Blessed with crazy, curly hair, Preslee started wearing hair bands at a very young age. It tamed her hairline frizzies and quickly became her look. Problem was, the metal arched ones always seemed to pinpoint a spot behind her ears that triggered a headache. Her friends with smooth, shiny, straight hair complained about the full circle elasticised ones always slipping off and the metal ones also being uncomfortable. Her mother spent a fortune over the years trying to find 'the perfect one'.

In Year 5 (and at the ripe old age of 10) Preslee had a Business Studies assignment where they needed to invent a product or improve an existing one in the market - she made it her mission to design a head band that was comfortable and looked great.

From that point Preslee became hooked and started dreaming of starting this as a real business. She was a normal 10 year-old, playing sports and having play dates with friends but in her spare time she continued to sew and perfect the Twista Sista Hair Twists. Waking up to the hum of the sewing machine most mornings, her family realised that this was more than a fad - it was her passion.

Preslee attributes the comfort of her hair twists to the spongy foam encased wire used inside the hand-picked quality fabric. 

"This took months to find, but I didn't give up and my Mum helped me finally find it - I was jumping up and down with excitement and awe that day!" remembers Preslee.

 

Whilst making wire hair twists for family and friends, Preslee continued to hound her parents about it being a real business. Her parents set a table up at one of their existing markets and the headbands were a huge hit! 

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Although Preslee's Mum (Nicole) has a formal education in Management/Marketing with a decade in fashion marketing, that was before social media and at the start of online shopping. The last decade or so had been focused on raising the family, working in the family business and in hospitality because it was flexible.  Covid changed all of that. Nicole found her creative spark and learned (and is still learning) what she needed to know to build a website, how to create engaging socials and now aims to build Twista Sista into a long-term brand. Nicole says "Being stood down during covid forced me to really look at my life and make changes, so I took the leap of faith (oh - and put in an abundance of hard work, research and more hard work. I am leading by example for both of my children and teaching them so much about running a business along the way."

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Preslee jumps in and out of the business depending on her sporting and childhood commitments - her parents often say - you only get one childhood so enjoy it. The one thing that will never change, is that the Twista Sista Wire Headbands and the Twista Sista Story all started with Preslee Riccioni when she was 10. It now involves 3 generations within the family (Preslee's Gran, her mum and her brother also helps out too).