Discover how Jamelia Donaldson’s TreasureTress is transforming beauty, and empowering textured hair care with innovative, community-driven solutions.
Jamelia Donaldson, multi-award winner, founder and CEO of TreasureTress, has built so much more than just an eye-catching brand; it’s influential and inspirational. TreasureTress, the much-beloved subscription box full of haircare treats for textured hair shoppers, has become a leading voice calling for more equitable hair texture representation in our high street retailers and online. ORS is proud to hero Jamelia, learning more about her story, and take over this August’s TT box, so the girlies can be Carnival-ready all summer long!
Where do you call home?
Born and raised in London, however, the term ‘home’ always makes me think of Jamaica.
My grandparents came to the UK during the Windrush era, and my dad recently returned to Jamaica for retirement.
What does your typical day look like?
Extremely varied. We’re currently running our annual Pop-Up Shop but at a much larger scale this time. We’re between cities: London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds. This means my mornings can be spent travelling, in meetings, planning or de- briefing from an event, or tackling the toughest tasks first (those requiring the most brain power).
How did you come to be the successful entrepreneur you are today?
Success is relative. I have absolutely hit and smashed milestones I set for myself years ago; however, in true human nature, as soon as you exceed or conquer a goal, you plan another. At the moment, what makes me feel most successful is the work I’m able to do on myself to become the type of person I want to be. Doing so ensures that everything I do and everywhere I show up remains to a high standard and contributes to the world in the way that I want to do.
What does your typical creative process look like?
I love to travel. Travel is always the starting point for any creative process for me. I like to spend some time with the idea and then share it with my team for a solid brainstorming session. I LOVE a good brainstorm. Doing so allows me to be challenged, allows me to challenge my team, and also means that we’re able to allow the idea to evolve as we refine it through our weekly meetings.
What inspired you the most when starting out in your career?
Frustration. I was frustrated with the shopping experiences of women with textured hair and thought we deserved better. So I created TreasureTress to ensure that our product discovery experience was not only fun, convenient and cost- effective, but also made us feel valued and appreciated as consumers.
How has your career evolved?
When I started TreasureTress I intended it to be a subscription box company and that is all. Since then, we’ve grown to become so much more – from white papers and trend reports to consultancy and market research. The business has evolved.
Describe the moment you realised you could turn your passion into a career.
When I received the first pre-orders for the first batch of TreasureTress boxes. I felt like I had finally found my tribe of women who cared about beauty as much as I did!
What has been the biggest challenge in your career?
Proving the importance and existence of black and mixed-race women in the UK. Before we launched our TreasureTress white paper report, there was nothing to prove that we were, in fact, important consumers are over-indexing on the spend on beauty.
What assumptions do people make about your career that, in reality, are the complete opposite?
A lot goes into bringing our boxes to fruition, but even more is required to run a company like TreasureTress, and stay true and connected to the community we serve.
What makes your business unique?
The way that we solve issues within the market space. We didn’t like the physical spaces those with textured hair were being forced to shop in, so we created our
pop-up shops. We weren’t happy with the lack of representation of black and mixed-race consumers in data and consumer behaviour reports, so we created our own.
Are you working on any passion projects right now?
I am. I’m working on a community for female founders called OHTH (pronounced ‘oath’) which explores how we can better take care of ourselves and support each other while we build the businesses and lives of our dreams. It is centred around wellness, which has become hugely important to me!
What has been your experience as a black woman in your industry?
Community has kept me going and is the constant reminder of why we push the industry so hard to show up for and invest in marketing for black and mixed- race women as they do for every other group within society.
What is your favourite part about being a black woman?
The pure essence of being a black woman radiates beauty, royalty and pure love.
How has your relationship with your hair been throughout the years?
I started TreasureTress because I was so frustrated that my hair would not grow. I couldn’t understand it and I also didn’t particularly like it. Only through educating myself and falling in love with experimenting did I come to a place where I felt as though I understood my hair and could do some meaningful work by helping others love their hair too!
Do you have any exciting projects coming up?
The TreasureTress Hair Gym – to celebrate the summer of sport!
We’re exploring the relationship between textured hair, wellness and creating exciting retail moments for consumers and brands alike to tap into the excitement of the Olympics and, most importantly, have fun trialling new products and brands.
What message and/or advice can you give to other black women and non-binary people?
Your experience in the world is your superpower; never hide it and never compromise it. Leverage it!