Speaker 1: We are so proud to partner with Secret Deodorant for
Speaker 1: today's episode of Made by Women. Just as women entrepreneurs
Speaker 1: have long fought for equality in business, Secret has been
Speaker 1: a long time advocate of equal pay and equal treatment
Speaker 1: for women through initiatives such as their Equal Work, Equal Sweat,
Speaker 1: Equal Pay campaign with the U S Women's National soccer
Speaker 1: team and Women Owned Wednesdays to support women owned businesses.
Speaker 1: We'd love to see Secret continuing to work to ensure
Speaker 1: that all the things that make women sweat, inequality isn't
Speaker 1: one of them. Secret All Strength, No Sweat. Welcome to
Speaker 1: Made by Women, a new podcast by the Seneca Women
Speaker 1: Podcast Network and I Heart Radio. At a moment when
Speaker 1: businesses face some of the biggest challenges in recent history,
Speaker 1: we bring you inspiring stories, practical insights, and shared learnings
Speaker 1: to help you successfully navigate in today's environment. Every Thursday,
Speaker 1: Made by Women will showcase the experiences of legendary women entrepreneurs,
Speaker 1: fierce up and comers, and everyday women who found success
Speaker 1: their own way. Consider this your Real World NBA designed
Speaker 1: for the New Now. I'm Kim Azzarelli and thanks so
Speaker 1: much for joining us today. From a young age Coco
Speaker 1: and Breezy Dots and turned to crafting and creativity to
Speaker 1: get through tough times during their adolescence. Today, the twin
Speaker 1: sisters run a highly successful eyewear company that has been
Speaker 1: spotted not only on the fashion forward, but also on
Speaker 1: the red carpet worn by superstars like Beyonce and Lady Gaga.
Speaker 1: So how did two sisters from humble beginnings in Minnesota
Speaker 1: build their fashion eyewear empire? I was thrilled to talk
Speaker 1: with Coco and Breezy about their killer style, incredible outlook
Speaker 1: on entrepreneurship, and their drive to succeed. I also talked
Speaker 1: to them a out what makes them sweat and what
Speaker 1: gives them strength. Enjoy our conversation. Thank you both so
Speaker 1: much for joining us. We are huge, huge fans, and
Speaker 1: your product is incredible and the style is unbelievable, but
Speaker 1: your story is also amazing. So thanks for joining us,
Speaker 1: Thank you for having us. We're super excited to be here.
Speaker 1: So uh, we've read that from an early age both
Speaker 1: of you were creative pretty much by birth and had
Speaker 1: your own sense of style. Can you describe that and
Speaker 1: what it was like to grow up in the Midwest
Speaker 1: and how your creativity was received. Um. I would say
Speaker 1: growing up in the Midwest, especially being women of color,
Speaker 1: and not only just women of color, but being black
Speaker 1: women in Minnesota, not only did we get bullied for
Speaker 1: having eclectic styles, but we also got bullied for being black.
Speaker 1: And I think if we didn't have such supportive parents,
Speaker 1: it would have been a very tough time for us
Speaker 1: as kids. And something that we're really grateful for is
Speaker 1: that even though our parents couldn't necessarily financially support us,
Speaker 1: they they support us emotionally like so well, because they
Speaker 1: really pushed us to show our individual styles and they
Speaker 1: pushed us to really understand the meaning of being an individualist.
Speaker 1: And so I'm really grateful for that. And I think
Speaker 1: that since I did have a twin sister who we
Speaker 1: kind of shared that same vision that we are going
Speaker 1: to do something or we're always going to push the needo.
Speaker 1: And I think when you grow up with not a
Speaker 1: lot of resources, you like create your own resources and
Speaker 1: you create your own world. So if you're in a
Speaker 1: world where you feel like you're not accepted, on top
Speaker 1: of in a world where you may not be in
Speaker 1: a financial place to get what everyone else has, you're
Speaker 1: almost like forced to be creative. And I'm very grateful
Speaker 1: for the way that we grew up because it made
Speaker 1: us the entrepreneurs that we are today. By the time
Speaker 1: you got to that point in in middle gool, you
Speaker 1: were able to sort of just let out your creativity
Speaker 1: more publicly, and that must have been very free. It
Speaker 1: was very free because I mean, we got really good grades.
Speaker 1: As long as we got good grades, we were able
Speaker 1: to do anything we wanted. And I think because our
Speaker 1: parents did give us freedom to be creative and they
Speaker 1: didn't put their hard ways on us. We were very
Speaker 1: obedient kids, and so we knew that if we broke
Speaker 1: their trust with being free, they would take it away
Speaker 1: from us. And so we were you know, our mom
Speaker 1: let us pierce our nose when we were thirteen. Um,
Speaker 1: she let us cut our hair really short when we
Speaker 1: were like twelve. She let us cover our hair pink
Speaker 1: and red and blue in middle school. And our mom
Speaker 1: and dad were both with it, you know. And I
Speaker 1: think the reason why they let us do that is
Speaker 1: because they're like, are we going to hold back these
Speaker 1: young ladies that want to express themselves because we're afraid
Speaker 1: about the world is going to think of them? Or
Speaker 1: do we let them express themselves and they're getting good grades.
Speaker 1: Maybe they're able to think better and good get grades
Speaker 1: because they don't feel trapped. I mean, we used to
Speaker 1: walk around and people would just stare at us, and
Speaker 1: it was very hard for us. But I think fortunately,
Speaker 1: since we are twins, we had each other and it
Speaker 1: was very challenging and difficult. But I feel so grateful that,
Speaker 1: you know, our parents let us have pink hair and
Speaker 1: have our nose pierced when we were so young, because
Speaker 1: that was our way of expressing ourselves. Honestly, I feel
Speaker 1: like we have the best parents in the world. First
Speaker 1: of all, they killed it with co parenting and secondly
Speaker 1: they killed it with like raising creative kids. So then
Speaker 1: you came to New York City and I grew up
Speaker 1: in the East Village. I grew up with people who
Speaker 1: had pink hair and all the things that were so
Speaker 1: different in the Midwest. What brought you to New York
Speaker 1: And how did you feel when you arrived? So what
Speaker 1: brought us to New York first was I think we
Speaker 1: first got introduced to the New York style from like
Speaker 1: looking at magazines and being like, oh, wow, that's in
Speaker 1: New York. But what really brought our interest us. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, back in the day, we had a MySpace
Speaker 1: page and my Space was the jam back then. You know,
Speaker 1: in Minnesota, we didn't have a lot of friends, but
Speaker 1: on MySpace we had friends. Right, we had like fifty
Speaker 1: thou plus followers, and my parents died. It was so weird.
Speaker 1: So we're like sixteen years old with this huge MySpace following,
Speaker 1: and most people were in New York and they looked
Speaker 1: like us, like their styles were eclectic, and so it
Speaker 1: was all people on in New York and so we
Speaker 1: were like, hold on, there are more people like us
Speaker 1: out in the world. And so we actually, I think
Speaker 1: we were about seventeen, and we back to our parents.
Speaker 1: We said, can we please go to New York with
Speaker 1: our friends? Mind you, we're seventeen, but we're like, we
Speaker 1: have friends, Our friends are eighteen, they're adults, Like, please
Speaker 1: let us go, and they let us go. We were
Speaker 1: seventeen years old. Interpreted in context, we've been financially on
Speaker 1: our own since we were fifteen. So our parents knew
Speaker 1: that we were a different type of responsible at seventeen
Speaker 1: because at that time we had already been working. Like
Speaker 1: by the time we were seventeen, we were working three
Speaker 1: jobs each, so they almost couldn't say no. They're like, okay,
Speaker 1: these girls pay their car note, pay their cell phone bill,
Speaker 1: go to work three jobs each. At seventeen. Of course
Speaker 1: you can go to New York with your friends. Wow.
Speaker 1: That's so we went to New York and we just
Speaker 1: kicked it. We actually graduated high school early, so that's
Speaker 1: why we were able to do that. We graduated November
Speaker 1: of our senior year with extra credits, so we had
Speaker 1: time and we you know, we were able to take
Speaker 1: off work. And so when we first stepped foot in
Speaker 1: New York, our whole lives changed. And then on our
Speaker 1: nineteenth birthday, we were like, you know what, let's spend
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks in New York to see how
Speaker 1: it really feels like to live here. And so, you know,
Speaker 1: when you get that feeling in your gut, you get
Speaker 1: this gut feeling that it's so rare. This one particular trip,
Speaker 1: we had this gut feeling that said, you know what,
Speaker 1: move right now, And it's weird because I have I
Speaker 1: rarely get those gut feelings. It's so important to listen
Speaker 1: to your intuition because your intuition does not lie, and
Speaker 1: so at this moment meant we had this feeling of
Speaker 1: being like, we have to move here. So that last trip,
Speaker 1: we went back home packed our bags. We said, Mom, Dad,
Speaker 1: we're gonna move in two weeks, and they're like, what
Speaker 1: how much money do you have? Said, We're like like
Speaker 1: five hundred each, But you know, we've been working in
Speaker 1: retail and restaurant for like, you know, not even a
Speaker 1: real restaurant. We're working at like a fast food spot.
Speaker 1: We've been doing that for like so many years. So
Speaker 1: we have a good resumes. On top of that, Cocoa,
Speaker 1: we had applied to go to college, and so on
Speaker 1: top of tell them we're moving to New York, we
Speaker 1: had to also tell them that college it wasn't for
Speaker 1: us as well. So we had everything set up and
Speaker 1: we had to pretty much cancel all of that because
Speaker 1: we went with our intuition. I remember the person who
Speaker 1: had to cancel with he was trying to like tell
Speaker 1: us that it was a bad idea, But at that moment,
Speaker 1: I had this feeling that I felt like if I
Speaker 1: would have waited three or four years later, we wouldn't
Speaker 1: be where we are right now at all that's so
Speaker 1: important that you listen to your gut, you're able to
Speaker 1: hear it. I mean, sometimes other people can sort of
Speaker 1: talk you out of what you know is the right
Speaker 1: thing for you. And I think one thing we learned
Speaker 1: is that people always talked us out. I had some
Speaker 1: of my friend's parents say like, what do you You
Speaker 1: guys are crazy? How are you going to move to
Speaker 1: New York? We weren't when we went to in high
Speaker 1: school when people are doing all the bad stuff. Even
Speaker 1: though we looked like rock stars, we weren't rock stars.
Speaker 1: Like our outside looks like rock stars, but our actions
Speaker 1: weren't rock star movements at all, you know, And so
Speaker 1: um people could never persuade us, and we were never
Speaker 1: peer pressured. And so even when people would like say
Speaker 1: you're crazy, we're like, we're still gonna do it. And
Speaker 1: my parents kept saying like, if it does not work out,
Speaker 1: you can just always come back home, and that was
Speaker 1: always a comfort to be like, Okay, we can come
Speaker 1: back home, but we're gonna make it work somehow, some way.
Speaker 1: When did you decide that you wanted to start your
Speaker 1: own company? You knew about money and responsibility, and you
Speaker 1: were willing to take that risk and move all the
Speaker 1: way to New York, as you said, with like no
Speaker 1: financial backing. But when did you decide that you wanted
Speaker 1: to start a business, and specifically, when did you decide
Speaker 1: that you wanted to be an eyewear So I would
Speaker 1: say that ever since I was in grade, the idea
Speaker 1: of being an entrepreneur came up, and I remember asking, like,
Speaker 1: how do you spell entrepreneur? And to be honest, I
Speaker 1: have no idea where that even came from. We've come
Speaker 1: from super super humble beginnings and so I never had
Speaker 1: a family member that like worked in corporate, so I
Speaker 1: never even knew like what a corporate experience was at all.
Speaker 1: But yeah, that Philly would be an entrepreneur and being
Speaker 1: our own bosses has been something that has internally been
Speaker 1: inside of us. I think since we were born. I
Speaker 1: would say that what really inspired us to actually being
Speaker 1: I Wear is from being bullied. That's what inspired I
Speaker 1: love for I Wear. So Cocoa and I when we
Speaker 1: were in Minnesota getting like the crazy stairs and back
Speaker 1: then we were like if you look at our old photos,
Speaker 1: we were super like punk, like mohawks, you know, black boots,
Speaker 1: all black, black lipstick, like Coco said we were rock
Speaker 1: stars that caused us to be bullied and people would
Speaker 1: stare at us, point at us, and we were so
Speaker 1: from the outside we looked so confident, but internally we
Speaker 1: were torn to pieces. And we would buy like cheap
Speaker 1: sunglasses to kind of give us this level of confidence.
Speaker 1: And then we started making our own glasses. It was
Speaker 1: very d i y, and with us posting them on
Speaker 1: my Space, people are like, oh my gosh, where can
Speaker 1: I buy those? And then that trip that Coco told
Speaker 1: you about of us coming to New York, people were like,
Speaker 1: I need those glasses, And so they gave us a
Speaker 1: confidence to be like, okay, cool, Like we can make
Speaker 1: this into a business. Mind you. We had no business experience.
Speaker 1: No one's had like a really big business in our
Speaker 1: in our family. It was all like internally that we
Speaker 1: I don't know. We just had this feeling. We're like, okay,
Speaker 1: we're gonna start this and we'll figure it out. But
Speaker 1: one thing that we did always have is that we
Speaker 1: had tenacity. We have something in us where we can
Speaker 1: go through, like quote unquote a really bad situation. But
Speaker 1: the way that we look at life and we've been
Speaker 1: we started practicing this since we were kids. Our way
Speaker 1: of life is that any situation you go through, you
Speaker 1: make it your own. So if it's a quote unquote
Speaker 1: bad situation, the way that we look at it is
Speaker 1: that it's just part of the story and it's part
Speaker 1: of the journey. So we try to take everything at ease.
Speaker 1: So going through I call it the roller coaster effect,
Speaker 1: going through the ups and the downs, where if something
Speaker 1: tragic happens to your life, something bad happens, how can
Speaker 1: we use that as a learning curve? And I know
Speaker 1: that that's a huge part of being an entrepreneur is Yeah,
Speaker 1: we may not have a college degree, Yeah we may
Speaker 1: not come from money. At that time, we had no
Speaker 1: idea how to run a business. But what we did
Speaker 1: have was we had the figure that ish out. Like
Speaker 1: we knew how to figure some stuff out, and we
Speaker 1: were amazing problem solvers, and we were amazing like make
Speaker 1: a mistake, and we love figuring stuff out. What you
Speaker 1: just said really resonated with me was the fact your
Speaker 1: your philosophy of life and the way that you think
Speaker 1: about life and you think about the ups and downs
Speaker 1: as a journey and the lessons you can get from it.
Speaker 1: Um as opposed to sort of some people get really
Speaker 1: devastated when we know that life is going to have
Speaker 1: ups and downs. So the fact that you were able
Speaker 1: to come to that type of philosophy so early in
Speaker 1: your life, do you think that had helped you and
Speaker 1: gave you a big advantage. I definitely think that gave
Speaker 1: us a huge advantage. And I also think that we
Speaker 1: just grew up with a lot of adversities and so
Speaker 1: we kind of um taught ourselves that at an early age.
Speaker 1: And I do think that you do have to have
Speaker 1: some of those traits because it's not as easy and
Speaker 1: fun as you think, but it is fun once you
Speaker 1: like grow that emotional intelligence and the understanding that you're
Speaker 1: gonna go through so many roller coasters and it's okay.
Speaker 1: I always say, whenever we go through something, I'm like,
Speaker 1: this is just part of the book in the movie.
Speaker 1: Like everything everything we do, it's part of the book,
Speaker 1: and it's part of the movie. I'm like, I swear
Speaker 1: in like twenty years there's gonna be a We're gonna
Speaker 1: have a book and then there will be a movie
Speaker 1: about our story. Like that's that's what keeps me motivated.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, we're just really like createing a blueprint
Speaker 1: for other people, and that's the goal. But I really
Speaker 1: do think that um keeping that mindset has been extremely
Speaker 1: helpful because you go through all these up times and
Speaker 1: then you also go through downtimes, and literally it's a
Speaker 1: really big roller coaster. You think when you're going up,
Speaker 1: that's gonna stay up, but then you go down. But
Speaker 1: you know, it's so important is that you have to
Speaker 1: have those down times because how do you learn? And
Speaker 1: so each time you have that up time, something's gonna
Speaker 1: happen and you have to learn from that mistake and
Speaker 1: then keep going because otherwise, there was a point in
Speaker 1: our lives where everything kept going up, up and up,
Speaker 1: and then it crashed, right and then we had in
Speaker 1: that crash was was beautiful because we had to reshift
Speaker 1: our full business model and make a huge pivot and
Speaker 1: then we start growing again. So I think that being
Speaker 1: aware that that's going to happen, and being aware to
Speaker 1: look at the minute things that are happening when you
Speaker 1: have that downtime is very important. I'm so glad you're
Speaker 1: bringing this up because I think that this is really
Speaker 1: an important nugget for anybody in business but also in life.
Speaker 1: It's just to expose the reality of life and the
Speaker 1: reality of business is not just one long happy face,
Speaker 1: not just one big happy emoji, but that there are
Speaker 1: all of us are going through ups and downs, and
Speaker 1: everything has hardship and no one is spared from that.
Speaker 1: And you know it's different for different people at different times,
Speaker 1: but business in particular, especially right now in this economy
Speaker 1: and what we're all going through, it's going to be very,
Speaker 1: very tough. But if you can embrace it as you're
Speaker 1: sort of suggesting and look at it as a learning
Speaker 1: opportunity and not be surprised. Um, that's such a huge
Speaker 1: piece of advice that you're giving people. I think that's
Speaker 1: that's one of the most important things I think we
Speaker 1: can share with people. What in this particular moment of
Speaker 1: this incredible up people that we're going through in the world.
Speaker 1: You know, how do you how do you think about
Speaker 1: pivoting when when you have to pivot in your business?
Speaker 1: How have you dealt with that? You know, in the beginning,
Speaker 1: we actually i would say our first big pivot because
Speaker 1: the way we started was very scrappy, Like it's whatever
Speaker 1: is scrappier than scrappy. That's how we started was very
Speaker 1: d i y and like what we what we made,
Speaker 1: Like glasses that we made were like, you know, we're
Speaker 1: buying safety goggles, gluing studs and spikes on them. They
Speaker 1: were such a fat and then as fast as they
Speaker 1: were hot, we're as fast as they weren't hot. So
Speaker 1: that was a challenging moment for us because we knew
Speaker 1: nothing about actually like you know, producing and designing real
Speaker 1: eye wear. We knew nothing about how to source the factory.
Speaker 1: We didn't have the funds like which we had like
Speaker 1: a little bit but not really a lot because again
Speaker 1: we're self funded and still self funded to date for
Speaker 1: our pivots, which we've had so many of them. Um,
Speaker 1: it was really just like listening, taking advice, seeing when
Speaker 1: we have our downfalls, and understanding how do we like
Speaker 1: go to this next this next step. And I think
Speaker 1: the in the beginning, our brand was very niche. It
Speaker 1: was it was really about us. So we were just
Speaker 1: making glasses that we would wear, and then we had
Speaker 1: to say, like, how do we create a product that
Speaker 1: everyone can wear where we don't have to be the
Speaker 1: faces of it, it's not only about us, And so
Speaker 1: that was a huge pivot. But I think pivots are
Speaker 1: beautiful because you kind of realize them once you go
Speaker 1: through a quote unquote downtime. But it's not really a downtime.
Speaker 1: It's just a challenge and it just means that you
Speaker 1: need shift because one business model is not going to
Speaker 1: work from start to finish. Like you're always gonna make changes,
Speaker 1: and you have to be open and not afraid to
Speaker 1: make those changes. And that's why I always tell people
Speaker 1: because I think when people first start a business, they
Speaker 1: have such an idea, like they come up with this
Speaker 1: master plan, and I think where people fail is that
Speaker 1: they get so stuck on the master plan that they
Speaker 1: don't give theirselves room to make changes as they go.
Speaker 1: So I always tell people like, you might have a
Speaker 1: plan A, but like it won't your plan E might
Speaker 1: be the one that's like the winner, and so it's
Speaker 1: important to be open so test things out. Would be like, Okay, cool,
Speaker 1: I have this plan, but this didn't work. Let me
Speaker 1: try a little something different. So it's very important to
Speaker 1: be flexible with your plans. Is there anything that has
Speaker 1: really been so tough that it's really made you sweat,
Speaker 1: Like there's one where you just said that was we
Speaker 1: didn't think we'd get through it. There's something that you
Speaker 1: can point to. Yeah, So there was one time where
Speaker 1: we got a really big order from distributor in Korea
Speaker 1: and they placed a huge order, and at this time
Speaker 1: we were still new to like production, supply chain and
Speaker 1: all of that, since we have been so funded. When
Speaker 1: we got this huge order, we didn't we didn't have
Speaker 1: the funds to produce it, and so we went to
Speaker 1: a front of ours. We were like, hey, we have
Speaker 1: this list of orders from this distributor. He loaned this
Speaker 1: money just enough for the production, and we're shipping it
Speaker 1: out in three months, so we'll pay you all the
Speaker 1: way back. Because it wasn't really it wasn't an investment.
Speaker 1: It was a quick loan because we knew that we
Speaker 1: had orders that that we're gonna get purchased. And I
Speaker 1: think this order like almost a fifty order that we
Speaker 1: would have received, and I think the production was maybe
Speaker 1: like twenty or twenty thousand or something or again, we
Speaker 1: were still new to production and so we didn't really
Speaker 1: know the full process of I wear. And so once
Speaker 1: the product got shipped to the distributors, they emailed us
Speaker 1: and they go, hi, we would like to return all
Speaker 1: the product because there are too many damages. And I
Speaker 1: remember getting that email and I call Breezy. Then we
Speaker 1: call our co founder Dwyane, and we're pretty like even
Speaker 1: and like our personalities are very chill. So you know,
Speaker 1: we're not the ones to be like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: like what're we gonna do? Like, we're not those people
Speaker 1: were like, hey, did you get that email? Yeah? I
Speaker 1: got that email. Did you get it too? Okay, so
Speaker 1: what's next, y'all? Like what you thought about this? What
Speaker 1: we're gonna do? All right, Let's just receive this product
Speaker 1: and let's do a sample sale should I get rid
Speaker 1: of it, Let's be extremely honest with our friend who
Speaker 1: loaned us money and tell her exactly what happened. And
Speaker 1: so for us, we were like, let's be super upfront
Speaker 1: and let her know what happened, because this is what
Speaker 1: it is, right, And so we said, hey, you know,
Speaker 1: the product got returned, and so we had to do
Speaker 1: a sample sale try to sell the product, and Breezie
Speaker 1: had to go on food stamps for a little bit
Speaker 1: because we didn't really have money coming in and I
Speaker 1: didn't get accepted. This was the first time ever in
Speaker 1: our lives that we were nervous about being able to
Speaker 1: pay our rent. And I will never forget like we
Speaker 1: had some friends that were taking us out to eat
Speaker 1: because we couldn't afford to get anything to eat. Um,
Speaker 1: and this is for the month, And I remember just
Speaker 1: being on the train every day like crying and being like, WHOA,
Speaker 1: what are we gonna do? And imagine that, but like
Speaker 1: you're still getting like we our brand has always been
Speaker 1: getting pressed, so like, imagine going through this, but we're
Speaker 1: still getting written up by like a team Vogue or
Speaker 1: Essence magazine or you know, talking about Coco and Breezy
Speaker 1: are the next hot such and such. But then here
Speaker 1: we are, like on food stamps, trying to figure this
Speaker 1: out because we went through this huge challenge. And so
Speaker 1: what we said was, let's take this back to the
Speaker 1: drawing board. This is a sign, all right, we need
Speaker 1: to actually take the time out and educate ourselves on
Speaker 1: the real process of I were production and design. Let's
Speaker 1: let's figure out our quality control, let's restructure our our
Speaker 1: product line, let's restructure the business model. And we took
Speaker 1: so much time to restructure, but we needed to do that.
Speaker 1: So we needed that downfall because everything happened so fast
Speaker 1: for us. As soon as we jumped into New York.
Speaker 1: We had this celebrity wearing our glasses, that celebrity, they
Speaker 1: were so trendy. Sales we want here there, and we
Speaker 1: never we never made a business plan. We never like
Speaker 1: made a plan about how to do our product, and
Speaker 1: so we needed that time to actually make a small plan.
Speaker 1: And another thing is what I would say, in that
Speaker 1: month where I had to go on food stamps, um,
Speaker 1: we also had to restructure our mindsets and create new habits.
Speaker 1: And so we had to unlearn certain habits and change
Speaker 1: our mindsets. So from that one month of maybeing on
Speaker 1: food stamps, just figuring out how we're gonna pay rent,
Speaker 1: we were sad for a little bit and then we're like,
Speaker 1: you know what, let's mentally change up the mindset, figure
Speaker 1: out like what we really want to do as a business.
Speaker 1: And that next month we didn't tempt out in the sales.
Speaker 1: I'm so grateful for like going through that downfall. And
Speaker 1: I would say that we like our emotional intelligence that
Speaker 1: month was on point because again we didn't have a
Speaker 1: family member to be like, hey, guys, like can someone
Speaker 1: spot us for rent? And I'm actually grateful for that
Speaker 1: because it kind of like forced us to have to
Speaker 1: figure it out that month where our sales got higher.
Speaker 1: Ever since then we changed our mindsets, everything has just
Speaker 1: been like on the up and up. I'm so amazed
Speaker 1: by everything you're saying. You know what gave you strength
Speaker 1: and how we were able to just proactively think, I
Speaker 1: need to shift the way I think about the world.
Speaker 1: So we actually sat down and we were like, Okay,
Speaker 1: what are like money generating things? What are short term goes?
Speaker 1: What are long term goes. We realized that there was
Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of um opportunities that we
Speaker 1: were taking that didn't necessarily fit into any of those categories,
Speaker 1: and we were kind wasting our time. And so once
Speaker 1: we kind of had a better mindset of what our
Speaker 1: long term goes were, what money generating things were happening,
Speaker 1: what's good for the brand, that was a huge help
Speaker 1: for our mindset. On top of just like thinking bigger.
Speaker 1: So just imagine, if you're not exposed to a lot,
Speaker 1: you have no idea how to think bigger. So my
Speaker 1: whole dream in life was to live in New York.
Speaker 1: Our dreams, all everything that we dreamed of as kids.
Speaker 1: They came to life so fast. As soon as we
Speaker 1: touched down in New York, this magazine that celebrity. Everything
Speaker 1: happened so fast where I'm like, oh shoot, I have
Speaker 1: to I have to like think bigger, Like how do
Speaker 1: you think bigger? And even to this day, I'm like,
Speaker 1: I feel so grateful, I still I still have to
Speaker 1: teach myself like, okay, let's think even bigger. How can
Speaker 1: we think bigger? Understanding that if you get to know.
Speaker 1: Because we also got a whole bunch of nose and
Speaker 1: a bunch of people who just didn't understand us, we
Speaker 1: also had to flip our mindset to be like, Okay,
Speaker 1: well that's not the right partner for us. Because people
Speaker 1: love I'm telling you, people love to talk you out
Speaker 1: of something. They love it. Right, the advice that we're giving,
Speaker 1: like people should still take it with the great assault
Speaker 1: because we all have different backgrounds, different experiences, and like
Speaker 1: take pieces of it. Because everyone really speaks out of
Speaker 1: like their own experiences and so someone else failed. They
Speaker 1: love to say like it's gonna be hard. Of course,
Speaker 1: it's gonna nothing easy, But people say it with the
Speaker 1: negative connotation, But like take that as a positive so
Speaker 1: if you tell me I can't do something, my favorite
Speaker 1: thing is like to be wrong, and that proved that
Speaker 1: I can do it and it is not going to
Speaker 1: be overnight at all. What you're saying also resonates with
Speaker 1: me so much because when you're creative and you want
Speaker 1: to push for something new, you know it doesn't exist,
Speaker 1: and so people are always like, oh, that's not possible.
Speaker 1: If it was possible, it would have been done. It's like, well,
Speaker 1: actually know, um, most things that were never done became
Speaker 1: possible after they were and so people love to say, oh,
Speaker 1: it's never been done, you can't do it, etcetera. But
Speaker 1: I think if you have that fortitude that you guys have,
Speaker 1: which is believing in something bigger and what I found
Speaker 1: and it's sort of that feeling that you could make
Speaker 1: a difference through your work, that you could be changing
Speaker 1: the world in some way, and for me, like that's
Speaker 1: the dream that keeps on getting bigger. And there's just
Speaker 1: lots of ways that you can help change the world
Speaker 1: through your work. And so I can just tell that
Speaker 1: you're super inspired people, and I mean, it's it's just
Speaker 1: unbelievable what you've accomplished, and frankly this idea of changing
Speaker 1: your mindset, which again I feel is really the key
Speaker 1: to success in anything. If you can have that nimble
Speaker 1: mindset and interpret events in your life in the way
Speaker 1: that you're doing that in that positive way, even when
Speaker 1: those are negative events. I think that is something that's
Speaker 1: pretty priceless. Yeah, it definitely is. Thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 1: I'm really getting inspired from talking to you, and I
Speaker 1: know anybody who hears your story will be And just
Speaker 1: the day to day of going through it, um is
Speaker 1: so important because I think we all see these kind
Speaker 1: of airbrushed images of what being an entrepreneur is like,
Speaker 1: and people really only see like the finished product and
Speaker 1: like the in stuff, but um, day to day life
Speaker 1: is not like that. And I think you've said it
Speaker 1: so well. I kind of love that you brought up
Speaker 1: the airbrush thing because we're so comfortable being like very
Speaker 1: transparent because we do know that we're creating a blueprint
Speaker 1: and we unfortunately didn't have the resources, and so we're
Speaker 1: very like, we're willing to be vulnerable and we're willing
Speaker 1: to like go through the hard times to really show
Speaker 1: people the reality of a situation that is not overnight
Speaker 1: at all, but it's very possible. So we're excited just
Speaker 1: to continue our transparency about how it really is to
Speaker 1: be entrepreneur. You have to have a certain level of
Speaker 1: confidence also to to even like, like the story that
Speaker 1: we shared, like how I had to go on food
Speaker 1: stamps from I want people to know that because in
Speaker 1: that month that I had to go on food stamps,
Speaker 1: it was funny because a lot of friends around me
Speaker 1: were uncomfortable with me telling them that. But in my head,
Speaker 1: I was like, I want you to know my struggles
Speaker 1: right now because next month it's going to be on
Speaker 1: I been, and I want you to see how how
Speaker 1: this stuff is about to change. And so I think
Speaker 1: it's important to like show people the reality because I'm
Speaker 1: pumped to tell you about my struggle. I know for
Speaker 1: a fact that I'm guaranteed for success with this mindset.
Speaker 1: I really believe in this, and I feel that that
Speaker 1: that is a disservice that we do to each other, frankly,
Speaker 1: and we do to the next generations and frankly even
Speaker 1: older generations, because I think everybody thinks that everybody's life
Speaker 1: is all mapped out and set up, and you know
Speaker 1: it's so perfect, and you you achieve something and once
Speaker 1: you achieve it, it's always there and and uh, it's
Speaker 1: just not like that. And I think that's kind of
Speaker 1: not what this life is about, right It's not just
Speaker 1: about those highs. It's about the whole journey, As you
Speaker 1: said earlier. One last question that I have for you
Speaker 1: in this moment that we're in right now with COVID
Speaker 1: and all those civil unrest and this incredible reckoning that's
Speaker 1: going on. I mean, I know a lot of businesses
Speaker 1: are struggling very very deeply, and it's really a hard
Speaker 1: time for this for to beus all business owner? Do
Speaker 1: you have advice for for those folks who are kind
Speaker 1: of really going through that right now? And um, how
Speaker 1: are you trying to think about the world in this
Speaker 1: kind of fast changing, hard to predict what's going to
Speaker 1: happen environment in this time? It can be extremely challenging.
Speaker 1: You know, like there's a lot of small businesses, restaurants, um,
Speaker 1: companies that had to lay off their employees. But I
Speaker 1: think the big part is again keep rethinking what that
Speaker 1: pivot could be, because it might be something extremely different
Speaker 1: because the market is shifting so hard. Another conversation, because
Speaker 1: you know, we're talking about women in business. But again
Speaker 1: another like topic is black women in business right, like
Speaker 1: we haven't. For us, we're a small company that we
Speaker 1: were fortunate to raise capital like we had. The fact
Speaker 1: that our company and our sales were where they were
Speaker 1: and Breeze had to go on food stamps only shows
Speaker 1: that there are issues in our society, Like there's no
Speaker 1: reason why our company was getting so much press and sales,
Speaker 1: but we still had to go on food stamps. Right. So,
Speaker 1: I think that it's time for to everyone's open their
Speaker 1: eyes now and really look at the systemic issues that
Speaker 1: are happening in our country and think about how we
Speaker 1: can come together to fix them together, because otherwise things
Speaker 1: aren't going to grow if we don't fix them together.
Speaker 1: But the important part again is that we have to
Speaker 1: remember that when when we are talking about feminism and
Speaker 1: when we are talking about women entrepreneurs, we have to
Speaker 1: remember everybody. We have to remember these young women like
Speaker 1: us who grew up and were born in the projects,
Speaker 1: who did not have resources, who had to have free
Speaker 1: lunch at school. The story of someone else that grew
Speaker 1: up with privilege might have be way different. So it's
Speaker 1: important for us to be able to listen to all
Speaker 1: the stories and remember these people that get left out
Speaker 1: when the act of feminism is being talked about. You're
Speaker 1: making such an important point on the capitol because you know,
Speaker 1: having access to any of those resources early on in
Speaker 1: your business is so incredibly important, and it's just been
Speaker 1: so hard to come by. I think black women received
Speaker 1: like point zero zero six percent. I mean some it's
Speaker 1: like not an of in percent, it's like some ridiculous
Speaker 1: like point zero zero six percent, And so that that's
Speaker 1: got to change. It has to change. And we didn't
Speaker 1: do a full raise, mainly met with a few investors.
Speaker 1: We had one investor tell us, you know, I would
Speaker 1: rather invest in someone that went to that college and
Speaker 1: worked for that tech company, but he doesn't know his
Speaker 1: UM product market fit yet. But what you guys have
Speaker 1: done on your own is so amazing, But I just
Speaker 1: don't feel comfortable investing. And again, if this person would
Speaker 1: wake up and understand why we didn't go to a
Speaker 1: certain college and why we weren't able to work at
Speaker 1: a certain tech company. Because when you look at a
Speaker 1: lot of these companies, you see what their employees and
Speaker 1: their UM the people that are in executive seats, you
Speaker 1: see what they look like and they don't look like us. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and so for us, I think now this movement that's happening,
Speaker 1: I feel so liberated, I feel so excited. I feel
Speaker 1: like everyone that's listening. If you feel like there's something
Speaker 1: that's happening, don't be afraid to speak out. Use your platform,
Speaker 1: even if your platform has ten people on it. Speak out,
Speaker 1: because that's the only way things are going to be shifted.
Speaker 1: That's the only way we're going to make change. And
Speaker 1: I would also say that the way that business is
Speaker 1: going to shift as well, is that it is going
Speaker 1: to be important that you do at diversity and you
Speaker 1: are aware of anti racism, and you are aware of
Speaker 1: systemic issues, and you are aware to have more black employees,
Speaker 1: because the way I foresee is that companies are going
Speaker 1: to survive or they're not going to be supported the
Speaker 1: way that the Internet is now and the customer behavior
Speaker 1: is starting to really dissect companies that are just saying, hey,
Speaker 1: all black lives matter, but are they really internally changing
Speaker 1: or they're part of the problem. And so it is
Speaker 1: important to understand that if you have a black employee,
Speaker 1: like we're going through a very traumatic time right now,
Speaker 1: and if you don't have black people in leadership, then
Speaker 1: imagine how the employee feels. So it feels really good
Speaker 1: that people are finally listening. And I feel very confident
Speaker 1: in this shift and this change. It's not going to
Speaker 1: be overnight, but I'm very confident that there are going
Speaker 1: to be some changes and if people don't get with
Speaker 1: the program, they're gonna be left behind. I couldn't agree more.
Speaker 1: And I mean, this is this is a moment of definitely,
Speaker 1: this is an inflection point. This is one of those real,
Speaker 1: true historic inflection points. And I mean we have I think,
Speaker 1: hopefully the resolve now to to actually do something. And
Speaker 1: I'm really looking forward to your podcast. UM. I think
Speaker 1: it's gonna be amazing, and the book and the movie. UM.
Speaker 1: But thank you so much for joining us un Made
Speaker 1: by Women and certainly, UM we hope that can kind
Speaker 1: of be part of the part of your future and
Speaker 1: UM and hope that you can be part of ours.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for that. Oh, thank you so much.
Speaker 1: I want to thank Coco and Breezy for sharing their
Speaker 1: candid and honest story with us. Their journey is amazing
Speaker 1: and it was so great to learn about what makes
Speaker 1: them sweat and what gives them strength. Three things really
Speaker 1: stick with me from our conversation. First, the twins honesty
Speaker 1: about the path to success is so inspiring. It reminds
Speaker 1: us that we can empower other women to succeed when
Speaker 1: we openly share our struggles, necessary pivots, and even our mistakes.
Speaker 1: Sharing the story of our whole journey on the road
Speaker 1: to success is much more valuable to others than painting
Speaker 1: a perfect picture, which leads me to the second point.
Speaker 1: I love Cocoa and Breeze's perspective on getting through difficult
Speaker 1: times and turning every experience into a useful lesson. Starting
Speaker 1: a company isn't easy and life has ups and downs.
Speaker 1: But the sooner we can recognize that tough times are
Speaker 1: part of the journey, the better prepared will be to
Speaker 1: succeed in business and frankly, in life. And Third, as
Speaker 1: an entrepreneur, it's so important to be agile and to
Speaker 1: be willing to reset one's thinking. When one of their
Speaker 1: distributors sent back a major order, Coco and Breezy realized
Speaker 1: they had to take a fresh look at the way
Speaker 1: they were doing business. They went back to square one
Speaker 1: and how they approach production and quality control. The result
Speaker 1: bigger and better orders. Make sure to check out Coco
Speaker 1: Breezy eye Wear online at Cocoa and Breezy dot com
Speaker 1: and look for the new Coco and Breezy podcasts on Apple.
Speaker 1: Podcasts Made by Women is brought to you by the
Speaker 1: Seneca Women Podcast Network and I Heart Radio with support
Speaker 1: from founding partner PNG. Thanks to support from Secret Deodorant,
Speaker 1: will bring you inspiring stories, practical insights, and share learnings
Speaker 1: from women entrepreneurs. Just as women entrepreneurs have long thought
Speaker 1: for equality and business, Secret has been a longtime advocate
Speaker 1: of equal pay and equal treatment for women through initiatives
Speaker 1: such as their Equal Work, Equal Sweat, Equal Pay campaign
Speaker 1: with the US Women's National Soccer team and Women on
Speaker 1: Wednesdays to support women to own businesses. By supporting women
Speaker 1: owned b senses and women's entrepreneurship, we can all do
Speaker 1: our part to help close the gender pay gap. Whether
Speaker 1: your business is just getting started or you're well into
Speaker 1: the hustle, Secret continues to work to ensure that of
Speaker 1: all the things that make women entrepreneurs sweat, inequality isn't
Speaker 1: one of them.