“I’m building an international brand, but that’s not what I’d planned,” says Angel Cornelius. “That doesn’t sound right. I am intentionally creating an international brand. I am, however, an accidental entrepreneur.”
That was the opening of our conversation. Angel Cornelius, Founder and CEO of Maison 276, joined Pat to share her enthusiasm and wisdom on taking chances, changing direction and living your dreams to the fullest. Angel left her corporate job in Clinical Management at Texas Children’s Hospital at 57 to start her own premium beauty products company.
During our discussion Angel shares her dream that soon all women will come to appreciate the benefits of midlife rather than feel pressured to re-capture their youth.
“I was managing a busy pediatrics clinic at the hospital during the day and then working to build Maison 276 at night,” says Angel. “I wasn’t looking to become an entrepreneur. I was inventing products that addressed pain points that I had. I went grey very young. My mother found the first silver strands when I was young enough that she was still brushing my hair.”
SOLVING A PERSONAL PAIN POINT LEADS TO A MARKET-READY PRODUCT
“I did all the things girls do to their hair. But by 2012 I was ready to forgo chemical relaxers to adopt a cleaner, toxic-free beauty regime. I was ready to embrace the curl, colour and texture of my hair. I tried to find something that worked on my hair to retain moisture and provide brilliance. As anyone who has grey, silver or blonde hair knows, washing with normal hair care products leaves your hair yellowed or orange. If you use the purple shampoos designed to reduce the brassiness, you’ll eventually wind up with “old lady blue hair” and you’ll have double the laundry as blue products turn everything blue – towels, t-shirts, vanity tops – everything.”
“At first, I started mixing over the counter products in my home. Then I delved into ingredients and finally I started creating my own formulas.” Says Angel. “Honestly, I was solving for personal pain points.”
I CREATED MY OWN BEAUTY PRODUCTS
She started mixing her own hair products at home in her kitchen sink. “I wanted just one system, one set of products to use to wash my hair,” she continued. “It had to not add unwanted color, but at the same time it also needed to address the needs of silver or mature hair. Our hair changes, not just with colour change, but also with age. Like our skin, our hair has different needs as we grow older.”
“All of this was happening in my kitchen after I finished my day at the hospital and with my children. We were a busy family with four kids at home.”
“I branched out from hair care and started to make my own body butters. Like my hair, my skin required extra moisture. I also like the fragrance of essential oils, especially lavender.” It was actually the body care products that launched the reluctant entrepreneur. Angel shared how she used a hand cream when she was with her friends at church. “When you work in the hospital, you wash your hands a lot. My hands were quite dry so I had developed a lavender based body butter that I’d put in a small jar for myself. It was when I took it out of my purse to put lotion on my hands after washing that a friend asked what I was using. That was the beginning of product demand. At first, I was making products for family and friends. I even had to open an Etsy store to keep up with demand.”
FROM KITCEN SINK TO PRODUCTION LINES
“At the time I was just turning 50. I’d mix up products in my kitchen with the few hours I had at the end of the day,” says Angel. “I was still very much enjoying my career at the hospital.”
Things started to change as local media heard about products that were addressing a specific pain point that no one else was doing. The first big break came when ESSENCE Magazine, an American monthly lifestyle magazine written for African-American women, featured Maison 276’s Pomegranate Kiss Body Butter. The magazine included a full-size of the body butter in their Essence Beauty Box for subscribers in 2016. “It was a wakeup call to suddenly have to produce 15,100 pieces at one time. This was no longer a kitchen product,”says Angela. “I had said yes to the project before I realized that we’d need more than 10,000 units to start.”
“I think the look on my face was one of panic. I knew we would not be able to produce that volume in my kitchen.” That was the beginning of exploring the world of manufacturing. “I had to find a company that would work with me. I needed someone that would help process prove my formulas so that we could take them from small kitchen batches to full size assembly line. But more importantly we needed someone that would do small batches. We’re working as a small start-up. There was no funding for a minimum run of 50,000 units.”
FINDNG A MANUFACTURING PARTNER WAS NOT EASY
“Finding the right manufacturing partner was the beginning of where we are now. As we grew, we branched out from skincare and ware scaling up my original products: haircare for silver/blonde hair. I knew that would be the definitive product because no one was developing anything beyond the “blue” products. If we could do that, we’d have a product without peer.”
“I was right, the next big break came when a home shopping network invited us to showcase the three-step system for silver and blonde hair,” says Angel. “There was such a demand for this type of product, after our first appearance, we were asked to appear again six hours later.”
“Our next appearance was on QVC. I had entered a competition for the network to find the next big “thing”. We wound up winning QVC’s “The Big Find” award and then went on to winn the Amazon Choice Award.”
“It was time to make a commitment to the brand,” says Angel. “We officially launched the brand name Maison 276 (an homage to my New Orleans roots). I handed in my resignation and made my commitment to being an entrepreneur. My first employee was my son.”
Maison 276 products are created with botanicals and nature-inspired fragrances.
Products include:
Clarify Pre-shampoo
Hydrate Shampoo
Restore Conditioner
No. 8 Botaniques Dry Oil
Body Butter available in Pomegranate Kiss, Romantic Gardenia and French Lavender
Shower Gel available in Pomegranate Kiss
Luxury Soap available in Pomegranate Kiss, Romantic Gardenia, French Lavender, Oatmeal & Honey, Goat's Milk & Honey and Onyx Detoxifying
A FOCUS ON AUTHENTICITY FOR MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN
“I am committed to providing premium products that address the needs of middle-aged women,” says Angel. “When we started going to trade shows, I quickly realized that I was one of the oldest presenters there. Other women of my age would gather around my table. They wanted to know about our products, but also, they had general questions across the beauty spectrum. They wanted to know about my hair. How did I keep it so white? How did I keep it so healthy?”
“It baffles me, middle-aged women are the most powerful consumer group in this country. Yet we are largely ignored, misunderstood, and misrepresented,” Angel says. “And when they do pay attention to us, it's often from a point of age correction, anti-aging wrinkle reduction, medications like incontinence products, like it's their mission to fix everything that they think is wrong with us.”
WE ARE BEAUTIFUL, VIBRANT, ENERGETIC AND AUTHENTIC
“I reject that. I want women to know that they are at an amazing stage in life. I make a commitment to representing middle-aged women in a way that is beautiful, vibrant, energetic, and that's authentic to how she lives her life. Maison 276 has been built by the power of community. We represent middle-aged women in a way that is beautiful, vibrant, energetic, and authentic.”
LIVE EVENT! Coffee with Angel – A live streaming conversation every Friday at 10 am EST. Streams on Maison 276 Instagram page, Maison 276 Facebook, and YouTube.
Promo codes: WELCOME15 to receive 15% off your first purchase. This coupon is only valid on the Maison 276 website.
Amazon: Maison 276 3-Step System is designed as Amazon’s Choice for Silver/Gray Hair.
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