Cosmetologist Jerricha Hoskins has always wanted to be like Madam CJ Walker. “I’ve been using all the hair care products on the market but none worked out for me.
So, I started formulating things and introducing them to the public. In a little over two years, I built a $2 million dollar business,” she said.
Her line, Arcani Coil Care, carries everything from vegan-based temporary hair colors to men’s beard care kits and kids mousse.
Once homeless, the mom of six says her new reality is sometimes hard to believe. Jerricha was placed in foster care at 15-years-old after her mother dropped her off at Daybreak Dayton, a youth services organization, and never returned. Three years later she found herself homeless and pregnant, left to care for her son alone.
Her staff includes mostly single mothers and foster kids who are aging out of the system.
“I’m very passionate about working with at-risk youth because I was an at-risk youth at one time. I know that if I was able to see something like this at an earlier stage it would’ve gave me that extra push,” she said.
Her products are being shipped from her Dayton office around the world to Zambia, Canada and the Caribbean with Houston, Atlanta and Chicago being her top American suppliers.