California Official Visitor's Guide 2021 - 10

Pattern On The Go
Kit with shampoo,
conditioner, and
leave-in conditioner,
$24,
patternbeauty.com

10 | VISITCALIFORNIA.COM

That's what
California is about for
me. Everyone is
welcome-as they are. "

beautiful as you are, as powerful as you are, all of those things are
incredibly important. And that's my company. I am a majority owner
in the company and I know what it took to ﬁght to be in that position. "
(Ross pitched the idea for Pattern to several major beauty companies
before opting to do it herself.) " I don't come from a family of CEOs
and corporate people. I come from a family of artists. "
That artistic upbringing is now serving the greater good through
her business. She shares what she's
learning with other business leaders.
" Particularly with women, particularly
with Black and Brown women, we
historically don't have equity in what
we build. We don't have a stake in what
we make. And so, communicating and
making sure that the information that
I've gained gets to be everybody's
information. It doesn't just have to
be mine. That everybody can have
access to [what I've learned] is really
important to me. If that's what CEO
means, I'll take it. "

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GETTY IMAGES, RAYMOND LIU/GETTY IMAGES, COURTESY PATTERN BEAUTY

In 2014, Ross was cast in Black-ish and her proﬁle immediately
rose. She leveraged her increasing fame to give back, using her fullthroated voice to help others, whether campaigning for candidates or
ﬁghting for racial justice and Black Lives Matter. " I feel very grateful
and humbled to be in a position where I have a platform that I can
use for more than just the celebration of myself, " Ross says. She
also wants to be clear that she is helping, but not leading. " I feel very
aware of the limits of my own knowledge and my own experience.
I think that I am an activist in a way. But I also know that there are
activists-this is what they do for a living. I would not call myself an
organizer. I am a creative and an artist. I am a communicator. I'm a
translator. "
Whatever her role, Ross always manages to get her message
across, especially if she leads with positivity. She says joy has always
been an integral part of her life. " In fact, it's a central force for me. And
it's my real middle name, Tracee Joy. "
In 2019, she was able to bottle a bit of that joy, a bit of the
self-actualization her fans love her for, with the founding of her
haircare line, Pattern. " The company started from my own personal
journey with my hair. In a world that really didn't make space for
my own authentic beauty-this standard that existed about what
was considered 'beautiful' and 'sexy' and all those kinds of things. "
Ross remembers growing up in the 1980s, in an era of " easy, breezy,
beautiful " beauty standards. " My hair didn't bounce and behave. And
it didn't look like [those ads]. And I started having these fantasies
about starting a hair company that not only was what I personally
wanted but was obviously what other people I knew needed. "
Her big " aha! " moment happened when she was shopping about
10 years ago. " I remember I went to buy hair products once, and the
person selling was like, 'The amount of people that bring your picture
in here and say that they want hair like you, you would be a millionaire
if you [sold those types of] hair products.' "
Quarantining at home in Los Angeles during the pandemic offered
Ross a new perspective on both her homelife and CEO life. " I have to
say that during this time, it really was magniﬁed to me that hair care
is self-care, " she says. " And the way we honor ourselves, particularly
in difficult times, is incredibly important for a sense of selfhood. "
What's also been important to her (and her legion of fans) is
visibility as a Black woman running a company. " Seeing yourself
mirrored back is incredibly important in how you get to have agency
and self-esteem in your life. Being able to see yourself reﬂected as

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California Official Visitor's Guide 2021

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