Brother-Sister Duo Take Black Beauty Business, Cloré to New Heights, While Keeping Their Roots in Legacy

The Foun­da­tion of Cloré

When you think of the Black beau­ty indus­try what comes to mind? Under­rep­re­sen­ta­tion? At least in Cana­da, that’s the case. But it’s not true of regions like the Unit­ed States where co-own­ers and sib­lings Clemens and Jina, say that there are as many black beau­ty bou­tiques as there are Tim Horton’s on Cana­di­an soil. Years ago, when the sib­lings were in high school, their father Yong saw an oppor­tu­ni­ty for Black beau­ty. So, he start­ed a busi­ness with a cousin in Syra­cuse, New York, which has become Cloré. There weren’t many busi­ness­es focused on Black beau­ty at the time and he saw an oppor­tu­ni­ty to help indi­vid­u­als in an under­served mar­ket real­ize their confidence.

Jina and Clemens had ear­ly expo­sure to busi­ness. In their youth, Yong had owned a con­ve­nience store, and they went to the store after, part­ly, they admit­ted, because it was the only way to have time with Yong. They wel­comed clients into the store, along­side Yong, and worked behind the cash. While they don’t remem­ber feel­ing a spark for the work at the time, being in the store did leave an imprint. This rou­tine car­ried on even when Yong start­ed Cloré.

Find­ing a Path For­ward With a Coach

Under Yong’s guid­ance (and some resis­tance) the broth­er-sis­ter team piv­ot­ed from their per­son­al paths and joined the fam­i­ly busi­ness. At first they were unsure about how to find their pas­sion and niche in the busi­ness. But once they joined, they were all in. Clemens start­ed by read­ing Scal­ing Up. His gut told him just read­ing the book was not enough. He want­ed to speed the learn­ing curve. More than any­thing, he want­ed for growth to be sus­tain­able and last­ing. He set out to con­vince his father and sis­ter that they should hire a coach. 

When the fam­i­ly met Tim Schokking, every­thing clicked. Tim is a Strate­gic Advi­sor at Lawrence and Co., a bou­tique con­sult­ing agency found­ed by Kevin Lawrence. He struck the sib­lings as per­son­able, hon­est, effec­tive, and warm. Final­ly, Clemens had Jina and Yong on side. 

They have now been work­ing with Lawrence & Co. for 2+ years. From Decem­ber 2021 to March 2024, Cloré increased A‑players in lead­er­ship roles (man­agers, direc­tors, and exec­u­tives) from 27% to 78%. 

To watch the inter­view of Jina and Clemens by the Founder of Lawrence & Co., Kevin Lawrence, click below.

To read the full Cloré case study, click here.

Please enjoy addi­tion­al clips from the inter­view below: