For Mielle Organics founder Monique Rodriguez, her exit was just the beginning. Three years out from her historic nine-figure acquisition with P&G, Rodriguez is still involved in the brand she founded, while also working on building a legacy beyond beauty.
“I still serve as CEO, helping to shape the long-term strategy, innovation pipeline, and cultural direction of the business,” Rodriguez says. “After partnering with P&G Beauty, my mindset evolved from asking, ‘How do we get there?’ to ‘How do we build this for the next generation?’ Access to world-class resources, research capabilities, and global infrastructure allowed us to think much bigger about innovation, distribution, and long-term brand equity. We could invest in growth with greater confidence while still staying connected to the consumers who have always driven our success.”
In the time since the acquisition, the investment has fueled Mielle’s expansion into over 10,000 retail doors in 90 countries, bolstered consumer-driven product innovation, supported landmark partnerships with HBCUs (historically Black colleges and universities), and becoming the NFL’s first official textured haircare partner.
Her vision for the future of the brand is to “continue to be a trusted source for textured haircare for my community, and to continue to innovate products based on the needs of our customers — not necessarily what we feel the market needs, but truly understanding from a social listening perspective how to deliver. The textured-hair consumer has historically been underserved, and I believe we’re still just scratching the surface of what’s possible in terms of innovation, representation, and access.”
Rodriguez sees Mielle as a starting point for her to create lasting impact. This year, she’s launching her partnership with the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) to create a scholarship for emerging designers of color and recently opened a luxury fitness and performance club, Wind Athltx.
Having now partnered with a legacy beauty company to expand her founder-led brand, these lessons in longevity are part of what she’s extending to entrepreneurs and creatives through mentorship, along with robust capital investments.
Though her journey has not been without criticism. Following her exit, Rodriguez and the brand faced severe backlash for the decision, with many consumers expressing disappointment and doubts for the integrity of the company. Part of her work in the years that followed has been doubling down on their vision as they continue to expand, while educating consumers on what a trajectory like this can mean for purpose-led Black entrepreneurs and the community more broadly.
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