00:00Hello, and welcome to a competition that gives up and coming entrepreneurs the chance to land
00:08a space at Walmart. Each episode will feature a different product and entrepreneur pitching
00:13their idea to a panel of entrepreneurs and experts like myself. This is Walmart Spark
00:20to Show. Let's meet our judges. So we have Renee Blewett, and she's a filmmaker and business
00:28strategist who created the documentary, She Did That. And we have Michael Byron, and he's the
00:34Senior Director of Supplier Diversity and Inclusion at Walmart. And he currently leads Walmart's
00:39billion-dollar effort to support women in minority-owned businesses. And then we have
00:44myself. I'm Robin McBride, and I'm here with my beautiful sister, Andrea McBride, and we're the
00:49owners of McBride Sisters Collection. We are the largest Black-owned winery in the U.S., and we're
00:55sold on Walmart shelves. Are we ready to meet our entrepreneur? Yes. Yes. Hailing from Baltimore,
01:01Maryland, this entrepreneur is not shy about the creative myths she's determined to bring
01:08to Walmart. Kalilah Wright of Miss in a Bottle. She's going to make it work. All the girls
01:19in my high school, they love fashion, and I did too, but I was inspired to wear a hard hat. I wanted
01:27to be that one girl on a construction site, so I moved to Baltimore, Maryland to go to graduate
01:33school in architecture. In 2015, Freddie Gray died while in police custody. This happened
01:42in my Baltimore City neighborhood. I left my six-figure job, and I decided to start Mess in
01:51a Bottle as a way of giving people a voice. Mess in a Bottle is a t-shirt company. We put
01:59messages on t-shirts, and they come packaged in a reusable bottle. We have messages about
02:05love, life, career, current events, anything and everything that's happening in the world
02:11around us. Those are the messages we like to promote. I started this company with less than
02:18$500, and we have hit over a million dollars in sales. We have orders through the roof, and
02:26I am so grateful. And I have been able to hire 16 African-American women.
02:37Walmart. Girl, can you imagine? So this would mean the world to me.
02:43Hi, Kalilu. Hi, everyone. Thank you so much for that introduction to your brand. How did you land
02:49on a Mess in a Bottle? My Baltimore City neighborhood was in shambles. It was burning due to the riots,
02:56due to people being upset, as they rightfully should. And I looked around me, and I said,
03:02it's a mess. Everything is a mess. And I wanted to evoke change. And my way of doing this was
03:09starting Mess in a Bottle. My t-shirt company derives from the 310 BC concept of receiving a
03:17message in the ocean. And so that is how the name Mess in a Bottle came about.
03:22Can you give us a snapshot of your target consumer?
03:25Black women. What I tell everyone, you know, because I have men who are like,
03:30is this product for me? And I'm like, of course it is. And though our messages are very well-rounded,
03:37it's a voice of a Black woman.
03:40I really love this concept. I love the bottle. I love that it comes, you know, in this container.
03:45But if you're in a retail environment, how do you think that this will be merchandised?
03:53Really happy that you asked that question. I really would not want to get rid of the packaging.
03:59I think that it's a great selling point. And it's a BPA-free, reusable bottle. So it's a great way for
04:06you to have a message on the go.
04:08You know what apparel looks like at Walmart and how we display it.
04:12I do.
04:13Have you thought about how this bottle might go into that section?
04:18I have. So I love Walmart. So I frequently am in the apparel section of Walmart. I do know that
04:27you guys are more displaying things on a hanger. I had the opportunity of thinking about what is
04:33more important because we did explore scrapping the bottles at one point in time just because of
04:39cost. COVID was a major factor in our bottle manufacturing. And, you know, to be honest,
04:45the most important thing to the customer is the message.
04:49Can we talk a little bit about cost?
04:52So currently it costs us $6 to produce and make our t-shirts.
04:57And so this, this t-shirt that I have here, which I love by the way. So the cost is $6.
05:04It's $6 and $2 for our bottles. So in total $8.
05:09And then what would this retail for?
05:11Currently we retail it for $26.95. And so it's about a 70% markup. I think the larger that we
05:18can grow the brand, we can definitely get that cost down from $6 to possibly even half of that amount,
05:25depending on the volume. Okay.
05:28Do you have the scale that it would take to supply a Walmart?
05:32I think that right now we are only on e-commerce. And as I mentioned before, we started the company
05:39with less than $500. We've now come to a new facility, purchased new machines. So I think as
05:46we scale and as we grow, or whether that it's very important to me to make sure that I am giving
05:51back to the Baltimore community, there's buildings here. We can expand.
05:56Okay, Kalila, thank you so much. That was really wonderful. We need to talk amongst ourselves and
06:03see how we feel about mess in a bottle and if it's right for Walmart. So you just hang out right there
06:09and we're going to chat and we'll be right back. Thank you.
06:17I'm excited about her having a purpose and this notion of community. That's who we are. We take care of
06:24community at Walmart. So, you know, those two things, I think, you know, we certainly have in common.
06:29I'm really excited about this Black woman having a product in stores and giving, you know, young women
06:36and even grown women something to aspire to. Totally. I think that Kalila is incredible and I
06:43loved her energy. I loved her vision. Just a big flag for me is that the brand is called
06:49Mess in a Bottle. So Bottle is a component of it. I think talking a little bit more about scaling
06:55at Walmart. That's huge. I think we've made a decision. I think we know if Kalila is ready for
07:04Walmart shelves. I think the judges were really intrigued by the company. I'm honored. I think
07:12I'm super humbled and I think it's just a very surreal experience and I'm just extremely grateful.
07:20Hey, Kalila, welcome back. First of all, thank you again for sharing your brand
07:25story, taking us on this journey that you've been on since 2016. I think we can all agree
07:31that your passion is unmatched. Thank you. One of the things that we all had to spend a little bit
07:37time thinking about was the actual bottle and how does the cost contribute to the profitability?
07:45So Kalila, after a lot of deliberation, are you a little bit nervous? A lot nervous.
07:52We were also very impressed with you. That mess in a bottle
08:02will go on the shelves at walmart.com.
08:08Thank you guys so much. Thank you. Welcome to the Walmart family where we have millions of
08:22visitors that come to our .com site every day and they look and shop for amazing items like yours.
08:32So welcome to Walmart.com. Congratulations, Kalila. Thank you. Thank you so much.
08:40Why am I tearing up like my body? I know. I was like, you guys, my makeup.
08:47I know. I am so happy that the world is now going to have access to what this Black woman created.
08:54Yeah. Thank you. Oh, the sky's the limit in terms of what you can do. Yeah. And we can't wait to wear our shirts.
09:01Thank you. This means the world to me. Thank you.
09:04I'm so excited. I can't even believe what just happened. I'm just beyond grateful and excited
09:14about this. Growing up and, you know, even majoring in architecture, I've been in many spaces where I
09:24didn't fit in. Now I'm standing in a space that I've created. I would have never fathomed that I would
09:32be here five years later. It's life changing. I think I can't wait to go and show my son what a Black woman created.
09:41Like, I'm just ecstatic.
10:02Like, are you ready to watch me again? EV.
10:05Come, quite want to hope.
10:05Like, I may make some sweet God'szer for sure.
10:08Bye.
10:10Bye.
10:12Bye.
10:21Bye.
10:24Bye.
10:25Bye.
10:31Bye.
10:31Bye.
Comments