We are always supporting and rooting for anything that highlights and celebrates the beauty of hair. So when we found out that four female engineers were starting a campaign to build a social media website that caters to the hair of African American women, we were all ears. Techturized Inc., founded by Candace Mitchell, Chanel Martin, Jess Watson, Joy Buolamwini, fuses engineering and technology to change the way women interact with their hair and boosts their self-esteem. The company has introduced Madame You a social media platform that provides personalized hair care, styling tips, and networking for African American women of all hair types.
We had the opportunity to chat with the founding members about the movement, and how we can be involved.
SB: How did “Madame You” come together?
Chanel: In 2010, Candace participated in a venture prize where she was a semi finalist and she had developed a software that helps you determine which products to use in your hair. I remember Candace doing that project and I remember thinking, ‘Wow this is so cool, I wish I would have came up with something like that.’ Fast forward to a year and a half. I was getting married and looking for hair styles for my wedding and I could not find anything. I was so frustrated that I remember taking a nap, and when I went to sleep I had a dream about a social network for hair. I called Candace and told her I had this idea. I ended up getting married and moving three times, and Candace was in her career with Pepsi. Candace ended up sending me a text message or email in which she was like ‘Chanel I know we’ve been holding off on these ideas but the time will come.’. I will never forget her telling me that. A month later she sent me a text saying she met two other ladies who are interested in working on what we talked about. She was speaking with her professor and mentor, she told him what she was doing and he told her he wanted to introduce her to these other ladies [Jess and Joy]. That how we all got started.
