Cleveland entrepreneur Dayja Smith joins Alien Eyez Photos Industry Talk to discuss Coco’s Crown, natural hair care, Black women entrepreneurship, branding, product development, marketing psychology, community leadership, pricing, networking, and building a business with purpose.
What happens when entrepreneurship, natural hair care, marketing psychology, community leadership, and personal resilience come together?
In this episode of Alien Eyez Photos Industry Talk, photographer, media entrepreneur, and host Steve Jackson of Alien Eyez Photos sits down with Cleveland, Ohio entrepreneur Dayja Smith, founder of Coco’s Crown, a natural hair care brand, and D Smith Development Co.
Dayja is more than a business owner. She is a multifaceted entrepreneur and community leader whose work spans natural hair care, professional development, real estate development education, marketing, psychology, healthcare management, and community engagement.
The conversation explores how Coco’s Crown began from Dayja's own need to understand and create effective natural hair products. She explains how her education in science, psychology, business, and marketing influenced the way she developed her products—and why she believes research, testing, customer feedback, quality control, and iteration are critical before releasing a product to the public.
Dayja also explains the meaning behind the name Coco’s Crown. The name is connected to her sister Coco and represents protection, empowerment, beauty, royalty, and showing up for the people you love. The crown becomes more than a logo—it becomes a philosophy for how Dayja approaches entrepreneurship and community.
The conversation goes much deeper than hair care.
Steve and Dayja discuss Black women in entrepreneurship, pricing products, protecting intellectual property, brand positioning, influencer marketing, product quality, social media, networking, resilience, community building, and the reality behind entrepreneurship that audiences don't always see.
Dayja shares how she has approached potential retail opportunities while maintaining control over her product's quality and intellectual property. She also discusses the importance of understanding your costs and knowing the value of the work behind your product instead of automatically lowering prices to satisfy larger retailers.
One of the most powerful themes throughout the conversation is visibility.
Dayja talks about the importance of getting products into people's hands, having people who can authentically tell your brand story, building relationships, entering the right rooms, and taking initiative when opportunities appear.
She also shares an important entrepreneurial lesson: don't be afraid to put yourself out there.
For entrepreneurs and creatives, the episode serves as a reminder that success isn't simply the polished final product people see online. There is a process behind every brand—research, experimentation, failure, adjustment, networking, consistency, and resilience.
This conversation is especially relevant for Black entrepreneurs, women entrepreneurs, natural hair entrepreneurs, beauty brands, creative entrepreneurs, small-business owners, marketing professionals, personal brands, and Cleveland business owners looking to build something meaningful while remaining authentic to their values.
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