Description

Jackie & Leroy Nedd
Diversity Hair Salon
Burlington, VT

Meet Leroy and Jackie Nedd, a couple full of enthusiasm for their new business, Diversity Hair Salon, located at 94 Pearl St in Burlington. A full-service salon offering all the usual hair-styling, Diversity lives up to its name by providing unique services such as braids, extensions, weaves, corn rows, fading, dreadlocks and much more. With all these options available for every type of hair-styling need, Jackie says that ‘our business is a great expression of each individual’.

Jackie’s accomplishments in her home country of Jamaica formed the basis for later stints in a work program for hotels in the states; she’d be here in the summer and go home in the winter. Jackie and Leroy met during one of those times when she offered to braid his hair to show him her expertise. ‘I gave it a shot’, he says, ‘She just has the touch. She was born to do what she’s doing.’

Leroy had been in business before and was looking for an opportunity that he and Jackie could pursue without the complication of partners. ‘I had a few different ideas’ Leroy commented. ‘However, my wife is a cosmetologist and good at what she does. I had a good secure job so I wanted to do something that would employ Jackie and that she loved to do. I saw the demand for African-American services.’ Leroy also wanted to capitalize on the informal local following of clients that found Jackie through word-of-mouth. Leroy talked to people about what they wanted for services, to salons about what they did, and to friends who own businesses. He made good use of the extensive networks he’d built throughout his years of living and working in Burlington.

After doing his own research on the street and at the library, Leroy went to Richard Munkelwitz, the local Small Business Development Center counselor at that time, for help putting his plan together. Leroy told Richard what he wanted to do and Richard referred Leroy and Jackie to Community Capital as a source for a loan and they applied right away. Jackie was nearing the completion of a two-year cosmetology program and was in reach of gaining the certification and license she needed to practice her trade locally.

‘After the ball got rolling it went well, and everything fell right in place’ according to Leroy. The Nedds’ have also benefited from Community Capital’s Post Loan Technical Assistance with bookkeeping services and instruction that have saved them much time and trouble.

Diversity is doing more than surviving in this hard time. A recent ad on the radio netted four appointments within a couple of hours, and clients are coming from as far away as White River Junction and Newport, eager for services that meet their particular needs. Leroy predicted that they would work on getting more people there and things will be fine. He adds: ‘And that is exactly what happened.’ He says nothing could stop him. He was persistent and determined because he’d done the research, he knew it would work, and he was passionate about their idea. Commenting on their success, Leroy asserts that ‘the things that Jackie does, I don’t see anyone else in Vermont who does it. She’s very professional at weaving. You cannot tell that there’s a weave in the hair. And she’s fast, so she’s economical for people at a set price.’ Leroy adds that they have a retail section with products and accessories. They sell hair for weaving right at the store along with wigs for young people and cancer patients, a service they expect to expand.

Leroy advises entrepreneurs to ‘make sure you are passionate about what you want to do. Do research and make sure you know what you are getting into. Feel whether or not it’s a good business and whether it will work. Exhaust every area of research that relates to that business. And just go for it!’ Community Capital is delighted to help the Nedds achieve their dream and provide a warm and welcoming place where, in Leroy’s words, ‘customers are excited and happy’. ‘Without the loan, we could not have opened up the business. Getting the loan was very helpful and I’m glad I got it through Community Capital. It’s like a family type deal, you feel part of them and that really helps too. When I hear Kara’s voice, she knows who I am. I appreciate all the work Community Capital has done for me. It feels good. When they walk out of here and I see smiles on their faces, all I can say is thank you Community Capital.”