Built to lead, shaped by need

Through Bevel, Tristan Walker transformed a personal challenge into a bold, vision- and mission-driven brand.

For half his life, Tristan Walker had trouble finding razors that didn't irritate while shaving. It's an issue that disproportionately affects people of color since multi-blade razors exacerbate razor burn for people with coarse or curly hair.

In 2013, Walker founded Walker & Company Brands, whose first product line, Bevel — a men's grooming system that began with a single-blade safety razor and eventually expanded to trimmers and a skin-care line — reduced razor bumps and irritation.

"Bevel reframed the market by challenging the idea that one size fits all and highlighting a large, overlooked market," says Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship Chris Neck. "That product-centric approach was disruptive because mainstream shaving brands had designed products assuming a different set of hair and skin needs."

Neck, an expert in leadership, self-leadership, group decision-making processes, and self-managing teams, cites Walker's dedication to his mission while shifting markets as traits that make him a visionary, transformational, and servant leader.

"He inspires teams and partners with a clear mission to serve an underserved customer base, while also digging into the operational details needed to scale physical products and logistics, and pairs long-term cultural goals with short-term operational rigor," Neck says.

Shaping a mission-driving leader

Growing up in Queens, New York, Walker and his brother grew up in a single-parent household after someone killed their father when Tristan was 3 years old. Walker's mother worked multiple jobs to make ends meet and set high expectations for her children's academics and extracurricular activities.

"Walker's upbringing created a strong internal drive to escape poverty through education and achievement," says Neck.

Walker's grades and participation in the after-school program, the Boys and Girls Club, paid off, earning him a scholarship to the elite Hotchkiss School, a Connecticut prep school. He later graduated with a degree in economics from Stony Brook University and worked as a trader at Lehman Brothers and J. P. Morgan before earning an MBA from Stanford. These experiences granted Walker access to networks and the skills in technology and entrepreneurship he would need to found Walker & Company and CODE2040, a nonprofit dedicated to racial equity in tech.

The loss of Walker's father in his early life and the family's subsequent financial struggles likely fueled his commitment to creating opportunities for underrepresented people in tech and business.

"In interviews, Walker has talked about the mental calculus of opportunity. Winning the Hotchkiss scholarship was not just a personal win; it was proof to himself that disciplined effort could change his trajectory," says Neck. "That lesson reappears later when he cofounded CODE2040 and when he chose to focus his business on serving communities that mainstream companies often overlooked."

Walker founded Bevel as a direct-to-consumer brand with a strong focus on storytelling, aiming to reduce the razor bumps and irritation common among men with coarse or curly hair. Walker & Company eventually expanded to include FORM Beauty, which targets textured women's hair care. Both brands incorporated modern direct-to-consumer channels to tell culturally authentic stories, then expanded to large retailers so representation was visible on shelves.

The brands' commercial success — along with Walker's growing public recognition — helped expand the products into retail and wholesale partnerships, reaching broader audiences. His accolades include being named to USA Today's 2014 Person of the Year list and appearing on Fortune's 2017 40 Under 40 list, Ebony's list of the 100 Most Powerful People, and the Hollywood Reporter's Digital Power 50 list.

"That pressure contributed to broader retailer assortment changes and to more brands developing products for diverse hair and skin types," says Neck.

Visionary leadership meets operational rigor

One of Walker's greatest strengths is his visionary leadership style, which allows him to empathize and connect authentically with his audience.

"By focusing on a clear, underserved need, he created a powerful brand narrative that resonated with consumers and investors," Neck says.

Walker is a transformational leader because he changed the industry narrative about who the typical beauty consumer is. One way he did this was by recruiting visible people of color as investors and board members, including Magic Johnson and John Legend, to raise Bevel's profile and signal that the brand was serving a large, profitable market. Recruiting visible, influential investors of color eventually shifted retailer thinking about assortment and marketing.

Neck also describes Walker as a pragmatic operator for his role in scaling Walker & Company's logistics, product development, and retail channels. He pivoted from direct-to-consumer products to partnerships with major retailers before negotiating the sale of Bevel to Procter and Gamble in 2018 — making him the first Black CEO of a subsidiary at the organization — a deal that required operational discipline, financial sophistication, and the ability to integrate with a large legacy company.

However, being a visionary leader comes with its own set of challenges, as mission-oriented organizations can create high expectations among customers, communities, and stakeholders. These heightened expectations can magnify operational imperfections when brands carry both cultural significance and commercial goals.

"As Walker scaled the company, he had to manage complexity in supply chains, retail logistics, and the transition into a corporate parent, which can create friction and tough tradeoffs between speed and quality," says Neck. "His high visibility also means mistakes are amplified publicly and require careful reputational management."

If Walker were just getting started today, Neck says his leadership styles — a combination of cultural authenticity, customer-centric product design, operational rigor, and commitment to talent development — would still hold up. And since markets and consumers increasingly focus on representation, large companies are continually seeking credible partners who understand multicultural segments.

"The emphasis on blending purpose with business results resonates with employees and consumers today. Moreover, the playbook of building a digitally native brand and then scaling into retail, while investing in community and talent, still maps well to success in the current retail and tech ecosystems," Neck says.

By identifying unmet needs, embracing cultural authenticity, scaling with discipline, and staying committed to Bevel's vision and mission, Walker's story serves as a reminder of how effective leadership can reshape markets to drive lasting change.