1. The
Mane
Attraction
A C H I E V E The Boss
The stockpile is just part of Dance’s com-
mitment to being the best. Competing for
customers’ attention is an herculean task
when beauty supply shelves are teeming with
edge gels, growth serums and leave-in condi-
tioners. Dance, however, employs a 360-marketing
model that introduces products and the brand wherever
the customer is; whether a Jill Scott private listening party, a
partnership with BET.com or on a talk show segment, such as
FOX’s The Real.
Last year, Beautiful Textures, which Dance co-created, and
Elasta QP were featured on the hit gabfest, and it became one
of the program’s most popular hair segments, receiving approxi-
mately 6,000 comments from viewers.
Dance plans to launch an Instagram campaign and to beef up
social media so that her customers stay connected. That’s critical
as mainstream companies find their footing in the $700-million
ethnic hair care business. She’s focusing on developing quality,
widely accessible products and keeping families with varying in-
comes in mind.
“It would’ve been wonderful to have brands that were so af-
fordable that if I wanted my own shampoo and conditioner as a
tween or teen, I could afford it,” she says. “I work hard thinking
about the little girl, that was me, making sure that her mom has
the opportunity to also buy beauty products that are just for her.”
STRENGTH OF NATURE’S CHARLENE
DANCE SHARES HOW SHE SKILLFULLY
MOLDED THE CAREER OF HER
DREAMS B y TA I I A S M A R T Y O U N G
COURTESYCHARLENEDANCE
I
n the sixth grade, Charlene Dance
learned this cardinal rule: Your
hairstyle must fit your lifestyle. In
the 1980s, the Jheri curl was trendy,
but it wasn’t a good look for a swim-
mer, like Dance.
“It was a nightmare. I’d get into the
pool, and the chlorine would inter-
act with the chemicals in my hair,” recalls the Ami-
tyville, N.Y. native. “After a while, I couldn’t comb
through my hair or style it. I could barely wash
it.”
She endured that ’do for a year before
grabbing a pair of scissors to perform the
“big chop.” Her mother was furious, and
Dance’s do-it-yourself cut left her with an
inch and half of hair. Luckily, that bold
move revealed natural “beautiful little
curls” she became obsessed with main-
taining. That’s how Dance, now herself a
mother of one, started her hair journey.
Today, as the global marketing director
for Strength of Nature (SON), the interna-
tional company that’s home to Beautiful Tex-
tures, Soft & Beautiful Botanicals, Elasta QP and
a few other well-known brands, Dance, 41, is commit-
ted to providing women of color with affordable products for
natural, relaxed and dyed tresses.
“I love hair care. Hairstyles speak to how you feel about your-
self. [A hairstyle is] a creative way of showing people who you
are characteristically,” says the product junkie from her office in
Jacksonville, Fla. “It tells a great story about the person.”
Dance didn’t have a traditional marketing background. She
earned a bachelor’s in behavioral science from Adelphi University
and a master’s in program and research development from Stony
Brook University, both in New York, which gave her an edge over
the competition.
“I was trained to understand people; to emotionally tap in and
listen to what they want. As a researcher and marketer, it’s im-
portant to be consumer centric,” she says.
She often takes her work home. In fact, the executive racks up
so much product, her hubby, former BMX cycling champ Donald
Dance, purchased a storage unit exclusively for all her sprays,
crèmes and oils.
I was trained to
understand peo-
ple; to emotional-
ly tap in and lis-
ten to what they
want.
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