Meet Jason Hawkins: Co-owner

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

Hi Jason, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
The thought process behind Respected Roots was to create a grooming collection curated with natural ingredients to benefit ethnic hair and skin. We noticed an opportunity to provide premium self-care products for men who have been negated in the marketplace for generations.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Respected Roots was conceptualized in 2015 as an e commerce business to satisfy the need for premium self-care products. We as men did not learn as a majority how to properly moisturize our hair and skin from our mothers and grandmothers. Most of us who come from ethnic backgrounds received petroleum jelly, water-based lotions, or even baby oils to use as moisturizers after bathing or before you went outside to play. Growing up most followed the same play sheet that was learned from our youth. However, we receive most of our grooming tips from our wives, girlfriends, sisters, etc. as adults. What sets us apart from the industry is our commitment to excellence which includes our product formulations, our customer service, and our ambition to become a global brand. We manufacture all of our grooming products locally in Atlanta, GA. Additionally, Respected Roots is 100% owned by me and Jaret.

Consistency and appreciation for our consumers sets us apart because we truly love what we do! Our products yieds amazing results as advertised.

Our journey was untraditional in a sense because we wanted first to change the paradigm of what we (ethnic culture) thought was a good product and how much we should pay for them. So we traveled extensively across the more populous black and brown cities for 3 years attending beauty expos and trade shows introducing our brand and speaking to students attending barber/cosmetology institutions about how to use our grooming products effectively and how to retail them in their shops for supplemental income.

We declined placing our products on shelves of the big box retailers and decided to open kiosks in premium mall locations across the states and abroad to retail our products. To date, we have six stores located in various states along the southeastern seaboard such as GA, TN, NC, VA, MD, and a few more in the state of Texas.

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?
If my best friend came to visit I would introduce them to Atlanta first by taking them to Lenox Square Mall or Sugarloaf mall in Lawrenceville to visit our stores so they could stock up on their grooming products and meet our staff. Next I would take them to lunch at my favorite Jamaican restaurant located in Alpharetta named Ya Mon Jamaican Cuisine.

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 would like to Shoutout my business partner Jaret Patterson for working alongside me step-for-step creating majestical hair and skin care formulas for public consumption. I would be remised if I did not Shoutout our team for doing their integral part to progress our vision.

Website: www.respectedroots.com

Instagram: Respected Roots

Linkedin: Jason Hawkins

Facebook: Respected Roots

Youtube: Respected Roots

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