Firefighter and entrepreneur Gregory Shepherd, 38, is the founder of Cultivated Haircare, a natural hair care brand created with Black men, women, and children in mind.
“For me, when I go into the fire department and when I leave the fire department, I want to do my best,” Shepherd said. “I like to smell scents to make me feel good and to wash away the dirt of a long day and reset. That’s my way of mentally resetting.”
Cultivated products contain all-natural ingredients intended to promote length retention, smooth and soften hair, define curl pattern, and lock in moisture. The brand is plant-based, vegan-friendly, and handcrafted without parabens, phthalates, mineral oil, sulfates, or petroleum.
Shepard grew up in Flatbush, Brooklyn. As a child, he had a dream of becoming a firefighter. “It has to do with growing into an area that is less (wealthy),” Shepherd said. “Unfortunately, I always saw firefighters working. There were always fires in Crown Heights and Flatbush.”
But his path to becoming a firefighter wasn’t a direct one. Shepard worked at Chase Bank to make ends meet, then went to college in Bowling Green, Ohio, to study sports management. After graduating, he decided that a career in sports was no longer for him and returned to work as a banker. One day, a chance encounter with the head of an FDNY battalion at a bank inspired him to return to his childhood dreams. He studied and trained for the city’s difficult firefighter exam, which he passed at age 28.
He has been a firefighter for the past 10 years and currently works at Engine 234 in Brooklyn. The fire department has the highest number of black firefighters in the city.
Over the years of saving the city, Shepherd said he never lost his entrepreneurial spirit. However, he decided to pursue a hair care business for his grandmother, Monica Alleyne, who struggled to maintain her own hair.
“She’s allergic to different things and it was difficult to find products that would work for her hair. So I started experimenting with all-natural ingredients and figuring out what worked and what caused her reactions. I started researching and making hair butters and hair oils,” Shepard said. “From there, it grew to 20 other products.”
Shepherd said his first responder colleagues helped make Kultivated what it is today by testing and purchasing his products. His goal is to grow his business enough to move into big box stores. Eventually, I would like to run a hair care store.
Kulttivated Hair Care products can be found at www.kultivatedhaircare.com/store and on Etsy.
Something like this:
Like loading…
