Being an entrepreneur is tough, even if you’re Gabrielle Union.
While readying for a Women’s History Month dinner she hosted with IPSY, the Riff Raff actress, 52, reflected on the struggles she faced as she was trying to get her brand, Flawless by Gabrielle Union, off the ground.
One of the biggest challenges, she discovered, was finding dedicated investors. For her and longtime friend, hairstylist and partner, Larry Sims, whom she worked with on Flawless, it was important that their investors understand the intricacies within the curly, coily, textured hair community, but that didn’t come easy.
“There’s a lot of people out there that are very quick to throw you cash, but there’s no long game,” she explains to PEOPLE. “It’s looking at the Black and melanated communities and the textured hair community as low hanging fruit. So [they] can throw money at something, it’s going to do well and [they] can be out. There’s not a long-term plan or commitment, and there’s not a true understanding of the community that you are serving.”
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That mentality didn’t sit quite well with Union, whose goal was centered around establishing a trusted and respected brand that could eventually stand without her name. “No one’s interested in a drive-by investment in our community. We’re interested in deep roots. I want to be here with great products and good prices for as long as the community will have me.”
Being so steadfast in her principles then meant she had to really hold some people’s feet to the fire to fight for the mission and integrity of the brand. “Even when you have contracts and legally binding language, it can cost more to force people to do what they said they’re going to do,” she says.
“So that part is really, really, really hard to the point where me and Larry have rejiggered this company repeatedly to make sure that our integrity is not being compromised and our reputations are not being compromised while we are still steady fighting to make sure we’re delivering good, affordable, accessible products.”
And rejigger they did. Union originally launched the brand back in 2017, but after some time on the market, she decided to go back to take a step back, brought Sims on board, “reclaimed control of Flawless” and relaunched in 2020.
But still, just because Union and Sims were in the driver’s seat didn’t mean everything went swimmingly behind-the-scenes. They still had to continue advocating for the representation they wanted.
“Being at the helm but needing investors, those are two different things,” she explains. “So I got more [ownership] when we relaunched, Larry and I had way more power. But when the money gets funny, people want to be like, ‘Okay, well it’s smooth sailing now.’ But It’s like, no, there’s a five-year plan that we all signed up for.”
“Maintaining that power and maintaining the level of service that we kicked off with and the level of success we kicked off with and still leaning into innovation is a challenge,” she tells PEOPLE.
Union won’t settle, even if it means rejiggering again, which she’s in the process of doing. “We’re moving on into a different direction where we’re in alignment with long-term plans and long-term advocacy and long-term accessibility and affordability and understanding that who we are as people and as founders, that’s not going to change.”
Through it all, the Bring It On alum has found pockets of growth, not just for her brand, but for herself as a businesswoman. The journey of entrepreneurship is not just about course-correcting and rectifying where others slip, but it’s also about being accountable, yourself. And Union says that’s been good lesson for her as well.
“I’m learning that, I’m okay [with] being wrong. I’m okay to have absolutely screwed up, but I’m not okay with staying there,” she says. “Some people triple down on the bad, I’m not going to do that. You’ve [only] got to point it out to me once and I am shifting. Good feedback is always an aha moment and you have to pivot.”
Of course, no journey can be embarked on without help and thankfully, several of Union’s friends have also ventured into the beauty space and have been useful resources as she’s grown Flawless.
“I’ve been lucky that so many of my peers have started hair care lines as well and we all support each other,” she says.
“I can call Tracee [Ellis Ross] and say, ‘Yo, where’s Pattern getting their componentry from and what’s your rate? What’s your minimum spend?’ I could call Taraji [P. Henson], I could call Tia [Mowry], I could call Issa Rae. Stephanie Horton, who is my girl who’s at Google,” she reveals. “Serena Williams is an investing guru. I can call Serena about literally anything, literally anything.”
She continues, “It’s nice to have a collective of good friends that you can call about anything, but especially when there might be things that happen to you that are humiliating or embarrassing or troubling and to not be judged.”
That same sense of sisterhood and camaraderie is what she brought to Women’s History Month dinner celebration she hosted with IPSY on March 11. The event, which was held at Rae’s restaurant Somerville was a celebration of the powerhouse women “who I love and who inspire me and just to learn more [and] maybe listen more than I talk,” Union jokes.
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Union also lent her voice to IPSY’s “Black Joy Is Beautiful” campaign for Black History Month in February and curated an Icon Box for them as well.
“To be able to talk about something that I love — I’m a history buff. I used to work at the library. My favorite places are bookstores. I live to go down rabbit holes on Google and do my own research, whether it’s ancient civilizations, different communities throughout Africa, just learning. I love history, but I especially love our history and to be able to share that with the audience was special,” she says of narrating the campaign.
She concludes: “To even be chosen to speak in that way is special because there’s so many of us who are equally as proud. So getting to talk about our collective journey across the diaspora is always exciting and important to me [and] a natural organic extension of my nerdy interests about history.”
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