The Founder of Miss Jessie's Got Retail Placement by Asking a Stock Boy for Intel After an entrepreneurial failure, Miko Branch launched a new business out of necessity -- and identified a lucrative, underserved market in the haircare industry.
This story appears in the March 2019 issue of Start Up.
![](https://assets.entrepreneur.com/content/3x2/2000/20180703172718-150826140218-mik-branch-full-169.png)
In the Women Entrepreneur series My First Moves, we talk to founders about that pivotal moment when they decided to turn their business idea into a reality—and the first steps they took to make it happen.
Miko Branch started working as a hairstylist for two reasons: She loved hair, and she knew she could be her own boss in the industry. When a string of entrepreneurial successes, failures and misfires ultimately led her to focus on serving women with curly hair -- primarily African American women who, like Branch, wanted to wear their hair naturally -- she found a lucrative niche. Along with her sister, she started experimenting and creating a product line for curly hair, one that could support the very cut she'd popularized. Today, those kitchen experiments have grown into Miss Jessie's, a multi-million dollar product line sold in retailers across the country. Branch breaks down her start and details how life's necessities -- paying the mortgage and keeping her son happy and healthy -- drove her toward success.
1. Don't let missteps and failure stop you.
The rest of this article is locked.
Join Entrepreneur+ today for access.
Already have an account? Sign In