ETI salutes Joan Johnson, co-founder of Afro Sheen empire

In order to be a legend you have to learn from and study the legends.

A legend today is known for their noted celebrity and larger-than-life accomplishments, whose fame is well-known.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j1K7Y8gqQ8

Joan Johnson, who co-founded the legendary Johnson Products Company – the maker of iconic hair care products such as Ultra Sheen, Afro Sheen and Gentle Treatment — died on September 9, 2019 at the age of 89 in Chicago after a long illness.

In 1954, Johnson and her husband, George E. Johnson, started the Johnson Products Company in Chicago, taking a $250 vacation loan and turning it into a multi-million-dollar company.

The business became the first black-owned company traded on the stock exchange in 1971.

“When I think about pioneers, the real pioneers are the people who are able to make a path where none exists,” Eric G. Johnson, her son, told CNN. “Johnson Products in many ways was that company. She and my father had no provided path. They created a path where there was none.”

Joan Johnson, co-founder of Johnson Products Company, has died at age 89.

JPC, as it is commonly referred to, developed a line of haircare, cosmetics and fragrances and, within 25 years, controlled 30% to 40% of the black haircare market, according to Black Enterprise.

In the early 1970s, Johnson Products became a major sponsor of the Don Cornelius-created, dance-based TV series “Soul Train,” which became the longest running, first run, nationally syndicated program in television history.

The company was bought by Procter & Gamble in 2004 and its products were marketed as part of the P&G portfolio. In March 2009, a consortium of African-American investment firms bought the Los Angeles-based company from the consumer goods corporate giant.

An annual scholarship will be named in her honor at Atlanta’s Spelman College, which she was a trustee of.