest to learn more about themselves as a key tactic in keeping an eye out. ‘advance. More importantly, the duo learned they had an unlimited work ethic as they worked at Corporate America during the day and at their hair care business at night.
We have both worked jobs before. So we thought, ‘oh, we’re tired,’ Hawkins explained. “But now we’ve started this and we haven’t seen ‘tired’ yet. There were a lot of nights where we were up until two in the morning because we were trying to do it. And just so that we could check and that we still had to get up for our regular work.
