WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:05.040 My League Tale is the founder and chief experience officer of Kurlbox, the first 2 00:00:05.080 --> 00:00:10.439 monthly subscription service for naturally curly hair. An astute businesswoman who prior to venturing 3 00:00:10.480 --> 00:00:15.480 into beauty had a notable career as a public relations executive. My League's ability 4 00:00:15.480 --> 00:00:21.719 to instinctively identify in market popular trends to the masses guarded her opportunities to work 5 00:00:21.719 --> 00:00:26.440 with brands such as Calvin Klein Cosmetics, the Grammy Awards, Nike, and 6 00:00:26.559 --> 00:00:31.719 a stellar roster of clients across the entertainment, tech, and beauty industries since 7 00:00:31.760 --> 00:00:37.399 the launch of CurlBOX in two eleven. Laurel Procter and Gamble, Unilever, 8 00:00:37.640 --> 00:00:41.679 Target, and Walmart is just a short list of brands that have trusted my 9 00:00:41.759 --> 00:00:47.799 League's vision in marketing. She regularly gives inspiring talks around the country centered around 10 00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:52.960 business, personal branding, and women's empowerment. Today we'll hear from my League, 11 00:00:53.119 --> 00:00:59.320 who walks us through her journey to a millie. A million in sales, 12 00:00:59.359 --> 00:01:03.119 a million in revenue, a million followers, or a million in funding. 13 00:01:03.399 --> 00:01:07.359 To amass one million of anything is a major feet and that's why we're 14 00:01:07.439 --> 00:01:12.400 highlighting women who have done just that you'll hear from women who have made their 15 00:01:12.439 --> 00:01:22.480 mark, impacted lives, blaze trails, and amassed a millie. My dream 16 00:01:22.959 --> 00:01:30.319 job as a kid, I was obsessed with beet when I was younger, 17 00:01:30.480 --> 00:01:36.599 Like video soul was my thing, and as soon as I would get home 18 00:01:36.599 --> 00:01:40.719 from school, I would like run to turn on videos. That's what I 19 00:01:40.760 --> 00:01:45.040 remember my mom. If ever I was going to have something taken away, 20 00:01:45.040 --> 00:01:49.319 it would be that I couldn't watch videos, And so I didn't know sort 21 00:01:49.359 --> 00:01:55.640 of like what kind of job I would have, but I knew that it 22 00:01:55.680 --> 00:02:01.159 had to be something related to like music videos. So it doesn't surprise me 23 00:02:01.400 --> 00:02:07.319 that I worked in the music industry first, because I didn't know what I 24 00:02:07.400 --> 00:02:09.000 was going to do. But I was like, I want to be in 25 00:02:09.039 --> 00:02:10.960 the music video. I want to either be in it, I want to 26 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:14.840 be on the side of it, I want to be up under it. 27 00:02:14.960 --> 00:02:23.639 But I was music video obsessed. My business Kurlbox, started because I was 28 00:02:23.759 --> 00:02:29.120 doing some tech PR at the time, so I would say maybe seven eight 29 00:02:29.199 --> 00:02:32.080 years ago, I was representing I had a tech client, so I'd always 30 00:02:32.080 --> 00:02:37.240 have to read sort of like the tech news, and deep in the tech 31 00:02:37.319 --> 00:02:44.240 news, I read an article about subscriptions making a comeback, and they were 32 00:02:44.280 --> 00:02:47.599 beauty. It was beauty focused, and I knew when I read it that 33 00:02:47.719 --> 00:02:53.400 it was not going to be centered on Black women, and I knew that 34 00:02:53.560 --> 00:03:00.520 black women needed samples more than anyone, and so Anne just needed this subscription 35 00:03:00.639 --> 00:03:07.400 because of how stores just don't tend to cater to us as it relates to 36 00:03:07.479 --> 00:03:12.360 our beauty needs. And so I just was like, this is a fantastic 37 00:03:12.439 --> 00:03:15.439 idea and resurgence, but how can I do something for us? And so 38 00:03:15.599 --> 00:03:21.719 I had the idea. I quit it so many times because I kept saying 39 00:03:21.759 --> 00:03:24.919 to myself, you don't have the skills, you don't have the knowledge, 40 00:03:25.319 --> 00:03:30.120 you don't have the contacts, you don't even really know what you're doing, 41 00:03:30.520 --> 00:03:34.599 So there's no way you could do this. And so every day I talked 42 00:03:34.680 --> 00:03:38.719 myself out of it, but every morning I'd wake up feeling incredibly pregnant with 43 00:03:38.759 --> 00:03:44.240 this idea, until I got to the point that I just had to launch 44 00:03:44.280 --> 00:03:49.400 it. So I fake launched it with like a splash page and collecting email 45 00:03:49.400 --> 00:03:54.240 addresses, and it had so much interest that it sort of forced me to 46 00:03:54.319 --> 00:04:00.360 launch it. And literally the stars just aligned and everything just took off. 47 00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:05.360 Everything I didn't know, somebody came along and offered their services, even as 48 00:04:05.400 --> 00:04:12.680 far as people on Twitter offering to help me for free with things they probably 49 00:04:12.719 --> 00:04:16.519 thought I needed to know. So we have been in business, we have 50 00:04:16.600 --> 00:04:23.399 been running for it'll be seven years in January, which is just crazy. 51 00:04:23.560 --> 00:04:30.920 And now I would say that I am still the chief experience Officer, if 52 00:04:30.959 --> 00:04:34.680 you will, and I'd like to say that the look, the field of 53 00:04:34.920 --> 00:04:44.319 vision, and the products are all me, and then all of the production, 54 00:04:44.439 --> 00:04:47.759 the customer service and all of that stuff is the wonderful team around me. 55 00:04:49.240 --> 00:04:55.519 Even the first day that I launched that splash page, I remember, 56 00:04:55.639 --> 00:04:59.279 like the emails. I had a BlackBerry at the time and I don't have 57 00:04:59.360 --> 00:05:01.879 it. I used to have like I'm I guess, like notifications on or 58 00:05:01.920 --> 00:05:04.720 where I would get an email when someone would sign up, and it was 59 00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:11.000 like thunderous the way these emails were coming in. It was mind blowing how 60 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:16.800 many people were interested in this, and so at that point I felt successful. 61 00:05:16.839 --> 00:05:20.720 I felt like it had taken off, though I hadn't collected any money 62 00:05:20.759 --> 00:05:26.480 at the time, the way that people were so interested in it, I 63 00:05:26.600 --> 00:05:30.240 knew it was going to take off, I was like, if a thousand 64 00:05:30.279 --> 00:05:34.160 people have signed up in it was like it was like hours. It was 65 00:05:34.160 --> 00:05:38.839 like if a thousand people have signed up in like four or five hours, 66 00:05:39.079 --> 00:05:43.560 and I mean it was just like a thousand every few hours. I was 67 00:05:43.600 --> 00:05:46.639 like, I know that when I get ready to sell this, and my 68 00:05:46.759 --> 00:05:53.079 first round of sales, my first round of sales, I was only letting 69 00:05:53.120 --> 00:06:00.519 in two hundred and thirty five members and that sold out. I want to 70 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:04.240 say, the very first time I did it, we sold that out in 71 00:06:04.360 --> 00:06:09.000 one week. And then the second time we sold out in twenty four hours, 72 00:06:09.040 --> 00:06:12.439 and then it just kept getting twelve hours, and now we sell out. 73 00:06:12.920 --> 00:06:16.040 I don't even know if we it lasts an hour or two. I 74 00:06:16.079 --> 00:06:23.560 think something that I learned early on when I first started out in PR was 75 00:06:23.639 --> 00:06:29.000 cold calling. A lot of that. I used to do music press, 76 00:06:29.120 --> 00:06:34.399 and then I used to do my quote unquote specialty was daily newspapers. So 77 00:06:34.439 --> 00:06:38.600 if somebody, if someone was coming out with an album, it was my 78 00:06:38.720 --> 00:06:44.480 job to make sure it was reviewed or sort of advanced in all of the 79 00:06:44.560 --> 00:06:48.800 daily papers in the US, and that's a lot of newspapers. And I'd 80 00:06:48.839 --> 00:06:58.639 email, i'd call, and that job and that doing that specifically sort of 81 00:06:58.759 --> 00:07:05.519 built up my I guess you could say my skin for rejection. You know. 82 00:07:05.759 --> 00:07:12.959 So when I launched CurlBOX, it was the ultimate cold call. I 83 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:18.680 had very little contacts, you know, and I just I had sort of 84 00:07:18.759 --> 00:07:21.879 put together a press list, if you will, of all the beauty brands 85 00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:27.240 that I wanted to contact, And once I got on that phone, it 86 00:07:27.319 --> 00:07:30.319 was like I wasn't even tripping, like I wasn't even sweating it. Like 87 00:07:30.360 --> 00:07:33.399 I was just like, I'm blowing through these calls. Now I'm calling for 88 00:07:33.439 --> 00:07:35.639 something, you know. Now, I'm not calling to ask you to cover 89 00:07:35.680 --> 00:07:40.199 an album. I'm calling to ask you to be a part of something that 90 00:07:40.240 --> 00:07:45.120 I'm so passionate about. And I would say that of all those phone calls 91 00:07:45.120 --> 00:07:48.800 that I made, I think I had like maybe a couple hundred contacts on 92 00:07:48.839 --> 00:07:53.360 that list that I had spent the summer building up I got. You know, 93 00:07:53.439 --> 00:07:56.160 I would say that I got through to about half of those people, 94 00:07:56.560 --> 00:08:01.240 and I got about a quarter of those people to participate. And so I 95 00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:03.720 think that had I been afraid of people being like, so what is it? 96 00:08:05.120 --> 00:08:09.680 And you know, all of that cold calling early in my career built 97 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:11.800 my skin up and kind of just helped me navigate when people would, you 98 00:08:11.800 --> 00:08:15.680 know, every time somebody would ask me something that maybe I didn't know the 99 00:08:15.759 --> 00:08:20.160 answer, I didn't buckle, you know, I just I just would like, 100 00:08:20.199 --> 00:08:24.560 you know what, I'm going to collect, I'll have all that information 101 00:08:24.600 --> 00:08:26.399 for you, and then I would put it in the email and I have 102 00:08:26.439 --> 00:08:28.040 to go back because they would they would say to me, well, how 103 00:08:28.040 --> 00:08:33.440 many ounces do you want? And I'm like, uh, I don't know, 104 00:08:33.879 --> 00:08:35.159 and but you know in my mind, but I would just say, 105 00:08:35.399 --> 00:08:37.360 you know what, I'm going to take all of this back to the team. 106 00:08:37.399 --> 00:08:39.279 And when I'm talking back to the team, it was like back to 107 00:08:39.360 --> 00:08:41.600 myself, I'm gonna take all of this back to the team, and I'm 108 00:08:41.600 --> 00:08:48.200 gonna get back to you with an email. And that is really being able 109 00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:52.720 to cold call has really helped me in my career. And I didn't even 110 00:08:52.759 --> 00:08:56.679 know, like I know this now because I've been doing this for almost a 111 00:08:56.720 --> 00:09:01.399 decade, but I didn't even know that the typical bottle sizes eight ounces, 112 00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:03.639 you know, but people in the industry and business know that. So when 113 00:09:03.639 --> 00:09:09.679 they're asking me, so that the typical size for a shampoos like eight ounces, 114 00:09:09.720 --> 00:09:13.960 but sometimes the you know, three ounces would be a deluxe sample. 115 00:09:13.039 --> 00:09:16.960 Two ounces would also be a deluxe sample, you know, and then you 116 00:09:16.960 --> 00:09:20.360 have a half ounce and an ounce, and so I can now eyeball all 117 00:09:20.399 --> 00:09:22.639 of that. But at the time, and they were talking all of this, 118 00:09:22.799 --> 00:09:26.080 I was just like clueless. You know, I'm like going to I 119 00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:30.519 had to like go to CVS and look at a bunch of bottles to really 120 00:09:30.559 --> 00:09:33.039 get an idea of what the heck they were talking about. As we dig 121 00:09:33.080 --> 00:09:37.200 more into the origin story in early days of curl Box, I want my 122 00:09:37.279 --> 00:09:43.240 leak to share with us what those very very early days looked like when this 123 00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:48.799 idea was simply just an idea before the movement on the project. What are 124 00:09:48.799 --> 00:09:54.480 the first things that she did? First thing I did was I have a 125 00:09:54.519 --> 00:10:01.120 friend. My best friend went to West Point and his best friend. They 126 00:10:01.159 --> 00:10:05.000 went to West Point together and then they went on to get their NBA's and 127 00:10:05.320 --> 00:10:09.600 every time, you know, we for fun would sit around talking about all 128 00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:15.759 these cool business ideas, and funny enough, my business idea before carol Box 129 00:10:15.919 --> 00:10:20.200 was actually modern day tender, which they shot down. They did not think 130 00:10:20.240 --> 00:10:24.919 it was a good idea, but we talked about my sort of tended idea, 131 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:26.879 and then we talked about the crow box idea, and then the two 132 00:10:26.919 --> 00:10:31.279 of them are really good at you know, I always say that, like 133 00:10:31.399 --> 00:10:33.960 Brian is the one who's just like, oh, yeah, you can definitely 134 00:10:33.960 --> 00:10:37.159 make this happen. This is how you do it. And then I had 135 00:10:37.200 --> 00:10:41.919 another My friend Ken is always sort of like the antagonist or pessimist if you 136 00:10:41.960 --> 00:10:46.200 will, still wanting you to do it, but he always will introduce you 137 00:10:46.240 --> 00:10:52.399 to the challenges, and every challenge that he said I was going to have, 138 00:10:52.639 --> 00:10:54.679 I basically have had. So I'm super grateful to him for that because 139 00:10:54.679 --> 00:11:00.679 it was almost like I was prepared in advanced but after talking to those guys, 140 00:11:01.039 --> 00:11:03.360 I had a better idea of sort of like what steps I needed to 141 00:11:03.399 --> 00:11:07.639 take, and there were a lot. It was a lot of work, 142 00:11:07.519 --> 00:11:15.120 but I think the action steps were, you know, number one, you're 143 00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:18.480 going to have to figure out how to get the product. And so the 144 00:11:18.480 --> 00:11:22.679 first thing I did was building my list, which is what I learned in 145 00:11:22.759 --> 00:11:26.720 my career and my PR career is like I built my list and it took 146 00:11:26.799 --> 00:11:33.840 me about three months to build my list, so that when I launched it, 147 00:11:33.879 --> 00:11:37.759 I knew which direction I was going to go in. After that, 148 00:11:37.240 --> 00:11:43.679 I worked the logo a bunch of different times, after three different graphic designers, 149 00:11:43.679 --> 00:11:48.440 I finally settled on what I liked. I took that and I found 150 00:11:48.360 --> 00:11:52.159 somebody that can make boxes, and that took a little bit of time, 151 00:11:52.519 --> 00:11:54.840 and I got the numbers, you know, so I figured out how much 152 00:11:54.879 --> 00:11:58.759 I was going to need, so it was like, how much is it 153 00:11:58.799 --> 00:12:03.879 going to cost to get the boxes? Still, I once I had my 154 00:12:03.919 --> 00:12:11.159 list together, and then I think after that it was just figuring out that 155 00:12:11.240 --> 00:12:15.080 sort of like logistical piece, which, funny enough, I told you Ken 156 00:12:15.159 --> 00:12:18.960 and Brian, those two best friends, Ken being my best friend. Brian 157 00:12:18.039 --> 00:12:20.759 has since become a really good friend of mine. They went to West Point 158 00:12:20.799 --> 00:12:26.240 and then they introduced me to another one of their West Point classmates who owned 159 00:12:26.279 --> 00:12:31.399 a sort of like logistics fulfilling company, and he just basically I went in 160 00:12:31.799 --> 00:12:37.080 for a meeting with him for advice, and he basically took me on no 161 00:12:37.240 --> 00:12:41.080 credit, no money upfront, So everything kind of just like lined up. 162 00:12:41.120 --> 00:12:46.440 But those were those like action steps to getting it from an idea out into 163 00:12:46.440 --> 00:12:50.919 the universe, and then the rest of it. I pretty much learned along 164 00:12:50.960 --> 00:12:56.000 the way, I think we grew like nine It was something crazy like it 165 00:12:56.120 --> 00:13:01.840 was like seven hundred or nine hundred percent or something wicket like that. The 166 00:13:01.919 --> 00:13:07.279 first year, like we went from zero to one hundred, literally, And 167 00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:13.840 so my growth process was we started out with like two hundred something, and 168 00:13:13.039 --> 00:13:16.960 I think the next month we went to like five hundred, and then I 169 00:13:16.960 --> 00:13:20.559 think the next month we went to like a thousand, and from there we 170 00:13:20.679 --> 00:13:26.120 just kept ticking up and ticking up and picking up, and we got to 171 00:13:26.159 --> 00:13:31.919 a point where, you know, I felt like I needed to give the 172 00:13:33.000 --> 00:13:37.000 industry some time to catch up, and some days I still feel like that, 173 00:13:37.039 --> 00:13:41.200 Like the black beauty industry has come a long way in the past seven 174 00:13:41.320 --> 00:13:45.679 years, but still has some growing to do. I think a lot there 175 00:13:45.679 --> 00:13:50.000 are a lot more companies catering to us, making things nicer for us, 176 00:13:50.080 --> 00:13:58.440 more beautiful, more interesting. But I grew very quickly, which led to 177 00:14:00.440 --> 00:14:05.519 a lot of I guess, emotional stress, if you will. I wasn't 178 00:14:05.600 --> 00:14:13.480 prepared to I think I was mentally prepared to do the work, which I 179 00:14:13.559 --> 00:14:20.480 always did and have been, but I was not mentally prepared for success at 180 00:14:20.559 --> 00:14:28.320 all. I wasn't prepared for the kind of success that I got and so 181 00:14:28.519 --> 00:14:35.159 quickly, so I think for my entire life, I just wanted to win. 182 00:14:35.399 --> 00:14:41.480 I wanted to you know. I was taking my jaghammer across that brick 183 00:14:41.799 --> 00:14:46.759 and it finally exploded, and it literally exploded in my face. And so, 184 00:14:46.919 --> 00:14:52.639 yes, it was this sort of wild and amazing almost instantaneous success. 185 00:14:54.480 --> 00:14:58.120 But on the downside of it, I guess the stuff that I wasn't prepared 186 00:14:58.159 --> 00:15:05.960 for is that I was prepared for people's reactions towards me. That part was 187 00:15:07.039 --> 00:15:13.320 hard. It's like that fine print of success is that you're not really you 188 00:15:13.480 --> 00:15:18.559 just don't know how other people are going to take the success around you, 189 00:15:18.639 --> 00:15:26.399 and so some people get really jealous. And I don't care how strong people 190 00:15:26.559 --> 00:15:31.039 think they are. It's really hard sometimes for let's just say a friend or 191 00:15:31.080 --> 00:15:35.360 a family member who, let's just say they have been working harder than you 192 00:15:35.799 --> 00:15:39.360 over the years, or you know, maybe they've struggled more than you have, 193 00:15:41.000 --> 00:15:45.879 and then you just come along and you have this idea that hits, 194 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:50.240 or maybe they have better ideas over the years, but the stars just didn't 195 00:15:50.240 --> 00:15:56.440 line up for them, and so it's really hard to sort of to handle 196 00:15:56.519 --> 00:16:02.960 that there's also a level of guilt that I had. You know, I 197 00:16:03.039 --> 00:16:07.559 didn't feel like I didn't feel like I deserved all of this success, you 198 00:16:07.600 --> 00:16:11.960 know. It was just it seemed like I've had tons of ideas over the 199 00:16:11.039 --> 00:16:17.399 years. I've succeeded in a lot of ways, but the rewards around this 200 00:16:17.519 --> 00:16:25.559 particular idea were tremendous in a way that I felt guilty about. I think 201 00:16:25.559 --> 00:16:30.200 a lot of times we think that money, you know, success, access 202 00:16:30.279 --> 00:16:37.399 accolades will make us happy, and that is absolutely not what it did. 203 00:16:37.480 --> 00:16:40.519 I feel like, more than anything, I guess, I really feel like 204 00:16:40.519 --> 00:16:48.080 it just highlighted my unhappiness. Like it that success sort of everything got big 205 00:16:48.159 --> 00:16:52.639 at that time, and it's like even the bad stuff got big too, 206 00:16:52.039 --> 00:16:59.840 And so I definitely I would say things exploded for me at the top of 207 00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:08.759 maybe twenty twelve. And by August of that year, I was sitting on 208 00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:15.359 the couch in therapy after having had a breakdown on the floor in New York. 209 00:17:15.680 --> 00:17:21.599 And a part of that breakdown was the race. Like the race that 210 00:17:21.680 --> 00:17:26.880 I was running to keep this business going was hard, but it was not 211 00:17:26.960 --> 00:17:30.519 something that I was dropping out of, and it wasn't even something that I 212 00:17:30.559 --> 00:17:36.799 wanted to quit, but it was definitely heavy and exhausting. It it was 213 00:17:36.920 --> 00:17:41.119 not just daily, it was it was by the second, you know. 214 00:17:41.480 --> 00:17:45.359 I had every email, every phone called, every text message, every Instagram 215 00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:52.240 message, every customer service email. It was all consuming and I really didn't 216 00:17:52.240 --> 00:17:56.920 know how to claw myself out of that. It took me years to find 217 00:17:57.079 --> 00:18:03.839 myself inside out of my business, like my identity had become that to the 218 00:18:03.880 --> 00:18:10.000 point that I lost myself as an individual. It was wild. Something I 219 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:14.400 would not trade for the world, but something that I don't really think people 220 00:18:15.079 --> 00:18:19.240 understand, and I don't even know that you can prepare for it, but 221 00:18:19.319 --> 00:18:26.400 it is hard. My least favorite day to day thing to do in business 222 00:18:26.759 --> 00:18:32.240 is I do not like managing people. I don't like it at all. 223 00:18:33.319 --> 00:18:37.319 I realize that I am not a good manager, if you will, I 224 00:18:37.359 --> 00:18:41.880 think that I am a great leader, and a lot of times being a 225 00:18:41.960 --> 00:18:48.319 leader is more about sort of leading by example and making sure that I'm doing 226 00:18:48.359 --> 00:18:55.279 the work and I have the ideas and im and I'm often putting certain things 227 00:18:56.400 --> 00:19:00.160 last. But I don't enjoy the sort of like day to day minutia of 228 00:19:00.319 --> 00:19:03.519 managing if people are doing what they're supposed to be doing. I do not 229 00:19:03.680 --> 00:19:10.839 enjoy that at all. The greatest leadership lesson that I have learned since I've 230 00:19:10.839 --> 00:19:18.599 been doing this has been to never panic, regardless of anything that is going 231 00:19:18.680 --> 00:19:22.920 on. You know, sometimes it is not uncommon for let's just say something 232 00:19:23.000 --> 00:19:30.200 happened and one of my teammates might be freaking out. I always stay calm. 233 00:19:30.279 --> 00:19:33.720 You know. Even this weekend, I was doing my life podcast and 234 00:19:34.200 --> 00:19:41.559 the guest isn't answering their phone off an hour before doors open, hasn't answered 235 00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:45.799 it all day, and everyone's kind of like forging out, like, oh 236 00:19:45.799 --> 00:19:47.519 my god, what are we gonna do? And I was like, I 237 00:19:47.559 --> 00:19:52.839 am the queen of the plot twist. I that this, and that has 238 00:19:52.920 --> 00:19:56.880 always been my way as a leader, is that I think that nobody wants 239 00:19:56.880 --> 00:20:02.960 to see the leader panic at all. You know, it's like he calm 240 00:20:03.839 --> 00:20:07.599 and carry on, And that is what. I don't think they've ever seen 241 00:20:07.599 --> 00:20:12.680 me sweat. Most useful piece of advice that I've received in my career came 242 00:20:12.960 --> 00:20:19.039 from Matt Lebove when I worked at BWR. He told me to have a 243 00:20:19.119 --> 00:20:23.160 niche. He was like, how you should drill down on something and you 244 00:20:23.200 --> 00:20:27.519 should specialize in something, and he would never forgot when he said to me, 245 00:20:27.559 --> 00:20:32.119 he was like, if like if black women, if that's your thing, 246 00:20:33.240 --> 00:20:36.160 don't be afraid for that to be your thing. And this is a 247 00:20:36.200 --> 00:20:42.720 person who is a well known publicist strictly to comedians, and so that was 248 00:20:42.759 --> 00:20:47.440 just his thing. It's like, don't be afraid to pick one thing to 249 00:20:47.519 --> 00:20:51.200 focus on and so get a Niche that was the best advice I think I've 250 00:20:51.240 --> 00:20:57.039 gotten. I didn't start my company with funding because I really didn't even know 251 00:20:57.160 --> 00:21:03.200 how to get it. To be honest, I don't think that. You 252 00:21:03.240 --> 00:21:07.079 know, now, I know people who could probably connect me with people to 253 00:21:07.119 --> 00:21:11.799 get funding, but at the time, I wasn't even plugged into the people 254 00:21:11.880 --> 00:21:15.640 who could get funding, and so I was totally fine with that. I 255 00:21:15.759 --> 00:21:19.880 just I've told this story before, but I don't know how many times I've 256 00:21:19.880 --> 00:21:26.039 ever told on a podcast. But when I was twenty five years old, 257 00:21:26.200 --> 00:21:33.319 my godparents left me money, and not a lot, but the money was 258 00:21:33.359 --> 00:21:38.000 to be divvied up to me over ten years, and so every January, 259 00:21:38.799 --> 00:21:42.079 I know, I would know that I'm getting like a little small lump sum 260 00:21:42.119 --> 00:21:45.880 of money. So I kind of just banked on that. So that's why 261 00:21:45.960 --> 00:21:51.640 my business launched in January, because that's when I knew my check would be 262 00:21:51.640 --> 00:21:56.480 coming. And so when it came time for like the largest expense of the 263 00:21:56.519 --> 00:22:03.359 company, I just used that check to start it and the rest is history. 264 00:22:03.480 --> 00:22:06.119 So I guess in some ways I did have some funding, if you 265 00:22:06.119 --> 00:22:10.359 will, and it kind of I always think about my guyparents, who whom 266 00:22:10.400 --> 00:22:15.839 I love dearly, and I bet you they probably wouldn't expect for me to 267 00:22:15.920 --> 00:22:19.480 have taken the money that they gave me. And like, I mean, 268 00:22:19.559 --> 00:22:25.839 I have more than like a hundred times over, maybe not a hundred, 269 00:22:26.079 --> 00:22:32.839 maybe like maybe like fifty times over. I have made that money back. 270 00:22:33.119 --> 00:22:37.160 So I guess I got some family funding, which is why it's really important 271 00:22:37.160 --> 00:22:41.720 to me to save from my child so that he has something to start a 272 00:22:41.799 --> 00:22:47.920 business or whatever he wants to do when he becomes a young adult. People 273 00:22:48.039 --> 00:22:49.680 might take this the wrong way. I think it's not a badge of honor, 274 00:22:49.880 --> 00:22:53.559 you know, I think that you don't. You haven't gained my respect 275 00:22:53.599 --> 00:22:59.720 until you've actually earned money, until you've made some money. So there are 276 00:22:59.799 --> 00:23:03.160 people who have gotten funded who are making money, But there are people out 277 00:23:03.200 --> 00:23:11.960 there who have gotten funded ended up being a bust and still running around talking 278 00:23:11.960 --> 00:23:17.640 about there's some kind of boss if you will, and so I think that, 279 00:23:17.720 --> 00:23:21.880 you know, there are times I had somebody who gave me a really 280 00:23:21.960 --> 00:23:25.440 positive analysis about funding, because I've always kind of been on the fence about 281 00:23:25.480 --> 00:23:29.759 it, and she essentially said, Okay, now that you have your business 282 00:23:29.839 --> 00:23:33.759 one hundred percent, so we'll just use one million dollars as just an easy 283 00:23:33.839 --> 00:23:37.480 math problem. So if your business is making one million dollars, all one 284 00:23:37.519 --> 00:23:42.160 million dollars is yours. But if you take funding and your business becomes an 285 00:23:42.200 --> 00:23:45.839 eight million dollar business, and let's just say you get half of it, 286 00:23:47.119 --> 00:23:48.799 now you're making four million dollars, which is a far more money than you 287 00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:52.799 would have made on your own. And I'm like, this is absolutely true. 288 00:23:52.200 --> 00:23:56.240 However, there's a lot of stuff that you are going to give up 289 00:23:56.279 --> 00:24:00.079 for that four million dollars, and it may not you know, It's like, 290 00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:03.640 do you want to make four million dollars for two years or do you 291 00:24:03.680 --> 00:24:07.640 want to make one million dollars for the next twenty years. I got to 292 00:24:07.680 --> 00:24:17.920 where I am today by being incredibly disciplined in my life as it pertains to 293 00:24:18.079 --> 00:24:26.480 my works. My superpower is time. I don't think that anybody knows how 294 00:24:26.599 --> 00:24:32.039 to take advantage of time better than I do, and it is such an 295 00:24:32.079 --> 00:24:40.680 exact and fine science for me. And I am very strict about how I 296 00:24:40.759 --> 00:24:45.599 allow others to use my time, especially during the week. So the way 297 00:24:45.599 --> 00:24:52.000 that I structure my weeks days, how I use the time, nobody can 298 00:24:52.039 --> 00:24:56.519 beat me at that. Building a company brand is one thing, but increasingly 299 00:24:56.960 --> 00:25:03.559 it's more important now than ever to also simultaneously built a personal brand because people 300 00:25:03.599 --> 00:25:07.440 don't just buy into companies, they buy into stories, So creating a narrative 301 00:25:07.880 --> 00:25:11.240 with your brand is all the more important. And we want to hear from 302 00:25:11.240 --> 00:25:17.599 my league how she seamlessly did both. If I had a young protege or 303 00:25:17.599 --> 00:25:22.720 a mentee, I would tell them that my personal brand is what people say 304 00:25:22.759 --> 00:25:29.599 about me when I'm not around, you know, And what that usually would 305 00:25:29.640 --> 00:25:33.359 be is like, she's a beast, she's hard working, she's disciplined, 306 00:25:33.519 --> 00:25:37.200 she's going to get it done. If you want somebody who's going to be 307 00:25:37.279 --> 00:25:40.160 there and show up on time, and you're gonna pretty much have to drag 308 00:25:40.200 --> 00:25:47.039 off the field, this is the girl. She is incredibly resourceful. That 309 00:25:47.160 --> 00:25:49.000 is. I always wanted to bring that to the table with people of like, 310 00:25:49.319 --> 00:25:53.400 I know that if I'm in a situation and it's looking like it might 311 00:25:53.400 --> 00:25:59.440 go left, I'm going to figure it out. And so I focused on 312 00:25:59.720 --> 00:26:06.799 that before I tried to jump out with pictures on Instagram. It's why whenever 313 00:26:06.880 --> 00:26:11.200 I run into sort of like a social issue or a tift on social media, 314 00:26:11.359 --> 00:26:17.160 it's why it doesn't have an impact on my business because my personal brand 315 00:26:17.920 --> 00:26:23.480 is not you know, my quotes or my pictures. It is what people 316 00:26:23.680 --> 00:26:30.839 know to be true about me. I experience imposter syndrome probably all the time. 317 00:26:30.079 --> 00:26:36.079 I've gotten a lot better, I will say, but like I have, 318 00:26:36.559 --> 00:26:42.720 I have stood on the outside of my life for many years just like 319 00:26:44.039 --> 00:26:48.720 WTF, Like is this? Did I really do this? You know? 320 00:26:49.039 --> 00:26:55.960 Do I really belong here? You know? And even feeling that way about 321 00:26:56.000 --> 00:27:00.839 the rewards, like why me it? You know, even though it's so 322 00:27:00.920 --> 00:27:04.440 crazy. It's like I bought a house in my neighborhood, and I'll like 323 00:27:04.680 --> 00:27:08.359 I'll be like walking in my neighborhood with a key to my house, feeling 324 00:27:08.400 --> 00:27:12.799 like it's like walking past the neighbor is like like I'm breaking in It's crazy, 325 00:27:14.079 --> 00:27:18.000 but because it just just like I don't belong here, you know. 326 00:27:18.160 --> 00:27:22.160 And so it is a constant working process, especially as I go to newer 327 00:27:22.240 --> 00:27:29.440 heights and newer levels. It is definitely a working progress, but I plow 328 00:27:29.559 --> 00:27:37.119 through it. I have sacrifice a lot to get to this point in my 329 00:27:37.160 --> 00:27:42.359 life. I sacrificed probably a lot of fun in some ways. And you 330 00:27:42.400 --> 00:27:45.559 know, in my early twenties, I sacrificed. But to me, it 331 00:27:45.599 --> 00:27:49.200 doesn't really feel like that, you know. I think that the things that 332 00:27:49.240 --> 00:27:56.640 other people would, you know, see is as missing out. It felt 333 00:27:56.720 --> 00:28:00.920 like a positive putting in of time. But you know, I've sacrificed. 334 00:28:00.079 --> 00:28:06.079 I've missed weddings, I've missed birthdays for a couple of reasons. I missed 335 00:28:06.079 --> 00:28:10.559 out on a lot of things because I didn't have the time and or in 336 00:28:10.839 --> 00:28:15.519 my kind of like dropping down as low as I could to try to get 337 00:28:15.559 --> 00:28:18.880 my business off the ground, I couldn't afford to do a lot of things 338 00:28:18.880 --> 00:28:25.599 with people, you know. So I missed out on a lot of things 339 00:28:25.640 --> 00:28:29.240 that my friends were doing when I was in like Ultra grimo, and and 340 00:28:29.279 --> 00:28:30.759 I still miss out. I'm at a point in my life where people don't 341 00:28:30.799 --> 00:28:33.519 even call me and invite me to stuff because they know I'm not coming. 342 00:28:33.880 --> 00:28:38.559 So I'm still inside of the sacrifice, you know. And sometimes it'll hurt 343 00:28:38.559 --> 00:28:42.599 because I'll see people. I'll see people getting together on social and I'm like, 344 00:28:42.640 --> 00:28:45.160 oh, they went to a Halloween party, but they knew that if 345 00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:48.559 they asked me, I was gonna say no. So it's just, you 346 00:28:48.559 --> 00:28:53.640 know, it's it's what this life comes with. I've had many times in 347 00:28:53.680 --> 00:29:00.519 my business where you know, I've had some some big idea that I just 348 00:29:00.640 --> 00:29:03.920 knew people would respond to, and you know, I'll look up and we 349 00:29:03.920 --> 00:29:07.880 will have sold, you know, say my goal was like a thousand that 350 00:29:07.920 --> 00:29:12.680 I wanted to sell and will sell like, you know, fifty, and 351 00:29:12.759 --> 00:29:17.200 it's just like, oh, that was a bust, you know. But 352 00:29:17.480 --> 00:29:22.359 I don't let that stuff get me down. I have a TED talk that 353 00:29:22.440 --> 00:29:26.240 I did that I just I was trying to freeze my eggs at the time, 354 00:29:26.279 --> 00:29:30.079 so I was like doing IVF and then the ladies who invited me to 355 00:29:30.119 --> 00:29:34.480 do it, they wanted me to speak about something that I really didn't want 356 00:29:34.480 --> 00:29:37.519 to talk about, So they wanted me to do a TED talk on like 357 00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:41.680 the hair business, which I really don't like to do because it's like I 358 00:29:41.720 --> 00:29:45.920 didn't want to sort of out the business or anything like that. And so 359 00:29:45.079 --> 00:29:49.519 when I tell you that that was a total bust, that was like the 360 00:29:49.599 --> 00:29:57.640 worst thing that I have probably ever done professionally. What really excites me about 361 00:30:00.079 --> 00:30:07.920 what I'm doing professionally in terms of CurlBOX my business is how fired up it 362 00:30:07.000 --> 00:30:14.960 seems like people are about marketing to us, even though you know, people 363 00:30:15.039 --> 00:30:18.200 want us to spend our money. I feel like for so long the industry 364 00:30:18.400 --> 00:30:22.880 didn't really have to work that hard for it. You know, they just 365 00:30:22.519 --> 00:30:27.319 never change fonts stuff. There were things that sat on the shelves for decades. 366 00:30:27.839 --> 00:30:33.039 And now you can't go into a store, you know, two weeks 367 00:30:33.079 --> 00:30:37.720 apart and not then there not be something new to help you or or to 368 00:30:37.759 --> 00:30:42.440 try. And that really just blows my mind and excites me and makes me 369 00:30:42.519 --> 00:30:48.599 happy that black women can now go into a CVS. Like there was a 370 00:30:48.599 --> 00:30:52.839 time where you would never go into CVS for anything as it pertains to your 371 00:30:52.839 --> 00:30:55.880 hair or anything like that, and now you can do that, you can 372 00:30:55.880 --> 00:31:00.559 go into the grocery store. That excites me. I think if I was 373 00:31:00.559 --> 00:31:06.160 going to say, maybe what alarms me is what made our industry or even 374 00:31:06.160 --> 00:31:10.160 I think this can apply to a lot of different industries. So exciting was 375 00:31:10.200 --> 00:31:15.000 this sort of authenticity, this like rawness. And I think that, you 376 00:31:15.039 --> 00:31:22.240 know, as smaller companies become bigger companies, where do we get that that 377 00:31:22.519 --> 00:31:25.759 rawness from? And so that would be something that I would be like, 378 00:31:26.279 --> 00:31:29.359 you know, but maybe that's just a breeding ground for more people to come 379 00:31:29.359 --> 00:31:34.960 through and do it again. My whole sort of like my world is centered 380 00:31:34.960 --> 00:31:41.839 around like making everything easier, quicker, faster, smoother, And so one 381 00:31:41.839 --> 00:31:45.559 thing that I'll do is how I do my whole calendar system. And so 382 00:31:47.759 --> 00:31:52.000 that is something that I really love. The fantastical app I think I've told 383 00:31:52.039 --> 00:31:55.960 people about that. It's like thirty bucks. It's a little pricy, but 384 00:31:56.200 --> 00:32:00.839 very much worth it to me if you are a person who really has to 385 00:32:00.119 --> 00:32:05.640 like try to get a lot done with your day. I use this conference 386 00:32:05.640 --> 00:32:08.480 call line when I'm doing my call is called uber Conference. And what I 387 00:32:08.519 --> 00:32:14.039 love about Uber Conference is that when we're talking about these time hacks, is 388 00:32:14.039 --> 00:32:16.640 that it will send you a text message when the first person has gotten on 389 00:32:16.680 --> 00:32:22.640 the line. So before I would be like, oh, it's one o'clock, 390 00:32:22.680 --> 00:32:24.079 let me call in, and then ding dong ding dong, ding dong 391 00:32:24.160 --> 00:32:28.440 ding, and nobody is showing up. And so this allows me to just 392 00:32:28.519 --> 00:32:31.079 keep going and then once somebody so if somebody's late, it's like, it's 393 00:32:31.119 --> 00:32:35.039 cool, I'll just keep moving. And once I see that somebody's on the 394 00:32:35.079 --> 00:32:37.519 line, then I get on the line. So there are a lot of 395 00:32:37.640 --> 00:32:44.480 like middle things that I do, I feel that allow me to keep it 396 00:32:44.519 --> 00:32:49.119 moving. And you know, I try to use as many resources as I 397 00:32:49.240 --> 00:32:53.519 can and making sure that I can spend My goal is to try to be 398 00:32:53.559 --> 00:32:58.480 able to spend as much time as I possibly can working, which some people 399 00:32:58.519 --> 00:33:00.039 probably think it's crazy, but it's like, you know what, I can't 400 00:33:00.039 --> 00:33:05.880 do laundry because I'm working, so I outsource that I cannot do all the 401 00:33:05.880 --> 00:33:08.799 grocery shopping. So I'm instacrating because I need to work. And so that 402 00:33:09.000 --> 00:33:13.359 is how I make it so that my days are night bogged down with the 403 00:33:13.440 --> 00:33:19.480 day to day stuff that we all have to do. Success means for me, 404 00:33:19.920 --> 00:33:22.599 you know, I have felt successful for a long time, which tends 405 00:33:22.640 --> 00:33:27.839 to surprise people. But I felt successful when I was doing something that I 406 00:33:27.880 --> 00:33:30.599 really love to do. I would say that I have loved every job that 407 00:33:30.640 --> 00:33:36.759 I've had. After graduating college and probably leading up to once, I kind 408 00:33:36.799 --> 00:33:38.440 of made it my mind about what I wanted to do. And so even 409 00:33:38.480 --> 00:33:44.000 if I maybe didn't care for the environment, or maybe it was hard and 410 00:33:44.039 --> 00:33:50.440 maybe I wanted to leave, I definitely have always picked out and sought things 411 00:33:52.000 --> 00:33:57.480 that that sort of made me happy. And I feel like that is success 412 00:33:57.559 --> 00:34:00.880 when you're doing some when you're able to work on things that bring you joy. 413 00:34:01.400 --> 00:34:05.920 I'm Ayana Angel, and thank you for listening to Amelie. Produced by 414 00:34:05.960 --> 00:34:09.239 Mazie Media. This episode concludes season one of the Ameli podcasts, but we 415 00:34:09.320 --> 00:34:14.639 will be back for more with another season of insights and stories from dynamic, 416 00:34:14.679 --> 00:34:19.320 trailblazing businesswomen. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss out when the new 417 00:34:19.360 --> 00:34:22.679 season starts, and in the meantime, you can follow at Mazie Media on 418 00:34:22.719 --> 00:34:28.800 Instagram. If you're eager for more goodness right now, you can also tune 419 00:34:28.840 --> 00:34:31.280 into the Switch, Pivot or Quit podcast, also produced by Amzie Media, 420 00:34:31.519 --> 00:34:37.760 for equally compelling interviews and topics concerning personal and professional development. Just search Switch, 421 00:34:37.800 --> 00:34:42.679 Pivot or Quit wherever you listen to podcasts. See you next season.