Cincinnati-based toy and lifestyle company Healthy Roots Dolls won the grand prize and the people's choice award at the American Underground's Startup Stampede pitch competition in Durham, N.C.
Healthy Roots Dolls, which sells and develops dolls and companion books that instruct on natural hair care, was the result of a project founder and creative director Yelitsa Jean-Charles worked on during her undergraduate studies at RISD. She would later go on to further develop the idea as Brown Social Innovation fellow.
Her pitch competition win earned her $100,000 worth of professional services from Durham-based advertising agency McKinney, the event's co-sponsor.
Representatives from Ad Age, Burt’s Bees/Clorox, Walk West and McKinney served as judges for the grand prize, while audience members (both live and online) voted to decide the people's choice award.
The May 1 challenge was the culmination of nine companies' work with the Stampede incubator, where they spent eight weeks developing their business plans and pitches. Its parent entity, American Underground, is one of 11 Google for Entrepreneurs tech hubs in North America.
"The Startup Stampede created an open and supportive community,” said Jean-Charles of the experience. “This made it possible for me to ask the questions and get the feedback I needed from people who had my best interest in mind, because they were personally invested in my success and want to see everyone flourish. I'm excited about working with McKinney because, as a creative, I have immense respect for the work they do and what Healthy Roots can learn from them."
“The Startup Stampede produced a lot of winners,” added Doug Speight, the American Underground’s executive director. “Healthy Roots executed brilliantly. Congrats to them. All of the pitch teams are now in a better position to reach and win their target customers."
This isn't the first time Healthy Roots and Jean-Charles have received acclaim. In 2017, Jean-Charles was named one of 50 "entrepreneurs to watch" by Essence magazine, and Cincy Inno named the company one of the seven Queen City startups to watch in early 2018.
