{"id":1147,"date":"2023-09-05T10:09:47","date_gmt":"2023-09-05T14:09:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rccc.edu\/sbc\/?p=1147"},"modified":"2025-04-08T13:48:40","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T17:48:40","slug":"resilience-innovation-and-empowerment-a-story-of-determination-in-small-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rccc.edu\/sbc\/2023\/09\/05\/resilience-innovation-and-empowerment-a-story-of-determination-in-small-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Resilience, Innovation, and Empowerment: A Story of Determination in Small Business"},"content":{"rendered":"

Meet Tequia Williams, founder of Jexsii. If you met her today, you\u2019d see a woman preparing to launch an innovative haircare product after graduating from the Retail Lab bootcamp and winning a $10,000 grant from the regional 53 Ideas pitch competition. She\u2019s on top of her game and inspiring other entrepreneurs along the way.<\/p>\n

But the last 6 months of success and progress don\u2019t even tell the half of it.<\/p>\n

Tequia has been on the journey to bring her product, Jagid, to market for nine years. Yes, nine.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of weird because I\u2019m getting a lot of attention, but nobody has paid attention to me for the last nine years,\u201d Tequia said with a big smile.<\/p>\n

Nearly a decade ago, Tequia was a nurse working at a local hospital in Charlotte. She was new to the area after moving from Chicago. While getting ready for work, she thought out loud, \u201cIt would be cool to make a tool for people with hair like mine.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few moments later an idea for a detangling tool, something like a flexible comb, popped into her head. She immediately disqualified it and prayed aloud, \u201cLord, that\u2019s cool, but you know I don\u2019t have the money.\u201d<\/p>\n

As she finished her hair that day, she started writing out the vision for how the product would look and that it would combine all the most effective tools that she was using for her hair type, a self-proclaimed \u201ccomplex\u201d hair type with very tight curls.<\/p>\n

What happened in the years between that divine inspiration and her product near ready for market? Lots of webinars, small business counseling, heartache, losing money, hiring bad contractors and slow progress.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started to feel like this was not going to happen,\u201d said Tequia. \u201cBut I didn\u2019t want everyone to think I had given up. So, I kept taking classes at the Small Business Center<\/a>. It was really hard trying to maintain that grit. I think the only thing that kept me going were those classes.\u201d<\/p>\n

She continually pursued knowledge, often relying on the resources provided by Small Business Centers and the Women\u2019s Business Center of Charlotte, which not only taught her the basics of business, but also imparted the essential skills for navigating the entrepreneurial landscape.<\/p>\n

What motivated her? Her deep desire to see other women with hair like hers free to walk out their door with confidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of women wear a weave or wigs because we just don’t have the skill or know how to really style our hair,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I just want them to have a tool that’s effective and developed with their hair type at the center so that they can create hairstyles and wear them out in public out to events and feel confident.\u201d<\/p>\n

Retail Lab played a pivotal role in Tequia’s journey, by deepening her understanding of social media marketing, branding, and selling online. This expertise became vital as she honed her marketing strategy, allowing her to connect with her target audience effectively.<\/p>\n

After placing 4th in 2022, Tequia’s grit and innovation led her to victory as she claimed first place in this year’s regional 53 Ideas pitch competition, securing a remarkable $10,000 grant for her business. This win not only recognized her tenacity, but also injected much-needed resources into her venture, propelling her closer to the product launch.<\/p>\n

As Tequia stands on the precipice of introducing Jagid to the world, her story serves as a beacon of hope and inspiration for anyone striving to turn their dreams into reality through unwavering determination and the support of vital resources. Her journey reminds us that with passion, perseverance, and the right tools \u2013 both in terms of product and knowledge \u2013 incredible transformations are possible.<\/p>\n

And, the next chapter, finally bringing her product to market, is about to unfold.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m excited to empower women to care for and love on themselves in a new and better way.\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn all about Jexsii, and her first product, Jagid, you can find Tequia on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and TikTok @JexsiiBeauty or visit her website and sign up to be notified when Jagid hits the market at www.curlcreations.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Meet Tequia Williams, founder of Jexsii. If you met her today, you\u2019d see a woman preparing to launch an innovative haircare product after graduating from the Retail Lab bootcamp and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":1148,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sbc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rccc.edu\/sbc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rccc.edu\/sbc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rccc.edu\/sbc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rccc.edu\/sbc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/105"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rccc.edu\/sbc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1147"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.rccc.edu\/sbc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1149,"href":"https:\/\/www.rccc.edu\/sbc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1147\/revisions\/1149"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rccc.edu\/sbc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rccc.edu\/sbc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rccc.edu\/sbc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rccc.edu\/sbc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}