Crown Collective, a student-owned pop-up, has been making Black hair care products accessible to UC Santa Barbara students for the last year. Founder and fourth-year psychological & brain sciences major, Sydney Scott, reflected on her experience and its impact on Santa Barbara’s Black community.
The collective was co-founded by Sydney Scott and Love Alexius. Courtesy of Sydney Scott
The pop-up’s name is inspired by the common reference to textured hair as crowns, highlighted by the 2019 Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair (C.R.O.W.N.) Act, which prohibits employment and educational discrimination based on hair texture or protective styles. Scott first noticed that there weren’t many accessible ways to get Black hair care products on campus during her first year. Since the first pop-up last February, she has continued to offer products to students by expanding her team and collaborating on community events.
“This is the best thing that I’ve done in college,” Scott said. “Even filling the gap [in product accessibility] statistically is nice, but also I know that students need it, and they’ll come up and be like, ‘Oh my goodness, I needed my hair braided, or I needed this,’ and it’s incredibly inspiring just to be around my community.”
When the Collective began, Scott undertook many of the business-related duties, such as setting up business accounts and sourcing products. Her co-founder, fourth-year sociology major Love Alexius, is responsible for marketing. Since then, the pair have hired two interns, second-year economics and accounting majors Layo Ogunleye and Jonae McGee.
Since both Scott and Alexius are graduating in the spring, the interns are being trained to take over the business in the near future. Scott said she had always wanted to pass on the business to provide employment opportunities for Black students on campus.
“[The interns] take a lot of the weight off my shoulders,” Scott said. “It’s been great having them on, but I’ve definitely been learning a lot about myself in the process and the way that I handle my emotions in order to be able to help them move through whatever they’re going through.”
Aside from the pop-ups, the business has expanded to offer pick-up orders so that students can purchase products in a way that fits their schedule. Scott allows buyers to find a time that works for them via a Google form to pick up products from her home.
“It was just like another form of accessibility for [students],” Scott said.
Another way the Crown Collective has expanded is with its Hair Labs series, which features student hairstylists giving demos of styles such as lace front wigs and quick weaves. Scott also mentioned she’d like to expand the series into other categories, such as essential oils and jewelry.
“It’s like a little subcategory of who we are,” Scott said. “We promote all these people on our pages and stuff. And people can go and they can look at it, but it’s nothing like being in person, learning how to do these styles.”
Another way the Crown Collective has expanded is with its Hair Labs series. Courtesy of Sydney Scott
Over the past year, the Collective has also collaborated on community events such as open mics. Scott said participating in these events has been “super impactful” and that she has appreciated how they have brought Santa Barbara’s Black community together. According to the United States Census, Black residents make up roughly 2% of Santa Barbara County’s population. At UCSB, Black students make up 5% of the population.
“The more that I’m involved in different Black organizations around Santa Barbara, the more I realize how really tight of a community it is,” Scott said. “Santa Barbara is not really big geographically, but it can feel like it when you’re 2% of the population, and so it’s been really nice having a community on campus, but moving outside of campus, working with [Santa Barbara City College], and Healing Justice and all those other communities has really made us more of a tight-knit community.”
The Collective has collaborated on community events such as open mics. Courtesy of Sydney Scott
Speaking on the larger impact of the Collective, Scott said she has received “very positive” feedback from students, especially underclassmen.
“Just hearing them talk about how excited they are that they have something like this on campus. It just warms my heart so much because I didn’t have that at all when I was their age,” Scott said.
According to Scott, the experience has taught her that if she “wants to do something” and puts her mind to it, “then [she] can do it, it doesn’t matter what it is.” She affirmed that her goal for the business is to see it continue beyond her time at UCSB.
“Something that I tell my interns is it doesn’t have to relate to Crown Collective, but you’re Black and you’re beautiful and you’re excellent, and you can do anything, especially in this political climate,” Scott said. “Even existing is a form of resistance to all the things that are going on around us. And so I really wanted to not stand out as just a business, but stand out [to say] we are here and we are proud to be here. And this is our community too.”
A version of this article appeared on p. 5 of the March 5, 2026 edition of the Daily Nexus.
