Topaz, our founder, built this product after living in Rome and the village of Positano on Italy’s Amalfi Coast. She attended an international middle school and high school where she visited a different country annually and learned its history, language, and culture. During her stay in Italy, she was headed to Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, and needed a place to do her hair.

She looked online for African beauty salons but could not find any options in central Rome or in Italy. She ended up on a bus headed to Rome Termini, and walked off with a black female on the bus who she followed until asking her if she could direct her to the closest African beauty salon. Turns out the African woman was Nigerian-Italian and was a native of Rome.

She walked Topaz to a Nigerian-Italian hair salon and barber shop in a basement packed with Africans from the global diaspora and of course a Nigerian grandmother selling fufu and other Nigerian foods. She felt like she was back in NYC and realized that this salon brought immense joy and value to her and could bring the same value to others who were searching for similar services and social spaces they could not find online.

She wanted to create a service that gave subcultures the opportunity to showcase their resources and the value they bring to society. She also wanted to make known subcultures that many are not aware of and those that are not broadly marketed in the larger travel and tourism industry. Thus, EN-NOBLE was born, to amplify the voices of subculture communities globally, granting them access to travelers interested in authentic cultural nuanced experiences.