Beautiful Curly Me Founder Zoe Oli Claims Wells Fargo Closed And Emptied Company’s Bank Accounts Without Warning

Zoe Oli, 12, and her mother Evana Oli are speaking out against Wells Fargo, alleging that the bank closed and emptied their business accounts connected to their thriving brand, Beautiful Curly Me.

On Sept. 24, Zoe, the CEO of the company that empowers and inspires young girls of color through dolls, puzzles, and books, shared on Instagram that she and her mother woke up to discover several declined transactions on their Wells Fargo accounts. Upon logging in to investigate further, they were stunned to find that all three of their accounts had been closed and emptied. The bank claimed they took action because the company allegedly did not have a “legitimate” address on file, according to Zoe.

“This was not the case yesterday, so my mom called Wells Fargo, and we found out that our account had been closed because we did not have a legitimate business address when we did have our physical office address on there,” she explained. “They closed our accounts, our balances were showing zero, and then said that they would give us our money in a check that would take two weeks to come. First of all, how would you take our money and not give it back for the next two weeks without any warning?”

Zoe called Wells Fargo actions “completely unacceptable” and slammed the financial intuition for mistreating Beautiful Curly Me, a small business that relies on every dollar to pay their bills, vendors and other responsibilities on time.

“We have things to do and we don’t have time for this,” the 12-year-old girl boss added, noting how she and her mother have always had a “great relationship” with the bank. Last year, Zoe and Evana received a $5,000 grant from Wells Fargo to help push their company to new heights, according to her video.

“Today is just so crazy to me, because this is just unacceptable for a small business, for anybody to go ahead and take our money,” she added.

Source: Courtesy of Evana Oli / Subject

Evana speaks out.

In a post shared on Sept. 23, Evana expressed that she was “really angry and upset” over Wells Fargo’s lack of communication and their failure to rectify what a branch manager described as “likely an error” regarding their accounts.

According to Evana’s caption, the bank representative said, “She couldn’t do anything to remedy the situation.” She added, “This is wrong!”

Here’s how you can help Beautiful Curly Me.

On X (formerly Twitter), Zoe, the young entrepreneur—who made history as the world’s youngest TEDx speaker in 2023—urged fans to support her mission of instilling confidence in young girls by purchasing items from the Beautiful Curly Me website. She and her mother are offering a 20% discount with the code SUPPORT20 to encourage fans’ continued support.

“We can’t operate with $0. Here’s what happened and how you can help. Thanks for your support through this challenge,” Zoe penned.

Zoe launched Beautiful Curly Me with her mother at just 7 years old. Since then, the mother-daughter duo have garnered a global fanbase with their inspiring products and received significant media coverage from major outlets like Good Morning America, Forbes, and People. For every doll purchased, a doll is given away to a young girl in need.

Beautiful Curly Me has grown to a six-figure business and shows no signs of stopping. We love to see the hard work and passion that this mother and daughter duo have poured into their company over the years. Consider donating to Zoe and Evana’s incredible cause here.

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Beautiful Curly Me Founder Claims Wells Fargo Closed Accounts