In July 2024, The Higher Foundation led a Back-to-School Box Braids Program to give foster youth and low-income youth free braids for the start of the 2024-25 academic year. After the program ended in August 2024, Georgia Department of Family & Children Services case workers continued to reach out to request free hair care services for Georgia foster youth. Based on the continued demand, Mallorye Crowell, the President & Founder of The Higher Foundation, realized Georgians had a great need for accessible hair care.

Mallorye has always had a love for braids. Her mom, Pamela Seldon-Crowell, went to cosmetology school and loved to do hair. When her mom would do her sister’s hair, Mallorye would watch her mom and practice doing the same braid style on her mannequin. At the early age of 10, Mallorye was braiding hair, following behind her mom’s footsteps. Once it was time to go to college, Mallorye had to decide between going to cosmetology school or going to college for electrical engineering. She decided on electrical engineering because of the salary projection for that career field and would continue to braid on the side. Fast forward to post-college in 2016, Mallorye stopped braiding to focus on her engineering career and The Higher Foundation. She continued to braid hair for her niece and children in her former church home for free whenever they needed it. It was not until August 2023 that Mallorye began to braid more often. Abruptly on August 1st, 2023, Mallorye’s engineering career came to an end, and she didn’t have the financial means to go to the hair salon. In this new life phase, she had to face an unfamiliar basic need insecurity she never knew existed and rely on her braiding skills to keep her hair groomed. Hair care is a basic need that every Georgian should have access to; clean and groomed hair is just as important as a clean and dressed body. Unfortunately, when Georgians do not have the financial means to pay a hairdresser, they are left without access to this basic need.

The Higher Salon will address this community issue: access to hair care services. It will address this community issue by combining skill-based volunteerism, pay-what-you-can pricing, and the shared economy business model. Here is how we will do it:

• Skill-based volunteerism: We will rely on licensed stylists/barbers and professional braiders to volunteer their time and talent.
• Pay-what-you-can pricing: We will rely on clients’ integrity and gratitude to pay what they can for their preferred hair service. 
• Shared economy: We will build a network of hair salons across the state of Georgia by partnering with existing salons and barbershops.

We have seen skill-based volunteerism work well with pro bono lawyers, we have seen pay-what-you-can pricing work well for restaurants, and we have seen shared economy work well for Uber, Lyft, Doordash, and Air BnB. We have not yet seen a charitable organization combine these three business models, but we believe The Higher Salon will be successful at it. Because this is a new approach, The Higher Foundation is piloting The Higher Salon for the first year and offering services only to female Georgia K-12 students. Based on the first year, we will evaluate the business model, make the necessary changes, and offer The Higher Salon as a new program under The Higher Foundation. In its maturity, The Higher Salon will serve both male clients and female clients across the state of Georgia.

Mallorye Crowell will lead The Higher Salon. To stay connected with our pilot, please follow The Higher Foundation on Facebook & Instagram. To support our pilot, please donate at www.higherfoundation.org/donate. 

Thank you, The Higher Community, for your continued support. Let’s take Georgia higher.