A loan helped a Black women-owned business acquire inventory, supplies, and marketing materials.


Alanna's story

Before moving to Madison 22 years ago with my husband and four children I lived in Chicago, where I'm originally from. I grew up on the southside of Chicago in the Hyde Park/Kenwood area. As a young woman of 19 years old I began working in salons as a receptionist and shampoo girl. I also worked in a retail skin care store called "H2O Plus". I had always loved making facial masks with avocados and deep conditioning my hair with eggs and mayonnaiseas a teenager. I would indulge in my own little "spa days" using natural ingredients, so these jobs were perfect for me.

Upon having kids and getting married, we decided to move to Madison to provide a better life for our children. I worked for a prominent telecommunications company for a while before realizing I wanted something different for myself. I didn't want a job. I wanted a career where I loved what I was doing, so I attended cosmetology school. At the time the curriculum was based on hair and skin care for white people. Additionally, finding a job and building a customer base here at the time as a black woman was not easy. I soon found that with having three more children since moving here I had to find another job. To gain access to better pay, I attended MATC and graduated my associates degree and then began working for the State of Wisconsin.

During this time I found that my family and I were experiencing different skin/scalp issues and the retail products we were using only exasperated the issues. This is when I decided to use what I had learned in school and experience from working in salons and in skin care to start creating my own products. I made it a point to do extensive research on natural ingredients that would alleviate our skin issues. My family and I were using my products with great results and I soon started making it for friends, family and co-workers who complained of similar issues. I got so many requests I was encouraged to sell my products and start a business.


This loan is special because:

It supports a small business owner with 0%-interest, zero-fee capital.



Loan details


About Wild Wind Organix

Industry: Retail
Years in operation: 1 year - 3 years
Website: wildwindorganix.com

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Loan details