From assistant to CEO, Grace Eleyae turned what she viewed as her biggest disadvantage into one of her greatest opportunities.

Growing up as a dark-skinned, first-generation American in a predominantly Caucasian suburb, Grace was the girl with short, fine half-Kenyan hair who always wanted her ponytail puff to sway back and forth like all of the other girls.

Weaves, wigs and perms became her go-to. Not necessarily because she loved the style, but because she wanted to hide her natural, non-swaying hair.

Then Solange Knowles came on the scene. Then Janelle Monae. Then Lupita Nyong’o. All women with different hair-types who embraced their natural hair. In their confidence they disrupted the “swaying hair” beauty standard and encouraged others, like Grace, to do the same.

In 2014, Grace did the big chop (gulp). It gave her the courage to live the life she wanted regardless of negative external influences. In other words, it gave her the courage to live confidently.

It gave her the courage to live the life she wanted regardless of negative external influences.

After she went natural, she realized that there weren’t a lot of stylish ways to protect her hair. And there definitely wasn’t a way to “get up and go” during washday. So she created the Slap (satin-lined cap)®.

Since then, Grace has been named as one of the top ten black female Founders who dominated 2016 by Huffington Post, 3 Kick-Ass Women Entrepreneurs You Should Know and more. In only 3 years, she has sold over 700,000 products to more than 250,000 people worldwide.

Facts

Grace is first generation American - her father is from Nigeria and her mom is from Kenya.
The company is owned by Grace, her mother, Ema and her youngest sister, Angel. Grace's oldest sister, Glory is the HR Manager and her father serves as a member of the board.
Uses Grace Eleyae Inc as a means to provide fresh accessible water to her family's village in Uzere, Nigeria.
Company grew to over a million dollars in revenue in under a year.

Contact details:

Instagram @graceeleyae

Facebook Satin Lined Caps

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