Interview with Shawnora Weddles, Founder & CEO
Q: Tell us about you?
My name is Shawnora Weddles. I was born in the small town of Stockton, CA where I was raised by my mother and father who are still married and living in Stockton to this day.
I am the mother of three beautiful daughters and the wife of a wonderful man who gives me his unconditional love and unwavering support every day.
I am a hard worker who has always worked multiple jobs to provide for my family.
I have a deep love for the sport of roller-skating and secretly wish that cities and towns would take interest in operating public run roller-skating facilities to help bring back a part of the black community that has seen a drastic decline in the last couple of decades.
I had my last chemical hair perm in July 2017 and have been on a no perm natural hair journey ever since. 
Q: What is your company?
My company is called AviZodi. The name comes from my love of avocados.
We are an online retailer providing the most unique, affordable, effective, and simple to use patent pending hair stretching tools on the market. Visit us at www.avizodi.com for more information.
Q: What does your company do?
AviZodi is proud to provide the natural hair community with its patent pending hair stretching tools and accessories. We are committed to providing the best no heat, no perm alternatives to eliminating the dreaded hair shrinkage and enhancing our God-given natural beautiful hair curls.
Our stretching tools are both affordable and simple to use.
We hope the natural hair community will give our AviZodi products a try and let us help make their kinky, curly and wavy hair more manageable and healthier, so their natural hair is able to flourish and shine.
Q: How is your company different?
Undoubtedly, there are several ways to achieve a stretched hair style but the AviZodi hair stretching tools provide a unique and remarkably simple way to stretch natural hair with visible results that speak for themselves when you use our products.
There is no other hair stretching tool on the market that has the weight or design that our tools provide to achieve the elongated stretch without making it look like a science experiment is happening on your head.
The AviZodi hair stretching tools are both attractive and versatile as there are many ways to attach the hair stretching tools based on the desired end results. Our hair stretching tools are a perfect addition to braided and twisted hair styles.
AviZodi is quite different in both its name and brand and we take pride in that.
Q: Of all the possible businesses you could have created, why AviZodi?
Oprah Winfrey once said, “Your real job in life is to figure out what it is you are called to do,” she added, “And you use a job until you can figure out what the calling is.”
When the prototype, that I had created with the help of my husband to stretch my own hair, worked so well, I immediately knew that God had blessed me with something that I had to share with the world. So, my choice to bring AviZodi to life was an easy one. I had found my purpose and calling.
Q: Who do you do it for?
I do this for all of those naturals out there who are tired of hiding their hair under wigs, who are tired of damaging their hair from perms and flat irons, for those who want an easier way to manage their natural hair and for all of those who are ready to reclaim their length and eliminate the shrinkage. I do this for you.
Q: Why do your customers care?
My customers care for several reasons:
First, in the current climate of today, there is a rise in black hair pride. More and more people are choosing the no perm no heat route for their healthy natural hair journey and many of those people (myself included) are finding it a little depressing to not have a safe and easy way to retain hair length and reduce the dreaded hair shrinkage.
Secondly, for those same customers who have joined the natural hair movement, they are struggling to manage their new found kinky curly tresses and want an easy and safe natural way to improve their hair manageability which the AviZodi hair stretching tools can do for them.
Q: How is your brand giving back to the community?
As we grow our Black Woman Owned and Operated brand, it is vitally important that we give back to the community.
AviZodi has committed to donating a portion of its profits towards efforts that support social justice reform.
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AviZodi Inc is a Black-Woman-Owned Business that is proud to introduce the natural hair community to its patent pending hair stretching tools and accessories. Our hair stretching tools are your secret weapon to help you conquer the dreaded hair shrinkage and show off your natural curls in all their stretched and bouncy glory. With the varying levels of strength our small and large hair weights provide, our hair weights offer something for every kinky curly hair type. If you want a soft stretch or a long stretch, we have the perfect hair stretching tool for you.