Making her way from foster care on the Lower East Side to creating a $25 million beauty business, entrepreneur Nadine Ramos credits New York City for the city that made her.
“The concrete jungle, as they say, will either make you or break you,” the 45-year-old New York native told The Post.
Ramos’ mother and grandparents came from Puerto Rico in the late 50s “with only the clothes on their backs and a lot of determination to make a life for themselves in New York.”
Now the owner of Blessed Bananas Hair Care and Lasio Professional Hair Care, Ramos grew up in the projects on the Lower East Side with her single mother and two sisters. Her mother struggled with several issues, including drug addiction, which led to Ramos being placed in foster care between the ages of 7 and 10.
Even after being reunited with her family, life was not easy.
“I took too much,” she said bluntly.
But when her beloved mother passed away in 2000, Ramos lived in public housing and began to go down a bad path.
“The year I lost, I had a choice either to do something big and dangerous with my life or to be a victim and become a statistic of my environment”, she confesses.
It was around the time she saw a Brazilian man giving keratin hair treatments to local ladies outside his apartment.
Ramos immediately recognized the magic of keratin — a treatment not yet popular in the U.S. — and knew she had to do something.
“I have always been a fan of all things beauty and fashion. Looking good made me feel good despite the circumstances and hardships we were living in,” said Ramos. “So when I saw the transformation this treatment made for the client, I knew right away. The lamp went out. I had to make mine.”
The Brazilian man refused to share his secret, so Ramos boldly decided that she would raise money from family and friends, go to Brazil and discover the secret of keratin for herself.
She went on her first international trip in 2001, found a formula and brought it to NYC, where she worked with a chemist to perfect it and meet US regulations. After that, she spent the next five years pouring all her time and money into creating a line of hair products.
“I’ve been through all kinds of emotions, but I’ve been so far, there was no turning back,” Ramos admitted.
“When you grow up in the projects of New York City, you have to develop a sense of toughness about yourself. And I believe this toughness has helped me develop grit, which allows me to not give up. It allows me to not take no for an answer.”
“I believe that every no can be turned into a maybe and then into a yes.” And it’s important in business to be able to have that skill set that doesn’t fold easily.”
That determination led Ramos to earn over $1 million in her first year in business with Lasio Professional Hair Care, now valued at $25 million. She was also able to expand her offerings: Her Blessed Bananas Hair Care line uses pure US-grown banana oil as its secret to beautiful strands.
“I feel like my neighborhood, a community of young individuals struggling in the same atmosphere and coming together and supporting each other, made all the difference for me,” Ramos said.
“Believe it or not, it was. It was that community I found in New York City on the Lower East Side that helped me chase my dreams.”
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Image Source : nypost.com