Tracee Ellis Ross Shares the Advice from Her Mother That Inspired Her Hair Care Line

The "Black-ish" alum revealed her mother's subtle nugget of wisdom during a summit she attended last week. She established her hair care line in 2019.

Tracee Ellis Ross recalled the advice from her mother, legendary singer Diana Ross, that has stuck with her since she was 12. She shared the message when she spoke during the 2025 Travel + Leisure World's Best Summit in New York City.

"She walked into my room and said, 'Listen here, little girl. You're either going to get a really good job or a really rich husband because the hair products alone are going to break the bank,'" she said at the event, which took place on Tuesday, July 15.

The 52-year-old would go on to launch Pattern Beauty, a brand catering to curly, coily, and tight-textured hair, in 2019. She founded the company after years of struggling to find products that nurtured her own curls.

"I believed there needed to be a paradigm shift around marketing, particularly when it came to Black people and Black hair," Ross added. "We are centered around the celebration of Black beauty."

The actress has also previously spoken about how her journey to self-love and acceptance mirrored that of her hair journey.

"I can literally chronicle my journey of self-acceptance through my journey with my hair. It was [a] long road to knowing, understanding and, eventually, loving my curls," she wrote on her Pattern Beauty blog in 2019.