That Maya, You know how she Doux...



Courtesy of Curls Understood
Maya Smith is a hairstylist and social influencer based out of Atlanta. She has been able to not only grow the base of her business in the last couple of years but her social media following too! The popular Instagram page, The Doux, currently has 135,000 users, with engaging content presented to users daily. There are reels and video posts on how to use the product, hair care tips, and informative topics regarding black women’s hair and the black community. The page is also the go-to space for customers to know about new products, sales, and other information Maya wants users to understand. The way Maya has built a space where black women can talk about hair issues and receive advice from a professional is a genius idea. Actually, it’s beautiful. To a black woman, her hair is her crown and something to be celebrated.

When a space is created for you with other women who suffer from the same issues or who can relate in a way, it’s unique. You want to be in that space. You want to just emerge yourself in it. That’s what Maya Smith did. She created a space on Instagram where black women were topic with everything centered around black hair.

Courtesy of Black Enterprise

Maya was able to build her community simply by having something to offer users. Not only was she there to sell products, but Smith is a beauty professional who has been in the game for over 20 years. She has a skillset, a service that is in demand. However, it’s not only her professional skills that helped build a following. Maya Smith is a people person. She responds to every comment on her page and has a YouTube page where she shares more of her story and can answer questions in a more in-depth way.
What I’ve come to love about the way Maya navigates her community is that she really is in contact with users. I know I’m repeating myself, but that’s how great she is. IG lives are a trendy way to grab the attention of users and connect differently because it’s interactive. Maya conducts lives monthly. She shares updates on her salon, products, website updates, or just talks with the community. What can I say the lady has created a bond between women who have never met and probably never will. THAT’S AMAZING!

Courtesy Sally Beauty

Maya also knows that a majority of her clientele are black women and she facilities her IG page on that. Music Monday features popular rap, hip-hop, or r&b artists from back in the day. A very throwback vibe, you could say. Sucka Free Sunday is about hair tips and answering hair-related or product questions. Although this community is essentially centered on her business, it doesn’t feel that way. Maya interacts with the community more like a friend, giving advice and trying to have fun. Rather than selling you something, she is genuine in her presence.

Courtesy of Naturally Curly

The result of Maya Smith’s hard work is a beautiful community of mainly black women who can be free and talk about themselves…talk about their hair. Yes, I know it may seem like a trivial thing to have a space dedicated to hair talk, but as I mentioned earlier in the article, we don’t have many of those spaces to be in ourselves. So when a space like that pops ups free of harassment and trolls, WE TAKE IT! Basically, it’s a whole vibe. That’s the best way to describe the feeling of being in that space, even though it’s solely online. The vibe of the community is positive, supportive, informative, and thriving. What’s great about what Maya is doing is that it continues to open the doors for more black women and other women of color to create these spaces. So that we no longer have to breathe a sigh of relief when we find ONE community tailored to us. These spaces are needed, they allow women, people, actually to be free to be themselves without judgment, and that is all we want in life right? To be happy and free of judgment.

Courtesy of Byrdie

So, we thank you and salute you, Maya Smith, you, doin’ it, girl!


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