
Kristin Ess has announced on her Instagram page that she is suing her partners at Maesa "for several reasons," in particular being "that I was misled during this partnership."
Maesa is the incubator behind brands such as Mindy McKnight's Hairitage.
In a series of Instagram highlights, Ess shares that Maesa "sold themselves to me as a beauty brand incubator, touting their ability to launch, grow + eventually sell my brand to ensure its continued success. Instead of holding true to their commitments, they've continued gripping onto my brand, using it as a piggy bank to fund their many other ideas."
Ess continued to share that she had hoped to settle the issues privately, "but the time has come to take a different approach."
The message concluded, "The one thing I know for sure is—If I don't fight with everything I've got in this moment, the Kristin Ess Hair brand will continue to suffer and deviate from the path I've always dreamed for it. I can't just sit back and watch that."