Today we’d like to introduce you to Binta Mamadou.
Hi Binta, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself and telling us more about how Visions Braid Bar came to be.
My vision (no pun intended!) for creating Visions Braid Bar came from a desire to provide Black women with high-quality braiding solutions in a modern, premium and comfortable environment with exceptional customer service. I wanted to create a space where a range of natural hair services are offered by a curated and diverse group of talented stylists. As natural hairstyles continue to rise in popularity and demand, Black women from ranging social and economic backgrounds seek professional one-stop shops where they can get a range of natural haircare services, including braids, twists and locs, which is exactly what we offer.
My path to Visions Braid Bar has been windy and untraditional – I have nearly two decades of experience working with international non-profit organizations, in the private sector, and for the federal government, and have been a practicing attorney for almost ten years. I have a Bachelor’s in International Economics from Georgetown University and a Juris Doctor from The George Washington University Law School. While my academic and professional backgrounds might seem to diverge from the braiding world, these experiences have helped Visions Braid Bar become the highly-rated business it is today in the Washington, DC metropolitan area (the “DC area”). Our clients appreciate our level of organization and reliability, and the seamlessness with which they can schedule and receive services.
As a business attorney, at the core, I am a service provider, and a substantial part of my job is to anticipate and identify issues and come up with solutions to mitigate those issues. For years, I felt Black women did not have access to quality, “main street” level solutions to hair braiding services. For so many Black women, getting their hair braided feels like a burdensome and stressful chore where they too often must deal with a lack of professionalism rather than it being an enjoyable experience and act of self-care – this was the problem I sought to solve by establishing Visions Braid Bar. With time and through word-of-mouth, I am proud that Visions Braid Bar has built a strong reputation as a brand you can trust in the DC area with loyal Visionaries (our clients) who drive hours to come to us or plan their hair appointments around their vacations while visiting the DC area from out of the state and out of the country, including the farthest I am aware of being Saudi Arabia!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I will start by saying that operating a services business (and for that matter, probably any business) is not for the faint of heart! The challenges we faced can be generally segmented into two phases – the pre-operations and operations phases. Prior to operations, our biggest challenge was a lack of access to readily available information and capital, and after we began operating, it was that a global pandemic was declared one month after the business opened its doors.
I am the first person in my family and within my social circles to create a business of this nature, which meant that the learning curve was steep and costly in terms of both time and financial resources. I did not have access to people I could reach out to who had first-hand experience with what I was trying to do and could provide guidance. So, Google university became a primary resource, and while it’s “free”, one of its costs is that you can make a lot of mistakes if you are not careful to vet the sources of information. That said, my experience as a business attorney was an invaluable asset I was able to leverage to establish and organize the company, negotiate our commercial lease and go through the process of registering our trademark.
In terms of lack of access to capital, I did not think we would qualify for grants and loans from financial institutions (so I did not apply) and I was afraid to let people I knew invest in the business because I did not want to face the risk of them possibly not getting returns on their investments if things did not work out. Hindsight being 20/20, these were mistakes on my part and as the saying goes, the only shots you miss are those you do not take. If I could do it all over, I would have worked with someone who could have helped me navigate the process and helped me structure the financial aspects of my business strategy. Because the business has been completely self-funded, we have not always been able to take the calculated business risks that we have wanted and have had to be overly conservative in certain areas.
We opened our doors in February 2020, a few weeks before the COVID-related shutdowns began, and shortly thereafter, we closed for approximately three months. To say the least, a global pandemic was not part of the scenarios I had contemplated in my business plan. This has been one of the biggest operational challenges we faced in that it delayed our initial takeoff, forced us to put a number of initiatives on the backburner and limited our revenues and growth during our first couple of years in business. As we navigated the challenges of starting a new brick-and-mortar business which were accentuated by the unexpected difficulties brought on by the pandemic, our vision remained clear and steadfast – our goal was, and remains, to create an intersection between excellence and creativity. Our customer service is exceptional — hands down. Today, the numbers and client reviews speak for themselves and we are proud of the growth trajectory on which we are.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Visions Braid Bar?
Visions Braid Bar is an inclusive full-service braid bar where we offer a range of natural hair services with and without extensions, including braids, twists and locs. We provide solutions for children, men and women, including individuals suffering from various forms of alopecia, and in many cases service entire families! We are located in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, just outside of the city in Oxon Hill, Maryland (for those in the area, we are located approximately 5 minutes from the National Harbor).
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
My family has been instrumental in Vision Braid Bar’s success. The first person who deserves credit is my grandmother who I grew up watching being a jack of all trades and through whom I learned that it was okay to have many interests and to tap into your passions. She began her career as a nurse and then went into pharmaceuticals sales as her main hustles, and had side hustles as a seamstress and entrepreneur who would buy and resell goods from her many travels throughout West Africa. And she speaks seven languages fluently!! The second person who deserves credit is my mother who is an all-around great person who is extremely hospitable and always wants to make sure people are happy. These attributes have definitely rubbed off on me and have influenced our business values – they are the reasons Visions Braid Bar is a warm and welcoming place where anyone can feel at home. Finally, so many people in my family have “worked” (by that, I mean volunteered) at Visions Braid Bar, from assembling salon chairs to working the frontdesk when we were understaffed to being my cheerleaders. For each of them and their contributions to our success, I am eternally grateful.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://visionsbraidb
ar.com - Instagram: https://instagram.
com/visionsbraidbar - Facebook: https://facebook.
com/visionsbraidbar - Twitter: https://twitter.com/
visionsbraidbar - Other: https://tiktok.com/@
visionsbraidbar
Image Credits
Personal Photo (1st pic) photographer: Derrick L. Davis Photography Remaining pictures: Binta Mamadou
