Naomi Barrant describes the usual trek to find affordable, quality hair products designed for Black people as a “field trip.”
“You’re probably going to go on the wrong bus or [be] calling an Uber when you needed to be saving money to buy the products,” said Barrant, a second-year business administration and communication studies combined major.
Barrant, who is Black, isn’t alone in this experience. Black peoples’ hair is unique and comes in a diverse array of textures. Traditionally, it is characterized by its kinkiness and coiliness which require specialized maintenance routines.
Most hair products in convenience or grocery stores are tailored towards those with straight or wavy hair, not kinky and coily hair, according to studies.
Barrant and her friend and business partner, Ashleigh Chiwaya, a second-year psychology and data science combined major, founded Nuly Root’d as a way to break down barriers to receiving adequate hair care. The business will provide vending machines stocked with Black haircare products which are expected to roll out in fall 2024, hopefully in Curry Student Center, Chiwaya said.
Chiwaya went to an all-girls boarding school in Wellesley and said some students — many living away from home for the first time — had a hard time maintaining their hair.
“They [got] their braids done at the beginning of the school year, but [then] it’s Thanksgiving and you want to redo your hair,” Chiwaya said.
In 2023, Chiwaya and Barrant participated in the Husky Startup Challenge, Northeastern’s
“official venture incubator and startup pitch competition,” according to its website, and ultimately won. Despite the idea’s initial success, the two friends still faced criticism for their venture.
“We were facing a lot of pushback of ‘Do you really need a vending machine?’ ‘Why don’t you create an app?’ However, for us, we felt that a vending machine and the power of taking up space is really important,” Chiwaya said.
As of fall 2022, Black students make up 5.2% of Northeastern’s undergraduate population. Chiwaya and Barrant said that the Black community is “close-knit” and many students know each other by name.
“What [Northeastern] should know is that supporting us is holding true to their values. If diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging are your values, we embody working towards creating spaces that are more inclusive,” Barrant said.
Known for its co-op program, Northeastern’s curriculum is pre-professional and career-oriented. With just over 90% of students completing at least one co-op, the search for a job starts with how students present themselves to potential employers, Chiwaya said.
“Professionalism for the Black community starts out with how we look,” Chiwaya said.
Chiwaya and Barrant, along with many of their peers of color, frequent the John D. O’Bryant African American Institute — Northeastern’s primary space for Black students on campus — which hosts numerous professional development opportunities that allow students to undergo simulations of potential futures. The sentiment is clear: Hair matters as much as the story hair can tell.
“I think it’s about being bold, making big choices, taking up space. I think it’s about letting yourself be exactly [who] you want to be even in predominantly white places,” said Dominique Smith, a client of Barrant’s hair braiding service and second-year business administration major.
The two pioneers note their business’ mission goes beyond individual experiences but is rather connected by narratives woven together with shared visions for full diversity and acceptance.
In allowing these shared visions to become a reality, Barrant and Chiwaya believe it is a joint responsibility between the students and the university, the advocacy of the students who know the ins and outs of their culture and the platform of the university .
“If you want to support us, then support us,” Barrant said.
Nuly Root’d is also a way that Barrant and Chiwaya, who are both from Massachusetts, are giving back to the neighboring community of Roxbury, which Northeastern has expanded into.
“A lot of the disproportionate advantages that we’re facing are due to the things that Northeastern themselves has done, such as the expansion of the school into Roxbury,” Barrant said.
Being from Mattapan, Barrant has experienced the way Northeastern’s expansion has changed the neighborhood dynamics in Roxbury, she said.
“Give back to these neighborhoods, give back to the community that has been giving back to you,” Chiwaya said.
As the two entrepreneurs see it, Nuly Root’d begins the long yet necessary process of building a better Northeastern and a brighter Boston, one twist at a time.
