When it comes to Mia Ray’s Glam-Aholic Lifestyle brand, there’s no heavily-layered business plan to back up the growth. Like many entrepreneurs in this flexible and creative business era, she started with a small idea that would potentially lead to greater opportunities. Sticking to where consumers are found in the greatest numbers — the web and social media — Ray turned a blog (Confessions of a Glam-Aholic) into a brand and, most recently, a hair extensions line: Same Girl Different Hair.
“When I started the blog it was a snowball effect. More and more people would reach out and tell me they read it or purchased something that I suggested,” said Ray. “It was surreal. After that the brand came along and it took off.”
Before she launched her blog site in 2009, Ray worked as boutique buyer. Juggling countless odd jobs prior to that, working as a buyer was her official break into fashion. Soon after a friend encouraged her to transpose her fashion sense and tips — which she kept in a notebook — onto a blog.
“That really gave me a boost of confidence. From there I thought, ‘Okay I can handle this. This is what I’ve been hoping for’,” Ray said.
When Confessions of a Glam-Aholic gained a solid following, Ray added a shop component to the brand (via glamaholiclifestyle.com) and began selling shirts, bags and key chains with the Glam-Aholic word logo. Teaming up with an established friend in fashion and entertainment Ray reached out and sent shirts to celebrities that she thought would identify with the brand. Her “Same Girl Different Hair” shirt turned out to be a smash as former 106 & Park host Rocsi Diaz, Marsha Ambrosius, Angela Simmons, the OMG Girlz and others wore it.
“I was getting orders from everywhere; NY, California, and Florida. I’m really in-tune with social media and people always told me how much they loved the movement. I don’t want to say it was an overnight success, but it was,” Ray admits.
In November of 2012, two years after launching the online shop, Ray started the Same Girl Different Hair extensions hair line. The Brazilian deep wave and body wave options are 100 percent virgin human hair. She’s currently in the process of getting the Detroit-based extensions brand into boutiques across the U.S. Although launching the hair line took almost two years because of research and manufacturing logistics, Ray says the time spent was well worth it.
“The brand [Glam-Aholic Lifestyle] is about all things glam. Hair is at the top of the list for most girls. I’m totally obsessed with hair so I felt like it was a must to include it,” she said. “How could I have a brand called ‘Same Girl Different Hair’ and not provide hair extensions?”
With thousands of fashion blogs on the internet, Ray says keeping up isn’t the issue. Rather, it’s building a loyal customer base. She relies heavily on social media to market her brand. Posting pictures on Instagram and counting on customers to review the extensions on YouTube, she’s eased Same Girl Different Hair into the niche cyber hair market.
“The most difficult thing about being an entrepreneur is staying consistent. Also, time management and wearing different hats, so patience is very important. Customer service is the most important thing to me. Social media has been a major asset in the success of my management,” Ray revealed.
Always one to switch up her hairstyle, Ray’s Same Girl Different Hair concept stems from her best friend’s dad being confused about who she was.
“He asked, ‘Mia is that you?’ I would say, ‘Yeah it’s me; same girl, different hair.’ That’s when I thought, ‘Okay I know a lot of girls would identify with this [scenario]. Maybe I should take this somewhere.’”
Her love of fashion and style on the other hand blossomed a bit more organically. When she was younger Ray watched her seamstress grandmother in fascination as she would make clothes.
“I would sit at the table for hours with her, watch her sew and turn nothing into something,” Ray said.
Her mother’s two closets were full of all types of clothing. Ray would also watch her go through them amazed at how long she would take to put a look together.
“In high school I was always that girl who did my own thing, stood out and wanted to be one of a kind,” said Ray.
Those same aspirations remain in tact today as her brand’s catchy motto encourages women to ‘Be Glam…Be Fab…Be You!’
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