Who is Cynthia Simango?
Not everyone has a movement in them. But Cynthia Simango does. She wants us all to embrace the love of natural hair.
Cynthia is a Zimbabwean-born nurse, educator, and mum who lived in Texas before moving to Australia. She wanted hair care products that suited her type of curly hair. But whether it was in stores or salons she couldn’t find any. In 2017 she launched Embrace For Every Curl, one of the first hair care brands designed for people with curly hair in Australia.
The business grew in salons and online because of its superior quality and loyal following. But Cynthia knew there was more. To get to the next level of growth, she needed to build a stronger brand with a more empowering message.
Starting with WHO before WHY
Cynthia bought into the Markd Global experience of starting the brand-building journey with WHO. And WHO is not the customer, but the leader – Cynthia.
When our current culture demands that we fill every moment without a thought, we give leaders time to ponder who they are in the context of what they do. Starting here brings the most growth and meaning to work whether you are a passionate entrepreneur like Cynthia or a corporate executive in an established company.
Cynthia could see the benefit of defining her personal brand to propel Embrace For Every Curl forward. The WHO would help define the WHY and ultimately the WHAT of the company brand.
Defining Cynthia’s personal brand
Cynthia is a healer and an educator at heart. That’s why she became a nurse, to begin with. Her story and what led her to Embrace For Every Curl is self-love.
“My life story is a journey of learning to love myself. It has helped me to make bold decisions and brave choices, including moving countries and eventually starting my own business. I started Embrace to address a gap I saw in the market. But it’s grown to be more than that. In my research, I’ve discovered that most people don’t have naturally straight hair yet we are part of an $80 billion global haircare industry geared to straight hair.”
Cynthia goes on to say,
“Hair is such an important part of identity and self-expression. When our natural hair is not represented in stores, salons, schools, workplaces, and in the beauty industry as a whole, it has an impact on how we see and even feel about ourselves.”
The negative messages and emotions she hears from young people when it comes to their natural hair break her heart.
“It’s very common for girls and boys from all different cultures at a very young age to dislike their appearance based on their natural hair. These messages come from our current culture which needs to showcase greater representation.”
In Cynthia’s experience, hair is the crown every person wears on their head and it cuts close to how they feel about themselves. Hair and self-love go hand in hand, she believes.
Embracing the love of natural hair
From Cynthia’s story, it was clear that Embrace For Every Curl was a much bigger idea that could deliver on three important pillars – Quality Products, Authentic Education, and a Nurturing Community.
Through her story of self-love, Cynthia had the opportunity not only to create quality products but to empower a cultural movement to embrace curly hair and beyond that natural hair. This framework is the basis of her business model which is now supported by a stronger social purpose.
The Markd Global team worked with Cynthia on her brand strategy and identity, the three pillars of her business model, and a new eCommerce website to better tell her story.
Of the Markd Global experience, Cynthia says,
“I’ve never experienced something that connected who I am to what I do as much as The Purpose Experience. It’s really what I needed to take my personal and company brand to a new level. I am genuinely excited about what the future holds.”
Shop Embrace here
Join the movement here
Wrapping up
We work with leaders globally, helping to identify a deeper sense of purpose to help them make their mark on the world. This unlocks triple bottom line thinking in their business models enabling them to have a bigger impact on people, planet, and profit.
We do this through co-creation – The Purpose Experience – and then we work alongside a brand village of collaborators to bring every brand experience to life.
We believe it’s in all of us to change the world for the better. It’s not something we can do alone, which is why we are here to support every leader who wants to go on their own purposeful journey of success to significance.
If you’re a leader and think you’d benefit from a purpose-driven brand experience like Cynthia, contact us.
