GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) -- Great things can come from the combination of a good idea, hard work and some faith. Just ask Ramona Woods.
Romana and her husband, Michael, began a haircare company called Ashtae Products that has products that work for all hair types of people of all ethnicities, though they paid particular attention to creating things that worked for African Americans and other people of color.
For years after their 1994 launch, they inched forward, selling a little more each year. Then the pandemic hit.
You’d be hard-pressed to find an industry harder hit by the pandemic than haircare – salons across the state were closed under the order of the government for months.
But the Woods kept plugging along and, as we begin to see the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel, their company just earned a major boost.
L’Oreal – the largest cosmetics company on the planet – just signed a deal to buy and distribute Ashtae Products in their nearly 600 SalonCentric stores across the U.S.
“We were always working toward something like this but I didn’t know that L’Oreal would even notice us but I’m happy that they saw the value,” Woods said.
The deal officially launches on Jan. 10 but they have been working to be ready for the expansion for a while.
“We’ve already hired four people and certainly will hire more,” Woods said. “In particular, we are looking for the right person to be our operations manager.”
There were times, over these past 27 years, when Ramona, Michael, and their daughter, Taylore, who took over as CEO last year, didn’t know how big their company could or would get, but they never lost faith.
“It’s amazing that a little company started, here in Greensboro, can do all this,” Woods said.
See more of the moments that changed their lives in this edition of the Buckley Report.
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