User:Missjessies2004/sandbox

Miko Shawnee Branch (born 9/7/1970), is an American born hair stylist, entrepreneur, and author. She is the Co-founder and CEO of the Miss Jessie’s hair care product line, which specifically caters to the styling and maintenance of wavy, curly, and natural textured hair. She is also the Co-founder of the Miss Jessie’s Salon, and the author of the business/personal memoir, Miss Jessie’s: Creating a Successful Business From Scratch—Naturally. Along with sister Titi Branch, Miko Branch is regarded as a pioneer of the natural hair care movement.

Early Life
Born in Poughkeepsie, New York, Miko Branch is the younger sister of Titi Branch. Her father is an African American entrepreneur, and her mother is a Japanese American artist. Both parents worked full time to support their family. Miko and Titi also spent much of their childhood in the care of their paternal grandmother, Miss Jessie Mae Branch. Affectionately known as "Miss Jessie", her role as family matriarch inspired Miko and Titi, as she taught the girls everything she knew about cooking, fashion, beauty, and hair. Miss Jessie also taught her granddaughters more substantial life lessons pertaining to etiquette, self confidence, self sufficiency, resourcefulness, and common sense. Miko and Titi were first introduced to the concept of utilizing at home recipes with common ingredients found in the kitchen, to concoct products to help style curly hair. Miko discusses the valuable lessons she and Titi learned under the tutelage of their grandmother, in the book, Miss Jessie’s: Creating a Successful Business From Scratch—Naturally:

"The biggest thing Miss Jessie taught us was hot to identify a need or problem and then find a solution. 'Just look around you,' she'd tell us. 'All you need is right there at your fingertips. If you just use common sense, you will get it.'

That was Miss Jessie's approach to her recipes. She made mostly everything from scratch, never needing a recipe book. She used common sense to achieve her vision, whether it was the smoothest yellow cake batter, or an egg mayonnaise treatment she whipped up to deal with our unruly hair."

Miko credits the strong examples set by her parents and grandmother, as well as early childhood experiences as “latchkey kids”, for her advanced comprehension of hard work and independence.

Only 15 months apart in age, Miko and Titi cultivated a very close bond in their childhood, which extended through adolescence and into adulthood, eventually becoming business partners and co-creators of the Miss Jessie’s brand.

Miko attended The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT).

Career
In spring of 1997, together with her sister Titi, Miko opened the hair salon, Curve, in Brooklyn, NY. The business shifted its focus to styling naturally curl textured hair, after clients noticed Miko sporting this style and began requesting it for themselves.

"In 2000, Miko had just had a baby boy and she quickly realized that bathing a splashing new born was not good for maintaining her straight styled hair. So, she began wearing her hair natural and curly – and Titi followed behind. They loved the look (as did their salon clients), but it was difficult – if not impossible – to find any products, anywhere that were designed for maintaining and styling naturally curly hair.

Faced with this problem, the sisters looked to their grandmother for inspiration and wondered what she would do. The solution was simple. Make your own product, because that is what Miss Jessie would have done!"

The popularity of their own naturally curly looks ultimately sparked their serious interest in exploring this niche market for natural textured and curly hair products. Together with sister Titi, Miko developed Miss Jessie’s products, as a response to the high demand for curly hair products which judiciously paralleled the complete and diverse scope of curly hair textures, and would reveal the true stylistic versatility of curly textured hair. The first Miss Jessie's products were developed in 2004; first with Miss Jessie's Curly Pudding™, and then Curly Meringue™ and Curly Buttercreme™. With no investors or loans to help build their burgeoning company, Miko and Titi utilized guerrilla marketing tactics to promote their products , including leveraging the internet as a marketing resource for the products and salon services by showcasing Before and After photos of curly and textured haired customers. These photos caught the attention of the public, because they depicted the beautiful versatility naturally curly, textured hair.

The company’s namesake is derived from their grandmother, Miss Jessie Mae Branch.

Miko Branch is the current CEO for Miss Jessie’s, and she is also the best selling author of the business guide and personal memoir, Miss Jessie’s: Creating a Successful Business from Scratch—Naturally. Miko also has a New York State Cosmetology License.

Notable Awards and Honors
Miko Branch has acquired many honors and accolades, including:


 * Featured on the cover Women’s Wear Daily, Beauty Inc., as a trailblazer in the beauty brand industry.
 * In 2011 listed amongst Ebony Magazine's Power 100 List, as Innovators and Influencers.
 * Is an honored recipient of the Economic Development award, by Delta Sigma Theta.
 * Was listed amongst The Network Journal’s 25 Influential Black Women in Business, and is an honored recipient of a 25 Influential Black Women in Business award.
 * Was an honored recipient of 2015 Outstanding 50 Asian American Business awards, by the Asian American Business Development Center.

Notable Users of Miss Jessie's Products
Many notable celebrities have claimed to include Miss Jessie’s products as part of their beauty regiment, including;


 * Singer-songwriter and composer, Janelle Monáe.
 * Academy Award winning actress, Lupita Nyong’o.
 * Television actress and principle cast member of the Netflix original comedy-drama series, Orange is the New Black, Danielle Brooks.

Notable Appearances of Miss Jessie's Products on Television
Miss Jessie’s Curly Pudding is featured in an episode of the Netflix original comedy-drama series, Orange is the New Black. The episode is titled Comic Sans, and it is Season 2, Episode 7 of the series.

Personal Life
Miko Branch has one son, born in 2000. On December 4, 2014, Miko's sister, business partner, and fellow Miss Jessie’s co- founder, Titi Branch, passed away.