The incredible CEO of popular hair product brand, TGIN, Thank God it’s Natural, Chris-Tia Donaldson, has passed away. According to unofficial reports, Donaldson was 42.
TGIN finance and human resources manager and Chris-Tia’s niece made the announcement through her Instagram late Sunday afternoon.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the peaceful passing of our founder and CEO, Chris-Tia Donaldson…TGIN and TGIN foundation has lost a leader and a visionary. And the world has lost a selfless human being. Chris-Tia lived a life of service and was a force to be reckoned with inside and outside the beauty community. Through her passion and purpose, she redefined beauty and created a community of female empowerment teaching us the importance of advocating for ourselves.”
Her spirit and her words of encouragement as a breast cancer survivor resonated with so many. She released her first book, Thank God I’m Natural: The Ultimate Guide to Caring for and Maintaining Natural Hair, in the summer of 2009. It was quickly heralded at the “The Natural Hair Bible.”
The book dispelled some of the most common myths and misconceptions about kinky hair. It also gave women a much-needed resource for how to embrace their coils.
Prior to starting her own company, Donaldson represented Fortune 500 companies in complex business transactions involving technology and open-source code. Donaldson earned her A.B. in Economics from Harvard University with high honors and is a graduate of Harvard Law School.
In 2013, she started making her products in the kitchen with the help of her family. By 2015, the products became a viable company with revenue topping $1 million.
In 2015, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, but it was something that was not on her mind, nor her health record.
“I was just 36 at the time of my diagnosis,” explained Donaldson to BlackDoctor.org in 2017. “When I thought of breast cancer, I thought of