When Warren Broadnax started selling bundles out of the trunk of his car in 2012, he was still pulling 24-hour shifts as a Houston firefighter and living off that salary so every dollar could be reinvested in his company, She’s Happy Hair.
“I spent my five days off walking into beauty salons and asking women about hair,” he said. “Three weeks of polling like that left me with enough base knowledge to move forward.”
Within months, Broadnax had opened a tiny office off the South Loop, bought $900 of starter inventory (“trash hair off the internet,” he laughs now) and found a better supplier.
The hustle stuck. So did the mission.
Today, as CEO and co-founder of She’s Happy Hair, Broadnax is a veteran entrepreneur who has scaled a scrappy side hustle into one of the nation’s best-known Black-owned hair extension brands. He’s also a civic leader—serving on boards including BakerRipley, 8 Million Stories and the American Leadership Forum—who insists the company’s growth must match its community impact.
“I serve my employees, my employees serve our customers,” he said. “Our customers aren’t just customers. These are the people who pay your bills.”
From firehouse shifts to a category leader
The origin story is pure grit. A call from co-founder (and fellow U.S. military veteran) Marcus Bowers planted the seed: Hair extensions were moving fast.
“I knew nothing about hair,” Broadnax admitted. “But those guys made $4,000 in a weekend and I was on an extra shift for $300. I knew then this may be my opportunity.”
He studied the market salon by salon, took the 50 “no’s” it often takes to earn a “yes,” and learned as he went.
“Even if I wasn’t successful in a sale, I was successful at extrapolating some type of information,” he said. “Every time it was a learning lesson.”
Local radio became his first real amplifier. A catchy jingle, along with relentless ads on 97.9FM and 102 FM, catapulted demand—and expectations.
“Customers assumed they were coming to a store,” he said. “They were walking into a very small office with no windows and me with a bunch of tattoos saying, ‘Come on in, you’re in the right spot.’ That’s where we honed our customer service.”
Seeing an opportunity beyond Houston, Broadnax replicated the model in Detroit and then quickly expanded nationwide. “We scaled after that—probably seven locations across the United States within the next 18 months,” he said.
Today, She’s Happy Hair operates five brick-and-mortar stores—three in Greater Houston and two in Dallas-Fort Worth—plus a national e-commerce footprint.
Building through headwinds: tariffs, logistics and cash flow
Growth hasn’t been linear. Sourcing human hair—heavily dependent on international supply chains—made the company vulnerable to shocks. Tariffs and post-pandemic backlogs upended everything from pricing to delivery windows.
“Pre-trade war, if we made our order on the first of the month, it would take us about seven to 14 days,” Broadnax said. “Right now… we’re looking at an average of a one- to three-week turnaround just for DHL to inspect the items and let us know how much the tariffs are going to cost. Then we have to immediately pay it so that our items can be released.”
The unpredictability, he added, “makes it impossible to forecast.” Fees can run into “tens of thousands of dollars” per shipment—sometimes payable on the spot at the store door before a driver will release boxes.
“It has put a strain on the whole business,” he said. “Our cost of goods sold has gone up tremendously. Logistics has been a nightmare.”
Passing all of that on to customers? Not an option.
“We cannot overnight turn a $140 bundle to a $240 bundle,” Broadnax said. “Our consumers aren’t watching CNBC—they’ll assume we’re trying to get rich and go look for a second-tier product elsewhere. Some of those things we have to take on the chin… I don’t want our resiliency to make people think it’s easy, because it’s everything but easy.”
Competing by over-serving
Broadnax keeps his eyes off competitors and squarely on the shopper in front of him.
“Our mission is to go above and beyond our customers’ expectations,” he said. “We want you to feel like you’ve won at all times when you made this connection with us.”
That customer-first philosophy has earned She’s Happy Hair a loyal following that spans generations—from everyday clients to campus queens. Kyli Smith, Miss Prairie View A&M University, counts herself among them.
“These are some of the best bundles I’ve ever used,” she said. “Styling my natural hair with these bundles was so effortless.”
It’s that kind of trust and repeat satisfaction that has become central to She’s Happy Hair’s business strategy. Broadnax says the brand’s commitment to personal connection—and its investment in brick-and-mortar stores—continues to set it apart in an age dominated by online marketplaces and fast-click purchases.
“With Amazon hair, people end up wasting more money in the long run,” he said. “They come back to us, buy the original hair, and get it reinstalled.”
Customer trust extends to reliability. The company prides itself on seven-day-a-week hours and having product “in stock” across all stores. That’s why shipping delays hit so hard.
“We missed probably about 15 sales last week alone with the inventory we paid for a month ago,” he said. “We’re losing consumer confidence… and it’s completely out of our hands.”
Barriers to entry—and why representation matters
Despite the growth of the Black beauty market, Broadnax says the extension business remains capital-intensive—and that keeps many would-be Black owners out.
“The first seven years we had to pay for inventory before we got it,” he said. “It’s nothing for us to send off $300,000 and not receive that full inventory back for four to six weeks—then we still have to sell it and cover rent, overhead, advertising, payroll.”
His advantage early on: A steady firefighter paycheck so “every single dollar” from sales could be wired back out for more inventory the same night. Not everyone can do that.
“I don’t know if Asians are giving each other some type of credit because of international relationships,” he said. “We don’t have that luxury.”
Leading with purpose, giving back with consistency
Broadnax’s military service is reflected in his approach to culture and standards.
“Keeping your team motivated, having people buy into the vision… and being unapologetic about releasing anybody to their destiny that compromises that standard,” he said.
It remains a daily challenge—and a non-negotiable.
Just as non-negotiable is community impact. Through The She’s Happy Foundation, Broadnax has institutionalized seven annual givebacks—including the beloved “Chocolate Santa” toy and bike giveaway, Family Funday at the Park at Cristo de León and back-to-school backpack drives—all self-funded from company proceeds.
“I serve my employees, my employees serve our customers… We want you to feel like you’ve won at all times when you made this connection with us.”
Warren Broadnax
“No matter how good or bad our years are financially, we always make sure we do our annual givebacks,” he said. “Putting our money where our mouth is.”
He brings that same service mindset to civic leadership—on boards like the American Leadership Forum, BakerRipley and 8 Million Stories—and to mentoring through programs including Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses and EY’s Entrepreneur Access Network.
“I’m a huge believer in the law of the lid,” he said. “Your organization is only going to grow as high as I ascend and continue to grow myself.”
What’s next
Post-COVID, Broadnax says, the grind has been real.
“How do I stay calm when nothing’s working and I’m trying everything?,” he said. “And I gotta put a game face on for my team to make sure they have the confidence that we’ll be all right.”
His answer: Keep learning, keep negotiating, keep serving.
“I don’t really look at the competition,” he said. “I’m more focused on keeping the standards high, keeping the team served, and making sure customers leave happy—and can rely on us to have quality hair in stock that lasts.”
She’s Happy Hair at a glance
- Founded: 2012 by Warren Broadnax and Marcus Bowers
- Footprint: 5 retail locations (Houston metro and DFW) + national e-commerce
- Model: Veteran-operated, Black-owned; quality extensions at accessible price points; in-store service you can see and touch
- Community: Seven annual givebacks via The She’s Happy Foundation (toys & bikes, backpacks, Family Funday and more)
