Meet Cora Miller: Co-Founder and CEO, Young King Hair Care

We had the good fortune of connecting with Cora Miller and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cora, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
It’s funny, because if you were to ask me 5 years ago if would I ever become an entrepreneur the answer probably would have been no. I was quite comfortable in my profession and climbing the corporate ladder – working for a large, fortune 3 company leading their social responsibility and philanthropic initiatives. It wasn’t until I had my son in 2017 that my perspective and aspirations completely changed. As a first-time mom to a beautiful brown baby boy named Kade who had a head full of hair, I was surprised to discover that there were no products specifically created for curly-headed boys. I spent a good amount of time looking for clean and vegan natural hair products that were suitable for my son and weren’t female scented and designed, and to my surprise, those simply didn’t exist. In 2018, I shared my frustrations with my husband and told him I wanted to do something about it – and that “something” was to start my own natural hair care line for boys. Of course, being the MBA, classically-trained CPG marketer that he is, he made me do a business plan, market research and consumer research to really validate this wild idea. But I did it, and after months of planning, research and identifying and selecting a strong manufacturing partner, in 2019 Young King Hair Care was born and so was the start of my entrepreneurial pursuits.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I had nearly 10 years of experience as a leader in corporate social responsibility, strategic grant-making, program development and communications. As a former Vice President of External Affairs at UnitedHealth Group, I developed innovative approaches and oversaw the planning and implementation of the company’s social responsibility initiatives, including the management of strategic partnerships, evaluation of charitable investment outcomes and other programmatic analysis to deliver impact within the communities served. I have a Master’s of Public Administration with a focus in nonprofit management from Georgia State University and a bachelor’s in journalism and public relations from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. But prior to working on the business full-time, navigating the balance between my full-time job, being a wife, mother and friend and still finding time to take care of myself (i.e. working out and having “me” time), while launching a business was certainly challenging. Candidly, I still haven’t quite mastered it all, however I’ve been blessed with the most amazing support system. I appreciate my husband supporting and trusting my vision for Young King Hair Care, and working long nights and weekends with me to build our business and brand. Plus, our family and friends have rallied behind us and encouraged us in ways we could never imagine, and for that we are eternally grateful. Our “framily” (friends and family), have offered to watch Kade when we needed to work on the business and have been the best Young King brand ambassadors we could ask for. I of course have experienced “mom guilt” plenty of times over the past couple of months – there are times when Kade is crying for attention, but I have important business deadlines that I need to fulfill so I can’t give him the personal one-on-one time he desires. To balance those moments, I try to include him as much as possible in the business building process. From helping me “type” responses to customer inquiries to doing some Young King model work, I want my son to feel included and feel that he’s a contributing member to the business he inspired us to create.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I definitely take any of our family and friends that come into town to the Belt Line. I love being able to give them a glimpse of the city — walking through the beautiful pathways, seeing the diversity of people, music and art work while stopping to snack on a few great bites along the way. One of our favorite eateries is Makimono in Krog Street Market — they have amazing rice bowls — and our go to desert spot is Honeysuckle for their delicious ice cream sandwiches. Overall, there is so much good eating and great sights to see along the belt line, which is why love taking out of towners there! Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My now four year old son, Kade. He inspired us to create a new business from scratch and helped launch an entire community of parents and black and brown boys from across the country that our on this journey with us to redefine male grooming for young males. My husband and I are so grateful to Kade, our Chief Inspiration Officer, for making this all possible.

Website: https://youngkinghaircare.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/youngkinghaircare

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cora-miller-0126/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/YoungKingHair

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/youngkinghaircare/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXd7x9MLs39bbxcIPdHKccQ

Image Credits
Image by Quenest Harrington (https://www.instagram.com/quturemedia)