varaidzo tendai moyo

ok so this happened 😭

walked into Sephora and got to witness everything we’ve been envisioning. the collagen braiding hair, the Do-It-All Gel, the S/cent collection, all of it. IN SEPHORA!!

for anyone who’s missed the past 6 months of my bi-weekly breakdowns, they’ve largely been fuelled by this: Ruka is the first braiding hair brand EVER in Sephora. not just the first Black-owned one. the first one, period. this category didn’t exist on their shelves until now.

i don’t think i can quite explain how surreal this feels.

we obsessed over this. not just how our products look on shelf, but how someone discovers, understands and shops for braiding hair in Sephora for the very first time.

today i spent time with Sheala, the store manager at Sephora SoHo. her excitement about Ruka, curiosity about the products and enthusiasm for what we’re bringing to the category meant so much. there’s something incredibly special about seeing other people believe in what you’ve spent years building.

of course, we’re still learning. we’re building a category that hasn’t existed in this environment before, and that means listening, learning and figuring things out as we go.

but today, i’m taking a moment to appreciate how far we’ve come.

little Ruka, on the shelves of Sephora. 🥹🤍