PEABODY — It all started with a bad hair day — a lot of very bad hair days in fact.
2010 Peabody High graduate Charlene Pena was minding her own business working at CitySprouts in Cambridge following graduation from Framingham State College in 2016. She was working as an intern, teaching middle school children how to grow their own food and cook, as well as the importance of proper nutrition.
Much of her time was spent outdoors, leaving Pena in a no-win situation.
“I spent most of the day outside in the hot sun and this caused major damage to my hair,” Pena said. “If I wore a sun hat it would flatten my curly and voluminous hair and if I left my hair bare it would fry in the sun.“
After experimenting with scarves and other forms of headwear, Pena hit paydirt a couple of years later when she came up with the idea for the Afrona, a stylish, tube-shaped hat that stands curly hair straight up and preserves curls without ever going flat, even after a night of sleep.
Pena then founded the Woven Royal company, whose motto is “Stand Your Crown,” and entered the company in the 2019 North of Boston Business Plan Program and Competition in 2019. Last December, Pena was awarded first prize, and, with it, a winner’s check for $10,000.
“Right now, I’m at my capacity, so now with $10,000 I can look to hire someone to help sew and run ads, sell and market,” said Pena. “I cannot thank the Enterprise Center enough for all the support they have given me to get here today. The workshops and business clinics that I participated in motivated me to create a business plan, become a better business owner and ultimately win this competition.”
It was during a trip to the Dominican Republic in 2017 that Pena came up with the idea for the Afrona.
“It was pretty much a case of necessity is the mother of invention. I first had the idea for a hat that would preserve curly hair without flattening it in 2017 when I moved to the Dominican Republic,” said Pena. “I sketched out a design and my aunt, Chana Jimenez, who I was living with, introduced me to a seamstress named Fela, who lived in a poor area of Santo Domingo.
“I had tried different ideas, but none of them worked, until we figured it all out, and working with Fela, we created the first Afrona,” said Pena.
Pena dove into the project after returning to Peabody and taught herself how to sew. She started researching different business programs to help her learn how to start her own business.
It was on another trip back to the Dominican, that Pena made a life-changing discovery.
“I discovered a program for entrepreneurs in Lynn called EforAll, as well as The Enterprise Center at Salem State,” Pena said. “I had always wanted to start my own business but didn’t really know how, so both of these programs were just what I needed to get to the next level.”
She applied to both programs. Denied at Enterprise, she was accepted at EforAll.
She started the three-month program in December, 2018, and graduated in March, 2019.
Pena, who also models her creations, has sold more than 200 hats to date, using Instagram, word of mouth advertising through events, and now has a display at Calarenee Salon on Rantoul Street in Beverly.
“They specialize in curly hair and agreed to do kind of a pop-up initially and we did very well, so they started selling in the salon,” said Pena.
Pena says the Anacoano is the most popular and that her Dominican heritage provided the inspiration in product naming.
“The styles are named for Dominican women, where it all began for my family and me,” said Pena.
Products range in price from the $19 bowband to velvet ($64-69). For more information about Woven Royal and the entire product line, visit the company website, www.wovenroyal.com.
