This Ghanaian Entrepreneur Built A Black Bridal Beauty Business In Italy

Harriet Akotowah Mensah saw an underserved market for Black beauty services in Italy and turned it into a growing mobile bridal business.

For Black women planning destination weddings in Italy, finding a beauty professional who understands textured hair and deeper skin tones can be tough. However, that’s why Ghanaian entrepreneur Harriet Akotowah Mensah turned that access gap into a business opportunity.

Based in Brescia, Italy, Mensah is the founder and creative director of Hetty’s Beauty Parlour and The Afro Beauty Team, two businesses that provide mobile bridal hairstyling, makeup, and wig installation services for clients across Italy. Her destination-wedding clientele primarily comes from the United States, with additional customers traveling from other parts of Europe.

The business recently took Mensah nearly five hours each way to Florence to prepare Micaéla Verrelien for her wedding at Villa Merlo Nero. Verrelien, who co-owns Brooklyn’s Sweet Fire Cafe & Studio with her husband, had spent a year searching for a Black bridal beauty professional in Italy before her social media community repeatedly recommended Mensah. Mensah says the demand reflects a broader gap in Italy’s beauty industry.

“Hetty’s Beauty Parlour started from a very personal place. I saw a gap in the beauty industry and realized that Black women in Italy were often struggling to find professionals who genuinely understood our hair textures, skin tones, and beauty needs,” Mensah told Travel Noire.

That gap has created a market where clients are willing to travel — and pay additional travel fees — for specialized expertise.

“What is interesting is that sometimes the distance is not even the biggest issue for the client. Their priority is finding someone they trust,” Mensah said.

For an entrepreneur, that trust is also a customer-acquisition strategy. Mensah says social media helps potential customers discover her work, but referrals ultimately turn visibility into revenue.

“Social media gives people visibility, but trust is what converts that visibility into bookings,” she said.

Now, Mensah is looking beyond a one-person operation. Through The Afro Beauty Team, she wants to expand the pool of professionals who can service Black clients while maintaining the level of expertise her customers expect.

“I don’t want the solution to be that every Black bride has to find one person — me,” Mensah said. “I want to help build a professional beauty ecosystem where more skilled artists can serve this community at a high standard.”