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A mixture of tenacity, determination and perseverance helped two childhood friends, Richelieu Dennis and Nyema Tubman, turn adversity into a highly successful and unique business.
Richelieu and Nyema were born in Liberia, but fled civil war after most of their families' possessions were destroyed. They both immigrated to the United States, but the situation was not much brighter, as they suddenly found themselves without resources or employment.
Remembering his roots and deep family tradition, Richelieu realized his vision was to offer culturally authentic, high-quality skin care products for underserved communities. He decided to use his experience helping his grandmother create shea butter soaps, and began to incorporate four generations of recipes into his handmade natural bath and body products. In 1992, Richelieu and Nyema began to sell their wares along the sidewalks of Harlem. Their routine was to make the soaps and shea butters in the wee hours of each morning, load them up into a rickety van, set up the products on tables on the street at sunrise, and sell until the sun went down.
By the second year, their hard work came to fruition when they formed Sundial Creations and the Nubian Heritage and SheaMoisture brands, with Richelieu, as Founder and CEO, and Nyema, as President and COO. They began manufacturing in a 3,000 square foot plant, with the products sold through a network of street vendors, convenience stores, health food shops and beauty supply retailers.
Emmet Dennis came onboard as a Partner and Chief Branding Officer, to help grow the Nubian Heritage brand. Prior to working with Sundial Creations, Emmet worked with entertainment tycoon, Sean Diddy Combs, building Combs' brand and merchandising.
Nubian Heritage and SheaMoisture products soon became synonymous with high quality, organic skin treatments with beautiful, one-of-a-kind all-natural fragrances. Richelieu has remained true to his vision of a brand that serves people of all ethnicities by addressing specific skin care issues, which have traditionally been ignored by mass market skin care companies, such as hyper-pigmentation and dark spots. He remains a pioneer in his research, testing and utilization of rare, natural ingredients from all over globe into his skin care formulations.
Nubian Heritage's products are carried all over the United States, in retail outlets such as Whole Foods, Vitamin Shoppe and Wegmans. SheaMoisture products are carried in Target, Duane Reed and WalMart, as well as will be carried in Walgreens in April 2011.
In 2008, Sundial Creations received the Black Enterprise "Emerging Business of the Year Award", which recognizes businesses that have poised themselves for growth by carving out a special niche and adopting creative marketing techniques. Both brands have garnered much attention from the media, having been featured in O, The Oprah Magazine, Allure, GQ, Vibe, Essence, The New York Times, Newsday, TimeOut New York , BET, and iVillage.
Sundial Creations strives to make a positive impact in local communities as well as throughout the world.
