Meet Denyia Clay | Hair stylist/Entrepeneur

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

Hi Denyia, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
My thought behind starting my own business was to create a natural hair care product line for a woman of color. When I first started, I began creating products in my kitchen—mixing up different ingredients from other hair care lines that were trending at that time. I began to mix multiple products because one product wasn’t enough for my hair type. I had just had a baby, was homesick and was dealing with post-partum depression. All these factors were triggering the state of my hair texture. My hair was becoming not only expensive but frustrating. Doing the big chop became famous in 2014, and I was relaxed then, so I decided to transition to natural and did my big chop. I stopped buying different hair care products and stuck to products that only focused on organic ingredients. Adding botanical oils to my hair mask and shampoo regimen dramatically helped! I created a strict regimen and stuck with it. I started researching ways to grow healthy natural hair and decided to add a hair vitamin to my regimen, which is when my hair took off. “Hairfinity” was my best friend! I changed my diet, adopted the Mediterranean diet, and drank water daily. After gaining control of the dryness and shedding of my hair, I came up with the thought to create my homemade products. So, I started selling my homemade products to friends and family, who also noticed their hair changes. After seeing myself and everyone else’s results, I thought, what if I could have all these ingredients in one product? And sell them in big stores like sally’s and Target. How much of a difference I can make if I could share what I know about ingredients that work for ethnic women. How amazing it would be if I could create a hair care line designed for women like me.
That is when I decided to start a business for natural hair care for women of ethnicity.

What should our readers know about your business?
I am proud of how much I have accomplished while enduring many trials and tribulations while developing my company. Coming up with an idea to create a natural hair care line for ethnic women was exciting and yet challenging at the same time. I spent a lot of money and time researching what I wanted to create and what would sell. I tried creating an online store and started selling bath bombs, lip scrubs, and soaps. I tried everything in skin care and hair care to sell to my audience until I realized I needed to take a step back and think about my passion. Overcoming that challenge was not easy. I had to stand up too many things I was afraid of for many years. Finally, I realized that I had to think outside the box. of course, there was a lot of criticism, but I had to keep my eyes forward and believe in myself. I am proud of myself for taking this leap of faith and believing in myself to make this happen. I am excited to see how it will grow and help those who need an excellent natural hair care line that will defeat and supersede their expectations of a natural hair care line. I want my consumers and clients to remember my company as the one that changed the game to natural hair. Maybe my story can inspire those who have a talent like myself to invest in their dreams of becoming successful with their natural gift.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If my best friend were visiting me, I would plan a trip to Atlanta for the weekend. I live 107 miles south of Atlanta in a small town called Columbus, Georgia. Columbus is known for good southern cooking and the nightlife of the “river walk” by the hooch. During my friend’s visit, we will enjoy a day at the paint and sip shop, ax throwing, and zip lining. Then, we would take the trip to the ATL and see all the historic sites, making a pit stop at the most famous Tennessee chicken spot in the A ” Gus’s world. Famous chicken.” a full day shopping at “Atlantic station,” “Lenox square mall,” and breakfast at Barney’s off Decatur St. and end the night at one of Atlanta hottest club.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I want to shout out to my aunt Betty Brown, who owned “Hair Gazam,” a hair salon at the time in Orlando, Florida. she is currently retired from doing hair. I remember helping her with clients. My aunt always had me braiding her client’s hair so she could install sew-in. she taught me the hair game and how to run a successful business. As a result, my skills of being a beautician have always been in me. I remember being eight years old, curling my grandmother’s hair for work, painting my family nails, giving out back and foot massages, and cutting my baby doll’s hair. Then, around the time I turned 12, I started helping in my aunt’s hair salon, sweeping, booking her hair appointments, and spending every weekend in high school braiding a head here and there to earn extra money. Her shop was my second home. I enjoyed the hair salon environment getting the latest gossip, staying current with styles and trends enjoying the congregation of women. I knew I wanted to one day be like her and own my hair salon. I am thankful to have experienced this. Although it took me some time to realize that this was my natural talent, after many trials and errors, I can now say that I am thankful for her teaching me and helping me bring it out in me at an early age. I am now willing to share that experience with other people.

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