WEBVTT - Black-Owned Beauty Revolution ft Buttah Skin & BLK + GRN 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:02.719 Hey, Hey, ba fam, I could not be more excited 0:00:02.720 --> 0:00:05.920 to bring to you our two incredible powerhouse guests today. 0:00:06.200 --> 0:00:09.080 They are not just dominating beauty and wellness, but they 0:00:09.080 --> 0:00:13.240 are actively redefining what success looks like for black entrepreneurs. 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:16.239 So first I want you all to meet Tamara Watkins, 0:00:16.280 --> 0:00:19.640 who is the brilliant president of Butterskin, which I love 0:00:19.680 --> 0:00:23.840 saying Butterskin, who's been making major moves since twenty twenty. 0:00:24.120 --> 0:00:27.400 She is a Howard University grad started am I allowed 0:00:27.400 --> 0:00:28.200 to say, you. 0:00:28.000 --> 0:00:31.480 Know, good family family, you know. 0:00:33.360 --> 0:00:37.040 Who started as a strategic consultant and literally helped transform 0:00:37.120 --> 0:00:40.560 that brand's trajectory. So she has twelve years of experience 0:00:40.600 --> 0:00:43.760 scaling multicultural beauty brands like Bevel you may have heard 0:00:43.800 --> 0:00:47.680 of them, and Hyperskin. Tamara has that rare combination of 0:00:47.720 --> 0:00:51.159 corporate expertise because she's led e commerce strategy at a 0:00:51.159 --> 0:00:54.760 little company you might know, Microsoft, Xbox, anybody I don't know, 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:59.400 a little upstart and authentic entrepreneurial hustle. She is the 0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:03.840 definite of walking in your purpose while also building generational wealth. 0:01:04.120 --> 0:01:07.240 And I know we're both raising tiny humans. And I 0:01:07.280 --> 0:01:09.800 have just heard a small snippet of what she has planned. 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:10.000 For her son. 0:01:10.040 --> 0:01:13.720 He better get ready because Mama has big goals over him, 0:01:14.240 --> 0:01:16.760 all right. And then Tamara is joined by friend and 0:01:16.800 --> 0:01:20.679 fellow entrepreneur, doctor Kristen Edwards, who was the founder of 0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:24.160 Black and Green, which is a marketplace that focuses on 0:01:24.280 --> 0:01:29.200 bringing non toxic, black owned beauty brands to the masses. Now, 0:01:29.280 --> 0:01:32.920 this Yale University graduate has a doctorate in public health 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:35.320 from John Hopkins to boot like, because if there's one 0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:36.640 thing black women are going to do, we're going to 0:01:36.680 --> 0:01:40.039 get ourselves educated, you know, with the capital E. But 0:01:40.160 --> 0:01:44.800 before launching this marketplace, doctor Edwards was teaching future healthcare 0:01:44.880 --> 0:01:49.560 leaders at George Washington University and implementing cost saving initiatives 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:53.040 at the John Hopkins Health System. But then she launched 0:01:53.120 --> 0:01:56.120 Black and Green in twenty seventeen. Doctor Edwards has built 0:01:56.120 --> 0:01:59.400 a community of over two hundred and ten thousand followers, 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:03.520 grated one point three million dollars in sales, and been 0:02:03.560 --> 0:02:07.280 featured from Essence to The New York Times. And today 0:02:07.400 --> 0:02:09.840 we're going to get into how these queens are creating 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:13.880 their own tables instead of waiting for seats, building wealth 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:18.800 while lifting others and revolutionizing industries that weren't designed with 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:21.600 us in mind, but will be rebuilt and reframed with 0:02:21.680 --> 0:02:26.160 us in mind thanks to these incredible powerhouse entrepreneurs. All right, 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:29.400 let's get into it with our guest today, Tamera Watkins 0:02:29.440 --> 0:02:34.600 and doctor Kristen Edwards. Welcome ladies, Thank you great to 0:02:34.639 --> 0:02:38.799 be here. I'm so excited, so brown ambition. We call 0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:41.920 our our audience a BAFAM. We really are here to 0:02:42.080 --> 0:02:45.200 celebrate and to uplift, especially in dark times like this. 0:02:45.520 --> 0:02:47.760 Both of y'all have launched or been a part of 0:02:47.800 --> 0:02:51.080 the launch of incredible brands that really center us and 0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:54.040 your products and your focus. Can y'all talk about how 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:56.320 does it feel to be building these brands and these 0:02:56.320 --> 0:02:58.919 businesses at a time like we're in right now? What's 0:02:59.160 --> 0:03:00.000 keeping y'all motivated? 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:02.120 Did well? 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:03.920 To be honest, Like, I wake up every day and 0:03:03.960 --> 0:03:06.120 I feel so incredibly grateful to get to do what 0:03:06.160 --> 0:03:09.560 I do, Like I recognize that I am very privileged 0:03:09.560 --> 0:03:12.079 in order to lead the type of brand that but 0:03:12.400 --> 0:03:14.799 is and what Butter represents. So it feels great, but 0:03:15.240 --> 0:03:18.040 even now more so than ever, Like there's a battery 0:03:18.040 --> 0:03:18.959 in my back, Like I'm. 0:03:18.840 --> 0:03:20.919 Literally in DC's backyard. 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:23.800 So Kristin, I don't know how you feel, but like 0:03:23.840 --> 0:03:27.919 because we're like so close to the DC area into government, 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:30.640 like you really do feel it, and so I just 0:03:30.639 --> 0:03:33.000 feel even more empowered to, you know, continue to lead 0:03:33.040 --> 0:03:34.640 the charge for black rounded brands. 0:03:34.800 --> 0:03:35.880 Did that come immediately? 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:37.840 I'll let doctor, I'll let doctor Edwards go to do 0:03:38.000 --> 0:03:40.600 we just call you doctor Edwards or Kristen or what 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:41.200 do you prefer? 0:03:41.480 --> 0:03:43.360 You know, you do whatever feels good to you. My 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:45.760 mom would just say tell people to all you doctor Edwards. 0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:46.680 You work for that doctor. 0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:50.200 But hell yeah, so do whatever your heart. 0:03:51.480 --> 0:03:52.760 So for now you're going to be doctor. 0:03:52.800 --> 0:03:54.240 Okay, tell you. 0:03:56.040 --> 0:03:58.640 Doctor doctor Edwards. All right, well, I'll let you go 0:03:58.640 --> 0:03:59.320 ahead and go. 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:01.440 How are you feeling these days? 0:04:02.640 --> 0:04:06.000 I think that's the best way to take a deep breath. 0:04:06.280 --> 0:04:07.160 It can feel. 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:13.960 I think what I've been trying to focus on is 0:04:14.000 --> 0:04:17.680 what I can't control, And there's so much that I 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:21.400 can't control, and I refuse to let what I can't 0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:25.360 control pull on my energy too much, and so I've 0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:28.360 been very intentional to worry about what I can control. 0:04:28.880 --> 0:04:31.280 What I can't control is where I spend my money. 0:04:31.680 --> 0:04:33.919 What I can't control is where I spend my time. 0:04:34.400 --> 0:04:36.560 What I can control is what I watch on TV. 0:04:37.160 --> 0:04:39.760 I'm not watching that little orange man do stuff because 0:04:39.839 --> 0:04:42.960 I don't want to spend my time doing that. So 0:04:43.080 --> 0:04:46.200 I control what I can control and try to ensure 0:04:46.360 --> 0:04:51.160 I'm wrapped around love as much as possible. But like 0:04:51.240 --> 0:04:54.320 you said, that's a privilege. That's the privilege that I 0:04:54.360 --> 0:04:56.560 get to control that in that way. There's some people 0:04:56.600 --> 0:05:00.320 who can't control it the way I can control it. Well, 0:05:00.960 --> 0:05:03.560 I'm thankful for the privilege, and I'm using the privilege 0:05:03.600 --> 0:05:07.400 to try to control as much as possible. 0:05:07.680 --> 0:05:10.119 I Mean, we all know entrepreneurship ain't for the faint 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:13.159 of heart. It is stressful. It comes with all the challenges. 0:05:13.320 --> 0:05:15.679 And one of the things that I've been most grateful 0:05:15.680 --> 0:05:18.320 for is, like, thank goodness, no one sending me emails 0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:20.560 talking about can you send me five bullet points? And 0:05:21.080 --> 0:05:24.680 you know, and fearing for my job and at least 0:05:24.680 --> 0:05:26.880 being your own boss is some comfort in these days. 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:28.800 And I agree with brown ambition. 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:30.880 Even waking up the day after the election and then 0:05:30.880 --> 0:05:32.640 I came to talk to ba Fan and I just 0:05:33.040 --> 0:05:36.400 I was surprised by myself, by my hope and the 0:05:36.520 --> 0:05:40.479 level of inspiration. I was feeling the call to action 0:05:41.320 --> 0:05:44.960 battery in my back, just like you, Tamera. And that's 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:47.440 why when I came into the new year with BA, 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:51.359 I wanted to create a different format where it wasn't 0:05:51.520 --> 0:05:55.640 just about interviewing a specific guest, it was about really 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:58.360 having around like a round table. 0:05:58.360 --> 0:06:00.120 It's a virtual table, so there's no shape. 0:05:59.880 --> 0:06:02.840 To but I call it the brown table, where we 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:06.520 actually have people who represent not just success, but also 0:06:06.560 --> 0:06:09.440 the power of community. So that what I love about 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:13.080 y'all is that you're not just fellow entrepreneurs, you are friends. 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:15.880 And I want to hear about that relationship and how 0:06:15.920 --> 0:06:19.440 do y'all think your friendship has been growing over the years, 0:06:19.440 --> 0:06:23.960 and how that has helped y'all in scaling your businesses individually. 0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:26.760 I'm glad you are shifting the format because one of 0:06:26.760 --> 0:06:29.240 the things that is I believe is going to be 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:33.520 so key for black brands moving forward is collaboration and community. 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:34.560 I think so. 0:06:34.720 --> 0:06:36.719 Often, and I was a couple of years ago I 0:06:36.800 --> 0:06:39.560 was sitting on like when I say a couple of 0:06:39.640 --> 0:06:41.960 this was a lot of years ago. Black Enterprise used 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:44.400 to do the State of the Black Business calls I'm 0:06:44.440 --> 0:06:47.479 not sure if they still do them. But Earl Graves 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:51.080 Junior was leading and he was saying that he recommends 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:54.120 the future for black businesses when it comes to growth 0:06:54.279 --> 0:06:56.760 is collaboration. So and that would really be in the 0:06:56.800 --> 0:07:01.240 shape of mergers and acquisitions essentially. And the reason why 0:07:01.279 --> 0:07:04.080 is because we're like fighting over like this small piece 0:07:04.120 --> 0:07:06.200 of the pie. When you know, if you get one 0:07:06.240 --> 0:07:08.120 eighth of a slice and I'm getting one eighth of 0:07:08.200 --> 0:07:11.080 the slice, why don't we combine those two slices together 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:13.280 so that we can get a much larger slice and 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:18.840 combine the resources. So I'm really glad that you're shifting 0:07:18.880 --> 0:07:20.880 the way that you format the podcast. 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:24.120 Thank you absolutely, But friendship wise, I mean, how have 0:07:24.200 --> 0:07:26.239 y'all supported each What has that looked like for y'all 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:27.720 building alongside one another? 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:32.520 So I think the biggest advice is that for us, no, no, 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:33.840 because it's just like. 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:36.640 So many ways. 0:07:36.880 --> 0:07:39.640 But one of the biggest ways is making sure like 0:07:39.680 --> 0:07:42.400 when I get information, I'm cheering it with Kristen when 0:07:42.440 --> 0:07:44.840 she gets information and she's staring it with me. If 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:47.120 I'm doing an event or if I can attend the event, 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:49.200 if Butter can't be at the event, I'm reaching out 0:07:49.200 --> 0:07:50.600 to Christen and say, hey, I have. 0:07:50.560 --> 0:07:52.560 An opportunity, do you want to take advantage of it. 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:55.760 It's just not gatekeeping, it's just being as open as 0:07:56.000 --> 0:07:58.360 we can with each other, because her success is my 0:07:58.480 --> 0:07:59.880 success and my success is her. 0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:03.880 I think that's the beautiful thing about black women is 0:08:03.920 --> 0:08:08.840 that we operate as a community no matter what. We 0:08:08.920 --> 0:08:11.840 try to support each other as a community, no matter what. 0:08:12.840 --> 0:08:15.520 It's not a competition. I think that we often hear 0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:18.720 in the black community that we'll keep pulling down each other. 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:21.280 I don't know where y'all find these people at, because 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:24.720 that's not my reality at all. Every black woman I 0:08:24.720 --> 0:08:27.800 have met in business wants to see me succeed. 0:08:28.400 --> 0:08:30.760 That's the core of what Black and Green is that. 0:08:30.880 --> 0:08:33.720 When I read the article that the product marketed to 0:08:33.760 --> 0:08:36.640 black people are more toxic than the products markets everyone else, 0:08:36.960 --> 0:08:38.560 everyone was like, well, why don't you just create your 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:40.600 own product? I was like, because that's not my genius, 0:08:40.760 --> 0:08:42.720 that's not what I'm good at. But there's tons of 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:45.520 black women who do that already, you just don't know 0:08:45.559 --> 0:08:47.839 that they exist. So that's gonna be my role is 0:08:47.920 --> 0:08:49.920 I'm going to try to create a community where they're 0:08:49.920 --> 0:08:53.160 all together or you can come find them and so 0:08:53.960 --> 0:08:58.240 community and working together in partnership and friendship. 0:08:58.480 --> 0:09:01.160 It is natural. It's natural for black women. 0:09:02.120 --> 0:09:04.920 And how have that relationship? Because y'all met in twenty 0:09:05.080 --> 0:09:06.160 you said twenty sixteen or. 0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:07.600 Seventeen twenty sixteen? 0:09:07.880 --> 0:09:10.800 And at what points were y'all in your career slash business? 0:09:10.960 --> 0:09:15.240 Cause Kristen doctor Edwards, rather you doesn't sound I'm not 0:09:15.280 --> 0:09:16.160 ready for Kristin yet. 0:09:16.200 --> 0:09:20.320 I'm not ready. I'm not ready doctor Edwards. 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:24.240 You started you started your business around the same time, 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:26.600 and I know Tamara you had your career in corporate, 0:09:26.679 --> 0:09:30.240 so's I love that. It's almost like y'all have been 0:09:30.240 --> 0:09:32.240 on this journey. But at that time, how did you 0:09:32.360 --> 0:09:35.320 nurture that relationship? I hear all the time from people, how. 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:36.920 Do I get a mentor? How do you meet people in. 0:09:36.960 --> 0:09:38.599 You know network and all of that. So talk a 0:09:38.600 --> 0:09:41.880 little bit about y'all have nurtured your relationship all this time. 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:45.839 Just stand in contact, Just send in a text message. Hey, 0:09:46.360 --> 0:09:49.480 how's it going. Hey, there's a grant opportunity. 0:09:48.960 --> 0:09:51.959 You should check it out. Hey, I'm going to be here. 0:09:52.080 --> 0:09:55.120 Do you want to link up? It's just it's not 0:09:55.200 --> 0:09:59.319 anything formal. You know, it's not like this a formal relationship. 0:09:59.320 --> 0:10:03.120 It's just do what natural, doing what naturally comes to us, 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:05.080 just as people who want to see each other succeed. 0:10:05.480 --> 0:10:07.679 Yeah, and I think of a key piece of that 0:10:07.840 --> 0:10:10.400 is intentional. We're all busy women. 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:12.440 We all have a million things to do, have two 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:14.720 little kids running around the year, got a husband running 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:15.880 around the heere if I want to. 0:10:16.360 --> 0:10:20.480 I can be busy, but it's making that attention. I can't. 0:10:20.960 --> 0:10:23.600 I am busy, but it's making that attention when something 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:25.760 crosses me and say, ooh have you seen about this? 0:10:25.960 --> 0:10:28.160 Oh? Have you heard about this? Oh? Have you checked 0:10:28.160 --> 0:10:28.520 this out? 0:10:28.760 --> 0:10:31.319 It's just that intention to make sure if I can't 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:33.040 do it, maybe she can't. 0:10:34.520 --> 0:10:36.439 Is there something anything that y'all have learned from one 0:10:36.440 --> 0:10:38.200 another that you sort of like keep with you. 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:45.520 Resilience, like just watching what Kristen has been through. Like 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:53.480 the resilience, the will, the desire to continue going by 0:10:53.520 --> 0:10:54.640 any means necessary. 0:10:55.440 --> 0:11:00.480 I mean if sometimes I'm just like, you know, if 0:11:01.400 --> 0:11:03.000 Kristen can do it, I can do it. 0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:03.559 You know. 0:11:05.280 --> 0:11:06.199 I have no excuse. 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:11.480 Well, there'll be one hundred percent honest because you know 0:11:11.520 --> 0:11:13.880 with podcasts, that's with the BA fan, that's. 0:11:13.760 --> 0:11:17.000 What we're gonna do. I didn't remember how we met. 0:11:18.600 --> 0:11:20.720 Since we met. I had a car accident. 0:11:21.800 --> 0:11:23.920 I was in a I had a traumatic brain injury, 0:11:24.400 --> 0:11:26.040 and my memory was impacted. 0:11:27.080 --> 0:11:28.520 My walking was impacted. 0:11:28.559 --> 0:11:31.640 The neurologist told my parents, I may be a vegetable 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:34.400 for the rest of my life. I may never walk again, 0:11:34.520 --> 0:11:36.800 I may never talk again. I may I may never 0:11:36.840 --> 0:11:40.480 remember anything again. I don't remember my own wedding. That's 0:11:40.520 --> 0:11:44.240 how impacted my memory was. But the beauty of it 0:11:44.280 --> 0:11:47.760 is I don't remember how I met people. I don't 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:50.280 remember when we met, but I remember how I feel 0:11:50.280 --> 0:11:55.920 around them that I remember, and I remember, Oh, she's 0:11:55.920 --> 0:11:56.600 a good person. 0:11:58.120 --> 0:11:58.920 I remember that. 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:03.880 So it's interesting how the impact that you have when 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:08.560 people are on me. That's how I have connected. I 0:12:08.600 --> 0:12:10.480 know whenever she's in my safe. I don't know how 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:13.160 we met, I don't know how we trusted, how we 0:12:13.200 --> 0:12:14.920 know each other, but that she's good people. 0:12:16.200 --> 0:12:18.360 Not me crying over here. I don't know. I'm gonna 0:12:18.400 --> 0:12:19.760 em listening to that. 0:12:20.360 --> 0:12:20.640 Wow. 0:12:20.760 --> 0:12:22.480 I mean I read about your accident and I was 0:12:22.480 --> 0:12:24.080 gonna let I was gonna take your lead on whether 0:12:24.160 --> 0:12:26.640 or not you wanted to talk about that, but I 0:12:26.679 --> 0:12:29.679 know that I didn't realize the impact it had to 0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:30.240 your memory. 0:12:30.280 --> 0:12:34.920 That's really heartbreaking. Really yeah. 0:12:34.920 --> 0:12:39.520 Wow, Yeah, how does that feel to hear that? 0:12:39.559 --> 0:12:39.920 Tamara? 0:12:39.960 --> 0:12:41.760 I just feel like that's one of the most beautiful 0:12:41.800 --> 0:12:43.280 things I've ever heard about her friendship. 0:12:43.600 --> 0:12:44.600 It is beautiful. 0:12:44.679 --> 0:12:49.160 And I when I so Sophia you she's brought us 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:52.360 pr lead and she also worked with Kristen as well. 0:12:52.440 --> 0:12:56.000 And I remember when it happened, like she just burst 0:12:56.080 --> 0:12:58.160 into this office space that we were working in and 0:12:58.200 --> 0:13:01.679 she was just crying, just she was just so emotional, 0:13:01.920 --> 0:13:04.920 and I was just like, what happened, Sophia, what happened? 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:08.120 And she told me and we all just like, you know, 0:13:08.200 --> 0:13:10.600 it was just it was so emotional because, like I said, like. 0:13:11.200 --> 0:13:14.640 Kristen is like, you know, it's she's our sister, you know, 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:18.720 So it was just so yeah, it was just a 0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:21.800 hard time. So thank you. I'm glad. 0:13:21.840 --> 0:13:24.000 I mean, you've impacted me way more I feel like 0:13:24.040 --> 0:13:25.600 than I've impacted you. 0:13:25.640 --> 0:13:27.240 But I'm glad to hear it. So thank you. 0:13:28.400 --> 0:13:28.800 Yeah. 0:13:29.160 --> 0:13:31.719 So, you know, launching a business and running that it's 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:34.480 like nothing when you've survived that, and you're I read, 0:13:34.720 --> 0:13:37.679 is it true your newborn child was with you and 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:41.160 your husband? And how are they are they okay? 0:13:41.320 --> 0:13:42.280 Yeah, they're doing okay. 0:13:42.360 --> 0:13:44.040 Oh thank god, because I would just. 0:13:43.960 --> 0:13:49.480 Turn yeah, because when I when when I ruined this accident, 0:13:50.360 --> 0:13:53.480 I got airlifted to the hospital, and Amblus came to 0:13:53.520 --> 0:13:56.080 take my son to the hospital, and my my husband 0:13:56.120 --> 0:13:58.000 went with my son to the hospital. So we were 0:13:58.000 --> 0:14:01.360 in two separate hospitals, trying to bounce back and forth 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:03.680 between the two hospitals and cs and both. 0:14:04.440 --> 0:14:06.640 So it was like a very heavy time. 0:14:06.760 --> 0:14:09.920 At the time, I was still on maternity leave from 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:14.280 my position when I was a professor, and so since 0:14:14.320 --> 0:14:17.080 my brain injury, I can't go back to being a 0:14:17.080 --> 0:14:21.920 professor anymore. So that piece of my career, that chapter closed, 0:14:22.440 --> 0:14:25.520 and I focused one hundred percent on kind of the 0:14:25.520 --> 0:14:29.080 work of Black and Green, but because of my brain 0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:31.920 injury at the time of my at the time of 0:14:32.000 --> 0:14:35.000 the par ancident, I was doing everything. I was shipping 0:14:35.040 --> 0:14:37.520 and packing all the products out of my home office. 0:14:37.640 --> 0:14:39.360 I stayed at the EPs. I was dropped. 0:14:39.360 --> 0:14:42.920 I was I was doing everything, but after that I 0:14:43.360 --> 0:14:45.440 just can't do everything anymore. So I had to move 0:14:45.440 --> 0:14:48.640 my products to a fulfillment center. I had a higher team, 0:14:48.960 --> 0:14:52.600 and hiring people ain't easy and I ain't. 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:55.160 Got no money, so that maybe even harder. And so 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:57.680 it was like trying to keep Black and Green alive? 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:03.080 Was the process like I'm just. 0:15:04.160 --> 0:15:06.280 Yeah, and I got pregnant again. 0:15:06.800 --> 0:15:10.480 Yeah, that's also the resilient piece. You were like, I'm 0:15:10.480 --> 0:15:12.240 not going to let this stop me. 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:17.120 I can't understand. And this wasn't like a long one. 0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:19.200 I mean this was like not that long ago. We're 0:15:19.200 --> 0:15:20.600 talking like seven eight years. 0:15:20.840 --> 0:15:24.040 Oh my god, five, it was like five years ago. 0:15:25.200 --> 0:15:29.440 Yeah, my accidents are live first twenty and nineteen and 0:15:29.480 --> 0:15:32.000 then I have a three year old and the five 0:15:32.040 --> 0:15:33.920 year old now, and so I got because me and 0:15:33.960 --> 0:15:35.880 my husband, our plan was like grinna have two kids 0:15:35.920 --> 0:15:39.320 back to back. So it was a probably like a 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:41.840 little bit past my maybe a year and a half 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:43.960 passed my kind of recovery from a accident and was like, 0:15:44.000 --> 0:15:46.000 all right, we're gonna do this. I was like, we said, 0:15:46.040 --> 0:15:56.680 we're going to do this. So I had another son 0:15:57.080 --> 0:16:02.600 named Asher out of a biblical blessing, and so was 0:16:03.080 --> 0:16:04.200 a blessing to happen. 0:16:04.160 --> 0:16:05.640 To little boys too. I have a five year old 0:16:05.680 --> 0:16:07.160 and an almost two year old. 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:10.000 Oh all boy, moms, Oh goodness. 0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:20.720 Talk about resilience. Well, thank you for thank you for 0:16:20.760 --> 0:16:24.880 sharing that that your identity. 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:25.920 I mean reading your bio. 0:16:26.040 --> 0:16:28.080 Yeah, I mean having come from the academia and then 0:16:28.120 --> 0:16:30.920 having to turn to walk away from that. Was that 0:16:31.080 --> 0:16:36.760 something that. 0:16:34.200 --> 0:16:35.720 That you eventually had planned to do. 0:16:35.880 --> 0:16:39.320 Did you launch Black and Green while working in higher ed? 0:16:40.000 --> 0:16:42.680 Was it sort of like, okay, well this timeline has changed, 0:16:42.720 --> 0:16:45.120 but at least I've been preparing for it a little bit. 0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:46.600 Yeah. 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:50.680 I would love to say I did, but I didn't. 0:16:51.280 --> 0:16:56.360 I purposely went into academia with the idea I'll be 0:16:56.400 --> 0:16:57.600 doing that the rest of my life. 0:16:58.400 --> 0:17:00.000 Because my thought was that. 0:17:01.960 --> 0:17:05.399 Academia was a lower lift than when I was a 0:17:05.440 --> 0:17:07.800 hospital administration. There was no way for me to kind 0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:10.640 of do what I did as the administrator and run my business. 0:17:10.840 --> 0:17:13.000 But my vision was, oh, I can just teach a 0:17:13.040 --> 0:17:16.479 couple classes we and still run my business. And so 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:21.800 I was envisioning that always being a steady a part 0:17:21.840 --> 0:17:24.080 of my income. And then another piece of it is 0:17:24.080 --> 0:17:26.280 that because I don't make money off of Black and Green. 0:17:26.720 --> 0:17:29.719 So my vision was that my Professor would kind of 0:17:29.800 --> 0:17:32.639 be my financial security and Black and Green will be 0:17:32.640 --> 0:17:33.880 my fun passion project. 0:17:34.200 --> 0:17:36.080 So that was the way I envisioned it. 0:17:36.440 --> 0:17:39.760 And so that has shifted now, are you I would 0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:44.040 We'll get into that one real quick. So Black and Green, 0:17:44.400 --> 0:17:46.320 So maybe I missed. I thought it was like a 0:17:46.400 --> 0:17:49.520 marketplace where you are featuring all these products from other 0:17:49.960 --> 0:17:53.080 brands like a butter Scan or others. Is that the case, 0:17:53.280 --> 0:17:55.760 and then if that's the case, you're right, Oh okay, 0:17:55.920 --> 0:17:57.719 but you would like get their products and you were 0:17:57.720 --> 0:18:00.600 physically shipping them yourselves, so they weren't feeling. 0:18:01.640 --> 0:18:03.800 Yeah, that's why I was doing it, But I have 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:08.600 I'm changing my model now. When I started in twenty seventeen, 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:10.920 the way it worked is people shipped the products to 0:18:11.000 --> 0:18:13.679 my house and I shipped out the product. 0:18:14.560 --> 0:18:18.000 I'm a wagon going to the post office. 0:18:18.320 --> 0:18:27.679 Yeah, and I'm like they were my best friends. I 0:18:27.720 --> 0:18:31.480 knew they like, hey, it like we was like we 0:18:31.480 --> 0:18:32.160 were height. 0:18:32.800 --> 0:18:34.400 So they people would shipped the price of my house 0:18:34.400 --> 0:18:36.639 and I would shipped them out. And the reason being 0:18:37.400 --> 0:18:41.920 I didn't want to have In twenty seventeen, black owned 0:18:41.960 --> 0:18:45.239 businesses were newer, and so I didn't want to have 0:18:45.280 --> 0:18:47.560 the pressure of Black and Green cells on these new 0:18:47.600 --> 0:18:48.400 indie brands. 0:18:48.640 --> 0:18:50.119 So if you're if you're trying to get. 0:18:49.960 --> 0:18:52.000 Out your five or ten orders for to day, if 0:18:52.040 --> 0:18:53.879 you adding five or ten from Black and Green, that 0:18:53.960 --> 0:18:56.480 might overload you. And so I said, I can take 0:18:56.480 --> 0:18:58.600 that piece off of you and ship the stuff thrown 0:18:58.760 --> 0:19:01.560 to me. And so for those first couple of years, 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:04.080 that's the way it worked where I was the warehouse. 0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:07.960 Then I moved to a filming center. But now post COVID, 0:19:09.119 --> 0:19:13.600 post George Floyd being murdered, post Brianna Taylor being murdered, 0:19:13.800 --> 0:19:17.200 people are changing the way that they shop now. When 0:19:17.280 --> 0:19:19.720 I started Black and Green, people went a one stop 0:19:19.760 --> 0:19:23.280 shop to come shop and find things after being home 0:19:23.600 --> 0:19:26.080 for a whole year. Because of COVID, people got used 0:19:26.080 --> 0:19:28.960 to shopping online, in ordering all kinds of stuff online, 0:19:28.960 --> 0:19:31.240 and they don't need one store to go to anymore. 0:19:31.480 --> 0:19:34.000 They did all their research to go to all their places, 0:19:34.000 --> 0:19:36.639 and people started using Black and Green like a catalog. 0:19:37.000 --> 0:19:39.720 They'll come see the black on brands and go directly 0:19:39.760 --> 0:19:43.600 to those websites that buy their products. So that's like, ooh, Christen, 0:19:43.880 --> 0:19:46.560 so stuff is in your warehouse expiring because people aren't 0:19:46.560 --> 0:19:47.280 buying it from you. 0:19:47.320 --> 0:19:49.240 I can tell about my conversion rate. People are here, 0:19:49.440 --> 0:19:51.040 they still clicking, they still. 0:19:50.840 --> 0:19:54.080 Coming, but they're not buying. And so because of that, 0:19:54.160 --> 0:19:56.040 I have to change the way I'm doing business. So 0:19:56.160 --> 0:19:58.439 now the way we're going to work is that the 0:19:58.480 --> 0:20:00.800