TED Ideas Speaker | Founder of Mane Hook-Up | Digitising the $275 BILLION Black Hair Industry | Uncovering how Hair Can Create Generational Wealth | Visionary Leadership Award Winner 🏆 | Keynote Speaker & Panelist ✨

Hey there 👋🏾 

I'm Jade - Founder of Mane Hook-Up.

→ You'll usually find me hitting the track for a run.
→ Or lending a hand to friends starting their businesses. 

But no matter what I'm up to... 
My passion lies in serving and uplifting underserved communities

That's why I created Mane Hook-Up 💇🏾‍♀️👩🏽

(a beauty tech platform connecting people with afro hairdressers for appointments.)

Think of Google Maps, 
↳ But for people who need an afro hair specialist. 

We launched in NYC this summer 🥳
Now you can find talented stylists in London & NYC
 
OUR GOAL? 🥅
→ To make the beauty industry more inclusive, especially for Black women. 

Connect with me to follow our journey.

Exciting news — Mane Hook-Up has won a national OOH advertising campaign! 🎉

Super excited to share that Mane Hook-Up has been selected as the winner of a £5,000+ out-of-home advertising competition, including FOUR digital billboards and a branded taxi running across the UK this January.

For a growing startup like ours, visibility is incredibly valuable. This campaign allows us to reach more clients and independent textured hair stylists, strengthen our brand presence, and continue building trust in the community we serve.

What this win means:
 📍 Increased visibility
 📍 Stronger brand trust
 📍 More stylists discovering our platform
 📍 More clients finding stylists who understand textured hair

A big thank you to Priority Media Agency for this opportunity, and to Khadeeja Paulerice for sharing the competition with me — your support genuinely made this possible.

Thank you to everyone who continues to support Mane Hook-Up’s mission. We’re excited for what this next step unlocks.

Campaign launches January 2026.

 #ManeHookUp #Startups #OOHCampaign #TexturedHairIndustry #BlackFemaleFounders #CommunityBuilding

Jade Buffong-Phillips

Black women make up 4.2% of the UK's female population.

But we account for 10% of total haircare spending.

(According to The TreasureTress Trend Report)

We're spending 2.5x more than our demographic size
Not by choice, but by necessity.

Here is my call to action:

1. To Brands: 

Stop treating Black hair care as "niche" when we're clearly a major market force.

- We need more products on mainstream shelves
- Fair pricing structures
- Investment in R&D for textured hair
- Black women in leadership making product decisions

2. To Retailers: 

Expand your offerings. The data proves the demand exists. If you're not stocking products for Black hair, you're leaving money and customers on the table.

3. To Investors:

Black hair care is not a trend; it's a proven, loyal, growing market. Fund the founders who understand this community from lived experience.

4. To My Community:

Our spending power is £10 billion+ in the UK alone. Let's be intentional about where we invest it. 

Support brands that:
Price fairly 
→ Hire us → Listen to us → Show up consistently (not just during Black History Month)

We're not asking for favors.
We're demanding equity in an industry we're literally keeping alive.

The numbers don't lie.

Now let's make sure our voices are heard just as clearly.

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Opportunities like this don’t come around every day.

This Friday, I’ll be taking part in the Female Founders Rise Showcase at Google HQ.

And here’s why that matters...

As founders, we spend so much time building in isolation. Sharing your journey, the challenges, the wins — that’s where growth happens. Being visible among peers, investors, and other founders isn’t about showing off; it’s about connection, learning, and lifting others as you climb.

Here’s my call to action:

👩🏾‍💻 To Founders: Show up. Share your story. Don’t wait for someone else to spotlight your work. The more we connect and support each other, the faster we all grow.

💰 To Investors & Partners: Pay attention to founder-led initiatives. The power of community-driven ideas is real, and supporting founders who are solving meaningful problems benefits everyone.

🎉 To My Community: Celebrate each other’s wins. Attend showcases, events, and panels. Be present for founders sharing their work. Your encouragement and engagement can open doors we can’t open alone.

Taking part in spaces like this is a reminder: we grow when we share, when we connect, and when we make room for others to thrive alongside us.

Excited for tomorrow, and grateful to be part of a community of women founders who are bold, brilliant, and building the future.

#FemaleFounders #Entrepreneurship #WomenInBusiness #Community #Collaboration #Leadership

✨ Yesterday was special.

I had the privilege of showcasing Mane Hook-Up at the Female Founders Rise Summit at Google HQ — and it was a brilliant day. 

Standing in a room full of founders, and ecosystem builders, I was reminded of something I’ve learned over and over again on this journey: when women come together, things move.

And when underrepresented founders are given the mic, whole industries shift.

I shared why Mane Hook-Up exists, how we support textured hair stylists through community, education, and technology — and the impact we’ve made so far, from our events in London & New York to helping children in foster care access free hair care.

But the most powerful part of the day wasn’t the stage.

It was the conversations afterwards — the people who came up and said,
“How can we help?”

Those four words mean everything for a founder building something from scratch.

A huge thank you to Emmie Faust, Shakira Maria Mustafa, and the entire team for creating a space where underrepresented founders feel seen, supported, and celebrated. And thank you to the women I shared the showcase with:

Kerran Kaur 
Eniye Okah 
Natalie Duvall 
Alison Burton  

— your stories were powerful and needed.

If we spoke yesterday, I’ll be following up this week. And if you’re interested in partnering, collaborating, or supporting in any way, my inbox is open 💛

Here’s to more rooms like this — and to building an industry that works for all of us.

#FemaleFounders #WomenInBusiness #Startups #TechForGood #BeautyTech #TexturedHair #ManeHookUp #FoundersJourney #CommunityBuilding

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