Soft Rows

0:00Quani Burnett:Welcome to the Emerging Brands Podcast with Kelly Bennett. This is the podcast to discover stories behind your new favorite CPG brands. Each episode brings you behind the scenes of the brand and founder story, learn what sets them apart in the marketplace, and their strategy going to market. We talk about plans for growth, practical advice for an emerging brand founder, and where to shop products that are making waves in food, beverage, wellness, beauty, and beyond. You'll also hear from industry experts, brand builders, investors, and operators you should absolutely have on your radar if you're building a CPG brand today.

0:44Quani Burnett:I'm your host, Kelly Bennett, a Brooklyn-based brand strategist with a front row seat of what makes an emerging CPG brand stand out. Whether you're building a brand of your own or love supporting what's next, you're in the right place. This podcast is brought to you by Hummingbirds. Hummingbirds is the go-to platform built for creator-powered retail activations. They are connecting everyday creators with CPG brands to generate shelf-level awareness, drive in-store momentum, and generate authentic content in markets that matter the most. Go to hummingbirds.com for all the details and let them know I sent you.

1:29Quani Burnett:Now, let's dive into the new episode. Hi, everyone. Welcome back to a new episode of Emerging Brands Podcast with Kelly Bennett. Today, I have Kwani, the founder of SoftRose on the podcast, and she is someone I've been following for quite some time now. We were talking before I hit record how exactly Kwani got on my radar. I'm not sure. I think it was sleuthing on Instagram of cool emerging brands, but I'm so happy I found SoftRose and Quanti. So thank you so much for coming on the podcast. I'm really excited to deep dive into your story and your brand that just recently launched. So thanks for nerding out with me on all things SoftRose today.

2:17Of course. Thank you for having me. I'm really excited to chat with you today.

2:23Quani Burnett:Great. So to kick things off, I always like to ask founders, what exactly is their brand, right? What was the gap that they saw in the market that they wanted to do something differently? So from your perspective, what was that gap in the market that made you want to create SoftRose? Yes. On a very simple one-liner, I like to say that Softros, we create salon-inspired, science-driven styling essentials for textured hair. But the deeper meaning of what Softros is and what the gap was, was really centered around this idea of wanting to be soft, not only with myself, but with my hair as a Black woman.

3:14And as someone who has spent over seven years in the beauty space, helping brands either to become more inclusive or to drive their communities, I think that I really saw a gap and an opportunity to blend the best of science with what we like to say is salon, but that's also cultured to textured hair. And so textured hair brands traditionally or historically have really centered around like oils and butters. You know, when a new curly hairline comes out, it's like, oh, infused with, you know, coconut oil or shea butter. But I think during my time working in product marketing for Youth of the People slash L 'Oreal, you know, I'm seeing all of this like scientific innovation, you know, hyaluronic acid, peptides.

4:08And I was like, you know, textured hair deserves that same innovation without it feeling too clinical or, you know, too sciencey. And so that really is our sweet spot. It's the science in the salon. And it's really, you know, I really wanted to encourage versatility through styling. So Sofro's ultimate goal is to be the authority of styling for textured hair. And, you know, you hear the saying that textured hair is not a monolith, but we really wanted to live that in our product offering in our collection.

4:47Quani Burnett:What a cool background that you were able to see what was happening in beauty from the innovation side and then saying, wait, there's definitely this gap. Why hasn't this been connected? So from your understanding, what was that? What was the reason for that gap or why innovation hadn't hit this space yet? You know, it's an interesting thing to talk about. And I do want to say that there are other brands that are bringing in innovation. I think just that much like we see with melanin-rich skincare or, you know, melanin makeup or skincare, I think that sometimes there's, I don't want to say that there is a fear to drive innovation in something that some people deem niche.

5:41You know, I think actually I think that is kind of the issue is that is that the world we live in, it still deems, you know, textured hair or melanin rich skin as too niche. And so they don't feel the need to inject, you know, capital for innovation and R &D and things of that nature. But, you know, there's research that supports that upwards of six, upwards of 70 percent of the U.S. population identifies as having textured or curly hair. And we know that 70 percent.

6:17Quani Burnett:That's a that's a big number. It's a big number. The minority is becoming the majority, right? And we're seeing such a blend of cultures and ethnicities that textured hair doesn't have one look. You know, I one of my favorite things about launching is like seeing customers that you wouldn't think would purchase soft rose, you know, but we you know, there's we have community members who are white with wavy hair or, you know, people with like looser textures, but also tighter textures or people who prefer to wear braids or locks or things of that nature. And so I think, you know, again, I think the world considers it niche, but I think the people who are in it, we know that it's anything but.

7:05Quani Burnett:Well, and the data that you have to back it up of 70 % of people in the U.S. identify with textured hair, that's a very powerful way to get the conversation started as well. And something that you've been doing, and again, I'm such a nerd for emerging brands. I love watching pre-launch. I love the bill. It genuinely is the thing that I live, breathe, and sleep. And so I've been following all the things that you've been doing. And so you went to the Sephora or got accepted into the Sephora Accelerator. You were in Dream Ventures, which I'm a huge fan of. I've had Annie and Kelly on the podcast to Tower 28 summer program, right?

7:53Green Beauty Summer School.

7:54Quani Burnett:Summer School. I mean, those are like top of the class of innovation, beauty, female founded brands. What was the connection that you learned from those experiences that really helped you like cut through the noise or just have more of that getting outside of like that niche or what someone would think, oh, this is only for a certain amount of people, but really helping get the word out about what you're building. Certainly. I think what has been a blessing and a learning blessing is that I did all of this as a pre-launch brand. So really for me, the story is that right around before, I think the announcement was December of 2023, I had applied to Sephora Accelerate with a logo and lab samples.

8:56So I had took the leap of faith in investing in proprietary formulas. So I had paid for formulas, but I had no way of paying for production. So again, I had lab samples and a logo. And I mean, it's really, I love looking back on the deck that I showed for, or that I presented for the Sephora seller program, because I didn't have like photography or branding yet. Like it was just like Pinterest photos and my vision. And so I think being a pre-launch brand in some of these programs, it accelerated me in a lot of ways because it forced me to put myself out there. I had to create, you know, I had to launch on socials.

9:45I had to create a website. The first website I ever had was something that I created on Squarespace. And so those were some of the lessons, but I think some of the lessons, or I don't even want to call them challenges, were that, you know, because we were so early in our journey, it was going to take a little bit longer for us to launch and to come into fruition. So, you know, it was, you know, early 2024, people were like, oh well when is software was launching and things of that nature and I was nowhere near ready um I was nowhere near ready to launch but being in all of those programs and accelerators and you know being able to pitch and sometimes even win the the pitch competition I think the dream ventures pitch yes yes and I just I want to shout out Annie and Kelly just because they I really love what they're doing for female founders.

10:43But I think what it taught me is that something that I like to say is, you know, don't let a lack of capital or financial resources be the sole reason why you don't pursue your dreams. And I think I'm really like the living embodiment of that. And again, And it's not always easy, but I just I just think that, you know, in a in a world that we live in, in a time that we live in, you know, I don't want people to feel that they can't pursue their dreams again just for that one reason. And it is a big it's a big reason.

11:22Quani Burnett:And it's something that it's a real reason. You know, we're all chasing or pursuing. I don't want to say chasing. We're all pursuing. But, you know, there's just something in just chasing your dreams and not being deterred by it. Something that you touched upon when we first started the conversation that I would love to come back to is just your background. Professionally, it sounds like you also just have this really deep passion for what you're building to do the legwork pre-launch that has taken years, but that's the vast majority of brands. It does take years to get to that launch point. I would love to hear more though, your career background, but also like, what is this striving force to keep you going and taking the next step and being patient somewhat, I'm sure that's always a hard one to bring it to fruition.

12:24Yeah. So I'd like to start with two stories, but the true soft road story, it really begins at five years old when my mother, she gave me a relaxer because she felt my hair was difficult to manage. And so when you are such a young, you know, when you're a young child and you are using chemicals to straighten your hair, that really has an effect on you and how you feel about not only your hair, but yourself. And you don't really grow up knowing how to embrace or love your hair texture as is. And I think that so many women, so many people have that similar story, whether, you know, they use relaxers or they felt conformed to straighten their hair, that that really is the driving force.

13:20It's always about, you know, I like to say that, you know, soft roses, you know, we're empowering the next generation of people to embrace their their hair texture. And so I always like to go back to that, to that little, that five-year-old girl who, who didn't know how to love or, or take care of her hair.

13:42Quani Burnett:I mean, to have that very vivid memory from five years old, to have that be part of the business you're building now, it must have really genuinely. That's the striving, that's the striving force. And yeah, that's the striving force. But to get into my background, I actually have a healthcare background. So yes, so I have a doctorate of physical therapy. And I was, I was working for Veterans Affairs, serving spinal cord injured veterans. And in 2018, a lack of inclusion within the beauty space is what drove me to literally make a career jump from healthcare to beauty because I was so, I just, there was such a lack of diversity and inclusion.

14:34And again, it was kind of before, you know, some of the increased attention to it. And I think that that kind of positioned me because I was already championing and talking about it. But, you know, I've done a lot of consulting prior to joining Beauty Full Time. That included like creating or being a part of the creation of the On the Rise program by Paula's Choice. One of my first ever consulting was for Brito Gio. And then I had a full circle moment when Nancy Twine became my Sephora Seller advisor. But I think the real cool story is, you know, and I always like to shout them out, But Greg and Joe, the co-founders of You to the People, Greg saw what I was doing in the beauty space.

15:25And I remember when he called me up and he's like, what can I do to get you to join You to the People full time? And so I'm really grateful for my time at Youth because not only was I thrust into a very fast growing skincare brand that would go on to be acquired, but I got to be in several different areas that helped me run my business today. So I've ran community product marketing, influencers, social media. And because I've done all of those things for such a scaled company, it makes it easy for me to do it for myself now.

16:07Quani Burnett:What a cool experience and how you're able to apply all of that and pour everything you've learned back into yourself and back into your own company. That must be a really cool moment. It's a cool moment. It's really cool. I just really quickly, I always just, it's just funny, but because I do fulfillment from my studio apartment here, but I have this label thermal printer. And it's really funny because I remember a time when I was at youth and I was running a consumer study and I had to send out probably like hundreds of samples to people. And so I remember at the time they had like a fancy zebra printer, but I remember just like printing, you know, hundreds and hundreds of labels.

16:58And so it's, you know, it's just like a full circle moment to like be able to do that. But for myself, for my own brand now.

17:05Quani Burnett:Absolutely. Again, something that really strikes me about your story and your brand is everything that happened behind the scenes, even prior to opening up the shopping cart for people to use your product, which I really admire because it's the stuff that I personally think make founders stand out and be able to go through the highs and lows that will come after you're actually launched, right? It's like just getting to the launch part is so hard and so much work gets into it, but then it's day one. Then you have to run the company moving forward. So I just admire everything that you put yourself in front of and learned and just gathered as much information to then pour back into something that you see a real need for?

18:01Yeah, I like to think of it as planting seeds. It's all been planting seeds. So again, before I even had full-size product, I have been creating content for Sofros since December of 2023. And we are now, it's in September of 2025. So I was creating content. I actually launched a monthly newsletter. And I didn't even, I don't even, I think when I launched the newsletter, I was still using my beauty for brown skin email. So I didn't even have like the official soft rose email yet, but I launched this, this newsletter and it was kind of an anticipation of me soft launching the brand. But that newsletter and having, I think almost like 600 subscribers that was you know I think that was so key because it was such an engaged audience and so these are the I would say the newsletter and social media were such seeds that when I launched or when I had my pre-sale I already had such a engaged community and so that really was something that it was nice to see that seed somewhat bloom bloom if you will.

19:21Quani Burnett:I'm so glad you're saying all this because truly these are the examples I love to share with clients because I work with them pre-launch and I'm like, this is why we do the brand strategy and we show up and we activate and we get the word out so that when you actually go to launch, you have people who want to buy your product. So thank you for saying that. I'm going to send this out to clients. No, no. Create the content, engage via email. You know, we always hear the words, you know, owned audience. Right. And another opportunity that I want to shout out is Jasmine with Female Founder World. But I was a pre-launch brand.

20:07And in 2024, she had an event in LA. and I was selected to be one of the brands that got to partner with Vistaprint. And so I did not have product, but what I did was I had generic purple hair clips and I had little packaging, but in partnership with Vistaprint, I was able to create branded stickers, branded soft roll stickers. And so I basically had these purple hair clips as a, as an activation to show up for this, to show up for this event. And the purple hair clips was, it was a hit. It was a hit with community members. It was that right touch of nostalgia.

20:55Quani Burnett:Right. That was very on brand. And something that I just want to shout out to is that I was able to leverage that into my own partnership with Vistaprint for our launch. And I actually - I am loving all these full circle moments. I'm obsessed. Very. I have a box here. So let me actually, let me show it to you. But I just couldn't, it's a really special moment. And again, full transparency during our launch process, packaging and tariffs, I had actually - That's what we were talking about getting - So I have launched this brand from one small single grant, essentially. And when my packaging arrived and the tariff came, that actually was the rest of my grant.

21:46And so I was really at this point where I didn't know what I was going to do. I still had to think about the customer experience. I didn't have boxes, inserts, things of that nature. And so I pitched a partnership to Vistaprint. And so it was with Vistaprint that we did boxes, we did custom tape, and we also did these printed insert cards.

22:14Quani Burnett:Okay, this is all gorgeous. Because this is a podcast, I'll explain what she's showing me. She's showing me a stunning that's this beautiful purple with gorgeous typography branding. I mean, the branded tape. This is the stuff I nerd out on like good tape, chef's kiss, like this is the stuff, the little details, beautiful collateral to go into that. And then leveraging an opportunity that you had to have a partnership with Vistaprint to have the packaging for your products. Brilliant. Yes, it was. I mean, it was such a blessing, but it was also such a testament, right, to building those relationships again, pre pre long.

23:03Yes.

23:04Quani Burnett:And leveraging it. And also what it sounds like is you are putting ideas out there and saying, hey, would you be interested in this? This is how I feel like it could be a win-win for both of us. And leveraging all of your skills, also with content, email, right? to know the right audiences for those partnerships. Because that's a piece of the puzzle that I think a lot of emerging founders maybe overlook or maybe not think through all the way of like looking for the partnerships that you feel would be mutually beneficial. And for Vistaprint, I mean, that's a stunning example of their work. Yes, no, it was really the perfect collaboration.

23:50And I think being able to put our best foot forward and launch with, you know, a beautifully branded box of materials, I think it really set the tone. It sets the tone for our brand. And I think that's where I feel blessed is that, you know, our presence or our branding is really strong.

24:13Quani Burnett:So good. The purple people, yeah, our community loves the purple. And I just want to share quickly that the purple actually comes. So one of my first ever hairstylists when I was a child, her name is Miss Paula. She's now a she is in politics in Texas. Her name is Miss Paula. And when we were when I was coming up with the branding, I was I wanted to lean into that old school salon hair feel. And so I asked her to send me some pictures and she sent me some pictures from the 90s. And there's this really beautiful picture of a cornrow, a braid, a goddess braid in the back of someone's hair. But the wall, I don't even know if the wall was purple, but just because the photo was so old.

25:05Quani Burnett:Right. And it looked purple. And so from that picture, that's when I just leaned into the purple all the way. um and so it's one of those things a full circle you I mean full circle is really should be the title of this podcast I think that's why soft roses yeah it's that's why it's meant to be it's it's so it's rooted in and just so much there's so much thought and intention behind the brand that I think people feel that but um you know again I looking back on all of all of the the experiences. Again, because my hair was relaxed at such a young age, that is what enabled me to go to the hairstylist, right?

25:47So my mom relaxed my hair and then it was like, okay, we got to figure out, someone's got to take care of her hair. And so that introduced me to the salon and being in the presence of Black women, older Black women, and really just kind of seeing and hearing stories about womanhood and, you know, your hair that, you know, all of those things are things that I, that I'd like to feed into the, into the brand today.

26:14Quani Burnett:Beautiful. I could talk to you forever, but I know I have to let you go to get back to building your empire, but I genuinely have loved every moment of you sharing your story. And I, I am very grateful that you shared so transparently and just genuinely of sharing behind the scenes of what you're building. I know that you just did your pre-launch in June, fully launched in July. I know people listening are wanting to know how can they shop Softrose and also the products that you have out now. I would love to touch upon that quickly. Yes, you can find us at softrose.com. So that's S-O-F-T-R-O-W-S.com.

26:57And we have three products in our collection. Starting with our Supreme Strength Moisture and Repair Deep Conditioning Mask. So this is that transition mask that brings you whether you like to straighten your hair, keep your hair curly. I really wanted to create this. And we swapped out protein so you don't have protein overload for amino acids. So really love this hair mask for repair and moisture. And then we have our two stylers. And actually, it's really interesting.

27:32Quani Burnett:Thank you. Thank you. But the Velvet Slip Hair Lotion is actually our top seller, but our Offset Soft Touch Styling Foam is actually, it's like on the rise. And so it's really cool to like see the reviews come in and the sales come in. But our Velvet Slip Hair Lotion, you know, think of it as your leave-in conditioner with styling hold. So this is going to be your soft hold styler. This works across tighter textures, waves, braids, and even locks. And then our styling foam, this is going to offer a stronger hold. Um, but for clients or customers with fine, fine textures or thinner hair, this can also add volume, um, to your hair.