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Pickett got a break about a year later when she was introduced to Jewel Burks Solomon, another Atlanta-based, Black female entrepreneur. Solomon had previously sold her own business, Partpic, a visual recognition technology company for replacement parts, to Amazon. Solomon gave Pickett a $30,000 personal loan to help fund inventory and mentored Pickett as she developed her products into the best selling rain hat on Amazon. In 2019, Solomon co-founded Collab Capital in Atlanta to invest primarily in founders of color and help them have a smoother route than she had as a first-time founder. Collab’s first investment was $500,000 into Hairbrella in 2020. With continuing support from Collab, Pickett has built Hairbrella into a profitable company that has doubled its revenue over the past three years and is on track to hit $14 million in 2025 revenue. “Jewel has been a hero on my path,” Pickett says.
