Tracee Ellis Ross: Understanding the Diversity of Humanity is Good Business
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Background:
When Tracee Ellis Ross launched Pattern Beauty in 2019, she set out to challenge the beauty industry's lack of products for curly, coily and tight-textured hair. Despite numerous obstacles, including scepticism about market viability and systemic biases in the product testing process, Ross has built Pattern into a leading haircare brand addressing an underserved market.
'Black beauty and textured hair was not being mirrored back as a celebration but instead it was a problem,' Ross shared. '[Pattern] is to allow people to have the access to their most beautiful hair and self in their own bathroom as opposed to having to always trust a professional.'
During her conversation with BoF founder Imran Amed at The Business of Beauty Global Forum 2025 in Napa Valley, California, Ross shared her journey from Hollywood actress to entrepreneur, detailed the systemic changes she's driving in the haircare industry and emphasised the importance of humanity in business building.
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Key Insights:
Ross described her early struggle with understanding and accepting her natural hair as a deeply personal and emotional journey. 'Making sense of how my hair grew out of my head was difficult,' she said. 'I had to master and understand and gain a sense of love and celebration in my hair.' This experience became the foundation for her brand Pattern, which aims to shift the narrative around textured hair from one of difficulty to one of pride and empowerment.
Ross articulated how the standard beauty narrative has often required Black women to erase parts of themselves to be seen. 'There's a part of beauty and beauty culture that has been about erasing who we are in order to fit in,' she said. Through Pattern, she seeks to change that narrative by celebrating individuality and authenticity: 'I want people to have their hair. They just need the right products to support their hair. That's what doesn't exist.'
Pattern was not an overnight success born of celebrity privilege — it took a decade of perseverance, rejection and self-education, Ross said. 'There's this myth that I was this famous actress who had lots of money to start a company — garbage,' she said. 'I'm a Black actress in Hollywood. Let's be clear about my finances.'
While products are at the heart of Pattern, Ross stressed that her brand is rooted in community, identity and purpose. 'Pattern is about allowing people access to their most beautiful hair, their most beautiful self, in their own bathroom,' she said. 'You have an opportunity to take all that wasted space not serving this customer and turn it into money, purpose, and value.'
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