You discuss everything with your closest chicas—from your love life, to your career, to personnal beauty products. Who understands you better than another Latina, right?
Jacqueline Dascal-Chariff, CEO of Activate Beauty, knows this. She’s also aware that we Latinas have had to make due for too long with beauty products not tailored to our needs.
That’s what gave her a brilliant idea—marketing a hair care line for Latinas created by Latinas.
“With the Hispanic market in this country exploding, I saw a need in this marketplace for products geared toward us,” says Chariff.
For the past six years, Chariff has been involved in distributing U.S. salon hair care products into Latin American countries, giving her the necessary expertise in the hair care business. “I know what works and what doesn’t,” Chariff says. “I’ve always been on the forefront of different trends.”
So she rounded up a crew of savvy businesswomen and founded Activate Beauty in early 2005.
“We are all Latinas,” she says of Activate’s Miami-based staff, now comprised of six women and one man—a collective of individuals with heritages rooted in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Colombia, and Cuba, some of whom have worked with such Hispanic big names as Ricky Martin and Marc Anthony. “Getting a team together is critical to the success of any brand.”
“Activate fills a void for Latinas with a line of quality products specifically created for us, not just marketed to us. No one understands our hair better than we do,” says Chariff.
With the women behind Activate representing all Latina hair types, they were able to test the products on themselves as well as friends.
“Latinas are a diverse group, and our hair is straight, wavy and curly. Activate uniquely understands this,” says Emma Carrasco, Marketing Director for Activate Beauty, who has 20 years’ experience in the Hispanic market. Their goal, she says, is to help Latinas always look their best by providing them with products with maximum results.
You’ll notice the wording on the turquoise-colored packaging is bilingual.
“I think it’s necessary to have everything bilingual to touch people in whichever language,” says Chariff. “Our name is something that works in Spanish and English. They understand ‘activate.’ They understand ‘¡actívate!’ It calls you to action. It hits home to everybody.”
Because the Latino community is very family- and community-oriented, Activate has worked that into its marketing approach. Representatives attend community events, such as Fiesta Broadway in Los Angeles, to give people an opportunity to sample Activate products. They’re also putting together a scholarship program for college-bound Latinas as their way of giving back to the Latino community.
“It’s always been important to us that we respect and celebrate Latina aspirations, pride and beauty. As Latinas continue to earn our rightful place in society, it’s fitting that a group of Latinas is able to bring to market a hair care product worthy of Latinas,” says Carrasco.
Activate chose Roselyn Sanchez as its spokesperson because “[she] embodies the Latina qualities Activate celebrates,” says Carrasco. “She cares deeply about her community, is proud of her heritage, is bilingual and bicultural and she is making it on her own terms. By using Roselyn to help project Activate’s brand image, we are going far beyond putting a beautiful face to our name; we are giving Latinas everywhere a wonderful role model.”
“Activate is more than just a hair care line; it’s an example of what Latinas can achieve. That’s why our slogan is ‘activate the best of you,’” says Chariff. “We want Latinas to activate their potential in life and be the best that they can be.”

By Margie Monin

[This article has been edited for www.latinastyle.com. For the full version, check out the March/April issue of LATINA Style.]

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