1
00:00:00,520 --> 00:00:03,600
Speaker 1: Calling all my sweeties to the forefront. I'm your host,

2
00:00:03,680 --> 00:00:07,840
Speaker 1: Christophernaine Hazen and this is the Keep It Positive Sweetie Show.

3
00:00:08,880 --> 00:00:11,600
Speaker 1: Monique Rodriguez has shattered the glass ceiling in the beauty

4
00:00:11,600 --> 00:00:15,720
Speaker 1: world with her Mayel Organic's brand. As the founder and CEO,

5
00:00:16,320 --> 00:00:20,600
Speaker 1: Monique transformed her personal tragedy into a thriving, purpose driven enterprise.

6
00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:24,360
Speaker 1: Her journey from registered nurse to a leading global beauty

7
00:00:24,360 --> 00:00:28,560
Speaker 1: brand is a testament of resilience, faith, and unwavering determination.

8
00:00:29,560 --> 00:00:32,400
Speaker 1: In her new book, The Glory in Your Story, activating

9
00:00:32,400 --> 00:00:35,599
Speaker 1: a fearless faith to change your life, your career, and

10
00:00:35,680 --> 00:00:40,120
Speaker 1: the world, she shares intimate insights into overcoming adversity and

11
00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:44,320
Speaker 1: finding purpose through pain. Monique's story is not just about

12
00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:47,800
Speaker 1: business success. It's about inspiring others to embrace their own

13
00:00:47,880 --> 00:00:52,080
Speaker 1: narratives and pursue their dreams fearlessly. Join us as we

14
00:00:52,159 --> 00:00:55,080
Speaker 1: delve into her incredible journey and the lessions she's learned,

15
00:00:55,520 --> 00:00:58,080
Speaker 1: and how she's empowering others to find the glory in

16
00:00:58,120 --> 00:01:03,680
Speaker 1: their own stories. Kiss Found, Let's welcome Monique Rodriguez. Monique,

17
00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:05,080
Speaker 1: thank you so much for coming today.

18
00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:07,280
Speaker 2: Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be.

19
00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:09,000
Speaker 1: Here me too. We got to hang out for the

20
00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:12,319
Speaker 1: first time really together for fashion Weed. Yes you guys,

21
00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:14,240
Speaker 1: mo Nick allowed me to come to the Tom Brown

22
00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:14,760
Speaker 1: share with her.

23
00:01:15,160 --> 00:01:17,440
Speaker 3: I didn't allow you. You just show up and show

24
00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:21,200
Speaker 3: it out. Your presence was it was definitely needed to

25
00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:21,520
Speaker 3: be there.

26
00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:24,120
Speaker 1: Thank you. I had a blast. It was like one

27
00:01:24,160 --> 00:01:26,560
Speaker 1: of the most amazing shows I've ever seen. So that

28
00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:29,680
Speaker 1: was a great time. But fashion has become a part

29
00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:33,039
Speaker 1: of your personal brand. When did you really get into fashion?

30
00:01:33,080 --> 00:01:36,360
Speaker 1: I know you have Jeremy who was an incredible stylas,

31
00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:38,399
Speaker 1: but when did you really decide this is something that's

32
00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:39,399
Speaker 1: a part of me and I love it.

33
00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:39,760
Speaker 2: Yeah.

34
00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:42,120
Speaker 3: So you know what's funny, So my mom her passion

35
00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:44,880
Speaker 3: is fashion. Really so I grew up she was like

36
00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:49,440
Speaker 3: a seamstress. She was so you know, garments that she

37
00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:52,640
Speaker 3: would pick it up, put it back down because you know,

38
00:01:52,760 --> 00:01:54,720
Speaker 3: she wasn't in an environment where she thought it was

39
00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:57,440
Speaker 3: something that she can pursue. So I would see her

40
00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:00,960
Speaker 3: pick it up all the time and just you know, stop.

41
00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:05,040
Speaker 3: And she always instilled in us like you have to

42
00:02:05,080 --> 00:02:07,360
Speaker 3: be well dressed, you have to be well manerable, you

43
00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:10,040
Speaker 3: have to be poised and well put together, like don't

44
00:02:10,040 --> 00:02:13,520
Speaker 3: walk outside looking crazy, make sure your hair is comb

45
00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:16,399
Speaker 3: don't have a bond it on. So she always made

46
00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:20,519
Speaker 3: sure that we were super well dressed. And even though

47
00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:22,880
Speaker 3: like when I look back, I know she couldn't afford

48
00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:24,799
Speaker 3: some of the clothes that she was buying us, she

49
00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:26,920
Speaker 3: would put stuff on Lowa so we can have the

50
00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:30,720
Speaker 3: best type of material and outfits like when we would

51
00:02:30,760 --> 00:02:34,160
Speaker 3: start school. So that was just impressionable to me at

52
00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:38,239
Speaker 3: a young age. So becoming an adult, I've always loved

53
00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:41,239
Speaker 3: to dress up. Like I love to dress up, and

54
00:02:41,320 --> 00:02:43,560
Speaker 3: I love to feel like it was nice and thank

55
00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:46,720
Speaker 3: you and so to you. So it's just an extension

56
00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:49,400
Speaker 3: of just really who I am. So people may look

57
00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:51,520
Speaker 3: at it as a personal brand, but it's really me,

58
00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:55,200
Speaker 3: Like I am such a girly girl, like you will

59
00:02:55,200 --> 00:02:57,400
Speaker 3: probably always see me in like a skirt or a dress.

60
00:02:57,800 --> 00:03:00,120
Speaker 3: I wore jeans one time, and like people look, I

61
00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:03,040
Speaker 3: mean like I had three faces because they're like, I've

62
00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:05,160
Speaker 3: never seen you with jeans, are right, But I'm just

63
00:03:05,160 --> 00:03:06,880
Speaker 3: like a girl girl. So I love dressing up. It's

64
00:03:06,919 --> 00:03:07,800
Speaker 3: just a part of who I am.

65
00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:10,600
Speaker 1: And your girls, they just they're adorable the way they

66
00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:12,920
Speaker 1: dress you do? So you picked that up on your

67
00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:15,360
Speaker 1: mom the way that cause they are stylists, they look

68
00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:18,480
Speaker 1: so cute all the time. Yes, I love that, so

69
00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:21,240
Speaker 1: what about you me? Honestly, my mom used to make

70
00:03:21,240 --> 00:03:23,520
Speaker 1: my dresses as well. Yeah, when I was a kid

71
00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:27,600
Speaker 1: and we had Layoway too, Yes, but she made my outfits.

72
00:03:27,639 --> 00:03:29,680
Speaker 1: And I'm from a small town, so I used to

73
00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:32,400
Speaker 1: like get my inspiration from TV and magazines. Like We're

74
00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:34,120
Speaker 1: in the grocery store in the line, I'm picking up

75
00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:37,840
Speaker 1: Ebony and Vibe and all those magazines and Essence and

76
00:03:37,880 --> 00:03:40,160
Speaker 1: reading through them like, oh this, I need this outfit.

77
00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:42,200
Speaker 1: So we have to go to Memphis, like two hours

78
00:03:42,200 --> 00:03:44,640
Speaker 1: away to get to the nicest mall so that I

79
00:03:44,640 --> 00:03:47,280
Speaker 1: could like get certain things that I wanted. Oh wow,

80
00:03:47,320 --> 00:03:49,760
Speaker 1: you were two hours fromis two hours no, mam, where

81
00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:50,160
Speaker 1: I'm from.

82
00:03:50,240 --> 00:03:52,360
Speaker 2: So because you started as a stylist.

83
00:03:51,960 --> 00:03:56,800
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah here in Atlanta. Yeahs ain't that crazy? Yeah yeah,

84
00:03:56,960 --> 00:04:00,160
Speaker 1: came to the town with no mom. It is now,

85
00:04:00,200 --> 00:04:01,960
Speaker 1: and I feel like, even from a young age, it

86
00:04:02,040 --> 00:04:04,040
Speaker 1: was a part of how I expressed myself. Now you'll

87
00:04:04,040 --> 00:04:06,120
Speaker 1: see me in jeans. I'm a tomboy at heart, so

88
00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:09,720
Speaker 1: you'll see me in jeans, baggy sweatpants, and it all

89
00:04:09,840 --> 00:04:11,920
Speaker 1: kind of just expresses how I feel like today I

90
00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:14,200
Speaker 1: came in and I was in pink. Maybe your girliness

91
00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:16,080
Speaker 1: is running off because I came in here looking real

92
00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:19,520
Speaker 1: cute like girl is today. Other days, my I have

93
00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:21,919
Speaker 1: an allo like sweatsuit that I caught. My uniform, I

94
00:04:21,960 --> 00:04:24,560
Speaker 1: having all different colors and I wear that like almost

95
00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:25,119
Speaker 1: every day.

96
00:04:25,760 --> 00:04:27,360
Speaker 2: I wouldn't have took you, as I thought you were

97
00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:29,240
Speaker 2: like a girly girl. I would do your dressed up though.

98
00:04:29,320 --> 00:04:35,120
Speaker 1: Yeah that's for pictures, okay, yeah, you know have like

99
00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:36,880
Speaker 1: that on Instagram. It is like this is me ninety

100
00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:39,920
Speaker 1: nine percent of the time, like no makeup, hair looking crazy,

101
00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:43,280
Speaker 1: and then like the one percent you're on Instagram.

102
00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:45,359
Speaker 3: Like, I mean that's me too. But I said, I

103
00:04:45,400 --> 00:04:48,120
Speaker 3: just cleaned up. Well, we clean up very well. Yes,

104
00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:51,599
Speaker 3: it was really fun, and I was hoping that you

105
00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:53,560
Speaker 3: was coming to Paris, but I know you're such a

106
00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:54,200
Speaker 3: busy lady.

107
00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:54,560
Speaker 1: You know.

108
00:04:54,839 --> 00:04:56,400
Speaker 3: That was like I was planning out. We don't have

109
00:04:56,480 --> 00:05:00,400
Speaker 3: so much fun. I'm with you, You're not coming, You're.

110
00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:04,200
Speaker 1: Like no, yeah, yes, duty called. I had to get

111
00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:06,560
Speaker 1: ready for work and I had twenty two scripts that

112
00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:08,359
Speaker 1: landed on my desk that I had to learn. So

113
00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:10,479
Speaker 1: I was like, go have fun in pairs and get

114
00:05:10,520 --> 00:05:13,800
Speaker 1: back and not know my lines or be ready for

115
00:05:13,839 --> 00:05:14,560
Speaker 1: what plays the bills.

116
00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:17,400
Speaker 2: So I had to priority I will always be there, Yes, it.

117
00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:19,640
Speaker 1: Will yes, and we can go again some of the time.

118
00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:21,920
Speaker 1: I would love that. I would love that. So thank

119
00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:24,080
Speaker 1: you for taking the time. Of course, I'm so excited

120
00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:26,400
Speaker 1: to dive into everything about your new book and just

121
00:05:26,440 --> 00:05:28,159
Speaker 1: talk to you about your journey and everything you have

122
00:05:28,279 --> 00:05:31,320
Speaker 1: going on. Yeah, but I want to start from the beginning.

123
00:05:31,760 --> 00:05:34,840
Speaker 1: You are from the South Side of Chicago. That from

124
00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:37,679
Speaker 1: the stories I've heard, that is a rough side of town,

125
00:05:38,320 --> 00:05:40,600
Speaker 1: like I always hear like stories of down Chicago, and

126
00:05:40,640 --> 00:05:43,279
Speaker 1: Michelle Obama is from there, and I read her book

127
00:05:43,279 --> 00:05:46,039
Speaker 1: and I was like, oh, okay, it's a very interesting

128
00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:47,760
Speaker 1: place to grow up. What was it like for you,

129
00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:50,680
Speaker 1: because I know everybody has different experiences in different places.

130
00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:52,520
Speaker 3: What was the South Side of Chicago like for you?

131
00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:57,080
Speaker 3: So Chicago gets a bad rap. It's really a beautiful city,

132
00:05:57,240 --> 00:05:59,240
Speaker 3: rights you know, It's where I'm from, It's where I

133
00:05:59,279 --> 00:06:03,200
Speaker 3: grew up. I feel it's what built the character and

134
00:06:03,240 --> 00:06:06,000
Speaker 3: the grit inside of me, right, yea. I feel that

135
00:06:06,040 --> 00:06:09,000
Speaker 3: the best entrepreneurs also come from Chicago because Chicago is

136
00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:13,680
Speaker 3: a different breed. Like if you can weather the below

137
00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:18,599
Speaker 3: zero temperatures and still come out on top, you know,

138
00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:21,320
Speaker 3: and wait for the summer in the springs time to come.

139
00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:22,640
Speaker 2: You're gonna be alright in life.

140
00:06:24,440 --> 00:06:27,359
Speaker 3: But outside of the you know, the weather, it's a

141
00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:29,719
Speaker 3: beautiful city. Right the skyline, I feel like we have

142
00:06:29,839 --> 00:06:34,159
Speaker 3: the most beautiful skyline in the entire country. But you know,

143
00:06:34,279 --> 00:06:36,839
Speaker 3: there are some rough parts. I think with any city,

144
00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:39,400
Speaker 3: any major city you go to, like, there's going to

145
00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:43,400
Speaker 3: be some rough parts. And you know, I was I

146
00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:45,680
Speaker 3: don't know if I was fortunate and then I can

147
00:06:45,680 --> 00:06:49,200
Speaker 3: say fortunate, but I was able to see both sides

148
00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:51,440
Speaker 3: of Chicago. You know, I talk about this a lot

149
00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:53,440
Speaker 3: in my book, how I grew up and you know

150
00:06:53,520 --> 00:06:55,520
Speaker 3: what I've experienced with my dad, and that was the

151
00:06:55,600 --> 00:06:58,200
Speaker 3: rough side of Chicago where you know, I was around

152
00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:02,359
Speaker 3: drug addicts and processes and at that time, back in

153
00:07:02,400 --> 00:07:04,320
Speaker 3: the day, it used to be called the low End

154
00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:08,719
Speaker 3: and that's where like the projects were, and I was

155
00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:12,640
Speaker 3: able to see different people from different walks of life.

156
00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:14,680
Speaker 3: Like I didn't grow up in the projects, but I

157
00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:17,560
Speaker 3: was around the projects and down there because that's where

158
00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:20,840
Speaker 3: my dad, you know, would purchase his drugs. So I

159
00:07:20,880 --> 00:07:23,640
Speaker 3: feel like it just it has taught me to be

160
00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:27,320
Speaker 3: a well rounded individual and to learn how to manage

161
00:07:27,360 --> 00:07:30,200
Speaker 3: and be in all different rooms and settings and work

162
00:07:30,240 --> 00:07:33,280
Speaker 3: with all different walks of life, because you know, that's

163
00:07:33,280 --> 00:07:35,520
Speaker 3: how I grew up. I know how to be with

164
00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:36,760
Speaker 3: the best of them, and I know how to be

165
00:07:36,840 --> 00:07:37,720
Speaker 3: with the lowest of them.

166
00:07:37,800 --> 00:07:39,360
Speaker 1: So no, I love that.

167
00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:40,400
Speaker 2: It's resilience.

168
00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:43,320
Speaker 1: It is. I can see that. I can see that

169
00:07:43,320 --> 00:07:46,360
Speaker 1: because I love to show the shy, and I guess

170
00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:48,800
Speaker 1: that shows like a different It shows you different sides

171
00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:50,800
Speaker 1: of Chicago's well. Leaning does a really good job of

172
00:07:50,840 --> 00:07:54,200
Speaker 1: showing you the political side and I guess the higher

173
00:07:54,440 --> 00:07:57,000
Speaker 1: end of it, and then also the crime and the

174
00:07:57,040 --> 00:08:00,960
Speaker 1: disparities that go on in that city. But I've always

175
00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:03,320
Speaker 1: been fascinated with the city and the people that come

176
00:08:03,320 --> 00:08:04,760
Speaker 1: out of it. So to know that that's where you're

177
00:08:04,800 --> 00:08:06,280
Speaker 1: from as well, it was like it makes sense.

178
00:08:06,720 --> 00:08:09,040
Speaker 3: Yeah, like I know how to pull out South Simonique.

179
00:08:09,080 --> 00:08:11,160
Speaker 3: I'm trying to keep her back there. You know, I'm

180
00:08:11,160 --> 00:08:11,840
Speaker 3: a professional.

181
00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:16,960
Speaker 1: So okay, South Simonique is what was the moment that

182
00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:19,520
Speaker 1: you can recall where South Simonique tried to creep out?

183
00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:23,520
Speaker 2: Oh, in my professional life, yeah, you know it can.

184
00:08:23,720 --> 00:08:26,960
Speaker 3: It tries, you know, when I faced criticism or when

185
00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:29,800
Speaker 3: I have trolls on social media that feel like they

186
00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:33,080
Speaker 3: are entitled to say certain things, or you know, people

187
00:08:33,080 --> 00:08:36,720
Speaker 3: that may also try me, like in the public or

188
00:08:36,920 --> 00:08:40,080
Speaker 3: in doing an interview, and I feel that, you know,

189
00:08:40,160 --> 00:08:46,160
Speaker 3: I can politically correct check someone, but still it remains

190
00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:51,120
Speaker 3: poised and peaceful about it. And so I feel that,

191
00:08:51,280 --> 00:08:55,000
Speaker 3: like in business, being a professional, like you have to

192
00:08:55,040 --> 00:08:58,319
Speaker 3: be able to not go there or not pull out

193
00:08:58,320 --> 00:09:01,640
Speaker 3: the South Simonique. She has to stay back there because

194
00:09:01,720 --> 00:09:06,360
Speaker 3: I'm also a represent a representative of God's kingdom. I'm

195
00:09:06,360 --> 00:09:08,959
Speaker 3: a representative for my kids, and I have to lead

196
00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:09,760
Speaker 3: by example.

197
00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:11,240
Speaker 2: But it's tempting, and.

198
00:09:11,240 --> 00:09:14,200
Speaker 3: I think we're all tempted to pull that person out.

199
00:09:14,360 --> 00:09:18,560
Speaker 3: But it comes with self discipline, self awareness to be like,

200
00:09:18,640 --> 00:09:21,800
Speaker 3: you know what, I'm gonna just pray for you and

201
00:09:21,920 --> 00:09:25,200
Speaker 3: do we fall short of course absolutely, Like I'm sure

202
00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:27,880
Speaker 3: you have had instances where you may want to just

203
00:09:28,679 --> 00:09:30,920
Speaker 3: jap out on somebody on social media, and I have

204
00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:34,000
Speaker 3: like commented back on certain things and I'll go back

205
00:09:34,040 --> 00:09:37,400
Speaker 3: and I'm convicted and I'll delete it. But you know that,

206
00:09:37,520 --> 00:09:39,360
Speaker 3: I feel like that's the growth in me, you know.

207
00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:43,319
Speaker 1: Being same girl, I'm right there with you. There's definitely

208
00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:46,480
Speaker 1: been times, even recently. It's I guess the last big

209
00:09:46,520 --> 00:09:48,319
Speaker 1: one was last year. I did a podcast when we

210
00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:51,880
Speaker 1: talk about interviews and sometimes a backlash or the comments

211
00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:55,280
Speaker 1: that people make and somebody from the church is like

212
00:09:55,559 --> 00:09:58,800
Speaker 1: somebody needs to take your phone. Yeah, put you give

213
00:09:58,840 --> 00:10:00,720
Speaker 1: somebody your phone because no.

214
00:10:01,160 --> 00:10:04,440
Speaker 3: Yeah, or you like don't read them, like don't even

215
00:10:04,880 --> 00:10:08,880
Speaker 3: like give your energy to things like that. Yeah, And

216
00:10:08,920 --> 00:10:12,520
Speaker 3: that's how I also maintain like professional mode, like I

217
00:10:12,600 --> 00:10:15,080
Speaker 3: have to choose what I give my energy and what

218
00:10:15,200 --> 00:10:17,480
Speaker 3: I give peace away to, Like my piece is not

219
00:10:17,559 --> 00:10:20,680
Speaker 3: worth is the negativity and the trolls.

220
00:10:20,480 --> 00:10:23,480
Speaker 1: It's not. It is not let's talk about the glory

221
00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:28,400
Speaker 1: in your story. I'm often like inquisitive about like what

222
00:10:28,559 --> 00:10:30,640
Speaker 1: makes somebody's decide I want to write a book or

223
00:10:30,679 --> 00:10:32,959
Speaker 1: it's time to write a book. So what moment were

224
00:10:32,960 --> 00:10:33,920
Speaker 1: you like mos time?

225
00:10:34,679 --> 00:10:37,560
Speaker 3: Yeah, I feel that. So I've built this company over

226
00:10:37,600 --> 00:10:40,560
Speaker 3: the past ten years. It'll be eleven years in May,

227
00:10:41,200 --> 00:10:44,920
Speaker 3: and I feel that the success that I have garnered,

228
00:10:45,040 --> 00:10:47,000
Speaker 3: you know, people tell me all the time, Oh, you're

229
00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:51,240
Speaker 3: a unicorn. It's so rare to see a black woman

230
00:10:51,559 --> 00:10:55,400
Speaker 3: have such a successful exit in this space. And I

231
00:10:55,480 --> 00:10:59,320
Speaker 3: want to normalize that. I don't want to have the

232
00:10:59,360 --> 00:11:02,840
Speaker 3: conversation the narrative of like creating more unicorns. I want

233
00:11:02,840 --> 00:11:05,760
Speaker 3: this to be normal in our community. And I wanted

234
00:11:05,800 --> 00:11:09,560
Speaker 3: to share the road map of what it took to

235
00:11:09,640 --> 00:11:12,679
Speaker 3: build a successful company, what it took to scale to

236
00:11:12,720 --> 00:11:15,560
Speaker 3: the level that you know the public seedes today and

237
00:11:15,640 --> 00:11:18,520
Speaker 3: the trials and the tribulations that you know came with

238
00:11:18,640 --> 00:11:21,440
Speaker 3: building this company, because I feel that entrepreneurs need to

239
00:11:21,480 --> 00:11:24,319
Speaker 3: hear this story, right, anyone needs to hear this story,

240
00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:27,839
Speaker 3: because there's so many different, you know, facets that can

241
00:11:27,880 --> 00:11:30,800
Speaker 3: relate to people. Right, if you are a career person,

242
00:11:30,920 --> 00:11:33,560
Speaker 3: this book is definitely for you. If you are someone

243
00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:35,720
Speaker 3: that's trying to increase your faith walk with God, like

244
00:11:35,760 --> 00:11:37,679
Speaker 3: this book is for you. If you are going through

245
00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:41,120
Speaker 3: a loss of a career, a loss of a loved one,

246
00:11:41,840 --> 00:11:44,000
Speaker 3: a loss of anything that you may be grieving, like,

247
00:11:44,040 --> 00:11:46,400
Speaker 3: this book is for you. So it's many different relatable

248
00:11:46,840 --> 00:11:51,160
Speaker 3: chapters that I feel relates to anyone. But I wanted

249
00:11:51,280 --> 00:11:53,400
Speaker 3: this book to be like, I'm your big sister, and

250
00:11:53,440 --> 00:11:56,400
Speaker 3: we're having a conversation, and I'm giving you all the

251
00:11:56,440 --> 00:11:59,360
Speaker 3: wisdom the knowledge that I've learned over the past ten years,

252
00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:02,240
Speaker 3: because the knowledge is not for me to just keep

253
00:12:02,320 --> 00:12:04,600
Speaker 3: to myself. It's for me to share it, and people

254
00:12:04,679 --> 00:12:06,400
Speaker 3: ask me all the time, can you be my mentor?

255
00:12:06,920 --> 00:12:09,280
Speaker 3: So this is my gift to my community of like

256
00:12:09,559 --> 00:12:12,720
Speaker 3: all those people that asks for mentorship, Like, I'm literally

257
00:12:12,960 --> 00:12:15,240
Speaker 3: pouring my heart and soul into this book, being very

258
00:12:15,320 --> 00:12:19,520
Speaker 3: vulnerable and transparent over not just the Instagram real highlights, yeah,

259
00:12:19,559 --> 00:12:22,360
Speaker 3: but like the tough moments when I didn't even think

260
00:12:22,440 --> 00:12:24,800
Speaker 3: Mayea was going to make it like right. People don't

261
00:12:24,800 --> 00:12:27,640
Speaker 3: see that on Instagram, And I wanted to share because

262
00:12:27,800 --> 00:12:30,560
Speaker 3: you may feel that you're the only one going through

263
00:12:30,559 --> 00:12:32,240
Speaker 3: what you're going through in this moment, and I want

264
00:12:32,280 --> 00:12:34,560
Speaker 3: to give hope to that person that's reading, like, you're

265
00:12:34,600 --> 00:12:36,360
Speaker 3: not in this alone. I went through it, and if

266
00:12:36,400 --> 00:12:39,240
Speaker 3: I can overcome that you can too. So my husband

267
00:12:39,240 --> 00:12:42,120
Speaker 3: would always say, from the very beginning, the story must

268
00:12:42,160 --> 00:12:44,560
Speaker 3: be told. We have it painted in our office space,

269
00:12:45,080 --> 00:12:48,560
Speaker 3: and he was manifesting that and the story has to

270
00:12:48,600 --> 00:12:51,360
Speaker 3: be told because it's not my story, it's God's story,

271
00:12:51,400 --> 00:12:53,040
Speaker 3: and that's why the glory goes to him.

272
00:12:53,120 --> 00:12:56,319
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I love that, and thank you for being obedient

273
00:12:56,440 --> 00:12:58,240
Speaker 1: and giving us this because I know I get asked

274
00:12:58,240 --> 00:13:00,719
Speaker 1: all the time as well, like we mentor, and I'm

275
00:13:00,720 --> 00:13:02,800
Speaker 1: sure you can attend with our schedules. It's so hard

276
00:13:02,840 --> 00:13:05,720
Speaker 1: to really commit to that. You have two daughters and

277
00:13:05,760 --> 00:13:08,880
Speaker 1: then you have businesses and you have so much going on.

278
00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:11,600
Speaker 1: I know it's hard to find time to really commit

279
00:13:11,679 --> 00:13:13,800
Speaker 1: to mentoring. So this is a great way to pour

280
00:13:13,800 --> 00:13:16,440
Speaker 1: it back into and I love that I do. And

281
00:13:16,480 --> 00:13:18,880
Speaker 1: in your book you also talked about the passing of

282
00:13:18,920 --> 00:13:21,560
Speaker 1: your son, Milan and you worked as a registered nurse,

283
00:13:22,360 --> 00:13:24,160
Speaker 1: and then it was that that was a turning point

284
00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:27,840
Speaker 1: of view to start your entrepreneurship journey. At what point

285
00:13:29,040 --> 00:13:31,280
Speaker 1: in that were you like, I can't do this anymore.

286
00:13:31,320 --> 00:13:33,400
Speaker 1: And I also wanted to ask you, and it's a

287
00:13:33,400 --> 00:13:37,800
Speaker 1: two part question, when you saw the everything that was

288
00:13:37,840 --> 00:13:40,760
Speaker 1: happening in that hospital room as they're calling all the things,

289
00:13:40,800 --> 00:13:43,080
Speaker 1: and you're saying, I know that's not right, this is

290
00:13:43,120 --> 00:13:46,160
Speaker 1: not what's be happening at what point are You're like,

291
00:13:46,520 --> 00:13:49,320
Speaker 1: this is I can't do this this anymore, working in

292
00:13:49,320 --> 00:13:51,760
Speaker 1: the healthcare system with all the disparities for minorities.

293
00:13:51,880 --> 00:13:53,439
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's true.

294
00:13:53,520 --> 00:13:55,960
Speaker 3: So I actually started as a labor and delivery nurse,

295
00:13:56,440 --> 00:13:59,559
Speaker 3: so I worked in the field, so I understood, you

296
00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:03,640
Speaker 3: knew everything about labor and delivery that you can possibly know,

297
00:14:04,040 --> 00:14:07,000
Speaker 3: you know. And so when I was in the hospital

298
00:14:07,120 --> 00:14:11,920
Speaker 3: room and I went through, you know, being rushed to

299
00:14:11,960 --> 00:14:15,320
Speaker 3: the hospital, being on the hospital bed and them having

300
00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:17,760
Speaker 3: to like rip my clothes off, put my baby on

301
00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:23,000
Speaker 3: the monitor, and when his heartbeat was down, like I knew,

302
00:14:23,080 --> 00:14:27,200
Speaker 3: if you all don't act quick, like, it's not going

303
00:14:27,240 --> 00:14:30,000
Speaker 3: to be a good outcome. Yeah, And I remember I

304
00:14:30,080 --> 00:14:33,080
Speaker 3: kept asking like where's the doctor, where's the doctor? And

305
00:14:33,440 --> 00:14:37,720
Speaker 3: the doctor was at home and that was in a

306
00:14:37,800 --> 00:14:40,560
Speaker 3: hospital that was equipped to have like an on call

307
00:14:40,960 --> 00:14:45,000
Speaker 3: doctor that was twenty four hours yeah, and so them

308
00:14:45,080 --> 00:14:47,760
Speaker 3: having to call the doctor to be rushed to rush

309
00:14:47,800 --> 00:14:49,920
Speaker 3: to the hospital to deliver my baby. By the time

310
00:14:49,960 --> 00:14:53,720
Speaker 3: he got there, his heart rate was like, like it

311
00:14:53,800 --> 00:14:57,480
Speaker 3: was so low it was probably no saving at that point.

312
00:14:57,680 --> 00:15:01,280
Speaker 3: And so when he did the C section, you know,

313
00:15:01,760 --> 00:15:05,960
Speaker 3: and my son came out he was lifeless, so he

314
00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:10,440
Speaker 3: didn't get there in time to you know, cut him

315
00:15:10,480 --> 00:15:13,080
Speaker 3: out quick enough, and so it was just devastated. And

316
00:15:13,120 --> 00:15:17,200
Speaker 3: then I remember like waking up and I asked my

317
00:15:17,520 --> 00:15:18,920
Speaker 3: mom and my family, I'm.

318
00:15:18,760 --> 00:15:19,720
Speaker 2: Like, is he pink?

319
00:15:19,880 --> 00:15:22,760
Speaker 3: Because I was incoherent, like I was drugged up, but

320
00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:25,200
Speaker 3: I knew to ask, like, what's he pink? And then

321
00:15:25,480 --> 00:15:28,160
Speaker 3: I saw the look on my mom's face and I

322
00:15:28,280 --> 00:15:31,400
Speaker 3: knew at that point that you know, it wasn't it

323
00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:34,480
Speaker 3: wasn't right. So it was very like even talking about it,

324
00:15:34,640 --> 00:15:38,360
Speaker 3: just even though it's healing, its therapeutic, it's still so

325
00:15:38,520 --> 00:15:42,480
Speaker 3: hurtful because when you think about the health disparities in

326
00:15:42,560 --> 00:15:46,000
Speaker 3: the medical system for black women, like I tried to

327
00:15:46,040 --> 00:15:48,840
Speaker 3: be my own advocate because I knew I was highly

328
00:15:48,960 --> 00:15:53,360
Speaker 3: educated in the field, and my level of education couldn't

329
00:15:53,400 --> 00:15:57,160
Speaker 3: save my son. Wow, right, And so I think about

330
00:15:57,600 --> 00:16:00,560
Speaker 3: the women or the black people the black community in

331
00:16:00,600 --> 00:16:03,720
Speaker 3: general that go to the hospital and don't have any

332
00:16:03,760 --> 00:16:07,640
Speaker 3: knowledge of their care or being an advocate for themselves,

333
00:16:08,240 --> 00:16:13,800
Speaker 3: Like how doctors and nurses dismiss their symptoms, dismiss you know,

334
00:16:14,320 --> 00:16:18,760
Speaker 3: their care for whatever reason because of the disparities, and

335
00:16:19,680 --> 00:16:21,840
Speaker 3: something has to give. Something has to stop, and I

336
00:16:21,880 --> 00:16:24,400
Speaker 3: also wanted to be an advocate for that and bring

337
00:16:24,440 --> 00:16:27,720
Speaker 3: awareness to you know, our health system, right and to

338
00:16:28,080 --> 00:16:33,400
Speaker 3: hopefully educate more black and brown young adults to go

339
00:16:33,480 --> 00:16:36,080
Speaker 3: into the medical field and be our advocates. Because my

340
00:16:36,200 --> 00:16:39,840
Speaker 3: doctor at the time was white. He did not look

341
00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:44,120
Speaker 3: like me, and you know, it's always what I should

342
00:16:44,160 --> 00:16:45,400
Speaker 3: have could have I wish I would have done this,

343
00:16:45,480 --> 00:16:47,800
Speaker 3: but I had to learn, like I can't blame myself,

344
00:16:48,440 --> 00:16:50,920
Speaker 3: but all I can do is be an advocate for

345
00:16:51,440 --> 00:16:54,320
Speaker 3: you know, more black and brown people to step up

346
00:16:54,360 --> 00:16:56,400
Speaker 3: to go into the medical field so they can be

347
00:16:56,440 --> 00:16:59,120
Speaker 3: a voice and an advocate and have the empathy and

348
00:16:59,160 --> 00:17:03,000
Speaker 3: caring and compassion that our community needs. Right yes, because

349
00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:05,600
Speaker 3: like even now, my dad when he goes into the hospital,

350
00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:09,159
Speaker 3: I have to like always step in and advocate for

351
00:17:09,240 --> 00:17:12,639
Speaker 3: him or ask questions. And about the questions I asked

352
00:17:12,640 --> 00:17:14,359
Speaker 3: are always like are you a nurse?

353
00:17:14,520 --> 00:17:15,960
Speaker 2: Or why does it matter?

354
00:17:16,520 --> 00:17:19,080
Speaker 3: Do you not expect an educated black person to ask

355
00:17:19,080 --> 00:17:21,359
Speaker 3: these type of questions? So we have to be our

356
00:17:21,400 --> 00:17:23,800
Speaker 3: own advocate. And so I hope that people gather that

357
00:17:23,840 --> 00:17:26,439
Speaker 3: from reading you know, my traumatic story of having my

358
00:17:26,520 --> 00:17:29,640
Speaker 3: son and when I had my son, and I had

359
00:17:29,640 --> 00:17:32,720
Speaker 3: to go back into a career field that number one,

360
00:17:33,040 --> 00:17:35,320
Speaker 3: I didn't want to be in in the first place.

361
00:17:36,119 --> 00:17:38,960
Speaker 3: And then number two, I was dealing with the loss

362
00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:42,399
Speaker 3: of my son and having to now take care of patients.

363
00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:43,680
Speaker 3: My hair wasn't there.

364
00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:45,720
Speaker 1: I can imagine, like no.

365
00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:47,760
Speaker 3: I remember my boss pulling me in and she's like,

366
00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:50,639
Speaker 3: you're not the same nurse that you were before, and

367
00:17:50,680 --> 00:17:53,160
Speaker 3: I'm like, well, you think like I just lost my son,

368
00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:55,560
Speaker 3: so I'm not going to be that person. So I

369
00:17:55,560 --> 00:17:58,439
Speaker 3: had to go through this healing journey and I knew

370
00:17:58,480 --> 00:18:00,399
Speaker 3: that I did not want to go back into a

371
00:18:00,440 --> 00:18:03,240
Speaker 3: feel where I felt I was doing everything right. I

372
00:18:03,280 --> 00:18:05,920
Speaker 3: knew everything that I should have known, and something still

373
00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:08,119
Speaker 3: happened to me. Had I wanted to just cut ties

374
00:18:08,200 --> 00:18:10,240
Speaker 3: with the medical around people ask me all the time,

375
00:18:10,840 --> 00:18:13,280
Speaker 3: would you want to go back? Absolutely not right, No,

376
00:18:13,320 --> 00:18:16,800
Speaker 3: absolutely not just like now, No, absolutely not. And you know,

377
00:18:16,840 --> 00:18:20,120
Speaker 3: but it paid its contribution to my journey and who

378
00:18:20,160 --> 00:18:22,879
Speaker 3: I am today, but it's not who I am and

379
00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:26,159
Speaker 3: I just had to cut ties with it to avoid

380
00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:26,960
Speaker 3: being depressed.

381
00:18:27,080 --> 00:18:31,760
Speaker 1: Yes, that's powerful, I know as a black woman, just

382
00:18:31,800 --> 00:18:34,360
Speaker 1: finding the right primary care doctor, I have a black

383
00:18:34,359 --> 00:18:37,000
Speaker 1: woman that's my primary care doctor. And then I went

384
00:18:37,080 --> 00:18:41,000
Speaker 1: and got my first mammogram the other day. Yeah, and

385
00:18:41,080 --> 00:18:45,480
Speaker 1: I was so nervous. I was so nervous because I

386
00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:47,679
Speaker 1: don't know in my mind, I think sometimes I feel

387
00:18:47,720 --> 00:18:50,520
Speaker 1: like a lot of because you know, like some people,

388
00:18:50,840 --> 00:18:53,040
Speaker 1: the doctors will say, oh, we see cancer, and then

389
00:18:53,040 --> 00:18:55,800
Speaker 1: you'll go get a second opinion that like there's nothing there.

390
00:18:56,119 --> 00:18:57,920
Speaker 1: So I always like worried about are they going to

391
00:18:57,960 --> 00:18:59,600
Speaker 1: tell me the right thing or it's like, what's going

392
00:18:59,640 --> 00:19:02,080
Speaker 1: to happen? Because I was having like this pain, like

393
00:19:02,160 --> 00:19:04,080
Speaker 1: right here, and of course you get on Google and

394
00:19:04,160 --> 00:19:09,520
Speaker 1: start googling. It's like is your enemy right, You're dying? Gosh,

395
00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:13,920
Speaker 1: And so you're automatically like going in kind of preparing

396
00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:17,320
Speaker 1: for the worst, but hoping for the best, but understanding

397
00:19:17,359 --> 00:19:20,000
Speaker 1: that having I want to look across that room and

398
00:19:20,040 --> 00:19:23,280
Speaker 1: see someone that looks like me or reflects me. And

399
00:19:23,320 --> 00:19:25,640
Speaker 1: that's so important, which is why I love my primary

400
00:19:25,640 --> 00:19:28,600
Speaker 1: care doctor because she is a black woman and she

401
00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:31,280
Speaker 1: gives it I'm talking about. I can call her anytime,

402
00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:34,520
Speaker 1: I can pull up on her and say whatever I'm feeling,

403
00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:36,439
Speaker 1: She's going to look into it and connect me with

404
00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:39,560
Speaker 1: the right, another black doctor that's gonna take it serious

405
00:19:39,640 --> 00:19:41,880
Speaker 1: versus like, oh, which just comes with age, or oh yeah,

406
00:19:41,880 --> 00:19:45,600
Speaker 1: you're fine, you know, like it's very passive. Yes, And

407
00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:48,240
Speaker 1: I don't like that, So I totally understand why you

408
00:19:48,280 --> 00:19:49,280
Speaker 1: were like, no, I have to get out of this

409
00:19:49,359 --> 00:19:53,199
Speaker 1: so that I'm not depressed. I get it from that.

410
00:19:53,400 --> 00:19:56,240
Speaker 1: Did that make you more of an advocate for midwives

411
00:19:56,240 --> 00:19:58,879
Speaker 1: and doulas? Are you more like an at home birth

412
00:19:58,920 --> 00:20:01,000
Speaker 1: mom where you like want to push women like just

413
00:20:01,080 --> 00:20:03,119
Speaker 1: kind of stay away from the healthcare system. How do

414
00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:04,639
Speaker 1: you feel like I wouldn't.

415
00:20:04,240 --> 00:20:06,200
Speaker 2: Push women to stay away from the healthcare soil.

416
00:20:06,359 --> 00:20:08,919
Speaker 3: I still think that it's needed, But I think that

417
00:20:09,400 --> 00:20:13,119
Speaker 3: as women, we should just educate ourselves on speaking up,

418
00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:16,919
Speaker 3: educating ourselves on basically what you just said, like having

419
00:20:17,560 --> 00:20:20,480
Speaker 3: a black doctor, or if your doctor's not black, maybe

420
00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:24,800
Speaker 3: a minority doctor, but having someone that is that here's

421
00:20:24,840 --> 00:20:28,040
Speaker 3: your concerns, that listens to your concerns and does not

422
00:20:28,119 --> 00:20:28,880
Speaker 3: just blow you off.

423
00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:31,240
Speaker 2: If you have a doctor that comes.

424
00:20:30,920 --> 00:20:33,879
Speaker 3: In the room and they just want to do a

425
00:20:33,960 --> 00:20:37,600
Speaker 3: quick assessment, write you a quick prescription. I stay away

426
00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:39,359
Speaker 3: from doctors as quick with the pain and write a

427
00:20:39,359 --> 00:20:43,240
Speaker 3: prescription without trying to understand and walk through the assessment

428
00:20:43,280 --> 00:20:46,159
Speaker 3: skills that they teach you in school of what is wrong.

429
00:20:46,520 --> 00:20:48,600
Speaker 3: And then once they identify what is wrong, what is

430
00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:51,240
Speaker 3: causing that, are there natural things that you can do

431
00:20:51,400 --> 00:20:54,080
Speaker 3: to reverse whatever it is? Like, don't be so quick

432
00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:56,919
Speaker 3: to just put me on medication. So I just like

433
00:20:57,560 --> 00:21:00,320
Speaker 3: a doctor to be very thorough and to listen to

434
00:21:00,359 --> 00:21:04,280
Speaker 3: me as a patient. And I just encourage, you know,

435
00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:07,720
Speaker 3: our community to just find those type of doctors because

436
00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:09,639
Speaker 3: at the end of the day, we still do need,

437
00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:13,320
Speaker 3: you know, doctors. If you are a C section candidate,

438
00:21:13,480 --> 00:21:14,600
Speaker 3: you can't have a home birth.

439
00:21:14,680 --> 00:21:16,240
Speaker 2: You need to go to the hospital.

440
00:21:17,320 --> 00:21:20,560
Speaker 3: So in some ways you can't avoid it. But just

441
00:21:20,600 --> 00:21:23,679
Speaker 3: make sure you have the right team around you that

442
00:21:23,760 --> 00:21:26,360
Speaker 3: listens to you. And if they're not listening to you,

443
00:21:26,400 --> 00:21:29,040
Speaker 3: just make sure that you're advocating. You speak up for yourself.

444
00:21:29,520 --> 00:21:33,480
Speaker 1: I love that. That's so good. So this caused a

445
00:21:33,520 --> 00:21:36,879
Speaker 1: pivot for you to go into entrepreneurship. What was like

446
00:21:36,920 --> 00:21:39,320
Speaker 1: the first thing that you tried Because I know you've

447
00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:41,280
Speaker 1: done a few things, What was one of the first

448
00:21:41,280 --> 00:21:43,200
Speaker 1: things that you tried to do on your own outside

449
00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:43,920
Speaker 1: of being a nurse.

450
00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:46,920
Speaker 3: So Mayo was the first thing outside of being a nurse.

451
00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:49,800
Speaker 3: So once I left my nursing career and I started Mayel.

452
00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:53,600
Speaker 3: But during my nursing career is when I did try

453
00:21:53,640 --> 00:21:56,879
Speaker 3: to like branch off and start getting into like different

454
00:21:56,920 --> 00:21:59,959
Speaker 3: business ventures such as multi level marketing. So I did

455
00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:02,160
Speaker 3: like Avon and Mary Kay and I talked about all

456
00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:05,000
Speaker 3: of the direct seale business ventures that I tried to

457
00:22:05,119 --> 00:22:08,000
Speaker 3: like go off into because I've always wanted to be

458
00:22:08,040 --> 00:22:11,720
Speaker 3: an entrepreneur. So I've always had that bug and that desire,

459
00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:14,440
Speaker 3: and it always pulls on you and keeps nagging, so

460
00:22:14,600 --> 00:22:17,640
Speaker 3: you like fulfill that burning desire that you have. And

461
00:22:17,880 --> 00:22:21,359
Speaker 3: I just felt that God was just redirecting me and

462
00:22:21,400 --> 00:22:24,639
Speaker 3: rerouting me because I did not go the path of

463
00:22:24,840 --> 00:22:27,200
Speaker 3: entrepreneurship because I didn't see it growing up. You can't

464
00:22:27,200 --> 00:22:29,680
Speaker 3: be what you don't see, so I didn't see black

465
00:22:29,720 --> 00:22:33,840
Speaker 3: women that were like running and operating beauty businesses or

466
00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:36,160
Speaker 3: any business for that matter. I saw women that were

467
00:22:36,200 --> 00:22:39,639
Speaker 3: on magazine covers or on the relaxer kit. So that

468
00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:42,160
Speaker 3: was my aspiration. I thought that was the only route

469
00:22:42,160 --> 00:22:44,280
Speaker 3: that I can take to be into this beauty world.

470
00:22:45,480 --> 00:22:48,879
Speaker 2: And I felt that God put this vision in me.

471
00:22:48,920 --> 00:22:51,920
Speaker 3: He put this passionate purpose, but I kept running from

472
00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:55,960
Speaker 3: it because of fear, because of doubt and not believing

473
00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:58,800
Speaker 3: in myself and not thinking that I can achieve it

474
00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:02,200
Speaker 3: because I don't have a business degree, didn't have any

475
00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:05,080
Speaker 3: business experience. So you know, the enemy gets into your

476
00:23:05,119 --> 00:23:07,320
Speaker 3: head and says like, Oh, you can't do this?

477
00:23:07,400 --> 00:23:08,000
Speaker 2: How dare you?

478
00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:10,080
Speaker 3: You have the audacity to dream this and you have

479
00:23:10,160 --> 00:23:12,280
Speaker 3: the audacity to think that you can do it. Well,

480
00:23:12,280 --> 00:23:14,040
Speaker 3: I'm going to remind you that you can't do that,

481
00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:16,400
Speaker 3: because if you don't have the education and you don't

482
00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:18,840
Speaker 3: have X, Y and z, like that enemy can be

483
00:23:18,920 --> 00:23:21,639
Speaker 3: like something strong. And I had to learn how to

484
00:23:21,760 --> 00:23:25,280
Speaker 3: silence the noise, silence of distractions. And when you go

485
00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:28,080
Speaker 3: through such a tragic loss like what I went through.

486
00:23:29,119 --> 00:23:32,640
Speaker 3: For me, it was like what are what are my chances?

487
00:23:32,720 --> 00:23:35,280
Speaker 3: Like at this point, I don't care what people think.

488
00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:39,840
Speaker 3: I don't care, you know, about this career anymore. Like

489
00:23:39,960 --> 00:23:42,800
Speaker 3: my mind frame was like, what's the worst that can happen?

490
00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:46,440
Speaker 3: Because the worst has already happened. Yeah, So it just

491
00:23:46,920 --> 00:23:52,000
Speaker 3: gave me another level of grit and tenacity that I

492
00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:55,639
Speaker 3: didn't know that I had, And I decided to just

493
00:23:55,680 --> 00:23:58,320
Speaker 3: follow guy's calling and be obedient to what he had

494
00:23:58,359 --> 00:24:01,240
Speaker 3: been calling me to do for years, and decided to

495
00:24:01,280 --> 00:24:04,520
Speaker 3: not feed into the fears, but to feed the faith

496
00:24:04,600 --> 00:24:07,600
Speaker 3: and just to trust. And that's how Mayo was started.

497
00:24:07,760 --> 00:24:10,440
Speaker 1: I love it. What made you want to go into

498
00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:13,280
Speaker 1: hair care? Like, what was the spark for that? So

499
00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:15,639
Speaker 1: besides your beautiful hair? Thank you?

500
00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:19,760
Speaker 3: So I've always loved hair, and I've always been obsessed

501
00:24:19,840 --> 00:24:22,639
Speaker 3: with making sure that my hair was always maintained and

502
00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:24,120
Speaker 3: always presentable.

503
00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:26,480
Speaker 2: Like I told you, I wanted to be the little

504
00:24:26,480 --> 00:24:26,919
Speaker 2: girl on the.

505
00:24:27,080 --> 00:24:30,159
Speaker 3: Just for Me kick. That was my aspiration. Like I

506
00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:33,600
Speaker 3: used to ask my mom to drive me to model calls.

507
00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:35,760
Speaker 3: Every time they did a model call for a hair company.

508
00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:38,760
Speaker 3: I'm like, I'm signing up. I want to be there. Yeah,

509
00:24:38,800 --> 00:24:40,879
Speaker 3: And she would take me and she got to the

510
00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:44,159
Speaker 3: point she's like, girl, they're not picking you and this

511
00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:48,080
Speaker 3: is not something stable. This is like this is cute,

512
00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:51,240
Speaker 3: but I need to teach you how to like find

513
00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:53,720
Speaker 3: something stable. And you know, because it's one day you're

514
00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:57,199
Speaker 3: gonna grow up and I'm not gonna be paying for

515
00:24:57,240 --> 00:24:58,680
Speaker 3: you for the rest of your life. You're gonna have

516
00:24:58,720 --> 00:25:00,800
Speaker 3: to find your own job. She encouraged me to be

517
00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:07,000
Speaker 3: a nurse. Right, she didn't nourish the passion that I

518
00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:10,280
Speaker 3: had to pursue beauty. And no fault to her, but

519
00:25:10,520 --> 00:25:11,440
Speaker 3: she didn't see it.

520
00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:11,800
Speaker 1: You know.

521
00:25:11,920 --> 00:25:16,399
Speaker 3: She came from an environment. She was raised of survival,

522
00:25:16,640 --> 00:25:19,479
Speaker 3: so she was taught to only survive. So when you

523
00:25:19,560 --> 00:25:23,159
Speaker 3: are coming from a survival mentality, you're not encouraged to

524
00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:26,480
Speaker 3: dream big. And so she instilled that in me. And

525
00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:29,320
Speaker 3: so even though I had I was always a dreamer.

526
00:25:29,960 --> 00:25:34,199
Speaker 3: But that's the thing, like sometimes people around you that

527
00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:39,440
Speaker 3: have good intentions and they mean well, but sometimes their

528
00:25:39,960 --> 00:25:42,560
Speaker 3: advice and their wisdom is coming from a place of

529
00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:44,600
Speaker 3: fear because they didn't see it for themselves, So why

530
00:25:44,640 --> 00:25:46,920
Speaker 3: would they see it for you, right, So she didn't

531
00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:50,760
Speaker 3: see that in my future, and so I just put

532
00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:52,679
Speaker 3: my dream to the wayside of being in this space.

533
00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:55,840
Speaker 3: And once I went through the loss of my son,

534
00:25:56,400 --> 00:25:58,639
Speaker 3: it just circled me back and it was like a

535
00:25:58,680 --> 00:26:01,679
Speaker 3: full circle moment God which is redirected me back to

536
00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:05,560
Speaker 3: that childhood monique. And I feel like Mayel has healed

537
00:26:05,600 --> 00:26:08,399
Speaker 3: a lot of that childhood dream that I had, you

538
00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:10,919
Speaker 3: know growing up, I mean not healed, but fulfilled a

539
00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:13,280
Speaker 3: lot of the childhood dream that I had growing up, Right,

540
00:26:13,320 --> 00:26:16,000
Speaker 3: it just made a full circle three sixty Like God's like,

541
00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:18,720
Speaker 3: I'm gonna run that back. Yes, so you can know

542
00:26:18,840 --> 00:26:19,880
Speaker 3: what's in front of your face.

543
00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:24,480
Speaker 1: Yes, you tached on something about how dare you dream

544
00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:27,400
Speaker 1: this big? I was reading a book called The Prayer Circle,

545
00:26:27,760 --> 00:26:31,040
Speaker 1: where you like, basically kind of build your own Jericho

546
00:26:31,119 --> 00:26:34,040
Speaker 1: wall while you have they go around the wall until

547
00:26:34,080 --> 00:26:36,960
Speaker 1: it comes down and it comes true. And in the

548
00:26:36,960 --> 00:26:39,840
Speaker 1: book he says something about a lot of times when

549
00:26:39,840 --> 00:26:41,840
Speaker 1: you like your faith is too small or you don't

550
00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:43,359
Speaker 1: believe big, it's an insult to God.

551
00:26:43,640 --> 00:26:44,240
Speaker 2: Absolutely.

552
00:26:44,359 --> 00:26:44,560
Speaker 3: Yeah.

553
00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:46,480
Speaker 1: So that when you said that, it reminded me of that.

554
00:26:46,600 --> 00:26:48,199
Speaker 1: I was like, it is. It's an insult to God, Like,

555
00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:49,680
Speaker 1: how dare you not dream that big?

556
00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:50,080
Speaker 2: Yeah?

557
00:26:50,119 --> 00:26:53,679
Speaker 3: You know, and I always say too, What's another insult

558
00:26:53,800 --> 00:26:57,000
Speaker 3: to God is that when you don't fulfill your dream.

559
00:26:57,600 --> 00:27:02,280
Speaker 3: God has attached so many people to your dream, and

560
00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:04,800
Speaker 3: when you don't fulfill your dream, you're disappointing the people

561
00:27:04,840 --> 00:27:07,520
Speaker 3: who He's assigned to your gift, and you're calling and

562
00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:10,040
Speaker 3: you're not being obedient to him, and you're insulting him

563
00:27:10,119 --> 00:27:12,639
Speaker 3: because you're not being obedient to the gifts and the

564
00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:15,159
Speaker 3: talents and the purpose that he has put you on

565
00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:16,879
Speaker 3: this earth to Accomplishence.

566
00:27:16,640 --> 00:27:19,320
Speaker 1: Yes, and you're holding everybody else up or their way,

567
00:27:19,480 --> 00:27:22,280
Speaker 1: like sometimes it's you that's holding everybody else up.

568
00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:25,440
Speaker 3: Yes, I think about like we have over three hundred employees,

569
00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:29,200
Speaker 3: and some of the employees that we employ probably would

570
00:27:29,240 --> 00:27:31,560
Speaker 3: have never been able to have the position that they

571
00:27:31,600 --> 00:27:36,600
Speaker 3: had at Mayel because of credentials. We always believe in

572
00:27:36,640 --> 00:27:38,439
Speaker 3: giving people an opportunity, a chance.

573
00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:40,320
Speaker 2: We put people in.

574
00:27:40,600 --> 00:27:42,840
Speaker 3: Sometimes we put people in positions that are probably too

575
00:27:42,920 --> 00:27:46,200
Speaker 3: high for them, but you know, we wanted to provide opportunity.

576
00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:49,280
Speaker 2: So we've been able to give opportunity to.

577
00:27:49,280 --> 00:27:51,800
Speaker 3: So many people, and experience to so many people, and

578
00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:54,760
Speaker 3: exposure that they may not have had if I didn't

579
00:27:55,040 --> 00:27:55,800
Speaker 3: follow my dream.

580
00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:59,440
Speaker 1: Yes, that's so true. In your book, you had a

581
00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:03,080
Speaker 1: chapter called Finding Your Person and you and your husband

582
00:28:03,080 --> 00:28:08,000
Speaker 1: Melvin were at high school sweethearts. Yes, that's crazy. I

583
00:28:08,040 --> 00:28:09,760
Speaker 1: only know one other. Well, I know a few people,

584
00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:11,879
Speaker 1: but I know de Valenkadeen were like they met in

585
00:28:11,960 --> 00:28:14,640
Speaker 1: high school and yeah, are still together to this day.

586
00:28:15,040 --> 00:28:17,840
Speaker 1: But you don't hear that happening a lot. At what

587
00:28:17,840 --> 00:28:19,720
Speaker 1: point did you know, like in high school? Did you

588
00:28:19,800 --> 00:28:22,040
Speaker 1: know then or y'all was just like boyfriend and girlfriend?

589
00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:23,520
Speaker 1: Did you see it then? Like this is the person

590
00:28:23,560 --> 00:28:24,960
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be with for the rest of my life.

591
00:28:25,640 --> 00:28:27,520
Speaker 3: So when I was in high school, I always saw

592
00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:31,880
Speaker 3: something in him, like he had great qualities, great characteristics. Yeah,

593
00:28:32,200 --> 00:28:36,119
Speaker 3: and I saw myself like having kids with him and

594
00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:39,120
Speaker 3: like having a life with him, even at a young age.

595
00:28:40,960 --> 00:28:42,880
Speaker 3: You know, I just didn't know like how it would

596
00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:46,240
Speaker 3: all like come together, but he just had. He was

597
00:28:46,280 --> 00:28:49,760
Speaker 3: just different from other guys in the neighborhood where we

598
00:28:49,800 --> 00:28:52,320
Speaker 3: grew up. And I know that I was also different

599
00:28:52,360 --> 00:28:54,920
Speaker 3: for him, and so I always joke with him like

600
00:28:55,120 --> 00:28:57,400
Speaker 3: you got lucky because you got a rare one. Okay,

601
00:28:57,480 --> 00:28:59,360
Speaker 3: you don't find them, like they don't make them like me. No,

602
00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:03,720
Speaker 3: But I was always confident in that. And you know,

603
00:29:03,720 --> 00:29:05,960
Speaker 3: I talk about this in the book. My mom instilled

604
00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:08,680
Speaker 3: in me, like you know, if a man wants you,

605
00:29:08,760 --> 00:29:11,280
Speaker 3: he's going to have to court you, Like you don't

606
00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:14,240
Speaker 3: just give it away for free, Like what you have

607
00:29:14,440 --> 00:29:18,160
Speaker 3: is precious, you know, your soul, your energy, everything that

608
00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:20,880
Speaker 3: you possess as a woman. It is precious and every

609
00:29:20,880 --> 00:29:24,480
Speaker 3: man is not deserving of that. So you got to

610
00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:28,920
Speaker 3: make him work true and I did that, and you know,

611
00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:31,960
Speaker 3: we had some rocky moments, you know, in the very beginning,

612
00:29:32,080 --> 00:29:34,720
Speaker 3: but all in all, like he knew that if he

613
00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:36,120
Speaker 3: wanted to be with me, he was going to have

614
00:29:36,120 --> 00:29:36,760
Speaker 3: to put in the work.

615
00:29:36,920 --> 00:29:40,719
Speaker 1: Yes, I know that's right. I love that you are

616
00:29:40,760 --> 00:29:43,440
Speaker 1: really big on your faith and so is he. How

617
00:29:43,480 --> 00:29:45,520
Speaker 1: has faith played a role into where you guys are

618
00:29:45,560 --> 00:29:47,800
Speaker 1: in your business partners y'all do everything together? From what

619
00:29:47,840 --> 00:29:50,320
Speaker 1: I see, how is that played a role even when

620
00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:52,160
Speaker 1: you said it was rocky at certain points, Like, how

621
00:29:52,200 --> 00:29:54,040
Speaker 1: did that faith play a role through your relationship?

622
00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:57,720
Speaker 3: Yeah, faith is holding on to things that we hope

623
00:29:57,720 --> 00:29:58,800
Speaker 3: for that we can't see.

624
00:29:59,480 --> 00:30:02,160
Speaker 2: And faith is everything. It's like our anchor.

625
00:30:02,600 --> 00:30:07,000
Speaker 3: Faith is what keeps us grounded because when you enter

626
00:30:07,120 --> 00:30:12,120
Speaker 3: into uncharted territory, it can be very intimidating, like you

627
00:30:12,160 --> 00:30:16,360
Speaker 3: don't know what's going to happen. You're walking into the unknown,

628
00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:19,080
Speaker 3: and you have to trust and have faith in God

629
00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:22,840
Speaker 3: that if he gave me this vision, that He's going

630
00:30:22,880 --> 00:30:25,800
Speaker 3: to equip me with everything I needs to be successful

631
00:30:25,840 --> 00:30:28,280
Speaker 3: in my calling and it's not for me to figure

632
00:30:28,280 --> 00:30:30,520
Speaker 3: out how all the pieces are going to come together

633
00:30:30,680 --> 00:30:33,080
Speaker 3: just yet. It's for me to take a little step

634
00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:36,760
Speaker 3: watch God do his work, right, because that's how he works.

635
00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:39,440
Speaker 3: Like you take that step, he'll open up some doors.

636
00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:42,920
Speaker 3: He'll reveal to you his power. And then you're like, oh, okay, God,

637
00:30:43,160 --> 00:30:45,640
Speaker 3: let me take another step, right, and then he'll open

638
00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:48,160
Speaker 3: up some more doors. He'll reveal his power. And that

639
00:30:48,320 --> 00:30:50,880
Speaker 3: is literally a faith walk, Like you're just ta climbing

640
00:30:50,920 --> 00:30:53,640
Speaker 3: some stairs. And we don't climb stairs to go from

641
00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:55,560
Speaker 3: the bottom of the staircase to the top of the

642
00:30:55,560 --> 00:30:58,560
Speaker 3: skit staircase. There are just very small steps that we

643
00:30:59,040 --> 00:31:01,840
Speaker 3: have to take to get to the ultimate top. Right,

644
00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:04,560
Speaker 3: And that's how I look at my faith journey. And

645
00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:07,680
Speaker 3: it's a lifelong journey, right, because you will have moments

646
00:31:07,680 --> 00:31:10,440
Speaker 3: that you will doubt yourself. You will have moments where

647
00:31:10,520 --> 00:31:14,800
Speaker 3: you're like, you're questioning your faith, and that's normal, Like

648
00:31:14,880 --> 00:31:17,640
Speaker 3: we're human. He blessed us with emotions for a reason, right,

649
00:31:18,360 --> 00:31:21,000
Speaker 3: But when we do have moments of when we feel

650
00:31:21,040 --> 00:31:23,560
Speaker 3: down in despair, like that's when we have to lean

651
00:31:23,600 --> 00:31:26,120
Speaker 3: on him even more for his strength. Like he doesn't

652
00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:28,200
Speaker 3: want us to run away from him. And even if

653
00:31:28,240 --> 00:31:30,520
Speaker 3: you have ran away from God, like, He's still always

654
00:31:30,560 --> 00:31:32,640
Speaker 3: right there waiting for us to just come back to him.

655
00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:33,120
Speaker 1: Always.

656
00:31:33,200 --> 00:31:34,840
Speaker 3: You have to trust that. And the only way that

657
00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:37,320
Speaker 3: you can trust that and have a true relationship with

658
00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:40,240
Speaker 3: God is by knowing his word. Right. If we want

659
00:31:40,280 --> 00:31:43,040
Speaker 3: to have a relationship together as friends, we have to

660
00:31:43,080 --> 00:31:45,440
Speaker 3: get to know each other. God is no different. God

661
00:31:45,520 --> 00:31:47,320
Speaker 3: is saying like, I want you to have a relationship

662
00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:49,520
Speaker 3: with me. But in order for us to have this relationship,

663
00:31:49,560 --> 00:31:51,400
Speaker 3: you have to know my word because my word speaks

664
00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:54,000
Speaker 3: to my character right and my promises. And once we

665
00:31:54,040 --> 00:31:56,959
Speaker 3: know his character and his promises, we can stand on

666
00:31:57,000 --> 00:31:59,880
Speaker 3: that and his word does not lie and a lit

667
00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:02,800
Speaker 3: I mean willing testimony that what God says and his

668
00:32:02,840 --> 00:32:05,400
Speaker 3: word will come to pass right and we can hold

669
00:32:05,400 --> 00:32:08,480
Speaker 3: God accountable to his word. And that has been what

670
00:32:08,520 --> 00:32:09,800
Speaker 3: has manifested in my life.

671
00:32:10,320 --> 00:32:13,959
Speaker 1: I love that now you guys work together. I know

672
00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:16,960
Speaker 1: for me like I like my Space, so I like

673
00:32:17,000 --> 00:32:18,480
Speaker 1: to be able to go. But y'all, I feel like

674
00:32:18,520 --> 00:32:21,040
Speaker 1: you guys, was there any moments as you're building this

675
00:32:21,560 --> 00:32:24,040
Speaker 1: huge brand that it is today where y'all were like

676
00:32:24,120 --> 00:32:26,640
Speaker 1: bumping heads or was it always just like, no, we're

677
00:32:26,680 --> 00:32:28,080
Speaker 1: on the same page, it's smooth.

678
00:32:28,440 --> 00:32:29,280
Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely not.

679
00:32:29,640 --> 00:32:33,400
Speaker 3: No, like we bump hits, Yeah, and we bump heads

680
00:32:33,520 --> 00:32:37,040
Speaker 3: quite a bit, but you know, it's at the end

681
00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:39,760
Speaker 3: of the day, like we see the big picture. I

682
00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:43,080
Speaker 3: think it's normal to have conflict, yes, And I teach

683
00:32:43,120 --> 00:32:46,120
Speaker 3: my kids that. And sometimes we may bump heads in

684
00:32:46,120 --> 00:32:48,400
Speaker 3: front of our kids because I want them to see

685
00:32:48,440 --> 00:32:50,760
Speaker 3: the back and forth bickering, but I also want them

686
00:32:50,760 --> 00:32:53,920
Speaker 3: to see how do you solve conflict? Because life is

687
00:32:54,160 --> 00:32:56,760
Speaker 3: is not the absence of conflict. It's just it's how

688
00:32:56,800 --> 00:32:59,720
Speaker 3: you respond to it. And so that's what we focus

689
00:32:59,760 --> 00:33:02,000
Speaker 3: on because we know that we're not going to always agree,

690
00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:05,240
Speaker 3: and we know that conflict can be healthy and it's

691
00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:08,120
Speaker 3: how you work through it. So because we we are

692
00:33:08,240 --> 00:33:11,640
Speaker 3: aligned with the big picture, we're aligned with our vision,

693
00:33:12,160 --> 00:33:15,000
Speaker 3: our goals, we're aligned with our legacy that we want

694
00:33:15,040 --> 00:33:18,040
Speaker 3: to leave for our family, and we realize that no

695
00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:20,960
Speaker 3: matter what we argue over or bigger about, like it's

696
00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:24,880
Speaker 3: not even important, right, it's when you look at the

697
00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:28,680
Speaker 3: big picture, is it worth messing up what we've built,

698
00:33:28,760 --> 00:33:31,440
Speaker 3: what we've created, the legacy that we're leaving, and nine

699
00:33:31,520 --> 00:33:32,920
Speaker 3: times out of ten, it's really not.

700
00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:34,960
Speaker 2: It's so minor, it's so minute.

701
00:33:36,600 --> 00:33:39,640
Speaker 3: But we do understand that we have to have our

702
00:33:39,680 --> 00:33:43,520
Speaker 3: own individual lives outside of being a wife and a husband,

703
00:33:43,720 --> 00:33:46,680
Speaker 3: and that's important for us. So, like you know, I

704
00:33:46,720 --> 00:33:49,400
Speaker 3: am a mom, a CEO, a wife, but I have

705
00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:51,000
Speaker 3: to have my girl girlfriend time.

706
00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:53,120
Speaker 1: You do that very well too. Yeah.

707
00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:58,760
Speaker 3: I try to high level balance because you need your girlfriends, right,

708
00:33:58,760 --> 00:34:01,960
Speaker 3: You need your support group that you can share things

709
00:34:01,960 --> 00:34:04,480
Speaker 3: that you can't necessarily share with your husband, Like my

710
00:34:04,560 --> 00:34:08,000
Speaker 3: husband can't relate on like female things. So you have

711
00:34:08,040 --> 00:34:10,560
Speaker 3: to have the balance of like your your friends, your

712
00:34:10,600 --> 00:34:13,520
Speaker 3: inner circle. And he has to have that for himself.

713
00:34:13,880 --> 00:34:16,120
Speaker 3: He can go on golf trips, I can go on

714
00:34:16,120 --> 00:34:18,680
Speaker 3: my girl trips because when we come back, you want

715
00:34:18,680 --> 00:34:21,080
Speaker 3: to miss each other. Yes, I think that's important for

716
00:34:21,120 --> 00:34:21,440
Speaker 3: you all.

717
00:34:23,600 --> 00:34:24,160
Speaker 1: Yes, yes.

718
00:34:24,480 --> 00:34:25,279
Speaker 2: And even when we.

719
00:34:25,200 --> 00:34:28,840
Speaker 3: Worked in the in the warehouse, in the office, his office,

720
00:34:28,960 --> 00:34:31,839
Speaker 3: we intentionally made his office way on the opposite side

721
00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:34,600
Speaker 3: of the warehouse and minds was over here, and that

722
00:34:34,800 --> 00:34:37,200
Speaker 3: was because I don't we work together, but I don't

723
00:34:37,200 --> 00:34:39,120
Speaker 3: have to see you all day, Like I still want

724
00:34:39,120 --> 00:34:40,719
Speaker 3: to miss you, and sometimes we will be in the

725
00:34:40,800 --> 00:34:43,200
Speaker 3: office and not see each other until we go home,

726
00:34:43,400 --> 00:34:45,920
Speaker 3: and then we still talk about our day, Like you know,

727
00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:48,960
Speaker 3: we work in two separate entities that we're actually together,

728
00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:51,360
Speaker 3: so you have to give each other time to like

729
00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:54,040
Speaker 3: have their space and miss each other, because I think

730
00:34:54,080 --> 00:34:57,480
Speaker 3: that's important because you are a person outside of you know,

731
00:34:57,520 --> 00:34:59,000
Speaker 3: who you are to your spouse.

732
00:35:00,760 --> 00:35:03,920
Speaker 1: In building my organics, What was the moment where you

733
00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:08,680
Speaker 1: both realize we got something and this is a hit.

734
00:35:09,360 --> 00:35:11,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was a day that we launched. I realized

735
00:35:11,960 --> 00:35:16,000
Speaker 3: that this is something special because when I did all

736
00:35:16,080 --> 00:35:21,959
Speaker 3: of the other direct sell business, nothing never took off,

737
00:35:22,320 --> 00:35:26,399
Speaker 3: Like I couldn't sell something to save my life. And

738
00:35:26,440 --> 00:35:28,759
Speaker 3: then when MAYEO took off, and then I had all

739
00:35:28,800 --> 00:35:31,640
Speaker 3: these orders coming in, I was like, oh, this is different,

740
00:35:32,040 --> 00:35:35,320
Speaker 3: you know, this is like this is like God ordained

741
00:35:35,440 --> 00:35:38,160
Speaker 3: because I had no clue that it would sell the

742
00:35:38,200 --> 00:35:41,800
Speaker 3: way that it sold. And I remember my husband jumping

743
00:35:41,840 --> 00:35:46,160
Speaker 3: in on board because you know, he has the logistical background, operations,

744
00:35:46,239 --> 00:35:50,360
Speaker 3: that's what he focuses on, and I'm the visionary of

745
00:35:50,400 --> 00:35:52,920
Speaker 3: the creator. So I created this product, I created this brand,

746
00:35:52,960 --> 00:35:55,520
Speaker 3: and then once we started selling, I'm like, oh, now

747
00:35:55,520 --> 00:35:57,760
Speaker 3: we got to ship it out to people like the customers.

748
00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:00,560
Speaker 3: So I have no idea how that works logistically. So

749
00:36:00,600 --> 00:36:03,920
Speaker 3: he jumped on board with his logistical engineering background and

750
00:36:04,040 --> 00:36:06,960
Speaker 3: set up a whole process and system. So we were

751
00:36:06,960 --> 00:36:11,120
Speaker 3: like very organized. We had a two man shop in

752
00:36:11,160 --> 00:36:13,480
Speaker 3: our in our basement at the time, and we were

753
00:36:13,560 --> 00:36:15,319
Speaker 3: just shipping out orders and.

754
00:36:15,280 --> 00:36:16,760
Speaker 1: We were a team.

755
00:36:17,040 --> 00:36:19,200
Speaker 3: And yeah, we just came together and I knew, like,

756
00:36:19,520 --> 00:36:21,760
Speaker 3: this is something special and if we put a thousand

757
00:36:21,760 --> 00:36:24,600
Speaker 3: percent into this, we can really make this thing big.

758
00:36:24,800 --> 00:36:27,200
Speaker 1: Yeah. And when did you decide that we're going to

759
00:36:27,239 --> 00:36:30,239
Speaker 1: go into the big stores? Like what was that moment? So,

760
00:36:30,640 --> 00:36:32,680
Speaker 1: but you couldn't handle it from the basement anymore.

761
00:36:33,160 --> 00:36:35,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, So we went from our basement to the garage.

762
00:36:35,920 --> 00:36:37,120
Speaker 3: So we had a three card garage.

763
00:36:37,200 --> 00:36:39,440
Speaker 1: I remember the garage, Yeah, I think I remember like

764
00:36:39,440 --> 00:36:42,160
Speaker 1: put y'all posting that. Yes, yes, yeah, So we.

765
00:36:42,080 --> 00:36:45,160
Speaker 3: Had all we had a time clock in the garage.

766
00:36:45,520 --> 00:36:48,560
Speaker 3: We had a pumping system where my husband was like

767
00:36:48,840 --> 00:36:51,200
Speaker 3: he put this contraption together and we would pump out

768
00:36:51,200 --> 00:36:54,520
Speaker 3: the bubbasu deep conditioner and I would package it and

769
00:36:54,560 --> 00:37:00,640
Speaker 3: label it. We had a whole operation and when we

770
00:37:01,360 --> 00:37:04,400
Speaker 3: had the call to go into retail Like it wasn't

771
00:37:04,520 --> 00:37:07,120
Speaker 3: because we chose to go into retail. We were just

772
00:37:07,560 --> 00:37:11,640
Speaker 3: focused on building and the company. And we got the

773
00:37:11,680 --> 00:37:14,160
Speaker 3: call from sally Beauty, that was our first retail partner.

774
00:37:14,760 --> 00:37:18,480
Speaker 3: And when we got the call, so, Sally's headquarters is

775
00:37:18,520 --> 00:37:22,520
Speaker 3: in Denton, Texas, and we happened to be there in

776
00:37:22,600 --> 00:37:28,000
Speaker 3: Dallas for my daughter's gymnastic competition and they called us like, hey.

777
00:37:27,840 --> 00:37:28,640
Speaker 2: We want to meet with you.

778
00:37:28,680 --> 00:37:28,960
Speaker 1: Guys.

779
00:37:28,960 --> 00:37:30,800
Speaker 2: We're interested in bringing into our stores.

780
00:37:31,200 --> 00:37:35,440
Speaker 3: And I'm like, Texas. What are the odds that number one,

781
00:37:35,480 --> 00:37:37,759
Speaker 3: we're in Texas? And number two Like, I wasn't even

782
00:37:37,760 --> 00:37:40,320
Speaker 3: thinking about retail. I had put Sally's on my vision

783
00:37:40,360 --> 00:37:43,440
Speaker 3: board to go into retail year five because you know

784
00:37:43,520 --> 00:37:46,440
Speaker 3: textbook how they say, oh, once you hit five years,

785
00:37:46,480 --> 00:37:47,680
Speaker 3: you have a viable business.

786
00:37:47,760 --> 00:37:47,920
Speaker 1: Yo.

787
00:37:48,719 --> 00:37:52,080
Speaker 3: I was following with the book and that was my vision.

788
00:37:52,120 --> 00:37:55,200
Speaker 3: So guys said exceedingly abundantly. And when we got the call,

789
00:37:55,840 --> 00:37:57,839
Speaker 3: we told them no because we had our kids with

790
00:37:57,920 --> 00:38:00,759
Speaker 3: us and we're like, well, we don't a babysitter, We're

791
00:38:00,800 --> 00:38:02,840
Speaker 3: not from Texas. They're like, bring your kids to the meeting.

792
00:38:03,520 --> 00:38:06,239
Speaker 3: And that was another like god moment where I'm like, oh, yeah,

793
00:38:06,360 --> 00:38:07,319
Speaker 3: this is a serious word.

794
00:38:07,400 --> 00:38:07,640
Speaker 1: Yeah.

795
00:38:07,760 --> 00:38:10,200
Speaker 3: Yeah, we launched into retail, we had the meeting with them,

796
00:38:10,560 --> 00:38:14,839
Speaker 3: we launched a following planning ground reset, which is which

797
00:38:14,920 --> 00:38:20,719
Speaker 3: was February of twenty twenty, twenty sixteen, and then when

798
00:38:20,760 --> 00:38:22,759
Speaker 3: we launched, we sewed out in every store that we

799
00:38:22,840 --> 00:38:25,359
Speaker 3: launched in come So it was like the retail came

800
00:38:25,400 --> 00:38:30,160
Speaker 3: after us, and once that retailer had the success that

801
00:38:30,239 --> 00:38:33,839
Speaker 3: they garnered, other retailers started knocking because they're like, oh, well,

802
00:38:33,880 --> 00:38:35,759
Speaker 3: we want to have a piece of that pie too.

803
00:38:36,239 --> 00:38:38,400
Speaker 3: So it wasn't that we were searching for retailer. The

804
00:38:38,480 --> 00:38:41,400
Speaker 3: retailers came to us, which is a blessing, a.

805
00:38:41,680 --> 00:38:44,440
Speaker 1: Huge blessing because most of the time people are pitching

806
00:38:44,480 --> 00:38:47,160
Speaker 1: their products to the retail Yeah, that's amazing.

807
00:38:47,200 --> 00:38:50,680
Speaker 3: We barely had to pitch, like it was so effortlessly

808
00:38:50,800 --> 00:38:52,960
Speaker 3: like us going we didn't even have a former presentation.

809
00:38:53,600 --> 00:38:55,719
Speaker 2: We met with Sally's. It was like, hey, this is

810
00:38:55,760 --> 00:38:56,200
Speaker 2: the brand.

811
00:38:56,600 --> 00:38:59,480
Speaker 3: Our kids were sitting at the round table and it

812
00:38:59,600 --> 00:39:02,799
Speaker 3: was so informal, but that's how bad they wanted us

813
00:39:02,800 --> 00:39:03,640
Speaker 3: into their stores.

814
00:39:04,320 --> 00:39:08,040
Speaker 1: Wow, that is incredible. Yeah, so you're on this journey

815
00:39:08,080 --> 00:39:11,200
Speaker 1: of just the rise of my l organics. What was

816
00:39:11,239 --> 00:39:13,319
Speaker 1: that journey like, so I know, as you're going up,

817
00:39:13,360 --> 00:39:15,920
Speaker 1: you're gonna because people always think that like once you

818
00:39:16,040 --> 00:39:18,400
Speaker 1: hit make it quote unquote that like I was just

819
00:39:18,520 --> 00:39:20,840
Speaker 1: smooth sailing, It's easy. What were some of the bumps

820
00:39:20,880 --> 00:39:22,920
Speaker 1: that you guys hit along the way as you continue

821
00:39:22,920 --> 00:39:23,440
Speaker 1: to rise?

822
00:39:23,840 --> 00:39:26,799
Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, it gets more challenging because bigger you are.

823
00:39:27,480 --> 00:39:30,239
Speaker 3: You know, they always say more money, more problems, right,

824
00:39:30,880 --> 00:39:33,239
Speaker 3: and that has some truth to it because there are

825
00:39:33,239 --> 00:39:36,040
Speaker 3: more eyeballs on you, the more challenges are gonna come,

826
00:39:36,080 --> 00:39:40,160
Speaker 3: the more roadblocks. And we experienced a lot of different

827
00:39:40,239 --> 00:39:42,799
Speaker 3: roadblocks and obstacles, and I talk about a lot of

828
00:39:42,880 --> 00:39:45,879
Speaker 3: our challenges in the book. At one point we were

829
00:39:45,960 --> 00:39:49,520
Speaker 3: not profitable, and at one point I did not know

830
00:39:49,600 --> 00:39:52,480
Speaker 3: if Mayel would make it right. We were on the

831
00:39:52,520 --> 00:39:55,879
Speaker 3: brinks of like, you know, the bank's gonna come after

832
00:39:56,000 --> 00:39:59,160
Speaker 3: us if we don't pay them their money back. So

833
00:39:59,200 --> 00:40:01,719
Speaker 3: it was a very challenge in time that people on

834
00:40:01,760 --> 00:40:06,480
Speaker 3: the outside didn't know because the brand was doing extremely well,

835
00:40:06,840 --> 00:40:09,040
Speaker 3: like the sales were through the roof, so on the

836
00:40:09,120 --> 00:40:12,440
Speaker 3: outside people are like, oh, this brand is amazing, But

837
00:40:12,840 --> 00:40:16,680
Speaker 3: on the underneath, when you look at our financials, it

838
00:40:16,840 --> 00:40:20,279
Speaker 3: was horrible. Wow, And we went through this process of

839
00:40:20,320 --> 00:40:26,120
Speaker 3: having to turn our business around and we needed funding, yes, right,

840
00:40:26,200 --> 00:40:30,239
Speaker 3: because at that point we had overspent, which is a

841
00:40:30,239 --> 00:40:32,160
Speaker 3: common mistake a lot of entrepreneurs make.

842
00:40:33,280 --> 00:40:37,560
Speaker 2: But we felt that we had such great.

843
00:40:37,360 --> 00:40:40,480
Speaker 3: Conviction that what we were building was still so great

844
00:40:40,960 --> 00:40:42,480
Speaker 3: that we still had to show up with a smile

845
00:40:42,520 --> 00:40:44,760
Speaker 3: on our face. We still had to serve our community,

846
00:40:44,760 --> 00:40:47,960
Speaker 3: We still had to serve our employees. At one point,

847
00:40:48,120 --> 00:40:51,560
Speaker 3: we were not paying ourselves so people can come to work,

848
00:40:51,680 --> 00:40:55,200
Speaker 3: and still they don't hear that, right, Like we were

849
00:40:55,239 --> 00:40:58,360
Speaker 3: not making any money. We had to sacrifice a lot

850
00:40:58,760 --> 00:41:02,160
Speaker 3: to maintain face because we didn't want our employees to

851
00:41:02,800 --> 00:41:05,040
Speaker 3: know what was going on, because what they have the

852
00:41:05,040 --> 00:41:07,440
Speaker 3: same level of enthusiasm to show up and work if

853
00:41:07,440 --> 00:41:09,400
Speaker 3: they knew that the company was like suffering on the

854
00:41:09,440 --> 00:41:12,080
Speaker 3: back yend, right, So those are the moments like people

855
00:41:12,120 --> 00:41:15,480
Speaker 3: don't see. And then once we were able to garner funding,

856
00:41:15,560 --> 00:41:18,000
Speaker 3: we got a lot of no's and I talk about

857
00:41:18,040 --> 00:41:22,000
Speaker 3: one big no that stuck out to me as a

858
00:41:22,040 --> 00:41:25,319
Speaker 3: part of this journey. The investors wanted forty percent of

859
00:41:25,360 --> 00:41:29,400
Speaker 3: our company and it was a bad deal and we

860
00:41:29,440 --> 00:41:32,400
Speaker 3: had to walk away. From that knowing that even though

861
00:41:32,560 --> 00:41:34,839
Speaker 3: they were giving us some money that we needed, we

862
00:41:34,840 --> 00:41:37,839
Speaker 3: were not willing to sacrifice and give that much of

863
00:41:37,840 --> 00:41:40,920
Speaker 3: our company away because we knew how valuable our company

864
00:41:41,080 --> 00:41:43,240
Speaker 3: was and as we were building.

865
00:41:43,600 --> 00:41:44,280
Speaker 2: And I think.

866
00:41:44,160 --> 00:41:48,359
Speaker 3: That's a huge key on it for entrepreneurs is that

867
00:41:49,320 --> 00:41:51,319
Speaker 3: we can't be so quick to take our money from

868
00:41:51,320 --> 00:41:55,200
Speaker 3: investors because that is a whole another animal. It is

869
00:41:55,239 --> 00:41:59,200
Speaker 3: a relationship, It is a marriage with whoever you're partnering with,

870
00:41:59,800 --> 00:42:02,759
Speaker 3: and you want to make the right choice. And I

871
00:42:02,840 --> 00:42:07,120
Speaker 3: tell people like, don't dilute your shares early on, because

872
00:42:07,160 --> 00:42:09,719
Speaker 3: what you're building can be so valuable, so you can

873
00:42:09,880 --> 00:42:13,560
Speaker 3: have the largest exit ever for a black, female.

874
00:42:13,280 --> 00:42:14,080
Speaker 2: Or male entrepreneur.

875
00:42:14,120 --> 00:42:16,560
Speaker 3: The reason why we had the largest exit was because

876
00:42:16,600 --> 00:42:19,600
Speaker 3: I didn't dilute my shares early on. We sacrificed a

877
00:42:19,640 --> 00:42:23,000
Speaker 3: lot to not take on that money that they wanted

878
00:42:23,040 --> 00:42:26,160
Speaker 3: forty percent, right, So we had to just be patient

879
00:42:26,520 --> 00:42:28,880
Speaker 3: and wait it out until we met the right investors

880
00:42:28,920 --> 00:42:32,160
Speaker 3: that were willing to invest in us. And patience is

881
00:42:32,160 --> 00:42:35,160
Speaker 3: the key, right because that patience is pruning you.

882
00:42:35,239 --> 00:42:37,239
Speaker 2: It's building cares, it's building.

883
00:42:36,960 --> 00:42:40,279
Speaker 3: Resilience, it's building like that tenacious spirit that we need

884
00:42:40,320 --> 00:42:44,080
Speaker 3: as entrepreneurs. It's building a new level of wisdom and

885
00:42:44,120 --> 00:42:46,440
Speaker 3: knowledge that you need to carry on into your next

886
00:42:46,640 --> 00:42:51,480
Speaker 3: venture or project. Right, And so those are some lessons

887
00:42:51,480 --> 00:42:53,919
Speaker 3: that I wanted to share because it's so easy for

888
00:42:54,160 --> 00:42:55,880
Speaker 3: someone to say, hey, we're going to give you two

889
00:42:55,920 --> 00:42:58,960
Speaker 3: million dollars, but what comes with that two million.

890
00:42:58,680 --> 00:43:00,759
Speaker 1: Dollars left with?

891
00:43:01,280 --> 00:43:05,080
Speaker 3: Exactly? Exactly. So I just also caution people to be

892
00:43:05,200 --> 00:43:10,840
Speaker 3: very careful with picking investors, being students of life and

893
00:43:10,960 --> 00:43:15,839
Speaker 3: always learning and asking questions. You know, I was very

894
00:43:15,840 --> 00:43:18,920
Speaker 3: big on raising my hand and finding the people that

895
00:43:19,000 --> 00:43:22,160
Speaker 3: had the successful exit. How can I learn from you? Yes,

896
00:43:23,000 --> 00:43:25,520
Speaker 3: that was key, right, because in order to be a

897
00:43:25,600 --> 00:43:30,600
Speaker 3: champion tomorrow, you have to be teachable today. And I

898
00:43:30,640 --> 00:43:33,279
Speaker 3: have always been very teachable and coachable. And that was

899
00:43:33,280 --> 00:43:35,920
Speaker 3: one of the reasons why Berkshire, which was our private

900
00:43:35,920 --> 00:43:38,040
Speaker 3: equity partner, who was a great partner, by the way,

901
00:43:38,440 --> 00:43:38,879
Speaker 3: that's why.

902
00:43:38,840 --> 00:43:40,720
Speaker 2: They invested in us because they said, you and Melbourne

903
00:43:40,719 --> 00:43:41,520
Speaker 2: are very coachable.

904
00:43:42,200 --> 00:43:45,440
Speaker 1: I love it. I love that. So we get to

905
00:43:45,480 --> 00:43:49,359
Speaker 1: the point where it's time for the biggest exit and

906
00:43:49,080 --> 00:43:51,520
Speaker 1: your approach with hey, we want to buy your company.

907
00:43:52,400 --> 00:43:55,600
Speaker 1: As an entrepreneur, when do you know it is time

908
00:43:55,680 --> 00:43:58,080
Speaker 1: to sell or to say, hey, no, we don't want

909
00:43:58,120 --> 00:44:00,200
Speaker 1: to sell, we want to keep it. May did you

910
00:44:00,239 --> 00:44:01,320
Speaker 1: guys say this is time?

911
00:44:01,800 --> 00:44:04,920
Speaker 3: So that's a good question because you really don't know,

912
00:44:05,520 --> 00:44:07,360
Speaker 3: you don't know when it's the right time.

913
00:44:07,560 --> 00:44:11,239
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's I guess that's when that fearless faith comes in. Exactly.

914
00:44:11,320 --> 00:44:14,640
Speaker 3: Didn't really have to have faith because we did question

915
00:44:14,840 --> 00:44:18,480
Speaker 3: like is it time? Is it not time? And I

916
00:44:18,520 --> 00:44:21,600
Speaker 3: will tell you, looking back in hindsight, I am so

917
00:44:21,800 --> 00:44:22,759
Speaker 3: glad we did it.

918
00:44:22,800 --> 00:44:24,400
Speaker 2: When we did it, Oh good.

919
00:44:24,440 --> 00:44:26,840
Speaker 3: Right, And it's there's no right way to time it.

920
00:44:27,080 --> 00:44:30,880
Speaker 3: And we were having this conversation with our investor Berkshire

921
00:44:30,920 --> 00:44:33,960
Speaker 3: and we recently just had dinner with them a few

922
00:44:34,040 --> 00:44:36,239
Speaker 3: weeks ago, and we were talking about the same thing,

923
00:44:36,360 --> 00:44:39,040
Speaker 3: like we couldn't have timed it perfectly, but there's no

924
00:44:39,200 --> 00:44:42,520
Speaker 3: way to predict how to time it. So our model

925
00:44:42,760 --> 00:44:45,319
Speaker 3: was slow and steady wins the race, but strike while

926
00:44:45,320 --> 00:44:48,600
Speaker 3: the iron is hot. You know, we had taken the

927
00:44:48,640 --> 00:44:51,360
Speaker 3: company to new heights. We had taken it to a

928
00:44:51,360 --> 00:44:57,160
Speaker 3: new level of profitability. And when we looked at our financials,

929
00:44:57,560 --> 00:44:59,200
Speaker 3: we looked at where we were as a company, we

930
00:44:59,280 --> 00:45:05,080
Speaker 3: looked at, you know, our distribution, our customer base. It

931
00:45:05,120 --> 00:45:08,880
Speaker 3: was like all the stars were aligning right and the interest.

932
00:45:08,960 --> 00:45:14,359
Speaker 3: We had so many inbound interests from strategic companies, and

933
00:45:14,400 --> 00:45:17,839
Speaker 3: the thing is like, you don't know if they're going

934
00:45:17,880 --> 00:45:21,239
Speaker 3: to be interested in you tomorrow, because they may have

935
00:45:21,360 --> 00:45:24,239
Speaker 3: something else that comes in hot, and they may go

936
00:45:24,320 --> 00:45:26,440
Speaker 3: to the next one, and then you've missed your opportunity

937
00:45:26,520 --> 00:45:30,360
Speaker 3: or missed your value ryes. So, because we were getting

938
00:45:30,400 --> 00:45:33,879
Speaker 3: so many inbound interests and the stars were aligning, we said,

939
00:45:33,920 --> 00:45:36,120
Speaker 3: as a team, we're going to just test the market.

940
00:45:36,560 --> 00:45:38,960
Speaker 3: We're going to see what it comes back in. We're

941
00:45:38,960 --> 00:45:42,560
Speaker 3: going to just see what we're valued at. And we

942
00:45:42,640 --> 00:45:45,200
Speaker 3: had to know that once we put our stuff out

943
00:45:45,239 --> 00:45:48,760
Speaker 3: there in the market for a potential sale, it's harder

944
00:45:48,840 --> 00:45:50,800
Speaker 3: to put yourself out and then take it back.

945
00:45:51,760 --> 00:45:54,320
Speaker 2: So we had to have faith that.

946
00:45:54,200 --> 00:45:56,239
Speaker 3: We were going to get the value or close to

947
00:45:56,320 --> 00:46:01,560
Speaker 3: the value that we were hoping for, and have faith

948
00:46:01,600 --> 00:46:03,040
Speaker 3: that it was just going to come back. Once we

949
00:46:03,120 --> 00:46:06,960
Speaker 3: put our bid out to the market and it came back,

950
00:46:07,000 --> 00:46:10,359
Speaker 3: and I remember our investor told us, she said, if

951
00:46:10,360 --> 00:46:14,160
Speaker 3: it doesn't come back to what you guys want, there's

952
00:46:14,200 --> 00:46:17,200
Speaker 3: no turning back. So we have to be okay with

953
00:46:17,320 --> 00:46:22,200
Speaker 3: whatever people bid that. It's something that we have to

954
00:46:22,200 --> 00:46:24,520
Speaker 3: be okay with as a team. Wow, and we're going

955
00:46:24,560 --> 00:46:25,719
Speaker 3: to have to just roll with it.

956
00:46:26,520 --> 00:46:29,160
Speaker 1: So okay. So you're saying once you put it out there,

957
00:46:29,520 --> 00:46:31,000
Speaker 1: there's no saying, oh, we don't want to sell it

958
00:46:31,040 --> 00:46:32,880
Speaker 1: now like real estate, like how you can take your

959
00:46:32,920 --> 00:46:34,040
Speaker 1: house off the market, can you?

960
00:46:34,560 --> 00:46:35,719
Speaker 2: And it's just not a good look.

961
00:46:36,320 --> 00:46:38,839
Speaker 3: It's just not a good look because the time and

962
00:46:38,960 --> 00:46:43,279
Speaker 3: effort to prepare to package the brandy, to put it

963
00:46:43,320 --> 00:46:46,759
Speaker 3: out in the market for strategics or investors to bid

964
00:46:46,800 --> 00:46:49,480
Speaker 3: on it. That's a lot of heavy lifting. It's a

965
00:46:49,560 --> 00:46:54,880
Speaker 3: lot of work. And so you're working with investor investment bankers,

966
00:46:54,880 --> 00:46:58,239
Speaker 3: you're working with our investing team. So all the time

967
00:46:58,280 --> 00:47:00,520
Speaker 3: and energy that people are going to put in, Like

968
00:47:00,560 --> 00:47:02,440
Speaker 3: if you put it out there and say, oh no,

969
00:47:02,760 --> 00:47:03,960
Speaker 3: it's not time yet.

970
00:47:04,080 --> 00:47:06,399
Speaker 2: It's just not like it just doesn't look good.

971
00:47:07,040 --> 00:47:09,919
Speaker 3: And then to my point earlier, if you go back

972
00:47:09,960 --> 00:47:12,879
Speaker 3: out there later, you may not get the same type

973
00:47:12,920 --> 00:47:15,600
Speaker 3: of value because they may say, well, you came out

974
00:47:15,600 --> 00:47:16,440
Speaker 3: here before it, are you.

975
00:47:16,360 --> 00:47:17,080
Speaker 2: Going to pull it back?

976
00:47:17,239 --> 00:47:18,879
Speaker 3: Are you not going to be serious with your sell

977
00:47:19,480 --> 00:47:22,879
Speaker 3: So it's like a it's literally a faithfulk You really

978
00:47:22,920 --> 00:47:25,560
Speaker 3: just have to have faith. It's scary, yeah, because we

979
00:47:25,600 --> 00:47:27,600
Speaker 3: knew that we were just gonna put ourselves out there.

980
00:47:27,640 --> 00:47:31,480
Speaker 3: So thankfully, once we did put ourselves out there, we

981
00:47:31,640 --> 00:47:35,360
Speaker 3: had some really great valuations and we said we're just

982
00:47:35,400 --> 00:47:37,879
Speaker 3: going to go for it because we don't know what

983
00:47:38,120 --> 00:47:40,440
Speaker 3: the outlook of the world and the economy looks like,

984
00:47:40,920 --> 00:47:43,000
Speaker 3: you know, in the future, and we see what it

985
00:47:43,120 --> 00:47:45,440
Speaker 3: was going on. Now, that's why I said, it couldn't

986
00:47:45,440 --> 00:47:49,200
Speaker 3: have been better timing. So we just said that we

987
00:47:49,200 --> 00:47:51,680
Speaker 3: were going to stick with what the values came back

988
00:47:51,680 --> 00:47:53,279
Speaker 3: with and we were just going to enter into the

989
00:47:53,320 --> 00:47:57,160
Speaker 3: process and start dating strategic partners and find who is

990
00:47:57,200 --> 00:47:58,480
Speaker 3: the right partner for Mael.

991
00:47:59,600 --> 00:48:01,960
Speaker 1: And then you ended up with there's a Procter and

992
00:48:01,960 --> 00:48:06,880
Speaker 1: gam Gamble, which is a very world renowned company in

993
00:48:06,920 --> 00:48:09,400
Speaker 1: the beauty space. They do so many different things. But

994
00:48:10,120 --> 00:48:15,880
Speaker 1: so we've all your faithful buyers and customers here that

995
00:48:15,960 --> 00:48:19,560
Speaker 1: you sold to Protein Gamble, which is what it's business.

996
00:48:20,000 --> 00:48:23,320
Speaker 1: You know, it's business. But there was so much backlash

997
00:48:23,320 --> 00:48:25,680
Speaker 1: from that, like, oh she sold out, or oh she

998
00:48:26,160 --> 00:48:28,440
Speaker 1: like sold out to the white man. Or whatever the

999
00:48:28,640 --> 00:48:32,160
Speaker 1: people say. When you're at home and you're hearing these

1000
00:48:32,160 --> 00:48:34,440
Speaker 1: things and reading these things, but knowing that this is

1001
00:48:34,480 --> 00:48:36,759
Speaker 1: the business decision that I made and I'm standing on it.

1002
00:48:37,320 --> 00:48:39,439
Speaker 1: Did how did that feel when you're reading and hearing

1003
00:48:39,480 --> 00:48:40,800
Speaker 1: all these things that people are saying.

1004
00:48:41,360 --> 00:48:45,239
Speaker 3: Well, Number one, it was the business decision that God

1005
00:48:45,320 --> 00:48:47,960
Speaker 3: put in me because of what people don't know is

1006
00:48:48,000 --> 00:48:52,080
Speaker 3: the prayers and the journaling that me and God sat

1007
00:48:52,120 --> 00:48:55,960
Speaker 3: down and had this conversation right right, So before I

1008
00:48:56,000 --> 00:48:59,080
Speaker 3: sold to PNG, before we entered into the process we

1009
00:48:59,200 --> 00:49:04,040
Speaker 3: entered into of August of twenty two, I journaled had

1010
00:49:04,040 --> 00:49:06,400
Speaker 3: a conversation with God, and I kid you not, I

1011
00:49:06,440 --> 00:49:10,120
Speaker 3: have the journaling to prove it. In may I wrote down,

1012
00:49:10,239 --> 00:49:13,920
Speaker 3: MAYO will be acquired by PNG. Wow. Had no idea

1013
00:49:14,040 --> 00:49:16,279
Speaker 3: that P and G would enter into the process. Didn't

1014
00:49:16,320 --> 00:49:18,000
Speaker 3: know that we were even going to have a conversation

1015
00:49:18,080 --> 00:49:20,879
Speaker 3: with them. But that was a vision that came from God,

1016
00:49:21,320 --> 00:49:22,959
Speaker 3: and I wrote it down. He says, write the vision

1017
00:49:22,960 --> 00:49:25,920
Speaker 3: and make it plain. And so when we entered into process,

1018
00:49:26,640 --> 00:49:28,839
Speaker 3: P and G ended up becoming one of the ones

1019
00:49:28,880 --> 00:49:31,160
Speaker 3: that was in the running, and we were in the

1020
00:49:31,200 --> 00:49:35,840
Speaker 3: thick of negotiations we went to church. We called our pastor.

1021
00:49:35,920 --> 00:49:38,319
Speaker 3: It was like ten o'clock at night, and we said

1022
00:49:38,360 --> 00:49:41,799
Speaker 3: we need prayer because we were in negotiations on Zoom

1023
00:49:41,880 --> 00:49:43,800
Speaker 3: late at night.

1024
00:49:43,080 --> 00:49:45,120
Speaker 2: And we asked him, can we have a breather? Can

1025
00:49:45,160 --> 00:49:45,840
Speaker 2: we take a break?

1026
00:49:45,880 --> 00:49:48,520
Speaker 3: We went to our church, had our pastor pray, and

1027
00:49:48,560 --> 00:49:50,839
Speaker 3: our pastor said, it's something about P and G that's

1028
00:49:50,880 --> 00:49:53,799
Speaker 3: jumping out in my spirit. So this was confirmation from

1029
00:49:53,800 --> 00:49:56,640
Speaker 3: my pastor. Mind you, I forgot that I wrote that down.

1030
00:49:56,960 --> 00:49:59,400
Speaker 3: Oh okay, that is a crazy so I forgot I

1031
00:49:59,400 --> 00:50:02,200
Speaker 3: wrote it down confirmation for my pastor. We come back,

1032
00:50:02,320 --> 00:50:04,080
Speaker 3: get back on a zoom. We made the decision, we're

1033
00:50:04,120 --> 00:50:06,960
Speaker 3: going to go with PG. Right, we do all the documents,

1034
00:50:07,040 --> 00:50:10,120
Speaker 3: we close. I go back into my closet because that's

1035
00:50:10,160 --> 00:50:12,440
Speaker 3: why our journal, and I'm flicking through my journal pages

1036
00:50:12,440 --> 00:50:15,080
Speaker 3: because I'm getting ready to write down this process of

1037
00:50:15,120 --> 00:50:18,640
Speaker 3: what happened. Right, I'm flicking through my journal pages and

1038
00:50:18,920 --> 00:50:21,799
Speaker 3: my thumb lands on the journal entry that I made

1039
00:50:21,880 --> 00:50:24,440
Speaker 3: in may saying that Mayo will be acquired by PNG.

1040
00:50:24,920 --> 00:50:27,840
Speaker 3: When I tell you the chills that I received because

1041
00:50:27,880 --> 00:50:31,600
Speaker 3: I'm like God has confirmed this word. I am going

1042
00:50:31,719 --> 00:50:34,280
Speaker 3: in the right directory ordering my steps.

1043
00:50:34,520 --> 00:50:35,200
Speaker 2: I had to run.

1044
00:50:35,239 --> 00:50:38,200
Speaker 3: I get chills talking about this. I had to run

1045
00:50:38,200 --> 00:50:39,400
Speaker 3: and fine, mel but and I don't know where he

1046
00:50:39,440 --> 00:50:41,960
Speaker 3: was at. I was like, Helvin, look at look at

1047
00:50:42,000 --> 00:50:43,480
Speaker 3: what I wrote down. And mind you, this wasn't the

1048
00:50:43,480 --> 00:50:46,160
Speaker 3: first time that I wrote something down that I prayed

1049
00:50:46,160 --> 00:50:48,840
Speaker 3: over and God answered my prayers. And I pointed to

1050
00:50:48,880 --> 00:50:50,960
Speaker 3: I said look what I wrote down, and he was

1051
00:50:51,000 --> 00:50:52,760
Speaker 3: just like wow, Wow.

1052
00:50:52,920 --> 00:50:54,239
Speaker 1: It's like wow, yeah.

1053
00:50:54,320 --> 00:50:54,560
Speaker 2: Right.

1054
00:50:54,640 --> 00:50:57,560
Speaker 3: So when you talk about the critics, I'm saying all

1055
00:50:57,600 --> 00:51:01,400
Speaker 3: that to say is when people criticize me for the

1056
00:51:01,440 --> 00:51:04,520
Speaker 3: decisions that I'm making, it's really not my decisions. These

1057
00:51:04,520 --> 00:51:06,880
Speaker 3: are decisions that I pray so that God has revealed

1058
00:51:06,920 --> 00:51:09,080
Speaker 3: to me. So when you are criticizing me, you are

1059
00:51:09,160 --> 00:51:12,080
Speaker 3: ultimately criticizing the one who put me on this earth

1060
00:51:12,280 --> 00:51:14,760
Speaker 3: to accomplish the purpose and calling that He has placed

1061
00:51:14,800 --> 00:51:15,440
Speaker 3: on my life.

1062
00:51:15,520 --> 00:51:17,200
Speaker 2: And no one knows the conversations that me.

1063
00:51:17,160 --> 00:51:19,360
Speaker 3: And and that's why you can't share your dreams and

1064
00:51:19,400 --> 00:51:21,880
Speaker 3: your visions with everyone else, because it's not for everyone

1065
00:51:21,880 --> 00:51:24,680
Speaker 3: else to know what you and God talked about. So

1066
00:51:24,760 --> 00:51:27,080
Speaker 3: I can sleep well at night because I know that

1067
00:51:27,120 --> 00:51:31,000
Speaker 3: I operate with integrity. I know I operate with the

1068
00:51:31,120 --> 00:51:34,239
Speaker 3: utmost respect and confidence and servantry for my community and

1069
00:51:34,239 --> 00:51:36,520
Speaker 3: my people, and I know that I've done what I'm

1070
00:51:36,560 --> 00:51:40,560
Speaker 3: supposed to do, so the criticism does not bother me.

1071
00:51:40,640 --> 00:51:44,080
Speaker 3: I've been through worse, and I pray for them because

1072
00:51:44,120 --> 00:51:47,919
Speaker 3: I know that it's internal projection of their own insecurities

1073
00:51:47,960 --> 00:51:49,920
Speaker 3: and their lack of courage to walk in my shoes

1074
00:51:49,960 --> 00:51:52,239
Speaker 3: and to do what I'm doing, or they don't have

1075
00:51:52,280 --> 00:51:54,200
Speaker 3: the courage or belief system to even think that they

1076
00:51:54,239 --> 00:51:57,480
Speaker 3: can accomplish what I have accomplished. And they can if

1077
00:51:57,520 --> 00:52:01,560
Speaker 3: they take the same energy from criticizing people and turn

1078
00:52:01,640 --> 00:52:05,239
Speaker 3: them on to something positive. Right, That's really what it is.

1079
00:52:05,280 --> 00:52:09,080
Speaker 3: Because I never went on something on social media to

1080
00:52:09,320 --> 00:52:11,960
Speaker 3: criticize them. I may have thought it right. I think

1081
00:52:11,960 --> 00:52:14,640
Speaker 3: we all think something right, but I'm not going to

1082
00:52:14,719 --> 00:52:17,319
Speaker 3: actually verbalize it and say it because I don't have

1083
00:52:17,360 --> 00:52:19,600
Speaker 3: the time or energy and I don't want to block

1084
00:52:19,680 --> 00:52:23,400
Speaker 3: my blessing by doing that. No, So I just, you know,

1085
00:52:23,640 --> 00:52:25,480
Speaker 3: I take it with the granted. So I embrace it

1086
00:52:25,880 --> 00:52:28,520
Speaker 3: because they pushed me to go harder and to keep

1087
00:52:28,560 --> 00:52:31,680
Speaker 3: showing up, and I feel that, you know, it's also

1088
00:52:31,760 --> 00:52:37,080
Speaker 3: a testament that you know God is reminding everyone that

1089
00:52:37,160 --> 00:52:41,440
Speaker 3: sees anyone that's facing adversity to stay sa fast in

1090
00:52:41,480 --> 00:52:44,840
Speaker 3: the moment of adversity because the grace and the poise

1091
00:52:44,880 --> 00:52:47,960
Speaker 3: that you carry and possess why you're facing adversity is

1092
00:52:48,000 --> 00:52:50,880
Speaker 3: inspiring someone else that's watching you. Yes, so I focus

1093
00:52:50,880 --> 00:52:53,440
Speaker 3: on the people that support me, not the ones that don't. Right.

1094
00:52:53,719 --> 00:52:56,319
Speaker 1: I love it. That is so good. It's crazy because

1095
00:52:56,360 --> 00:52:59,799
Speaker 1: when you are building and grinding, everybody's cheering you on.

1096
00:53:00,040 --> 00:53:02,080
Speaker 1: But as soon as you become the one, that's when

1097
00:53:02,480 --> 00:53:04,200
Speaker 1: all the haters and they say, it's just I'm literally

1098
00:53:04,239 --> 00:53:07,239
Speaker 1: come out the woodworks like little cockroaches. Yes, like they just.

1099
00:53:07,360 --> 00:53:09,520
Speaker 3: That's exactly like the pastor Jamal Brian said, when the

1100
00:53:09,600 --> 00:53:12,320
Speaker 3: LIFs turn on, the cockroaches come out right.

1101
00:53:14,200 --> 00:53:20,320
Speaker 1: Literally literally. There was a big viral moment where people

1102
00:53:20,320 --> 00:53:22,399
Speaker 1: were coming out saying that they were losing their hair

1103
00:53:22,400 --> 00:53:24,200
Speaker 1: from using one of your products. And I'm going to say,

1104
00:53:24,640 --> 00:53:26,279
Speaker 1: I got a head full of hair and I've been

1105
00:53:26,360 --> 00:53:29,200
Speaker 1: using your products for years saying and they lost none

1106
00:53:29,239 --> 00:53:31,360
Speaker 1: of it, you know, like besides the hair that falls

1107
00:53:31,360 --> 00:53:33,520
Speaker 1: out on a day day basis just naturally, you know.

1108
00:53:34,280 --> 00:53:36,719
Speaker 1: And I was just like I cannot believe that, like

1109
00:53:36,800 --> 00:53:39,759
Speaker 1: somebody's going to this these links, you know, to try

1110
00:53:39,800 --> 00:53:42,080
Speaker 1: to take down another black woman. And it was just

1111
00:53:42,120 --> 00:53:44,480
Speaker 1: so disheartening and I can only imagine, and I would

1112
00:53:44,560 --> 00:53:46,440
Speaker 1: like for you to share, like in those moments in

1113
00:53:46,480 --> 00:53:48,440
Speaker 1: your closet, because I see you in your prayer closet

1114
00:53:48,480 --> 00:53:51,480
Speaker 1: praying with other women. What were those conversations like with

1115
00:53:51,600 --> 00:53:54,200
Speaker 1: God when you saw somebody really trying to attack your brand?

1116
00:53:54,239 --> 00:53:56,400
Speaker 1: This is like your baby, you know, yeah.

1117
00:53:56,520 --> 00:54:00,759
Speaker 3: Yeah, Well those conversations with God was I know that

1118
00:54:01,719 --> 00:54:04,520
Speaker 3: you're You're not gonna let one what you have built.

1119
00:54:04,600 --> 00:54:08,520
Speaker 3: No man can take that down, right, So that truth,

1120
00:54:09,000 --> 00:54:12,520
Speaker 3: because this is just one person, one troll that decided

1121
00:54:12,560 --> 00:54:18,200
Speaker 3: to be negative, and she can't stop the favor of God, right,

1122
00:54:18,320 --> 00:54:21,080
Speaker 3: she can't stop what God has blessing ordained. No man

1123
00:54:21,120 --> 00:54:24,600
Speaker 3: can take that away. And the sad thing about it

1124
00:54:24,640 --> 00:54:30,879
Speaker 3: is that truth it conflicts with lies to the point

1125
00:54:30,920 --> 00:54:35,520
Speaker 3: where lies can be perceived as true. And I feel

1126
00:54:35,560 --> 00:54:39,439
Speaker 3: that because Mael is such a great brand, and when

1127
00:54:40,080 --> 00:54:44,000
Speaker 3: people can't find anything negative about the brand or about myself,

1128
00:54:44,760 --> 00:54:48,680
Speaker 3: they make things up. And I know that it comes

1129
00:54:48,719 --> 00:54:49,600
Speaker 3: with the territory.

1130
00:54:49,719 --> 00:54:50,359
Speaker 1: The bigger you.

1131
00:54:50,320 --> 00:54:54,200
Speaker 3: Are and The crazy thing is mostly all the big

1132
00:54:54,239 --> 00:54:57,640
Speaker 3: brands have been attacked on last say, so I really

1133
00:54:57,719 --> 00:55:01,759
Speaker 3: knew that my time was coming right wait for it seriously,

1134
00:55:01,880 --> 00:55:06,320
Speaker 3: and it's sad, but it happens with every big brand.

1135
00:55:06,600 --> 00:55:10,520
Speaker 3: So it was confirmation that why I actually have done

1136
00:55:10,560 --> 00:55:13,200
Speaker 3: something really great. Yes, that people want to take the

1137
00:55:13,200 --> 00:55:14,759
Speaker 3: time out of their day to try to tear me

1138
00:55:14,840 --> 00:55:19,000
Speaker 3: down and nitpick about every single thing. And the people

1139
00:55:19,000 --> 00:55:21,359
Speaker 3: that already haven't made up in their mind that they

1140
00:55:21,400 --> 00:55:23,960
Speaker 3: want to misunderstand you, it's nothing you can do or

1141
00:55:24,000 --> 00:55:26,640
Speaker 3: say to try to prove them wrong. So I'm the

1142
00:55:26,680 --> 00:55:29,400
Speaker 3: type of person I am not afraid. I will address

1143
00:55:29,440 --> 00:55:31,439
Speaker 3: it head on, but I'm only gonna do it one time, yep.

1144
00:55:31,560 --> 00:55:34,040
Speaker 3: And I'm going to address it because of the people

1145
00:55:34,080 --> 00:55:36,759
Speaker 3: that do support, that do use the product, just to

1146
00:55:36,800 --> 00:55:40,160
Speaker 3: reassure them that, like the formulas haven't changed, the products

1147
00:55:40,200 --> 00:55:42,360
Speaker 3: are still the same. You can still use the products.

1148
00:55:42,360 --> 00:55:44,560
Speaker 3: They're safe and effective to use. There's still the same

1149
00:55:44,640 --> 00:55:48,560
Speaker 3: products that we had before the acquisition. Nothing has changed.

1150
00:55:48,600 --> 00:55:51,040
Speaker 3: Look at the labels, and that's what was so like

1151
00:55:51,239 --> 00:55:54,959
Speaker 3: baffling about is because like people, if you actually read

1152
00:55:55,000 --> 00:55:57,239
Speaker 3: the labels, you will see that the formula is still

1153
00:55:57,280 --> 00:56:02,360
Speaker 3: the same in twenty twenty versus today. So it's the

1154
00:56:02,400 --> 00:56:04,319
Speaker 3: fact that like people didn't even take the time to

1155
00:56:04,400 --> 00:56:07,040
Speaker 3: like educate themselves. They just want to run with the

1156
00:56:07,080 --> 00:56:08,480
Speaker 3: false narrative because it's.

1157
00:56:08,360 --> 00:56:11,239
Speaker 2: Like I knew it couldn't be that good. It's too

1158
00:56:11,280 --> 00:56:12,160
Speaker 2: good to be true.

1159
00:56:12,600 --> 00:56:15,360
Speaker 3: So let me try to like create this false narrative

1160
00:56:15,400 --> 00:56:19,000
Speaker 3: because this is just too good, right, And if you

1161
00:56:19,120 --> 00:56:21,839
Speaker 3: just take the time to educate yourself, and I try

1162
00:56:21,840 --> 00:56:23,880
Speaker 3: to educate the community, and I feel that the people

1163
00:56:23,920 --> 00:56:26,239
Speaker 3: that want to be educated hear you, they will hear

1164
00:56:26,280 --> 00:56:29,040
Speaker 3: me absolutely, because ignorance is a choice. We live in

1165
00:56:29,080 --> 00:56:32,080
Speaker 3: an error of so much access to information, and if

1166
00:56:32,120 --> 00:56:34,840
Speaker 3: you choose to still be ignorant when you have the

1167
00:56:34,880 --> 00:56:37,480
Speaker 3: information being presented in front of you, then you're choosing

1168
00:56:37,560 --> 00:56:39,279
Speaker 3: to be ignorant. And that is quite all right. You

1169
00:56:39,280 --> 00:56:41,160
Speaker 3: can stay right where you're at, yes, But I owe

1170
00:56:41,160 --> 00:56:44,000
Speaker 3: me over here. I'm gonna keep moving, I'm gonna keep elevating. Yes,

1171
00:56:44,280 --> 00:56:47,680
Speaker 3: So you just gotta like do what you can, but

1172
00:56:47,880 --> 00:56:50,840
Speaker 3: focus on what's important and not the nay sayers.

1173
00:56:50,920 --> 00:56:52,480
Speaker 1: I will and I will say that you handle it

1174
00:56:52,520 --> 00:56:55,000
Speaker 1: with such grace because I can't imagine like being in

1175
00:56:55,040 --> 00:56:56,960
Speaker 1: the position you are and working as hard as you

1176
00:56:57,080 --> 00:56:59,000
Speaker 1: have to get to where you are and then be

1177
00:56:59,120 --> 00:57:00,560
Speaker 1: hit with something like that. And I was like, my

1178
00:57:00,640 --> 00:57:01,640
Speaker 1: girl is handles thing.

1179
00:57:01,800 --> 00:57:01,960
Speaker 2: Yeah.

1180
00:57:02,040 --> 00:57:04,120
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm not gonna lie and say that it's

1181
00:57:04,160 --> 00:57:06,360
Speaker 3: hurt because it's something I built, right, That's exactly.

1182
00:57:06,560 --> 00:57:08,439
Speaker 2: But it's like, at the end of the day.

1183
00:57:08,760 --> 00:57:11,040
Speaker 3: My confidence is in God, so I have to stand

1184
00:57:11,080 --> 00:57:12,919
Speaker 3: on his word. I have to lean on my faith again.

1185
00:57:12,960 --> 00:57:15,120
Speaker 3: That's where my faith comes in. He keeps me grounded.

1186
00:57:15,680 --> 00:57:19,000
Speaker 3: And I do know that this social media world, people

1187
00:57:19,000 --> 00:57:21,600
Speaker 3: will find a topic, they'll jump on it, be real

1188
00:57:21,680 --> 00:57:22,960
Speaker 3: loud about it, and then then we'll go on to

1189
00:57:23,000 --> 00:57:23,400
Speaker 3: something else.

1190
00:57:23,520 --> 00:57:25,680
Speaker 1: Yeah, and they're definitely on to something else. Now, Yeah,

1191
00:57:25,840 --> 00:57:29,440
Speaker 1: that is so true when it comes to empowering others.

1192
00:57:29,520 --> 00:57:31,680
Speaker 1: There are so many people who want to be entrepreneurs.

1193
00:57:32,040 --> 00:57:33,640
Speaker 1: What is some advice that you would give? And I

1194
00:57:33,680 --> 00:57:35,760
Speaker 1: think you've given a lot of nuggets today, just even

1195
00:57:35,800 --> 00:57:38,280
Speaker 1: to me. I'm taking mental notes and I'm going to

1196
00:57:38,320 --> 00:57:41,000
Speaker 1: go back and rewatch this because I'm building a brand

1197
00:57:41,040 --> 00:57:42,480
Speaker 1: and I have some other brands I want to do,

1198
00:57:42,880 --> 00:57:45,600
Speaker 1: and You've given me so many things to think about. Yes,

1199
00:57:45,840 --> 00:57:48,760
Speaker 1: thank you. But if there's just any like tip that

1200
00:57:48,880 --> 00:57:51,240
Speaker 1: you could give anybody who really wants to get into

1201
00:57:51,280 --> 00:57:52,960
Speaker 1: their piece of advice, what would you give them?

1202
00:57:53,160 --> 00:57:55,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I would say.

1203
00:57:57,040 --> 00:58:00,400
Speaker 3: Authenticity is key, Like no one can be you and

1204
00:58:00,520 --> 00:58:02,560
Speaker 3: being you, And I think that you do a really

1205
00:58:02,600 --> 00:58:05,040
Speaker 3: great job of just being yourself. And I do know

1206
00:58:05,200 --> 00:58:07,840
Speaker 3: that's why what you're doing your brand when you do

1207
00:58:07,920 --> 00:58:11,280
Speaker 3: eventually start something, whatever brand you want to venture off into,

1208
00:58:11,320 --> 00:58:13,360
Speaker 3: it's going to go well because people are attracted to

1209
00:58:13,440 --> 00:58:17,120
Speaker 3: your authenticity. And people don't want to do business with

1210
00:58:17,360 --> 00:58:19,480
Speaker 3: who they feel is fake or it's a facade or

1211
00:58:19,480 --> 00:58:22,520
Speaker 3: a perception. They really want to connect with you as

1212
00:58:22,600 --> 00:58:25,280
Speaker 3: a person, right. They want to do business with who

1213
00:58:25,360 --> 00:58:27,120
Speaker 3: they feel like, they know, who they like, and who

1214
00:58:27,200 --> 00:58:27,640
Speaker 3: they trust.

1215
00:58:28,040 --> 00:58:29,680
Speaker 2: It is a relationship.

1216
00:58:29,800 --> 00:58:32,720
Speaker 3: It's not a transaction, even though we look at it

1217
00:58:32,880 --> 00:58:35,880
Speaker 3: as a cell is a product is purchased, a.

1218
00:58:35,920 --> 00:58:38,280
Speaker 2: Cell comes in, we get money in exchange for that.

1219
00:58:38,960 --> 00:58:39,840
Speaker 2: That's a transaction.

1220
00:58:40,200 --> 00:58:42,840
Speaker 3: But I really focus on how do I build relationships

1221
00:58:42,920 --> 00:58:46,600
Speaker 3: with my customers, how do I date my customers? Because

1222
00:58:46,680 --> 00:58:49,640
Speaker 3: I want my customers to feel connected and engage because

1223
00:58:49,680 --> 00:58:52,200
Speaker 3: especially in the beauty space with hair care, it's such

1224
00:58:52,240 --> 00:58:55,400
Speaker 3: an emotional connection and what we put on our hair.

1225
00:58:55,440 --> 00:58:57,600
Speaker 3: I feel like it's absorbing our spirit and our energy,

1226
00:58:57,640 --> 00:58:59,680
Speaker 3: and I always want to put out good vibes and

1227
00:58:59,760 --> 00:59:03,080
Speaker 3: good energy as I'm building and meeting people from all

1228
00:59:03,080 --> 00:59:06,120
Speaker 3: across the country to let them know, like you can

1229
00:59:06,200 --> 00:59:08,640
Speaker 3: trust me with the products that are being produced with

1230
00:59:08,720 --> 00:59:11,240
Speaker 3: your hair. You can trust that if something is wrong

1231
00:59:11,320 --> 00:59:12,960
Speaker 3: that I'm going to be an advocate to try to

1232
00:59:13,040 --> 00:59:15,520
Speaker 3: fix it and make it better to perform because I'm

1233
00:59:15,600 --> 00:59:17,600
Speaker 3: using the products too, my kids are using the products.

1234
00:59:17,640 --> 00:59:19,880
Speaker 3: Set I'm not going to put anything out there that

1235
00:59:20,400 --> 00:59:23,320
Speaker 3: is not healthy or that's causing issues. You know, I'm

1236
00:59:23,320 --> 00:59:24,880
Speaker 3: going to do my due diligence and do all the

1237
00:59:24,960 --> 00:59:27,000
Speaker 3: proper testing to make sure that it is a great

1238
00:59:27,080 --> 00:59:29,720
Speaker 3: product before I put my name on it. Right, And

1239
00:59:29,920 --> 00:59:33,400
Speaker 3: so you have to be able to build that trust

1240
00:59:33,480 --> 00:59:35,040
Speaker 3: with people. But the only way you can do that

1241
00:59:35,480 --> 00:59:38,120
Speaker 3: is by being your authentic self and dating and building

1242
00:59:38,160 --> 00:59:39,440
Speaker 3: relationships with your clients.

1243
00:59:39,560 --> 00:59:43,280
Speaker 1: I love that. I love that leaving a legacy behind.

1244
00:59:43,320 --> 00:59:46,240
Speaker 1: You spoke about you're building a legacy. What is the

1245
00:59:46,320 --> 00:59:48,080
Speaker 1: thing that you want to leave behind when it's all

1246
00:59:48,160 --> 00:59:48,760
Speaker 1: said and done.

1247
00:59:50,080 --> 00:59:52,160
Speaker 3: What I want to leave Well, first of I feel

1248
00:59:52,160 --> 00:59:55,360
Speaker 3: like your legacy is something that you can build while

1249
00:59:55,360 --> 00:59:56,919
Speaker 3: you're still living, breathing on this earth.

1250
00:59:56,920 --> 00:59:58,120
Speaker 2: Because it's about impact.

1251
00:59:58,800 --> 01:00:01,720
Speaker 3: And I want to impact to others by way of

1252
01:00:02,280 --> 01:00:05,560
Speaker 3: helping them be inspired, building their faith, teaching them a

1253
01:00:05,640 --> 01:00:06,840
Speaker 3: spirit of resilience.

1254
01:00:07,000 --> 01:00:07,600
Speaker 2: Resilience.

1255
01:00:07,960 --> 01:00:10,280
Speaker 3: I want my kids to look at me and say, wow,

1256
01:00:10,680 --> 01:00:15,760
Speaker 3: like my mom, she built this successful company and not

1257
01:00:15,920 --> 01:00:18,320
Speaker 3: only does she build, but she gave back to the

1258
01:00:18,480 --> 01:00:22,040
Speaker 3: community that served her, the community that purchased products. She

1259
01:00:22,200 --> 01:00:24,600
Speaker 3: always made sure that she gave back to the people

1260
01:00:24,680 --> 01:00:29,560
Speaker 3: that supported her. And I also want people to just

1261
01:00:30,080 --> 01:00:33,960
Speaker 3: be encouraged to continue dreaming big because it's never too late.

1262
01:00:34,400 --> 01:00:38,800
Speaker 3: Your dreams don't have an expiration date. There's no limits

1263
01:00:38,840 --> 01:00:40,840
Speaker 3: that you can put on God. So I want people

1264
01:00:40,880 --> 01:00:43,560
Speaker 3: to just increase their faith in God, bring them closer

1265
01:00:43,600 --> 01:00:45,960
Speaker 3: to God, because I think that's why we're all here

1266
01:00:46,040 --> 01:00:48,840
Speaker 3: on earth, to be vessels to bring people to His

1267
01:00:48,960 --> 01:00:50,920
Speaker 3: kingdom and to know that we serve a limitless God.

1268
01:00:51,280 --> 01:00:54,600
Speaker 3: He does not put any limits on us. And when

1269
01:00:54,680 --> 01:00:57,959
Speaker 3: you operate from that position of abundance and not lack,

1270
01:00:58,360 --> 01:01:00,600
Speaker 3: you can accomplish anything in this or that you want

1271
01:01:00,600 --> 01:01:02,880
Speaker 3: to accomplish. And that's the legacy that I want to

1272
01:01:02,960 --> 01:01:06,240
Speaker 3: leave behind. I want to create more. Monique Rodriguez is,

1273
01:01:06,320 --> 01:01:08,960
Speaker 3: I want to normalize this conversation, so we're not sitting

1274
01:01:09,000 --> 01:01:11,760
Speaker 3: down and saying, so, why did your community criticize you

1275
01:01:11,920 --> 01:01:14,840
Speaker 3: for being acquired? Now this will be a normal conversation.

1276
01:01:14,920 --> 01:01:16,960
Speaker 3: Like girl, girl, I just get an acquisition.

1277
01:01:17,520 --> 01:01:18,960
Speaker 1: Who to you like?

1278
01:01:19,440 --> 01:01:20,600
Speaker 3: Tell us how much it was.

1279
01:01:20,880 --> 01:01:21,640
Speaker 2: Then let's get.

1280
01:01:21,600 --> 01:01:24,280
Speaker 3: Tea and let's celebrate you. Create more people to do

1281
01:01:24,400 --> 01:01:27,720
Speaker 3: this and celebrate this as a community because we're celebrated

1282
01:01:27,720 --> 01:01:30,439
Speaker 3: when Kim Kardashian does it, but when somebody that looks

1283
01:01:30,480 --> 01:01:32,440
Speaker 3: like us does it, it's not need to sell out.

1284
01:01:33,080 --> 01:01:35,320
Speaker 3: It's a sellout, but it's normal for somebody that looks

1285
01:01:35,360 --> 01:01:37,680
Speaker 3: like them. We got to stop thinking like that real

1286
01:01:37,960 --> 01:01:38,720
Speaker 3: that is so good.

1287
01:01:39,360 --> 01:01:41,360
Speaker 1: I love it. So before we get out of here,

1288
01:01:41,440 --> 01:01:43,520
Speaker 1: what is next for Monique Rodriguez?

1289
01:01:43,720 --> 01:01:45,920
Speaker 3: Oh? So what is next? I'm always like I have

1290
01:01:46,040 --> 01:01:48,600
Speaker 3: like a million ideas and my brain is racing. It

1291
01:01:48,680 --> 01:01:50,840
Speaker 3: goes from one idea to the next idea. But I

1292
01:01:50,920 --> 01:01:53,960
Speaker 3: really want to focus on, like, you know, building up

1293
01:01:53,960 --> 01:01:56,720
Speaker 3: the next generation because they are our future. So my daughter,

1294
01:01:56,840 --> 01:01:59,560
Speaker 3: she's getting into content creation. I want to help build

1295
01:01:59,600 --> 01:02:02,280
Speaker 3: her career or her platform and help her be an

1296
01:02:02,360 --> 01:02:05,680
Speaker 3: influencer to the kingdom as well. And just help my

1297
01:02:06,080 --> 01:02:08,800
Speaker 3: kids really pursue and nourish their gifts and their dreams

1298
01:02:08,920 --> 01:02:13,040
Speaker 3: because they're becoming young ladies and adults and they I

1299
01:02:13,160 --> 01:02:14,680
Speaker 3: did what I did so they can have their freedom

1300
01:02:14,720 --> 01:02:17,400
Speaker 3: and flexibility to pursue whatever dreams and passions they want

1301
01:02:17,440 --> 01:02:20,480
Speaker 3: to do. And continuing to impact my community with things

1302
01:02:20,640 --> 01:02:22,560
Speaker 3: like you know, this book, this is my gifts to

1303
01:02:22,640 --> 01:02:26,040
Speaker 3: my community. And you know I have some other key

1304
01:02:26,080 --> 01:02:28,600
Speaker 3: initiatives that I'm doing with Mayel that you know it's

1305
01:02:28,640 --> 01:02:31,600
Speaker 3: coming down the pipeline. But yeah, just continue to be

1306
01:02:31,680 --> 01:02:33,600
Speaker 3: great and live with intention and positivity.

1307
01:02:33,800 --> 01:02:35,440
Speaker 2: Keep it positive, sweetie.

1308
01:02:35,720 --> 01:02:38,560
Speaker 1: And you're doing it. I am so inspired, I really am.

1309
01:02:42,200 --> 01:02:44,040
Speaker 1: Before we get out, we're going to do something that

1310
01:02:44,160 --> 01:02:47,000
Speaker 1: we call positive Outcomes. This is where our listeners write

1311
01:02:47,000 --> 01:02:48,520
Speaker 1: in and ask us a question and then we give

1312
01:02:48,520 --> 01:02:51,520
Speaker 1: them advice. You down, yes, all right? So this comes

1313
01:02:51,560 --> 01:02:54,640
Speaker 1: from Krigan Buck and she says, what advice would you

1314
01:02:54,760 --> 01:02:58,080
Speaker 1: give to a woman that's struggling with differentiating between a

1315
01:02:58,200 --> 01:03:01,440
Speaker 1: positive and supportive life versus a doormat?

1316
01:03:04,600 --> 01:03:07,440
Speaker 3: So and you know I talk about this in the

1317
01:03:07,520 --> 01:03:11,240
Speaker 3: book of not having yes people around. One of my

1318
01:03:11,360 --> 01:03:14,080
Speaker 3: mentors would tell me she would always say yes people

1319
01:03:14,120 --> 01:03:16,600
Speaker 3: will get you killed. So you don't want to have

1320
01:03:17,000 --> 01:03:19,080
Speaker 3: doormats that you can just walk all over and they're

1321
01:03:19,120 --> 01:03:19,680
Speaker 3: just saying.

1322
01:03:19,560 --> 01:03:21,640
Speaker 2: Yes to everything that you're presenting to them.

1323
01:03:22,000 --> 01:03:26,040
Speaker 3: You want to have people around you that are loving, supportive,

1324
01:03:26,240 --> 01:03:29,720
Speaker 3: but hold you accountable. Yes, right. And the way that

1325
01:03:29,760 --> 01:03:33,920
Speaker 3: you differentiate is when you have someone that's holding you accountable,

1326
01:03:33,920 --> 01:03:36,920
Speaker 3: they're doing it from a place of love. If it's

1327
01:03:36,960 --> 01:03:40,880
Speaker 3: coming from a place of ill motives or hates, it's

1328
01:03:40,920 --> 01:03:44,640
Speaker 3: probably not a positive you know, accountability partner, right, It's

1329
01:03:44,640 --> 01:03:47,960
Speaker 3: probably someone that's envious of you your life. So I

1330
01:03:48,080 --> 01:03:51,040
Speaker 3: always look at it as like, how are they giving

1331
01:03:51,120 --> 01:03:53,960
Speaker 3: me this information? Yes? Is it coming from a place

1332
01:03:54,080 --> 01:03:56,440
Speaker 3: of love? Is a god aligning is a God ordain

1333
01:03:57,000 --> 01:04:01,160
Speaker 3: And if you're unsure, also go to mentors that I

1334
01:04:01,360 --> 01:04:05,200
Speaker 3: feel are spiritual mentors. I have a lot of spiritual

1335
01:04:05,240 --> 01:04:07,320
Speaker 3: mentors in my life. I have a lot of believers

1336
01:04:07,360 --> 01:04:10,840
Speaker 3: in my life that will give me sound advice from

1337
01:04:11,320 --> 01:04:14,520
Speaker 3: a biblical perspective. And I'll tell one of my closest friends,

1338
01:04:14,560 --> 01:04:16,200
Speaker 3: I tell her all the time, like, tell me if

1339
01:04:16,280 --> 01:04:20,040
Speaker 3: I'm wrong, and tell me from a biblical perspective, don't

1340
01:04:20,080 --> 01:04:22,720
Speaker 3: even tell me from your own. With them, pray, We're

1341
01:04:22,720 --> 01:04:24,920
Speaker 3: gonna pray first. I want you to get a download

1342
01:04:24,960 --> 01:04:26,520
Speaker 3: from God, and I want you to give me advice

1343
01:04:26,600 --> 01:04:28,800
Speaker 3: from that. So you have to be real with yourself

1344
01:04:28,880 --> 01:04:31,720
Speaker 3: too and ask how you're asking for advice from the

1345
01:04:31,800 --> 01:04:34,360
Speaker 3: people that are around you, and if you're asking in

1346
01:04:34,480 --> 01:04:37,600
Speaker 3: a way where they become a doormat and they're just

1347
01:04:37,680 --> 01:04:39,440
Speaker 3: telling you what you want to hear versus what you

1348
01:04:39,560 --> 01:04:41,240
Speaker 3: really need to hear, and that's the truth.

1349
01:04:41,440 --> 01:04:41,840
Speaker 1: I love that.

1350
01:04:42,040 --> 01:04:44,120
Speaker 3: The truth will set you free and you will be

1351
01:04:44,280 --> 01:04:48,560
Speaker 3: much more You would just get her much more wisdom

1352
01:04:48,920 --> 01:04:51,560
Speaker 3: and you'll be on a better trajectory if people sit

1353
01:04:51,600 --> 01:04:52,640
Speaker 3: you down and tell you the truth.

1354
01:04:52,640 --> 01:04:53,919
Speaker 2: Would love no, for sure.

1355
01:04:54,120 --> 01:04:55,840
Speaker 1: I love that, and Cary and I would add to

1356
01:04:56,000 --> 01:05:00,360
Speaker 1: that a lot of times, when you're trying to make

1357
01:05:00,400 --> 01:05:04,080
Speaker 1: sure you're not being too supportive or being on the

1358
01:05:04,120 --> 01:05:07,240
Speaker 1: borderline of being a doormat, I would also say set

1359
01:05:07,280 --> 01:05:09,360
Speaker 1: healthy boundaries. Yeah, you know a lot of times we

1360
01:05:09,480 --> 01:05:12,520
Speaker 1: lack boundaries where we do become If you're on the

1361
01:05:12,560 --> 01:05:14,240
Speaker 1: opposite side of that, where you're the one that's being

1362
01:05:14,280 --> 01:05:17,439
Speaker 1: taken advantage of it being the doormat because you're always yes, yes, yes,

1363
01:05:17,480 --> 01:05:19,320
Speaker 1: whatever you need, I got you. And then it comes

1364
01:05:19,320 --> 01:05:21,120
Speaker 1: to the point where, wait, are they taking advantage of me?

1365
01:05:21,480 --> 01:05:22,960
Speaker 1: That's when I feel like you also have to have

1366
01:05:23,200 --> 01:05:24,280
Speaker 1: set healthy boundaries.

1367
01:05:24,640 --> 01:05:26,520
Speaker 3: So was she saying that she was a doormat or

1368
01:05:26,680 --> 01:05:28,760
Speaker 3: she's having people that are dormats around.

1369
01:05:28,560 --> 01:05:31,880
Speaker 1: She's trying to differentiate, like she being a supportive lady

1370
01:05:32,080 --> 01:05:34,600
Speaker 1: or a doormat. Oh okay, but no question.

1371
01:05:35,280 --> 01:05:36,720
Speaker 2: But that was a good perspective.

1372
01:05:36,800 --> 01:05:38,800
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, because that what you said is like a

1373
01:05:38,840 --> 01:05:39,800
Speaker 1: great perspective on it.

1374
01:05:40,080 --> 01:05:40,280
Speaker 3: Yeah.

1375
01:05:41,200 --> 01:05:42,960
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what I would say. That's good. Yeah, that's

1376
01:05:43,040 --> 01:05:43,840
Speaker 1: really good money.

1377
01:05:44,000 --> 01:05:44,880
Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you.

1378
01:05:45,200 --> 01:05:48,000
Speaker 1: I am seriously I'm so inspired. I cannot wait to

1379
01:05:48,080 --> 01:05:50,680
Speaker 1: introduce this book to everyone so we can all read

1380
01:05:50,720 --> 01:05:51,160
Speaker 1: it together.

1381
01:05:51,360 --> 01:05:55,160
Speaker 3: Yes, you are so inspiring. Thank you so much.

1382
01:05:55,200 --> 01:05:55,640
Speaker 1: And so are you.

1383
01:05:55,680 --> 01:05:58,320
Speaker 2: I tell you this all the time, so that's nothing new.

1384
01:05:58,640 --> 01:06:00,400
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. I can't wait to hang out

1385
01:06:00,440 --> 01:06:03,360
Speaker 1: with you outside of this And thanks for making time.

1386
01:06:03,720 --> 01:06:05,840
Speaker 2: You're welcome, appreciate it.

1387
01:06:06,160 --> 01:06:14,960
Speaker 1: Right, This is good, guys, there was a great conversation.

1388
01:06:15,280 --> 01:06:18,680
Speaker 1: I hope you all received the message on leading fearlessly

1389
01:06:18,880 --> 01:06:23,320
Speaker 1: with faith. My takeaway from this was that any decision

1390
01:06:23,440 --> 01:06:26,040
Speaker 1: Monique makes, she does not make it without talking to

1391
01:06:26,160 --> 01:06:29,040
Speaker 1: God first. Thank you guys so much for tuning into

1392
01:06:29,080 --> 01:06:32,160
Speaker 1: another episode of the Keep It Positive Sweetie Show. Don't

1393
01:06:32,200 --> 01:06:35,360
Speaker 1: forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode

1394
01:06:35,400 --> 01:06:38,280
Speaker 1: with someone who could use a little positivity today. And

1395
01:06:38,400 --> 01:06:42,080
Speaker 1: it's always stay blessed, stay encouraged, and remember to keep

1396
01:06:42,080 --> 01:06:44,280
Speaker 1: it positive, Sweetie. I'll see you guys next time.