A Detroit Entrepreneur Is The First Black Woman To Franchise A National Hair Salon

Dana White, CEO and founder of Paralee Boyd, is the first Black woman to franchise a national hair salon after successfully launching a campaign aimed at transcending the traditional salon experience. 

Paralee Boyd, the namesake of White’s maternal grandmother, is dedicated to catering to women with thick and curly hair in Detroit. The beauty salon model was created in 2012 as a solution to getting clients out in a timely manner while maintaining the quality of the hair and keeping costs low. 

In an interview with Forbes, White explained how she uses lean manufacturing, a tech principle inspired by the automotive industry, to maintain optimal data-driven results. The former international labor specialist takes pride in understanding the needs of the modern woman. Spending all day at a salon has been one of the biggest complaints from clients across the hair industry. “We are very deliberate in the information in the data that we collect. We have used our lean manufacturing principles to design a space that allows it to run more efficiently,” she said. From check-in to check out, each station in the hair care process is carefully measured to stay ahead of any efficiency problems.

Paralee Boyd grew up in Camp Branch, KY, where she became the first generation not to work as a domestic for the Gilberts, the same family that had employed and enslaved her family since 1821. 

“Known in her community as someone everyone can talk to. Her ear and her kitchen were always open and it was said that you always left her home feeling better than when you entered it,” White said on the salon’s website. In paying homage to her grandmother, White is committed to embodying the feel-good experience at the salon. 

She added in another interview, “I wanted to create a space that says you are enough and this place is for you.”