Leila Velez is a Brazilian entrepreneur and the founder of Beleza Natural, a chain of beauty salons. From simple beginnings in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, she opened her first salon in 1993, afterwards expanding her enterprise, so that by 2017 the company operated in five states of Brazil, with 45 salons, and employed over 4000 people.

Career

Beleza Natural

Velez grew up in one of the

favela Favela () is an umbrella name for several types of working-class neighborhoods in Brazil. The term was first used in the Providência neighborhood in the center of Rio de Janeiro in the late 19th century, which was built by soldiers who had ...

s in

, Brazil. She was a daughter of a janitor and worked at

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

. Together with Zica Assis, a maid who became a hairdresser, she realized that there is demand in Brazil for means to make women's hair less frizzy. They experimented with herbs and chemicals, and eventually found a recipe that accomplished this. In 1993, they, together with Rogério Assis (Velez's colleague at McDonald's) and Jair Conde (Zica's husband, a former taxi driver), founded Beleza Natural, which grew into the chain of beauty salons., p. 74. Velez is also the CEO of the company. She was 14 when she started the experiments with hair. The first beauty salon was funded by the money they received by selling Conde's car. In 2005, Velez took the entire leadership team to

Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, th ...

as an investigative meetup in order to determine what service methods were used by the conglomerate and what is done to keep customers returning, despite those customers having to wait hours in lines and often in high temperatures. As of 2017, the company operated in five states of Brazil (45 salons in total) and employed over 4000 people, with the first US location opening in August 2018 in

Harlem, New York Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

. The company employs mainly uneducated women, for whom this is their first job, and provides necessary training for them. For their clients from the poorest class, the company organized monthly "Days of beauty" providing free services and some educational activities. That same year, the company partnered with

GP Investments GP Investments (also GP Investimentos), is a leading alternative investment firm in Latin America with a strong presence in asset management, principally private equity funds. The firm's shares are listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and trad ...

, the first time that Beleza had worked with outside funding, in order to finance expansion of the company further outside the country.

Edward Glaeser Edward Ludwig Glaeser (born May 1, 1967) is an American economist and Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics at Harvard University. He is also Director for the Cities Research Programme at the International Growth Centre. He was educated a ...

in his 2011 book ''Triumph of the City'' mentions Velez as an example of a success story, when a person from a favela reaches an excellent position in a society. Celebration events and other activist-fueled productions are conducted annually by Velez through funding from Beleza in order to promote the wearing of natural curls among black women and to fight the stigma that leads many to use

hair straighteners Hair straightening is a hair styling technique used since the 1890s involving the flattening and straightening of hair in order to give it a smooth, streamlined, and sleek appearance. It became very popular during the 1950s among black males and ...

. One of Velez's goals is to also push for such hair being allowed in business and other settings around the world, in order to fight racism in Brazil toward black women and their natural

afro-textured hair Afro-textured hair, or kinky hair, is a human hair texture originating from sub-Saharan Africa. Each strand of this hair type grows in a tiny, angle-like helix shape. The overall effect is such that, contrasted with straight, wavy, or curly hai ...

Other activities

Velez traveled to the United States in 2010 to participate in the Entrepreneurship and Competitiveness in Latin America (ECLA) program conducted by the

Columbia Business School Columbia Business School (CBS) is the business school of Columbia University, a Private university, private research university in New York City. Established in 1916, Columbia Business School is one of six Ivy League business schools and is one ...

Awards and honors

In 2017, Velez was selected by ''

Americas Quarterly ''Americas Quarterly (AQ)'' is a publication dedicated to politics, business and culture in the Americas. Distribution ''AQ'' has an established relationship with NTN24, an online news channel from Colombia with three million viewers, to broadca ...

'' for their "Top 5 Young Entrepreneurs" listing, noting that her work is especially influential in Brazil because it "empowers" young women. Other awards she has received include "Female Entrepreneur of the Year" from Endeavor, the "Business Women Award" from

Veuve Clicquot Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin () is a Champagne house founded in 1772 and based in Reims. It is one of the largest Champagne houses. Madame Clicquot is credited with major breakthroughs, creating the first known vintage champagne in 1810, and i ...

, the "Best Entrepreneur of the New Brazil" title from '' Você SA'' magazine, and the label of "Young Global Leader" by the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Velez, Leila Living people 20th-century Brazilian businesswomen 20th-century Brazilian businesspeople 21st-century Brazilian businesswomen 21st-century Brazilian businesspeople Businesspeople from Rio de Janeiro (city) Year of birth missing (living people)