Speaker 1: M Afro Techen, San Francisco, California. De Shantamir is a
Speaker 1: founder and CEO at Maven, a hair extension and distribution
Speaker 1: technology company that reshapes how retail products are distributed. He's
Speaker 1: on the main stage speaking with Jeff Johnson about the
Speaker 1: importance of us not just owning our own brands, but
Speaker 1: also owning distribution channels. A lot of people look at
Speaker 1: MABN as a hair extension company, right, That is not
Speaker 1: the way that I look at the company. It's not
Speaker 1: the way that I run the company. We're we generally
Speaker 1: are very good. Um I think as a culture and
Speaker 1: as like people in business, at creating brands. But what
Speaker 1: we rarely do. We rarely own the distribution of those brands.
Speaker 1: And so we create a thing, and then in order
Speaker 1: to get that thing out in front of the world,
Speaker 1: you gotta go to somebody who holds the keys to
Speaker 1: distribution to get your product on a shelf in front
Speaker 1: of the millions and millions of people. And the people
Speaker 1: who own the keys to distribution really ultimately hold all
Speaker 1: the power, and they pick and choose and and make
Speaker 1: the kings and the queens. Um. I wanted to create
Speaker 1: our own distribution channel that we can own and control
Speaker 1: so that we can then control what products go into it. Right,
Speaker 1: So us, you know, hair extensions are the product on
Speaker 1: where they're like the wedge product on which we build
Speaker 1: this network. Those beauty supply stores, they all go out
Speaker 1: of business tomorrow if they're not selling hair. Right, that's
Speaker 1: where all the big ticket items is, where the margin
Speaker 1: is and everything. So on that product, we're also going
Speaker 1: to leverage that to build our network. Right, that's the
Speaker 1: product that our stylus can make the most money selling Immediately.
Speaker 1: Once we build a network up and we have the
Speaker 1: stylists continuously repetitively making making more money and income from
Speaker 1: these products, we start adding new products. Here. I'm Will Lucas.
Speaker 1: This is black Tech, Green money. I'm gonna answer this
Speaker 1: you to some of the biggest names, some of the
Speaker 1: brightest minds and brilliant ideas. If you're black and building
Speaker 1: simply using tech to secure your back, this podcast is
Speaker 1: for you. Janelle Stevens is the mixed master, founder and
Speaker 1: CEO at Camille Roads. She's been at the forefront of
Speaker 1: the radical ship in the billion dollar beauty industry and
Speaker 1: it's been an iconic Trendseter within the space. Her products
Speaker 1: are available stores nationwide including Target, Bed, Bathroom Beyond, Sally's,
Speaker 1: Beauty Hopefuls, Walgreen, CBS, and more. I asked you now
Speaker 1: how she employed technology to build her multimillion dollar business
Speaker 1: and if it would have even been possible to build
Speaker 1: her company. So since sessfully without leaning into tech, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm wondering if how would I have grown without it?
Speaker 1: Because I didn't have any money when um I started
Speaker 1: my brand. I definitely could not put up a big
Speaker 1: billboard or do a commercial for a TV advertisement or
Speaker 1: even a radio spot. So I'm not sure if it
Speaker 1: would be inexistent and still be um in existence and
Speaker 1: still be one h owned and funded by myself. Because
Speaker 1: of course, like so many other people who start a
Speaker 1: new business or brand, our funds are very limited. Um
Speaker 1: So I know that would have been extremely difficult. I
Speaker 1: don't know. I'm not gonna sit here and say all
Speaker 1: Camo roles would not have been but um, I know
Speaker 1: it would have been very difficult. So many people doing
Speaker 1: the in the word that you've succeeded at doing, but
Speaker 1: they don't get to where you got right, and there's
Speaker 1: there's still so many people still in the kitchen, you know,
Speaker 1: making that in that formula, and how did you grow
Speaker 1: the brand prestore shelf to even get on the shelf
Speaker 1: in the first place. Yeah, because I think you can
Speaker 1: have the idea, but you have to put the drive
Speaker 1: and the passion and it truly has to be your destiny.
Speaker 1: You know, whatever business you want to get into our
Speaker 1: start that truly has to be you know, within your heart.
Speaker 1: And then besides having your passion, you have to be
Speaker 1: able to get up and do the work and you know,
Speaker 1: apply pressure or apply you know that one step going
Speaker 1: for further, you know every day, you know consistently. Um,
Speaker 1: if you combine the two, I think you have the
Speaker 1: formula for success. And it's just this feeling. I tell
Speaker 1: entrepreneurs or young entrepreneurs, it's just a feeling that you get.
Speaker 1: You know, you you thrive off of Okay, I gotta
Speaker 1: do this for my business. Just working for yourself and
Speaker 1: making things happen for yourself. It's just this like high
Speaker 1: that that you're on. You you cannot have these great
Speaker 1: ideas and then keep procrastinating or putting it to the side,
Speaker 1: or I'm gonna get to it, or you know that
Speaker 1: that it's if you're lacking. You know, if you have
Speaker 1: that and you then you're lacking in in some sort
Speaker 1: of ways. So um, I think all entrepreneurs who are
Speaker 1: true entrepreneurs, they have that I'm gonna make it happen
Speaker 1: attitude by anymis necessary and work doesn't necessarily feel like work.
Speaker 1: You know, when I started coming out, I had a
Speaker 1: full time job, got off of my full time job,
Speaker 1: and then um, came home and worked extra hard for
Speaker 1: myself and it really didn't feel like work. I enjoyed
Speaker 1: doing that. Yeah, you know, I see so many people,
Speaker 1: you know, let's say, even starting like a clothing brand, like, like,
Speaker 1: what made you uniquely suited for this? Because you know
Speaker 1: again that people people come to me and they have
Speaker 1: a clothing brand. I'm like, well, is anybody asking you
Speaker 1: for clothes? You know? Like are people following you because
Speaker 1: you have great style? Like? What made you uniquely suited
Speaker 1: for this business? Yeah? So um, you know this was
Speaker 1: a hobby of mine turn business, and I just think, uh, spiritually,
Speaker 1: it was it's my true path. Um. I want to
Speaker 1: have a masters and science I didn't. I had no
Speaker 1: idea would be in the industry. My goal was to
Speaker 1: uh do homehellth and work in the hospitals and things
Speaker 1: like that, and which I did for a little while,
Speaker 1: but I had this UM. I was kind of put
Speaker 1: in this position where my kids started having issues with
Speaker 1: their skinning and hair and be a dryness and exama
Speaker 1: that UM. I took it upon myself to UM create
Speaker 1: this whole holistic and natural environment for me and my family.
Speaker 1: And I think that when you see someone that UM
Speaker 1: you love uh in me, you try to do whatever
Speaker 1: you could do to kind of solve their issues. And
Speaker 1: that was the start for me and Camille Rose. I.
Speaker 1: I had no idea I was gonna be selling it
Speaker 1: to anybody. I made all these formulas and products from
Speaker 1: myself and my family and friends started asking, and then
Speaker 1: they started coming back for more. And as I would
Speaker 1: use my own formulas, I would see the results, and
Speaker 1: so I said, you know what this is. This shouldn't
Speaker 1: be kept within my own family. I don't want to
Speaker 1: be selfish. I gotta share this with the world. And
Speaker 1: I threw up a website and started getting orders. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're gonna come back and talk about the website, because
Speaker 1: I've heard you talk about this before. Before we get there,
Speaker 1: you know, there's It's something I heard you talk about
Speaker 1: in another interview when you said you know so much,
Speaker 1: it's forgotten talent in these overlooked places, like you know,
Speaker 1: you're from Louisiana and yeah, and I wonder like for
Speaker 1: people listening to this who feel like they're not in
Speaker 1: the right place geographically to to make their dreams real,
Speaker 1: what do you say to that coming from the Deep South,
Speaker 1: you know, and seeing people make it from there, and
Speaker 1: you you being one of them. Yeah, absolutely, you know
Speaker 1: that is something like anybody could say, well, I'm from
Speaker 1: Little timbuc two, so nobody's gonna recognize me or care
Speaker 1: about me. That's so not true. And I learned that
Speaker 1: not only through my business, but so many other businesses
Speaker 1: that are UM that are successful. UM people are coming
Speaker 1: from all over all walks of life. It's just I
Speaker 1: think that when you are a consumer and when you
Speaker 1: are in the trenches and you know what, you are
Speaker 1: around regular people, when you're hearing what they want, what
Speaker 1: they need, you know, I think that's an extra added
Speaker 1: gift you know that you are blessed with to kind
Speaker 1: of be like, Okay, I'm the consumer or I'm my mom.
Speaker 1: I'm listening to my mom or here my friend, or
Speaker 1: I see what you know this person needs and I
Speaker 1: can make it happen, or I can solve an issue.
Speaker 1: I think that even if you're um, you're in this
Speaker 1: small area, if you talk loud enough, stream a lot enough,
Speaker 1: you know, put that extra effort of work in, make
Speaker 1: some noise, somebody's gonna hear you talk. Let's talk about
Speaker 1: this website for a second, because you you've you said
Speaker 1: that I threw up a little website. But let's get
Speaker 1: in on this. Because you talked about you were in
Speaker 1: the path to be in healthcare, right, and so I
Speaker 1: can you're probably not a coder, and so I wonder like, okay,
Speaker 1: what is this website that you building? Tell me what
Speaker 1: you did. That's talk about that for I didn't do literally,
Speaker 1: I found a local my brother actually did. That's soloette um,
Speaker 1: that's kind of me. I'm like, okay, turn me to
Speaker 1: the side. I just want my brows to be a
Speaker 1: little longer. So yes, my logo. And so I ended
Speaker 1: up finding um um, this local graphic person to actually
Speaker 1: turn it in his sketch into a logo. The yellow
Speaker 1: rose um that's in my solo. It's hair it's UM.
Speaker 1: I dedicated that rose to my grandmother. She loved roses,
Speaker 1: and it's the whole story behind it too. So I
Speaker 1: only wanted that to be UM the pop up color.
Speaker 1: But I found this local photographer, UM. All the content
Speaker 1: that I had on my original labels, I did all
Speaker 1: that myself. He was just in his little one room
Speaker 1: studio trying to take images, and I found a friend
Speaker 1: that knew how to UM. I think my first website
Speaker 1: was maybe like three or four pages. He kind of
Speaker 1: through my products up there. We introduced the brand, introduced
Speaker 1: myself with the price, and that was literally it. That
Speaker 1: was that was it? Yeah, And of course that it
Speaker 1: was very active on like Facebook, kind of help us
Speaker 1: put the word out. Yeah, let's let's go in there.
Speaker 1: Because that's where my question is because I hear you say,
Speaker 1: you know, you gotta be in on you gotta be
Speaker 1: going at it when you if you come home from work,
Speaker 1: you gotta be working on this thing. And I hear
Speaker 1: I can imagine so many people listening to this interview saying, well,
Speaker 1: I did I'm doing all that. I got the website,
Speaker 1: I got a logo, you whether I got it on camble,
Speaker 1: I paid somebody on upwork, some this freelance designed to
Speaker 1: do this thing I'm putting in the hours and it's
Speaker 1: not going where yours is going. Well, mine didn't go
Speaker 1: where I am right now on instantly like that's it
Speaker 1: was blessed? What tears in this? You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: And if you keep at it, keep at it, don't
Speaker 1: give up. Show up at places that you need to
Speaker 1: be like, um, whatever your business is. If they have
Speaker 1: like seminars or different functions where you can introduce your craft,
Speaker 1: please go. Um. That happened to me. I just so
Speaker 1: happened to do like a beauty show, had all my
Speaker 1: handmade concoctions at this beauty show and met the right person.
Speaker 1: A year later, I was in Target. So don't ignore
Speaker 1: those those those kind of places. And that's there, you know,
Speaker 1: trying when you're trying to figure out, Okay, I have
Speaker 1: this amount of money, where am I gonna put this
Speaker 1: in my business? Don't forget about those shows, don't forget
Speaker 1: about events, don't forget about things that's happening in your
Speaker 1: area where you can pass out little um samples um
Speaker 1: that you make in your warehouse are on your own,
Speaker 1: pass them out the word out. They're like that as well,
Speaker 1: you know, just getting the street and and kinda be
Speaker 1: your own boys. You are in the biggest big box
Speaker 1: stores that are a Target, in Walmart and etcetera. And
Speaker 1: when you meet those people, those buyers, what is it
Speaker 1: that they're looking for? Like, what is it a certain
Speaker 1: number that they're looking for in your sales and in
Speaker 1: how do you prepare that documentation to present to them?
Speaker 1: I had when I met my the buyers at UM Target,
Speaker 1: I had just my online sales and it was not
Speaker 1: that much. UM. I think with me and my brand.
Speaker 1: When I got up there and I told my story,
Speaker 1: they saw my passion, they saw how I was so
Speaker 1: authentic um and um just the way I spoke about
Speaker 1: uh Camillo rolls and what Camillo roles stand for. And
Speaker 1: then of course you know they were looking for company's lifeline.
Speaker 1: But UM, I didn't have big numbers on on any
Speaker 1: of my social pages at all. I just went in
Speaker 1: there and I kind of told a story, and um,
Speaker 1: they liked it. And UM even with with my products today,
Speaker 1: like even my consumers like they know I feel like
Speaker 1: when they pick up a Camillo rose product, they can
Speaker 1: feel how organic and um UM authentic we are to
Speaker 1: our brand. I always want people to to know that
Speaker 1: Camille Rose is the same as Camille Rose was back
Speaker 1: in two thousand and ten. We're the same today. You know.
Speaker 1: Our message is the same. What we stand for is
Speaker 1: the exact same. And I think people feel that in
Speaker 1: my brand and in my um my content and my
Speaker 1: packaging that's on the retail ship stores, on the retail
Speaker 1: shelves and star. Yeah, when you do get that call
Speaker 1: to hey, we're gonna put your stuff in you know,
Speaker 1: fifty stores, a hundred stores or whatever, what kind of
Speaker 1: what kind of systems need to be in place on
Speaker 1: your on the manufacturing side or is that something that
Speaker 1: they step in on, like because I imagine you can't
Speaker 1: fulfill those orders from your kitchen. Well, actually I did, um,
Speaker 1: and it liked to take me completely out, Like it
Speaker 1: was so frust Uh. When I got my first retailer,
Speaker 1: which was Target, Um, they wanted to give me a
Speaker 1: like I take that one too, your a large amount
Speaker 1: of doors, and then it was need that kind of
Speaker 1: step back and said no, I'll take a hundred. I
Speaker 1: don't want a thousand, and I'll take a hundred. You know,
Speaker 1: because I knew that I was still handmaking all of
Speaker 1: my products, and I didn't want to set myself up
Speaker 1: for a failure. You know, first of all, what does
Speaker 1: this mean me going in retail? And then I knew
Speaker 1: nothing about laboratory. I didn't know how to give, nothing
Speaker 1: about that at all, so I had to continue to
Speaker 1: uh make mind you, I didn't have any employees either
Speaker 1: at this At this time, UM the lady that I met,
Speaker 1: this lady in my area and she was just like,
Speaker 1: I'll help you out, you know, the label. So she
Speaker 1: would apply labels and put the tops on while I'm
Speaker 1: like literally squeezed, squeezing the product in the bottle, you know,
Speaker 1: and kind of packing it up. So it became I
Speaker 1: don't know what I was thinking. I don't know if
Speaker 1: I was like, okay, targets, they just put one order
Speaker 1: and let me fulfill this and we get but they
Speaker 1: started coming, you know, every week, and there was that
Speaker 1: At that point, I was like I can't, I can't
Speaker 1: do this, Like how do I get a laboratory. So
Speaker 1: started research and went to the internet and researched how
Speaker 1: to get a laboratory. UM. I found several but they
Speaker 1: did not want to take me on and my brand
Speaker 1: because Cameo Roses, that gourmet foodie brand, and a lot
Speaker 1: of my ingredients are like costal their food great ingredients,
Speaker 1: and they don't laboratories don't typically order those type of
Speaker 1: raw materials, you know, they order chemicals. So I got
Speaker 1: a lot of nose until I found this one lap
Speaker 1: laugh that was like, I'll help you out. But even
Speaker 1: that was a nightmare because I had to order all
Speaker 1: of my ingredients and send it to him. I was
Speaker 1: just kind of using his chains, you know. And but
Speaker 1: over time, it was the learning process. It was difficult,
Speaker 1: it was stressful, it was I lost a lot of
Speaker 1: sleep during that time. Um, and I just kind of
Speaker 1: I had to figure it out on my own. You know.
Speaker 1: You said you didn't have any employees in those early
Speaker 1: days of those first orders, and so you're so you're
Speaker 1: in there, you know, squeezing it into the tubes. But
Speaker 1: you also say in a different interview, you know, coming
Speaker 1: off the shelf is a lot harder than getting on
Speaker 1: the shelf. And so I wonder, like, how how are
Speaker 1: you likewise growing the brand to get off the shelf
Speaker 1: as you're running the business, Because there are so many
Speaker 1: people who are like you at that stage who are
Speaker 1: doing the whole thing, you know, and they're trying to
Speaker 1: grow the brand, fulfill the product and get it shipped,
Speaker 1: you know, ordered the raw materials, Like how is all
Speaker 1: of this stuff happening? So UM, I think that for
Speaker 1: for newcomers, they need to utilize their platform to the
Speaker 1: best of their ability, like get on there and talk
Speaker 1: to your followers and let them know what you're doing,
Speaker 1: or try to grow your followers UM tag people, contact
Speaker 1: um um micro or influencers say head at this product,
Speaker 1: you know, would you like to try it? I could
Speaker 1: give you with this and then kind of get the
Speaker 1: word out that way. UM. And then of course, you know,
Speaker 1: once we started to build momentum and target, I was
Speaker 1: able to bring on, you know, people, more professional people
Speaker 1: to kind of you know, pass things off on. But um,
Speaker 1: what I decided to do was I wanted to grow
Speaker 1: organically and take my time. So I told a lot
Speaker 1: of people, a lot of retailers know, you know, for
Speaker 1: a while before I was able to say, Okay, I'm
Speaker 1: at that point. Now it's yes, and don't be afraid
Speaker 1: to tell people know and think that this is my
Speaker 1: only opportunity. If I say no, you know I may
Speaker 1: not get another chance. Don't don't think of it like that,
Speaker 1: because if you make a mistake and accept things that
Speaker 1: you can't handle, it's very expensive to come out of
Speaker 1: those retail stores. I know many great brands that came
Speaker 1: in with me that really didn't make it, and um,
Speaker 1: you know, so just don't be afraid to grow organically
Speaker 1: and as strong page. How did your your first sales happen?
Speaker 1: Because you talked about you threw up a website and
Speaker 1: people started ordering, And how did those initial sales start
Speaker 1: to happen? You know? Were they family and friends or
Speaker 1: people who will live in your neighbor? Now? I think
Speaker 1: I New York. Like I started getting a ton of
Speaker 1: orders from grows from New York. And what was happening was,
Speaker 1: I think a blog or got ahold of one of
Speaker 1: my deep conditioners and she had a good amount of followers,
Speaker 1: so she started um reviewing my product, and from there
Speaker 1: was like the snowball effect. But I can remember getting
Speaker 1: phone calls and me acting like I got this whole
Speaker 1: big old customer service team and that's just me on
Speaker 1: another and high and I started talking to this this
Speaker 1: girl who order, of course I had out of stocks
Speaker 1: a lot. So I was like, oh, so, what do
Speaker 1: you like about the product? And she was like, oh,
Speaker 1: Camille rolls and it does that's that not that? And
Speaker 1: now now that was me, I'm like acting like I'm
Speaker 1: the customer service right, So UM, I really think it was. Um.
Speaker 1: The word of mouth YouTube was hot back then though
Speaker 1: it still is. But those influencers just getting on there
Speaker 1: talking to their followers about good products and good with
Speaker 1: good ingredients that they found. So it sounds like that
Speaker 1: that happened for you by happenstance. Like if you were
Speaker 1: to redo this and be intentional about finding that blogger
Speaker 1: to write or finding that YouTube influencer to to talk
Speaker 1: about it on their video, what would that pitch look
Speaker 1: like for you? And let's say it's the early days
Speaker 1: again and you're redoing this and you wanted to be
Speaker 1: intentional now to go and get that person, what what
Speaker 1: does that pitch look like for you? You know, it
Speaker 1: would still be UM kind of like today like organic,
Speaker 1: Like I like to work with people who A know
Speaker 1: the brand, you know, and I'm familiar with the brand
Speaker 1: and stand for the same things that I'll stand for,
Speaker 1: which is you know, ingredients matter great ingredients and not
Speaker 1: just um looking to review a product because it's the
Speaker 1: popular thing, or it's it's UM five none and no
Speaker 1: are chief a cheaper product. I want label readers. You know,
Speaker 1: Commuo roast consumers are label readers because before I even
Speaker 1: got into the business. So when I thought about getting
Speaker 1: into the business, one thing that everyone, physician everyone was
Speaker 1: telling me make sure your label reads. You know, make
Speaker 1: sure you know what you are using one your body,
Speaker 1: what you're putting in your body. And that goes for
Speaker 1: for food as well. I went on this whole natural quest, uh,
Speaker 1: from everything that we eat, to the products that we
Speaker 1: use to what you know, Um, I'm cleaning my house
Speaker 1: with so um label readers. They are my consumers, and
Speaker 1: I would do it this same way if if you're
Speaker 1: into a product that's holistic or natural, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: reaching out, Hey, I like what your page looks like,
Speaker 1: or I like what you're stand for. I love your curls.
Speaker 1: You know, let me tell you about my products. How
Speaker 1: did you figure out things like unit costs, like what
Speaker 1: it costs you make one bottle? Because I imagine that
Speaker 1: so many people are just making Okay, it's it's ten
Speaker 1: dollars for the thing, but they don't really know what
Speaker 1: it costs that one single bottle. Sure that I used
Speaker 1: the same way initially, the same way, Like it's so
Speaker 1: much like I am so self taught, UM and I
Speaker 1: hope that because I think it just makes me that
Speaker 1: much stronger now. Like I didn't have anybody holding my hand.
Speaker 1: I had to figure it out on my own, and
Speaker 1: it I think, man, just sitting there breaking down how
Speaker 1: much you're spending for everything, and that goes from the
Speaker 1: label to the ship, the shippers, the box that you
Speaker 1: are shipping with, to your stamps, to your bubble wrap,
Speaker 1: adding all that in too, of course, your raws and
Speaker 1: your components, adding all that in to your formula and
Speaker 1: just figuring out, okay, what's my how do I make
Speaker 1: a profit? You know? And how much am I paying out?
Speaker 1: Adding calculating all that in. Um. I just had to
Speaker 1: sit there and do it because this is not an industry.
Speaker 1: I mean, so I'm curious, like is it. You're getting
Speaker 1: very intricate in the fact that Okay, if I'm buying
Speaker 1: let's say shay and it comes in you know, courts,
Speaker 1: and then I'm buying you know, coconut oil and it
Speaker 1: comes in gallons, and then I'm buying you know, ex
Speaker 1: ingredient and it comes in a whole different denomination. And
Speaker 1: now I've got to figure out how much I'm using
Speaker 1: per bottle, and then I've got to figure out how
Speaker 1: much of like is it? Getting that deep into the
Speaker 1: it's really that deep to the point where now, of course, um, well,
Speaker 1: a year or so later into uh the business, of
Speaker 1: course we had to bring on bringing experts. I didn't
Speaker 1: know was that either until I started meeting and talking
Speaker 1: to other people in the beauty industry and um, manufacturing
Speaker 1: in the laboratories and seeing, okay, eight ounces you have
Speaker 1: to add or calculate all of those ounces, you know,
Speaker 1: and it's a formula and um um I was taught that,
Speaker 1: and of course I had to bring people in into
Speaker 1: my business that um that knew it down to a t.
Speaker 1: Because at the end of the day, it's all about
Speaker 1: how how much you can save. You know, you want
Speaker 1: to make sure you're not overspending on even your shippers,
Speaker 1: even your even fat X. You know, you have to
Speaker 1: take all all of that into consideration. No, what you
Speaker 1: know now about what it takes to do this, well,
Speaker 1: like what tools would you recommend other beauty industry wellness, haircare, skincare, um,
Speaker 1: smaller brands that are trying to scale, what tools, software
Speaker 1: or etcetera. Would you recommend that people find early that
Speaker 1: helps them do better business? To me, I'm not even
Speaker 1: gonna say. What's more important is finding the right people
Speaker 1: uh and passing uh certain workloads off to people where
Speaker 1: that is their area of expertise. Like I had that problem,
Speaker 1: Like my hand is it everything all the way down
Speaker 1: from shipping to formulas to content like all that, Like
Speaker 1: my hand was in so much. And being able to
Speaker 1: kind of step back and say, okay, uh, you know
Speaker 1: you your your logistics, let me let you handle that.
Speaker 1: This is your area. UM. So, just being able to
Speaker 1: let go a little bit, trust other people and let
Speaker 1: them do their job. I think that is extremely important
Speaker 1: if you cannot afford to bring somebody in one like
Speaker 1: as a full time employee. It's many different sites out
Speaker 1: there where you can contract people out. You know, you
Speaker 1: may not need a person to uh to be full time,
Speaker 1: which you just for content, you know, as different writers
Speaker 1: out there. I think you mentioned what you mentioned one uh, yes,
Speaker 1: utilize that to the fullest I did. I did a
Speaker 1: lot you know in the beginning. So, um, those kind
Speaker 1: of tools and and um sites like that are are
Speaker 1: very helpful. You just have to do your research. At
Speaker 1: what sales number or is it a sales number? Do
Speaker 1: you start to really believe that you've got something for
Speaker 1: real and that is this is worth investing in. Well,
Speaker 1: it wasn't even a number for me. It was what
Speaker 1: me listening to what people were saying and consumers and
Speaker 1: and and people all on like YouTube and Instagram and
Speaker 1: be like, oh my god, look at your hair. Look
Speaker 1: at look at how you styled your hair with my
Speaker 1: crawl up, you know, or just listen to them saying,
Speaker 1: oh your oil, your growth somewhem or your growth back drops.
Speaker 1: You know, I had a patch right here. Just look
Speaker 1: at my hair sists. You know. I love the fact
Speaker 1: that people that I haven't even met they're calling me
Speaker 1: Janelle like we besties. You know what I'm saying. I
Speaker 1: love that. Um. But um, yeah, just just just just work,
Speaker 1: just staying true and know what your product and your
Speaker 1: brand is about. How important is things like content creation?
Speaker 1: You know, you guys spend a lot of time on YouTube. Um,
Speaker 1: and obviously it's you know, a hair care skill and
Speaker 1: care wellness brand. UM like, what tools and platforms should
Speaker 1: an entrepreneur in this industry be focused on? Um? Content
Speaker 1: creation is very important because you want to make sure
Speaker 1: you are getting the right message to whoever you want
Speaker 1: your consumer to be. Um. Um, we use a lot
Speaker 1: of you'll be surprised head other websites Like I used
Speaker 1: a lot of foodie websites and restaurants to go there
Speaker 1: to help me, and it took so I could get
Speaker 1: inspiration on Okay, I know that I am using Garmet
Speaker 1: food the ingredients. How do I write this up? You know?
Speaker 1: When you read one of my labels, you know, I
Speaker 1: want to spark um, like all of the senses. I
Speaker 1: want you to smell my product and be like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, it smells like they're goods or if you're
Speaker 1: reading what's on my label, it sounds like this is
Speaker 1: like delicious, you know, and UM. So it's definitely important
Speaker 1: for you to get your content just right and really
Speaker 1: really nail it because that is your opportunity to grab
Speaker 1: your consumers attention and kind of bring them into your
Speaker 1: your whole brand family. You you mentioned that when you
Speaker 1: got ahold of Target, there was they were looking for
Speaker 1: brands like yours, and you talk about timing and how
Speaker 1: important it is for you know, that thing that you
Speaker 1: really really can't control, We can just be prepared for it, right,
Speaker 1: And how important is timing to somebody who may feel, like,
Speaker 1: you know, it's not going the way that they thought
Speaker 1: it might go. And what would you say to encourage
Speaker 1: them in that regard? Yes, so I will say, Um,
Speaker 1: I got into Target. Listen, I did a a beauty
Speaker 1: show and it was no one there at that show.
Speaker 1: I mean I was just standing in my booth and
Speaker 1: so bored. So somebody came up to me. Actually it
Speaker 1: was a Caucasian mail with flip flops and a backpack on,
Speaker 1: and you know, I look, he said, so tell me
Speaker 1: about your brand, and like, I could have said it's
Speaker 1: not for you or you know, but I didn't. I
Speaker 1: just chose to speak about Kamil Rose. And while I
Speaker 1: started Kamille Rose, and he was like he really saw
Speaker 1: and felt the passion when I described all of my products,
Speaker 1: and you know, um, thank god I didn't like, uh
Speaker 1: profile this person. Um. I spoke with him like he
Speaker 1: was a girl with the afro, and by the time
Speaker 1: I finished, he was like, you know, I am made
Speaker 1: buyer for from Target. I would love to fly you
Speaker 1: up so you can tell us about your brand. So
Speaker 1: never never, if you have an opportunity to tell any
Speaker 1: and everybody, please do If you have an event that, um,
Speaker 1: you know, you have an opportunity to be a part
Speaker 1: of it an event and you can do it, go
Speaker 1: that extra mile. You know, because of COVID, couldn't do
Speaker 1: a lot of in person things and we're still we're
Speaker 1: on the tail into that. I hope. UM. And but
Speaker 1: you talked about, you know, because of the pandemic, you know,
Speaker 1: you've been able to talk to people you don't think
Speaker 1: you would have been able to reach otherwise had it
Speaker 1: not been for the pandemic in that regard, and what
Speaker 1: what do you say to people who may not realize
Speaker 1: what this moment could be in creating an opportunity for
Speaker 1: them to go get their thing? My god, it's so
Speaker 1: many ways, like I think by us when we got
Speaker 1: on a lockdown on it and we were forced to
Speaker 1: comment dig deep into ourselves like it it was just
Speaker 1: opportunity to start to recharge, refresh, like we think things
Speaker 1: I hold I hold marketing budget like through we just
Speaker 1: went out of the window. I mean, we couldn't do anything.
Speaker 1: I think was a year for Camille Rose to do
Speaker 1: their own Camille Rose events in different cities and this
Speaker 1: whole you can't do it, So how do we pivot?
Speaker 1: What do we do? What do you mean we can't
Speaker 1: do it? What do we do now? So I told
Speaker 1: my team, you know, we have almost filounders and something
Speaker 1: thousand followers, Like, there's not one show that we could
Speaker 1: do or we be a part of where we're able
Speaker 1: to reach all those people. So we need to take
Speaker 1: advantage of that. Let's take our beauty kitchen, which we
Speaker 1: call it when we travel, take our beauty kitchen, and
Speaker 1: how do we have that same kitchen, that same beauty experience,
Speaker 1: give this to our consumers on our social pages. And
Speaker 1: we did, Like I was so proud of myself. So
Speaker 1: we had everything that we would have at a show
Speaker 1: or an event. We brought it to social media entertainment.
Speaker 1: I had people coming and I had DJ's, I had
Speaker 1: a violence, I had um chefs because I know, for me,
Speaker 1: I was like my kids home, I'm sick of cooking.
Speaker 1: I don't even know what to cook. You know, this
Speaker 1: is too much. So I had a chef come on
Speaker 1: every week. Um, my social media girl. She was like,
Speaker 1: I'm having so much anxiety because my my happy places
Speaker 1: shut down and it's just too much for me. And
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, I'm I'm gonna get a psychologist on.
Speaker 1: So she spoke about, you know, how to handle this situation,
Speaker 1: self care. We had dermatologists on. My husband came on
Speaker 1: and he spoke about COVID. He's a physician. Um, we
Speaker 1: had some of everybody, and when somebody said they got
Speaker 1: a problem, really you have that problem, a lot of
Speaker 1: other people must be having the same problems for less addressing.
Speaker 1: So we just kept our followers and our consumers on
Speaker 1: social media entertained. And of course we had our stylus on,
Speaker 1: you know, doing different hairstyles uh for them as well.
Speaker 1: So what it sounds like you did, like you didn't.
Speaker 1: You weren't saying by my stuff, by my stuff, by
Speaker 1: my stuff. You were you were offering your customers, your
Speaker 1: your fans, your believers. Yeah, the experience and things that
Speaker 1: they believed in. But it wasn't directly Camille rose stuff. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 1: Camille Roses were a whole lifestyle break. We're more than
Speaker 1: a hairstyle. Your lifestyle. So even when I started my
Speaker 1: my Instagram page, I told my social media a person,
Speaker 1: I wanted to feel like people are coming and they're
Speaker 1: looking at a magazine. It's not just by my prol up.
Speaker 1: It's not It's not that at all. It's an experience.
Speaker 1: Black Tech Green Money is a production of Black The
Speaker 1: Afro Tech, The Black Fact podcast Network, and my Heart
Speaker 1: Media and it's produced by Morgan Dubonne and me Well Lucas,
Speaker 1: with additional production support by Love Beach and Raven near Born.
Speaker 1: Special thank you to Michael Davis. It's a carsavon jan
Speaker 1: you know, like the wine. Yes, that's his real name.
Speaker 1: Learn more about my guests and other tech disruptor to
Speaker 1: innovatives at afro tech dot com. Do me a Salidy
Speaker 1: and rate this podcast five stars on Apple Podcasts. Go
Speaker 1: Get your money. Peace of Love,