- 2 days ago
A conversation on finding success as a celebrity Entrepreneur
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00:00Entrepreneurship is knowing who you are really well, finding the thing that other people can
00:10benefit from and what you offer, and offering it to them the way they want it, when they want it,
00:15in the way that they want. Entrepreneurship is believing in your creativity, understanding
00:21your dreams, and allowing yourself the ability to see them through. Entrepreneurship is trusting
00:27yourself and knowing that your passion, your passion project, has all of the elements that
00:33you need to make it work. Entrepreneurship is believing in yourself, trusting that you do have
00:39what it takes to make your dreams a reality, and that you have people around you who can support
00:43you to make that as well. Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us today for an exciting conversation
00:49as a part of this Entrepreneur Summit that we spend a lot of time thinking about and talking about
00:55here at Essence. My name is Caroline Wonga, and I am the CEO of Essence Communications, Inc.,
01:02and couldn't be more honored today to spend some time with some trailblazing entrepreneurs
01:07that can tell us the in and outs of what it looks like to build business, have business,
01:12and continue to grow it. And so today, I've got three awesome people with me. The first of those
01:18is Giselle Bryant, who is the founder and CEO of EveryHue Beauty. And then we have Drea Michelle,
01:27founder and CEO of Mint Swim. And then we have Karamo Brown, who is the founder and CEO of Mantle.
01:35Thank you for joining. So I want to kick us off with a really simple question, but is actually
01:40probably the largest question. Go back to the point at which you decided you wanted to start a business.
01:46Like, what was that moment? What inspired you? What did you think about? What didn't you think
01:52about? Like that moment where you decided to be an entrepreneur, how did that come to life for you?
01:57Giselle, do you want to start? I've always been like a girl that loves beauty, loves to play in her
02:03mom's makeup drawer. And so that's first and foremost. I was loving the beauty business. And then as I got
02:11older, I realized that the black and brown girls were left out of the beauty business when it came
02:17to matching our skin tones. So that really resonated with me because I felt like it's unfair and there
02:27should be something out there for us. And then I gave birth to three beautiful brown girls. And I'm
02:32like, look, I don't want them to have the same issues that I've had. And I decided that the beauty
02:40business was where I want to just to first start my entrepreneurial track. Now, the beauty business
02:45is, is so saturated with so many brands that it really, it really swayed me and it really built up
02:54fear within me because I thought I wasn't going to be able to be successful. However, I just like stuck to
02:59my passion, which was do something for us, do something for the brown girls. And I felt like there was no way
03:07that I could lose. For me, it was the fact that mantle skincare, it was a skincare design for bald and balding
03:13men. And I did this because as a black man, I love every experience that I had going to the barbershops, you know,
03:20from a young boy all the way through undergrad. But then all of a sudden, I started losing my hair. I started to feel
03:26that change. I started to feel my self esteem going down. I started to look at ads that told me that I was less than I
03:33wouldn't have the life I wanted. I wouldn't have the relationship I wanted. I couldn't swim in a pool.
03:37You know, you've seen them ads. I was like, now you dive in, you got a full set of hair. I was like,
03:42I didn't swim. And it came out of that mission to give other men the opportunity to have their
03:47self esteem be built back up. And once I embraced what was God natural, I said, well, there's no
03:54products out here for me. And so it's completely what you said about that mission was giving men that
03:59opportunity to say, hey, if this is happening to you, it's okay for you to embrace it.
04:04I'll just start by saying that I'm from an extremely small city in Pennsylvania. It's
04:09about 45 miles outside of Philadelphia. It's called Reading, Pennsylvania. And growing up there,
04:16you know, I was not privileged. You know, it was, I grew up with just myself and my mom. And
04:23as a young black girl, you know, my mom did what she could do to make sure that I had an
04:29amazing childhood. I went to summer camp every year, which was like always the highlight of my
04:33summer. I actually went to go visit my, my aunt who lived in, in Los Angeles a few summers. So I
04:41got to experience different things at a young age, which inspired my swimsuit line just because I did
04:48get to see the world. So I was just determined to, you know, show girls from this small city that
04:52you can do more than just live there. You can exist outside of that smallness. And if you have
04:59this urge and this drive, then, then leave, it's okay to leave. It's okay to trust your gut and take
05:05a risk. And I can imagine for each of you as entrepreneurs, as you started to come up with
05:09this idea and share it, there's places where you may have felt equipped and ready to go. And there's
05:14places where you may not have, or there's people who thought you could go do this. And there's others
05:18that were like, well, maybe, should you, right? How did you, and I'll start with Karamo, then
05:24Drea, then Giselle, how did you work through that moment, that moment where you knew what you had and
05:28didn't have, you've got some that support and don't support you. How did you move through that as you
05:33were building, building out your business? So I think it's three things for me. The first of all,
05:37is that as you're practicing or starting your own business, you have to practice yourself at the
05:42same time, which means you have to every morning and tell yourself that I believe in myself,
05:46that this can happen. Because unless you're sending those messages to yourself constantly,
05:50consistently, telling yourself it's okay, you can start to find yourself in a position where you
05:55start to believe the negative narratives that other people are trying to tell you. Secondly, I
05:59started to tell myself, it's okay to ask for help. As an entrepreneur, sometimes you feel like put it
06:04all on your shoulders, like you've got to do it all. And what I realized is it's important for me to
06:08look at who has skills that I don't have and know that the ability that God has given me has given
06:13the ability to ask them for help. Third thing, and this is what I always tell the people,
06:17especially young entrepreneurs, comparison is the thief of joy. If you compare yourself to what other
06:23people are saying, what other people are doing with their businesses, you find yourself not
06:28focusing on your own gifts and talents. And I think when you put those three components together,
06:33believing in yourself, asking for help and not comparing yourself to other people, you find the
06:37courage in those beginning moments to move forward. Yeah, I think that's so powerful because often,
06:42especially as black folk, right, we find ourselves in this place where the stories of other black folk
06:48come to our lives when we talk about things like this. Well, here's, and you know what happened to
06:52it, right? And often it's wise for us to listen to that, but we don't have to operate as if it's
06:58happened to us. Take it as wisdom, right? I have a hashtag, take notes, do it better. So don't not listen
07:04to the wisdom that's coming from people that have had experiences that look like you, but don't own the
07:08truth of their outcome till it happens to you because you're a different person with a different
07:13purpose, driving something different. And it is not that you don't want to listen to that, but you
07:17can get caught up in stunting yourself. If you imagine that what happened to them is what's going to happen
07:21to you. Can you just say that you don't own the truth of someone else's outcome? Girl, you have to take me to
07:25church this entire time. Let's go. Let's go to church because we can't even come outside right now. We can do
07:30church right now. Right now. We already have. Right? I know. I thought the take notes and do better.
07:36How I interpreted the question was, you know, how did I handle like positive encouragement and how did I
07:42handle the opposite of that, like negatives, the con? So it starts at the beginning. I had a great, great group of
07:49friends and family. Always. I still have a great group of friends and family who encourage me, who
07:53help me work, who, you know, if I have crises at my jobs right now, they will come and help me unload
08:00boxes, whatever, whatever needs to be done. I have a great support system there. I have an amazing team
08:06of women that work for me. All of my employees are women. So I'd like to highlight that. And then as far
08:13as like the negatives, the naysayers, I think for the most part, the only people that have anything
08:20negative to ever say or non-encouraging words, I think it just comes from social media and just
08:25people that maybe follow me that don't really know my true personality or don't know my dream
08:30or don't see my vision or they're just negative. But to sum it up, they're usually people that I don't
08:36know because, um, I don't, you can't even exist in my life if you are non-supporting of my dreams or
08:43you are negative. Um, and it's not that I'm against an opposite opinion. It's just that when I say
08:50something, I don't even say it until it's a real thing. So by the time it's already came out my mouth,
08:57chances are I already got the website. I done trademarked it. I'm ready to go. So I don't have
09:02time to do the negative stuff. You know, I don't have negative people in my life that are shooting
09:06my dreams down. There's no room for that. You can't live here with that. We got told, um,
09:12you're nothing special. There's nothing new under the sun in the beauty business that you can bring.
09:17Um, no, we don't need another cosmetic line by a reality star. We don't need that. Um, and I just had
09:25to push forward and push forward that let me know I'm on the right track because everybody keeps
09:30trying to tell me that my product, my vision, my dreams should not come to pass. My kids from the
09:37beginning of, of every hue beauty have always been like, mommy, we're so proud of you. Mommy,
09:44you're the best. Mommy, keep doing what you're doing. Mommy, I want to help you. Mommy, when are
09:50we going to go to a, uh, a convention or an event so that they can be the ones out there selling with me.
09:57That's all the motivation I need. Can't nobody tell me anything wrong. My kids got my back.
10:02I'm winning. All of you guys sit in public figure spaces, right? For the sake of discussion,
10:09right? You, you have you, there's a notoriety to you. You've got careers that are very public.
10:13What role does that play in each of your businesses? And I'll let you, whoever wants to start and start,
10:18you know, Bravo has been so good to me with regards to any brand, you know, that I've wanted to talk
10:24about, or, you know, when I first started every hue, they allowed me to talk about it a million
10:28times on show. And because it was part of my real life, it wasn't something that I was just making
10:32up and, and just trying to advocate for the sake of the fact that I was on a show and had a platform.
10:38But you know, with that comes the fact that you have to nail it. You can't be a Karamo,
10:48a Drea, a Giselle and bring something to the market. That's some bull or some crap.
10:54Yeah. I agree with Giselle a hundred percent. It is this blessing and curse where it's like,
10:58there is now more opportunities, more people that are available for you to try to work with.
11:02We have new ways to market.
11:08That's already on you. I think he started business at the same time.
11:12And, um, it was a blessing for me because I had the marketing tools and I have the followers,
11:17you know what I mean? That I could get to, but some of the things that I was learning early on,
11:22I was overly scrutinized where him with his business, he wasn't overly scrutinized because
11:26he had the opportunity to change things. And I think that goes to what Giselle is saying.
11:30And I think, you know, it's about owning the truth of both sides. It's about saying, yes,
11:34there's benefits and thank God for both benefits. And yes, there's some things that we're going to
11:38have to deal with, but yes, we got the strength. We have the teams, you know, like, um,
11:42both Giselle and Drea said they have her daughter, her family, her friends, like,
11:47these things give us the courage to say, you know what, even though it's going to be a little
11:51harder here because we have this, um, I might complain because I know other people would love
11:56to be in this position and be in my shoes. I mean, wow. There were a lot, a lot of no's.
12:02There were things that I felt like, well, I, I was on TV, you know, like, I want to go to this party.
12:07I want to go to this event. I live in California now. I want to go to the Oscars and the awards
12:13and the, this and that. And it was a lot of, she's on what? No, she can't come. And I was like,
12:18why, you know, like, why do they hate me so much? I didn't understand that it was just,
12:23it was not the vibe. So I became embarrassed of it. And it made me be very negative towards it. I,
12:30I was at a point in my life where I wouldn't let anyone interview me about it. Um, I wouldn't let
12:35anyone bring it up. And, and I was just really, really ashamed. So fast forward to now. Okay.
12:42Now it's the show is re streaming now on Hulu and, um, everyone that hasn't watched it before
12:50is now watching it. So there's a whole new audience and they're just like, wow, Drea,
12:54like I've been following you. I had no idea you were on this show that I'm watching and wow,
12:59you really came a long way. So now that I'm hearing this type of feedback, I'm finally like
13:05feeling better about it. I'm okay with it. I feel good and I can embrace it.
13:08We have to close ourselves out. And as we close ourselves out, what I would ask for each of you to
13:13do in just a brief statement is based on what we've talked about today and anything else that's
13:19on your mind as an entrepreneur, what is a message that you want to make sure you leave with them as
13:23we close? And I'll give each of you guys an opportunity to share one. And then I'll close
13:27us out till we gather again. Don't be swayed by, you know, the negative opinions out there
13:33and work on your craft, dedicate time to your craft. Even if it's your plan B, even if your
13:39passion project is not your actual nine to five, you know, do your nine to five, but make sure you
13:45time manage enough time to work on your passion project. And also once you get to where you're at,
13:51you know, make sure you send the elevator back down to, to, to bring some people with you,
13:55you know, whether it's using models. My thing is I use, you know, undiscovered models and I,
14:00I give them exposure by, you know, posting them on my sites and my pages, my personal pages.
14:06So, you know, it's, it's all about giving back.
14:08I tell people all the time, focus on your mental health because your mental health is going to be
14:13challenged consistently. You're going to have moments where you are stressed, where you look at
14:17your accountant and like, is the money right? There's going to be business people you work with who might not
14:22live up to what they said they're going to do, the expectations you had for them. But just
14:28check in with yourself, keep believing in yourself, keep telling yourself good things,
14:32you know, just keep saying, it's going to be okay. Asking for help, finding groups like this,
14:37this community right here that we just have these four boxes. Let me tell you something,
14:40I went to church because it is very positive because you realize you're not alone. You realize
14:46that you can make it through. So I tell people, find your little group like this.
14:50Make sure you love what you do. And then it is not work. I believe that a lot, every time I have
14:58teetered on whether or not I want to get something started, anytime I make the first move,
15:03God does the right. So you have to make the first move. You have to stick with it. You have to know
15:09what you love and make sure you are doing what you love. And like Karamo said, the energy is very
15:14important. The people that are around you that are not positive and have that negative energy,
15:18if you don't get rid of them, they're going to get rid of you. Okay. They're going to make
15:22you stop your dreams. Friends, fellow deacons, members of the church.
15:29Thank you for spreading some time with me today. Thank you for your transparency,
15:33your honesty, your vulnerability, but your joy, your, your, your purpose.
15:38Grateful. I know the audience has benefited from this and I'm sure we'll have an opportunity to be
15:42together again, but I just want to express my appreciation for you joining us today. I had fun.
15:47I learned, we did great things. And so thank you so much. Wish you have the best of days and we'll chat soon.
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