The Latina-Owned Beauty Brand Disrupting Haircare: Agua de Cielo

Welcome back to another edition of Latino Owned, a newsletter for Latino and first-gen entrepreneurs and creators. We’re back with an exciting look into a this Latina-owned haircare brand.

But fist, some good old-fashion Instagram inspo! Came across this on our Instagram feeds, and felt it was too good to not share. A reminder to all entrepreneurs to keep going and to give a damn. 👊

When it comes to haircare, the Dominican Republic 🇩🇴 has long had a reputation for producing some of the best products in the world. For Agua de Cielo, a fast-growing beauty brand founded by Dominican entrepreneur, Yovalina Isabel Pichardo García, that cultural legacy is both an inspiration and a responsibility.

From Kitchen Experiments to a Thriving Brand

The story of Agua de Cielo begins in Yovalina’s kitchen in Dominican Republic. 🇩🇴 At just 15 years old, Yovalina was already fascinated with haircare and styling her friends hair. “After school I would fix all my friends’ hair and other women’s hair. I don’t know how I learned, but I was good at it,” Yovalina recalls.

From that moment, Yovalina has made it her mission to build a brand that focuses on women having the best product, especially those dealing with alopecia. Years later, during the height of the pandemic, she began creating natural hair products at home.

“I started in my kitchen making products and the first week I sold $700,” Yovalina explains. “It was all word of mouth, people would say like a friend recommended me, then another friend recommended me. The demand was immediate, especially as many people were experiencing hair loss due to stress and COVID.”

Formulating a Haircare Brand

But growth wasn’t easy. After relocating to Spain, production had to stop, and restarting the brand meant navigating the complexities of labs, production delays, and quality control. Yovalina’s husband Chris encouraged her to go all in and restart Agua de Cielo.

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In 2022, Agua de Cielo returned. “Working with labs can be very complicated,” Yovalina recalls. “Sometimes they take months longer than expected, and we had buyers waiting. The first months were very complicated. It took them more than six months to deliver the first production order that Chris and I had placed,” Yovalina says.

Despite those challenges, the first production batch sold out in just six weeks.

The Entrepreneurial Journey

While Agua de Cielo’s growth looks impressive from the outside, Yovalina is candid about the challenges of entrepreneurship.

“Being an entrepreneur is not easy,” Yovalina says. “You have a lot of responsibilities like payroll and taxes. Sometimes the people you sell to don’t pay invoices on time, and you have to cover that yourself. Suppliers sometimes fail you, and you still have to pay. You have to be on top of everything, marketing, sales, photoshoots, models. It’s a lot, and it’s not easy.

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Yet Yovalina emphasizes resilience, and learned to trust her vision, especially with doubts from others. “Sometimes things fall apart,” Yovalina explains. “But you can’t give up. I think entrepreneurs should put negative thoughts aside and focus on the good things happening. We often ignore the good because we’re focused on the bad.”

“Most entrepreneurs quit too soon. I always say when things get most complicated, that’s when the good things are coming.”

That persistence has paid off. Recently, Agua de Cielo was accepted to exhibit at Cosmoprof Las Vegas, one of the world’s leading beauty trade shows, after several years of applying.

Launching in Latin America 🇩🇴

Yovalina launched all throughout Latin America and the high expectations set by customers makes her work harder to bring quality products.

“It’s harder to launch in Latin America. If it’s a Latino brand, customers expect a lot. But other brands with just big names don’t face the same scrutiny, they’re tougher on us,” Yovalina says. “But what makes us different is that our products work both at home and in salons. People feel connected, try it, love it, recommend it, and salons want to stock it.”

Agua de Cielo’s customers range from all parts of the world including Puerto Ricans, Venezuelans, Columbians, and those in the U.S. and Spain.

“Dominicans are well-known for making good hair products. When people go to the U.S. or elsewhere, they always say, bring me Dominican products, because they’re the best.”

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Looking Ahead

Right now Agua de Cielo is in 34 stores in the Dominican Republic. As well as in stores in New York City, and online through Amazon and TikTok Shop. “We’re about to be in a store equivalent to Sephora, but in the Dominican Republic and Latin America,” Yovalina says.

As the brand continues to grow, the founder’s vision is clear. “I want customers to feel confident when they buy Agua de Cielo, to trust that they’ll see results, that the product is high quality, and that Latinos also create amazing products.”

Yovalina’s ultimate goal is to position Agua de Cielo alongside global beauty powerhouses like Gisou, while staying rooted in the culture and community that inspired it. “This is the moment to give everything to the brand,” Yovalina says.

From humble beginnings in a home kitchen to international recognition, Agua de Cielo is proving that Dominican innovation in haircare deserves the world’s attention.

Be sure to connect with Latino Owned on LinkedIn and Instagram. We’re back next week with a look into the first women-owned, Latin owned vegan restaurant on the Las Vegas Strip. 👀