September 27, 2022 • 38 mins
Oye, mi gente! La reina de los rizos dijo presente! We're sitting down with the incredible and astounding Julissa Prado. Julissa is the founder of Rizos Curls, a hair brand that's going above and beyond. With a focus on education over proper hair care and beauty, Julissa is getting those with waves, curls, and coils to embrace their natural hair with orgullo.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Oh yeahm hint. I just want to give you a
heads up. The program you are about to hear may
have some explicit language, it may not. It also depends
on where the vibes and the spirit leads us. Hope
you enjoy Welcome to Monita, a deep dive into the
Latin X experience. With Morenita, we want to create a
(00:23):
community and a shared space with you while sharing knowledge
and inspiration. This show is about celebrating our culture with
guests who exemplify the best of us. I'm Darylene Castillo,
Vito Saludoshin Mosa Mihina and Happy latin X Latina Hispanic.
(00:49):
However you identify Heritage month here on Morenita, you know
we're all about celebrating the nuances of Latinita, and these
next episodes will be no different. Yes we are loud,
and yes we are proud, but there's so much more
to us than that. We will be sitting down and
chatting with different members of the community that are doing
(01:12):
the dang thing and making us even prouder. We chose
this specific group of people to highlight for this special
month because they all bring something a bit different to
the table. The lineup we have for you guys, is
truly an incredible one. I also want to let you
know that this month, not only are we bringing the
extra cuss song to these episodes, we are highlighting daily
(01:35):
on our Instagram page more podcast special Latino businesses to
support and show love to head to the page to
check out the daily drops handle Name podcast me hint
that today is an extra extra special episode because we
have the Queen herself, the Queen of Curls, the founder
(01:59):
and CEO of Risa's Curls, Julisa Brado. Now, if you're
a curly hair pal like me and some folks on
the Modema team, you've heard the name Julisa Brado and
you've heard of Risos. The brand is in some of
your favorite stores like Target and Ultra Beauty. If you
(02:19):
are a curly hair pal who hasn't heard of Risos,
you're welcome ahead of time. Or if you are someone
who has maybe just a little bit of hesitation about
curly hair, or maybe you just aren't sure if the
natural hair path is for you, or if you just
want to know about the process and you're still married
to your blanchat, this episode is most definitely for you.
(02:45):
Hair is important. Let's all be very clear about that.
The salon was the mecca for me growing up. I
mean it was the first place you went to before
stepping on the block. Now being Latina, I've heard the
term belo malo bahon my entire life. Belomalo translates to
(03:07):
bad hair, because curly hair was always sitting in that
category until the trend setters and game changers of the
curls like Julisa Brado came along. Julisa has always been
a trend setter with a passion for hair and knowledge.
In this interview, Julisa and I talk about her journey
(03:28):
to Riso's, but also the importance of knowledge about hair.
Not only curls, y'all, we talk about all types of hair.
Julisa's goal is to spread knowledge about hair and care
for it, because, after all, hair is not just hair,
it's your crown. Fane veto. Today we have Nina, Okay,
(04:03):
we have Julisa and I am. I would be lying
if I said I was in fan girling right now.
But welcome to what I meat that we are so
excited to have you and talk all things about curly
hair from my fellow curly hair folks out there. UM, welcome,
thank you, thank you so much. Your girls are popping. Girl.
(04:24):
I'm I'm done, girly done right now. I mean it's
all thanks to you and a beautiful product that you've
created that I've been a fan of for now five years.
I don't know if you know this, So I reached
out to and they like you, You're so busy and like,
you know, I know you don't probably run like every
aspect of your social media, but I was. I'm an
(04:45):
actress and I was in a show called Hambleton's and UM.
I literally brought your product in UM and was introduced
to your product because a hair person on the team
was like, have you heard of this produc B And
I was like no, my god. He gave me like
a bottle to take home, and then I literally began
(05:06):
taking your resols to every single like Hamilton's Towering Place,
and I was like, we need to start using this.
This is like life changing, Like it's a fuddle Latina,
like this was the CEO of this and it's like
it done concredible wonders to my hair because I could
never find products that I loved and that worked for
my hair because my hair was not like you know,
it wasn't like super kinky or super like thick. So
(05:29):
like then there's some products that were too oily for me,
too heavy, and then there were ones that were just
not really like doing it. And your product was the
first product that I spoke my hair's language. Oh my god,
I'm so honored. I'm also a huge fan of Hamilton's.
So you became like Resos became the curly hair product
(05:52):
that they were started using on all the wigs that
we had. Because I have to tell you Julys and
like being an actor and being an Afro Latina actress
with curly hair in this industry, it's been a journey
and I have to just be real because a lot
of people just don't know what to do with our hair.
And I'm even speaking about this like from the black
experience as well, that some of my black friends and
(06:14):
my African American friends have had a lot of issues
with hair, and it's always like our hair is the
second thought because it's complicated, right, it's itacy and when
you walk in a room, like there will be shows
and TV sets that I've been on and shows that
(06:34):
I've done where I have to do my own hair
over here with the straight thin hair is getting like
her hair blaw drug and the whole lamp team. And
I can't count on my hands how many times it's
happened where it's like, no, I just got it. I'll
do it like you know, because then I'll be coming
out looking all crazy. And wow, It's been a huge
(06:55):
effect on me. And now that you know, after COVID
and after some of like the things that have been
brought to light in the industry, you know, people are
trying harder and it's great. So seeing your product and
introducing your products into rooms like that has been like
one of my missions. Like literally, in this country, you
can go and be a licensed cosmetologist and all you
(07:17):
have to learn about textured hair is how to like
burn it straight, and you always everything that you learn
is always like specific to non textured hair. And then
a lot of these stylists were expressing that they if
they want to learn um about specifically textured hair, they
(07:39):
have to like out of their own pocket. They have
to go and seek these places and it's just like
you know what I mean, it's like so backwards, and
even to get booked for you know, different styling hair shoots, whatever.
Like it's just like a really backwards system that has
been created that just really called out our society as
(08:02):
a whole. And how much like you said, like you know,
especially the black experience here in this country, but it's
like it trickles down to like so many other aspects
of our society in which um, it's been so normalized,
like that Eurocentric standard of beauty, and I have to admit,
like it still is triggering, you know, when I go
(08:23):
to a set, I still like to this day, I
will always bring my curly hair products because you just
never know. And I will always bring my foundation, like
my skin tone foundation, because again you just never know.
It's like this thing in the beauty world where it's
just constantly being that kind of problem child. If I can,
if I can go deeper, and then connecting that with
(08:45):
like we can kind of switch gears a little bit here,
but connecting that to the culture that we come from
and my trauma within my Dominican culture of it and
um and all of that and on to sleep to
this day still dealing with some of that and to
this day still being one of the few people my
(09:06):
family that wears their hair curly. Wow, I'm curious what
began this hair journey for you if our listeners don't know,
(09:29):
because I follow you and I love you. I know
you come from a business background, tech savvy, you have
a hustle and a grind in your family, and I'm
curious for you, what was it that ignited you to hair?
Did you go through your own traumas, was it something
that you just always felt a passion for. Yeah, so
(09:50):
I've always been drawn to hair, like my entire life,
and then something that I feel like it's very popular
in like low income growing up in low income communities,
immigrant community these is like everybody kind of has like
a little hustle, you know what I mean, even when
you're literally like thirteen fourteen years old. So within us,
it was like I was a hair girl. I had
(10:11):
a cousin that was like the makeup girl. Another one
would be like the eyebrows girl. Somebody else is like
kind of like the stylist. So whenever we would have
like family events, like because I think something very immigrated,
like there's always cultural events. There's always like some kind
of like wedding this that always something going on exactly
(10:32):
especially back then when I was like younger, I grew
up in like just one apartment building, like every unit
was a family member. So like growing up in these environments,
like just because we didn't have money did not mean
we're about to not look fly every single one of
these events. It's like if we only had twenty dollars, like,
we're gonna get creative. We're going to share these skills
and help each other. So I grew up learning how
(10:54):
to style hair from like the free practice I got
from style like all my cousin's hair, my family's hair,
my friend's hair like, and their texture would vary from
like wavy to very tight coils um. So it was
just like such a variety of textures and and obviously
(11:17):
also with my own hair, like I would try to
style my own air too. But more than anything, I
think my understanding of scalp and hair and all of
that came from not only you know, um learnings that
I were passed onto me through like my grandmother and
my mom and my family members, but I got that
experience by actually putting my hands and fingers in hair
(11:41):
and and doing hair. And I think that for me,
it was something that always came natural, like I've always
been good at like like if someone needed a really
tight pony til, I could do that. Like back then,
what was really popular everyone asked me for was tho
selina updue. So remember those up dudes that were like
really like huge and then they'll have like the little
rolls everywhere or like or you would do like the
(12:02):
toys here and like something else. So um, that was
a lot of what what you know, I would style.
And then even throughout high school, like when I was
a freshman come homecoming prompt season, all the seniors would
book me to do their hair. Like I was like
book I'm busy smiling hair. So when I, UM, when
I started like wanting to learn how to work more
(12:26):
with natural hair, um and how to like wear how
to like understand how to wear hair naturally, was because
literally everyone's here what I was doing. Like there were
all people of color, like everyone had some kind of
texture to their hair, and um, like we were all straight,
like we a time we would leave it down. We
(12:48):
were all straining it. So I just I and I
saw how much it was like getting damaged. I would
see how you know, all of these effects to it,
and um, you know something. Another another thing that's very
much an immigrant thing is like in a lot of
these immigrant communities, especially like our grandparents and other people
(13:10):
when they were their own country. Um, that whole idea
of thinking that uh natural like um, you know, holistic
medicine and natural healing and all of that is like
a Western thing Like no, no, no, no, that was
like their only form, like that was the only source
of healing, source of self care of all these things
(13:32):
that they have. It's not like they had like these
the luxury of having, you know, all of these stores
and things that they would go and by like a
Sephora or something, you know. So I think a lot
of the learnings I had came from that and understanding
of looking at plants and herbs and and and all
of these different things as medicine and not just as
(13:54):
like you know, as a second thought. So that's kind
of like where it came from. Was there ever, like
any pushback from that of like why why are you
focusing on that? Like, you know, obviously obviously because we
come from a culture where it's like I mean, for
me being a New Yorker, I know, we're different coast sides,
but like being in New York. It's like when I
(14:15):
went to go visit my family in the Heights, the
first thing that I did was go to a salon,
Like that's the first thing you do, like before you
do anything else. Like, okay, you do get your hair done.
The hair is giving you know, a lot, a lot
of a lot of going on. We'll get the hair
done and then we can come back and we can
(14:36):
reconvene and like see what the plan is for the day. Um,
And I'm just curious for you. Was there ever any
pushback in that for you? Because the community was so
like no, girl, we just get our hair straightened and
that's what we do, and like, what are you trying
to do here? Yeah, So it's really interesting because it's
back then. You know, I was in high school, so
(14:57):
the focus wasn't natural hair. It was like I could
do everything, you know what I mean. So some people
would want me to like straighten their hair some people.
And then more than anything, I would never push the
natural hair on anybody. Like it wasn't like I was
like walking around like like uh not, let's do your
hair natural. So I was always like a little trend
setter and I always like when I was like growing up,
(15:20):
I always pride I would always pride myself on like, um,
like whatever it was like doing something new and different
at my school, like whether it was a new style
of like how to wear a certain hairstyle or like
a clothing or whatever, and I would be like, no
one's rocking this, like no one's doing this, Like I'm
gonna go out, I'm gonna stunt and watch everyone's gonna
do this in a month whatever Like that was always
(15:42):
my thing. So I started wearing my own hair natural,
and I would just like that was always how I
would also like try to get people that I was
startling their hair to to ask for things like if
I wanted them to ask for a certain updo or
something like I would be rocking it and I would
be like like listening to like my MySpace, and um,
(16:03):
sure enough, people would be like, oh my god, it
looks so cool. So that's kind of like what happened
with natural hair. Like I was wearing it naturally first,
and people they would everybody would seem in They're like yo,
I love Like they would see my confidence. They would
see how like you know, like they would see the
(16:23):
visual of someone like actually wearing a natural them being
so comfortable and confident and liking it and like you
know what I mean, just flaunting it around. So um,
I started getting a lot of compliments on it, and
then people would be like, can you do my hair
like that? You can? I want to try I've never
seen my hair natural like that, Let's try it. So
then I would start doing like in the bathrooms, and
(16:45):
like literally during school, in the bathroom, I would hold
little like sessions and I would do hair in there
and I would like bring my little concoctions and zip
blogs and do it. And then that kept growing, like
even in college, like I would do that in dorm rooms.
I would do that in like all these ferent spaces.
And I feel like for a lot of people because
I wasn't pushing it on them, and because it was
like a sense of curiosity because for most of them,
(17:08):
they're never even tempted to wear their hair natural. So
it was more sold like I wonder how I would look,
like like I wonder how my hair would be. Was
like they weren't convinced yet. It wasn't like they were
like I'm ready to my natural hair journey. It was
more solved like what if you know, right, And it
seems like, I mean, that's the one thing that's really
(17:28):
attractive about UM. I think about your brand and like
what you do. It's actually something that our producer here,
Josie men in this UM was highlighting and like there's
a video she sent me where you're like, no, it's
about knowledge at the end of the day. And I
think that that's the thing like in our community, in
the Latino community, we lack knowledge of how to protect
(17:50):
our hair, right, like how to keep our hair because
we all we are we all are so different, as
you said, like everyone's texture is so different and we're
like a miss lam Like there's like such a mixture
of what we are, whether your coil a little more
coil or a little tighter, a little loose their um.
Has that changed for you a little bit? Like with
(18:10):
the knowledge that you do have. I know that you
mentioned in the past like there was never a push,
there was never like a this or that, but like
is your goal to have people embrace more their natural curls?
Of course, for me, something that I've realized it's like
not only do you know textured hair, humans like not
completely understand their hair and scalp. It's like humans in general,
(18:32):
like so literally there is like so many misconceptions about
and and so much misinformation out there about your scalp
and your hair and like a lot of the time
and even and I feel like it's not just hair
even like with our own bodies and like like ourselves
in general, people sometimes like blindly follow something or like
(18:54):
will blindly be like, oh, I read it's too too
I washed my hair every two days because I read
it and it's written right here. But it's like, bro,
like why don't you listen to your scalp? Like why
don't you why don't you like make these decisions based
on your own pH level, on your scalp, your own
(19:14):
how oily does it get? Like what is your scale
telling you? How? How how dry is it your hair?
Like instead of saying, like my hair I want um,
I read on there that it needs a lot of hold,
And it's like I read on an article that curly
hair needs a lot of hold. Okay, well, then why
why don't you analyze your own hair? Like That's why
(19:35):
whenever I'm like teaching people, my goal is to just
educate humans to understand their own scalp and hair needs
and then work towards a place of like self love
of like loving and understanding um, their own texture or
(19:56):
whatever the texture maybe, and and doing it in ways
that is going to be good for the long term
health of their scalp and hair, you know what I mean,
Like that's my goal. My goal is like how do
we get to a place of you understanding this part
of you to the point that and you understanding what
it needs, and then you give it what it needs.
(20:17):
And also in the meantime, not only does it look great,
but you're doing what's best for in the long term,
you're making it healthier with every use, like the like
the idea that, oh my hair, I'm going to be
addicted to these certain products and a little more I
use it, like when I don't use it, um, it's
going to be super dry or whatever. And it's like, No,
(20:40):
a product that is truly has all these like natural
ingredients and that are good for your hair. You should
use less after a while. You know what I mean
is you should help your hair be be stronger, be healthier,
be more repaired, be more nourished. And eventually maybe you're
not using as much as the beginning, you know what
I mean, Like there should be a benefit to a
(21:03):
shampoo that's supposed to be really good for your scalp.
Like if you're not seeing a benefit after like a
couple of weeks, it's like like are they putting enough
of that ingredients? Like what's going on? You know, what's
really happening here. And one the thing that I really
appreciate how you talk about hair is you talk about
it beyond the beauty. You talk about it in a
health concerning way, which I think is something that's really
(21:24):
important and I applaudy for also mentioning like no, it's
not just like earlier people's like we just don't. We don't.
We don't sit down and just do the simple knowledge
of like understanding what your person hair is. If anything,
I will say that the texture community, like people of
color are actually like advance when it comes to making
(21:44):
the effort to like understand ingredients, like having cleaner ingredients
like um, demanding like high quality natural um, you know,
in questioning like talking ingredients in their product because like
when I go to when I go to store, and
then I got these bottles that are hair care for
like just straight hair bro, it's awesome, like cone cheap
(22:07):
asked formulas, Like I'm literally looking at the formulations like
this is trash, Like they don't have like the worst
type of dimeticals. I'm not i'moting metics, like all these
ingredients that are just giving you the illusion of like
soft and shiny. But it's like it's so it's not
good hair. And I think it's also because us as
(22:30):
I mean as um, you know, people want to say
different different terms here about you know, people of color
or whatnot. Like we've had to be forced to almost
like create something that works for us because it's like exactly,
ain't got nothing else but these things on the shelf,
so we got and this is not it, Like I
don't know, literally, and I love that far, Like I
(22:50):
I love I love that. It's really interesting because I
feel like in general, like immigrant communities, like people of
color in general, for a long time have been the
trend setters and like they don't get the credit for
it because like the fact that like clean beauty is
like such a thing. Now, do y'all know who was
(23:11):
doing it first? Literally the textured hair care aisle. These
texture products were like the first in retail that we're
already doing it. They weren't even calling it clean beauty,
like they weren't calling it any of that. They were
just doing it because that is what the expectation is,
you know what I mean, Like that is just like
the standard. And so now that like all of these
(23:32):
the big big brands are like, oh, now we're having
clean options, and I'm like, well, it's it's like with
McDonald when we was like they're like, now chicken nuggets
now made were real chicken, and You're like, what was
you know what I mean, that's us like we've been
(23:52):
using chicken what we're putting in there right right. And
I also love, like I love the feelings. I have
to express this to you because I've seen it with
my eyes, Like I love going to tar J Target.
Don't understand for you'all, I don't understand understand. You know.
I love a tar J And I'm like, you know,
going to get my restles, as you know I do
(24:14):
when I run out and I'm and I go to
the aisle and I see people like who are looking
for curly hair products, who have no idea, and I
love this. I love when they're like, what do you use?
And I just love like the camaraderie that you are
creating for the community of curly of curly curls, because
it's trying to sponsor her, sponsor her. You guys, we're ready,
(24:38):
We're ready, if I know, if I'm being that's what
it is. Creating that community aitian between each other and
(25:02):
that openness to talk about it is so important, and
especially growing up, we don't talk about wearing your hair
curly like that was like I see my I see
my family members who to this day don't wear their
hair curly, Like I just had a family event a
few weeks ago, and again I'm the only one we're
wearing curly hair. And they're always like, oh, your hair
(25:23):
looks so beautiful. But then they still go to the
saloon like for the event and for the thing, and
I've always been like, you should try it, Like I'm
using these products. I'm always that one at the family
the family events like yeah, I use this and this
and this and this um you ever heard of is
owned by Latina, Like you know, we're out here doing
the thing and there's this fear, like there's still this
(25:46):
stigma and like what difference. What are your thoughts on
that and especially within and we can just focus on
our community because it's like, you know, that's our experience,
and I'm sure you have a different experience being from
you know, the West coast and yeah, Mexican. Yeah, It's
so interesting because to this day, the majority of our
(26:07):
resils closed customers are not even people that have been
already wearing their hair natural for so long. It's people
that have never worn it natural before and are like
learning their hair for the first time, and like that
is a huge honor to me. Like I remember, you know,
before the pandemic, when we were doing a lot of
in person events. Um. Every single time when we would
(26:29):
have these like curl classes or whatever we were having,
you would see people from all walks of life coming
in like like almost like scared, nervous, like like anxiety anxious,
um about taking this first step. And like when I
tell you, there was like a boy last bro like
(26:49):
almost eighty years old and then for the very first time,
you know, wearing trying to wear it natural. Like I
will never forget when we had an event of Puerto
Rico and there was the sab literally came. She was
in her early eighties and she was like it's and
(27:12):
and I'm just like the I literally started crying because
I'm like like, oh my goodness, Like the fact that
she it's never too late. It just inspires me, like
not just with hair, but with like anything in life
of like it's never too late to choose yourself. Like
it's never too late to like go back to your roots,
(27:35):
go back to like to whatever it is that that
you come from, your truth, you know what I mean,
Like that that is a true piece, Like the true
piece is like being able to love, honor and choose
what is innately you at your core, you know. And
I think that for her, like being able to play
any role in that process for her, it was like
(27:58):
oh my god. So I think more than anything, I
view it as like that's my goal with like resals,
Oh my god. I mean, I mean we're getting emotional,
but like that's my goal with ress of like no
matter where you are in your journey, like whether you're
like you know, barely learning how to you know, doing
your hare for the very first time as a little kid,
or you've been doing something for your whole life and
(28:20):
you kind of feel like there's no hope for me,
Like I want to create a brand that is like
helping people on that journey. Like, no matter where you
are on it, you're doing it. You're doing it. I'm
telling you firsthand that I see it and it's happening,
and I'm so grateful for you and like for the
(28:41):
products that you're creating for people like us and the
Curly Curls, because I finally feel like, now you don't
get me emotionals this well, to be real with you,
it's like it's a feeling that's laugh geing ever since
being little, but it's like a feel like being seen,
(29:03):
the feeling of being heard and being understood, um, which
is something that I think a lot of people in
our community me when you're doing that with every product
that is that you're pushing out. So I I thank
you for that, and I thank you for the work
that you're doing within our community because it's so important.
(29:26):
And people might be like, oh, it's just hair, but
it's not just hair. It's it's so much more than that.
I know that you kind of answered this question a
little bit, but I'm just curious for you, like, is
hair where the journey for Julisa kind of like six
to is there a dream of expanding something more. Is
(29:47):
this kind of like this is my corner, I'm owning
this domain and I'm taking it or other other plans.
What are what's in Judica's mind? I think for me,
and I feel like this term has been like overly
saturated with brands that it's like you don't even go here,
but like, okay, it's community, and I feel like, oh
(30:08):
my god, Like every new brand I see that, I'm like,
who who even owns you? Like where is your founders?
Like they'll be like, oh, community, Like the brand is
not about community, like these big conglomerates and you're just
like whatever, okay, so do you want to use the word.
But I feel like my passion is in community, is
in is in this idea of like whether it's a
(30:33):
curl cream or a T shirt, it's like creating these
tools of empowerment for my community, for these like subcultures
that um me want to feel seen, that want to
feel heard, that want to feel like powerful. So I
think for me is just like it's so much deeper
(30:57):
than that, Like when exactly when you say like it's
not just about hair, Like it's not just about hair,
It's not just about apparel. It's not just about skincare,
it's not just about whatever it's it's about giving people
these tools of empowerment for them to feel seen and
to feel like, um, like they're their truest self is
(31:24):
able to flourish, you know what I mean? And that
is what my passion is. I think for me um
as of right now, I'm not really um like thinking
too much about like another maybe starting another business in
the future or something, but I do want to stem
into different places within Riso's and take it to places
(31:46):
where maybe literally back. It's full funny because I feel
like for everything, like I'm the same person like and
it just having this conversation with it reminded me of this.
But that same little girl that was like, I'm going
to be a trendsetter, Like I almost start doing my
hair like this, I almost start doing this. A month later,
I'm gonna do that is the same way that I
feel with my business is like I want to go
(32:07):
and be in spaces where like beauty hasn't been seen,
Like I want to go do things where like I
don't want to do the same ship that like all
the other hair care brands are doing, like no I
want to go disrupt all these other spaces and like
show up there, you know. And and so for example, UM,
there's still a little secret, but we're gonna be doing
an apparel capsules girls And that's kind of just like
(32:30):
a side little passion project. And yeah do you know
that you know the brand Kids of Immigrants. Yeah, okay,
we're working with that. Yeah. Yeah, so we're actually dropping
like a collap t shirt UM next month. UM And yeah,
(32:53):
like I don't know, it's funny because like we kind
of the idea came kind of came about because we
were asked to do something like a collaboration thing for
Latino Heritage Month and we're like, we're gonna give you
something better than that. Like let me tell you how
we honor our honor us our heritage like year round,
every day, every they good day. We just show up
(33:15):
as this. So anyway, so like that's something that UM,
I think is really cool. And then like excites me
UM And obviously innovation, Like I think one of my
biggest passions to within my business of my roles is
UM ingredients and like innovation and coming up with like
(33:35):
more products that people love and people meet out there
and like feeding that um and then bringing really cool
innovation into the hair care space. So for example, with
like some of our most recent launches like vitamin C
with our hair mask are reparative hair mask, and I
think for me, I didn't see was one of my
favorite ingredients in skincare right, and when I started learning
(33:57):
about all the benefits reparative benefits also has within hair care,
I was like, oh my god, I want to do
it here and cinemized another really cool ingredient like carrot
seed oil. Like, there's just so many cool innovation um
that I've been inspired by within skincare or other just
in general that I'm really excited to bring into hair care.
(34:18):
I love that I cannot wait to see everything that
you are coming up with, everything you're doing and says
you already know, I'm already ready for the collaboration. So
you just let me know what to say this day too,
And so this is when the time here. I don't
say you're exclusively here, everybody girls, k I collab is coming,
(34:42):
ju Lisa, this is one of my favorite moments of
the show. Are you ready for the speed questions? Let's
do it? Okay? One you recently collaborated with Balia, who
would be another dream collaborator besides me. I know, oh
my gosh, okay, um that bunny. Okay, I mean those
(35:06):
curls because he's been wearing these girls like every since
I saw it, Like, oh, you're wearing his girls gradually recently,
I'm like, his girls are popping. I mean he might
your stuff might already be in that in the cabinets.
It's just a honest thing. So I think so a
lot of his dancers where these those girls, and they'll
post it and I'm like, he knows what's some I'm
manifesting that for you. Yes, okay too, favorite song to
(35:31):
get ready to right now? Your favorite songs? Bad bunny, Okay,
that bunny. You're out here, You're out here owning it all.
And he's a pisce. He's like me, so oh I
love p C. I'm a libra. So oh oh your season,
m it's almost coming. Okay. Number three. What reminds you
of home or makes you feel at home? Mm hmm food?
(35:56):
Like good food? Um, oh, one dish, the one did
she live without? Like that's it? Beans bro beans, pretty holess.
That's a good love. Anytime I'm anywhere, like the Caribbean
Latin America, Like I always need to try their beans.
It's like I just hear it. That's how you know
(36:19):
if the restaurant is good, because these are good. No
one's ever said beans before, and I'm really happy that
you said beans. I'm like, I like the main reason
why too, because like I've always loved beans, but I'm
claiming them even more because it's like viral TikTok of
this girl that was like um ugly people foods and
it was like beans. It was like this white girl
(36:39):
on there, and I was like, you know what, like
pretty girls, I'm gonna claim anytime I'm looking at extracute.
I want to be like I love beans. Beans is
my thing. The T shirt that says like all day
three holess like pretty being pretty holess for pretty girl.
(37:00):
I love that. I'll wear it. That would be mad
and I'm like ever since that, I'm claiming it. Lisa.
If our listeners want to follow you or follow your
journey or yeah, just happened to see what you're doing,
this is the social media plug yes at resource curls
(37:21):
on Instagram and Facebook hair for TikTok Amazing ju Lisa,
thank you so much for spending time with us. I
know that you're a busy, busy woman, so it was
such a pleasure talking to you. Impressed, and it's such
an honor to speak with the Queen of Hair. This
is a moment I won't forget. Likewise, and thank you
so much, Like your story just really touched me. And
(37:43):
thank you for you know, bringing us into spaces that
we've never been. I don't think I've ever heard of
resose girls being a part of a set like that,
So thank you, thank you, and I truly appreciate it.
So anytime, you're welcome here, anytime which one would. Mona
Nita is a production of Sonato and partnership with I
(38:04):
Heart Radio's microcluda podcast network. For more podcasts from I
heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple podcast,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Oh yeahm hint. I just want to give you a
heads up. The program you are about to hear may
have some explicit language, it may not. It also depends
on where the vibes and the spirit leads us. Hope
you enjoy Welcome to Monita, a deep dive into the
Latin X experience. With Morenita, we want to create a
(00:23):
community and a shared space with you while sharing knowledge
and inspiration. This show is about celebrating our culture with
guests who exemplify the best of us. I'm Darylene Castillo,
Vito Saludoshin Mosa Mihina and Happy latin X Latina Hispanic.
(00:49):
However you identify Heritage month here on Morenita, you know
we're all about celebrating the nuances of Latinita, and these
next episodes will be no different. Yes we are loud,
and yes we are proud, but there's so much more
to us than that. We will be sitting down and
chatting with different members of the community that are doing
(01:12):
the dang thing and making us even prouder. We chose
this specific group of people to highlight for this special
month because they all bring something a bit different to
the table. The lineup we have for you guys, is
truly an incredible one. I also want to let you
know that this month, not only are we bringing the
extra cuss song to these episodes, we are highlighting daily
(01:35):
on our Instagram page more podcast special Latino businesses to
support and show love to head to the page to
check out the daily drops handle Name podcast me hint
that today is an extra extra special episode because we
have the Queen herself, the Queen of Curls, the founder
(01:59):
and CEO of Risa's Curls, Julisa Brado. Now, if you're
a curly hair pal like me and some folks on
the Modema team, you've heard the name Julisa Brado and
you've heard of Risos. The brand is in some of
your favorite stores like Target and Ultra Beauty. If you
(02:19):
are a curly hair pal who hasn't heard of Risos,
you're welcome ahead of time. Or if you are someone
who has maybe just a little bit of hesitation about
curly hair, or maybe you just aren't sure if the
natural hair path is for you, or if you just
want to know about the process and you're still married
to your blanchat, this episode is most definitely for you.
(02:45):
Hair is important. Let's all be very clear about that.
The salon was the mecca for me growing up. I
mean it was the first place you went to before
stepping on the block. Now being Latina, I've heard the
term belo malo bahon my entire life. Belomalo translates to
(03:07):
bad hair, because curly hair was always sitting in that
category until the trend setters and game changers of the
curls like Julisa Brado came along. Julisa has always been
a trend setter with a passion for hair and knowledge.
In this interview, Julisa and I talk about her journey
(03:28):
to Riso's, but also the importance of knowledge about hair.
Not only curls, y'all, we talk about all types of hair.
Julisa's goal is to spread knowledge about hair and care
for it, because, after all, hair is not just hair,
it's your crown. Fane veto. Today we have Nina, Okay,
(04:03):
we have Julisa and I am. I would be lying
if I said I was in fan girling right now.
But welcome to what I meat that we are so
excited to have you and talk all things about curly
hair from my fellow curly hair folks out there. UM, welcome,
thank you, thank you so much. Your girls are popping. Girl.
(04:24):
I'm I'm done, girly done right now. I mean it's
all thanks to you and a beautiful product that you've
created that I've been a fan of for now five years.
I don't know if you know this, So I reached
out to and they like you, You're so busy and like,
you know, I know you don't probably run like every
aspect of your social media, but I was. I'm an
(04:45):
actress and I was in a show called Hambleton's and UM.
I literally brought your product in UM and was introduced
to your product because a hair person on the team
was like, have you heard of this produc B And
I was like no, my god. He gave me like
a bottle to take home, and then I literally began
(05:06):
taking your resols to every single like Hamilton's Towering Place,
and I was like, we need to start using this.
This is like life changing, Like it's a fuddle Latina,
like this was the CEO of this and it's like
it done concredible wonders to my hair because I could
never find products that I loved and that worked for
my hair because my hair was not like you know,
it wasn't like super kinky or super like thick. So
(05:29):
like then there's some products that were too oily for me,
too heavy, and then there were ones that were just
not really like doing it. And your product was the
first product that I spoke my hair's language. Oh my god,
I'm so honored. I'm also a huge fan of Hamilton's.
So you became like Resos became the curly hair product
(05:52):
that they were started using on all the wigs that
we had. Because I have to tell you Julys and
like being an actor and being an Afro Latina actress
with curly hair in this industry, it's been a journey
and I have to just be real because a lot
of people just don't know what to do with our hair.
And I'm even speaking about this like from the black
experience as well, that some of my black friends and
(06:14):
my African American friends have had a lot of issues
with hair, and it's always like our hair is the
second thought because it's complicated, right, it's itacy and when
you walk in a room, like there will be shows
and TV sets that I've been on and shows that
(06:34):
I've done where I have to do my own hair
over here with the straight thin hair is getting like
her hair blaw drug and the whole lamp team. And
I can't count on my hands how many times it's
happened where it's like, no, I just got it. I'll
do it like you know, because then I'll be coming
out looking all crazy. And wow, It's been a huge
(06:55):
effect on me. And now that you know, after COVID
and after some of like the things that have been
brought to light in the industry, you know, people are
trying harder and it's great. So seeing your product and
introducing your products into rooms like that has been like
one of my missions. Like literally, in this country, you
can go and be a licensed cosmetologist and all you
(07:17):
have to learn about textured hair is how to like
burn it straight, and you always everything that you learn
is always like specific to non textured hair. And then
a lot of these stylists were expressing that they if
they want to learn um about specifically textured hair, they
(07:39):
have to like out of their own pocket. They have
to go and seek these places and it's just like
you know what I mean, it's like so backwards, and
even to get booked for you know, different styling hair shoots, whatever.
Like it's just like a really backwards system that has
been created that just really called out our society as
(08:02):
a whole. And how much like you said, like you know,
especially the black experience here in this country, but it's
like it trickles down to like so many other aspects
of our society in which um, it's been so normalized,
like that Eurocentric standard of beauty, and I have to admit,
like it still is triggering, you know, when I go
(08:23):
to a set, I still like to this day, I
will always bring my curly hair products because you just
never know. And I will always bring my foundation, like
my skin tone foundation, because again you just never know.
It's like this thing in the beauty world where it's
just constantly being that kind of problem child. If I can,
if I can go deeper, and then connecting that with
(08:45):
like we can kind of switch gears a little bit here,
but connecting that to the culture that we come from
and my trauma within my Dominican culture of it and
um and all of that and on to sleep to
this day still dealing with some of that and to
this day still being one of the few people my
(09:06):
family that wears their hair curly. Wow, I'm curious what
began this hair journey for you if our listeners don't know,
(09:29):
because I follow you and I love you. I know
you come from a business background, tech savvy, you have
a hustle and a grind in your family, and I'm
curious for you, what was it that ignited you to hair?
Did you go through your own traumas, was it something
that you just always felt a passion for. Yeah, so
(09:50):
I've always been drawn to hair, like my entire life,
and then something that I feel like it's very popular
in like low income growing up in low income communities,
immigrant community these is like everybody kind of has like
a little hustle, you know what I mean, even when
you're literally like thirteen fourteen years old. So within us,
it was like I was a hair girl. I had
(10:11):
a cousin that was like the makeup girl. Another one
would be like the eyebrows girl. Somebody else is like
kind of like the stylist. So whenever we would have
like family events, like because I think something very immigrated,
like there's always cultural events. There's always like some kind
of like wedding this that always something going on exactly
(10:32):
especially back then when I was like younger, I grew
up in like just one apartment building, like every unit
was a family member. So like growing up in these environments,
like just because we didn't have money did not mean
we're about to not look fly every single one of
these events. It's like if we only had twenty dollars, like,
we're gonna get creative. We're going to share these skills
and help each other. So I grew up learning how
(10:54):
to style hair from like the free practice I got
from style like all my cousin's hair, my family's hair,
my friend's hair like, and their texture would vary from
like wavy to very tight coils um. So it was
just like such a variety of textures and and obviously
(11:17):
also with my own hair, like I would try to
style my own air too. But more than anything, I
think my understanding of scalp and hair and all of
that came from not only you know, um learnings that
I were passed onto me through like my grandmother and
my mom and my family members, but I got that
experience by actually putting my hands and fingers in hair
(11:41):
and and doing hair. And I think that for me,
it was something that always came natural, like I've always
been good at like like if someone needed a really
tight pony til, I could do that. Like back then,
what was really popular everyone asked me for was tho
selina updue. So remember those up dudes that were like
really like huge and then they'll have like the little
rolls everywhere or like or you would do like the
(12:02):
toys here and like something else. So um, that was
a lot of what what you know, I would style.
And then even throughout high school, like when I was
a freshman come homecoming prompt season, all the seniors would
book me to do their hair. Like I was like
book I'm busy smiling hair. So when I, UM, when
I started like wanting to learn how to work more
(12:26):
with natural hair, um and how to like wear how
to like understand how to wear hair naturally, was because
literally everyone's here what I was doing. Like there were
all people of color, like everyone had some kind of
texture to their hair, and um, like we were all straight,
like we a time we would leave it down. We
(12:48):
were all straining it. So I just I and I
saw how much it was like getting damaged. I would
see how you know, all of these effects to it,
and um, you know something. Another another thing that's very
much an immigrant thing is like in a lot of
these immigrant communities, especially like our grandparents and other people
(13:10):
when they were their own country. Um, that whole idea
of thinking that uh natural like um, you know, holistic
medicine and natural healing and all of that is like
a Western thing Like no, no, no, no, that was
like their only form, like that was the only source
of healing, source of self care of all these things
(13:32):
that they have. It's not like they had like these
the luxury of having, you know, all of these stores
and things that they would go and by like a
Sephora or something, you know. So I think a lot
of the learnings I had came from that and understanding
of looking at plants and herbs and and and all
of these different things as medicine and not just as
(13:54):
like you know, as a second thought. So that's kind
of like where it came from. Was there ever, like
any pushback from that of like why why are you
focusing on that? Like, you know, obviously obviously because we
come from a culture where it's like I mean, for
me being a New Yorker, I know, we're different coast sides,
but like being in New York. It's like when I
(14:15):
went to go visit my family in the Heights, the
first thing that I did was go to a salon,
Like that's the first thing you do, like before you
do anything else. Like, okay, you do get your hair done.
The hair is giving you know, a lot, a lot
of a lot of going on. We'll get the hair
done and then we can come back and we can
(14:36):
reconvene and like see what the plan is for the day. Um,
And I'm just curious for you. Was there ever any
pushback in that for you? Because the community was so
like no, girl, we just get our hair straightened and
that's what we do, and like, what are you trying
to do here? Yeah, So it's really interesting because it's
back then. You know, I was in high school, so
(14:57):
the focus wasn't natural hair. It was like I could
do everything, you know what I mean. So some people
would want me to like straighten their hair some people.
And then more than anything, I would never push the
natural hair on anybody. Like it wasn't like I was
like walking around like like uh not, let's do your
hair natural. So I was always like a little trend
setter and I always like when I was like growing up,
(15:20):
I always pride I would always pride myself on like, um,
like whatever it was like doing something new and different
at my school, like whether it was a new style
of like how to wear a certain hairstyle or like
a clothing or whatever, and I would be like, no
one's rocking this, like no one's doing this, Like I'm
gonna go out, I'm gonna stunt and watch everyone's gonna
do this in a month whatever Like that was always
(15:42):
my thing. So I started wearing my own hair natural,
and I would just like that was always how I
would also like try to get people that I was
startling their hair to to ask for things like if
I wanted them to ask for a certain updo or
something like I would be rocking it and I would
be like like listening to like my MySpace, and um,
(16:03):
sure enough, people would be like, oh my god, it
looks so cool. So that's kind of like what happened
with natural hair. Like I was wearing it naturally first,
and people they would everybody would seem in They're like yo,
I love Like they would see my confidence. They would
see how like you know, like they would see the
(16:23):
visual of someone like actually wearing a natural them being
so comfortable and confident and liking it and like you
know what I mean, just flaunting it around. So um,
I started getting a lot of compliments on it, and
then people would be like, can you do my hair
like that? You can? I want to try I've never
seen my hair natural like that, Let's try it. So
then I would start doing like in the bathrooms, and
(16:45):
like literally during school, in the bathroom, I would hold
little like sessions and I would do hair in there
and I would like bring my little concoctions and zip
blogs and do it. And then that kept growing, like
even in college, like I would do that in dorm rooms.
I would do that in like all these ferent spaces.
And I feel like for a lot of people because
I wasn't pushing it on them, and because it was
like a sense of curiosity because for most of them,
(17:08):
they're never even tempted to wear their hair natural. So
it was more sold like I wonder how I would look,
like like I wonder how my hair would be. Was
like they weren't convinced yet. It wasn't like they were
like I'm ready to my natural hair journey. It was
more solved like what if you know, right, And it
seems like, I mean, that's the one thing that's really
(17:28):
attractive about UM. I think about your brand and like
what you do. It's actually something that our producer here,
Josie men in this UM was highlighting and like there's
a video she sent me where you're like, no, it's
about knowledge at the end of the day. And I
think that that's the thing like in our community, in
the Latino community, we lack knowledge of how to protect
(17:50):
our hair, right, like how to keep our hair because
we all we are we all are so different, as
you said, like everyone's texture is so different and we're
like a miss lam Like there's like such a mixture
of what we are, whether your coil a little more
coil or a little tighter, a little loose their um.
Has that changed for you a little bit? Like with
(18:10):
the knowledge that you do have. I know that you
mentioned in the past like there was never a push,
there was never like a this or that, but like
is your goal to have people embrace more their natural curls?
Of course, for me, something that I've realized it's like
not only do you know textured hair, humans like not
completely understand their hair and scalp. It's like humans in general,
(18:32):
like so literally there is like so many misconceptions about
and and so much misinformation out there about your scalp
and your hair and like a lot of the time
and even and I feel like it's not just hair
even like with our own bodies and like like ourselves
in general, people sometimes like blindly follow something or like
(18:54):
will blindly be like, oh, I read it's too too
I washed my hair every two days because I read
it and it's written right here. But it's like, bro,
like why don't you listen to your scalp? Like why
don't you why don't you like make these decisions based
on your own pH level, on your scalp, your own
(19:14):
how oily does it get? Like what is your scale
telling you? How? How how dry is it your hair?
Like instead of saying, like my hair I want um,
I read on there that it needs a lot of hold,
And it's like I read on an article that curly
hair needs a lot of hold. Okay, well, then why
why don't you analyze your own hair? Like That's why
(19:35):
whenever I'm like teaching people, my goal is to just
educate humans to understand their own scalp and hair needs
and then work towards a place of like self love
of like loving and understanding um, their own texture or
(19:56):
whatever the texture maybe, and and doing it in ways
that is going to be good for the long term
health of their scalp and hair, you know what I mean,
Like that's my goal. My goal is like how do
we get to a place of you understanding this part
of you to the point that and you understanding what
it needs, and then you give it what it needs.
(20:17):
And also in the meantime, not only does it look great,
but you're doing what's best for in the long term,
you're making it healthier with every use, like the like
the idea that, oh my hair, I'm going to be
addicted to these certain products and a little more I
use it, like when I don't use it, um, it's
going to be super dry or whatever. And it's like, No,
(20:40):
a product that is truly has all these like natural
ingredients and that are good for your hair. You should
use less after a while. You know what I mean
is you should help your hair be be stronger, be healthier,
be more repaired, be more nourished. And eventually maybe you're
not using as much as the beginning, you know what
I mean, Like there should be a benefit to a
(21:03):
shampoo that's supposed to be really good for your scalp.
Like if you're not seeing a benefit after like a
couple of weeks, it's like like are they putting enough
of that ingredients? Like what's going on? You know, what's
really happening here. And one the thing that I really
appreciate how you talk about hair is you talk about
it beyond the beauty. You talk about it in a
health concerning way, which I think is something that's really
(21:24):
important and I applaudy for also mentioning like no, it's
not just like earlier people's like we just don't. We don't.
We don't sit down and just do the simple knowledge
of like understanding what your person hair is. If anything,
I will say that the texture community, like people of
color are actually like advance when it comes to making
(21:44):
the effort to like understand ingredients, like having cleaner ingredients
like um, demanding like high quality natural um, you know,
in questioning like talking ingredients in their product because like
when I go to when I go to store, and
then I got these bottles that are hair care for
like just straight hair bro, it's awesome, like cone cheap
(22:07):
asked formulas, Like I'm literally looking at the formulations like
this is trash, Like they don't have like the worst
type of dimeticals. I'm not i'moting metics, like all these
ingredients that are just giving you the illusion of like
soft and shiny. But it's like it's so it's not
good hair. And I think it's also because us as
(22:30):
I mean as um, you know, people want to say
different different terms here about you know, people of color
or whatnot. Like we've had to be forced to almost
like create something that works for us because it's like exactly,
ain't got nothing else but these things on the shelf,
so we got and this is not it, Like I
don't know, literally, and I love that far, Like I
(22:50):
I love I love that. It's really interesting because I
feel like in general, like immigrant communities, like people of
color in general, for a long time have been the
trend setters and like they don't get the credit for
it because like the fact that like clean beauty is
like such a thing. Now, do y'all know who was
(23:11):
doing it first? Literally the textured hair care aisle. These
texture products were like the first in retail that we're
already doing it. They weren't even calling it clean beauty,
like they weren't calling it any of that. They were
just doing it because that is what the expectation is,
you know what I mean, Like that is just like
the standard. And so now that like all of these
(23:32):
the big big brands are like, oh, now we're having
clean options, and I'm like, well, it's it's like with
McDonald when we was like they're like, now chicken nuggets
now made were real chicken, and You're like, what was
you know what I mean, that's us like we've been
(23:52):
using chicken what we're putting in there right right. And
I also love, like I love the feelings. I have
to express this to you because I've seen it with
my eyes, Like I love going to tar J Target.
Don't understand for you'all, I don't understand understand. You know.
I love a tar J And I'm like, you know,
going to get my restles, as you know I do
(24:14):
when I run out and I'm and I go to
the aisle and I see people like who are looking
for curly hair products, who have no idea, and I
love this. I love when they're like, what do you use?
And I just love like the camaraderie that you are
creating for the community of curly of curly curls, because
it's trying to sponsor her, sponsor her. You guys, we're ready,
(24:38):
We're ready, if I know, if I'm being that's what
it is. Creating that community aitian between each other and
(25:02):
that openness to talk about it is so important, and
especially growing up, we don't talk about wearing your hair
curly like that was like I see my I see
my family members who to this day don't wear their
hair curly, Like I just had a family event a
few weeks ago, and again I'm the only one we're
wearing curly hair. And they're always like, oh, your hair
(25:23):
looks so beautiful. But then they still go to the
saloon like for the event and for the thing, and
I've always been like, you should try it, Like I'm
using these products. I'm always that one at the family
the family events like yeah, I use this and this
and this and this um you ever heard of is
owned by Latina, Like you know, we're out here doing
the thing and there's this fear, like there's still this
(25:46):
stigma and like what difference. What are your thoughts on
that and especially within and we can just focus on
our community because it's like, you know, that's our experience,
and I'm sure you have a different experience being from
you know, the West coast and yeah, Mexican. Yeah, It's
so interesting because to this day, the majority of our
(26:07):
resils closed customers are not even people that have been
already wearing their hair natural for so long. It's people
that have never worn it natural before and are like
learning their hair for the first time, and like that
is a huge honor to me. Like I remember, you know,
before the pandemic, when we were doing a lot of
in person events. Um. Every single time when we would
(26:29):
have these like curl classes or whatever we were having,
you would see people from all walks of life coming
in like like almost like scared, nervous, like like anxiety anxious,
um about taking this first step. And like when I
tell you, there was like a boy last bro like
(26:49):
almost eighty years old and then for the very first time,
you know, wearing trying to wear it natural. Like I
will never forget when we had an event of Puerto
Rico and there was the sab literally came. She was
in her early eighties and she was like it's and
(27:12):
and I'm just like the I literally started crying because
I'm like like, oh my goodness, Like the fact that
she it's never too late. It just inspires me, like
not just with hair, but with like anything in life
of like it's never too late to choose yourself. Like
it's never too late to like go back to your roots,
(27:35):
go back to like to whatever it is that that
you come from, your truth, you know what I mean,
Like that that is a true piece, Like the true
piece is like being able to love, honor and choose
what is innately you at your core, you know. And
I think that for her, like being able to play
any role in that process for her, it was like
(27:58):
oh my god. So I think more than anything, I
view it as like that's my goal with like resals,
Oh my god. I mean, I mean we're getting emotional,
but like that's my goal with ress of like no
matter where you are in your journey, like whether you're
like you know, barely learning how to you know, doing
your hare for the very first time as a little kid,
or you've been doing something for your whole life and
(28:20):
you kind of feel like there's no hope for me,
Like I want to create a brand that is like
helping people on that journey. Like, no matter where you
are on it, you're doing it. You're doing it. I'm
telling you firsthand that I see it and it's happening,
and I'm so grateful for you and like for the
(28:41):
products that you're creating for people like us and the
Curly Curls, because I finally feel like, now you don't
get me emotionals this well, to be real with you,
it's like it's a feeling that's laugh geing ever since
being little, but it's like a feel like being seen,
(29:03):
the feeling of being heard and being understood, um, which
is something that I think a lot of people in
our community me when you're doing that with every product
that is that you're pushing out. So I I thank
you for that, and I thank you for the work
that you're doing within our community because it's so important.
(29:26):
And people might be like, oh, it's just hair, but
it's not just hair. It's it's so much more than that.
I know that you kind of answered this question a
little bit, but I'm just curious for you, like, is
hair where the journey for Julisa kind of like six
to is there a dream of expanding something more. Is
(29:47):
this kind of like this is my corner, I'm owning
this domain and I'm taking it or other other plans.
What are what's in Judica's mind? I think for me,
and I feel like this term has been like overly
saturated with brands that it's like you don't even go here,
but like, okay, it's community, and I feel like, oh
(30:08):
my god, Like every new brand I see that, I'm like,
who who even owns you? Like where is your founders?
Like they'll be like, oh, community, Like the brand is
not about community, like these big conglomerates and you're just
like whatever, okay, so do you want to use the word.
But I feel like my passion is in community, is
in is in this idea of like whether it's a
(30:33):
curl cream or a T shirt, it's like creating these
tools of empowerment for my community, for these like subcultures
that um me want to feel seen, that want to
feel heard, that want to feel like powerful. So I
think for me is just like it's so much deeper
(30:57):
than that, Like when exactly when you say like it's
not just about hair, Like it's not just about hair,
It's not just about apparel. It's not just about skincare,
it's not just about whatever it's it's about giving people
these tools of empowerment for them to feel seen and
to feel like, um, like they're their truest self is
(31:24):
able to flourish, you know what I mean? And that
is what my passion is. I think for me um
as of right now, I'm not really um like thinking
too much about like another maybe starting another business in
the future or something, but I do want to stem
into different places within Riso's and take it to places
(31:46):
where maybe literally back. It's full funny because I feel
like for everything, like I'm the same person like and
it just having this conversation with it reminded me of this.
But that same little girl that was like, I'm going
to be a trendsetter, Like I almost start doing my
hair like this, I almost start doing this. A month later,
I'm gonna do that is the same way that I
feel with my business is like I want to go
(32:07):
and be in spaces where like beauty hasn't been seen,
Like I want to go do things where like I
don't want to do the same ship that like all
the other hair care brands are doing, like no I
want to go disrupt all these other spaces and like
show up there, you know. And and so for example, UM,
there's still a little secret, but we're gonna be doing
an apparel capsules girls And that's kind of just like
(32:30):
a side little passion project. And yeah do you know
that you know the brand Kids of Immigrants. Yeah, okay,
we're working with that. Yeah. Yeah, so we're actually dropping
like a collap t shirt UM next month. UM And yeah,
(32:53):
like I don't know, it's funny because like we kind
of the idea came kind of came about because we
were asked to do something like a collaboration thing for
Latino Heritage Month and we're like, we're gonna give you
something better than that. Like let me tell you how
we honor our honor us our heritage like year round,
every day, every they good day. We just show up
(33:15):
as this. So anyway, so like that's something that UM,
I think is really cool. And then like excites me
UM And obviously innovation, Like I think one of my
biggest passions to within my business of my roles is
UM ingredients and like innovation and coming up with like
(33:35):
more products that people love and people meet out there
and like feeding that um and then bringing really cool
innovation into the hair care space. So for example, with
like some of our most recent launches like vitamin C
with our hair mask are reparative hair mask, and I
think for me, I didn't see was one of my
favorite ingredients in skincare right, and when I started learning
(33:57):
about all the benefits reparative benefits also has within hair care,
I was like, oh my god, I want to do
it here and cinemized another really cool ingredient like carrot
seed oil. Like, there's just so many cool innovation um
that I've been inspired by within skincare or other just
in general that I'm really excited to bring into hair care.
(34:18):
I love that I cannot wait to see everything that
you are coming up with, everything you're doing and says
you already know, I'm already ready for the collaboration. So
you just let me know what to say this day too,
And so this is when the time here. I don't
say you're exclusively here, everybody girls, k I collab is coming,
(34:42):
ju Lisa, this is one of my favorite moments of
the show. Are you ready for the speed questions? Let's
do it? Okay? One you recently collaborated with Balia, who
would be another dream collaborator besides me. I know, oh
my gosh, okay, um that bunny. Okay, I mean those
(35:06):
curls because he's been wearing these girls like every since
I saw it, Like, oh, you're wearing his girls gradually recently,
I'm like, his girls are popping. I mean he might
your stuff might already be in that in the cabinets.
It's just a honest thing. So I think so a
lot of his dancers where these those girls, and they'll
post it and I'm like, he knows what's some I'm
manifesting that for you. Yes, okay too, favorite song to
(35:31):
get ready to right now? Your favorite songs? Bad bunny, Okay,
that bunny. You're out here, You're out here owning it all.
And he's a pisce. He's like me, so oh I
love p C. I'm a libra. So oh oh your season,
m it's almost coming. Okay. Number three. What reminds you
of home or makes you feel at home? Mm hmm food?
(35:56):
Like good food? Um, oh, one dish, the one did
she live without? Like that's it? Beans bro beans, pretty holess.
That's a good love. Anytime I'm anywhere, like the Caribbean
Latin America, Like I always need to try their beans.
It's like I just hear it. That's how you know
(36:19):
if the restaurant is good, because these are good. No
one's ever said beans before, and I'm really happy that
you said beans. I'm like, I like the main reason
why too, because like I've always loved beans, but I'm
claiming them even more because it's like viral TikTok of
this girl that was like um ugly people foods and
it was like beans. It was like this white girl
(36:39):
on there, and I was like, you know what, like
pretty girls, I'm gonna claim anytime I'm looking at extracute.
I want to be like I love beans. Beans is
my thing. The T shirt that says like all day
three holess like pretty being pretty holess for pretty girl.
(37:00):
I love that. I'll wear it. That would be mad
and I'm like ever since that, I'm claiming it. Lisa.
If our listeners want to follow you or follow your
journey or yeah, just happened to see what you're doing,
this is the social media plug yes at resource curls
(37:21):
on Instagram and Facebook hair for TikTok Amazing ju Lisa,
thank you so much for spending time with us. I
know that you're a busy, busy woman, so it was
such a pleasure talking to you. Impressed, and it's such
an honor to speak with the Queen of Hair. This
is a moment I won't forget. Likewise, and thank you
so much, Like your story just really touched me. And
(37:43):
thank you for you know, bringing us into spaces that
we've never been. I don't think I've ever heard of
resose girls being a part of a set like that,
So thank you, thank you, and I truly appreciate it.
So anytime, you're welcome here, anytime which one would. Mona
Nita is a production of Sonato and partnership with I
(38:04):
Heart Radio's microcluda podcast network. For more podcasts from I
heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple podcast,
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