Building Mielle: Purpose Before Profit with Monique Rodriguez

Monique Rodriguez, founder and CEO of Mielle Organics, joins Skin Anarchy to trace her path from labor and delivery nurse to textured hair care leader: bootstrapping through millions in debt, protecting the brand's DNA through the P&G acquisition, surviving a viral moment, and where textured hair innovation goes next.

Who is Monique Rodriguez? 

A former labor and delivery nurse who bet on herself. "I literally built mine from the ground up by bootstrapping."

How did she build Mielle as an inclusive brand? 

By solving for a category, not a demographic. "Textured hair has no specific culture, race, ethnicity... I really wanted to be inclusive of all."

What does bootstrapping actually mean? 

"It means that you're making payroll and you're paying other people before you pay yourself." Mielle ran two to three million dollars in debt.

How do you know whether to pivot or push forward? 

Read the business honestly, not emotionally. "I knew that we were holding on to something special... it was time for me to keep pushing forward."

How did she get investors and her team to believe? 

Data and character. A Berkshire investor backed the founders for their humility and willingness to ask questions. "You can't teach that."

How do you choose the right investors? 

Separate your identity from the company. "You can't have an emotional attachment to the brand if you are wanting to take on investors... it's really the customer's brand."

How did Mielle protect its DNA through the P&G acquisition? 

By putting it in writing. "Yes, we're selling you the company, but the sole DNA of the brand shall not be touched."

How should a brand handle going viral? 

Treat it as exposure, not a foundation. "Having a viral moment can be very powerful, but it's also very temporary."

Where is textured hair care headed? 

Toward wellness and scalp care. "Textured hair will continue to be the majority," with innovation moving to a holistic, education first approach.

What advice does she have for founders building beyond a label? 

Start before you feel ready. "The biggest difference between people who dream and the people who build is that the builders take action."

Would she do anything differently? 

Nothing. "All of the mistakes and bad decisions that we made were all a part of the learning lessons."

Listen to the full episode with Monique Rodriguez of Mielle Organics on Skin Anarchy, available wherever you get your podcasts.

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Transcript

Welcome and Why Monique Matters

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey guys, welcome back to Skin Anarchy. This is a very, very special episode because we have someone here today who has built not only an absolutely iconic brand, but she is such a leader, you know, when it comes to business and strategy and understanding what it takes to succeed in the beauty industry, hair care industry. So without further ado, please welcome Monique Rodriguez, who is the founder and CEO of Mile Organics. Thank you. Thank you for having me. No, it's such an honor to host you. I am such a fan of everything you've accomplished, obviously, but really the space you've opened up for so many more people to create even more in the textured hair aisle in so many different ways. Without me ranting, I would love to get started. I know you have

Leaving Nursing for Entrepreneurship

SPEAKER_00 0:40

such an amazing background. I mean, before Maile even began, you know, you had a nursing career. I'd love to, if you could walk us down memory lane, like how was that? You know, leaving nursing and coming into entrepreneurship.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

Yeah, no, great question. As I think about like my transition from my nursing career to being an entrepreneur, I think that people see the glory, the headlines, but they don't see that it took years of like preparation. So before Mayo became super successful, as you mentioned, I was working as a registered nurse. I was actually a labor and delivery nurse. I was a full-time mom and wife raising my family and also having a passion to step out on faith and to do something that I truly love and I was passionate about, which was the beauty industry and being able to navigate that of learning a business through like trial and error and building it from one customer at a time. We were packing orders in our home, we were going to trade shows on the weekends and continuing to invest like everything that we made from the business back into the business so we can basically grow the business. So it wasn't like an overnight success moment as like some people may look at. It was years of consistency, grinding, and discipline and believing in a vision that very few people could see or understand at the time. And, you know, people questioned me a lot and wondered why I would lead such a stabled career and do something that was so risky, something that was deemed pretty much impossible for someone that, you know, didn't have a wealthy background, didn't have any type of celebrity status. I literally built my L from the ground up by bootstrapping. And so being able to just have the courage to just bet on myself and have faith to step out, knowing that um it was deemed impossible. But with my faith, I believe that with God, all things are possible. So it really just took me believing in myself to just leave that nursing career and transition. And was I scared and afraid? Absolutely. But I also had the courage to believe that I can do it. And sometimes you have to have a little bit of delusion. Uh, and that's okay. But you know, the delusion eventually pays off in the end.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

That's

Fixing the Textured Hair Care Void

SPEAKER_00 2:42

so, I mean, it's so interesting to me because yeah, you didn't just build like a hair care brand, you built a brand that is like foundationally inclusive. Like foundationally. That's what I think blows me away about myel and the brand itself and the way it's scaled. Is that when I first discovered it, I was like, oh wow, this is meant for like legit everybody. Like it doesn't matter what your hair type is. It's like the conversation shifted, you know what I mean? And that's where I think it's interesting because right now in marketing, we see so many people that are like they're taking that one like blowhorn and saying, hey, look, I made something for textured hair. And it's like, why are we thinking about it? Like, you know, like so. That's where I really have a lot of questions for you because how was that? Because you said you believed in yourself, and I I love that, but like believing in really what you were doing, like you were creating a category. So how's that?

SPEAKER_01 3:27

You know, I looked at the category as like for me as a customer myself, and I saw a void in the um textured hair care space. I saw that there was a lack of relatability, a lack of science, a lack of you know, understanding the proper technique to deal with our hair because textured hair is pretty unique, and textured hair has no specific culture, race, ethnicity. Like you can be any ethnicity and have textured curly hair. And I really wanted to be inclusive of all and really think about like how do I solve a problem for the overall category that I felt that other competitors in the aisle were not doing. So that's exactly what I did. And I said that, you know, I'm going to overserve better than the competitive landscape because I felt the void and the lack as a consumer myself. I would become a product junkie because I was trying all these different products. And the reason why I would try all these different products was because nothing was working and no one was explaining how to work the products. No one was explaining the ingredients and the science behind the products. And so I wanted to come and approach care from a holistic and scientific approach, but also help people understand like proper technique and having the right technique will get you the right results.

SPEAKER_00 4:38

Right. No, that's actually really, really solid what you just brought up because I feel like this is like after homework that a lot of like brands end up doing is like figuring out like there's a teaching component to this, you know, like there's gonna be a shift that happens for consumers and like they need to be able to grasp that, you know, in the way of like how do I actually utilize these products? That's huge. And and

Bootstrapping Debt and Hard Lessons

SPEAKER_00 4:57

I want to actually kind of go back to what you said because you mentioned bootstrapping the business, and like that word gets thrown out a lot, you know, but like no one really talks about like what that means, you know, especially coming from you coming from a medical career. I know you have, you know, medical careers don't pay a lot, no matter what anybody thinks. And it's hard to, you know, start a business. So can you talk about that? Like the real financial stuff behind truly bootstrapping a growing brand.

SPEAKER_01 5:20

Yeah, I mean, bootstrapping means you're carrying the weight all by yourself. Yeah. Um, what bootstrapping means, it means that you're making payroll and you're paying other people before you pay yourself. Um, it means that you're taking risk not knowing how things are gonna work out. So during the period, like we were in two to three million dollars in debt. And there were definitely hard moments where like the pressure felt overwhelming where I didn't know if the business was going to sink or swim. But I knew that the vision was bigger than my current circumstance and my current problem. And I knew that we had to have better structure, become a better business, get the right people on board because it's really about your team and building the right infrastructure. And going through that period of being in debt really caused us to mature as a company. It really caused us to like really tighten up like our operations, make better decisions, which is extremely important, and also um become stronger leaders. So I do feel that the reason why I am the leader that I am today was because we went through that period of being in debt. Because once you have without, you don't want to go back to that place. And now you're gonna do everything that you can to learn as much about the business and maintaining profitability. So basically you can continue growing and scaling. And so now, while no one wants to go through a period of being in debt, it really was a learning lesson for us, a hard lesson, but you know, we learned a lot from it.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

Yeah, no, I mean, I can imagine, and especially like keeping the doors open, keeping things moving forward.

Knowing When to Pivot

SPEAKER_00 6:50

Like, I can't imagine how difficult that is to juggle. And I feel like I have not been on this journey, so I can only speak from what I've seen, but I know there are a lot of times founders they give up at one point, you know. And I would love to get your take on that component of the psychological side of this, where it's like everything's telling you to give up, but you're like, there's no freaking way, you know. Like I built this, there's no way I'm gonna give this up.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

Yeah, I mean, I think your conviction and belief in your vision has to be so strong and so powerful that it has to actually overpower the fear, the doubt, the anxiety. Because we have to be real, like we're humans, we have emotions, like that will come, but it's like, what are you gonna feed? You have to be like realistic and knowing that, okay, I think you have to have the understanding of knowing where your business is to say, okay, is it time for me to pivot? Or is it time for me to just keep pushing forward? And for me, for example, I knew that I couldn't give up because I knew that on the horizon, because even though we were in debt, the business was growing like crazy. Yeah. On the top line, our sales were through the roof. Retailers were still asking for us to partner with them, other celebrities were asking us to partner with them. Like, we were getting so many inbound inquiries that I knew that we were holding on to something special. We had such great momentum. And I knew that, like, if I give up, what happens to all of the people that are attached to this vision? And I knew that I had to work harder to just find the right resources to help me in the areas that I felt that maybe I wasn't necessarily strong in to help me grow and help them see and paint the picture of like this is the future and the potential of the brand. We just need a little help. So it's also you have to like be realistic and really look at where your business is because sometimes you do need to pivot. Like if you're tapped out and you're draining all of your funds and you can't pay your bills and you can't, you know, do the things that are a priority, and your business is not making sales and it's not growing, then it that's a different story. But for us, we had such great moments and we just needed a little bit of help on the back end. And that's what told me that it wasn't time for me to give up. It was time for me to keep pushing forward. So I think every situation is different, and that's why I feel that like with prayer and really just doing a true evaluation and not doing things of what looks good for social media, but really understanding where you are as a business.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

Yeah, that's there's so many nuggets of wisdom in what you said. And you know, one of the biggest questions becomes when you're in that phase, you've got a lot of people around you, there's a lot of voices around you. How do you convince those people that listen, what we're doing is gonna be so big, you know? And even though that we're at a dip right now, this is like the vision and this is where we're going. How did you make sure that the people around you understood that just like you did and you created that core team for yourself?

SPEAKER_01 9:34

Well, I

Getting Others to Believe

SPEAKER_01 9:35

also use other case studies from other brands in the hair care space to show obviously what is the white space opportunity and what is the potential and what have brands that have gone before me, what they have been able to do, and with the right help and resources. So it was using case studies to also paint a picture of like what that looks like, but also, you know, the the saying that goes, the numbers don't lie. Yes, we were in debt, but the numbers on the horizon of how our distribution was increasing, how our top line sales was growing, like to see the trajectory of that, like it didn't take a rocket scientist to see, like, oh, this brand has great potential, they just need a little bit of help, and then also believing in us as founders. It wasn't just selling the overall picture and capabilities of the brand, but also showing how committed Melvin and I were as founders to this brand and to making it successful and not giving up and showing our work ethic and willpower to continue to fight for what we were heavily convicted that we would be, you know, we will make it successful. So it took for like investors and people around us to also believe in us as people and knowing that we also have the humility to like raise our hand and ask questions. We didn't go into any partnership or relationship thinking that we knew everything. And I think that was one of our strongest suits because we had one of our biggest investors, Berkshire investor, that invested in us. And they said one of the reasons why they invested in us was because of our humility and our ability to ask questions. Um, so I think that played your character. You can't teach it's either any or it's not.

SPEAKER_00 11:07

Yeah, no, you can't fake it. You can't fake that part. That's huge. That's really huge. I'm so glad you said that. And honestly, like that was one of my big questions too was like the investment side of it. Because honestly, like no one talks about like how to pick the right fit for you from the investment side. And especially because when I look at Mile Organics and I and what you've built, it's like the brand has a very, very like strong foundation in what it stands for and what it's bringing to this industry. So, like, that's the question, right? Where it's like, how did you find the right people that were going to believe in what you were building from the vision and the mission of this brand without changing it? Because I see that a lot. Like brands are great and then they change. And it's like you guys just lost the whole foundation of why I believed in you as a consumer. But Mile, that didn't happen to you guys. So how was that?

Protecting Brand DNA With Investors

SPEAKER_01 11:51

Yeah, I mean, I would say that like when you are in the building stages, like you have to really build your company. Like someone is looking at it, someone's gonna invest in it, someone's gonna acquire your company. You have to build towards that every single day. Now, as I look back, I would tell someone, like, like this is not how I started, but I would look back and tell someone else like you have to have strong financials, you have to have clean systems, processes, infrastructure, you have to have great leadership, you have to have a good governance board, advisory board, and you have to be able to build a brand that people trust. And that's what matters. And so when I think about like looking for the right partners, you have to mentally separate yourself from the business, your identity from the business as well. Because a lot of people say, like, oh, well, you know, you should hold on to it, or like, is there like an emotional attachment? You can't have an emotional attachment to the brand if you are wanting to take on investors or eventually IPO or acquire, because it's really not your brand, it's the customer's brands, right? You're you're building it for them. And I just think that you have to take yourself out of the equation because what how I think about it is like Mael, I'm building something that will outlive myself. And that's whether you sell it or not. But I feel like that's how every founder should think. They should think about longevity and sustainability and knowing that when you get into a partnership, like it is a marriage, and you have to stay true to your vision. And for us, you know, we put it in writing in our contracts with every investor, even with PG. It was like, okay, yes, we're selling you the company, but the sole DNA of the brand shall not be touched, it should always remain the same. And that was very important for Melbourne and I that they stayed committed to that. And I think that people need to also understand that just because you are scaling, you are growing, does not mean you have to sacrifice authenticity. Because it when people invest in you, when when a company acquires you, they're acquiring what you built. So it's like, why change and why try to fix something that's not broken? And so for us, it was we were very adamant of making sure that it was outlined in our agreements.

SPEAKER_00 13:59

That's brilliant. And you know, I feel like there's so much that we learn from that because I think a lot of times, like it can be so tempting, I'm sure, as an entrepreneur, when you're building and you're like, I just one day want this brand to be acquired. Like that's my goal. And then along the way, it's like you start changing things, you start creating products that don't feel like they're yours. You know what I mean? That kind of thing. I see it happen a lot and it just makes me wonder like how much strength it must take to say, this is my vision, this is my ethos, and I'm not shifting from this. But you know,

Viral Moments Need Real Operations

SPEAKER_00 14:27

I actually wanted to ask you because Mael's virality is like a case study, you know, like you can learn, everybody can learn from this. Marketers, business folk, entrepreneurs, everybody. And I wonder, like when the brand really, really went viral, like on TikTok, everybody was talking about you guys. You know, at one point I remember opening TikTok and I kept seeing my every creator, everybody, and rightfully so. How did that feel? It contained something like that, like that kind of movement. But how did you really leverage that and say, here's where we're gonna take this and use it to grow ourselves in the right way?

SPEAKER_01 14:58

I think first is understanding that having a viral moment, it can be very powerful, but it's also very temporary. It has the ability to like introduce your brand to millions of people overnight, that overnight success that everyone's looking for, but it can also create expectations and narratives, sometimes false narratives that you don't necessarily control. So that's why you you really can't build a true business off of just going viral. You really build your brand off of people trusting you, the quality of your ingredients, the performance of your ingredients, and delivering upon your promise. And that like sets the foundation. So when you go viral, like it may open the brand to more eyeballs and people may try you. But what happens after that viral moment? Do you have the consistency? Do you have the sustainability and the foundation to keep people coming back? Because if you go viral and you can't ship their orders, then they have a bad experience. Are they they're not gonna purchase anymore? Or if you go viral and you don't have the proper infrastructure to keep up with the orders, then they're not gonna come back because the quality of your product is bad. So, like viral is cool, is great, but you know, we just have to make sure that as a company, as a business, that you are foundationally solid so you can keep that virality coming from all those new eyeballs that was exposed to your brand.

SPEAKER_00 16:15

Right. No, that makes a lot of sense. I mean, I I just can't imagine like how that feels for you know a team to see that, like, oh my God, we are absolutely blowing up. Literally, like every time I open social media, I was like, Mile is killing it. That's really, really cool though, that you had that real rise and everybody got to know because honestly, as somebody who did not understand all the options that can exist in the textured hair category, like you guys were genuinely the first brand for me as a consumer that like kind of introduced that, you know, like where it was eye-opening almost. Like I didn't know like you could have this kind of difference. Maybe all it was before was like a hair mask or here's a hair oil or three or four products, you know what I mean? So that's crazy what the brand has been able to do in the space. But that's actually where my next question is for you is that you've created

Where Hair Care Innovation Goes Next

SPEAKER_00 16:59

a movement. And, you know, with that, like I would love to get your take on where do you think the industry is headed when it comes to textured hair, the innovation that you're seeing, you know, just the progress, I guess, overall.

SPEAKER_01 17:09

Yeah. So when I think about just the textured hair care space overall, I do feel that it is still moving towards inclusivity. You know, we speak inclusivity all the time, but you know, I think that there's still a lot of opportunity and learning to grow in that space. I would like to see the textured hair care aisle expand more because when I think about like the majority versus minority, textured hair will continue to be the majority. I also see like the innovation focusing on overall like wellness and using products that perform well, that focus on like overall wellness and scalp care as well, because our scalp is our foundation. And internally, how we take care of our bodies from an overall wellness perspective also will dictate how our hair performs and how our hair reacts to products because your hair can react to products or just anything based off of like seasons, your hormones, the foods that you eat, diet, exercise, all of that plays into our hair care routine. So eventually, like I see that as we think about innovation, it will really come from a true holistic approach as we continue to like innovate. Um, but I do think that scalp care will continue to grow and evolve because so many people have different scalp issues just from lack of education. So I do also hope to see as well. And what we're also doing as a brand is really buckling down on educating our consumers because again, we're not here to just sell products, but we want you to use the products and be happy with them and get great results. So, in order for you to do that, we have to really help educate you on how to take care and nourish your hair from an inside out and wellness approach. You know, I feel that our customers will be happy. And that's what we strive to do is to make our customers empowered, excited, and happy about their hair care.

SPEAKER_00 18:53

I love that. Yeah, I mean, honestly, what's really, really cool, and I wanted to ask you

Start Now and Keep Evolving

SPEAKER_00 18:58

this. What I see when when I look at my L is like, you know, we can say if it's a black-owned brand, it's the fastest growing black-owned brand in hair care. That's cool. But it's actually like so much more than that. And I would love for you to speak on this because I feel like personally as a consumer and past the stage of like only identifying brands based on that. You know, like I think it's amazing. I support all cultures and like, you know, like if it's a person of color, like I'm more likely myself to support that brand. But at the same time, the quality is that's what speaks to me. And you built that. And I would love for you to offer like some words of wisdom here for any founders who are like building that space, you're coming from like a minority group, but you want to grow a brand that's way beyond that.

SPEAKER_01 19:35

Some advice that I would give, you know, an entrepreneur that's looking to build a brand from a culturally relevant and educational standpoint. I would say, like, number one, you're you're never gonna feel completely ready. So if you're waiting until you have all the answers right, like you're gonna be waiting forever. So I tell people to just like start where you are, like just take the first step. You know, you're gonna learn as you grow and just be very consistent in your efforts. The first thing or the first version that you do will not be the final version. I feel that every successful business continues to evolve. I think the biggest difference between people who dream and the people who build is that the builders take action. So you have to just do it like Nike. Like it's just not a same, but you really have to just do it and take the first step because you're going to learn as you grow and know that how you start is not necessarily how you finish. If you see like our packaging and bottles before when we first started in 2014, compared to now, you know, it'll blow your mind. Some people won't even start with like makeshift made-at-home bottles. But I always encourage people to just start where you are, build community, focus on over-serving. And I think that, you know, anyone will be fine.

SPEAKER_00 20:44

Yeah, that's actually really, really great advice. I know like a lot of times, like I've had ideas and I'm like, oh, I can't do this. I don't have nearly enough cash to like get this going and all that. So that's really, really great advice. But no, this is I mean, this is amazing. I just, I think what you've done is just phenomenal. And I think there's so much to learn from it. I mean, I guess like my final closing question is really like if you were to do it again, is there anything that stands out to you where you're like, well, I would have done this differently, or I would have done it the same way.

SPEAKER_01 21:10

Um, you know, I feel like I would have done it the same exact way because the outcome that I received, even though I didn't see it or understand it during the process, the outcome that we were able to achieve was because of the way that we did it. So I wouldn't change anything. I feel that all of the mistakes and bad decisions that we made were all a part of the learning lessons and taught me to be a business owner and a better leader and a stronger leader today. So if I didn't go through that, I don't think that I would be the leader and entrepreneur that I am today. So I would actually change nothing. I love that.

SPEAKER_00 21:41

Well, thank you so much. This has been so wonderful to learn from you. And I'm I'm just in awe of what everything you've built. And you know, for anyone listening out there, I hope you gain some inspiration from this because it's awesome. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 21:51

Thank you. Thank you so much.