HER-STORY

Natasha ‘@TheCurlyCEO’ Sheppard is a black woman who grew up in the GTA (from Hamilton, to Mississauga, and now Toronto). From the time she was a little child, she has always strived to be “a seller” (just like her Mom and Dad). Growing up, she was always encouraged to explore her entrepreneurial escapades, whether that was a dog-walking service or being a travelling esthetician. She always knew she wanted to have a business of her own as she enjoyed the challenge. In high school, Natasha really focused her business efforts by joining a business competition group — where she ranked in Provincials — and completed a Certificate in Business Concentration with Honours. During this time, she also grew a liking to Information Technology (IT) as it was fun and came easy to her. Natasha went on to pursue Business Technology Management at Ryerson University, a natural fit for meshing Business and IT, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce.

During her last few years in University, she started her “curly journey”. As the journey progressed, Natasha learned more about curly hair product ingredients and wanted to make her own Canadian and affordable brand (her first business, CurlShoppe, and now), Kerl Beauty. 

It honestly all started when I decided to cut all my hair off so I could be a true “curly girl”. After countless hours of watching youtube videos, reading blogs, and researching sites, I got my healthy hair on track and finally discovered my curls (this was after thinking I didn’t have any because I straightened my hair so much for so long, I didn’t know any better). I started sharing my journey (via blogging, YouTube and Instagram) and continued learning until I became more confident in myself and embracing my new found natural hair. To be honest, I started off by selling another company’s hair pills and imported them into Canada. But after playing around with ingredients myself, researching science blogs and forums and making my own formulas, I realized that people were buying my products and that gave me so much confidence! I knew I was onto something.

I just wanted to be able to pick up a product, look at its ingredients and actually understand what was in it. I wanted others to know that the company they were buying from understood the natural hair community and what they go through to take care of their hair. Something that I take pride in.

— Natasha