Holly is referring to the vindicating revolt when Black women remove the perm from their hair to style it in its truest form, removed from any straightening or curling chemicals. Both an acceptance of her cultural heritage and a stark protest of European beauty standards placed on Black women, Holly found power, intimacy, and comfort in her natural hair and its familiar home underneath a headwrap. Although at the time, the idea of producing and selling her own felt like an attainable but risky business venture.
“There was somewhat of a fear [starting Draped]. I knew that creating headwraps was a very, I don’t want to say small group, but there’s a very minimal set of people who wear headwraps and who identify with that culture. So I had some fears; they were also tied to being a black woman in business. I didn’t have the access that some people have concerning income. I didn’t have business capital when I founded Draped.”
Holly’s entrepreneurial leap with Draped was forced into motion in 2016, when she lost her job as a drug and alcohol counselor steering troubled lives from the breaks back towards paved roads. Confidence in her abilities and the inner desire to empower women pushed Holly forward into a new life with Draped. Where she’d apply lessons learned in her previous career to fuel the success of her calling with Draped.