Jihan Thompson

A decade working in the beauty magazine industry showed Jihan that products, services, and hairstyles specific to women of color were largely ignored. But women of color spend nine times more on beauty than any other group, yet don’t have the same access to solutions to make their beauty experience seamless and satisfying. New York alone has the highest employment level of any metro area for hairstylists and cosmetologists. Coupled with the fact that 21% of businesses in the salon industry are black owned, there’s a massive opportunity to support an industry that has been overlooked and under-supported. Jihan set out to strengthen her community with Swivel, offering a suite of digital services to help clients and stylists find their perfect match so women of color can have their best hair days, while stylists can grow their businesses and build wealth. To date, Jihan has worked with more than 2,000 stylists and is scaling the platform to serve the industry even better. She plans to expand Swivel’s reach by helping more NYC stylists grow their salon businesses and generate wealth through a suite of digital marketing tools, partnerships, and business development support.