Speaker 1: Welcome to Made by Women, a new podcast by the
Speaker 1: Seneca Women Podcast Network and I Heart Radio. At a
Speaker 1: moment when businesses face some of the biggest challenges in
Speaker 1: recent history, we bring you inspiring stories, practical insights, and
Speaker 1: shared learnings to help you successfully navigate in today's environment.
Speaker 1: Every Thursday, Made by Women will showcase the experiences of
Speaker 1: legendary women, entrepreneurs, fierce up and comers, and everyday women
Speaker 1: who found success their own way. Consider this your Real
Speaker 1: world n b A designed for the new Now. I'm
Speaker 1: Kim Azzarelli and thanks so much for joining us today.
Speaker 1: From a young age, Coco and Breezy Dotson turned to
Speaker 1: crafting and creativity to get through tough time times during
Speaker 1: their adolescence. Today, the twin sisters run a highly successful
Speaker 1: eyewear company that has been spotted not only on the
Speaker 1: fashion forward, but also on the red carpet worn by
Speaker 1: superstars like Beyonce and Lady Gaga. So how did two
Speaker 1: sisters from humble beginnings in Minnesota build their fashion eyewar empire.
Speaker 1: I was thrilled to talk with Cocoa and Breezy about
Speaker 1: their killer style, incredible outlook on entrepreneurship and their drive
Speaker 1: to succeed. I also talked to them about what makes
Speaker 1: them sweat and what gives them strength. Enjoy our conversation.
Speaker 1: Thank you both so much for joining us. We are huge,
Speaker 1: huge fans and your product is incredible and the style
Speaker 1: is unbelievable, but your story is also amazing. So thanks
Speaker 1: for joining us. Thank you for having us. We're super
Speaker 1: excited to be here. So uh, we've read that from
Speaker 1: an early age both of you were creative pretty much
Speaker 1: by birth and had your own sense of style. Can
Speaker 1: you describe that and what it was like to grow
Speaker 1: up in the Midwest and how your creativity was received. Um.
Speaker 1: I would say growing up in the Midwest, especially being
Speaker 1: women of color, and not only just women of color,
Speaker 1: but being black women in Minnesota, not only did we
Speaker 1: get bullied for having eclectic styles, but we also got
Speaker 1: bullied for being black. And I think if we didn't
Speaker 1: have such supportive parents, it would have been a very
Speaker 1: tough time for us as kids. And something that we're
Speaker 1: really grateful for is that even though our parents couldn't
Speaker 1: necessarily financially support us, they they support us emotionally like
Speaker 1: so well, because they really pushed us to show our
Speaker 1: individual styles, and they pushed us to really understand the
Speaker 1: meaning of being an individualist. And so I'm really grateful
Speaker 1: for that. And I think that since I did have
Speaker 1: a twin sister who we kind of shared that same
Speaker 1: vision that we are going to do something or we're
Speaker 1: always going to push the needo. And I think when
Speaker 1: you grow up with not a lot of reas horses,
Speaker 1: you like create your own resources and you create your
Speaker 1: own world. So if you're in a world where you
Speaker 1: feel like you're not accepted, on top of in a
Speaker 1: world where you may not be in a financial place
Speaker 1: to get what everyone else has, you're almost like forced
Speaker 1: to be creative. And I'm very grateful for the way
Speaker 1: that we grew up because it made us the entrepreneurs
Speaker 1: that we are today. By the time you got to
Speaker 1: that point in in middle school, you were able to
Speaker 1: sort of just let out your creativity more publicly, and
Speaker 1: that must have been very free. It was very free
Speaker 1: because I mean we got really good grades. As long
Speaker 1: as we got good grades, we were able to do
Speaker 1: anything we wanted. And I think because our parents did
Speaker 1: give us freedom to be creative and they didn't put
Speaker 1: their hard ways on us, we were very obedient kids,
Speaker 1: and so we knew that if we broke their trust
Speaker 1: with being free, they would take it away from us.
Speaker 1: And so we were. You know, our mom let us
Speaker 1: pierce our nose when we were thirteen. Um, she let
Speaker 1: us cut our hair really short when we were like twelve.
Speaker 1: She let us cover our hair pink and red and
Speaker 1: blue in middle school, and our mom and dad were
Speaker 1: both with it, you know. And I think the reason
Speaker 1: why they let us do that is because they're like,
Speaker 1: are we gonna hold back these young ladies that want
Speaker 1: to express themselves because we're afraid of what the world
Speaker 1: is going to think of them? Or do we let
Speaker 1: them express themselves and they're getting good grades, Maybe they're
Speaker 1: able to think better and good get good grades because
Speaker 1: they don't feel trapped. I mean, we used to walk
Speaker 1: around and people would just stare at us, and it
Speaker 1: was very hard for us. But I think fortunately, since
Speaker 1: we are twins, we had each other and it was
Speaker 1: 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 like the New York style from
Speaker 1: like looking at magazines and being like, oh wow, that's
Speaker 1: in New York. But what really brought our interest was, 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: plus followers, and my parents thought 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 act. I think
Speaker 1: we were about seventeen, and we backed our parents. We said,
Speaker 1: can we please go to New York with our friends?
Speaker 1: Mind you, we're seventeen, but we're like, we have friends,
Speaker 1: Our friends are eighteen, they're adults, like, please let us go,
Speaker 1: and they let us go. We were seventeen years old.
Speaker 1: Interpret it in context. We've been financially on our own
Speaker 1: since we're fifteen. So our parents knew that we were
Speaker 1: a different type of responsible at seventeen because at that
Speaker 1: time we had already been working, Like by the time
Speaker 1: we were seventeen, we were working three jobs each. So
Speaker 1: they almost couldn't say no. They're like, okay, these girls
Speaker 1: pay their car note, pay their cell phone bill, go
Speaker 1: to work three jobs each at seventeen. Of course you
Speaker 1: can go to New York with your friends. Wow. That's
Speaker 1: so we went to New York and we just kicked it.
Speaker 1: We actually graduated high school early, so that's why we
Speaker 1: were able to do that. We graduated November of our
Speaker 1: senior year with extra credits, so we had time and
Speaker 1: we you know, we were able to take off work.
Speaker 1: And so when we first step foot in New York,
Speaker 1: our whole lives changed. And then on our nineteenth birth a,
Speaker 1: we were like, you know what, let's spend a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks in New York to see how it really
Speaker 1: feels like to live here. And so, you know, when
Speaker 1: you get that feeling in your gut, you get this
Speaker 1: 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, we had this feeling of being like,
Speaker 1: we have to move here. So that last trip, we
Speaker 1: 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 d 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. We had everything set up and we
Speaker 1: had to pretty much cancel all of that because we
Speaker 1: went with our intuition. I remember the person who had
Speaker 1: to cancel with he was trying to like tell us
Speaker 1: 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 back, calm,
Speaker 1: but we're gonna make it work somehow, some way. When
Speaker 1: did you decide that you wanted to start your own company?
Speaker 1: You knew about money and responsibility, and you were willing
Speaker 1: to take that risk and move all the way to
Speaker 1: New York, as you said, with like no financial backing.
Speaker 1: But when did you decide that you wanted to start
Speaker 1: a business, and specifically, when did you decide that you
Speaker 1: wanted to be an eyewear So I would say that
Speaker 1: ever since I was in third grade, the idea of
Speaker 1: 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 Phail 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: eyewear is from being bullied. That's what inspired I left
Speaker 1: for I Wear, so Cocoa and I when we were
Speaker 1: in Minnesota getting like the crazy stairs, and back then
Speaker 1: 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 stars.
Speaker 1: That caused us to be bullied and people would stare
Speaker 1: at us, point at us, and we were so from
Speaker 1: the outside we looked so confident, but internally we were
Speaker 1: torn to pieces. And we would buy like cheap sunglasses
Speaker 1: to kind of give us this level of confidence. And
Speaker 1: then we started making our own glasses. It was very
Speaker 1: d I y and with us posting them on my Space,
Speaker 1: people are like, oh my gosh, where can I buy those?
Speaker 1: And then that trip that Coco told you about of
Speaker 1: us coming to New York, people were like, I need
Speaker 1: those glasses, and so that gave us a confidence to
Speaker 1: be like, okay, cool, like we can make this into
Speaker 1: a business. Mind you, we had no business experience. No
Speaker 1: one's had like a really big business in our in
Speaker 1: our family. It was all like internally that we I
Speaker 1: 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 in 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
Speaker 1: it um as opposed to sort of some people get
Speaker 1: really devastated when we know that life is going to
Speaker 1: have ups and downs. So the fact that you were
Speaker 1: able to come to that type of philosophy so early
Speaker 1: in your life, do you think that had helped you
Speaker 1: and gave you a big advantage. I definitely think that
Speaker 1: gave us a huge advantage. And I also think that
Speaker 1: we just grew up with a lot of adversities and
Speaker 1: so we kind of um taught ourselves that at an
Speaker 1: early age. And I do think that you do have
Speaker 1: to have some of those traits because it's not as
Speaker 1: easy and fun as you think, but it is fun
Speaker 1: once you like grow that emotional intelligence and the understanding
Speaker 1: that you're gonna go through so many roller coasters and
Speaker 1: it's okay. I always say, whenever we go through something,
Speaker 1: I'm like, this is just part of the book in
Speaker 1: the movie. Like everything everything we do, it's part of
Speaker 1: the book and it's part of the movie. I'm like,
Speaker 1: I swear in like twenty years there's gonna be a
Speaker 1: We're gonna have a book and then there will be
Speaker 1: a movie about our story. Like that's that's what keeps
Speaker 1: me motivated. And I'm like, we're just really like creating
Speaker 1: a blueprint for other people and that's the goal. But
Speaker 1: I really do think that um keeping that mindset has
Speaker 1: been extremely helpful because you go through all these up
Speaker 1: times and then you also go through downtimes, and literally
Speaker 1: it's a really big roller coaster. You think when you're
Speaker 1: going up, that's gonna stay up, but then you go down.
Speaker 1: But you know, it's so important 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 beautiful because we had to reshift our
Speaker 1: full business model and make a huge pivot, and then
Speaker 1: we started growing again. So I think that being aware
Speaker 1: that that's going to happen, and being aware to look
Speaker 1: at the minute things that are happening when you have
Speaker 1: that downtime is very important. I'm so glad you're bringing
Speaker 1: this up because I think that this is really an
Speaker 1: 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 the glasses that we made were like you know,
Speaker 1: we're buying safety goggles, glue and studs and spikes on them.
Speaker 1: They were such a fat and then as fast as
Speaker 1: they were hot, were as fast as they weren't hot.
Speaker 1: So that was a challenging moment for us because we
Speaker 1: knew nothing about actually like you know, producing and designing
Speaker 1: real eye wear. We knew nothing about how to source
Speaker 1: the factory. We didn't have the funds like which we
Speaker 1: had like a little bit but not really a lot
Speaker 1: because again we're self funded and still self funded to date.
Speaker 1: For 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 have
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
Speaker 1: changes and you have to be open and not afraid
Speaker 1: to make those changes. And that's why I always tell
Speaker 1: people because I think when people first start a business,
Speaker 1: they have such an idea, like they come up with
Speaker 1: this master plan, and I think where people fail is
Speaker 1: that they get so stuck on the master plan that
Speaker 1: they don't give theirselves room to make changes as they
Speaker 1: Oh so I always tell people like, you might have
Speaker 1: a plan A, but like it won't your plan E
Speaker 1: might be the one that's like the winner. And so
Speaker 1: it's important to be open so test things that would
Speaker 1: be like Okay, cool, I have this plan, but this
Speaker 1: didn't work. Let me try a little something different. So
Speaker 1: it's very important to be flexible with your plans. Is
Speaker 1: there anything that has really been so tough that it's
Speaker 1: really made you sweat? Like, there's one where you just
Speaker 1: said that was we didn't think we'd get through it.
Speaker 1: Is there's something that you can point to? Yeah, So
Speaker 1: there was one time where we got a really big
Speaker 1: order from distributor in Korea and they placed a huge
Speaker 1: order and at this time we were still new to
Speaker 1: like production supply chain and all of that, since we
Speaker 1: have been self funded. When we got this huge order,
Speaker 1: we didn't we didn't have the funds to produce it,
Speaker 1: and so we went to a front of ours. We
Speaker 1: were like, hey, we have this list of orders from
Speaker 1: this distributor. He won on this money just enough for
Speaker 1: the production and we're shipping it out in three months,
Speaker 1: so we'll pay you all the way back. Because it
Speaker 1: wasn't really it wasn't an investment. It was a quick
Speaker 1: loan because we knew that we had orders that that
Speaker 1: we're going to get purchased. And I think this order
Speaker 1: like almost a fifty order that we would have received,
Speaker 1: and I think the production was maybe like twenty or
Speaker 1: twenty thousand or something or again, we were still new
Speaker 1: to production and so we didn't really know the full
Speaker 1: process of eyewear. And so once the product got shipped
Speaker 1: to the distributors, they emailed us and they go, Hi,
Speaker 1: we would like to return all the product because there
Speaker 1: are too many damages. And I remember getting that email
Speaker 1: and I called Breezy. Then we call our co founder Dwyane,
Speaker 1: and we're pretty like even in like our personalities are
Speaker 1: very chill, so you know, we're not the ones to
Speaker 1: be like, oh my gosh, like what we're gonna do? Like,
Speaker 1: we're not those people were like, hey, did you get
Speaker 1: that email? Yeah? I got that mail? You know, did
Speaker 1: you get it too? Okay, so what's next, y'all? Like,
Speaker 1: let's thought about this, what we're gonna do? All right,
Speaker 1: let's just receive this product and let's do a sample
Speaker 1: sale should I get rid of it. Let's be extremely
Speaker 1: honest with our friend who loaned us money and tell
Speaker 1: her exactly what happened. And so for us, we were like,
Speaker 1: let's be super upfront and let her know what happened,
Speaker 1: because this is what it is, right, And so we said, hey,
Speaker 1: you know, the product got returned, and so we had
Speaker 1: to like do a sample sale, try to sell the product,
Speaker 1: and Breezie had to go on food stamps for a
Speaker 1: little bit because we didn't really have money coming in
Speaker 1: and I didn't get accepted. This was the first time
Speaker 1: ever in our lives that we were nervous about being
Speaker 1: able to pay our rent. And I will never forget
Speaker 1: like we had some friends that were taking us out
Speaker 1: to eat 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
Speaker 1: like WHOA, what are we gonna do? And imagine at
Speaker 1: but like you're still getting like we our brand has
Speaker 1: always been getting pressed, so like imagine going through this,
Speaker 1: but we're still getting written up by like a team
Speaker 1: Vogue or Essence magazine, or you know, talking about Cocor
Speaker 1: and Breezy are the next hot such and such. But
Speaker 1: then here we are, like on food stamps, trying to
Speaker 1: figure this out because we went through this huge challenge.
Speaker 1: And so what we said was, let's take this back
Speaker 1: to the drawing board. This is a sign, all right,
Speaker 1: we need to actually take the time out and educate
Speaker 1: ourselves on the real process of I wear production and design.
Speaker 1: Let's let's figure out our quality control, Let's restructure our
Speaker 1: our product line, let's restructure the business model. And we
Speaker 1: took so much time to restructure, but we needed to
Speaker 1: do that. So we needed that downfall because everything happened
Speaker 1: so fast for us. As soon as we jumped into
Speaker 1: New York. We had this celebrity wearing our glasses, that celebrity,
Speaker 1: they were so trendy, sales, we're going here there, and
Speaker 1: we never we never made a business plan. We never
Speaker 1: like made a plan about how to do our product,
Speaker 1: and so we needed that time to actually make a
Speaker 1: small plan. And another thing is what I would say,
Speaker 1: in that 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 did ten thousands in sales.
Speaker 1: And I'm so grateful for like going through that downfall.
Speaker 1: And I would say that we like our emotional intelligence
Speaker 1: that month was on point because again we didn't have
Speaker 1: a family member to be like, hey, guys, like, can
Speaker 1: someone spot us for rent? And I'm actually grateful for
Speaker 1: that because it kind of like forced us to have
Speaker 1: to 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're able to just proactively think I need
Speaker 1: to shift the way I think about the world. So
Speaker 1: we actually sat down and we were like, Okay, what
Speaker 1: 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're wasting our time. And so once we kind
Speaker 1: of had a better mindset of what our long term goes, where,
Speaker 1: what money generating things were happening, what's good for the brand,
Speaker 1: that was a huge help for a mindset. On top
Speaker 1: of just like thinking bigger. So just imagine, if you're
Speaker 1: not exposed to a lot, you have no idea how
Speaker 1: to think bigger. So my whole dream in life was
Speaker 1: to live in New York. Our dreams, all everything that
Speaker 1: we dreamed of as kids, they came to life so
Speaker 1: fast as soon as we touched down in New York,
Speaker 1: this magazine, that celebrity. Everything have been so fast where
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh shoot, I have to I have to
Speaker 1: like think bigger, Like how do you think bigger? And
Speaker 1: even to this day, I'm like, I feel so grateful,
Speaker 1: I still I still have to teach myself like, Okay,
Speaker 1: let's think even bigger. How can we think bigger? Understanding
Speaker 1: that if you get to know because we also got
Speaker 1: a whole bunch of nose and a bunch of people
Speaker 1: who just didn't understand us. We also had to flip
Speaker 1: our mindsets to be like, Okay, well that's not the
Speaker 1: right partner for us, because people love I'm telling you,
Speaker 1: people love to talk to you out of something. They
Speaker 1: love it. Right, the advice that we're giving, like people
Speaker 1: should still take it with a great assault because we
Speaker 1: all have different backgrounds, different experiences, and like take pieces
Speaker 1: of it because everyone really speaks out of like their
Speaker 1: own experiences, and so if someone else failed, they love
Speaker 1: to say like, it's gonna be hard. Of course it's
Speaker 1: gonna nothing easy, but people say it with the negative connotation,
Speaker 1: but like take that as a positive. So if you
Speaker 1: tell me I can't do something, my favorite thing is
Speaker 1: like to be wrong and then prove that I can
Speaker 1: do it and it's not going to be overnight at all.
Speaker 1: What you're saying also resonates with me so much because
Speaker 1: when you're creative and you want to push for something new,
Speaker 1: you know it doesn't exist, and so people are always like, oh,
Speaker 1: that's not possible. If it was possible, it would have
Speaker 1: been done. It's like, well, actually, no, um, most things
Speaker 1: that were never done became possible after they were done.
Speaker 1: So people love to say oh, it's never been done,
Speaker 1: you can't do it, etcetera. But I think if you
Speaker 1: have that fortitude that you guys have, which is believing
Speaker 1: in something bigger and what I found and it's sort
Speaker 1: of that feeling that you could make a difference through
Speaker 1: your work, that you could be changing the world in
Speaker 1: some way, and for me, like that's the dream that
Speaker 1: keeps on getting bigger. And there's just lots of ways
Speaker 1: that you can help change the world through your work.
Speaker 1: And so I can just tell that you're super inspired people,
Speaker 1: and I mean, it's it's just unbelievable what you've accomplished.
Speaker 1: And frankly, this idea of changing your mindset, which again
Speaker 1: I feel is really the key to success in anything.
Speaker 1: If you can have that nimble mindset and interpret events
Speaker 1: in your life and the way that you're doing that
Speaker 1: in that positive way, even when those are negative events,
Speaker 1: I think that is something that's pretty priceless. Yeah, it
Speaker 1: definitely is. Thank you, Thank you. I'm really getting inspired
Speaker 1: from talking to you, and I know anybody who hears
Speaker 1: your story will be And just the day to day
Speaker 1: of going through it um is so important because I
Speaker 1: think we all see these kind of air brushed images
Speaker 1: of what being an entrepreneurs like and people really only
Speaker 1: see like the finished product and like the in staff,
Speaker 1: but um, day to day life is not like that.
Speaker 1: And I think you've said it so well. I kind
Speaker 1: of love that you brought up the airbrush thing, because
Speaker 1: we're so comfortable being like very transparent because we do
Speaker 1: know that we're creating a blueprint and we unfortunately did
Speaker 1: have their resources, and so we're very like, we're willing
Speaker 1: to be vulnerable and we're willing to like go through
Speaker 1: the heart times to really show people the reality of
Speaker 1: a situation that is not overnight at all, but it's
Speaker 1: very possible. So we're excited just to continue our transparency
Speaker 1: about how it really is to be entrepreneur. You have
Speaker 1: to have a certain level of confidence also to to
Speaker 1: even like, like the story that we shared, like how
Speaker 1: I had to go on food stamps from I want
Speaker 1: people to know that because in that month that I
Speaker 1: had to go on food stamps. It was funny because
Speaker 1: a lot of friends around me were uncomfortable with me
Speaker 1: telling them that, But in my head, I was like,
Speaker 1: I want you to know my struggles right now because
Speaker 1: next month is going to be on and popping, and
Speaker 1: I want you to see how how this stuff is
Speaker 1: about to change. And so I think it's important to
Speaker 1: like show people the reality because I'm pumped to tell
Speaker 1: you about my struggle because I know for a fact
Speaker 1: that I'm guaranteed for success with this mindset. I really
Speaker 1: believe in this, and I feel that that that is
Speaker 1: a disservice that we do to each other, frankly, and
Speaker 1: we do to the next generations, and frankly, even older generations,
Speaker 1: because I think everybody thinks that everybody's life is all
Speaker 1: mapped out and set up, and you know, it's so perfect,
Speaker 1: and you you achieve something, and once you achieve it,
Speaker 1: it's always there and and uh, it's just not like that.
Speaker 1: And I think that's kind of not what this life
Speaker 1: is about, right. It's not just about those highs, It's
Speaker 1: about the whole journey. As you said earlier. One last
Speaker 1: question that I have for you in this moment that
Speaker 1: we're in right now with COVID and all those civil
Speaker 1: unrest and this incredible reckoning that's going on. I mean,
Speaker 1: I know a lot of businesses are struggling very very deeply,
Speaker 1: and it's really a hard time for this for to
Speaker 1: be a small business owner. Do you have advice for
Speaker 1: for those folks who are kind of really going through
Speaker 1: that right now? And um, how are you trying to
Speaker 1: think about the world in this kind of fast changing
Speaker 1: hard to predict what's going to happen environment in this time?
Speaker 1: It can be extremely challenging, you know, like there's a
Speaker 1: lot of small businesses, restaurants, um, companies that had to
Speaker 1: lay off their employees. But I think the big part
Speaker 1: is again keep rethinking what that pivot could be, because
Speaker 1: it might be something extremely different because the market is
Speaker 1: shifting so hard. Another conversation, because you know, we're talking
Speaker 1: about women in business, but again another like topic is
Speaker 1: black women in business right, Like we haven't for us,
Speaker 1: we're a small company that we were fortunate to raise capital,
Speaker 1: like we had. The fact that our company and our
Speaker 1: sales were where they were and Breeze had to go
Speaker 1: on food stamps only shows that there are issues in
Speaker 1: our society, Like there's no reason why our company was
Speaker 1: getting so much press and sales, but we still have
Speaker 1: to go on food stamps, right, So I think that
Speaker 1: it's time for us to everyone's open their eyes now
Speaker 1: and really look at the systemic issues that are happening
Speaker 1: in our country and think about how we can come
Speaker 1: together to fix them together, because otherwise things aren't gonna
Speaker 1: grow if we don't fix them together. But the important
Speaker 1: part again is that we have to remember that when
Speaker 1: when we are talking about feminism and when we are
Speaker 1: talking about women entrepreneurs, we have to remember everybody. We
Speaker 1: have to remember these young women like us who grew
Speaker 1: up and were born in the projects, who did not
Speaker 1: have resources, who had to have free lunch at school.
Speaker 1: The story of someone else that grew up with privilege
Speaker 1: might have be way different. So it's important for us
Speaker 1: to be able to listen to all the stories and
Speaker 1: remember these people that get left out when the act
Speaker 1: of favonism is being talked about. You're making such an
Speaker 1: important point on the Capitol because you know, having access
Speaker 1: to any of those resources early on in your business
Speaker 1: is so incredibly important, and it's just been so hard
Speaker 1: to come by. I think black women received like point
Speaker 1: zero zero six percent. I mean some it's like not percent,
Speaker 1: it's like some ridiculous like point zero zero six percent,
Speaker 1: and so that that's got to change. It has to change.
Speaker 1: And we didn't do a full raise mainly met with
Speaker 1: a few investors. We had one investor tell us, you know,
Speaker 1: I would rather invest in someone that went to that
Speaker 1: college and worked for that tech company, but he doesn't
Speaker 1: know his UM product market fit yet. But what you
Speaker 1: guys have done on your own is so amazing. But
Speaker 1: I just don't feel comfortable investing. And again, if this
Speaker 1: person would wake up and understand why we didn't go
Speaker 1: to a certain college and why we weren't able to
Speaker 1: work at a certain tech company, because when you look
Speaker 1: at a lot of these companies, you see what their
Speaker 1: employees and their UM, the people that are in executive seats,
Speaker 1: you see what they look like, and they don't look
Speaker 1: like us. Yeah, and so for us, I think now
Speaker 1: this movement that's happening, I feel so liberated, I feel
Speaker 1: so excited. I feel like everyone that's listening. If you
Speaker 1: feel like there's something that's happening, don't be afraid to
Speaker 1: speak out. Use your platform, even if your platform has
Speaker 1: ten people on it. Speak out, because that's the only
Speaker 1: way things are going to be shifted. That's the only
Speaker 1: way we're going to make change. And I would also
Speaker 1: say that the way that business is going to shift
Speaker 1: as well is that it is going to be important
Speaker 1: that you do at diversity and you are aware of
Speaker 1: anti racism, and you are aware of systemic issues, and
Speaker 1: you are aware to have more black employees, because the
Speaker 1: way I foresee is that companies are going to survive
Speaker 1: or they're not going to be supported the way that
Speaker 1: the Internet is now and the customer behavior is starting
Speaker 1: to really dissect companies that are just saying, hey, all
Speaker 1: black lives matter, but are they really internally changing or
Speaker 1: they part of the problem. And so it is important
Speaker 1: to understand that if you have a black employee, like
Speaker 1: we're going through a very traumatic time right now, and
Speaker 1: if you don't have black people in leadership, then imagine
Speaker 1: how the employee feels. So it feels really good that
Speaker 1: people are finally listening. And I feel very confident in
Speaker 1: this shift, in this change. It's not gonna be overnight,
Speaker 1: but I'm very confident that there are going to be
Speaker 1: some changes and if people don't get with the program,
Speaker 1: they're gonna be left behind. I couldn't agree more. And
Speaker 1: I mean, this is this is a moment of definite,
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
Speaker 1: think hopefully the resolve now to to actually do something.
Speaker 1: And I'm really looking forward to your podcast. UM, I
Speaker 1: think it's gonna be amazing, and the book and the movie. UM.
Speaker 1: But thank you so much for joining us on 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 UM,
Speaker 1: and hope that you can be part of ours. Thank
Speaker 1: 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 journe me, the better prepared will be
Speaker 1: to succeed in business and frankly, in life. And third,
Speaker 1: as an entrepreneur, it's so important to be agile and
Speaker 1: to be willing to reset one's thinking. When one of
Speaker 1: their distributors sent back a major order, Coco and Breezy
Speaker 1: realized they had to take a fresh look at the
Speaker 1: way they were doing business. They went back to square
Speaker 1: one and how they approached production and quality control. The
Speaker 1: result bigger and better orders. Make sure to check out
Speaker 1: Coco and Breezy eye wear online at Coco and Breezy
Speaker 1: dot com and look for the new Coco and Breezy
Speaker 1: podcasts on Apple Podcasts. Made by Women is brought to
Speaker 1: you by the Seneca Women Podcast Network and I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio with support from founding partner PNG