Candace Mitchell wants Black founders to think generationally.
Mitchell is the founder of MYAVANA, a haircare company powered by artificial intelligence (AI). According to its website, the company’s offerings include MYAVANA HairAI™, which leverages AI to provide users with instant product recommendations, saving them time and money. It has also launched MYAVANA HairSI™, a hair strand analysis kit that provides a personalized haircare plan and access to expert haircare specialists.
MYAVANA’s innovations have allowed its footprint to scale to Ulta Beauty in 2023. Additionally, it has expanded to a brick-and-mortar retail store in Uganda, Africa, which also carries products from Black-owned businesses including Moisture Love, Texture Crush, Afro Unicorn, U Go Girl Hair, and LushUs Hair, as AFROTECH™ previously told you.
Beyond distribution and strategy, Mitchell also emphasizes the importance of long-term sustainability for Black-owned businesses, highlighting that maintaining ownership is key to an equation that centers a lasting infrastructure rooted in the culture.
“I think that our legacy businesses have had a hard time maintaining that longevity and that sustainability. So I do think that there is especially a place to retain businesses in our portfolios so that they are building the ecosystem of Black culture,” she mentioned. “Because the thing is, every time a company gets to a tipping point, it’s acquired, right? So what is left for the infrastructure of Black culture.”
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