Building a Business, Building Yourself: Kim Ng’s Path to Reinvention

Kim Ng’s journey to entrepreneurship wasn’t an easy one. For many hairstylists, owning a business is a dream often complicated by a lack of business knowledge, funds, or resources. But Ng, who spent over 15 years honing her craft in cities like Toronto, Hong Kong, and Sydney, wasn’t going to let those obstacles hold her back. Her passion for hairdressing was strong, but she knew that to take her career to the next level, she needed more knowledge.

Growing up in a typical Asian family where academic success was heavily valued, Ng faced early challenges in pursuing her passion. Artistry, like hairdressing, was seen by her mother as a phase she would grow out of.  Yet, despite these cultural pressures, Ng was determined to carve out her own path.

“I’ve grown up in a typical close-minded Asian family which believes that academics and wealth are everything, and artistry and skilled trades are not something to be respected,” she wrote on F6S. “But I was able to find the right path for me by re-engineering myself, questioning and finding truth in most things, thinking from first principles.”

This mindset of self-reinvention led Ng back to school. She enrolled in Seneca College’s on-campus incubator program, Seneca HELIX, where she could merge her creative skills with the business knowledge she lacked. While in school, Ng had a professor who asked her a simple question that changed everything. “ ‘What are your goals?’ I told him that I wanted to open a salon. Then he asked me one specific question: ‘Why are you not doing it now?’” Not letting being a first-semester business student stop her, and with the support of her professor, she started Hairzzaplon, a traveling stylist business delivering home services around the GTA. “They were willing to open their homes to somebody that they didn’t know that they randomly found online.”

After finding a niche in hairstyling and amassing a loyal clientele, Ng noticed the demand from new customers who found her online without a referral. “They were looking online for a new salon. Customers wanted more information than what Google could offer at the time.” Ng decided she would come up with a solution to this rising trend. Ng created Beaut, a mobile app that connects users with professional hairstylists, based on their location and personal style preferences. With Beaut, she hoped to give users more confidence in choosing their stylists and getting the exact look they wanted.

Ng’s journey wasn’t without setbacks. In 2020, when the pandemic hit, her mobile business, along with her application Beaut, came to a halt. Social distancing and lockdowns meant people couldn’t get haircuts, let alone use a mobile app to find one. As businesses struggled to adapt, Ng found herself at a crossroads. The rapidly expanding world of artificial intelligence and tech left her feeling like a small player in a much larger game.

But like many successful entrepreneurs, Ng didn’t give up. Instead, she pivoted. Recognizing the crowded beauty and personal care market, Ng pivoted to create her own product: Pospone , a plant-based, rinse-free dry shampoo. This innovative product, which was developed with the help of Seneca’s HELIX network and its cosmetic science program, is designed to help users extend the time between hair washes. Pospone's eco-friendly ingredients and sleek, simple packaging make it a unique solution for consumers concerned about harmful chemicals and aerosols in typical dry shampoos.

“Pospone is free of benzene, which has been linked to cancer. The health of my customers is my number one priority,” she explains. “I’ve put so much thought and intentionality into this product.”

Through Pospone, Ng found a new way to bring her passion for beauty and care to a larger audience, and although the market for hair products is competitive, she believes her dedication to her clients will set her apart.

“Stay curious, start from the clients, and eliminate your assumptions,” she says. “It’s not about you, and it shouldn’t be. Because if that’s how you do it, then you’re no different from those big corporations.”

Her journey, from the early struggles of questioning her career path in the face of family expectations, to the standstill of her mobile app, and finally to the creation of Pospone, shows her true entrepreneurial spirit. While the road to success may not always follow a straight line, Ng’s story reminds us that sometimes, the biggest thing you build is not a business, but yourself.