Herness Beauty — Your beauty, their passion

ALWAYS a do-it-yourself person, it was no surprise to anyone when Annecia Williams-Spence decided to make her own hair and skincare products. The high school history and sociology teacher says she has always loved hair and make-up and would help others out for special occasions. Eventually, she began charging for her services and the Herness Beauty brand came alive.

“I definitely believe women should be involved in dual pursuits,” Williams-Spence tells All Woman of juggling teaching secondary school students from grade seven to the CSEC level, and sociology at the CAPE level, and being a business owner.

“We live in a patriarchal society and we don’t see enough women as owners or managing successful businesses. Most of our leaders across the board are men and so it’s essential for our young girls to see more women being successful and accomplished in society.”

The proud CEO of the beauty/cosmetic line, says time management is key, and writing things down and working with short-term goals for the day or week definitely makes a busy schedule more manageable.

“It’s not always easy, but it is possible. You have to be extremely disciplined to get everything done. Importantly though, you must be realistic with your endeavours and pace yourself,” she says.

Williams-Spence explains that her interest in beauty products was invigorated early after she began charging for her make-up services, and that continued for a few years in university where she even had a salon on the campus for a short while.

“After graduating and then becoming a teacher, the salon closed and I started to do house calls on the weekends (doing hair or make-up). With the pandemic and also finding out I was pregnant the same day we had our first COVID case, that part of my life was put on pause. Being excited, overjoyed and terrified of being a mom, I decided to end that chapter of the business.”

But she says she suffered hair loss and damage with pregnancy, and reverted to an old hair formula she had created while at university.

“My hair began to flourish,” she gushed. “By a couple of months my damaged, short pixie cut started to grow and grow. People began to notice and asked me to help them out, and so I did. With the overwhelming requests, I decided to rebrand Herness Beauty for organic hair and skin care products. I brought the idea to my husband and he ran with it, being the supportive person he is. Herness Beauty was reborn — now a beauty cosmetic brand that caters for all hair and skin types. As our slogan says, ‘Your Beauty… Our Passion’.”

Herness Beauty, she says, is a healing brand — the products aid with this process by repairing the hair and the skin which in turn builds confidence for each customer.

“It is a pleasure to see women achieving healthy hair… and have smooth and healthy skin from using our products. Our aim is to enhance that beauty that each person already possesses,” she says.

“Coming from a single-parent household of all females, it was always important for me to be able to the create something,” she explains.

“My journey to where I am today was not an easy one. Coming from very humble beginnings, I had to learn from very early that I needed to seize every opportunity I got. If there were no opportunities, then make one! Not always being able to afford to buy what we wanted, my mom and I would always ‘tun wi hand mek fashion’. From those experiences I developed the mentality of doing many things myself. I was always trying to learn new things and skills just in case I would need to draw on them one day. It was important for me to learn about hair and cosmetics because often I couldn’t afford the luxury of buying quality products for my hair and skin. So I took an interest in making my own and it worked just as good or even better in most cases that the brand-name products I originally wanted. I also found joy in the practice of doing my hair and make-up throughout high school.”

By her first year of university, Williams-Spence was the go-to hair and make-up person for tips and tricks and styling, and this became one of her main sources of income on campus along with other hustles and jobs.

“I always had that go-getter mentality, as I saw how hard my mom worked over the years buying and selling clothes downtown to make ends meet for my sisters and I. There was no way I could let them down, let her down, so I always pushed, looking for the next opportunity to build, to grow and to inspire as she inspired me. With all my experiences, challenges and lessons it has all prepared me for this moment.”

Currently the Herness Beauty brand has four official products — the Hair Growth Serum which promotes growth and strengthens the hair; the Mango Shea Butter Hair Cream, a leave-in moisturiser that hydrates the hair and repairs damage from heat or colouring; the Turmeric Face and Body Scrub which gets rid of dark spots, acne and helps with hyperpigmentation; and the Cocoa Shea Whipped Body Butter which helps to remove stretch marks and hydrates the skin.

“It is important for women to use organic products as it limits the exposure to chemicals. It is important that we take pride in self-care with how we look and feel and organic products do just that,” Williams-Spence explained. “Our bodies respond to what we put in and on it, so I can assure you that using Herness products will help with improving your hair and skin without using harmful and harsh chemicals.”

This businesswoman believes she’s making a stellar contribution to Jamaica, providing quality products that work for an affordable price.

“It also shows that Jamaican people can be innovative and produce quality products. We also have customers overseas so this is another way to represent Brand Jamaica. Secondly, as a female entrepreneur and teacher I think I am in a unique position to show young girls that success is possible and we can do/achieve anything once we put our minds to it. Hard work and determination pay off,” she says.

She adds: “I have two passions; one is to aid with nation-building by teaching and developing the minds of your youths, our future. The second is beauty and cosmetics. I wanted to be able to help persons find their confidence… it is truly a blessing to have the chance to pursue both, so I am immensely grateful for that.”

When she needs a boost, after faith in God is hubby Maurice, who plays a major role as mentor.

“He is my advisor, confidant and best friend. He is always the shoulder to cry on and the person to laugh with. He supports and is ready to help develop the ideas and improve our lives,” she said. “My mom, Ann Marie, also plays an important role in maintaining my sanity. She understands me and I her, so she always knows just what to say when I need it and she always prays.”

She explained that her biggest motivator for success is daughter Gabrielle, who at one, keeps her going.

“I want to be a role model for her just as my mom is for me,” she says.

She said 2021 taught her many lessons — that self-care is extremely important, mentally, physically and spiritually; that you have to be mindful of your health as you can’t truly help anyone until you help yourself; and to trust God and His will.

“This year has been wonderful so far. My outlook for the rest of the year will be focusing on expanding my business by adding more products to the line, and locations.

“I love what I do because it gives me true joy. The look on my customers’ faces when they are telling me how well the products have worked for them… The confidence they exude is just heartwarming. It’s the best feeling to hear the positive feedback from them. I often beam with pride to think that something I made with my own two little hands brought all this joy and happiness to someone. That feeling is priceless.”