This Founder Went From ‘Kitchen Chemist’ to 9-Figure Business Owner Whose Products Are Sold at Target, Ulta and CVS

Résumé détaillé

Janell Stephens started her career as a speech language pathologist before tapping into her passion for haircare.

Janell Stephens started haircare brand Camille Rose in her kitchen in 2011 to create hair products that worked for her family. Her experimentation became the foundation for a brand now found in major retailers including Target, Ulta and CVS.

“I call myself a kitchen chemist,” Stephens, founder and CEO of Camille Rose, said in a new interview with Entrepreneur. “I was just in the kitchen making a plethora of products at the time.”

Stephens built the company gradually, moving from homemade products to working with chemists, manufacturers, marketers, warehouse staff and a broader team of 35 employees. This year, the company is on track for 9-figure revenue, and projects continued double-digit growth in 2027.

The brand had a breakout moment earlier this year when reality TV star Kim Kardashian used Camille Rose products to style her 8-year-old daughter Chicago’s hair.

Stephens is a speech language pathologist by training. Before starting Camille Rose, she worked with stroke survivors and people with swallowing disorders, traumatic brain injuries and speech disorders. After graduate school, she opened a home-health agency and ran it for about eight years.

While her husband completed a medical fellowship in hematology and oncology, Stephens sold her clinic and decided to pursue another long-standing interest: formulating hair and skin products. She began studying under an herbalist for about a year, learning about the properties of oils, herbs and butters, and how different ingredients could perform on hair and skin.

“He taught me about herbs,” she says. “He taught me about the benefits of oils, how to make an emollient, the benefits of different butters and how they would affect or how they would apply to the hair and skin.”

Camille Rose grew from a personal problem. Stephens wanted products that delivered visible results for her own hair and for her children’s hair.

“My kids had needs; I had needs,” Stephens says. “I needed products that were showing a difference in my hair…

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