00:00Growing up, I can remember my mother putting Christmas trees in every corner of our house.
00:08She painted angels and Santas to look black like our family.
00:12We created memories from those moments, and those moments are part of the inspiration
00:15behind green top gifts.
00:18When I had my son in 2014, I wanted to share those memories with him, but I quickly realized
00:23there was still a large void in the category and the items didn't exist.
00:27So that's when I decided to start my own business.
00:30If 2020 has taught us anything, it's that representation matters.
00:34People want to see themselves in the products that they use.
00:37It's important for children to see themselves in the books they read, the television shows
00:40they watch, and even in their family tradition.
00:43And it's not just important for black and brown children to see diverse images, but it's important
00:47for all children.
00:49And as parents, we try to be intentional about the images we show our children, but the options
00:54for black families is sometimes extremely limited.
00:56If you look in retail stores, there's still a lack of diversity in birthday, graduation,
01:00and baby showers.
01:02Our customers have told us that we're filling a void that some retailers just aren't.
01:06With over a decade of CPG experience, I use my business acumen to create gift wrap, apparel,
01:11and home decor featuring a black Santa Claus, Clarence Claus, specifically to fill that void.
01:18We work with a team of illustrators, graphic designers, content creators, and a warehouse that manages
01:24our fulfillment with the capability to ship our orders via EDI and Amazon fulfillment.
01:29Now, when you look at the size of the market, in 2019, $8.5 billion was spent on gift wrap
01:36in the U.S., $495 million was spent by black Americans in a category that doesn't serve them.
01:45Our products include gift wrap, home decor, and apparel, such as family pajamas.
01:49In 2020, we more than quadrupled our annual sales.
01:52Our products are sold primarily online, and we've also partnered with a few independent gift
01:57and retail stores to test out the environment for us.
02:00In 2020, we were even invited to Target's corporate headquarters to share our brand with their
02:05valuable team.
02:07It isn't just Christmas that lacks diversity.
02:10Our product grow back includes baby shower, graduations, and birthday products.
02:14We want to bring diversity to all of these moments.
02:17As we continue to grow, we have to expand into content, such as cartoons and a book series
02:22featuring our characters.
02:24Now, how do we keep the party going?
02:26We do that through marketplaces, social media, marketing of television and film,
02:31and we do it through partnerships.
02:33We've been featured in Essence, Good Housekeeping, and in 2020, we were the official gift wrap
02:37sponsor of Oprah's favorite things.
02:40Now, as we wrap things up, we're open to bringing on interested retail partners, and we're also
02:46interested in getting interested investors to help us continue to grow and scale our business.
02:50We may have started with clearance clause and Christmas items, but love, joy, and family
02:55are at the core of all that we do, and our focus is to continue to bring diversity to
02:59all of your celebrations.
03:07Hi, Jacqueline.
03:08Hi.
03:09How are you?
03:10I'm good.
03:11Nice to meet you.
03:12Great pitch.
03:13Congrats on all your success today.
03:14It's pretty tremendous.
03:16And my wife and I are consumers of the wrapping paper and all things Clarence Clause.
03:25So thank you for your contribution.
03:26That's awesome.
03:27I'll kick it off and then I'll turn it over to my fellow judges.
03:32If you look forward, you know, 25 years, you know, what's the big vision?
03:38Do you want to be a content company?
03:40Do you want to be a product company?
03:42How do you sort of think about, you know, Green Top's place in the market over that period
03:48of time?
03:49Give us a sense for what the master plan is, because it sounds like it's more than just
03:53Clarence.
03:55It is.
03:56Clarence was the start of our company and wrapping paper was something I wanted for my son.
04:00But there's so many opportunities and moments outside of celebrations that we want to bring
04:04diversity to for children to see themselves.
04:07We have to do that through content, as you mentioned, book series and creating characters
04:12outside of just Christmas that will serve children of all cultures and ethnicities.
04:18I'll turn it over to Keena, my fellow judge.
04:23Jacqueline, thank you for sharing your gift with the world.
04:29I am so excited about this particular brand that you created.
04:34Clarence Clause is absolutely brilliant.
04:37And also congratulations on the invitation you received from Target to hear more about
04:42your company.
04:44As I think through the long-term vision, as Robbie mentioned, you know, I'm really curious
04:52about what's the breakdown of the categories that you currently sell compared to where you
04:58want to go in the future.
04:59Can you tell me a little bit more about that?
05:03Of course.
05:04We launched obviously with Christmas products.
05:06We're currently producing and manufacturing birthday baby shower and graduation products
05:11that are in production right now.
05:13And we're super excited about them.
05:15And they have a host of characters that are multicultural with different skin tones and
05:20hair textures to really reflect our multicultural society.
05:24And so that is the next step for us until there are so many other moments that are a white space
05:29in the retail market that we want to fill with more diverse products.
05:34I think it's brilliant.
05:35I'm not yet a consumer, but I assume we'll be really into Christmas and all of the celebrations.
05:45Really congratulations on what you've built so far.
05:48My question sort of stems from the other two.
05:51You're in a space where you're going to be doing a fair amount of content.
05:55So one of the questions I have is how are you thinking around intellectual property and
06:00standing out relative to competitors that you may see popping up?
06:04Of course, when we started, no one was in this space and now there are lots of other people
06:10who are trying to do what we started.
06:13And it's really important for me as a mom, I wanted my son to see diversity.
06:17And so I know there's so many other mothers and fathers that are looking for these items
06:21in stores.
06:22And I think what makes us different is that we know that there is a market of 500 million
06:27dollars of product that is bought every year by black Americans and they're not being
06:31served.
06:32And so we wanted to do that with creation of Clarence Claus, who's obviously trademarked
06:36and we're creating other characters that really reflect and show children that they can see
06:40themselves on the shelf and it may not look just like them, but it may have something that
06:45they can identify with, be if it's freckles or braids or dreads or red hair or if it's
06:50super long curly hair.
06:51So those are things that we're really intentional about when we're creating our products and we
06:55work with the team of illustrators that help us to do that.
07:01That's great.
07:02I'm going to cheat.
07:03I have one last question that it's just burning at me.
07:06Given you can go in a variety of directions, how are you thinking about prioritizing capital?
07:13Because obviously not all dollars are going to create the same return.
07:18So as you are building, how do you think about staging and sequence and return on investment?
07:25We started with Christmas, that being the biggest season for wrapping paper.
07:28And then we wanted to expand into birthdays.
07:30So that's our next foray because Christmas makes us a seasonal business.
07:34Birthday allows us to have and sell product and innovate all year long.
07:38And so that is where we want to go next into the capital, using our capital to create and develop
07:43product and use that for inventory.
07:45And then after that, obviously there are other moments like graduation and baby shower.
07:49And then once our consumers are aware and understand our characters, we'd like to expand into additional
07:56content that they can consume via television or cartoons and shorts and a book series.
08:01Did that answer your question?
08:04It did.
08:05And if I cheated, I guess others can cheat too.
08:07If not, are you guys okay?
08:12Yeah.
08:13Let me have room for one more.
08:16Is it okay?
08:19So one of the things really quickly that I wanted to know from you is right now, your
08:24focus is children.
08:26Do you see yourself focused on children long-term or ever venturing off to the adult space as
08:31well?
08:32Adult space as well.
08:34Obviously our graduation product would be more towards a college graduate and there are
08:38also other moments.
08:39So celebrations, everyone's invited to the party.
08:41We want to serve all those consumers that when they're in the party section and they're
08:45looking at greeting cards and they're looking at items, there aren't items that serve them
08:49and that reflect them and we want to be that space for them.
08:52So just bringing more diversity to the celebrations and moments that are dear to people.
08:56So when you go to the party, you want to feel included.
08:58And that's what we really hope to do.
09:01Thank you for answering that.
09:03Perfect.
09:04Of course.
09:05Great.
09:06Jacqueline, congrats on all your success today.
09:11Okay.
09:12Bye-bye.
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