Exploring Life & Business with Raven Thompson of Color Me Rae

Today we’d like to introduce you to Raven Thompson. They and their team shared their story with us below:

Color Me Rae was founded by Brooklyn native Raven Thompson. Since she could remember, she has always enjoyed doing hair and giving her dolls a funky makeover. She recalls in the second grade her mother received a call from the teacher stating that Raven had brought a weave track and glue to school to make a ponytail. From then, her mother knew she was highly interested in one day becoming a cosmetologist. Most kids, when you ask them what they would like to be when they get older, would say to be a doctor, police office, firefighter, teacher, etc. Not Raven, she stood strong on her reply which was one day she will graduate from Dudley’s Cosmetology school in North Carolina.

Through her teen years, Raven began to do family and friend’s hair as a hobby when she had free time. Going to high school with a different hairstyle nearly every week was a way for Raven to express herself. Her love for coloring began once she started experimenting with high vibrant colors to cool tone colors that no one wanted to try. While in high school she began to start experimenting using raw virgin hair, which sparked an interest in the world of hair extensions, For years she had dealt with good and bad hair which pushed for her to began her own hair extension service called Color Me Rae. Color Me Rae was first introduced in the year of 2020 offering services of wig constructing and coloring of hair extensions.

Although Raven did enjoy this, she began to realize that she wanted more for Color Me Rae. As a veteran who suffers from hair loss for the four years she served, her hair became extremely damaged. It began to fall out and break off due to tight braids, chemicals, and an unhealthy scalp later diagnosed with Scarring Alopecia. At the age of twenty-four Raven decided to learn how to take care of her natural hair while gaining knowledge of hair loss causes and solutions. This motivated her to attend cosmetology school so she can further assist her clients.

During the year 2022, Color Me Rae was rebranded to not only focus on hair extensions and hair units but to also provide proper hair care and hair styling techniques for clients.

Color Me Rae aims to give their clients a smooth luxury experience while aspiring to achieve the desired look. We would love the opportunity to make you feel as beautiful as you are. Come get styled and leave with a smile.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Since 2020 the journey has not been an easy road, especially trying to start a business during a pandemic. When Raven began her business, she started it solely for the purpose of another source of income. Although she put in numerous amounts of hours and money for production and marketing, it was hard for her to understand why her business would not receive the proper attention. She felt as though she did not take the proper steps in order to ensure she would have a successful business.

In 2021 Raven decided to take a step back and do research of not only the hair industry but also on how to build a legitimate business. Her biggest struggle was not knowing how to network with those who have already been through the building process. In 2022 she decided to rebrand Color Me Rae to showcase not only her talent but also to show that she is in the business of personal care. Gaining another income is looked at as a blessing but her main focus is to build, whether it is her business, generational wealth, or the client’s confidence.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Color Me Rae?
Color Me Rae began with specializing in coloring of wigs and bundles to give clients a sense of confidence through their hair.

Now that we have rebranded, we now offer hair styling services to include but not limited to:

*Braids
*Locs
*Natural Styling
*Wig installment
*Hair coloring
*Silk Press

Color Me Rae has also rebranded their hair extension line which will be relaunching summer of 2023 to offer clients top-tier hair extensions. Color Me Rae CEO Raven Thompson is currently in the works of becoming a Master Cosmetologist graduating in September of 2023 following with becoming a certified Trichologist to better help and teach clients about the health of their hair and scalp.

What matters most to you?
What matters most to Raven would have to be building her community, and not just the one she comes from. Being from Brooklyn, she grew up in poverty thinking that she would never get to escape it. Although her sister and herself never needed for anything their mother made sure they had almost everything with minimum help from their community.

Now being an adult, Raven has experienced how hard it is to survive on the day to day basis and this is without having children at the moment.

“We have the resources in today’s time to extend a hand to the next person so why not? We have the resources to build generational wealth and spread knowledge to make the community better so let’s do it. We have the resources to build the village to take care of the children and adults within the community.”

Pricing:

• Frontal Wig Install ($120)
• Natural Hair Coloring ($70+)
• Large Knotless Braids ($150)
• Medium Knotless Braids ($175)
• Loc Retwist ($80+)

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.ColorMeRae.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/_colormerae?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/colormerae
• Other: https://colormerae.booksy.com/