The Woman Behind the Brands: How Karonda Cook Quietly Helped Build the Textured Hair Industry

There are women in beauty whose names are not always front and center, but whose work shapes entire categories.

Karonda Cook is one of them.

Long before textured haircare became one of the most watched sectors in the beauty industry, Cook was already helping to shape it. She was studying how Black women shop in beauty supply stores, helping corporations understand an overlooked consumer, and working behind the scenes to support brands that would eventually become staples in the textured hair aisle.

Today, Cook serves as Head of Global Marketing at KISS Colors & Care, where she leads global brand strategy and consumer marketing for one of the beauty industry’s most recognizable companies. But her path into beauty did not begin in corporate offices. It started in a salon in Chicago.

“My roots in beauty run deep,” Cook said. “At the salon, I really got a chance to see firsthand how this is the cultural heartbeat of our community.”

Cook was just 15 when she started working as a shampoo assistant in a salon owned by a Black woman who also worked in sales for Luster Products. The experience gave her an early understanding of how powerful beauty spaces can be for Black women.

“So many women came in one way and then just to see them be transformed and leave another way,” she said. “It was really rooted in confidence and community.”

The lesson stayed with her. So did the realization that Black women are not simply participants in the beauty industry.

They are its architects.

“What it really taught me was that Black women lead everything,” Cook said. “We don’t just buy products and build beauty routines. We build the category.”

After graduating from Clark Atlanta University with a marketing degree, Cook was determined to work in beauty. But her first corporate role ended up being at Paper Mate.

She quickly realized it was not where she wanted to stay.

“One day I was just like, who cares about a rollerball or if the pen is red or black?” she said, laughing. “I’ve got to get into beauty.”

Cook made a bold decision. She stepped away from her marketing role and accepted a merchandising position at Pro-Line International, a Black-owned beauty company known for brands like Just For Me and Soft & Beautiful.

The move gave her something invaluable: direct exposure to how Black consumers shop.

She spent time walking beauty supply stores across Chicago, building relationships with store owners and observing how customers interacted with products on the shelf.

“That was very pivotal,” Cook said. “Understanding at store level how we shop. The beauty supply is the nucleus in terms of the retail ecosystem.”

That experience would later prove invaluable when Pro-Line was acquired by Alberto-Culver, and Alberto-Culver was later acquired by Unilever. Cook helped the global company better understand the beauty supply channel and the textured hair consumer.

“They were like, wait, what is this?” she said. “The beauty supply channel was completely foreign to them.”

Cook’s career continued to grow as she moved across sales, strategy, and retail roles. Then came one of the most defining chapters of her career: Sally Beauty.

When Cook relocated to Dallas, an opportunity opened for a director role in the beauty industry. She had never formally been a buyer before, but advocates inside the company believed she was the right person for the job.

“I had so many advocates that I had no idea were working behind the scenes, throwing my name out there,” Cook said. “Then I prayed about it and God said go for it.”

She did. And she got the role.

At Sally Beauty, Cook became one of the key leaders shaping the retailer’s textured hair assortment during a critical moment in the category’s growth.

She worked closely with brands that would later become category leaders. Cantu was already in retail, but Cook brought the brand into Sally Beauty. Carol’s Daughter, The Mane Choice, and Mielle Organics also entered national retail through Sally as their first retail stop.

Cook did more than bring products onto shelves. She helped founders understand how to scale their businesses strategically.

“Founders often said they wanted to be in all 2,500 doors at once,” she said. “I would say no you don’t. Scaling that fast can break what you’re trying to build. Let’s hold hands and work on this together.”

Cook says she never thought about the long-term impact of that work while it was happening.

“It really hasn’t been until the last few years that I’ve thought, wow, I guess I was very instrumental,” she said.

After years of travel and leadership responsibilities, Cook made another major decision. She stepped away from corporate life to spend more time with her family and launched a consulting firm named The Jane Group, in honor of her mother.

For eight years, she worked as an independent strategist, advising companies across the beauty industry.

One of those companies was KISS.

At the end of 2020, KISS brought Cook in to help develop what would become KISS Colors & Care, a brand created to bring innovation to the textured hair category in mass retail.

“We built that brand from the ground up,” she said.

The strategy centered on listening closely to the consumer and validating ideas through research and testing.

The results have been significant. In just a few years, KISS Colors & Care has grown into one of the fastest-growing brands in the category.

Now back in corporate leadership, Cook says she feels empowered advocating for the consumer she understands best.

“At this stage of my career, I feel great,” she said. “I lead with data and consumer-centric insights.”

For Cook, success in beauty is not about celebrity endorsements or viral campaigns.

“What success looks like to me is hearing women recommend a product to each other,” she said. “You can do all the marketing in the world, but if people aren’t buying it and telling other people about it, it doesn’t matter.”

One category she is particularly passionate about is scalp health.

“Your scalp is your skin,” Cook said. “And we as Black women do a lot to our hair that affects our scalp.”

From protective styles to product buildup, she believes the next evolution of textured haircare will include a deeper focus on scalp care and long-term hair health.

Still, when Cook reflects on her career, the message she wants to leave the next generation is not about titles or visibility.

“You don’t have to be a founder,” she said. “There are so many powerful roles behind the scenes that shape this industry.”

In an era where everyone wants to be in front of the camera, Cook encourages young professionals to think more broadly.

“Think beyond the camera,” she said. “There’s real power in the work happening behind the scenes.”

And for decades, that is exactly where Karonda Cook has been.

Helping shape the industry.

Helping build the brands.

And making sure the voices of Black women are heard at every level of beauty.