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Speaker 1: We talk about, you know, this haircare space is like

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Speaker 1: a billion dollar industry. What's your vision for how Mayavana

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Speaker 1: is going to transform that.

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Speaker 2: I like to call our big picture vision becoming the

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Speaker 2: Amazon of hair care. Okay, My goal is to know

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Speaker 2: what every person needs for their hair at all times

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Speaker 2: and to deliver those products too. Hair is just so

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Speaker 2: personal and oftentimes we're thinking about like ten million things

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Speaker 2: too in addition to how to do the style you're wondering,

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Speaker 2: like going back to confidence, like, man, I need my

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Speaker 2: hair to look good tomorrow because you know, I have

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Speaker 2: an interview, I have a date, I have you know,

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Speaker 2: something like hair is just such a part of our

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Speaker 2: whole look, our vibe, and how we present ourselves. So

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Speaker 2: we know customers are on a journey too when you're

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Speaker 2: thinking about your hair, and we want to cater to

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Speaker 2: all of that, seeing that in the retail environment, the

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Speaker 2: salon environment, and being able to connect with you right

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Speaker 2: on your phone through our mobile app. That's really what

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Speaker 2: Amazon kind of mestered.

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Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of butter Nomics. I'm

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Speaker 1: your host, Brandon Butler from butter atl And you know

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Speaker 1: today I got a special guest with us Man. Today,

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Speaker 1: I got somebody who's really doing some big things, and

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Speaker 1: not just because they're a fellow you know, Georgia Tech yellowjacket.

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Speaker 1: You know she's also do a lot of other amazing things,

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Speaker 1: the one that only miss Cannus Mitchell Cannas, how you

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Speaker 1: doing today?

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Speaker 3: I am doing phenomenal? How are you?

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Speaker 4: I'm amazing, I'm amazing, So Cannas.

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Speaker 1: For those that don't know, could you please tell people,

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Speaker 1: because like you're killing it in this whole beauty tech space,

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Speaker 1: could you please tell people a little bit about Mayavanna

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Speaker 1: and what y'all do?

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Speaker 3: Of course, yes.

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Speaker 2: So Mayavanna is a hair product recommendation system and we've

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Speaker 2: freighted a way to analyze your hair using AI technology

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Speaker 2: and match you to the products that will work best

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Speaker 2: for your unique hair type and texture. So no more

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Speaker 2: trial and error, no more guests work of trying to

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Speaker 2: figure out what gel to use, what shampoo, what moisturizer,

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Speaker 2: because your hair is actually as unique as your fingerprint,

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Speaker 2: and so that's why it takes a personalized approach to

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Speaker 2: using the right products for your hair.

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Speaker 3: So that's what my Avanna does.

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Speaker 1: Okay, now I gotta ask real quick. Now does this

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Speaker 1: a plot of men too, because I've been trying to

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Speaker 1: do stuff on my hair for a long time, and

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Speaker 1: you know, I'm if I need to put juices and

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Speaker 1: berries in it or something like that. The whole I

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Speaker 1: didn't cut my hair for like six months during the pandemic,

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Speaker 1: and I had like a little baby fro.

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Speaker 2: So I just know, Yes, everyone went through the hair

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Speaker 2: changes during the pandemic, but yes, hair is hair, so

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Speaker 2: we analyze anyone's hair. A lot of the guys have

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Speaker 2: been getting into it lately, actually wearing longer, curly hair beards.

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Speaker 3: Right.

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Speaker 2: I think people are just really into grooming wellness, and

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Speaker 2: of course, you know, the hair product industry has grown

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Speaker 2: so much so people everyone's trying to figure it out.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so you know, if y'all beards don't connect, you know,

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Speaker 1: just know, just know that, you know, Mayavana might have

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Speaker 1: something for you.

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Speaker 3: Got you, We got you, okays.

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Speaker 1: You know Atlanta, you know, it's it's been kind of

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Speaker 1: an epicenter for things in black hair. We do the

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Speaker 1: Our Brother's Show out here, you know, Chris rock at

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Speaker 1: that whole movie. There's like a lot of roots around.

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Speaker 1: Just Atlanta's kind of a beauty and also hair care

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Speaker 1: kind of epicenter. But you know, what do you know

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Speaker 1: about you know, what do you know about kind of

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Speaker 1: Atlanta's you know history and hair care and how did

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Speaker 1: that kind of inform in the reason why you started Maavana.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, there are several legacy families that have started

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Speaker 2: product manufacturing companies, a lot of stylists who have really

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Speaker 2: paved the way for solutions for black hair care. And

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Speaker 2: with Atlanta being the capital, of course, we even had

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Speaker 2: our first exhibit at Browner Brothers Hair Show because it's

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Speaker 2: been like really the cornerstone of the hair industry here

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Speaker 2: in Atlanta, bringing the trade show for brands to you know,

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Speaker 2: showcase their products. But also a lot of stylists weren't

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Speaker 2: able to get education for many years because textured hair

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Speaker 2: wasn't really considered, you know, there wasn't a necessity for

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Speaker 2: you know when it comes to certifications and technique training

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Speaker 2: and things like that. So they really paved the way

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Speaker 2: for that. But what really expled voed from this is

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Speaker 2: really a multi billion dollar market, which is why Atlanta

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Speaker 2: is known as the hair capital of the world. So

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Speaker 2: it's really interesting to see where it is now because

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Speaker 2: there are a lot of legacy brands, you know, are

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Speaker 2: kind of at a turning point, right and a lot

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Speaker 2: of newer brands have launched a market. A lot of

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Speaker 2: those brands are based here in Atlanta as well, so

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Speaker 2: we kind of cross a lot of sectors when it

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Speaker 2: comes to really catering to our market in a different way.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and so what all these different brands and everybody's

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Speaker 1: starting out here, Like, where does Mayavana kind of fit in?

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Speaker 4: Right?

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Speaker 1: Like do you all work kind of directly with consumers

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Speaker 1: and people? Do you all work with the stylists, do

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Speaker 1: you all work with the companies you work with everybody?

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Speaker 4: Like? Where do y'all kind of play in that space?

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Speaker 3: Definitely?

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Speaker 2: So you can really position us at the center of

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Speaker 2: the hair industry. And I like to refer us as

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Speaker 2: the heartbeat of the hair industry because you really keep

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Speaker 2: a pulse on the consumer and what our individual needs are.

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Speaker 2: And then we map you to the brands that have

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Speaker 2: the products that are best for you, the salons that

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Speaker 2: have the stylists you know, with the specialty your type

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Speaker 2: of hair, even the retailer so that you know where

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Speaker 2: to purchase the products that are recommended. And so we're

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Speaker 2: really connecting the whole entire ecosystem so that now our

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Speaker 2: hair care experience can be more personalized because again we've

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Speaker 2: just been kind of like out here trying to figure

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Speaker 2: it out. Right, there wasn't any expertise or authority leading

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Speaker 2: a lot often times because during the natural hair movement,

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Speaker 2: we all went to YouTube to figure out our hair,

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Speaker 2: and you know, the stylists were, you know, in the salon,

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Speaker 2: but they were behind the chair, and so there was

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Speaker 2: kind of like, you know, a lot of expertise was

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Speaker 2: just kind of missed in terms of knowing what to use.

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Speaker 2: And but now bringing in the professionals back into the picture,

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Speaker 2: along with scientific analysis that really gets down to what

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Speaker 2: your hair really needs and can deliver that through technology,

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Speaker 2: that's how we really make this whole system work. So

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Speaker 2: it's been really fun really connecting the dots across the

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Speaker 2: industry too.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and so what do you think about some of

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Speaker 1: these current trends out here in hair care? So for example,

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Speaker 1: like my son asked me every day he wants to

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Speaker 1: grow locks, I'm like, I don't know about that, son,

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Speaker 1: like your daddy and got because I tried.

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Speaker 4: To grow it a couple of times.

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Speaker 1: You know, mine, I couldn't get anything more than like twists, right,

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Speaker 1: it's almost a certain kind.

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Speaker 4: Of hair type.

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Speaker 1: But just like you see all these kind of different

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Speaker 1: you know, trends popping up, like the locks right now,

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Speaker 1: like the natural hair movement going on, Like you know,

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Speaker 1: how does you know mayavana help enable those people to

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Speaker 1: get even more out of their hair?

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Speaker 4: Yes?

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Speaker 2: Well, first of all, it is knowing like how can

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Speaker 2: you achieve that style right? Because oftentimes, you know, we

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Speaker 2: like to say some there are ways to transform texture.

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Speaker 2: I think that's one important thing to know is that

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Speaker 2: your hair does transform, but it does require different techniques.

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Speaker 2: But all oftentimes we're recommending a professional partner too, So

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Speaker 2: that would be a stylist who knows who's a loxician

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Speaker 2: perhaps and who can really take the time to start

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Speaker 2: the locks of the way that they should be right.

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Speaker 2: But it will also come down to the hair care

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Speaker 2: side too, because you have to be committed to taking

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Speaker 2: care of locks right and the way that it should.

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Speaker 2: So we like to see like really like a partnership

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Speaker 2: approach because again it's it's the product, but it's also

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Speaker 2: the technique. People really don't have the right techniques to

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Speaker 2: be honest, you know, a lot of you know, sometimes

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Speaker 2: you don't really really don't know how to use a

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Speaker 2: certain product, or the fact that you know, because your

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Speaker 2: hair is finer or your texture is you know, and

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Speaker 2: it's own unique way that you might need a moose

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Speaker 2: over a gel like. So being able to guide people

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Speaker 2: based on what your hair can do is really kind

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Speaker 2: of a way we kind of intervene, bring our experts

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Speaker 2: into the picture, but also just providing that guidance so

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Speaker 2: people know, that's that's really how we would guide someone

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Speaker 2: like him, and really anyone.

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Speaker 4: Now you know a lot about hair, but your background's

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Speaker 4: in tech, right.

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Speaker 2: It is, yes, it is actually on my backgrounds in

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Speaker 2: computer science.

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Speaker 4: So how does that how does that end up happening?

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Speaker 3: I know, I know.

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Speaker 2: So I fell in love with programming early on first

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Speaker 2: building websites, but when I was in college going natural,

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Speaker 2: I was so fascinated by the fact that, you know,

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Speaker 2: my hair was it wasn't like it used to be.

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Speaker 2: Right now, granted, part of it was my fault. The

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Speaker 2: color I had I bleached. I got my hair bleached

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Speaker 2: pretty much, and the fact that I wasn't taking care

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Speaker 2: of the color the way that it should. It dried

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Speaker 2: my hair out it was damaged, and it was really

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Speaker 2: like a science project to me to figure out, like,

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Speaker 2: why is my hair reacting in this way? But most

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Speaker 2: importantly what does it need? Because I was using a

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Speaker 2: lot of moisturizing products that also felt like my hair

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Speaker 2: was still drying out, and so to me, my mind

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Speaker 2: automatically sees all these different variables involved, and so even

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Speaker 2: though I was not a cosmetologist, I could identify that,

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Speaker 2: you know, all these different variables are interacting together to

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Speaker 2: provide a result, right, And that's what you would call

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Speaker 2: it algorithm, taking those variables, putting it in a step

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Speaker 2: by step process to achieve certain results. But then it's like,

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Speaker 2: oh wow, all these different spectrums of hair types, textures

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Speaker 2: and conditions. That became like my my unique way of

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Speaker 2: blending my technology knowledge with everything I was learning about

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Speaker 2: hair and really just created a new lane. And it

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Speaker 2: was it was really a saving grace for me because

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Speaker 2: I was very disconnected in my class at the time.

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Speaker 2: I was like, look, Laura, I don't know, I don't

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Speaker 2: know if a tech is for me right now, but

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Speaker 2: if I needed to connect it to something that I

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Speaker 2: was passionate about, which was my hair at the time,

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Speaker 2: but it was the fact that I did not only

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Speaker 2: have this problem, it was all my friends, my sister is,

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Speaker 2: my mom, everyone, all black women.

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Speaker 3: We were pretty much all figuring it out.

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Speaker 1: So and so you can't what does that did while

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Speaker 1: you were in school or was it after school?

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Speaker 4: Yeah?

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Speaker 2: Yes, I was literally a senior at Tech, Yeah, going

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Speaker 2: into my senior year. And and that's actually when I

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Speaker 2: learned all about entrepreneurship to be honest too, because it

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Speaker 2: was an in ventureprize competition and they were having these

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Speaker 2: classes for everyone who wanted to apply to learn how

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Speaker 2: to invent a product or technology, how to build the

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Speaker 2: intellectual property around it, how to license it, how to pitch.

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Speaker 2: So I was just learning all of that and I

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Speaker 2: was like, Okay, I think I want to be an entrepreneur.

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Speaker 2: And that's when I realized that, oh, this is actually

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Speaker 2: a business opportunity.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: And so when you started doing this and you know,

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Speaker 1: you decided you wanted to make it full time, you know,

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Speaker 1: how did you go about, you know, getting the money

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Speaker 1: for it? Did you do startup competitions, did you do

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Speaker 1: family and friends? Did you raise money? Like, how did

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Speaker 1: you get this thing off the ground?

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Speaker 2: Yes, all of the aboves by any means necessary. But

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Speaker 2: actually the first investment that we got that allowed me

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Speaker 2: to quit my job and do this full time was

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Speaker 2: an investment through Flashpoint, which was one of the first

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Speaker 2: startup accelerators that started here in Atlanta at Georgia Tech

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Speaker 2: and Merrick First, he's a professor at Tech and he

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Speaker 2: was introducing this whole new concept about finding authentic demand

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Speaker 2: in your market, and that's what led us to interviewing

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Speaker 2: over one thousand women about their hair, understanding what our

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Speaker 2: real hair challenges were, and that really introduced us to

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Speaker 2: the world of tech startups. This was right around the

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Speaker 2: time why Combinator five hundred startups was just starting, like

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Speaker 2: and it was really just like a whole new world

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Speaker 2: really like early two thousand tens. We started in twenty twelve,

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Speaker 2: so it was really just a new scene in Atlanta

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Speaker 2: at the time. However, there were a few successful tech

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Speaker 2: companies that were emerging already, like David Cummings. He had

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Speaker 2: just sold his company part of and then started Atlanta

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Speaker 2: Tech Village, And that was the first time, well one

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Speaker 2: of the first times that I saw like, oh okay,

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Speaker 2: when you build a company and your success from that

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Speaker 2: actually benefit the whole ecosystem.

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Speaker 3: You know. That was inspiring to me.

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Speaker 2: Too, because I also am really passionate about how I

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Speaker 2: want to impact just the black community as a whole

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Speaker 2: through building a successful company in hair care, which we're

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Speaker 2: already spending all of our money in. One of the

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Speaker 2: most interesting things I found was black women spend over

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Speaker 2: eighty five percent of generate over eighty five percent of

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Speaker 2: revenue in the industry, but when you look at ownership

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Speaker 2: of companies were only about three to eight percent ownership.

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Speaker 2: So I really saw a wealth building opportunity there, and

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Speaker 2: that started to build our case of how do we

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Speaker 2: pitch the scale of this business, how bit can it

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Speaker 2: truly become? I believe it will be one of the

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Speaker 2: next unicorns. I am aiming for that level of scale,

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Speaker 2: and that started to shape our narrative and I started

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Speaker 2: doing demo days and pitching the company. A lot of

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Speaker 2: investors did not understand our market at the time, so

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Speaker 2: we didn't raise traditional venture capital, but I started winning

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Speaker 2: a bunch of pitch competitions.

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Speaker 3: I think I.

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Speaker 2: Entered everyone and won pretty much all of them for

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Speaker 2: like a straight year. I know, yeah, people were probably like,

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Speaker 2: I'm like, well, we need to raise this money. So

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Speaker 2: we won like the the Tag Business Competition Award Dream

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Speaker 2: atl It was really when all the all the programs

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Speaker 2: were starting Atlanta Startup Village, and yeah, we raised We

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Speaker 2: did a family and friends around and then we also

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Speaker 2: got our first angel investor, Mike Ross. And he's like

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Speaker 2: the he's like the godfather, the Black Godfather of angel

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Speaker 2: investing truly, because out of all the black tech startups

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Speaker 2: that were starting at that time, I believe he was

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Speaker 2: the only one really like investing in, you know, at

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Speaker 2: a time where it was hard to raise money here,

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Speaker 2: to be honest, So we had to again figure it out.

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Speaker 2: But having those key angel investors, a few other a

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Speaker 2: few others in the ecosystem, that's how we got it

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Speaker 2: off the ground. But it took a while, honestly, but

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Speaker 2: we just had to figure out how to do it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, now I got to go back and

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Speaker 1: double tap on this whole you know, this whole startup

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Speaker 1: game in Atlanta is very interesting sometimes, especially this whole

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Speaker 1: pitch competition you know game that kind of goes around.

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Speaker 1: I was actually talking with somebody not that long ago,

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Speaker 1: because I actually I've won a few pitch competitions myself too.

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Speaker 1: I remember a few of them. I want I didn't

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Speaker 1: get my check from somebody. Let y'all folks know, but

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Speaker 1: y'all still want.

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Speaker 4: Need some money. But you know, y'all know who y'all are.

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Speaker 1: But like you know, I was telling a friend of mine,

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Speaker 1: I said, you know, it's always interesting about startup pitch competitions.

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Speaker 1: Is one, there are people that professionally pitch and you

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Speaker 1: can kind of tell that they do it, and I

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Speaker 1: don't think it's fair a lot of the times when

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Speaker 1: you find those kind of people that they're really good

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Speaker 1: because they do it so much, and like these these brands,

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Speaker 1: these corporations make it like, oh yeah, everybody come out

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Speaker 1: here and it's inclusive and you want to hear about

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Speaker 1: the great idea and then you get up there with

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Speaker 1: your little funky power point and somebody's got like this

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Speaker 1: crazy presentation together, right. But like I was telling the

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Speaker 1: buddy of mine, I said, well, you know, you got

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Speaker 1: to understand there was a method to actually, you know,

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Speaker 1: winning pitch competitions if you're being really straightforward about it,

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Speaker 1: like one, you got to have a good idea, but

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Speaker 1: you also got to be able to sell it, you know,

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Speaker 1: because a lot of these competitions. You know, you got

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Speaker 1: to think about it. You got judges that are hearing

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Speaker 1: tons of ideas. They're not going to remember every single

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Speaker 1: thing that was said, So what can you do to

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Speaker 1: be memorable? What can you do to kind of stick out?

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Speaker 1: What can you do that like makes you stand apart?

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Speaker 1: But then also, you know, how are people kind of

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Speaker 1: preparing themselves to get up there and pitch. You can

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Speaker 1: tell that a lot of these folks never did Easter speeches,

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Speaker 1: and it really.

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Speaker 4: Kind of bites you.

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Speaker 1: It really kind of bites you when you're in that

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Speaker 1: situation because you're going against people that do this so much.

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Speaker 1: Like when you did pitch competitions and when you were

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Speaker 1: out there raising it, did you have a process or

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Speaker 1: a way that you kind of you know, went through

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Speaker 1: that made it so successful that you could win so

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Speaker 1: many Like what was kind of your secret sauce to that?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you know what you have to really tap into

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Speaker 2: like your inner superpower, like you really have to pull

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Speaker 2: out like your confidence and what makes you know that

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Speaker 2: you know that you know that this is going to

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Speaker 2: be the next game changing thing in your market because

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Speaker 2: your passion exudes. But also it really demonstrates confidence in

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Speaker 2: your numbers or your strategy. And I think a lot

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Speaker 2: of times, you know, people may be feeling like just

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Speaker 2: kind of shaky about you know, how well will this

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Speaker 2: go like, because entrepreneurs always have those doubts, right, But

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Speaker 2: I think that you have to really want just practice

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Speaker 2: and know your numbers, like no, your strategy, know everything

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Speaker 2: before you put yourself out there, because a lot of

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Speaker 2: times you're getting questions that you don't feel prepared for,

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Speaker 2: and that's what kind of makes you kind of throws

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Speaker 2: you off course. So I remember a few things for

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Speaker 2: me was one just taking off my little introvert you know,

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Speaker 2: shell for a second and just step out and be

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Speaker 2: confident in the vision that I have why it should

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Speaker 2: exist in the market, and be prepared to answer questions

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Speaker 2: and feel questions because I think think a lot of

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Speaker 2: times winning competitions comes in the Q and a part

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Speaker 2: absolutely when you're really kind of fortifying your case and

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Speaker 2: you're really getting into specifics, and I think, you know,

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Speaker 2: judges look for that, but again it's also a demonstration

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Speaker 2: of you just having that you know, general knowledge down

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Speaker 2: about your business.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, I remember I did a pitch competition one time,

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Speaker 1: and yeah to your point. You know, the Q and

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Speaker 1: as were kind of shines. But I remember I always

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Speaker 1: say to you got to you got to read the room.

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Speaker 3: Yes, and I take a lot.

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Speaker 1: Of times again we get you get so prepared. Everybody

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Speaker 1: kind of has their thirty second elevator speech down. They're

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Speaker 1: trying to hit all their points. They kind of forget

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Speaker 1: to read the room. One of my one of the

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Speaker 1: best competitions I won. I remember I was going I

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Speaker 1: made it to the finals and I was going last.

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Speaker 1: At that point, I had a chain of web design stores.

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Speaker 1: It was called the Website Shops. I used to go

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Speaker 1: websites too, and I used to literally put brick and

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Speaker 1: mortar web design stores inside the malls. Oh, because this

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Speaker 1: was like probably the early two thousands, because I'd always said,

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Speaker 1: you know, websign is like a very referral based business.

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Speaker 1: It is, and you know, how do you find a

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Speaker 1: web designer? Right, It's like, oh, my cousin's next door's neighbors,

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Speaker 1: my friend's son. I think he does it. I literally

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Speaker 1: have people that call me now like yeah, I heard

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Speaker 1: I remember ten years ago you were building websites.

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Speaker 4: You're still doing that. It's like doing that no more.

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Speaker 4: But I remember I was in this competition. I'm not

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Speaker 4: gonna lie.

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Speaker 1: It was like, man, I'm not gonna win this thing

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Speaker 1: like this this you know, the two folks who went

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Speaker 1: up ahead of me, they were killing it. And I

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Speaker 1: made it to the finals and it was good, and

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Speaker 1: I was like, I got to think of something. I

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Speaker 1: had my whole, my whole uh you know, elevator pitch ready,

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Speaker 1: and you know, I walked out on stage. I started

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Speaker 1: off said something like, you know, all businesses need a website,

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Speaker 1: and I will kind of go into it. And I

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Speaker 1: said the first thing I said when I walked down

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Speaker 1: on stage was all business need a website. Even these

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Speaker 1: two businesses just got done picture to go to the

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Speaker 1: websites if they win this money, So y'all might as

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Speaker 1: well give the money to me. And the crowd went wild.

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Speaker 1: But I'm telling you right, like it's just understanding. You know,

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Speaker 1: I had something I wanted to say. But when you

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Speaker 1: can and it's almost like, you know, the idea of

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Speaker 1: this podcast too, right, Like when you can throw ideas

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Speaker 1: in the culture, you can throw things into like something

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Speaker 1: that we can all kind of rally around. Like in

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Speaker 1: that moment, that crowd went crazy. I knew I won

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Speaker 1: that pitch competition exactly, but that was because I didn't

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Speaker 1: walk in and have my head so down and so

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Speaker 1: focused on what I was saying. I was listening to

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Speaker 1: what everybody else said it, and I was saying to myself,

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Speaker 1: how can I make myself stand out? How can I

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Speaker 1: make myself different? And just at one little tweak was

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Speaker 1: all it took. And so that's why I want y'all.

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Speaker 1: All it takes us is one little tweak, you.

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Speaker 2: Know, because it's the excellent example of being yourself right,

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Speaker 2: and being yourself is your superpower.

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Speaker 4: That's what it is, right everybody else is taking. You

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Speaker 4: can only be one, You can only be one.

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Speaker 1: Now we talk about you know, this hair care space

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Speaker 1: is like a billion dollar industry. You know what's your

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Speaker 1: vision for how you know Mayavana is going to transform that?

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Speaker 2: Yes, well, I like to call our big picture vision

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Speaker 2: becoming the Amazon of hair care. My goal is to

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Speaker 2: know what every person needs for their hair at all

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Speaker 2: times and to deliver those products to and really make

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Speaker 2: hair care again a personalized experience. We call it the

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Speaker 2: care Experience. Pretty soon it's going to be offered in

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Speaker 2: salons as well. So you can book your Mayavana hair

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Speaker 2: analysis appointment at a local salon and really have that

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Speaker 2: full again personalized experience and get your results in an hour.

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Speaker 2: And what is creating is more of like a personalized retail.

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Speaker 2: Think of it like a concierge.

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Speaker 3: Right.

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Speaker 2: Like, so now you know, when you go into Target,

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Speaker 2: you're like, Okay, all these owls of products, right, you're

438
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Speaker 2: still left wondering, Okay, should I get this?

439
00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:24,760
Speaker 3: Should I get that?

440
00:20:25,840 --> 00:20:29,360
Speaker 2: And again, hair is just so personal and oftentimes we're

441
00:20:29,400 --> 00:20:32,439
Speaker 2: thinking about like ten million things too in addition to

442
00:20:32,560 --> 00:20:35,000
Speaker 2: how to do the style you're wondering, like going back

443
00:20:35,040 --> 00:20:38,040
Speaker 2: to confidence, like, man, I need my hair to look

444
00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:40,480
Speaker 2: good tomorrow because you know, I have an interview, I

445
00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:42,800
Speaker 2: have a date, I have you know something like hair

446
00:20:42,920 --> 00:20:46,159
Speaker 2: is just such a part of our whole look, our vibe,

447
00:20:46,160 --> 00:20:49,440
Speaker 2: and how we present ourselves. So we know customers are

448
00:20:49,440 --> 00:20:52,120
Speaker 2: on a journey too when you're thinking about your hair,

449
00:20:52,200 --> 00:20:53,959
Speaker 2: and we want to cater to all of that. So

450
00:20:54,720 --> 00:20:59,040
Speaker 2: seeing that in the retail environment, the salon environment, and

451
00:20:59,119 --> 00:21:01,920
Speaker 2: being able to connect with you right on your phone through.

452
00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:02,520
Speaker 3: Our mobile app.

453
00:21:03,280 --> 00:21:05,920
Speaker 2: That's really what Amazon kind of mestered. If you really

454
00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:10,680
Speaker 2: look at their scale of their infrastructure, their delivery, their speed,

455
00:21:11,680 --> 00:21:16,159
Speaker 2: their obsession with customer service. You know, granted everything's not

456
00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:20,119
Speaker 2: great about Amazon, but if we're comparing business models, I

457
00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:24,600
Speaker 2: see that really along with Microsoft from a software standpoint,

458
00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:29,720
Speaker 2: and Microsoft was really my blueprint for building out the technology,

459
00:21:29,840 --> 00:21:33,840
Speaker 2: which is like the AWS side of Amazon. But what

460
00:21:33,880 --> 00:21:36,560
Speaker 2: I loved about it is, again you could customize these

461
00:21:36,600 --> 00:21:40,719
Speaker 2: applications to do like specific things and so specific needs.

462
00:21:41,040 --> 00:21:43,240
Speaker 2: And what ours does is it creates a digital hair

463
00:21:43,280 --> 00:21:45,520
Speaker 2: profile and it tells you what products you need for

464
00:21:45,560 --> 00:21:48,920
Speaker 2: every hairstyle that you do. So yeah, so that's kind

465
00:21:48,960 --> 00:21:50,960
Speaker 2: of what I want to bring. What I realized was

466
00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:55,320
Speaker 2: missing from our market was just the innovation and really

467
00:21:55,640 --> 00:21:58,760
Speaker 2: leveraging tech to again make our hair and beauty experiences

468
00:21:58,840 --> 00:21:59,320
Speaker 2: much better.

469
00:22:12,280 --> 00:22:14,960
Speaker 1: Now, look, can's let me be honest with you for a second.

470
00:22:15,520 --> 00:22:18,360
Speaker 1: You know, people see they see you shine, and they

471
00:22:18,359 --> 00:22:21,400
Speaker 1: see your hair, they see your hair popping, they see

472
00:22:21,400 --> 00:22:25,320
Speaker 1: the melon and popping. But a lot of folks also realize, right, like,

473
00:22:25,359 --> 00:22:27,479
Speaker 1: this has been a journey and there's been ups and

474
00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:29,439
Speaker 1: downs like would have been so many would have been

475
00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:31,760
Speaker 1: some of those moments as you've been building may Havana,

476
00:22:32,280 --> 00:22:33,800
Speaker 1: where it's been you know, things you had to go

477
00:22:33,840 --> 00:22:35,679
Speaker 1: through hers you had to kind of overcome, Like, what

478
00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:37,920
Speaker 1: are some of the ones that not just like stuck

479
00:22:37,920 --> 00:22:39,360
Speaker 1: out but really taught to you some of the most

480
00:22:39,359 --> 00:22:41,040
Speaker 1: important lessons in this journey?

481
00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:42,080
Speaker 3: Too many?

482
00:22:42,359 --> 00:22:44,720
Speaker 2: I mean, I think most people know, if you know me,

483
00:22:45,040 --> 00:22:47,200
Speaker 2: it has been a hard journey.

484
00:22:47,640 --> 00:22:49,200
Speaker 3: It has been a struggle.

485
00:22:49,200 --> 00:22:52,159
Speaker 2: I don't like using that word anymore because now I'm like, Okay,

486
00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:56,399
Speaker 2: every season had a purpose. Yeah, I more so was

487
00:22:56,560 --> 00:22:59,920
Speaker 2: stressed out and had anxiety through it when I realized

488
00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:03,679
Speaker 2: in hindsight that you know, it had a purpose. I

489
00:23:03,720 --> 00:23:08,280
Speaker 2: think one of the biggest things initially was the funding,

490
00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:11,199
Speaker 2: like just having the capital to run the business. And

491
00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:13,960
Speaker 2: when that was so tight, and it was tight for

492
00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:15,960
Speaker 2: all of us, It's like, Okay, how are we really

493
00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:18,359
Speaker 2: going to do this when other companies are getting like,

494
00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:20,960
Speaker 2: you know, ten twenty forty million just.

495
00:23:20,960 --> 00:23:23,720
Speaker 4: To get out ideal of that.

496
00:23:24,359 --> 00:23:28,800
Speaker 2: I'm like, seriously, I you know, the advice we were

497
00:23:28,800 --> 00:23:34,280
Speaker 2: getting was just not not giving the results that you know,

498
00:23:34,359 --> 00:23:37,760
Speaker 2: we thought, would you know, pan out by then? So

499
00:23:38,880 --> 00:23:41,800
Speaker 2: And I think one of the hardest parts about it

500
00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:46,560
Speaker 2: was how much perception is reality in the tech startup

501
00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:49,280
Speaker 2: world and just in the business world. Right, So when

502
00:23:49,320 --> 00:23:52,879
Speaker 2: you're not raising money, when you don't have anything major

503
00:23:53,119 --> 00:23:56,240
Speaker 2: that's in an article or a headline, you know, you

504
00:23:56,280 --> 00:23:58,400
Speaker 2: just kind of feel like you suck, right, Like you

505
00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:02,320
Speaker 2: just kind of feel like, you know, it becomes very isolating,

506
00:24:02,840 --> 00:24:05,639
Speaker 2: you know, and it just it sucks to feel like,

507
00:24:05,720 --> 00:24:08,120
Speaker 2: you know, things are just so slow and you don't

508
00:24:08,119 --> 00:24:11,480
Speaker 2: really know. I actually wanted to sell our company twice.

509
00:24:12,359 --> 00:24:16,919
Speaker 2: I actively tried, that's how much I thought, like, okay,

510
00:24:17,119 --> 00:24:20,280
Speaker 2: we I gave it my best shot. But what ended

511
00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:23,800
Speaker 2: up happening was God always just opened another door to

512
00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:28,119
Speaker 2: another business opportunity, and that became another strategic growth point

513
00:24:28,920 --> 00:24:32,800
Speaker 2: for us. The first one was a strategic partnership with Essence.

514
00:24:33,440 --> 00:24:38,000
Speaker 2: They invited us to Essence Festival to activate and that's

515
00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:41,840
Speaker 2: actually where we started demoing. Our AI technology was which

516
00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:46,280
Speaker 2: was our next major breakthrough. But to get to that

517
00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:48,840
Speaker 2: point it was so difficult. I lost a lot of

518
00:24:48,840 --> 00:24:51,320
Speaker 2: team members as well, because you know, when you don't

519
00:24:51,359 --> 00:24:54,119
Speaker 2: have the funds and you know, people got to live

520
00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:57,159
Speaker 2: at the end of the day, entrepreneurs, I mean, we

521
00:24:57,240 --> 00:24:58,560
Speaker 2: all got to live at the end of the day,

522
00:24:58,600 --> 00:25:00,920
Speaker 2: right at the end of the day, you got to

523
00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:05,159
Speaker 2: eat right. So it was just so many hard seasons,

524
00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:08,920
Speaker 2: you know, where you know, you didn't have a team

525
00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:12,399
Speaker 2: that you feel like you needed, and it was just

526
00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:14,440
Speaker 2: in those times where it was just nothing but faith.

527
00:25:14,760 --> 00:25:18,040
Speaker 2: To be honest, I mean, nothing looked liked it was working,

528
00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:21,000
Speaker 2: but you know, I was just still convicted in my

529
00:25:21,119 --> 00:25:24,960
Speaker 2: heart that you know, this should exist. Ended up pivoting

530
00:25:25,119 --> 00:25:29,919
Speaker 2: into doing some consulting work, which actually ended up another

531
00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:34,760
Speaker 2: opening another door to help other entrepreneurs build their businesses.

532
00:25:35,359 --> 00:25:38,000
Speaker 2: So what I learned in this process is, you know,

533
00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:43,439
Speaker 2: you have to have faith to achieve the impossible. Like

534
00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:49,560
Speaker 2: I highly encourage entrepreneurs to, you know, bring this spiritual

535
00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:54,480
Speaker 2: side into your business, like because again, if you don't believe,

536
00:25:56,359 --> 00:25:58,400
Speaker 2: you know, you will give up at some point. And

537
00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:01,480
Speaker 2: I think that's the only the only failure is giving up.

538
00:26:02,480 --> 00:26:05,439
Speaker 2: But you have to ask for help. You have to

539
00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:10,000
Speaker 2: be honest with where things are, you have to not

540
00:26:10,080 --> 00:26:13,159
Speaker 2: be afraid to look at your numbers, right, and so

541
00:26:13,240 --> 00:26:15,040
Speaker 2: I have to just you know, break through a lot

542
00:26:15,080 --> 00:26:20,159
Speaker 2: of shame depression, you know, to really you know, keep going.

543
00:26:20,280 --> 00:26:24,600
Speaker 2: But eventually eventually things started picking up. So it just

544
00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:27,639
Speaker 2: shows me that again, you know, you will reap a

545
00:26:27,680 --> 00:26:28,920
Speaker 2: harvest if you don't give up.

546
00:26:29,480 --> 00:26:32,879
Speaker 3: But you have to pivot. You have to again just

547
00:26:33,240 --> 00:26:34,320
Speaker 3: get the help that you need.

548
00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:37,119
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, look, most people that are running a

549
00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:40,160
Speaker 1: business right now that's successful or growing, I would argue

550
00:26:40,160 --> 00:26:42,720
Speaker 1: to say that most of them, what they're doing now

551
00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:45,320
Speaker 1: is not exactly what they probably imagine when they first started,

552
00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:49,360
Speaker 1: exactly for lots of different reasons, right like whether even

553
00:26:49,359 --> 00:26:51,439
Speaker 1: if the thing didn't work, maybe you just saw another

554
00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:54,160
Speaker 1: opportunity or maybe a different version of what you.

555
00:26:54,119 --> 00:26:55,159
Speaker 4: Were doing kind of opened up.

556
00:26:55,160 --> 00:26:57,000
Speaker 1: And I think to your point, you got to kind

557
00:26:57,000 --> 00:26:59,199
Speaker 1: of be flexible, you know, because you're still in the

558
00:26:59,240 --> 00:27:01,200
Speaker 1: space and you're still learning.

559
00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:03,920
Speaker 2: Stuff, especially now because if you look at our economy now,

560
00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:08,440
Speaker 2: things are changing daily, Like things are changing globally, things

561
00:27:08,440 --> 00:27:11,920
Speaker 2: are changing here, So you really have to look at

562
00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:15,960
Speaker 2: like what what does my market need now? Or do

563
00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:19,200
Speaker 2: I need to reposition myself based on where the economy

564
00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:22,080
Speaker 2: is going, because that's honestly how you stay in business.

565
00:27:22,200 --> 00:27:24,080
Speaker 1: And yeah, I mean that's just look, that's business again.

566
00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:25,840
Speaker 1: Sometimes you just got to let go of the ego

567
00:27:26,359 --> 00:27:27,960
Speaker 1: and say, like what I got to do to make.

568
00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:28,680
Speaker 3: This thing exactly.

569
00:27:28,800 --> 00:27:29,800
Speaker 4: Yeah, but even to your.

570
00:27:29,680 --> 00:27:33,600
Speaker 1: Point of adaptation though, Like right now, the two biggest

571
00:27:33,640 --> 00:27:36,480
Speaker 1: buzzwords in the world are artificial intelligence AI is everywhere.

572
00:27:36,520 --> 00:27:40,040
Speaker 1: You all have just actually started integrating MOREA into your platform, Like,

573
00:27:40,080 --> 00:27:41,600
Speaker 1: tell me about how that experience has been.

574
00:27:42,119 --> 00:27:45,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, woo, it has been so eye opening. Honestly, we

575
00:27:45,800 --> 00:27:49,760
Speaker 2: started training our models about five years ago. So we

576
00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:53,159
Speaker 2: took all of our hairstrand images that we were analyzing

577
00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:57,440
Speaker 2: in the lab and started categorizing them according to their

578
00:27:57,560 --> 00:28:00,960
Speaker 2: unique texture type and condition. So we have the largest

579
00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:05,600
Speaker 2: database of hair texture images, hair strand analysis data and

580
00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:10,639
Speaker 2: just again teaching our system how to identify the uniqueness

581
00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:14,639
Speaker 2: in our hair and that took a while, but also

582
00:28:15,200 --> 00:28:19,240
Speaker 2: now putting that into our experience on our mobile app,

583
00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:22,840
Speaker 2: but now licensing it to other retailers. So now anywhere

584
00:28:22,880 --> 00:28:26,240
Speaker 2: you shop you can get personalized recommendations based on what's

585
00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:31,280
Speaker 2: carried in their store. And that honestly came, you know,

586
00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:34,640
Speaker 2: just through epiphanies at a time, like as you accomplish

587
00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:38,120
Speaker 2: you know each piece of the puzzle. What truly ended

588
00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:42,840
Speaker 2: up happening was a lot of companies started prioritizing innovation

589
00:28:43,800 --> 00:28:48,360
Speaker 2: in their divisions. For e commerce for retail, and a

590
00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:51,840
Speaker 2: lot of people started reaching out to us to see,

591
00:28:51,880 --> 00:28:56,200
Speaker 2: you know, what solutions we had in AI for hair care,

592
00:28:56,880 --> 00:28:58,800
Speaker 2: and it was just kind of one of those things

593
00:28:58,840 --> 00:29:01,800
Speaker 2: where we were solving a problem for ourselves in terms

594
00:29:01,840 --> 00:29:06,239
Speaker 2: of automating our systems to now realizing that, oh, this

595
00:29:06,280 --> 00:29:11,000
Speaker 2: is where the whole market is headed because of again personalization,

596
00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:15,000
Speaker 2: automation and the many things that AI can do, which

597
00:29:15,160 --> 00:29:18,480
Speaker 2: is a whole other story, but we wanted to be

598
00:29:18,520 --> 00:29:21,400
Speaker 2: at the forefront of that and that's honestly how we

599
00:29:21,400 --> 00:29:22,080
Speaker 2: were positioned.

600
00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:24,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean that's interesting too because right now you

601
00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:26,640
Speaker 1: can't go more than you know, five seconds without somebody

602
00:29:26,680 --> 00:29:30,160
Speaker 1: saying chat GBT AI you know when you're listening. But

603
00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:33,840
Speaker 1: what you know five years ago made you identify the

604
00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:35,920
Speaker 1: idea to use AI, And like, how did you even

605
00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:39,160
Speaker 1: start going about that because those tools weren't necessarily as

606
00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:40,400
Speaker 1: accessible as they are now.

607
00:29:40,560 --> 00:29:41,640
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, definitely not.

608
00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:46,520
Speaker 2: It was honestly my natural way to solve the problem,

609
00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:50,600
Speaker 2: which was we had all these hairstring kits in the

610
00:29:50,600 --> 00:29:55,560
Speaker 2: mail and processing them manually was just it was like

611
00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:58,880
Speaker 2: you know, when you when you are happy that you

612
00:29:58,880 --> 00:30:01,240
Speaker 2: know the orders are coming in, but then you're really like, Okay,

613
00:30:01,280 --> 00:30:02,880
Speaker 2: how are we going to get these orders done?

614
00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:07,080
Speaker 3: It was one of those what we're gonna do moments, So.

615
00:30:08,280 --> 00:30:11,520
Speaker 2: That that's when I knew we needed to automate the process.

616
00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:17,280
Speaker 2: And just because I learned machine learning in college, so

617
00:30:17,640 --> 00:30:20,720
Speaker 2: I knew that, Okay, that's what we're going to do.

618
00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:25,840
Speaker 2: But understanding that because at that time I had studied

619
00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:31,280
Speaker 2: virtual reality, I studied augmented reality robotics, and it was

620
00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:34,400
Speaker 2: kind of one of those things where like those moments

621
00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:36,640
Speaker 2: where you realize, Okay, we're almost in the future for

622
00:30:36,720 --> 00:30:39,240
Speaker 2: real now, because at that time, you know this this

623
00:30:39,440 --> 00:30:43,080
Speaker 2: was the mid two thousand, two thousand and six end

624
00:30:43,160 --> 00:30:46,719
Speaker 2: of that decade. It feels so far away that you know,

625
00:30:47,200 --> 00:30:50,120
Speaker 2: we will have virtual reality at this time, but an

626
00:30:50,120 --> 00:30:53,640
Speaker 2: actuality it started to speed up about ten years later,

627
00:30:54,920 --> 00:30:59,040
Speaker 2: and that was actually right at the time where we

628
00:30:59,040 --> 00:31:03,000
Speaker 2: were really picking up in terms of building that out

629
00:31:03,040 --> 00:31:06,400
Speaker 2: and now offering it to market. So it was honestly

630
00:31:06,680 --> 00:31:11,000
Speaker 2: a right timing type of thing, and I think most

631
00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:13,760
Speaker 2: successful products are like that. So when you go back

632
00:31:13,760 --> 00:31:18,080
Speaker 2: and think about like Twitter, Instagram, like when did those

633
00:31:18,080 --> 00:31:21,600
Speaker 2: platforms take off, Like it was this critical point in

634
00:31:21,680 --> 00:31:24,880
Speaker 2: time where now social media is becoming the new way

635
00:31:24,920 --> 00:31:29,600
Speaker 2: to communicate. And so of course you had several platforms

636
00:31:29,760 --> 00:31:33,560
Speaker 2: out at that time, MySpace right even before that Black Planet, right, Like,

637
00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:37,480
Speaker 2: there were these new modes that we wanted to communicate

638
00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:40,000
Speaker 2: and that was really kind of like at the tail

639
00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:42,640
Speaker 2: end of the what we call the information age. But

640
00:31:42,680 --> 00:31:47,240
Speaker 2: now information is media. Media is just so pervasive in

641
00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:51,120
Speaker 2: how our world works and communicates. And so for us,

642
00:31:51,280 --> 00:31:55,160
Speaker 2: we were at that right timing of AI and personalization

643
00:31:55,360 --> 00:31:59,440
Speaker 2: becoming the way we transform markets. Because if you look

644
00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:02,760
Speaker 2: at every end of street is being transformed through technology, right.

645
00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:06,800
Speaker 2: So if you think about when Uber launched, right, transform transportation,

646
00:32:07,040 --> 00:32:11,640
Speaker 2: right Netflix, right, how each of these industries again have

647
00:32:11,760 --> 00:32:16,320
Speaker 2: a new way of automating, automating like a manual process.

648
00:32:17,160 --> 00:32:19,640
Speaker 2: And so that's basically what we're doing. We automated the

649
00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:23,880
Speaker 2: manual process of diagnosing hair and just ended up being

650
00:32:23,880 --> 00:32:26,400
Speaker 2: in the right timing in the market for that.

651
00:32:26,720 --> 00:32:29,560
Speaker 3: So I think if you pay attention to the trends.

652
00:32:29,320 --> 00:32:34,440
Speaker 2: You'll start to see how it affects different markets. But yeah,

653
00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:36,880
Speaker 2: I think everyone should be looking into tech now at

654
00:32:36,880 --> 00:32:40,640
Speaker 2: this point, and also how you're leveraging AI in your

655
00:32:40,760 --> 00:32:45,360
Speaker 2: product or in the experience or operations of how you

656
00:32:45,440 --> 00:32:47,920
Speaker 2: run your business. And we talked about that at the

657
00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:52,120
Speaker 2: Urban League recently, National Urban League, because now AI empowers

658
00:32:52,160 --> 00:32:53,640
Speaker 2: you to work smarter and not harder.

659
00:32:54,000 --> 00:32:55,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I think they were getting mad at

660
00:32:55,600 --> 00:32:58,400
Speaker 1: me at that conference because I wasn't trying to tell them, like,

661
00:32:58,520 --> 00:33:00,760
Speaker 1: you know, I'd never say, just used at GPT and

662
00:33:00,800 --> 00:33:02,920
Speaker 1: that'll solve all your problems. But I'm a very big

663
00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:05,640
Speaker 1: believer in if you actually train it, then you know,

664
00:33:05,680 --> 00:33:09,480
Speaker 1: you educate, it can make you so much more efficient. Absolutely,

665
00:33:09,600 --> 00:33:11,240
Speaker 1: I can only imagine what the tool is going to

666
00:33:11,280 --> 00:33:13,400
Speaker 1: be like in a few years, you know, Like but

667
00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:16,000
Speaker 1: you got AI, like you working on like a Mayavana

668
00:33:16,080 --> 00:33:16,880
Speaker 1: robot or something too.

669
00:33:17,800 --> 00:33:19,760
Speaker 2: In the lab, we're working on a lot of things.

670
00:33:19,800 --> 00:33:23,320
Speaker 2: We have a metaverse coming soon. Really, yes, I mean

671
00:33:23,400 --> 00:33:26,480
Speaker 2: it's we've been testing it running our virtual hair club there,

672
00:33:26,520 --> 00:33:29,760
Speaker 2: but we have we're taking it to another level. So

673
00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:32,680
Speaker 2: you guys will hear about that soon. Because again we

674
00:33:32,760 --> 00:33:36,400
Speaker 2: have to realize that technology is like fully integrated in

675
00:33:36,440 --> 00:33:40,360
Speaker 2: our everyday lives. So if you I know a lot

676
00:33:40,440 --> 00:33:43,920
Speaker 2: of people are anti you know this and that, but

677
00:33:44,440 --> 00:33:47,280
Speaker 2: I'm always my philosophy is that technology is supposed to

678
00:33:47,400 --> 00:33:50,640
Speaker 2: make our lives better, right, so if you if you

679
00:33:50,720 --> 00:33:53,000
Speaker 2: can be more efficient, if you can, a lot of

680
00:33:53,080 --> 00:33:57,320
Speaker 2: us need to lessen our mental loads, like we're processing

681
00:33:57,400 --> 00:33:59,760
Speaker 2: so much every day. Think about like dumping half of

682
00:33:59,800 --> 00:34:06,640
Speaker 2: your brain. I'm like, again, work smarter, not harder. So

683
00:34:06,800 --> 00:34:09,000
Speaker 2: think about it as like your co pilot and what

684
00:34:09,080 --> 00:34:11,239
Speaker 2: you do so that you can focus on the things

685
00:34:11,239 --> 00:34:14,040
Speaker 2: that you love to do, that you're creative in, and

686
00:34:14,080 --> 00:34:18,239
Speaker 2: not like the manual you know, analyzing spreadsheet data type

687
00:34:18,239 --> 00:34:19,960
Speaker 2: of stuff. You know, like all the things you can

688
00:34:20,040 --> 00:34:22,560
Speaker 2: dump off. I remember you're talking about, you know, even

689
00:34:22,600 --> 00:34:26,040
Speaker 2: creating your power points. Now, like listen, let the robots

690
00:34:26,080 --> 00:34:26,480
Speaker 2: work for you.

691
00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:30,000
Speaker 1: Okay, please please look y'all. The future is here, it's

692
00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:31,239
Speaker 1: just not evenly distributed.

693
00:34:31,560 --> 00:34:34,239
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, But we have to tap in, we really do.

694
00:34:34,360 --> 00:34:37,880
Speaker 2: Because again, not only that people can learn how to

695
00:34:38,200 --> 00:34:42,000
Speaker 2: build these models, how to be trained in AI to

696
00:34:42,160 --> 00:34:44,759
Speaker 2: now you know, work at different companies or again start

697
00:34:44,760 --> 00:34:48,680
Speaker 2: your own products. But yeah, we need to at least

698
00:34:49,200 --> 00:34:52,719
Speaker 2: be aware and figure out how it is going to impact,

699
00:34:52,800 --> 00:34:55,640
Speaker 2: you know, our trajectory. Right, everyone's on a different path,

700
00:34:56,200 --> 00:34:58,960
Speaker 2: you know, but just again be aware and also figure

701
00:34:58,960 --> 00:35:01,360
Speaker 2: out how can you be Yeah.

702
00:35:01,160 --> 00:35:02,840
Speaker 1: I mean I tell my team all the time. The

703
00:35:02,880 --> 00:35:05,840
Speaker 1: benefit of tech and especially the AI stuff for me

704
00:35:05,960 --> 00:35:07,719
Speaker 1: is just the ability to go from like zero to.

705
00:35:07,680 --> 00:35:09,000
Speaker 4: One that much faster.

706
00:35:09,160 --> 00:35:11,360
Speaker 1: Like not to say that that one is the finished product,

707
00:35:11,800 --> 00:35:14,080
Speaker 1: but the fact that you can type something in, get

708
00:35:14,080 --> 00:35:16,279
Speaker 1: a response back, and then kind of iterate on top

709
00:35:16,320 --> 00:35:18,319
Speaker 1: of that infinitely, I.

710
00:35:18,239 --> 00:35:19,319
Speaker 4: Think is an amazing thing.

711
00:35:19,400 --> 00:35:20,719
Speaker 1: Not on top of that, now you can do it

712
00:35:20,760 --> 00:35:22,600
Speaker 1: at any time you want to do it, you know,

713
00:35:22,680 --> 00:35:24,640
Speaker 1: And so it's like, how could you not use these tools?

714
00:35:24,640 --> 00:35:26,680
Speaker 1: I mean I use I use AI even in the

715
00:35:26,680 --> 00:35:28,799
Speaker 1: preparation I do for this podcast, Like when I use

716
00:35:28,800 --> 00:35:31,160
Speaker 1: a tool called otter and I record. We do a

717
00:35:31,160 --> 00:35:33,000
Speaker 1: pre show interview with everybody, and I kind of record

718
00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:35,640
Speaker 1: that interview. We talk about some different things, but one

719
00:35:35,960 --> 00:35:38,120
Speaker 1: I talk to a lot of people getting kind of old,

720
00:35:38,160 --> 00:35:40,680
Speaker 1: I can't remember everything we talked about in every kind

721
00:35:40,719 --> 00:35:43,200
Speaker 1: of situation, right, So I use that tool to record

722
00:35:43,239 --> 00:35:46,440
Speaker 1: those conversations. I can then go back pull out the

723
00:35:46,520 --> 00:35:48,240
Speaker 1: key things I wanted to make sure we talked about.

724
00:35:48,719 --> 00:35:50,839
Speaker 1: I can ask it questions and say, you know, what

725
00:35:50,920 --> 00:35:52,480
Speaker 1: it can just say about that? Or what does she's

726
00:35:52,480 --> 00:35:54,440
Speaker 1: say and then I can use that to kind of

727
00:35:54,480 --> 00:35:57,799
Speaker 1: like craft questions for these podcasts. And so again there's

728
00:35:57,840 --> 00:35:59,319
Speaker 1: lots of ways you can do it. And as my

729
00:35:59,360 --> 00:36:01,200
Speaker 1: old mentor to say, if you don't like change, you're

730
00:36:01,200 --> 00:36:03,920
Speaker 1: gonna like being irrelevant a whole lot less. Exactly, people

731
00:36:03,920 --> 00:36:06,880
Speaker 1: got to understand is like, it's not AI. It's not

732
00:36:06,880 --> 00:36:08,719
Speaker 1: going to immediately take your job. It's the people that

733
00:36:08,920 --> 00:36:11,279
Speaker 1: know how to use these AI tools exactly are gonna

734
00:36:11,280 --> 00:36:12,759
Speaker 1: be the ones to take your job. And so we

735
00:36:12,800 --> 00:36:15,840
Speaker 1: don't have a choice to kind of opt out of

736
00:36:15,880 --> 00:36:18,440
Speaker 1: this of this you know, this whole technology boom, because

737
00:36:18,480 --> 00:36:19,479
Speaker 1: it's gonna affect us.

738
00:36:19,360 --> 00:36:20,120
Speaker 4: One way or another.

739
00:36:20,440 --> 00:36:20,680
Speaker 3: It is.

740
00:36:20,760 --> 00:36:23,080
Speaker 1: And you know, again Cannas is over here making a

741
00:36:23,160 --> 00:36:25,800
Speaker 1: database everybody's hair and all this other kind of stuff.

742
00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:27,279
Speaker 1: She can, you know, tell you all to stop using

743
00:36:27,320 --> 00:36:30,800
Speaker 1: that that that that pink al moisturize some new stuff exactly.

744
00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:32,600
Speaker 2: But so we're gonna break it all down for you,

745
00:36:33,120 --> 00:36:34,960
Speaker 2: and no, we're not going to clone you. Lot a

746
00:36:34,960 --> 00:36:38,120
Speaker 2: lot of people those are that's like the little crazy

747
00:36:38,200 --> 00:36:40,560
Speaker 2: questions like that pop up in the comments.

748
00:36:40,960 --> 00:36:42,040
Speaker 3: No, no, no, no, no.

749
00:36:41,920 --> 00:36:46,520
Speaker 2: It's definitely cater to again, just bringing the science back

750
00:36:46,560 --> 00:36:50,760
Speaker 2: to healthy hair care because again remember the whole gorilla

751
00:36:50,800 --> 00:36:56,600
Speaker 2: glue situation, Like there's been so many like hair stories, right,

752
00:36:57,400 --> 00:37:00,800
Speaker 2: but also again there's so many products that now and

753
00:37:01,120 --> 00:37:03,719
Speaker 2: actually so many great brands. I would definitely say like

754
00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:07,440
Speaker 2: being able to highlight we just did our top five

755
00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:10,840
Speaker 2: products for all categories, and kind of seeing what brands

756
00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:13,360
Speaker 2: are popping up and even new up and coming brands,

757
00:37:13,360 --> 00:37:17,120
Speaker 2: emerging brands. It's honestly really great to see, you know,

758
00:37:17,160 --> 00:37:20,200
Speaker 2: and to finally have, like, you know, the variety that

759
00:37:20,239 --> 00:37:22,960
Speaker 2: we've always wanted and so now we're like, okay, well

760
00:37:22,960 --> 00:37:24,359
Speaker 2: which one do I start with?

761
00:37:24,560 --> 00:37:24,719
Speaker 3: Right?

762
00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:26,839
Speaker 2: And that's that's all a journey and I just love

763
00:37:26,880 --> 00:37:29,160
Speaker 2: being able to, you know, connect with people through their.

764
00:37:29,040 --> 00:37:32,279
Speaker 1: Hair, do you think so a lot of times when

765
00:37:32,280 --> 00:37:34,239
Speaker 1: people are building stuff like this, I always say, whenever

766
00:37:34,239 --> 00:37:36,200
Speaker 1: you see a gold rush, like, there's lots of ways.

767
00:37:35,960 --> 00:37:36,640
Speaker 4: To make money.

768
00:37:36,920 --> 00:37:39,840
Speaker 1: My personal favorite money is selling the picks and the shovels,

769
00:37:40,360 --> 00:37:41,640
Speaker 1: you know, for the people that are going and looking

770
00:37:41,640 --> 00:37:44,120
Speaker 1: for gold, Like I'm for gold, but you know what

771
00:37:44,200 --> 00:37:45,880
Speaker 1: I got this taking this shovel. If you want it,

772
00:37:46,239 --> 00:37:47,960
Speaker 1: here's the resources you go out there and find it.

773
00:37:48,239 --> 00:37:50,040
Speaker 1: But especially as you're building this my van. You have

774
00:37:50,080 --> 00:37:53,960
Speaker 1: all this information, you know, and also just being fully transparent,

775
00:37:53,960 --> 00:37:56,320
Speaker 1: like when you talk about Amazon, like they get information,

776
00:37:56,880 --> 00:37:59,160
Speaker 1: they sometimes use it to inform you know, maybe we

777
00:37:59,160 --> 00:38:01,239
Speaker 1: should launch aertain of product. Do you ever see a

778
00:38:01,280 --> 00:38:04,600
Speaker 1: space where Mayavana might start, you know, doing more products

779
00:38:04,600 --> 00:38:06,400
Speaker 1: and services based off the things you're learning, or do

780
00:38:06,400 --> 00:38:08,440
Speaker 1: you kind of see yourself as being more of that

781
00:38:08,560 --> 00:38:10,680
Speaker 1: kind of heartbeat of the industry, that kind of millman

782
00:38:10,800 --> 00:38:13,520
Speaker 1: person that's kind of more routing people towards products and

783
00:38:13,560 --> 00:38:15,120
Speaker 1: services that would work best for them.

784
00:38:15,239 --> 00:38:15,479
Speaker 3: Yes.

785
00:38:15,520 --> 00:38:18,280
Speaker 2: Well, the great thing is we have a partnership model

786
00:38:18,320 --> 00:38:21,160
Speaker 2: and all that we do, so we will start to

787
00:38:21,239 --> 00:38:24,360
Speaker 2: use our data to partner with companies and influencers to

788
00:38:24,440 --> 00:38:28,200
Speaker 2: launch new products. Okay, so that is already underway. We

789
00:38:28,280 --> 00:38:30,239
Speaker 2: have a few people that we're working with, and it's

790
00:38:30,239 --> 00:38:33,560
Speaker 2: just so exciting to see again, because people resonate with

791
00:38:33,600 --> 00:38:36,279
Speaker 2: different needs in the market, or they may have a

792
00:38:36,360 --> 00:38:40,759
Speaker 2: different benefit that they want to bring through ingredients or

793
00:38:41,280 --> 00:38:44,880
Speaker 2: product types or even like catering to new segments in

794
00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:47,920
Speaker 2: the market. Because the global markets are wide open, in

795
00:38:47,960 --> 00:38:51,440
Speaker 2: my opinion, in the US, we're really oversaturated now in

796
00:38:51,520 --> 00:38:54,040
Speaker 2: terms of what's available here, but when you look at

797
00:38:54,040 --> 00:38:57,319
Speaker 2: the needs globally in different countries and like, there's just

798
00:38:57,400 --> 00:38:59,960
Speaker 2: so much opportunity and ways that people can tap into

799
00:39:00,080 --> 00:39:02,680
Speaker 2: to that. So yes, so we will have power by

800
00:39:02,680 --> 00:39:06,560
Speaker 2: mayavannor products soon and we will also have our data

801
00:39:06,600 --> 00:39:09,399
Speaker 2: and analytics dashboards so you can see real time data

802
00:39:09,440 --> 00:39:12,080
Speaker 2: on the market different hair needs, you know, for this

803
00:39:12,160 --> 00:39:15,440
Speaker 2: age group in Chicago, you know in the summer months,

804
00:39:15,680 --> 00:39:18,560
Speaker 2: you know, their hair needs typically are and kind of

805
00:39:18,600 --> 00:39:20,600
Speaker 2: really providing that new market.

806
00:39:20,280 --> 00:39:21,799
Speaker 3: Intelligence for businesses too.

807
00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:23,759
Speaker 2: So I love that because I'm all about the data

808
00:39:23,800 --> 00:39:25,480
Speaker 2: as well, and that's really exciting.

809
00:39:25,800 --> 00:39:28,239
Speaker 4: Yeah, my daughter's been trying to do her baby hares lately.

810
00:39:28,040 --> 00:39:31,480
Speaker 1: So a special Jill for that or something.

811
00:39:32,560 --> 00:39:34,440
Speaker 3: Really appreciated the jel the brush.

812
00:39:34,520 --> 00:39:36,879
Speaker 2: Right, Why why didn't my daughter ask me the same thing?

813
00:39:37,040 --> 00:39:39,359
Speaker 2: She was like, yeah, can I have the little ones?

814
00:39:39,800 --> 00:39:41,839
Speaker 2: I'm like, it is that is just a thing. But yeah,

815
00:39:41,840 --> 00:39:43,680
Speaker 2: you got to teach them all the things, all the tools.

816
00:39:43,760 --> 00:39:46,480
Speaker 1: Right, So we all work, y'all work with all kinds

817
00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:48,000
Speaker 1: of folks on both the kind of the B two

818
00:39:48,040 --> 00:39:50,239
Speaker 1: B side and the B two C side. How do

819
00:39:50,280 --> 00:39:52,880
Speaker 1: you balance that? You know, you have different needs for

820
00:39:53,320 --> 00:39:56,000
Speaker 1: obviously a stylist, right or have a certain need or

821
00:39:56,000 --> 00:39:58,120
Speaker 1: a salon. But then you have like a major haircare

822
00:39:58,160 --> 00:40:00,560
Speaker 1: company also is coming to you. How do you kind

823
00:40:00,560 --> 00:40:02,520
Speaker 1: of balance you know, that push and pull between both

824
00:40:02,520 --> 00:40:04,000
Speaker 1: of those different types of consumers.

825
00:40:04,239 --> 00:40:07,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, so we have a partnership road map for everyone, Okay,

826
00:40:07,200 --> 00:40:11,200
Speaker 2: And so it's really about helping that individual company or

827
00:40:11,520 --> 00:40:15,480
Speaker 2: individual professional figure out, like what market opportunity do they

828
00:40:15,520 --> 00:40:19,080
Speaker 2: really want to focus on, because again I believe that

829
00:40:19,160 --> 00:40:21,799
Speaker 2: everyone has a gift that they bring to the market. Right,

830
00:40:21,840 --> 00:40:24,279
Speaker 2: it's either your technique with the service that you do.

831
00:40:24,880 --> 00:40:27,040
Speaker 2: It could be your insight. You know, you have a

832
00:40:27,080 --> 00:40:32,400
Speaker 2: particular insight on you know, needs for curl, definition and

833
00:40:32,480 --> 00:40:34,640
Speaker 2: moisture like that you want to bring and that can

834
00:40:34,680 --> 00:40:37,360
Speaker 2: turn into a new formulation or a new technology. Like

835
00:40:37,400 --> 00:40:41,680
Speaker 2: everyone has, their ideas are valid, right, It's all about

836
00:40:41,760 --> 00:40:44,800
Speaker 2: how do you commercialize it and bring it to market?

837
00:40:44,840 --> 00:40:47,680
Speaker 2: That's the hard part, right, and I think that's the

838
00:40:47,719 --> 00:40:50,239
Speaker 2: part that we've mastered. So we want to help other

839
00:40:50,280 --> 00:40:54,840
Speaker 2: people master that. And usually for the larger companies, they're

840
00:40:54,920 --> 00:40:58,360
Speaker 2: usually trying to optimize their current product lines, right, should

841
00:40:58,400 --> 00:41:02,120
Speaker 2: they expand should they rebrand? Should they a lot of

842
00:41:02,200 --> 00:41:05,680
Speaker 2: brands are at a turning point, and so that's been

843
00:41:05,719 --> 00:41:09,680
Speaker 2: interesting to see some are getting acquired right, like you

844
00:41:09,719 --> 00:41:13,640
Speaker 2: know recently my organic shade moisture, Like you see a

845
00:41:13,640 --> 00:41:16,799
Speaker 2: lot of the veteran you know, haircare brands, Carol's daughter,

846
00:41:16,920 --> 00:41:19,840
Speaker 2: you know, they go through acquisitions and then you know,

847
00:41:19,960 --> 00:41:23,040
Speaker 2: the whole consumer sentiment changes of you know, if it's

848
00:41:23,080 --> 00:41:25,560
Speaker 2: if it's not black owned anymore, is it really formulated

849
00:41:25,560 --> 00:41:28,880
Speaker 2: for us? Right, So all that activity is happening, and

850
00:41:28,960 --> 00:41:32,440
Speaker 2: so to be able to kind of consult based on

851
00:41:32,600 --> 00:41:35,200
Speaker 2: the data that we're seeing in the market, but also

852
00:41:35,280 --> 00:41:38,440
Speaker 2: again having the pulse on the consumer because hair is

853
00:41:38,520 --> 00:41:42,680
Speaker 2: personal and so there's so much of our emotions, our

854
00:41:42,719 --> 00:41:47,440
Speaker 2: cultural views that go into our buying behavior and our

855
00:41:47,480 --> 00:41:50,680
Speaker 2: buying decisions. So businesses have to weigh all of that,

856
00:41:50,960 --> 00:41:55,160
Speaker 2: you know, and so there's like a really creative, you know,

857
00:41:55,239 --> 00:41:59,600
Speaker 2: business development element too that we're able to tap into

858
00:41:59,680 --> 00:42:03,040
Speaker 2: with our partners, and that's what makes it fun. So

859
00:42:03,120 --> 00:42:08,560
Speaker 2: Mayavana really just can again adapt to different needs, but

860
00:42:08,719 --> 00:42:12,160
Speaker 2: not in a way to compete, but more so collaborate.

861
00:42:12,760 --> 00:42:15,279
Speaker 2: And I like the fact that we're really built on

862
00:42:15,440 --> 00:42:20,279
Speaker 2: collaboration because again there's there's so many parts of the

863
00:42:20,360 --> 00:42:25,160
Speaker 2: industry that are really needed and necessary, and I just

864
00:42:25,239 --> 00:42:29,840
Speaker 2: saw how, you know, being in alignment with everyone versus,

865
00:42:29,920 --> 00:42:33,839
Speaker 2: you know, trying to compete was a much more fruitful

866
00:42:34,000 --> 00:42:35,160
Speaker 2: position to be in.

867
00:42:35,360 --> 00:42:37,040
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, I like it. I like it. What do

868
00:42:37,040 --> 00:42:38,400
Speaker 4: you what do you what the next five to ten

869
00:42:38,480 --> 00:42:39,000
Speaker 4: years look like?

870
00:42:39,040 --> 00:42:45,000
Speaker 2: For my Evon woh well, I know, I know, right.

871
00:42:45,080 --> 00:42:48,120
Speaker 2: I mean, first of all, we're just such an interesting

872
00:42:48,239 --> 00:42:51,960
Speaker 2: time in the world that what will the next five

873
00:42:52,000 --> 00:42:53,000
Speaker 2: to ten years look like?

874
00:42:53,120 --> 00:42:53,560
Speaker 3: Period?

875
00:42:54,280 --> 00:42:57,600
Speaker 2: I think it's on everyone's mind, But for us, I

876
00:42:57,640 --> 00:43:00,840
Speaker 2: am hoping that we are sta wishing the future of

877
00:43:00,880 --> 00:43:05,520
Speaker 2: hair care and really becoming that next, you know, pillar

878
00:43:05,600 --> 00:43:08,680
Speaker 2: in the industry. Similar to how if you look at

879
00:43:08,719 --> 00:43:13,160
Speaker 2: the leading companies on in the stock market, you know,

880
00:43:13,239 --> 00:43:17,400
Speaker 2: the top five are tech companies that transform industries, and

881
00:43:17,480 --> 00:43:20,359
Speaker 2: so I definitely see our company being that for transforming

882
00:43:20,400 --> 00:43:23,759
Speaker 2: the hair industry, but now in a way where it

883
00:43:23,920 --> 00:43:29,000
Speaker 2: caters to consumers versus just selling to us and us

884
00:43:29,200 --> 00:43:33,000
Speaker 2: just again kind of more so in the consumption of

885
00:43:33,040 --> 00:43:37,160
Speaker 2: products versus actually enjoying and really being a part of

886
00:43:37,239 --> 00:43:40,840
Speaker 2: like our experience in who we are who were becoming

887
00:43:41,680 --> 00:43:44,200
Speaker 2: because it really is happening to the identity of people

888
00:43:44,280 --> 00:43:47,560
Speaker 2: when we come to come to talk about hair as well,

889
00:43:47,680 --> 00:43:51,120
Speaker 2: so being able to have that impact and build wealth

890
00:43:51,160 --> 00:43:54,080
Speaker 2: in the process, because I definitely want to see our

891
00:43:54,080 --> 00:43:56,279
Speaker 2: communities in a better place economically.

892
00:43:57,520 --> 00:43:59,799
Speaker 3: We have we spend the money to do it.

893
00:44:00,280 --> 00:44:04,720
Speaker 2: So let's see that actually take place and really bring

894
00:44:04,760 --> 00:44:06,960
Speaker 2: wealth back into the black community.

895
00:44:07,640 --> 00:44:08,960
Speaker 3: I'm hoping we accomplish that.

896
00:44:09,520 --> 00:44:11,879
Speaker 1: No, Look, we need to happen because we need more

897
00:44:11,880 --> 00:44:14,960
Speaker 1: big exits in Atlanta. I'm a big believer that one

898
00:44:15,000 --> 00:44:17,319
Speaker 1: of the biggest things that is holding and is held

899
00:44:17,320 --> 00:44:20,560
Speaker 1: Atlanta back, especially in the black tech ecosystem, is that

900
00:44:20,600 --> 00:44:24,920
Speaker 1: we have not had enough major company exits and people

901
00:44:25,040 --> 00:44:28,160
Speaker 1: benefited from that. You think about the PayPal mafia, You

902
00:44:28,200 --> 00:44:31,000
Speaker 1: think about all these groups and organizations where you know

903
00:44:31,239 --> 00:44:33,200
Speaker 1: they join. I have a friend of mine whose wife

904
00:44:33,200 --> 00:44:37,000
Speaker 1: worked at Airbnb and customer support. When they went public,

905
00:44:37,040 --> 00:44:39,640
Speaker 1: she became a millionaire. Wow, yes, she wasn't even doing

906
00:44:39,719 --> 00:44:42,600
Speaker 1: tech right, you know. And then you look at situations

907
00:44:42,600 --> 00:44:44,919
Speaker 1: where you know, even Mailchip a couple of years ago,

908
00:44:44,960 --> 00:44:48,280
Speaker 1: like I understand, they were privately owned, so some people benefited,

909
00:44:48,280 --> 00:44:49,920
Speaker 1: but not that many. But think about if all of

910
00:44:49,960 --> 00:44:51,760
Speaker 1: a sudden, you would have had that moment in Atlanta

911
00:44:52,280 --> 00:44:54,880
Speaker 1: where you know, Mailchimp sales for billions of dollars and

912
00:44:54,920 --> 00:44:57,799
Speaker 1: now you have one hundred new millionaires in a last

913
00:44:58,360 --> 00:45:00,359
Speaker 1: and those hundred new millionaires they know each they say,

914
00:45:00,400 --> 00:45:02,120
Speaker 1: you know what, I'm gonna put in ten grand, I'm

915
00:45:02,120 --> 00:45:04,239
Speaker 1: putting one hundred grand, and now they can go out

916
00:45:04,280 --> 00:45:05,720
Speaker 1: and invest. And I think that's one of the biggest

917
00:45:05,719 --> 00:45:08,319
Speaker 1: things that Atlanta needs we do is more of those

918
00:45:08,440 --> 00:45:11,440
Speaker 1: kind of exits that are putting you know, money and

919
00:45:11,560 --> 00:45:13,880
Speaker 1: people back into the ecosystem, into the cultures they can

920
00:45:13,920 --> 00:45:15,680
Speaker 1: invest in new brains. We just don't have that out here,

921
00:45:16,000 --> 00:45:17,480
Speaker 1: but you see it all the time, like in Silicon

922
00:45:17,600 --> 00:45:19,319
Speaker 1: Valley and also as.

923
00:45:18,760 --> 00:45:22,000
Speaker 2: Story and you know what, it really takes strategic support

924
00:45:22,160 --> 00:45:25,719
Speaker 2: behind the scenes at every stage. I think that that's

925
00:45:25,800 --> 00:45:29,719
Speaker 2: what other ecosystems have mastered that we haven't because they're

926
00:45:29,719 --> 00:45:34,960
Speaker 2: not enough of us working together strategically, like PayPal. Mafia

927
00:45:35,040 --> 00:45:38,880
Speaker 2: is called mafia for a reason, right, Okay, Like we

928
00:45:38,920 --> 00:45:42,040
Speaker 2: should all have mafia's behind us, right in the sense

929
00:45:42,120 --> 00:45:45,960
Speaker 2: that you're helping putting the positions, the people in position

930
00:45:46,120 --> 00:45:48,200
Speaker 2: to get things done, to get to the next stage

931
00:45:48,200 --> 00:45:52,200
Speaker 2: of business, and unfortunately a lot of people have more

932
00:45:52,239 --> 00:45:55,240
Speaker 2: so been doing their own thing versus us like actually

933
00:45:55,320 --> 00:45:57,319
Speaker 2: helping each other. Yeah, so I think if we can

934
00:45:57,400 --> 00:45:59,239
Speaker 2: do that, I think that that's something that's just kind

935
00:45:59,239 --> 00:46:01,960
Speaker 2: of reflect of our culture that we have to really

936
00:46:02,040 --> 00:46:04,399
Speaker 2: kind of talk about more too. But I think as

937
00:46:04,440 --> 00:46:07,920
Speaker 2: soon as we master that, listen, Atlanta can pump out

938
00:46:07,960 --> 00:46:12,520
Speaker 2: some companies. I know we can, like and I'm like, okay, hair,

939
00:46:13,000 --> 00:46:16,600
Speaker 2: I know we got hair. So let's start to you know,

940
00:46:17,520 --> 00:46:20,719
Speaker 2: shift into a new wave of business building, wealth building,

941
00:46:21,200 --> 00:46:23,640
Speaker 2: because again, we have all the ingredients. I think that

942
00:46:23,719 --> 00:46:27,719
Speaker 2: we just need again that strategic support and us kind

943
00:46:27,760 --> 00:46:31,040
Speaker 2: of leveraging our influence more like we are. There's power

944
00:46:31,120 --> 00:46:34,359
Speaker 2: in our influence and how we shift cultures, and we

945
00:46:34,400 --> 00:46:35,759
Speaker 2: really need to take advantage of that.

946
00:46:36,160 --> 00:46:39,440
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Cannus before we get out of here, what is

947
00:46:40,000 --> 00:46:43,200
Speaker 1: a piece of advice a mantra you go by, Like

948
00:46:43,320 --> 00:46:46,520
Speaker 1: when we need a little motivation, do you have something

949
00:46:46,520 --> 00:46:48,719
Speaker 1: that you go back to that you tell yourself, like,

950
00:46:49,200 --> 00:46:51,040
Speaker 1: what do we have to put fuel in your own tank?

951
00:46:51,080 --> 00:46:52,640
Speaker 4: What do you do well?

952
00:46:52,719 --> 00:46:55,320
Speaker 2: I would definitely say for me, it's worship music. Okay,

953
00:46:55,560 --> 00:46:58,359
Speaker 2: I am just that person. I gotta give it all

954
00:46:58,400 --> 00:47:04,319
Speaker 2: to God, and I just remind myself that these are

955
00:47:04,320 --> 00:47:08,680
Speaker 2: the days you prayed for. So regardless of what you're

956
00:47:08,800 --> 00:47:11,920
Speaker 2: up against right now, you have to remember that prayer

957
00:47:11,960 --> 00:47:15,200
Speaker 2: got you this far. You prayed for these things to happen,

958
00:47:15,719 --> 00:47:17,920
Speaker 2: and prayer will continue leading the way. I think when

959
00:47:17,920 --> 00:47:21,840
Speaker 2: we're crushed by our circumstances, it's hard to you know,

960
00:47:22,280 --> 00:47:25,400
Speaker 2: just remember that again. If I could just put my

961
00:47:25,440 --> 00:47:28,359
Speaker 2: best foot forward each day, I will get there and

962
00:47:28,400 --> 00:47:32,399
Speaker 2: not be so paralyzed by the circumstances that we're in.

963
00:47:32,640 --> 00:47:36,120
Speaker 2: And so yeah, encourage yourself. I would say, play that

964
00:47:36,200 --> 00:47:40,200
Speaker 2: song right now, encourage yourself and just keep that energy

965
00:47:40,480 --> 00:47:44,480
Speaker 2: going and you know, eventually all the dots just come together.

966
00:47:44,800 --> 00:47:46,560
Speaker 1: I love it can just before we get out of here.

967
00:47:47,160 --> 00:47:49,879
Speaker 1: How can people you know support you find out more

968
00:47:49,960 --> 00:47:52,120
Speaker 1: about Mayavana, like give them the information.

969
00:47:52,440 --> 00:47:55,960
Speaker 2: Yes, so you can follow us at Mayavana Haircare. You

970
00:47:56,000 --> 00:47:58,960
Speaker 2: can also go to Mayavana dot com. Everything is there

971
00:47:59,520 --> 00:48:02,440
Speaker 2: and you can personally follow me at I am Candice

972
00:48:02,520 --> 00:48:05,840
Speaker 2: Victoria and I'm excited to share just more about beauty,

973
00:48:05,880 --> 00:48:09,040
Speaker 2: business and technology. Now can talk about the journey for

974
00:48:09,120 --> 00:48:12,640
Speaker 2: real because the building part. We've accomplished most of that,

975
00:48:12,680 --> 00:48:14,759
Speaker 2: but I'm excited to share more and just share some

976
00:48:14,800 --> 00:48:15,600
Speaker 2: more lessons learned.

977
00:48:16,080 --> 00:48:18,200
Speaker 1: Absolutely, litle Cannus, thank you for so much for coming in.

978
00:48:18,280 --> 00:48:21,120
Speaker 1: This has been amazing. Congratulations and all the stuff you're

979
00:48:21,120 --> 00:48:23,880
Speaker 1: doing with Mayavana. We can't wait to see all the

980
00:48:23,960 --> 00:48:26,319
Speaker 1: amazing things that will be happening down And like I said,

981
00:48:26,360 --> 00:48:28,239
Speaker 1: let me know when that next round comes up, because

982
00:48:28,280 --> 00:48:30,319
Speaker 1: I'm trying to, you know, I'm trying to get up here.

983
00:48:30,320 --> 00:48:31,040
Speaker 4: I'm trying to you.

984
00:48:30,960 --> 00:48:34,319
Speaker 2: Know, we got to make more millionaires, right exactly, Yes,

985
00:48:34,640 --> 00:48:36,040
Speaker 2: and congratulations, see you too.

986
00:48:36,200 --> 00:48:38,080
Speaker 4: Thank you so much. And that's the pod. Y'all.

987
00:48:40,719 --> 00:48:43,000
Speaker 1: You've been listening to butter Nomics and I'm your host,

988
00:48:43,160 --> 00:48:43,880
Speaker 1: Brandon Butler.

989
00:48:44,040 --> 00:48:44,960
Speaker 4: Comments feedback.

990
00:48:45,120 --> 00:48:46,719
Speaker 1: Want to be a part of the show, send us

991
00:48:46,719 --> 00:48:50,160
Speaker 1: an email today at Hello at butterdomics dot com. Butter

992
00:48:50,200 --> 00:48:53,200
Speaker 1: Nomics is produced in Atlanta, Georgia at iHeartMedia by Ramsey,

993
00:48:53,440 --> 00:48:56,239
Speaker 1: with marketing support from Queen and Nike. Music provided by

994
00:48:56,280 --> 00:48:59,399
Speaker 1: mister Hanky. If you haven't already, hit that subscribe button

995
00:48:59,400 --> 00:49:01,680
Speaker 1: and never missed it episode, and be sure to follow

996
00:49:01,760 --> 00:49:04,040
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997
00:49:04,160 --> 00:49:07,439
Speaker 1: t L. Listen to butter NoMix on the iHeartRadio app,

998
00:49:07,560 --> 00:49:10,120
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