“Is This Still Us?” How a Hair Extension Founder Reclaimed Her Brand Identity and Grew 76%
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
A Business and Beyond Story featuring Deenaisha Jones, Founder of Crown Thread Extensions
For years, Deenaisha Jones had mastered something many entrepreneurs spend decades trying to learn.
She knew how to fit in.
Her hair extension brand, Crown Thread, had gained traction in upscale beauty circles across the city. Influencers loved the sleek packaging. Salons on the “other side of town” stocked her products. The imagery was polished, aspirational, and unmistakably aligned with mainstream beauty marketing.
From the outside, everything looked like success.
But internally, something felt off.
Because while Crown Thread was thriving commercially, Deenaisha realized the brand she had built wasn’t fully speaking to the women she came from.
Brand Identity Tension: Is this Still Us?
Many of her marketing campaigns leaned toward the beauty standards often celebrated in dominant Western markets: long, silky, European-style extensions, minimal texture variation, and branding language designed to feel “luxury neutral.”
But Deenaisha knew something deeper.
Black women’s hair culture is expansive — coils, kinks, braids, protective styles, cultural heritage, artistry, and identity.
And slowly, she began asking herself a difficult question:
“Is this still us?”
The brand had gained acceptance in spaces that once felt unreachable. But it had done so by muting parts of the story she wanted to tell.
It wasn’t just a branding decision anymore.
It was an identity decision.
When Brand Misalignment Becomes a Business Risk: Is This Still Us?
Brand misalignment is more common than many founders realize.
Research from Lucidpress shows that consistent and authentic brand presentation can increase revenue by up to 23%. Meanwhile, studies from Forrester and Edelman Trust Barometer highlight that consumers increasingly gravitate toward brands that authentically reflect their values and cultural identity.
When a brand’s messaging drifts away from its core audience, the costs can be subtle but significant:
audience disconnect
declining emotional loyalty
diluted brand positioning
missed market opportunities
For Deenaisha, the brand still looked successful on paper.
But the deeper question remained:
Was it still honest?
The Pivot: Reclaiming the Brand
That’s when Deenaisha partnered with ENC Solutions.
Not to start over — but to realign.
Together, we began asking the foundational questions every growing brand must eventually confront:
What is the true cultural center of this brand?
What stories have been minimized in order to scale?
What would happen if the brand spoke fully and unapologetically to its audience?
Through a comprehensive brand development and innovation strategy process, Crown Thread began to evolve.
The new brand direction expanded product storytelling beyond silky textures and leaned into the full spectrum of Black hair expression — textured extensions, protective styling education, and cultural storytelling.
The visual identity shifted.
The language shifted.
The mission became clearer.
But the biggest shift happened inside the founder herself.
As Deenaisha later reflected:
“It felt like I wasn’t just rebranding the company. I was rebranding my soul.”
The Results
Within 12 months of the brand realignment:
Crown Thread experienced a 76% increase in revenue.
Not because the company abandoned its earlier customers —but because it finally spoke clearly to the community that had always been waiting to see itself reflected.
The brand didn’t shrink.
It expanded with authenticity.
The Lesson
An identity crisis in business isn’t always a sign of failure.
Sometimes it’s the signal that a brand has outgrown its first version of itself.
And the leaders willing to confront that moment often unlock the most powerful phase of growth.
How ENC Solutions Supports Leaders
At ENC Solutions, we help leaders:
• Clarify the cultural and strategic identity that makes their brand distinct
• Identify hidden misalignments that limit long-term growth
• Build brand strategies that allow businesses to expand without losing their soul
Because the strongest brands aren’t the ones that fit in everywhere.
They’re the ones that stand fully in who they are.
Biz & Beyond Mastermind
These kinds of strategic conversations rarely happen in isolation.
Inside Biz & Beyond, founders and leaders explore the deeper questions behind business growth — identity, leadership evolution, and the strategic pivots that shape the future of their companies.
It’s a space for entrepreneurs who are building more than businesses.
They’re building self-led leadership creating authentic brands.
------> Learn more about Biz & Beyond
Disclaimer
This story is a fictionalized case study created for educational and inspirational purposes.
