Stories
Stories
Your Fullest Self
Britney Winters (MBA 2016)
Britney Winters (MBA 2016)
As a student at HBS, Britney Winters (MBA 2016) would travel from Boston to New York City to have her hair done. “Mind you, I was also the sole caregiver of my 16-year-old sister,” she writes in Inc.com. “Despite what I was juggling in my personal life, fitting in those 207 miles was just a part of the routine.” It was a continuation of the substantial time and money she had already spent over the years on relaxers, weaves, and extensions.
Eventually Winters grew to embrace her natural hair and other aspects of herself she had once tried to hide. She began wearing wigs and extensions for the convenience and versatility they offered, not as a necessity. That experience was the seed for what inspired her to leave a secure position at Shell and launch Upgrade, an online platform selling high quality, customized wigs and hair products. Kickstarted by a $50,000 loan from classmate Kate Lazaroff-Puck, Winters has raised $2 million in venture capital to date and will open Upgrade’s first bricks-and-mortar store in Houston next month. “The journey of starting a business and raising capital from scratch is already an uphill battle,” she writes. “Add in being a Black woman and, well, you already know the hurdles are coming. But this journey helped me learn the value of bringing your fullest self to the table—especially when fundraising.”
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