Beauty Product Innovation and Development Strategist, Licensed Cosmetologist, and Educator.
Case Study: Soft Rows x Elise Burnett Boyd
Reimagining Haircare Education for a Brand Rooted in Ritual, Science, and Story
Overview
Soft Rows is a high-performance textured haircare brand rooted in ritual, resonance, and science. Created for the hair multi-hyphenate, the brand is built to support healthy strands across natural, heat-styled, and protective styling without compromise.
What sets Soft Rows apart is not just its formulations, but its philosophy of care:
A soft place to land. A return to self.
Rooted in nostalgia. Modern. Familiar, but fresh.
Sensory. Safe. Informed. Empowering.
The brand was born from a need to disrupt outdated narratives around tight textures being “unmanageable” or “undesirable,” and instead center textured hair in its full truth: versatile, complex, and worthy of understanding.
Together, we created an educational strategy that mirrors that same ethos: one that blends scientific integrity with emotional depth, designed to teach through story, empower through clarity, and reframe care as a practice of agency, not correction.
My Role
Across three phases of collaboration, I supported the evolution of Soft Rows through education, voice, and strategic content development.
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2022: Foundational Consultation
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Founder Quani Burnett reached out to brainstorm ideas for a potential product line and sought insight from a stylist who worked daily with textured hair. Our conversation explored what users truly need from their products.
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2024: Content Activation & Educational Positioning
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I created a stylist-led educational video for Soft Rows designed to connect the brand to science-based care, everyday use, and professional expertise. The content offered bite-sized education, positioning the brand as both approachable and trustworthy. It became one of the brand’s highest-performing posts to date and helped establish a clear link between hair education, ease, and textured hair support.
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2025: Educational Framework & Content Strategy
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I designed the education and helped to curate the language that now supports Soft Rows’ content strategy, storytelling architecture, and brand education efforts across platforms. This included original frameworks, brand voice development, and content guidance.
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The Challenge
Soft Rows didn’t just want education.
They wanted something deeper: a way to teach care without shame, to honor style without rigidity, and to help consumers build trust in both themselves and the products in their hands. The brand needed:
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A system that educated without overwhelming
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A voice that affirmed textured hair in all its forms
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A structure that made science feel human
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A framework that could scale across channels and still feel intimate
The Solution
I developed a comprehensive educational ecosystem that seamlessly integrated story, science, and styling freedom, rooted in my proprietary methodology (RISE Framework™) and my lived experience as a stylist, educator, and strategist.
This included:
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A brand-aligned educational tone: warm, intelligent, sensory, culturally rooted
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A narrative-based content structure to guide website copy, blogs, packaging, and more
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Story-driven content pillars that allow the brand to speak clearly across platforms
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A strategy for multi-platform education: from tutorials and blogs to guides and packaging inserts
Rather than overwhelm the audience with information,
we built a system that invites them in.
Measurable & Strategic Value
Education isn’t just a brand pillar for Soft Rows; it’s a competitive advantage. By developing an emotionally resonant, scientifically grounded educational system, this work directly supports key growth levers across the business.
Tangible ROI Potential:
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Increased Conversion: Education reduces friction by clearly showing how products support various styling choices.
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Higher Retention & Loyalty: Confidence in product use drives repurchase, trust, and customer lifetime value.
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Reduced Confusion & Returns: Clarifying expectations and usage decreases product misuse and “didn’t work” returns.
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Content Efficiency: A reusable storytelling system reduces creative churn and ensures brand consistency.
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Partnership Readiness: The strategy provides stylists, influencers, and retailers with clear, compelling messaging.
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Elevated Perceived Value: Deep education justifies price point and reinforces product integrity.
Impact
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The education strategy is already informing new content, campaigns, and copy direction
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It serves as the foundation for the upcoming Soft Rows educational hub
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The work has helped clarify not just what the brand teaches, but how it connects
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Founder Quani Burnett described the process as "one of the most inspiring and aligned strategic efforts in the brand’s development."
Why It Matters
Surface-level education is never enough.
This work with Soft Rows was about reframing what haircare can feel like especially for people who’ve been taught their hair is too much, too different, too difficult. We didn’t just create an education system. We created a return.
A return to softness.
A return to self.
A return to care as culture.
It serves as long-term strategy for connection. By anchoring content in both emotional truth and scientific clarity, we gave Soft Rows a framework that can grow with the brand. One that meets customers where they are, affirms their choices, and offers real guidance without shame or confusion. It’s scalable, soulful, sustainable, and designed to deepen trust with every touchpoint.
Learn more about Soft Rows
