Tia Mowry jumped onto the pop culture scene in the mid-’90s when she starred in Sister, Sister, an ABC sitcom. In the years that followed, she went on to produce and act in myriad TV shows and movies, including The Game and Netflix’s Family Reunion—the latter won two NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Children’s Program.
In addition to publishing several books, including her cookbook The Quick Fix Kitchen, Mowry also hosts a YouTube channel that she launched seven years ago, Tia Mowry’s Quick Fix. More than 957,000 subscribers have tuned in to watch her quickly answer life’s little questions. And then there is her new reality show, Tia Mowry: My Next Act, which premiered in October 2024 on WEtv and has been nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Reality Program. On top of all of that, Mowry is the mother of two children: a 13-year-old son and a 6-year-old daughter.
Though she continues to enjoy immense success in her three-decade career, there is one thing that Mowry has longed to be since she was a teenager: an entrepreneur.
“I’ve always wanted to be one, ever since I knew what the word meant,” she says. “I remember I discovered the word when I was in high school. I didn’t even know how to pronounce it.”
Not only did Mowry learn how to pronounce entrepreneur, but she also found success right out of the gate. She launched 4U by Tia, a high-performance natural hair care brand for curly and textured hair, in 2023. The brand is available at Walmart, Amazon, select CVS stores and on the brand’s website.
To Mowry, though, success as an entrepreneur is not just about the products she launches.
“I feel that when one is an entrepreneur, they connect with community,” she says. “It’s about leadership. It’s about development and offering a need that seems to have some sort of void in place. And I feel like those qualities, when it comes to the definition of an entrepreneurship or attributes [of an entrepreneur], remind me of myself.
“I absolutely love community,” she continues. “I love building, I love growing, I love inspiring, I love creating and I love leadership. And I love the process, meaning I realized at a young age that I loved what happens between coming up with an idea and then seeing it to fruition…. I enjoy the process. I enjoy finding the manifesto. I enjoy finding the purpose all for a greater cause. I think that’s what excites me about being an entrepreneur.”
When asked what inspired her to create 4U, Mowry first points to her passions in life, which she refers to as pillars: wellness, community, accessibility and family.
“I felt like there was—and is—a void when it comes to textured hair and our community,” she says. “Growing up as someone who has curly hair, as a young girl, I was always… forced to choose something that wasn’t necessarily right for me [or] out of my price range. And that didn’t really work for my hair because there just weren’t many options out there…. So I wanted to fill a need in the curly hair texture community by creating some products.
“When I mentioned wellness, I’m very passionate about what I put in my body [and] what I put on my body,” she adds. “And I just felt like when I was doing some research about what was a great option for me and my family when it came to our textured hair, there weren’t any products out there that really catered to or that were honest when it came to natural ingredients at an affordable price.”
After that, Mowry got to work. She collaborated with a team of scientists to create a clean, plant-based formula that includes ingredients consumers recognize at an affordable price so that 4U is more widely accessible.
“It’s science-backed [and] there’s efficacy with all-natural ingredients that are at an affordable price,” she says of her products.
Fewer bottles means greater sustainability
In addition to making a natural and affordable line of products, another of Mowry’s intentions with 4U was to create simple routines for people with curly and textured hair.
“I have different curl textures and patterns than my daughter and my son… [and] I would have all of these different products in the household,” she says. “What I love about 4U is we were able to come up with a formula that works on hair textures from 2A to 4C. So instead of getting all of these different products coming in and out of the house, we can simplify the whole thing. And basically, the whole family can use the products—it works on their hair textures as well as mine.
“[It’s] not only that the ingredients are clean—I trust that I can use it on my children and myself,” she adds.
Because the products in the 4U line work on different hair types, families need fewer bottles of product in their homes, which speaks to Mowry’s mission of keeping the hair care line sustainable. Not only are the products’ ingredients clean, plant-based and sourced from suppliers who prioritize ethical and sustainable harvesting practices, but the bottles and packaging are sustainable too.
“My goal with 4U is to think about the consumer [and] their needs,” she says. “I know that, including myself, we’re wanting to be more conscious about what we buy from all different angles, from our wallet[s] to the ingredients that we’re using. And then also, how is this making an impact?
“When it comes to our environment and waste,” she continues, “I think this is what… makes 4U just stand out from a lot of other products that are out there. And there’s a community of people that think this way, and I felt like there was a void, and I wanted to meet that need.”
Accessibility 4U
Another of Mowry’s passion pillars is accessibility, which played a big part in the development of 4U by Tia.
“It is and was definitely a reason and a goal of mine to have clean, natural, high-quality ingredients that are accessible to everyone,” she says. “I feel like great products shouldn’t just be catered to one socioeconomic group, and I feel like [for] women and diverse communities, it’s time that they don’t have to be forced again to choose products that are toxic just because it reaches their price point. So that was definitely a goal of mine….
“I think the accessibility… [was] one of the main reasons why I was excited about our partnership with Walmart,” she adds. “Walmart is known, of course, for their great prices.”
The full-size cleansing, conditioning, nourishing and treatment products in the 4U hair care line are priced at $11.99 and $12.99 each.
Even with the success Mowry has enjoyed with the launch of 4U, she is quick to point out that it did not happen overnight. In fact, it took about two years to take her concept from ideation to reality.
“I say that 4U is like my third baby,” Mowry says. “It takes a while for your ideas to evolve, and that is the approach that I am taking with this brand. People forget that the [tortoise] won the race. For me, it’s more about quality, it’s more about building community, it’s more about authenticity, and that takes time.”
Mowry is fortunate to have surrounded herself with like-minded people to help her not only launch 4U but grow it too. After she shared her idea with her agent, she was introduced to people who were interested in partnering with her—and from there, she built her team.
“We all came together, and we just started to talk about our ideas and flesh things out like what is needed,” she says. “There was a lot of work that was put into it.
“That’s what I was saying I love about being an entrepreneur,” Mowry continues. “This is the part of the process that I enjoy, and… a lot of people, they don’t know that’s the process—they just see the end product or the launch. But there’s just so much that goes into it.”
She also says that reaching out to others guided 4U’s development.
“[What] was also extremely beneficial, when it came to having my ideas come to life, was not being afraid to reach out to other people… [and] to the community,” she says. “This is a community-based brand, and I think that… what has been so amazing about the whole process is really understanding the audience, really understanding the community, really understanding the void and what [the needs are]. We’re constantly asking those questions.
“We have some cool new products that we will be launching soon, and what I’m most excited about is [that] these are products that the community has wanted and has been asking for,” she continues. “So for us to give back in this way—I just can’t wait.”
Barnes is a Florida-based independent journalist and entrepreneur with a passion for travel, wellness and the environment.
This article originally appeared in the March 2025 issue of SUCCESS+ magazine. Photo of Tia Mowry courtesy of ©Adam Rindy.
