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Speaker 1: Afrotech Conference is back, bringing together over twenty thousand tech enthusiasts, founders, investors,

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Speaker 1: and more for another unforgettable year. For years, afro Tech

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Speaker 1: to focusing on the latest and AI and data, this

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Speaker 1: year's programming explores the intersections of tech with health, environment

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Speaker 1: four today visit Afrotech Conference dot counted by your ticket now.

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Speaker 1: I'm Will Lucas and this is Black Tech Curing Money.

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Speaker 1: Chante Lundy is the founder and CEO of Black Girls Sunscreen,

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Speaker 1: a pioneering brand created to address the sun care needs

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Speaker 1: of black and brown skin. Girl's Sunscreen has grown from

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Speaker 1: a single product to a trusted line available in major

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Speaker 1: retailers like Target, Milton. So before you had this grand

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Speaker 1: idea of sunscreen designed for black people, black women, black men,

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Speaker 1: just black skin, was there a gap in the market

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Speaker 1: for this, because sometimes like, it doesn't need to be

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Speaker 1: a gap in the market, you just have a new perspective.

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Speaker 1: But was there a gap in the market you saw?

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Speaker 1: And what did you What was the thing that's like

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Speaker 1: I got to go in on this.

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Speaker 2: I mean, if you really want me to be so

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Speaker 2: transparent and brutally honest.

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Speaker 1: That's why this is black tech, great money, this is

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Speaker 1: what we do, all right.

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Speaker 2: So in twenty fifteen, right, it was the emergence of

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Speaker 2: like black Girl, magic, black Girl, this, black Girl that,

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Speaker 2: and it was just like, okay, it was it was

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Speaker 2: our time. I don't know if you remember this, but

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Speaker 2: black women were women were women. So a lot of

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Speaker 2: my friends were jumping into haircare, skin care and listen,

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Speaker 2: I constantly have ideas. So when I seen them doing that,

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Speaker 2: it was like, Okay, it's time for me to execute

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Speaker 2: one of my ideas. Which one is the best one?

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Speaker 2: And because I'm a woman of the sun, you know,

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Speaker 2: at the time I was living in Miami. I currently

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Speaker 2: live in uh Los Angeles. I love being on the beach.

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Speaker 2: It was okay, what do you think about sunscreen? My

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Speaker 2: friends would offer me sunscreen and I would tell them like,

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Speaker 2: do you see my complexion that that do we curse

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Speaker 2: on here? Okay, so that that shit don't work on

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Speaker 2: this complexion. So you know, I jumped on the computer

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Speaker 2: and just started to type in keywords sunscreening for as

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Speaker 2: a skin, sunscreen for black girls, sunscreen for brown girls,

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Speaker 2: and nothing came up. And I was like, Okay, I'm

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Speaker 2: gonna do this. And it was twofold, threefold. Actually it

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Speaker 2: was jumping on the on the wave of black girl magic. A.

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Speaker 2: B finding a space that wasn't talking to black women

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Speaker 2: and black women weren't there, And then B, what's about

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Speaker 2: to make me some money? Yeah, because yes, there's enough

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Speaker 2: pie for everyone to eat, But like, hmm, don't you

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Speaker 2: want like seventy five percent of the bye? Percent of

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Speaker 2: the bye? And even to this day sun care, you know,

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Speaker 2: Black Girl Sunscreen is leading the way we have given

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Speaker 2: you know, other brands, the I want to say, the

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Speaker 2: courage and the validation to speak to brand and black

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Speaker 2: people on sun safety, but we're really the one who

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Speaker 2: started it. So that was my fuel behind starting Black

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Speaker 2: Girl Sunscreen and discovering that there was, I guess this gap.

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Speaker 2: So dermatologists weren't speaking to us, Legacy brands weren't speaking

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Speaker 2: to us. There was no marketing that included deeper complexions

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Speaker 2: using SPF. So there were just so many things that

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Speaker 2: you know, spoke volume to me in terms of why

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Speaker 2: I should do this.

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Speaker 1: So I want to I want to kind of come

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Speaker 1: back in the story. So you get this idea, like,

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Speaker 1: I see there's a play here I can make. There's

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Speaker 1: some bit of science there, and then there's also manufacturing

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Speaker 1: of it there. And I'm assuming you were not like

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Speaker 1: a you know, some sort of chemical biologist you know,

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Speaker 1: coming up, and so how how does this happen? Like

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Speaker 1: you get the idea? What's the step? What's the next

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Speaker 1: step you take?

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Speaker 2: You know, I consider myself intelligent and I consider myself resourceful.

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Speaker 2: And the reason why I say those two things is

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Speaker 2: because I'm going to figure out how to do it

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Speaker 2: and the next step. So beauty now has changed. The

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Speaker 2: budget that I had was thirty three thousand dollars of

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Speaker 2: my own money that today I don't think that you're

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Speaker 2: able to create a beauty brand with that. You need

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Speaker 2: a little bit more capital. So the first step is, Okay,

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Speaker 2: what is it that you want to do different? Why

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Speaker 2: are you even producing whatever it is you're trying to produce.

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Speaker 2: So for us, it was discovering that black people weren't

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Speaker 2: wearing sunscreen because it made them look ashy. Now what

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Speaker 2: doesn't make you look ashy? Lotion? Nowadays we call it moisturizer. Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 2: So we needed to create a product that was hydrating

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Speaker 2: and moisturizing aka not Ashley as a year ago. Now,

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Speaker 2: I'm just being honest, right, because the vernacular has, you know,

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Speaker 2: transitioned over time. So the first step was is it

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Speaker 2: even possible? Is it possible to make a sunscreen that

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Speaker 2: is moisturizing? Then you have to find somebody that's just

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Speaker 2: as wild and crazy as you are, and not everybody is,

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Speaker 2: especially when you go into an old industry that has

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Speaker 2: been doing something the same way for thirty plus years.

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Speaker 2: So when you push on them, they're just like, no,

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Speaker 2: who are you? That's and that's what I was met with,

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Speaker 2: No who are you? And no, we're not doing this

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Speaker 2: because this is not how it's done. So we did

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Speaker 2: find a manufacturer and the chemist that you know, believed

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Speaker 2: in what we were doing and wanted to grow with us.

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Speaker 2: So once we were able to secure that. And funny

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Speaker 2: story is is that I was being strategic in the

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Speaker 2: location because my mindset was narrow at the time. It

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Speaker 2: was hey, sunscreen could only be used in the sun,

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Speaker 2: so I look for manufacturers that were in sunny places.

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Speaker 1: Mm hmm. That's good.

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Speaker 2: So it does make sense. But now it's they're all

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Speaker 2: over the place. So I have a list of all

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Speaker 2: those manufacturers that I contacted eight years ago, and now

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Speaker 2: those same manufacturers that told me no eight years ago,

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Speaker 2: or hey, we have some formulas, or do you want

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Speaker 2: to work with us, And my response is like, hey,

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Speaker 2: do you still have such a sense that work such

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Speaker 2: a company because we we we reached out to you

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Speaker 2: and you said that you couldn't do it, and they're like, no, no, no,

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Speaker 2: that's not what we said. I got the receipts, sir.

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Speaker 2: So that was the next step. It's it's to find

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Speaker 2: some one that could actually, you know, jibe with you,

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Speaker 2: that believes in you, and that is a supporter and

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Speaker 2: not just that, not somebody that just wants to take

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Speaker 2: your money. I would say the hardest part in securing

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Speaker 2: the manufacturer though, was getting our product timely, because you

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Speaker 2: come in as a small customer, and if you're producing,

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Speaker 2: you know the minimum five thousand units, and in some

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Speaker 2: care it is a higher MOQ. It's not a thousand,

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Speaker 2: it's not five hundred. It was five thousand at the.

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Speaker 1: Time minimum order. Just to write down the minimum order quantity, right.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it was just like we were

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Speaker 2: small dollars to them, and I kept getting the Okay,

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Speaker 2: it's gonna be done next week. It's gonna be done

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Speaker 2: next week. It's gonna be done next week. So you know,

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Speaker 2: there were just many different hiccups along the way when

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Speaker 2: it came to securing someone that was just as passionate

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Speaker 2: as as I was. So first manufacturer slash Chemist. Second

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Speaker 2: it was web developer because we were going to you know,

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Speaker 2: launch on on dot com. And again this is narrow

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Speaker 2: mind thinking eight years ago, I didn't think about scaling

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Speaker 2: into retail. I didn't know that first of all, the

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Speaker 2: product would be received like it was like it is

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Speaker 2: being received today, Like do we even have potential? But

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Speaker 2: also like I want all my margins. I want my

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Speaker 2: margins to be almost one hundred percent as high as possible,

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Speaker 2: high as possible. So when you give to the retail

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Speaker 2: the retailers you're taking fifty cent, you know. So it's

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Speaker 2: just my thinking how to develop, and it has developed

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Speaker 2: as I've been in this role.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I want to get some I want to get

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Speaker 1: more insights when you're on what you learned that you

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Speaker 1: didn't know coming in, because I think about, you know,

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Speaker 1: when you're particularly ordering things that are made specifically for

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Speaker 1: you overseas wherever you're getting your manufacturing done, you know,

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Speaker 1: you're getting samples back, and how many samples even idea

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Speaker 1: of like how long does it take to get to

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Speaker 1: the actual one, you know? And are you spending money

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Speaker 1: all along when you're getting samples back that actually don't

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Speaker 1: work for you?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So it's it's two different answers. So now we're

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Speaker 2: on innervations of maybe five six seven today Black Girls

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Speaker 2: Centric because we have deep rooted partnership with our manufacturers

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Speaker 2: and they want to make sure that they're securing the

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Speaker 2: right packaging for whatever it is that we're doing. Year one,

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Speaker 2: it only took me probably about two rounds because sunscreen

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Speaker 2: does have to live in a certain type of packaging

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Speaker 2: because of the product in the testing and all that,

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Speaker 2: So there's not that many options. We did have a

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Speaker 2: product catastrophe though, when we launched one of our face

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Speaker 2: products called make it Mats. We use a new supplier

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Speaker 2: and the product made the cap disintegrate. So you know,

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Speaker 2: that's what happened to us just by trying to diversify

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Speaker 2: our squires. And that's another thing that like some companies

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Speaker 2: don't do and do do very well, is having more

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Speaker 2: than one go too.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so if it's making so I'm assuming it's not

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Speaker 1: good for your skin either then or was it just.

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Speaker 2: Because they weren't able to give us what we needed? Yeah,

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Speaker 2: this was just the packaging. So so nowadays it's like,

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Speaker 2: you know, people want to earn earn your business, and

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Speaker 2: there's a lot of manufacturers out there. There's a lot

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Speaker 2: and some are producing, you know, at a very low cost.

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Speaker 2: So why wouldn't they send you as many options as

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Speaker 2: possible to get you know, if they know your business

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Speaker 2: is doing well and you're making in you're cutting pos

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Speaker 2: purchase orders for one hundred thousand units, two hundred thousand units,

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Speaker 2: they gonna send you eight ten ten samples. Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 2: oh even more.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Oh.

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Speaker 1: You said something about you know, getting into you know,

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Speaker 1: brick and mortar and you know e commerce. You got

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Speaker 1: one hundred percent of that brick and mortar. You're splitting

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Speaker 1: it with Target or Alto whoever you're partnering with, and

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Speaker 1: you called that your original thinking limited thinking? Can you

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Speaker 1: say more about that?

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Speaker 2: Limit is thinking? Because I didn't know the reach of

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Speaker 2: the retail. I thought that I could sell as much

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Speaker 2: as they could. I could sell as much on Black

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Speaker 2: Girl Sunscreen as a Target, as I swear to you,

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Speaker 2: I thought this as any other story that would put

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Speaker 2: me in there, And why do I have to give

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Speaker 2: away so much of it to them? And they don't

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Speaker 2: really put the work in? That was my thinking. That's change,

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Speaker 2: it's still.

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Speaker 1: You know, because then I put in the work in.

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Speaker 1: I mean, just putting you on the shelves doesn't make it.

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Speaker 2: Sell, no, So we're doing a lot of that that

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Speaker 2: marketing ourselves. Right. What they'll say is like, it's the

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Speaker 2: reach right because Walmart has i don't know, over four

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Speaker 2: thousand locations. Alta has a little under two thousand, the

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Speaker 2: same as Target. So they're putting you in these geography

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Speaker 2: is that you couldn't be in right. They do have

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Speaker 2: guests and customers that are walking down their house. But

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Speaker 2: if you're a popping brand, right, and somebody doesn't go

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Speaker 2: to your website, but they've heard about you and they're

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Speaker 2: walking down the all of that story, now they might

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Speaker 2: purchase you. So it kind of goes both ways. My

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Speaker 2: thinking has changed by this and it's giving us more

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Speaker 2: exposure and unfortunately, as a black owned business, we need

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Speaker 2: we need validation. And when you get on the shelves

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Speaker 2: of these major retailers, it now says the customers that

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Speaker 2: you're not making product in your home. Now, if you

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Speaker 2: know anything about anything, you can't make sense you beIN

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Speaker 2: at home, But for some other products you can. But

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Speaker 2: what the retailers say is, hey, this business has been vetted,

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Speaker 2: they've gone through you know, our systems. They have the

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Speaker 2: resources to fill the orders. Right. There's a lot of

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Speaker 2: things that come with being in retail, and that's how

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Speaker 2: my thinking has changed, like, Okay, this is going to

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Speaker 2: propel the business to the next level.

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Speaker 1: How did those partnerships help you develop as a CEO

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Speaker 1: and as a business owner.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say that it has Most people think that, Okay,

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Speaker 2: I'm not going to have a boss. What I transition

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Speaker 2: out of my nine to five on my corporate job

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Speaker 2: and it's like, oh my goodness, you've just gained so

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Speaker 2: many And when you're dealing with the retailers, you're like,

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Speaker 2: you're not talking to somebody that may be like your equivalent, right,

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Speaker 2: Like you're not talking to a CEO. You're talking to

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Speaker 2: maybe you know, somebody first year at the job, a buyer. Right,

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Speaker 2: You're talking to people in inventory management. You're talking to

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Speaker 2: all these different levels and control, and they have control,

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Speaker 2: and there they can dictate your destiny a right by

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Speaker 2: saying yeah, your nay, you're coming into their store, how

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Speaker 2: many stores you're in, what products they want to carry,

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Speaker 2: what price they want to carry it at? Right, So

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Speaker 2: now they have become really, I would say, a dictator

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Speaker 2: almost of your business. One mistake that I admit making

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Speaker 2: and I will never do this again. The only regret

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Speaker 2: ever that I have in Black Girl's Sunscreen ever you

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Speaker 2: ready for this, well, yeah, is allowing the retailer to

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Speaker 2: dictate my price. Now that we have this price, we

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Speaker 2: can never change. We've never changed it. And I was green.

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Speaker 2: I was green. I didn't know, and it was just

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Speaker 2: so much exciting, so much excitement around going into the retailer.

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Speaker 2: That was just like, Okay, you don't want to mess

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Speaker 2: anything up, right, So like you go along with all

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Speaker 2: the discounts and all these different programs that you have

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Speaker 2: to spend money towards. Black Girl's Sunscreen is not in

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Speaker 2: any DEI program. We went into retail pre pandemic. Yeah, yeah, yes,

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Speaker 2: So we go toe to toe with all the rest

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Speaker 2: of the players in the sun car aisle. We don't

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Speaker 2: have like, hey, because they're black owned business, we're going

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Speaker 2: to give them X.

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Speaker 1: When you think about you just getting on the shelf,

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Speaker 1: is you've just begun to fight the battle just because

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Speaker 1: you still got to get off the shelf now. And

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Speaker 1: you before we started recording here, you started to talk

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Speaker 1: a little bit about community and people galvanizing themselves around

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Speaker 1: the story. Can you say, can you can you talk

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Speaker 1: a little bit about building loyal and supportive customers, community

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Speaker 1: members who believe in the vision and believe in the product,

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Speaker 1: and how that helps you grow.

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Speaker 2: Well, first off, you know, we name the company black.

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Speaker 2: I named the company black o sence I say we

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Speaker 2: because that's just my brain and people have taken kind

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Speaker 2: to that. Some people hate it alas because I get

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Speaker 2: it on both sides. And with that, women have seen

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Speaker 2: that we are honoring their complexion by naming it Black

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Speaker 2: Girls Sunscreen and being extremely attentive to what it takes

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Speaker 2: to honor the complexion. So with that, the community has

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Speaker 2: supported us in pretty much the most everything that we

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Speaker 2: have done, except for one launch recently another story. So

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Speaker 2: I would say that building the community has been probably

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Speaker 2: one of the most successful things that we have done

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Speaker 2: because people of colored black people didn't grow up wearing sunscreen, right,

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Speaker 2: so it's a new concept for many. Some people don't

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Speaker 2: believe in the concept at all and will never wear it,

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Speaker 2: and those are our biggest competitors. But some have said,

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Speaker 2: you know, I'll be open minded and I'll try your

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Speaker 2: I'll try the product and it works, and now I'm

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Speaker 2: going to tell people around tell people about it. Most recently,

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Speaker 2: I celebrated a new year, personal New Year, and on

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Speaker 2: that day I woke up, but I had some alerts

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Speaker 2: because I have all my Google alerts turned on for

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Speaker 2: my name and for the business, and I don't know

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Speaker 2: if people do that. It's important that you do right

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Speaker 2: because real time, you're getting articles that are coming out

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Speaker 2: about you or whatever that is. And I saw some

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Speaker 2: come through and I was like, I'll just click on

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Speaker 2: this a little later, and uh when I when I

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Speaker 2: clicked on it, it was a basketball player right talking

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Speaker 2: about black Girl sunscreen. They partnered up with a retailer,

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Speaker 2: and I got so many messages about this partnership, and uh,

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Speaker 2: you know what he had said in the video was,

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Speaker 2: you know, we need to talk about black owned businesses.

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Speaker 2: We need to talk about it. And why I talk

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Speaker 2: about this transit of the community is that this statement

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Speaker 2: couldn't be any truer. And that is Listen, I need

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Speaker 2: to tell people about Will. Will needs to tell people

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Speaker 2: both Chante and what she got going on and so forth,

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Speaker 2: because if we're not working together, then we're not building

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Speaker 2: each other up.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, I want you to talk more about this

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Speaker 1: community thing. And you talked about people supported you and

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Speaker 1: you know when you were, you know, out there. But

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Speaker 1: there's a quote I found earlier from a different interview

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Speaker 1: you had done where you said, you know, the challenges

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Speaker 1: whereas every business owner faces the people, the people not

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Speaker 1: believing the product, our challenge was literally our own community

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Speaker 1: not understanding the whys of the product. So you talk

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Speaker 1: about you know, how to get because you said, you know,

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Speaker 1: black people are like, hey, you get ashy, and so

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Speaker 1: talk about how you overcame and if what were the

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Speaker 1: other things that people were like, I don't know about that, Shante, I.

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Speaker 2: Could talk about one recently. So sunscreen we have. We

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Speaker 2: have a complete family now, right, So we kicked it

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Speaker 2: off with our Queen. We call her our queen because

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Speaker 2: she's our number one seller. Every retailer wants her. Uh so,

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Speaker 2: she's a SPF thirty. Okay, she's the original black and gold.

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Speaker 2: She is photogenetic, she is moisturizing, she goes everywhere. Okay,

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Speaker 2: well yeah, all right. So then we said, all right,

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Speaker 2: people colored black people don't know about sunscreen because we

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Speaker 2: weren't taught as kids to wear sunscreen. So we need

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Speaker 2: to get to the parents. We need to get to

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Speaker 2: the kids. So we created BGS Kids. So then after that,

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Speaker 2: we said, all right, let's do some sprays so people

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Speaker 2: that don't want to put on the lotion they want

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Speaker 2: to go quick sprays. Then we did a some seasonal stuff,

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Speaker 2: and then we did a maked pop on the lip. Right,

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Speaker 2: so SPF lips right for the girlies that again, we

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Speaker 2: want to protect their protect lips and uhs anyway, at

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Speaker 2: least protect the things on your body. So then we

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Speaker 2: said we gotta do something for the fellas because when

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Speaker 2: we go out to our activations, men are like, hey,

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Speaker 2: your stuff is dope, but I don't know about that.

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Speaker 2: We're a girl, I don't, I don't, I don't know.

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Speaker 2: Is that for me? Yeah? Is that for me? And

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Speaker 2: we kept hearing it and hearing it and hearing it.

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Speaker 2: So we said we're gonna make something for the men,

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Speaker 2: and we did that. Well, now, it takes about a

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Speaker 2: year to formulate sunscreen because of all the testing, you know,

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Speaker 2: we want to get you know, no fragance, no fragance.

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Speaker 2: Black girls sunscreen has a none no list. Anyway, we

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Speaker 2: we launch a product called BGS men. I promise you

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Speaker 2: this is a real thing. We launched it in August,

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Speaker 2: where we in October, and we launched this in August,

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Speaker 2: and that thing gout five point seven million views on Twitter.

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Speaker 2: And I promise you, I'm going to answer your question back.

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Speaker 2: I got to set it up.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: So so five point seven million views on Twitter, you

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Speaker 2: know how many views that is? There's a lot of views.

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Speaker 2: There's forty seven million black people in the United States.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm a lot.

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Speaker 2: Okay. So so with that, it wasn't the best feedback,

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Speaker 2: and we were so perplexed on why because we're out

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Speaker 2: here in the streets, we're doing activations, I do talks,

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Speaker 2: we're on social we're a vibrant company, and we make

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Speaker 2: products based off of what our community asked for. We

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Speaker 2: launched BGS men, so our community says, oh, it's stupid.

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Speaker 2: Oh it's the seeming ingredients. Oh oh black Girls sunscreen men.

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Speaker 2: Make that make sense, But that's not actually the name,

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Speaker 2: and people don't actually know that the brain is actually

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Speaker 2: called Black Girls Sunscreen. And then we have products that

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Speaker 2: fall underneath brand name, right, but that's why it's it's

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Speaker 2: it's the acronym BGS. And then for men, right, So

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Speaker 2: there was a discussion of you know, why do men

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Speaker 2: have to have different products? Like since when are cosmetic

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Speaker 2: products gender specific? And it's just like, well, hold on,

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Speaker 2: we did you know an analysis on this and black

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00:23:39,560 --> 00:23:43,840
Speaker 2: not black, but men by products that say for men

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Speaker 2: on them, and are y'all attacking Dove, are y'all attacking

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Speaker 2: Paula's choice? Are y'all at taking any other company that

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Speaker 2: says for men and have products for women as well. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: So this is what I and this is what I'm

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Speaker 2: talking about when sometimes when I say it's our own people,

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Speaker 2: because here we are a company that is extremely supportive

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Speaker 2: of women, supportive of female athletes. You jump into our inbox,

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Speaker 2: you ask for samples, donations for your church, for you

396
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Speaker 2: pick me for your bridal sheller, We're probably going to

397
00:24:18,080 --> 00:24:22,880
Speaker 2: say yes. If it's not an egregious ask, we donate monetarily.

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Speaker 2: I do mentorship for free. Like our company is literally

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Speaker 2: ninety percent black, And to hear feedback like that, it's

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Speaker 2: just like wow. Now, if it's constructive, then that's fair.

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Speaker 2: But just to say like, oh, black men don't need

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Speaker 2: products for.

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Speaker 1: Them, yeah yeah. So that begs the question, if you

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Speaker 1: were to go back to Chante eight years ago, nine

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Speaker 1: years ago and you got this bright idea, would you

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Speaker 1: name it something else?

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Speaker 2: No? No, it's a resounding no. Say it with passion.

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Speaker 2: I love black girls sunscreen, black o sunscreen se We

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Speaker 2: have vacation for two weeks. So look, the reason why

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Speaker 2: I named it black girl Sunscreening was intentional because I

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Speaker 2: did say, if we were to go to retail if

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Speaker 2: we were, if one day we were on the shelves,

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Speaker 2: I wanted to. I wanted black women women are call

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Speaker 2: out to know that this is for them because we

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Speaker 2: don't know. Sometimes was for us period. So there we've

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Speaker 2: taken all the guests were it out. You know what

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00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:36,159
Speaker 2: the product is is sunscreen and it's for a particular

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Speaker 2: skin type. Yeah, yep, And actually that's what has made

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Speaker 2: us grow. It also has been limiting. I will say

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Speaker 2: that it has been limited because our allies and people

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Speaker 2: not of color will ask hey can I use this?

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Speaker 2: Some ignorant folks will say, well, it term me black

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Speaker 2: now we know being wont you black? I've seen the

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00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:05,680
Speaker 2: haircare too though, right where you know, people have asked

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00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:07,920
Speaker 2: me like, hey can you do this haircare? Okay, well

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Speaker 2: have you used it? People of not color? Have you

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00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:12,080
Speaker 2: used it? No? I didn't use it anything. It's for

428
00:26:12,160 --> 00:26:16,760
Speaker 2: my hair. Well I think you should use it just

429
00:26:16,760 --> 00:26:20,240
Speaker 2: to see how it works. But yeah, I love the

430
00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:25,440
Speaker 2: name black Girl Sunscreen. For the people that have embraced us,

431
00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:30,320
Speaker 2: they love the name too, and my executives think that

432
00:26:30,359 --> 00:26:34,440
Speaker 2: it's probably the most brilliant name for the product.

433
00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:38,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, I want to talk about money because you know

434
00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:41,520
Speaker 1: you started with your own capital. You know, you put

435
00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:46,520
Speaker 1: thirty three thousand dollars in and you know you didn't

436
00:26:46,520 --> 00:26:48,959
Speaker 1: come from an entrepreneurial background. You were studying, you were

437
00:26:48,960 --> 00:26:51,480
Speaker 1: in school, you were on the corporate trajectory, and you said,

438
00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:53,200
Speaker 1: you know, I got this thing and I'm gonna put

439
00:26:53,200 --> 00:26:56,879
Speaker 1: my money in. And there's so many people who have

440
00:26:57,040 --> 00:27:01,320
Speaker 1: this idea, have this thing that scratches at them, and

441
00:27:01,359 --> 00:27:05,160
Speaker 1: they might be afraid to go in with their own capital.

442
00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:08,040
Speaker 1: Can you speak to what gave you that confidence?

443
00:27:09,560 --> 00:27:13,240
Speaker 2: Yeah. So, although I didn't have businesses prior to Black

444
00:27:13,280 --> 00:27:16,199
Speaker 2: Girl's Sunscreen, I was in a space that set me

445
00:27:16,359 --> 00:27:20,400
Speaker 2: up to have the mindset of running a business. So

446
00:27:20,480 --> 00:27:24,080
Speaker 2: my corporate experience, the way they set their business up

447
00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:27,600
Speaker 2: was like, hey, you need to grow your business. How

448
00:27:27,640 --> 00:27:29,960
Speaker 2: do you grow your business? So you need to have

449
00:27:30,960 --> 00:27:34,359
Speaker 2: ways that's going to attract the customer from the competitor.

450
00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:38,600
Speaker 2: You need to hire your own talent, train them and

451
00:27:38,640 --> 00:27:43,920
Speaker 2: retain them. You need to set up KPIs, you need

452
00:27:43,960 --> 00:27:48,200
Speaker 2: to gain your own account. Right. So, before even starting

453
00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:54,680
Speaker 2: Black Girl's Sunscreen, I already had the structure of running

454
00:27:54,720 --> 00:27:57,919
Speaker 2: an organization and setting up an organization. I also have

455
00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:01,840
Speaker 2: my MBA now that tech textbook stuff. There's a lot

456
00:28:01,880 --> 00:28:05,840
Speaker 2: of theories that I've forgotten, but we did a lot

457
00:28:05,880 --> 00:28:07,920
Speaker 2: of damn case studies and we wore T shirts to

458
00:28:08,520 --> 00:28:12,639
Speaker 2: present it. So I say that to say that I

459
00:28:12,680 --> 00:28:18,280
Speaker 2: felt equipped to start Black Girls Sunscreen. However, there were

460
00:28:18,359 --> 00:28:21,960
Speaker 2: three questions that I did ask myself before actually launching

461
00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:25,960
Speaker 2: the brand. The first one was will people wear the

462
00:28:26,040 --> 00:28:29,600
Speaker 2: product Black Girl Sunscreen? The second one was do I

463
00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:33,200
Speaker 2: have the resources? The third one was do I have

464
00:28:33,240 --> 00:28:37,000
Speaker 2: the confidence? And this goes into what you just asked me.

465
00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:41,320
Speaker 2: And once all three of those questions were answered, I executed.

466
00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:44,720
Speaker 2: The confidence is a huge one because it comes and

467
00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:47,800
Speaker 2: it goes, and at that moment, in that day, I

468
00:28:47,880 --> 00:28:51,719
Speaker 2: hadn't and I had it because in all points of

469
00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:54,440
Speaker 2: my life, I've had to be in a leadership role.

470
00:28:54,840 --> 00:28:58,840
Speaker 2: I played the violin I've done solo acts as a violinist,

471
00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:02,760
Speaker 2: Captain of the two Living Squad, I was the treasurer

472
00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:09,600
Speaker 2: on SGA. In my SGA Senior Class President BSU right,

473
00:29:09,680 --> 00:29:13,280
Speaker 2: I'm also the oldest child. I'm the oldest daughter and

474
00:29:13,400 --> 00:29:17,840
Speaker 2: the oldest granddaughter on both sides, so I'm like my

475
00:29:17,960 --> 00:29:21,440
Speaker 2: parents two point zero for my siblings. Right, So there

476
00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:25,400
Speaker 2: are so many things that have impacted who I am

477
00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:29,520
Speaker 2: as a leader in being able to start my business. Now,

478
00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:33,240
Speaker 2: when I think about the thirty three thousand dollars, it's like, okay,

479
00:29:33,320 --> 00:29:35,960
Speaker 2: start this business or down payment on the house.

480
00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:37,120
Speaker 1: Right.

481
00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:39,760
Speaker 2: I didn't even have the confidence to buy a house,

482
00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:42,240
Speaker 2: but I had the confidence to start the business. I

483
00:29:42,320 --> 00:29:45,040
Speaker 2: don't even know how that makes sense. But I wasn't

484
00:29:45,080 --> 00:29:47,360
Speaker 2: ready for a house. I wasn't ready for a house,

485
00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:49,360
Speaker 2: but I was like, you know what, let me just

486
00:29:49,440 --> 00:29:54,880
Speaker 2: try it. It wasn't baby money at all, but I believed.

487
00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:57,840
Speaker 2: I believed in it. I had close friends. I mean

488
00:29:57,840 --> 00:30:00,239
Speaker 2: that stually ain't gonna work. A white people don't wear that.

489
00:30:00,640 --> 00:30:04,760
Speaker 2: And now they asking me to speak on their panels.

490
00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:08,520
Speaker 2: Oh but I don't bring that up. So so the

491
00:30:08,520 --> 00:30:12,600
Speaker 2: confidence piece, right, So the confidence piece I've had to

492
00:30:12,800 --> 00:30:16,000
Speaker 2: have it in so many different situations now with the

493
00:30:16,040 --> 00:30:19,560
Speaker 2: business is you don't know until you try, So at

494
00:30:19,640 --> 00:30:23,600
Speaker 2: least just try. And for me, I'm not letting anything fail.

495
00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:26,440
Speaker 2: Ye oh no, I'll put the sense freen into my

496
00:30:26,440 --> 00:30:28,120
Speaker 2: book bag and go down to the beach and sell

497
00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:34,200
Speaker 2: it before we go to business. Yeah, we got hustle.

498
00:30:34,240 --> 00:30:36,600
Speaker 1: That makes me think, like what what can be When

499
00:30:36,600 --> 00:30:40,160
Speaker 1: you're talking about skincare, wellness, you know, healthcare, all these

500
00:30:40,320 --> 00:30:45,320
Speaker 1: you know, the sectors that you play in. It's very difficult,

501
00:30:45,360 --> 00:30:48,640
Speaker 1: I imagine to come up with like the MVP, the

502
00:30:48,680 --> 00:30:52,200
Speaker 1: minimum viable product, just to prove that this thing I'm

503
00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:55,680
Speaker 1: working on will work, because you got to do the

504
00:30:55,720 --> 00:30:58,080
Speaker 1: whole thing, you know, like you kind of what you

505
00:30:58,080 --> 00:31:00,000
Speaker 1: talked about, like, you can't make this in your kitchen.

506
00:31:00,760 --> 00:31:03,280
Speaker 1: You have to be for real and you actually have

507
00:31:03,320 --> 00:31:06,720
Speaker 1: to get people who are scientists involved. And so how

508
00:31:06,760 --> 00:31:11,800
Speaker 1: do you do the smaller thing first just to prove

509
00:31:11,840 --> 00:31:13,600
Speaker 1: that people will do it? Or do you have to

510
00:31:13,640 --> 00:31:16,960
Speaker 1: shoot from the three point line, have the court full

511
00:31:17,040 --> 00:31:18,840
Speaker 1: court from the gate.

512
00:31:18,960 --> 00:31:21,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, you got to do the smaller things first. You

513
00:31:21,800 --> 00:31:24,560
Speaker 2: got to do the nitty gritty stuff first before you

514
00:31:24,600 --> 00:31:27,400
Speaker 2: can even you know, I think of my pie in

515
00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:30,040
Speaker 2: the sky was to have a billboard. And we have

516
00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:32,840
Speaker 2: like I don't know, like eight billboards just in Los

517
00:31:32,880 --> 00:31:36,720
Speaker 2: Angeles and several across the United States. So before we

518
00:31:36,840 --> 00:31:40,760
Speaker 2: even got those, you know, several billboards, we started with one.

519
00:31:40,840 --> 00:31:46,160
Speaker 2: So my strategy for everything is crawl, walk, run. You

520
00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:49,240
Speaker 2: got to crawl before you're even able to fill that

521
00:31:49,320 --> 00:31:52,959
Speaker 2: ground beneath you to start walking and then start running.

522
00:31:53,360 --> 00:31:57,360
Speaker 2: So doing the small things for me so I know

523
00:31:57,480 --> 00:32:00,880
Speaker 2: how to do it to teach others, because there's nothing

524
00:32:00,920 --> 00:32:04,120
Speaker 2: in this company that I don't know anyone else can

525
00:32:04,160 --> 00:32:07,120
Speaker 2: do that I can't. I mean except for like campin

526
00:32:07,120 --> 00:32:07,600
Speaker 2: and stuff that.

527
00:32:08,120 --> 00:32:10,800
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, But like, what's the small thing you can

528
00:32:10,840 --> 00:32:13,760
Speaker 1: do to prove that somebody will buy the skincare product?

529
00:32:15,840 --> 00:32:17,720
Speaker 2: The small thing that you can do.

530
00:32:19,280 --> 00:32:21,440
Speaker 1: Or do you just have to or you really out

531
00:32:21,480 --> 00:32:23,880
Speaker 1: on you? Because what I think about is, you know,

532
00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:26,840
Speaker 1: if I'm going to build an app, I can build

533
00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:31,040
Speaker 1: a wireframe before I spend a dollar on development and

534
00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:33,200
Speaker 1: prove and get in front of people and say I

535
00:32:33,240 --> 00:32:36,040
Speaker 1: would use that app a matter of fact, here's five

536
00:32:36,080 --> 00:32:39,880
Speaker 1: dollars to go build it. And what you're doing. You

537
00:32:39,920 --> 00:32:43,680
Speaker 1: can't just go build this in your kitchen because they're

538
00:32:43,760 --> 00:32:44,760
Speaker 1: chemicals involved.

539
00:32:46,520 --> 00:32:49,320
Speaker 2: So the smallest thing that I've seen, and it's actually

540
00:32:49,400 --> 00:32:52,240
Speaker 2: not a small thing, it's a big thing, is people

541
00:32:52,880 --> 00:32:57,800
Speaker 2: really misjudge my age and they think I'm a lot

542
00:32:57,840 --> 00:33:00,000
Speaker 2: younger than I am, and it's because of my skin

543
00:33:00,120 --> 00:33:03,800
Speaker 2: in so when folks see my skin in beauty and

544
00:33:03,800 --> 00:33:07,920
Speaker 2: in cosmetics, right, they automatically think that I'm wearing SPF,

545
00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:13,360
Speaker 2: and the women and the men in my company everyone

546
00:33:13,720 --> 00:33:16,200
Speaker 2: is really just kind of like put together presents very

547
00:33:16,320 --> 00:33:19,360
Speaker 2: very well. So I would say that one of the

548
00:33:19,400 --> 00:33:22,880
Speaker 2: things that we do as an organization is how do

549
00:33:22,960 --> 00:33:28,760
Speaker 2: we present what is our skincare? Because if we are saying, hey,

550
00:33:29,400 --> 00:33:33,320
Speaker 2: SPF will prevent well sunburn and melanoma, but it also

551
00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:39,760
Speaker 2: helps with these cosmetics cosmetic things like hyperpigmentation, find lines

552
00:33:40,960 --> 00:33:44,080
Speaker 2: and we look like something different than is that true?

553
00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:48,560
Speaker 2: So it's something that maybe people don't necessarily think about,

554
00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:51,840
Speaker 2: but it goes a very long way. So I would

555
00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:55,200
Speaker 2: say that is the smallest thing that I do to

556
00:33:55,280 --> 00:33:58,280
Speaker 2: say here you go, okay, yes I'm gonna buy that

557
00:33:58,280 --> 00:34:00,880
Speaker 2: Black Girl suntry because look at chante. Now if they

558
00:34:00,920 --> 00:34:06,040
Speaker 2: can't see me, it's going to come for other people.

559
00:34:07,160 --> 00:34:10,720
Speaker 2: And what is their reviews? What are their remarks about

560
00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:14,120
Speaker 2: Black Girls screen? So that would be the tip. Hopefully

561
00:34:14,280 --> 00:34:18,080
Speaker 2: that answers your question. Well, I've actually been asked that before,

562
00:34:18,680 --> 00:34:22,560
Speaker 2: and I'm glad that you asked me that. But if

563
00:34:22,600 --> 00:34:24,680
Speaker 2: somebody were to ask me that again, it would be

564
00:34:24,680 --> 00:34:25,440
Speaker 2: the same answer.

565
00:34:27,400 --> 00:34:29,319
Speaker 1: You know, when you came into the game, you said,

566
00:34:29,440 --> 00:34:32,480
Speaker 1: you know you wanted to do this business. You wanted

567
00:34:32,520 --> 00:34:35,560
Speaker 1: to also make some money, which I love that. And

568
00:34:35,680 --> 00:34:38,839
Speaker 1: so how do you measure success? Being successful? Now? How

569
00:34:38,840 --> 00:34:43,120
Speaker 1: do you measure success compared to that seante that was

570
00:34:43,160 --> 00:34:46,359
Speaker 1: just getting started? What are the things that you shoot for? Now?

571
00:34:49,160 --> 00:34:56,759
Speaker 2: Happiness for my employees. So there are twenty five of us,

572
00:34:57,880 --> 00:35:02,000
Speaker 2: and it is important to me that they come here

573
00:35:02,600 --> 00:35:06,080
Speaker 2: and they fulfill their passion. So let's say we hire

574
00:35:06,239 --> 00:35:09,799
Speaker 2: I don't know, somebody that's into photography, like okay, so

575
00:35:09,840 --> 00:35:12,480
Speaker 2: they love to do photography outside of Black Girls Sunscreen,

576
00:35:12,840 --> 00:35:18,120
Speaker 2: bringing that same energy here, right, So measure my measurement

577
00:35:18,160 --> 00:35:21,600
Speaker 2: of success is how are the individuals in this organization

578
00:35:21,760 --> 00:35:24,759
Speaker 2: doing because that's the only way we're going to grow.

579
00:35:25,560 --> 00:35:28,279
Speaker 2: Do they understand where our business is going? We have

580
00:35:28,360 --> 00:35:32,759
Speaker 2: town hall meetings where we uh include the entire organization

581
00:35:32,840 --> 00:35:38,440
Speaker 2: and we're extremely transparent on our financials, on expansion, on innovation,

582
00:35:39,640 --> 00:35:48,279
Speaker 2: so everyone is uh, you know, hopefully boughten. So that's

583
00:35:48,320 --> 00:35:51,120
Speaker 2: how I'm measuring success is based off of other people

584
00:35:52,080 --> 00:35:58,720
Speaker 2: for my for myself hm hm, the goal post always

585
00:35:58,719 --> 00:36:05,839
Speaker 2: moves for for Miss London, I imagine. Yeah, I won't

586
00:36:05,880 --> 00:36:08,759
Speaker 2: say that I'm never happy, because I'm always happy, but

587
00:36:08,840 --> 00:36:13,640
Speaker 2: I know that there's more to me. There's more to me, So,

588
00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:16,800
Speaker 2: you know, in terms of my career, I feel very happy.

589
00:36:17,400 --> 00:36:20,520
Speaker 2: You know, outside of the career, there's more stuff to

590
00:36:20,560 --> 00:36:23,840
Speaker 2: be done. Could I handle another business? Probably? What is

591
00:36:23,880 --> 00:36:24,280
Speaker 2: it though?

592
00:36:25,160 --> 00:36:25,799
Speaker 1: Yeah?

593
00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:28,200
Speaker 2: Now I got three dogs? Do I want another one?

594
00:36:30,160 --> 00:36:32,400
Speaker 2: I mean, I want a farm. Like, There's just so

595
00:36:32,440 --> 00:36:35,640
Speaker 2: many different things that I just think about. So success

596
00:36:35,640 --> 00:36:38,239
Speaker 2: for me, main thing, since we're talking about business, is

597
00:36:39,680 --> 00:36:41,920
Speaker 2: the mindset of the people that I have around me,

598
00:36:42,360 --> 00:36:44,960
Speaker 2: because that's very important to me. It chips my energy.

599
00:36:45,280 --> 00:36:47,440
Speaker 2: It makes me want to come to the office every single.

600
00:36:47,239 --> 00:36:53,120
Speaker 1: That Finally, there are people who are earlier in the

601
00:36:53,160 --> 00:36:56,000
Speaker 1: stages of their journey and they look at you and

602
00:36:56,040 --> 00:36:58,239
Speaker 1: they're like, you know, how do I get to where

603
00:36:58,280 --> 00:37:01,320
Speaker 1: she is? And it's not always going to be easy,

604
00:37:01,440 --> 00:37:05,280
Speaker 1: and so how do you encourage people that those dreams,

605
00:37:05,320 --> 00:37:07,840
Speaker 1: those goals, those visions that they see, even in the

606
00:37:07,840 --> 00:37:10,479
Speaker 1: face of people who don't believe, even in the face

607
00:37:10,520 --> 00:37:14,479
Speaker 1: of adversity, what kind of things would you tell them

608
00:37:14,600 --> 00:37:18,000
Speaker 1: about what you've seen that prove that this is possible.

609
00:37:19,200 --> 00:37:21,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I mean even coming in with the name

610
00:37:21,960 --> 00:37:23,960
Speaker 2: black Girls Sun to Creating, most people would think like,

611
00:37:24,600 --> 00:37:27,520
Speaker 2: that's so limiting. You're not going to be able to

612
00:37:27,560 --> 00:37:30,040
Speaker 2: grow with that type of name because you know you

613
00:37:30,200 --> 00:37:34,480
Speaker 2: are excluding so many people from the market from your product, right,

614
00:37:34,600 --> 00:37:38,680
Speaker 2: men and people of not color. And what I would

615
00:37:38,680 --> 00:37:42,840
Speaker 2: say to someone that is, you know, very fresh and

616
00:37:43,320 --> 00:37:48,520
Speaker 2: little timid, is if you can follow your intuition. And

617
00:37:48,560 --> 00:37:50,800
Speaker 2: that's what I've always done and that's what I continue

618
00:37:50,840 --> 00:37:55,240
Speaker 2: to do. And if you're able to follow your intuition,

619
00:37:55,400 --> 00:37:59,239
Speaker 2: so whatever your thought is, you move on that regardless

620
00:37:59,239 --> 00:38:01,680
Speaker 2: of what anybody is says. You have to clear out

621
00:38:01,680 --> 00:38:05,800
Speaker 2: that minutia, right, and the minutia comes from the people

622
00:38:06,000 --> 00:38:11,320
Speaker 2: closest to us unfortunately, So it may be your friends

623
00:38:11,320 --> 00:38:14,239
Speaker 2: and that ain't gonna work. It may be your friend

624
00:38:14,239 --> 00:38:19,080
Speaker 2: that doesn't even post your business and that's hurtful. They

625
00:38:19,080 --> 00:38:22,160
Speaker 2: post everything else, they post in everybody's birthday, but they're

626
00:38:22,160 --> 00:38:24,840
Speaker 2: not posting your birthday. You got to look past that,

627
00:38:25,520 --> 00:38:28,880
Speaker 2: right and do it for you or whatever motivation you have.

628
00:38:29,280 --> 00:38:33,160
Speaker 2: So first thing is follow your intuition, and second thing

629
00:38:33,280 --> 00:38:40,280
Speaker 2: is consistency continuity. So, Okay, I have a series called

630
00:38:40,400 --> 00:38:45,160
Speaker 2: Ashante Series. It probably gets like five hundred views. I'm

631
00:38:45,160 --> 00:38:48,160
Speaker 2: not stopping it. I'm going to keep going because I'm

632
00:38:48,200 --> 00:38:52,279
Speaker 2: sharing my tips and my experiences on my business and

633
00:38:52,360 --> 00:38:56,480
Speaker 2: that's something that I want to do, regardless of what

634
00:38:56,560 --> 00:39:00,719
Speaker 2: other people think of it or not. Right, I'm being

635
00:39:00,840 --> 00:39:05,399
Speaker 2: consistent in what I'm doing. I'm consistent in how I

636
00:39:05,440 --> 00:39:13,160
Speaker 2: show up every single day to this office upbe motivating

637
00:39:14,080 --> 00:39:16,560
Speaker 2: and about the business. Now I'm not saying I don't

638
00:39:16,600 --> 00:39:18,920
Speaker 2: have bad days, but I don't need to share that

639
00:39:18,960 --> 00:39:21,799
Speaker 2: with them. And if I only have eighty percent to give,

640
00:39:22,040 --> 00:39:23,920
Speaker 2: I'm going to give one hundred percent of that eighty percent.

641
00:39:25,040 --> 00:39:31,120
Speaker 2: So following your intuition, consistency, and then strategy. So I

642
00:39:31,160 --> 00:39:34,759
Speaker 2: mentioned earlier that my strategy for everything is crawl, walk, run.

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Speaker 2: You don't have to go big on everything that you do.

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00:39:39,480 --> 00:39:42,600
Speaker 2: Stop watching, stop watching other people because what's for them

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00:39:42,760 --> 00:39:44,840
Speaker 2: it's not for you, and what's for you it's not

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00:39:44,920 --> 00:39:49,040
Speaker 2: for them. So have a plan in everything that you

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Speaker 2: do if you can, and sometimes you gotta wing it.

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Speaker 2: Nobody needs to know that you're winging it. No, So

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Speaker 2: I gave three pieces of advice to someone that could

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Speaker 2: be just starting, but also someone that just needs to

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Speaker 2: hear a little bit of motivation. Hopefully it helps.

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Speaker 1: Black Tech Green Money is a production of Blavity Afro

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00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:17,879
Speaker 1: Tech on the Black Effect podcast Networking Night Hire Media

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00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:20,840
Speaker 1: and it's produced by Morgan Debonne and me Well Lucas,

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00:40:21,160 --> 00:40:24,040
Speaker 1: with the digital production support by Kate McDonald, say Er

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00:40:24,440 --> 00:40:27,160
Speaker 1: Jada McGee. Special thank you to Michael Davis and love

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00:40:27,200 --> 00:40:29,239
Speaker 1: each Learn more about my Guess and other tech dis

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Speaker 1: up is an innovators at afrotech dot Com. Video version

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00:40:32,680 --> 00:40:34,799
Speaker 1: of this episode will drop to Black Tech Green Money

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00:40:34,800 --> 00:40:38,120
Speaker 1: on YouTube. So'll tap in. Enjoying Black Tech Green Money,

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00:40:38,600 --> 00:40:42,399
Speaker 1: share us to somebody, go get your money. Peace and love,