Today we’d like to introduce you to Cornell McBride, Jr.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
My entrepreneurial journey began at the young age of eight years old. I worked alongside my father, mother, and sister, helping with our original family company, M&M Products Company. We filled, sealed, and labeled each bottle of our staple product, Sta-Soft-Fro, by hand.
As our business grew, I was able to work in various departments within the company– manufacturing, shipping, finance, or marketing. Over time, I become very familiar with all the moving parts that make a business work. I graduated college from Howard University studying marketing and came back to work for the family businesses. At the time, I managed our beauty supply business, and shortly after we sold M&M Products Company before opening McBride Research Laboratories, which manufactures Design Essentials. We wanted to enter the industry at a unique angle, targeting the professional market, so Design Essentials create a pipeline distribution network which our products were exclusively sold through. This network and sales strategy is how Design Essentials’ success kicked off and it has since allowed us to grow exponentially on an international scale, making us one of the top-selling multicultural hair care brands on a global level. Since the conception of Design Essentials, I was appointed the role of president upon the retirement of my father. We are excited about the future developments we have in mind and even talk about some of our plans in our online series “Inside DE”.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Part of every business is that you are going to experience ups and downs; you just have to try to have more highs than lows. Design Essentials is currently in a transitional phase as we are trying to widen our scope to focus on direct consumer relationships, rather than strictly haircare professionals as we have done in the past. There are a lot of consumers out there who I call our “DIY” consumer who like to take their hair into their own hands, and we want to provide them with products they can use as well, which is why we made our Naturals line available through major retails. Of course, whenever you have a shift in positioning, there are going to be people who are uncomfortable with the change, especially when you have people who have been with the company for more than 20 years. This resistance to change has been one of our biggest challenges, but also something that we were able to overcome as the positive outcomes for the organization as a whole heavily outweighs lingering doubts.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Design Essentials – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Design Essentials is a hair care and beauty aid business that focuses on hair healthy products that target the specific needs of individual hair types. We produce products for scalp, hair, and styling to ensure that hair is taken care of from root to end. We carry a professional line that has created partnerships with countless salons, providing services and education to consumers, and we also have a consumer line that allows ease of accessibility.
The distribution chain that we created has allowed us immense growth while also creating a job and business development resource for other Black businesses, which in turn resulted in the creation of tens of thousands of Black businesses across the country. This network and sales strategy is how Design Essentials success kicked off and it has since allowed us to grow exponentially on an international scale, making us one of the top-selling multicultural hair care brands on a global level.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
There are three big changes that we are focusing on, which is expanding our geographical footprint, broadening our consumer base, and improving access to information and our products to consumers.
Compared to our beginnings, we have been widening our geographical footprint beyond our distribution network by partnering with larger chain salons and international suppliers in countries such as Jamacia. In 2011 we took our Naturals line to retail stores which opened up a plethora of distribution channels that we were not utilizing before.
Now that we are reaching more customers than ever before, we also want people to know that Design Essentials has a solution for all hair types regardless of your ethnicity. Each person’s hair needs are unique to their specific hair type and texture and isn’t tied exclusively to their ethnicity. If your hair is dry, coarse, oily, or fine, we have a solution for you. We focus on the condition of your hair so that we can provide you with products that catered specifically towards your hair’s needs.
Lastly, because we are now interacting with our end-user consumer more, we want to incorporate digital and social media marketing to allow consumers to have constant access to our products. Whether it is information surrounding our product or the ability to purchase, we want to give consumers our undivided attention so that they know we are listening to them.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://designessentials.com/
- Phone: (800) 535-8683
- Email: custservice@mcbrideresearchlabs.com
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/designessentials
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/designessentialshaircare
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