Berkshire took a minority stake within the Merrillville, Ind.-based firm, Rodriguez stated. She and her husband, COO and co-founder Melvin Rodriguez, will preserve management as majority shareholders.
Monique Rodriguez launched Mielle in 2014. The firm’s merchandise are offered at Target, Kroger, Walgreens, Walmart and different areas within the U.S., on-line and overseas. Mielle employs about 40 individuals.
She plans use the capital to scale the enterprise additional, investing in product improvement, hiring extra staff and shutting distribution gaps.
“Our objective is to have Mielle accessible to everybody,” she stated. When a buyer walks right into a retailer in a smaller metropolis or city, “Mielle ought to nonetheless be there as a result of there are nonetheless curly ladies there.”
She declined to reveal income. Monique Rodriguez stated the investment is encouraging as a Black enterprise proprietor.
“Black ladies, we don’t have entry to capital like our counterparts, so this investment is big,” she stated. “It exhibits how a lot worth Black ladies carry to the desk.”
$1 million of the investment might be funneled into Mielle’s More Than A Strand marketing campaign, which invests in getting Black women-owned magnificence and barber retailers up and operating, and covers start-up prices for entrepreneurs.
Marni Payne, managing director at Berkshire, stated in a information launch that the agency was “honored” to again Rodriguez’s firm.
“Mielle is a unprecedented enterprise, however importantly has a bigger goal: to excite, empower and serve the neighborhood,” she stated. “We share their imaginative and prescient and are excited to assist them.”
