By Alicia Wilson
Special Correspondent
Texas Metro News
At this year’s International Beauty Show in New York City, Black beauty wasn’t just trending—it was testifying. Inside the Powerhouse Pavilion, amid the buzz of products and professionals, Sadiaa Black Beauty Guide hosted a conversation that felt like both a homecoming and a reckoning.
The panel was called “Building Legacy Brands: The Future of Black-Owned Beauty Businesses,” but it was much more than that. It was a reminder that legacy is a choice. A calling. A strategy. And for many of us, it started right here in Texas.
That legacy lives in names like Comer Cottrell, the Dallas-based beauty pioneer who changed the game with Pro-Line and the Curly Kit. His impact was generational—economic, cultural, and communal. And that impact was in the room, alive and thriving, through his granddaughter, Autumn Yarbrough, and through trichologist Rodney Barnett, who once worked side-by-side with Cottrell himself.
Yarbrough, now the founder of Nu Standard, carries not only her grandfather’s legacy but her mother’s as well—creator of the beloved Just For Me line. But she’s not just preserving history. She’s expanding it. She spoke with clarity and conviction about what it means to build something that’s innovative, rooted in wellness, and rooted in us.
“Legacy to me is about impact, integrity, and inspiration,” she said. And when she said it, you knew it wasn’t a tagline—it was a lived mission. For her, building legacy means creating products that aren’t just trendy but trustworthy. Products that are tested, studied, safe—today and five years from now. And more importantly, products that pour back into the same community that built the brand.
Barnett echoed that sentiment, reminding us that the ‘80s and ‘90s weren’t just about style—they were about ownership. “There were so many Black brands created back then,” he said. “But what happened to them? The problem wasn’t creating the business—it was passing it on.”
That passing down, that generational handoff, is where so many legacy stories fade. Barnett’s three words for legacy? “The next generation.” And he wasn’t just talking about bloodlines—he was talking about infrastructure. Systems. Knowledge. Ownership that lasts beyond the founder.
Moderator Stephenetta (isis) Harmon, Sadiaa founder and cultural curator of all things Black beauty, made it plain: “Legacy isn’t something that’s handed to us—it’s something that we build, protect, and pass on.” And passing it on means inviting the community into the process. That includes stylists, barbers, salon owners—the very people who’ve always been the frontline educators in our beauty stories.
If you’re looking for the blueprint, look no further than those chairs and backbars. “Stylists and barbers are the most powerful educators,” Barnett said. “But they were never taught how to retail.” It’s a gap the panelists agreed we can close—with intention, with investment, and with community loyalty.
Huggins, founder of Ready to Beauty, brought fire and truth to the mic when he reminded us that it’s not just about visibility—it’s about control. “I don’t want a seat at the table,” he said. “I want to own the team. I want to own the manufacturing company that built the team.” That line got an audible reaction from the crowd—and rightly so.
Huggins challenged the audience to think beyond individual wins. Too often, he said, we chase trends, seats, and press—but what about legacy? “Every time we get a little sauce in our game, they try to take it away from us… We are America’s culture. We’ve built this. We’re sustaining it. We’re the sauce.”
What struck me most was how grounded this conversation was in Southern truth. Dallas wasn’t just a footnote—it was a foundation. From Cottrell’s early hustle to Yabrough’s reimagined vision for the future, it’s clear that the South has always had something to say when it comes to beauty, brilliance, and Black business.
This wasn’t a conversation about hoping for change. It was a call to keep building. To build for impact. To build for each other. And to build something that our children’s children will still be proud to claim.
Legacy doesn’t wait. And in rooms like this, it doesn’t whisper either—it roars.
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