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00:30Good morning and welcome.
00:58Welcome back.
01:00For those of you who were able to join us this morning, thank you so much.
01:04My name is Rachel Davis, and I am the senior editor for Essence Festival and live events
01:09here at Essence.
01:10And we are so excited, you know, to be bringing you today our first ever Essence Entrepreneur
01:15Virtual Summit.
01:17And this next conversation, you know, kind of needs no introduction.
01:21You guys are really in for a treat with these two.
01:24And it's all about, you know, Black-owned businesses supporting each other, which is certainly
01:29something that's important during this time right now, but really it's just something that's
01:33important all year round.
01:34And so without further ado, let me tell you a little bit about our two speakers today.
01:39So first up, joining us is the founder and CEO of The Lip Bar, a vegan beauty brand that
01:44exists to disrupt an outdated industry.
01:47Bothered by traditional brands and their linear approach to beauty, she, without formal training
01:51or personal passion for makeup, began making products in her Brooklyn kitchen.
01:55She soon left her job on Wall Street to keep up with the demand, moved her business to Detroit,
02:00and hasn't looked back since.
02:01Please welcome Ms. Melissa Butler.
02:03Hey, Melissa.
02:04How are you?
02:05Hey, Rachel.
02:07Thank you so much for having me.
02:08Aw, Marcus is clapping for me.
02:11I'm over well.
02:11Yeah, sure.
02:15Thank you, Essence, for putting this on.
02:16This is amazing.
02:17I think connection and just like uplifting one another during this time is so important.
02:23And I think we're now realizing how much we actually love interacting socially.
02:28So thank you for even allowing me to be on a panel with the ever so talented Marcus Samuelson.
02:36Hey.
02:36Thank you, Melissa.
02:38And Melissa is basically introducing our next guest.
02:42So let me go ahead and just roll right into that.
02:45So also joining us is the acclaimed chef behind many restaurants worldwide, including Red Rooster
02:50Harlem, Marcus Montreal, Marcus B&P in Newark, New Jersey.
02:54He is a longstanding judge on the hit Food Network show, Chopped, as well as the author
02:59of multiple books, including the New York Times bestselling memoir, Yes, Chef, and his
03:04latest book, The Red Rooster Cookbook, The Story of Food and Hustle in Harlem.
03:08His audio project with Audible, titled Our Harlem, is out right now.
03:13Everyone, please welcome, re-welcome, chef and restaurateur, Mr. Marcus Samuelson.
03:19Hey, hey, hey.
03:20We have to do it.
03:23We have to make each other up.
03:25All right.
03:25What else are we going to do?
03:27Thank you guys for your energy.
03:29And thank you again so much for joining us.
03:31So let's jump right in to today's topic.
03:34So, you know, one of the most important things that we hear small business owners talk a lot
03:39about, and I've heard both of you guys talk about off of this forum as well, is the importance
03:43of your network.
03:44And I think, you know, in times like these, a lot of us are seeing, you know, just how important our networks are.
03:50People that we can go to specifically for small businesses, you know, your core network of other like minded folks and individuals.
03:58So for the first question, I wanted to ask you guys, what are some things you've been doing or some of the things you've been seeing done within your networks?
04:05So kind of what are some of the challenges that small businesses have been faced with during this pandemic?
04:10Melissa, we can go ahead and start with you.
04:11Yeah. So my my business is not considered an essential one.
04:19Right. So during this time, a lot of businesses are seeing huge upticks in revenue.
04:25So food, skin care, because everyone's thinking about taking care of themselves, vitamins, even cleaning and baking.
04:33Everybody's trying to learn a new skill set, whereas my product makeup is typically reserved for when you're leaving the house.
04:40And if you're not leaving the house, you're like, well, why am I going to put put on makeup and why am I going to buy makeup?
04:46So we've had to pivot our conversation completely to really focus on the value proposition of what we're offering.
04:54And then to also make sure that our conversation is steeped in self-care like, you know what, if you if you get dressed, if you put on a pop of color, you're going to feel better.
05:04It's that concept. If you look if you look good, you're going to feel good.
05:07And then ultimately, you're going to do good.
05:09So we've completely transitioned our conversation into talking and having a more authentic connection and relationship with our customers to talk about what they're going through right now.
05:21Not necessarily what they should buy right now.
05:25And thankfully, that's caused our sales on our dot com to stay pretty stable.
05:32Yeah, that definitely speaks a lot to the power of engagement and how far that that can go even beyond, like you said, just marketing your products, but really creating that relationship with your customers.
05:42Marcus, what about you?
05:43And then really quick. And then I think everyone is kind of seeing this this higher level of connection online, like we're going to the Babyface concerts where we're in the D nice parties and you're realizing how close and connected we actually all are because we're all just we're we're yearning for the same things.
06:04You look great. You look fantastic. You're living your brand.
06:08Thank you. Thank you.
06:09Thank you. You got to look good in the D because you never know who's the D is one of my favorite cities. So yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
06:18Oh, I love it.
06:19Yeah. Well, I think I mean, first of all, as as as black entrepreneurs, you know, you have to you learn with you have to redefine everything. Right. First of all, these words like small businesses, my business to my family or my community is not defined by gross sales.
06:38It is the only business. Right. So I don't think about it as a small business.
06:43It is my business. And I think that's so these defining words that people are putting on labels on our it's everything that we do, you know.
06:54So it's important to you kind of carve out space. Right. And I think as black people, we have an advantage there because we always we used to be put into labels.
07:02So it's important to fight out of those labels. Right. And because otherwise we wouldn't have Melissa wouldn't have created our business if she would have settled with a product that was out there in the marketplace.
07:12I wouldn't have created Red Rooster if I thought that there was a space for us that fitted that energy that our incredible culture has to offer. Right.
07:23So it's important not to be a linear thinker to think outside the box, especially at times like this.
07:28I also, you know, for me, restaurants, the key word to restaurant, I mean, restaurant means to restore your community.
07:37And when we had to pivot Red Rooster from being, you know, the layered experience that Red Rooster is from the gospel choir to the cooks, to the open bar and to all of that stuff.
07:50I knew we could still be a restaurant. We just had to change our customer to people, everyday people to the most neediest.
08:00So it took us about a week to pivot and Red Rooster in Overtown and Marcus B&P in Newark and Red Rooster Harlem to pivot and partner with World Central Kitchen.
08:13And we served 27,000 meals over the last four weeks in these three communities.
08:21And it wouldn't have happened unless we had relationships and kept them going.
08:25And I mean, relationships in both on the corporate side, because in Newark, we needed Audible to do it.
08:31But guess what? I looked in my phone book and who's from Newark? Michael B. Jordan.
08:36So Michael B. Jordan stepped up and helped me launch a program and raised over a million dollar.
08:41So we've got to be able to serve people, 500 people a day until June. Right.
08:47So I think, you know, I'm very fortunate that I have, you know, I know the dishwasher, but I also know people like, you know, there are celebrities, but also on corporate side.
08:58And I think it's important as a community leader to look both up and down in your Rolodex to really be like, OK, how do we battle ourselves out?
09:08How do we help the most neediest? And I think Red Rooster's work during COVID-19, it's actually the most important work.
09:18And who knew that it had pandemic for us to really find our most important work?
09:25Yeah. No. And thank you for what you've done in Harlem.
09:29I was going to definitely throw back to you to speak to that a little bit later, but I'm glad you brought it up.
09:35You know, you guys have really showed up there and some of the other restaurants and some of the ways that you've been.
09:40I might jump in here and say, you know, you got to move fast.
09:42No, no, no, it's fine. No, that's the name of the game, right?
09:46I love that. I'm so inspired by that. That's just beautiful.
09:50Like that's really-
09:50Yeah, it's hard not to acknowledge it.
09:52Mark has that line where he's like, misusing your influence.
09:56And like this is, this really speaks to the idea of really knowing when you have power,
10:01when you have people who are looking to you for light in whatever form,
10:07and then really making sure that not only you, but your business is a part of shining light on our communities,
10:14on making sure that people have the bare necessities of life.
10:18So I love that. I just want to say thank you for all that you're doing.
10:21And I'm not even into work.
10:22Yeah, and you guys are really touching on the heart of the matter,
10:27which is, Melissa, starting with what you said, just engaging.
10:31And then obviously with you, Marcus, as well, you know, how you guys are just as entrepreneurs,
10:35staying engaged with your customer base that has essentially helped to grow your business
10:40outside of times when you can put a product in front of them or tell them to come check out your latest dish.
10:44It's just really letting them know like, hey, we're really here for you in times when even maybe you can't make us a profit, quote unquote.
10:50So, and that's, that's amazing. And that's, that's such a, so important to do.
10:54So staying kind of on the same topic, right?
10:57Like it hits our community different, right?
11:00Like you see on CNN, it's almost like you get blind when you see the numbers,
11:04we're going to hit 50,000 deaths.
11:06And it's almost too big numbers to comprehend.
11:09But as black people, it, for me, it's so much about humanizing those numbers.
11:14Like we have two people last night out of our Sunday band died in COVID-19.
11:22We've had family members in our extended Red Rooster family already passing because we are in and of our community.
11:30There's a lot of stuff in our community and not of our community.
11:34COVID, even when this is a fashion to, to a media anymore, this will be long in our communities.
11:40And, and that's why this is, this is, this is not going to just pass and we move on.
11:48So it's really important to, to do everything we can right now in terms of supporting one another.
11:55Yeah, sure.
11:56Now, earlier this week, you know, we saw, I know that things are fast moving, but we saw, or we know that there's,
12:03Congress is really close to approving a second round of funding.
12:06I believe the last report I saw yesterday said the house still needed to vote on the second kind of stimulus bill and funding package that'll benefit small businesses during this pandemic.
12:16But what we saw with the first package, of course, is that not everyone has a chance to kind of take advantage of that.
12:22And per usual, you know, we've seen a lot of our black owned businesses speaking out to say that they were unfortunately in that number that didn't have the chance to really take advantage of that.
12:31So, Melissa, I wanted to kind of get your thoughts on what are some of the things that we can kind of do to rally together as a community of both businesses and also the consumers who love you guys' businesses to kind of lift ourselves up and make sure we're not leaning too heavily on the expectation of government funding or other resources that unfortunately just may not come when we need them as soon as we move on.
12:51I mean, I think there's, there's so many things, especially as most small business owners are not funded, right?
12:57So it's like we're living, we're operating our businesses paycheck to paycheck for the most part.
13:03And even if you do get a round of funding, it doesn't mean that you're necessarily going to get another round of funding, or maybe you don't even have the expertise to know what to do with that, with that round of funding.
13:14So I think it's a matter of, first of all, of course, apply for those loans, apply for those grants, like apply, but don't rely.
13:23Like you cannot accept, you can't expect that this money is going to be the money that carries you through to that next quarter when you can see some returns or see increased sales.
13:34So make sure that you're doing everything you can to make sure that people know, um, whether that is like the banks and the government or down to your customer base, like don't be shy.
13:44This is not the time to have ego.
13:46This is the time to really lean in on your audience and let them know like, Hey, we're a small business owner and we need your support.
13:53You know, you, you love, you love having us around, you know, these are some ways that you can support a small business.
13:59And some of those can be financial, but also like there are tons of ways that small business owners can lean on support from their community, um, that don't require money.
14:09So whether that's engaging on social media, whether that's sharing your story, um, whether that's forwarding your email, um, there, there are lots of ways that we can and should be reaching out to our very community to say, Hey, this is, this is why we need support.
14:25And these are ways in which you can support, I've always thought about, um, relationships from the mutually beneficial standpoint.
14:33It's like, you need to let people know, you know, why they should help you, how they should help you.
14:38And then what's in it for them to make it as easy as possible for you to ultimately get your outcome.
14:44Um, another thing is just like, as a small business owner, you got to know that right now, if you're not an essential business, like right now can be a little bit murky.
14:52So, so prepared for that, like we did, um, some salary reductions across the board because we didn't want to let go of any of our people.
15:01Like the reality is it's, it's tough to find a job right now.
15:05So we're like, okay, well we're seeing ourselves decrease and you know, we operate the lip bar like a family essentially.
15:11I'm like, I don't want to let anyone go.
15:13So what if we did just like a 15%, a 20% salary reduction across the board for a couple of months so that we can all maintain some, some sort of semblance of normalcy.
15:24So, um, I think the moral of the story is transparency, being transparent with your community, um, and with your audience and with yourself to make sure that, that your business is able to survive during this time.
15:36And then, and then reaching out to not only your community of, of people who are, um, your customers, but people who you can collaborate with, like networking laterally.
15:46Laterally, like I reach out and I talk to other small business owners all the time and we talk about how we can help with each, how we can help each other.
15:54So it's like, should we do, um, a giveaway together?
15:57Should we do a beauty box together?
16:00Should we produce content together?
16:02There's so many ways to, to essentially skin the cat to make sure that we're all in this together and that we're all making sure that, you know, not one person is bearing the brunt of the entire organization.
16:15of, of the ecosystem, essentially.
16:18Yeah.
16:19Wow.
16:19I learned a lot there.
16:22That was amazing.
16:23Crack it up, crack it up.
16:23Yeah.
16:25Right.
16:26And the line I'm going to take is apply, don't rely.
16:30And I, I thought that was amazing because I think.
16:34We need it on a t-shirt for sure.
16:38And everything you just said, if you break that down, can we do a giveaway box together?
16:42Can you partner, right?
16:43That's, that's amazing.
16:44And it's like, you know, and I, I mean, I think the blessings of being a black man is that you never think anything's going to be given to you.
16:54And I think there's a lot of blessings of being immigrant and being black that I draw from that right now.
17:01Right.
17:02Cause I have to, we all pull our strength from different places.
17:05And I think there is, as black people, we, we've had a pandemic for a long time about haves and don'ts haves.
17:14So I think that there is, it's horrible, but it's also strength there, you know, and I choose to look at it from a sense of strength.
17:22I haven't gotten my, I never thought I would get it.
17:26I just never, uh, and I hope we get it because we need it, but I, I just don't, you know, it's, uh, somebody wise told me apply, but don't rely.
17:39You know what I mean, but this is really serious, really, I feel like this, I'm very fortunate.
17:48There's many ways for me as an individual, my family to take care of ourselves.
17:53But then it's about our staff and our crew, the 180 people that work at Red Rooster, the 90 people that work at Red Rooster and Overtown.
18:01The 50 people that work at DMP and they don't, the dishwasher, the bar back, they didn't really need us.
18:08So I want to do this hustle for that extended community and think about it also, the whole food supply chain is today interrupted, right?
18:18Because 80% of all restaurants are closed.
18:21So you have people closing, you know, burning up and burning, uh, you know, there's some, some feedback here,
18:30but anyway, there is, there's so many challenges that we're up against right now.
18:38But once we come out of that, there's also kind of the strength.
18:44Like I'm going to, I'm going to just want to finish on this.
18:46My grandparents moment was the second world war.
18:49So when I grew up in Sweden, you can't relate to Sweden as a poor country, but my grandparents were very poor.
18:55And even into the eighties, all they talked about it was those defining moments
19:00during the second world war when they had to wait one hour to get into the store.
19:03Well, guess what?
19:04Every morning when I get up, I now have to stand outside and hold food to wait one hour to get into
19:10store to get food for my family.
19:12And it links back to that conversation I have with my grandparents when I was a kid.
19:16And I never thought that would happen to me.
19:18So once we get out of this, there's enormous amount of strength.
19:23I mean, think about Melissa, when you tell your family that during this difficult time,
19:30your brand, you know, survived and thrived.
19:34And on the other side of that.
19:36I do want to jump in.
19:39Yeah, I do want to jump in, Marcus, to kind of piggyback off of that note that you said about,
19:44you know, how your brand can thrive.
19:45And I think that does go back of really knowing the needs, go back to, excuse me,
19:50knowing the needs of your community.
19:52You know, during this time, I think it's easy to, or during any time of hardship,
19:56it's kind of easy to, you know, see things that everyone is doing and think that there may be
20:00a blanket solution as a small business owner or try things that maybe are not for your business
20:05or not for your community.
20:06And so Marcus, if you could quickly give us two kind of ways that business owners can assure that
20:13they're properly accessing the needs of their customer base, their business, and really, you know,
20:17leaning on that to fulfill the specific needs of their community.
20:20Very similar to what you've done in Harlem with the way that you've been operating the business
20:25and being able to feed people during this time.
20:27So I want to get one quick tip from you, Marcus, on how, you know, business owners can make sure
20:32to properly assess the needs of their community.
20:34And then I also want to get a quick one from you, Melissa.
20:36Well, I think if I don't look at it from a traditional customer anymore,
20:43that didn't mean that I don't have experience and I don't have worth, right?
20:46So I think about my restaurant in terms of skill set.
20:49I can still cook.
20:50Well, let's figure out how to do that online.
20:52We can still coordinate.
20:53Well, let's figure out how to do that.
20:55So you can still help out in your community because you have the skill sets that you obviously
21:01worked on for years and years.
21:02So I do think that everyone can help out at this given time and it's never been more important
21:09and it's probably never going to be more fulfilling either to help out during this time.
21:16Nope.
21:19In terms of making sure that you're serving your community to Marcus's point, like you should
21:25know your customer, like as a business owner, you know, this isn't your first rodeo.
21:30So yes, this is, this is unprecedented.
21:33We couldn't have imagined this, you know, five months ago, but also like you should have data
21:40that lets you know why your customers, you know, why they rock with you, why they shop
21:44with you, why they eat at your restaurants, whatever service or product it is that you
21:50provide for that customer.
21:51You should know why.
21:52And I think that this, and if you don't like, it's always fine to collect more data.
21:57So we're always serving our customers, you know, and we do that in very formal ways,
22:02like by sending out email surveys, but also we do it very simply on social media.
22:07So it's like, talk to your customers.
22:10Like, don't be afraid to reach out and say, Hey, how can I help you?
22:14What do you want from the lip bar right now?
22:17What do you want from red rooster right now?
22:20Like one of the things I want from red rooster right now is for me to be able to buy a meal
22:24that I can just pop in my oven and bake it, you know?
22:27So how do we think about and make sure that we're actually asking them?
22:37Like, I think one of the biggest mistakes you can make as an entrepreneur is just to
22:41assume that you know everything about your customer.
22:43No, you have to constantly touch base.
22:45You have to constantly revise your business plan.
22:48You have to constantly think about, okay, how do I make sure that I'm not relying on
22:53what happened yesterday to get me through tomorrow?
22:55Because that's not how the world works.
22:57We, we change every day.
22:59Like the only thing in life that's constant is change.
23:01So it's like, you got to be ready and willing to, to adopt.
23:06Can I just talk a lot?
23:07Sure.
23:08I just want to say one quick.
23:10I do think that brand equity, it's very, very important and pivoting, being able to pivot.
23:15And you look around you, people do big brands do that all the time, right?
23:19They pivot.
23:20And that's because of, like Melissa said, the data they have, and they've been able to look forward.
23:25So brand equity and pivoting just a little bit.
23:29Thank you for that.
23:30Now we've talked quite a bit today about, you know, leaning into your network.
23:34We've talked about building your customer base and kind of connecting.
23:38Melissa, you talked about connecting with other businesses often to just kind of
23:42exchange ideas and see, you know, how they're working within their own businesses as entrepreneurs
23:47and really keep that conversation going.
23:50But I'm sure you guys can both also remember, you know, the beginning of your journey when
23:54you just kind of were just starting out, not sure where to start in terms of how do I build
23:59this network?
23:59How do I properly assess my customer?
24:01How do I kind of connect with other business owners to partner to see what different things
24:06that we can do?
24:08So before we wrap up here, the last question actually, what advice would you guys have for
24:13people who are looking to do that, to kind of start building that network and start really just
24:20connecting with other businesses in their orbit to see what partnerships are available to take things
24:26to the next level for them?
24:27Marcus, if you want to go ahead and start?
24:29Well, if you have the bandwidth and emotional and strength, this is actually an interesting time
24:40to start a business because out of this, it's going to come a new skill set and needs going to be
24:47different, right?
24:49So I think it is a time where you can actually start thinking slowly what is next.
24:55And every business will change a little bit.
24:59So whether that's being more online, being more tech savvy, whatever it might be,
25:04there is an opportunity after this.
25:06And this might be a moment to start a business as crazy as it sounds.
25:11That is great.
25:11That's very succinct advice.
25:13And Melissa, what about you?
25:14Well, I would say, like I mentioned earlier, I think all relationships, you have to look at it
25:22from a mutually beneficial standpoint.
25:24So reach out to those people and let them know how you can help them.
25:28I think that's like one of the best ways to get a mentor.
25:30That's the best way to collaborate with someone.
25:32Let them know that you're not only thinking from a selfish perspective,
25:36but you're also seeing an opportunity within their business that you can perhaps fill.
25:40Like I can fill this gap or this white space.
25:44And I think that's the best way to approach any relationship.
25:48Well, thank you guys so much for joining us today.
25:50You guys have really provided a lot of advice that will equip people to not just think outside
25:55the box, but also act outside the box, right?
25:57Which is where it really starts when you start putting what you know and what you've learned
26:02into motion.
26:04So thank you guys for that.
26:05Really, really quickly, they're wrapping me up here, but I did want you guys to let people
26:09know where they can find you on social.
26:11And if you want to quickly mention anything that you're working on that people should know about
26:15and support, shoot.
26:17Go ahead.
26:20Well, you can find The Lit Bar on thelitbar.com and Target stores across the country.
26:25So shop at Target for The Lit Bar when you're buying your groceries or other essential items.
26:30And then on social at The Lit Bar across all platforms.
26:34Cool.
26:35You can find me at Marcus Cooks.
26:38And yeah, we do a bunch of stuff there.
26:40We announce there.
26:41So yeah, man.
26:43Thank you so much, Essence, for hosting us.
26:45This was amazing.
26:46And I miss you guys.
26:49I miss my community.
26:50So thank you.
26:52Yeah.
26:52Thank you guys so much.
26:53I can't wait to get out of quarantine.
26:55Go back to Red Rooster.
26:56If you've been to Harlem, everybody knows Red Rooster is a spot.
26:58You've never not been to Harlem and not been to Red Rooster.
27:01It's not a thing.
27:02And same thing with The Lit Bar.
27:03I can't wait till we can go back outside and, you know, get our faces beat again.
27:07I have Lit Bar colors.
27:08Can't wait to buy some more.
27:10So thank you guys so much for joining us today.
27:13I'll see you in the deep minutes.
27:14I'm going to see you in Detroit.
27:17And everyone watching, be sure to stay tuned for our next segment.
27:21And please, please, please come back for our pitch competition today, where you'll be
27:25able to see 10 black women entrepreneurs kind of buy for their chance to win thousands of
27:32dollars in funding.
27:33It'll be super exciting.
27:34Please come back.
27:34And thank you guys.
27:44I'll see you in the next segment.
27:47The idea was we would take the wealth that we had created in our Sundial Shea Moisture business,
27:54and we would invest that wealth directly back into black women entrepreneurs within our communities.
28:00Today, we've invested in over 50 black women-owned businesses.
28:15I'm excited and proud to announce that for our seventh one here, we now have another 10 new investments.
28:26And so I'd now like to announce our 10 winners.
28:30Congratulations, Ed.
28:39We're so impressed with your business.
28:41We're so moved by the intentionality and, you know, the pillar in our communities has been our churches.
28:50And to have somebody thinking about how we can make them stronger financially is very important.
28:55So we're going to invest another $5,000.
29:00So congratulations.
29:03How are you doing?
29:06Congratulations.
30:08So, we know that Essence's mission is always to support Black female entrepreneurs, and
30:26this show is no different.
30:27I have a treat for you.
30:28It's a live tutorial from Chioma of Cece's Closet.
30:33Hey, everyone.
30:34So, thank you so much for coming down and joining us today.
30:37Well, thank you for having me.
30:38I'm so excited to be here.
30:39I'm really excited.
30:40I love a head rep, and I never do it successfully, so I'm going to be paying attention today.
30:45All right, we're going to change that for you today.
30:47Next rep will be blessed, I promise.
30:48So, before we get into the demo, tell me a little bit about your story and how you got
30:53started.
30:53Sure.
30:54So, we started at Cece's Closet back in 2015, right after I graduated from college.
30:58And for me, it was all about creating amazing economic opportunity in Nigeria and also creating
31:02beautiful products that would make women feel confident and lovely every time they went out.
31:06So, we're all about self-confidence, self-love, and a lot of beautiful bold prints.
31:11I love it.
31:12And you mentioned a little bit about your mission in Nigeria.
31:15Talk a little bit more about that and being global.
31:18Yeah, of course.
31:19So, all of our African print products are actually handmade in Nigeria.
31:22So, we partner with independent tailors there to hand-make all of our products.
31:26And this is great for creating economic opportunity.
31:28Like, one of our tailors was able to get a car.
31:30Another tailors now sending our kids to school.
31:32So, it really creates life-changing opportunities there.
31:35And that's what we're all about here at Cece's Closet.
31:37So, amazing.
31:38So, you see how far your dollars go.
31:40Not only will you be getting amazing, beautiful products, but you're supporting an amazing
31:44cause as well.
31:45So, great.
31:46And you, actually, two years ago, were one of the few vendors that were chosen to be
31:50a part of as this new Voices Fund.
31:53Talk a little bit about the benefits of joining such a great organization.
31:57I mean, other than the cash.
31:58I think one of the great things is that you really have a community of entrepreneurs to
32:03lead on.
32:03I think with entrepreneurship, even though I work with my sister, who's amazing, it can
32:06get very lonely because you just don't quite know what you're doing.
32:09You don't know who to ask questions to.
32:10And with the new Voices Fund, you have that built-in community of people to ask questions
32:14to, to ask for help, so that you can really make the journey a lot easier.
32:17Yeah.
32:18So, amazing.
32:19Speaking of amazingness, you're going to hook us up with a tutorial right now?
32:23Yes, ma'am.
32:23Yeah.
32:24Okay.
32:24So, what do we have up first?
32:26So, up first, we've got the gorgeous Cica Silk Line Shorty.
32:31So, this is a gorgeous black satin with gold foil, and then we've got a poly silk interior.
32:37So, it's great for moisture retention.
32:39So, this is like the wrap.
32:41And if you walk into any room with this wrap on, you're going to be that girl.
32:43I love it.
32:44You love to be that girl.
32:46All right.
32:46So, what's the technique that you're going to use?
32:48So, I'm going to show you guys how to do the Three Knots to Heaven style.
32:51So, this is one of my quick and easy go-tos.
32:53So, whenever I start a wrap style, I always want to make sure that I'm covering the nape
32:57of my neck, in the back, and the top of the ears.
33:00Yeah.
33:01And with this style, you want to make sure that the wrap is even when you get started.
33:05Okay.
33:06And we're going to do the first tie right to the crown of her head.
33:10You want to make sure it's nice and secure.
33:12Okay.
33:13So, that's going to be the first and only tight knot that you're doing.
33:17And then the other knots are all about decoration.
33:20So, these are going to be loose, quick, and easy.
33:22So, this nice loose knot here.
33:25And then another loose knot right here.
33:28This is definitely a science tool.
33:30Oh, for sure.
33:30Once you know the steps, then you got it.
33:32Well, if you think it looks so easy.
33:32And then I'm going to take this end piece right here, and I'm going to just tuck it right
33:37into the top.
33:40Take this end piece right here, and tuck it right into the top.
33:44I love that.
33:45And I love this wrap because it's fashion and function.
33:48You got the silk lining on the inside, but then on the outside, it's just that moment,
33:53which is so beautiful.
33:55So, what's the next style you have for us?
33:56So, next, we're going to be working with the Auradana Shorty, which is one of our gorgeous
34:01options that we have on Shop Essence.
34:04So, this has this electric yellow with this gorgeous, gorgeous purple, and this is going
34:08to really make you pop a pop of color for any outfit.
34:10And purple is one of my favorites.
34:12I love a purple.
34:14So, all of these styles that she's showing you guys today, they're available at shop.essence.com.
34:20And you heard her story earlier.
34:22Every dollar that you spend, not only will you be getting these fabulous products, but
34:26you're also getting to a global cause, which is absolutely amazing.
34:30I love that.
34:31So, what is the technique you're going to use here for this one?
34:34So, we're going to do a super quick and easy top knot.
34:37So, I like to do a twisted knot with mine.
34:40And so, again, we're going to start again, nape of the neck covered, top of the ears covered.
34:44It helps with the stability of the style.
34:47And you want to make sure it's even because it'll make it easier to tie.
34:51And we're going to do that first secure knot right to the crown of the head.
34:55The first knot is key.
34:56I see all the mistakes of my past coming back, but now I know.
35:01Thank you for putting us on.
35:02You got it, guys.
35:03So, now we're going to just do a quick two-strand twist right here.
35:08And this is going to just give some more texture to the style.
35:11And once it's twisted, we're going to go around that initial knot.
35:16Just go around just like your, kind of like a cinnamon bun, a little pretzel action.
35:20And then you tuck the ends into the top.
35:22That's so cute and easy.
35:23You know I was wringing it out like a towel before.
35:25And it was not working.
35:27So, that is absolutely cool.
35:28I feel like this is a much easier technique to use for sure.
35:31Yeah, that is so cool.
35:32So, not only do you have head wraps, you also have some other products to show us.
35:36Yes, so we just added gorgeous headbands to Shop Essence.
35:41And we created this product because customers wanted a product that would be just like kind of quick and easy.
35:46You put it on and you go.
35:47Right, right.
35:47That was key.
35:48Exactly.
35:49I love that.
35:50So, any day your edges aren't quite acting right, you kind of need to do a puff, but you want to spice it up, the headband is for you.
35:55So, our amazing model, Brittany, is wearing the Missara headband, which is like this gorgeous purple.
36:00It's got gold.
36:01It's got orange.
36:02It's got brown.
36:03So, this is like a great pop of color to any outfit.
36:05That's so beautiful.
36:07And then we also have two other headbands available on Shop Essence.
36:11The TT, which is the one that I'm wearing, which is one of my favorites because yellow is my favorite color.
36:16And this has hints of red, which I think is really great for it, especially if you've got melanated skin.
36:20It's going to really help your skin pop.
36:21And then finally, we have the Noir Bugo headband.
36:25And this is like a beautiful green.
36:27And I feel like green is that low-key neutral that people always forget about.
36:30Like you can put green with just about any color and it'll still look good.
36:33Right.
36:33I absolutely love that.
36:35And how do you come up with the names for each of your products?
36:37They're all so beautiful.
36:38That's a good question.
36:40So, we try to take names from the continent because we also want to like normalize hearing names from the continent.
36:44So, we have names that are South African.
36:46We have names that are Nigerian.
36:48We have names that are Evo, Ishikiri.
36:50We have names that are from like Tui, like Ghana.
36:52So, we really try to put names out there that are like, make you feel beauty and pride when you hear them.
36:58Well, thank you so much for coming today.
37:00I have learned so much.
37:02And I'm just like so inspired by your mission and all of your products.
37:06So, absolutely amazing.
37:08Remember, shop.essence.com.
37:10Ladies, I know you want ways to juge up your outfits.
37:13And you know when we're on that like third week of our braids, we need something to, you know, refresh those braids.
37:19She's got you covered.
37:20Go to shop.essence.com.
37:22Go to shop.essence.com.
37:52Go to shop.essence.com.
38:03Hi, everyone.
38:05Welcome back.
38:05If you've already.
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