Heal In Colour: Black and Brown Bandages

The Fast and Female Team had the opportunity to chat with Tianna, the founder of Heal in Colour. 

Tianna is a Caribbean Canadian woman. Tianna has been a long time athlete. She played basketball, volleyball and track at her high school and recreationally. Through this, she was named Athlete of the Year in school as a teenager. Her mindset about sports was always to have fun, and to gain the mental and physical health benefits of participating. 

In April of 2021 she launched her brand of black and brown bandages, Heal in Colour. She has a diploma in Operations Management from Durham College to support her through building the business. The inspiration for Heal in Colour started when she was looking for a bandage that matched her own skin tone. She visited many drugstores looking for a match but couldn’t find something suitable. The goal of Heal in Colour is to make black and brown bandages the norm in all stores. 

Then started the process of creating this amazing product. Tianna shared that she had to find a manufacturer who would support producing the bandages for her. Because there were no existing black and brown bandages this meant really creating a new product. This came with challenges of knowing where to look. Tianna ended up finding a medical manufacturer who believed in her mission. She then got samples of the product and tested them to make sure they were the best they could be. She would then start selling the product. Tianna has been mostly independent in this journey, but has learned to accept some help from friends and family, including helping to package the product. 

The process had its challenges. Tianna spoke about the difficulty of “wearing all the hats”, and fitting it in with other jobs and responsibilities. Her connection to Dawn Bazely in the Faculty of Science at Durham College supported her mission and brought discussions of diversity and inclusion into the classroom featuring Heal in Colour. Tianna’s advice for young brown and black girls is to bet on yourself and have the confidence to do the thing you’re scared to do. You’re probably scared because it’s worthwhile.