- 8 months ago
Nobody likes losing things they love. When then 7-year-old GaBBY and her mom Rozalynn realized that GaBBY’s favorite barrettes were disappearing faster than they could be replaced, they invented the first and patented Double-Face Double Snap Barrette.
In 7 years, their family-owned company grew beyond measure into a global brand, Confidence by Gabby Goodwin.
Now they offer GaBBY Bows, a full line of plant-based wash-and-style products, lifestyle goods, business mentorship programs, and own and operate a retail store and girls' salon.
Their commitment remains the same: boost confidence, build community, and revolutionize beauty for growing girls and the moms who love them best.
In 7 years, their family-owned company grew beyond measure into a global brand, Confidence by Gabby Goodwin.
Now they offer GaBBY Bows, a full line of plant-based wash-and-style products, lifestyle goods, business mentorship programs, and own and operate a retail store and girls' salon.
Their commitment remains the same: boost confidence, build community, and revolutionize beauty for growing girls and the moms who love them best.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of Shop Essence Live. I am your host, Noni Donovan,
00:06and this show is in partnership with the New Voices family, where we bring you two new Black-owned
00:11businesses to shop with us every single week. Today, we have such amazing businesses to bring
00:19you this week. Now, first up, this girl is the personification of a girl boss. She is the
00:27epitome of Black girl magic. She started her first business at seven years old. Does anybody
00:33remember what they were doing at seven? Because this girl was taking over the world. I want
00:37everybody to welcome Gabby Goodwin to the show. Hi! Hi, everybody. Thank you so much. Oh, my gosh.
00:45I was chatting it up with your mom before the show, and I was just like, I cannot imagine the
00:50amount of pride that she has. This young lady, she's running to the show straight from, like,
00:56what was it? Dance class in school? Yeah, I was doing musical rehearsals, but yeah, we're here.
01:02Musical rehearsal. She's unstoppable, and I can't wait for you guys to hear this story. So, Gabby,
01:08let them know. So, you are the inventor of Gabby Bowes, and you have this incredible product line
01:15called Confidence by Gabby Goodwin. So, just tell us, how did this all start? How did you get here?
01:21So, hi, everybody. I'm Gabby Goodwin. I am the 16-year-old CEO of Confidence and the inventor
01:29of Gabby Bowes, and this started when I was seven years old, and I started the business at that age,
01:36but when I was younger, my mom would spend, you know, 15, 20 minutes doing my hair every morning,
01:42would drop me off at school looking all pretty and nice, and then pick me up and find that half
01:47of my bows were gone, and that my hair was a complete mess, and I'm sure a lot of people that
01:52are watching this can relate to that, whether you were the mom, whether you were the daughter in that
01:58situation. So, with me, I didn't want to keep getting in trouble for losing my barrettes, and my mom was
02:04also really frustrated. So, she put on, I guess, what was formerly known as Twitter, I guess, X now,
02:10and talked about and ranted about how my barrettes did not stay in my hair, and after her and many
02:17other moms were just talking about how terrible these barrettes were, our pastor actually jumped
02:22into the conversation and said, it sounds like a marquee you need to break into. So, my mom told me
02:27I was about five years old, and I didn't really know what entrepreneurship was, but I did know that
02:32I wanted to inspire people, and especially girls who look like me, and I saw this product and
02:38eventual business as a way to do that. So, I nagged my mom into at least creating a barrette,
02:43and that turned into a business two years later, as I said, when I was seven years old in 2014.
02:49So, we've been in business for nine years now, and it's been great. We have, as you can see,
02:55the hair products, the barrettes, and then also hair products. I am standing in our headquarters
03:00currently right now, where we not only do a lot of business actions here, but we also have our own
03:06girls salon as well, girls salon here in Columbia, South Carolina. So, being able to really wrap our
03:12business around the whole hair care experience and making sure that girls feel confident the way
03:17that they are. First of all, first of all, I mean, first of all, parents, please listen to your kids.
03:27Listen to your kids. Today, when they are that young, they have such an imagination, and
03:31hats off to mom. Hats off to mama. I know she's backstage around the camera, but you had a vision
03:39and to have that support, to have your pastor, you know, say that this seems like a market you need
03:45to get into. So many times we come across people that's like, oh, you can't do that. What do you
03:49know about that? And it's just like to have that support system. Oh, I am so, so happy. So,
03:55what I'd love to do is, I don't know if people really grasp the multiple problems that you have
04:04solved with this. I remember as a little girl, I would have my fly little corn rolls and braids
04:10that my mom used to do, and be running around all day. First of all, half of the braids, I don't know
04:15where they ended up because they never stayed in. And then you would take a picture and it'd be turned
04:21around to the other side. You just see a little flap. You don't even see the design, but she has
04:25solved so much of that. Can you just go through kind of the mechanics of the Gabby? Yes. So this
04:33is the Gabby Rose, the double face, double snap, all right? So first off, as she said, you can see
04:39that it has two faces. You can always see the normal design as she was talking about, you know,
04:45it'll always turn around and you see that strip. You wouldn't be able to actually see the face.
04:49That was one of my grandma's like biggest pet peeves. So we really made sure that we incorporated
04:54her and her pet peeves into this product, making sure that she was happy as well. But you can also,
05:02as you can see, see two spaces. And also inside of those, there is teeth and craters to trap the hair.
05:10So it doesn't fall out. As you can see, there is a strip in the middle, so you can be able to
05:16clasp it together. So you wrap the hair around that center strip and then snap one enclosed and
05:23snap the other enclosed like a Z or an N and it doesn't come out. It's there. It's there.
05:30No matter what happens, no matter what happens. We have girls playing on the playground,
05:37dancing, swimming, doing taekwondo, all the things. And the barrettes still stay in.
05:43I love you said taekwondo. My five-year-old just came from taekwondo. I'm about to fill her head
05:47with these. Look at this, you guys. It's the same mirror design on both sides. First of all,
05:57you have so many colors. You have so many designs. Can you just tell them how many colors,
06:04what variety of designs that are available on your website?
06:08So we have 15 colors and these barrettes are patented. Fully ours as well. So we have that.
06:15And then we also have three designs. Our designs are named after what moms and dads call the little
06:20girls. So we have little lady, which is the ladybug. Sweet pea, which is the sweet pea flower.
06:25All right. You can show the ladybug. There you go. And then this is the sweet pea flower. And then
06:31daddy's girl, which is a bow tie, named after my dad, who was Mike Goodwin, who was known as the
06:36bow tie comedian. So we made that centered around kind of my life and my personal story as well.
06:43But we have 15 colors, three colors in the little lady, red, light pink, and light purple. We have
06:49five colors in the sweet pea. That is white, turquoise, clear, black, and hot pink, which is my favorite.
06:55And then we have seven colors in the daddy's girl selection and collection as well, which is silver,
07:04gold, orange, navy blue, dark purple, orange, and yellow. Oh, not orange yellow. Green and yellow. There we go.
07:14So we have all those 15 colors. It's a lot. But you have all the colors that you need to be able to match
07:21with anything, especially when it comes to, like, white, clear, black. Those are, like, the essentials.
07:27So being able to get all of those as well. We do have a discount code.
07:30Jump on the discount code.
07:31This is, like, getting your gears flowing, all of your ideas. So we do have a code Essence on our website for 25% off.
07:41So as you're hearing about these, um, all these barrettes and all these colors and designs, the code is Essence.
07:49So that's E-S-S-E-N-C for 25% off your entire order. So, yes.
07:57Oh, my gosh. I love these. And let me tell you guys, it is early enough.
08:04You need some stocking stuffers for your nieces and nephews, for your kids.
08:07When I tell you this is such a great gift, you will not only be gifting that little girl in your life that loves her braids,
08:16you'll be gifting the mamas, okay? You're going to be gifting the mamas something because we're going to be so happy
08:22that our child's hair is intact as it was when they left. And in pictures, their bows won't be backwards.
08:29This is so genius.
08:31Genius!
08:32So if you're watching on Pinterest, we have all the products tagged right here.
08:36The proceeds on ShopEssenceLive, when you shop with us, you're going straight to these Black-owned businesses.
08:42So make sure you guys support Gabby. She gave y'all a discount. Tell them the discount again.
08:48Essence. So it's the code word Essence. E-S-S-E-N-C-E.
08:53All right.
08:55That's not it.
08:56Y'all are good.
08:57Yes. Oh, GabbyBose.com. You can see the full array there.
09:01Now, that's not it. You would think that was it. She just done changed the bow game.
09:06You would think she stopped there, but she ain't stopped there.
09:09We have a whole line, which before the show, I did my son's hair with.
09:15And I was telling your mom, this smells like dessert.
09:18It is.
09:19So let's go through one by one and really break down the different products.
09:23Now, talk a little bit about, okay, you had the bows, right?
09:28And that was something, a real-life problem.
09:32When was the decision to actually expand into hair products?
09:38How did that come about?
09:38Yeah, so we always had loyal customers who, you know, love the barrettes, but they were always talking about different problems that they would have with their child's hair.
09:48Would that be their scalp is itchy or it needs moisture, the hair needs moisture, tangling is a mess for everybody involved.
09:58And they just needed different products.
10:00And we have been promoting different products and using other people's products.
10:03But we thought there isn't really a specific hair care brand that is specifically targeting girls, making products just for girls, that is also plant-based and doesn't have any bad ingredients that will eventually damage your hair or your scalp.
10:20So being able to kind of think about that and hear and listen to our customers' needs and wants, we were able to formulate this six-product hair care line, which starts with the shampoo and conditioner.
10:33So we have our replenishing shampoo and then our wash-out conditioner.
10:40So this can be used for the wash day process, getting the hair washed and clean.
10:45And then we also have three styling products.
10:48So that is our scalp pomade, which is an alternative to grease.
10:55So grease that, you know, people may have used in the past has a lot of harmful chemicals that can damage your scalp.
11:00So we wanted to create something that you can still use as that kind of product, but still be able to actually benefit the scalp and not detriment it.
11:11So we have that.
11:12Yes.
11:12Hold on.
11:13Pause.
11:13Pause.
11:13Pause.
11:14Pause.
11:15I got to talk about this pomade grease.
11:18Like the pleasant surprise that I got when you put your hand in.
11:23Because, you know, sometimes we'll get grease and it's very heavy.
11:27It's very sticky.
11:28It's very heavy.
11:30And you don't necessarily want to put something on your, I'm very much into scalp health nowadays.
11:34You don't want to put anything on your scalp that's going to clog your scalp pores and prevent your hair from growing.
11:42So this is really so good.
11:45Okay.
11:45Keep going.
11:45Keep going.
11:46Sorry.
11:46So it's lightweight.
11:47As she's talking about lightweight, it doesn't feel like you have any grease.
11:51Love it.
11:51Also, we have our detangling and conditioning notes.
11:54This is what moms call the liquid gold.
11:57So if you have those detangling problems, tender-headed girls, boys, this is the product for you.
12:04This can also serve as a leave-in conditioner.
12:06So we have that washout.
12:08But then we also have the leave-in conditioner as well.
12:11So this can help produce detangling time in half, practically.
12:17But we've heard so many stories of girls who hated detangling and hated the process.
12:24But that after using our products, I've been able to go and grow used to the product process and actually enjoy detangling.
12:32Because I know that's probably the most stressful part of wash day and styling.
12:36It is the stress of wash day.
12:39Very stressful.
12:39100%.
12:40For everyone to follow.
12:41So when you say, so if you use this as a leave-in conditioner, what if you wanted to use it as a detangling?
12:47Can you put it on dry hair?
12:49How do you recommend that people use this to detangle?
12:53Yes.
12:53So you can put it on dry hair.
12:56People can use water as well and then add it on after you wash the hair as well.
13:01Because I know a lot of people are like, I like when my hair is already wet and then you can already apply the product.
13:08So however it works for you, your child.
13:11But yeah, you can use this on dry hair, wet hair as well.
13:15So being able to kind of use it interchangeably as well for that reason.
13:19And then also, the final styling product is our moisturizing style cream.
13:24So this is what you can use to do your braids, your twists, cornrows, protective styles, anything like that.
13:33You can be able to use this cream.
13:34It helps you keep the moisture in your hair and the moisture stays for at least two, two and a half weeks at a time.
13:43So being able to use this definitely helps a lot when it comes to the shine of your hair, the moisture of your hair, the kind of new look that it still might have after the two and a half weeks.
13:54So with those styling products, I know many people have probably heard of the walk method.
13:59You can be able to use our products with that as well.
14:02So the liquid can be the moisturizing, or not the detangling and conditioning though.
14:06The oil can be the scalp pomade.
14:09And then the cream is our moisturizing style cream.
14:12So I use this, I use that a lot for my twists when I do them.
14:17I'm sure a lot of other people do that as well.
14:20But you can be able to do that.
14:22Twist, braids, anything like that.
14:25Keep the moisture in.
14:26Very lightweight.
14:27You see how it's disappeared?
14:28Like, it's disappeared.
14:30It just went away.
14:32We know about the styling products that you put in your hair and makes your hair crunchy.
14:37And you got that white film that you got to walk around with until your hair dries and then you got to crunch it up.
14:41So this is so incredible.
14:43It does the job.
14:44It defines your curls and it disappears.
14:48It disappears.
14:49So very lightweight.
14:51Helps your hair.
14:52It doesn't hurt your hair.
14:53And it helps continue to keep that moisture in as well.
14:57And then to finish it off, we have our revitalizing spray.
15:02So this is what you can use when you have a little frizz.
15:06That's way too cold.
15:08Right.
15:09Got to make sure that it stays fresh.
15:11So you can be able to use this to refresh any style that you may have in.
15:15And also, if you want to be able to detangle the hair in between washes, you don't want to wash your hair and then have to redo it.
15:23You can be able to use this product to detangle the hair and redo the hair without washing.
15:28So being able to alleviate that time and stress to be able to use this product, help the hair, revitalize that moisture in the products that you already used a week prior or two weeks prior.
15:44So that you can be able to get back into that style and make it look as fresh as possible.
15:50So that is our sixth product hair care line.
15:54As she said, it smells like dessert.
15:57We have our scented and orange cream scent, which smells just like a cream circle.
16:01So we do advise you.
16:04Yes, it smells edible.
16:06It's not.
16:07But it smells just like a musical popsicle.
16:10And then we also do have unscented products for those who may have sex disabilities and things of that nature as well.
16:16This is good.
16:17And I don't want to skip over when you were talking about how you came up with this line and you said there wasn't anything for young girls on the market that was plant-based.
16:26And I know a lot of people are like, well, when I go to View Supply, I steal all these products for young girls and they got the little girl on the box.
16:33So I have fallen prey to that marketing where it looks organic.
16:36It looks, they have the sunflowers on it and the olive oil pits on it.
16:42And I did the research and realized that those products were just as harmful as the products that, you know, they were marketing towards adults.
16:50They just repackaged it and put a child on it.
16:52So I want parents to really pay attention and know that this is such an incredible line, plant-based, smells so good, but gets the job done, y'all.
17:04And we're not putting anything harmful in our baby's hair.
17:07I'm like, you don't have to use it too well, which helps it, you don't have to use a lot of it over time.
17:14So being able to keep new products for a good amount of time rather than having to use a product over and over again and having to buy it over again.
17:24So we have that, I guess, luxury as well, where it's so lightweight that you don't have to use too much to the point that you have to continue to keep and keep and keep.
17:33I guess not wasting money, but spending money on those products as well.
17:38An entrepreneur that's trying to save you money, y'all better appreciate that right here.
17:45Promo code Essence.
17:47So before I let you go, you are a part of the New Voices family who were in partnership here at Shop Essence Live.
17:54Can you talk about what it's been like being a part of that community?
17:56Yeah, so the New Voices family has definitely been a great family towards us.
18:02So much support in that group, whether it be through providing grants or just being able to provide knowledge and classes.
18:11And as I said, just support overall.
18:13We were able to have our own kind of section and space at the Essence Fest in 2022 because they provided that space for us.
18:22So super excited. It was my first time being there. So just being able to, like, see how huge it was.
18:28I've always heard about it. But just being able to be in New Orleans for the first time, be in Essence Fest for the first time because they were able to provide space for us was something that was super important and super, super, really dope.
18:41So being able to be there, have that support, being able to be around a lot of other businesses like us as well, Black-owned businesses, women-owned businesses, is something that's so important.
18:51So being able to be in that space, being able to see other people doing other amazing things and being able to kind of back off of them and learn from them is something that's so important, especially when you're in business.
19:04So being able to be a part of the New Voices family has been great for us and we're super thankful for everything that they've been able to do for us as well.
19:10So good. And, you know, I am just overwhelmingly blown away by you, your ambition, your story, everything you've accomplished.
19:19If you've accomplished this at 17, the next five years, I mean, my goodness.
19:25So very, very proud of you on behalf of Essence and Shop Essence Live.
19:30Gabby, thank you so much for being on the show.
19:32You guys want to support Gabby.
19:33We have the products here.
19:35If you're watching on Pinterest, if you're watching on Essence.com, we have the products there.
19:40Go to her website.
19:41Tell us the website again.
19:44GabbyBose.com.
19:45That is G-A-B-B-Y-B-O-W-S.com.
19:49Take me back to being a kid.
19:50I used to love doing this.
19:52Well, thank you so much for being a part of the show.
19:54Remember, great stocking stuffer or just buy it for your kids.
19:57Do yourself a favor, okay?
19:59You made this foolproof for us.
20:01Thank you so much, Gabby.
20:04Thank you so much for having me.
20:06Absolutely.