Tiffany Drysdale-Lombardo of Knotty NYC
The first time I spoke to Tiffany, I was being interviewed for a writing position at her human resource business, The HR Den. Confident, she wasted no time detailing her accolades as an HR professional and graduate from Stony Brook University.
The HR Den was a small operation, but the way Tiffany explained her vision, one would think it was ten times what it was. The mission of the company was simple: creating the ultimate career experience for women of color.
Now a year later, as the founder and CEO of Knotty NYC, it’s clear what drives Tiffany; tailor-made services for women of color. Mentioned in Refinery29 and The Zoe Report, Knotty NYC is a mobile beauty bar, giving women a luxury hair experience from the comfort of their homes. Below is Tiffany on managing a business and capitalizing on a forgotten market.
Going from human resources to hair is a bit of a jump, how did Knotty NYC come about?
Being a woman of color, a Black woman specifically, I’ve always felt like there was a missing market for black women, and that’s what originally inspired me to create The HR Den. I decided to table that for a little bit because I have a lot of ideas and whenever I see that something might not be working at the moment, I’m very big on pivoting and trying something new. I don’t see anything as a failure.
I saw that there were tons of mobile services out there, but I didn’t see that there were any brands that were offering natural hair styling or braid styling and that’s a huge thing black women love. I thought, ‘why aren’t these particular niche services being offered?’ It was a huge market being missed out on and I saw something I could fill a void for. I wanted to get my braids done, but I didn’t want to do it myself, and I didn’t want to go down to a salon and get them done. I said, let me create this mobile-at-home service where clients are interested in natural care.
The HR Den is on hold for now but, what are the similarities between the two businesses?
What connects both brands is the service for black women, and allowing them to feel like this is a service made for them by someone that looks like them. That’s why I’m big on being the face of the brand, and I’m not afraid of that. I want customers to see that the founder is just like them. Connection is a really big thing for me and I want to connect with my customers.
What’s the feedback been from customers?
It’s funny, when we launched in 2018 it was crickets, we didn’t have anybody interested. But from the very first appointment to now, everyone has said that they love their service and love the idea. They appreciate the luxury of someone coming to their home — it’s almost like you get to reclaim your time and not be a slave to the salon for eight hours. They also love that it’s mobile, offering something they’ve never seen before.
In your bio you mention being one of six siblings, do you think having a big family has added to being an entrepreneur?
Absolutely. I have three brothers and two sisters, so we’re like the real Brady Bunch. Our parents always pushed us to be creative and they were always supportive and celebrated our differences. Both of my parents were entrepreneurs; my mom is a stylist, so the first time I ever went to a salon was in like 2015 because she always did my hair. Somehow I feel like things always come full circle — my mom was a cosmetologist and now I have Knotty NYC.
My family is from Jamaica and anyone that comes from an immigrant family knows that there are no ‘buts’ you just make it happen. You’re always pushed to do what you can to get ahead in America and living in that type of household builds a work ethic. That has definitely played a role in my life.
Since you still work a full-time job, how do you balance that and run an up-and-coming business?
It can be stressful, but as a person you have to control the way you navigate your life. I need to be on from 9 to 5 but I take my breaks, and that’s important in life. Take breaks. I’m not a morning person, and a lot of entrepreneurs will say they are — maybe I’ll transition, but I can’t wake up at 4 or 5 in the morning to get work done. It takes diligence and discipline and understanding that if you’re taking this seriously you have to change your habits and really focus on what’s important. It’s not easy at all, these are just tools that help.
The brand is still pretty new, but do you have any plans to expand it outside of New York?
Never say never, but for now, we’re just trying to take over the New York City market as much as possible. When people think of protective styles and hair braiding I want them to think of Knotty NYC. We plan on staying in the Tri-State area, but you never know what the future might hold. I should also say, we are looking into going into the product side of the business, so that should be something people look out for.
Anything else you want to add?
Knotty NYC is an amazing company because Black women are consumers too. When Rihanna came out with Fenty it was groundbreaking, but why is it groundbreaking for that to be the norm? I do think the landscape is changing though, especially now. It’s going in the right direction, I’m optimistic.