00:00As a way to celebrate entrepreneurial prowess, Essence and Pinesol have partnered for the second year to release the Build Your Legacy contest, a $100,000 grant awarded to one black female entrepreneur to support her business, as well as six months of business coaching with Nicole Walters.
00:17The entries are in, and now it's time to introduce you to our finalists.
00:21Meet Pamela Shattuck of Coils to Locks.
00:24My name is Pamela Shattuck. I am president and co-founder of Coils to Locks.
00:30The Coils to Locks mission is to disrupt a health care disparity that disproportionately affects black women who are suffering chemotherapy or other medical related hair loss.
00:42My sister Diane Austin, and she is CEO and co-founder of Coils to Locks, her doctor gave her a wig prescription to go and find a wig at a cancer center boutique or a medical salon.
00:54And she wasn't able to find a wig that resembled the hair that she lost.
00:58She was wearing her hair natural in its kinky, coily, curly state.
01:02We quickly saw that this was a health care disparity in the cancer care space.
01:08And if women did not want to wear their hair straight, she didn't have any options.
01:12And we want to support and help other women who are going through this and be able to get the kind of wig that they deserve.
01:21Coils to Locks is part of what would be the beauty industry.
01:24It's a billion dollar industry where black people have huge purchasing power, but haven't always reaped the benefits of the profits and the wealth of that and be able to disrupt that paradigm and leave a legacy that will be impactful for our community.
01:42So providing jobs and providing access and resources in various ways, going through the entry process and becoming finalists, you know, just being able to take a deeper dive on what legacy means to us as individuals from a business standpoint.
01:59It's all been a gift.
02:00When we found out that we were the top three finalists, it's such a validation of what we're doing.
02:07All of that feels like success.
02:10Nicole Walters, as we know, is quite an impressive woman.
02:15And Diane and I are looking forward to everything that she has to offer, obviously, in terms of building our mindset around being an entrepreneur.
02:25If we were to win $100,000 or go through the process with Nicole Walters, we'd be able to start to hire independent contractors that can help us scale.
02:35Business strategy person, independent contractors that could help us with sales and marketing, social media, business development.
02:43We also are looking to add augmented reality to the website, and this will allow women to try on wigs virtually and enhance their purchasing process.
02:53Coils to Locks is making a huge splash in the medical hair loss industry.
02:58And if you want to see us continue to make a social impact where Black women and other women with highly textured hair can have access to the wigs that they deserve,
03:07then you should vote for us so that we can continue to make that social impact in our community.
03:12You've heard from Pamela Shattuck.
03:14Now it's time that we hear from you.
03:16Please vote for the entrepreneur that you think should win $100,000 at Essence.com slash your legacy.
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