By Sakita Holley (@MissSuccess)

Michelle Breyer was born with “curly [hair] in a straight world.”

Frustrated by the lack of resources and product information she found for her multi-textured hair, Breyer created NaturallyCurly.com with friend and business partner Gretchen Heber in 1998. Almost 15 years later, the website she launched to fill a void that addressed her immediate hair care needs has blossomed into a full blown social media and e-commerce platform known as Texture Media.

Texture Media, which is home to the original NaturallyCurly.com, also supports CurlyNikki, CurlStylist, the mobile app Curls on the Go, syndicated market intelligence service TextureTrends and CurlMart, an online boutique that aids in the discovery of up-and-coming hair care brands.

Breyer, who now manages a staff of “just under 20 employees,” chats with the curlBOXBLOG about her humble beginnings, being a natural hair pioneer, plans for growing her curl community and how she handled recent allegations by a prominent journalist that only “an idiot would invest in a social network for people with curly or kinky hair.”

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