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​What does it really take to scale a beauty or personal care brand without losing trust, culture, or the community that made it successful in the first place? 

​Join us for a live session with Julissa Prado, Founder and CEO of Rizos Curls, for a candid conversation designed for early-stage consumer founders, especially those building in beauty and personal care.

​Rizos Curls is often referenced as a standout example of values-led, community-driven growth. Built from Julissa’s own lived experience and a deep understanding of an underserved customer, the brand scaled by prioritizing education, trust, and representation long before those became industry buzzwords.

​In this conversation, we’ll explore:

• ​What founders should focus on when evolving from scrappy startup to scaled brand

• ​When to bootstrap vs when to fundraise

• ​How to build a beauty brand with your community, not just market to it

• ​The realities of scaling through the “messy middle” without overextending or diluting your values

• ​Navigating DTC and retail growth while staying close to your customer

• ​Lessons from building in a crowded category

​This session is especially relevant for founders thinking about long-term brand building. This is for those founders who are balancing growth, capital decisions, retail expansion, and staying true to the customer who got them here.

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​ABOUT THE GUEST

​Julissa Prado is the Founder and CEO of Rizos Curls, the award-winning clean hair care brand rooted in celebrating and empowering all hair types and textures including curls, coils, and waves. With passion and determination, she transformed Rizos Curls from a dream into a multimillion-dollar brand rooted in authenticity, self-love, and representation, redefining what it means to lead with purpose in the beauty industry.

​Since launching in 2017, Julissa has grown Rizos Curls to be one of the fastest-growing textured hair care brands in the U.S., available in over 4,500 doors including Ulta Beauty, Nordstrom, and Target. She has cultivated a fiercely loyal and engaged community across social channels, with Rizos Curls ranking among the Top 10 most-followed curly hair brands on TikTok.

​A sought-after speaker and changemaker, Julissa has spoken at TEDx, Harvard University, Create & Cultivate, and the United Nations. She has been honored as one of Cosmopolitan's "New C-Suite Women of Color," TikTok's "Visionary Voices," Beauty Independent's "Entrepreneur of the Year," and the National Hispanic Media Coalition's "For the People Impact" awardee. Through every milestone, Julissa continues to champion her community, proving that embracing culture and curls can drive lasting impact and meaningful success.