00:00Hello, and welcome to a competition that gives up and coming entrepreneurs the chance to land
00:07a 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?
00:59Yes.
00:59Yes.
01:00Hailing from Baltimore, Maryland, this entrepreneur is not shy about the creative miss she's determined
01:07to bring to Walmart. Kalilah Wright of Miss in a Bottle.
01:13She will make it work.
01:14I am right. Story of my life.
01:17All the girls in my high school, they love fashion, and I did too. But I was inspired to
01:25wear a hard hat. I wanted to be that one girl on a construction site, so I moved to Baltimore,
01:31Maryland to go to graduate school in architecture.
01:35Freddie Gray!
01:36Freddie Gray!
01:36Freddie Gray!
01:37In 2015, Freddie Gray died while in police custody. This happened in my Baltimore City neighborhood.
01:44I left my six-figure job, and I decided to start Mess in a Bottle as a way of giving people
01:53a voice. Mess in a Bottle is a t-shirt company. We put messages on t-shirts, and they come packaged
02:02in a reusable bottle. We have messages about love, life, career, current events, anything
02:09and everything that's happening in the world around us. Those are the messages we like
02:14to promote. I started this company with less than $500, and we have hit over a million dollars
02:22in sales. We have borders through the roof, and I am so grateful. And I have been able
02:30to hire 16 African-American women.
02:34Hi!
02:37Walmart.
02:39Girl, can you imagine? So this would mean the world to me.
02:43Hi, Kalila.
02:44Hi, everyone.
02:46Thank you so much for that introduction to your brand. How did you land on A Mess in a Bottle?
02:51My Baltimore City neighborhood was in shambles. It was burning due to the riots, due to people
02:57being upset, as they rightfully should. And I looked around me, and I said, it's a mess.
03:03Everything is a mess. And I wanted to evoke change. And my way of doing this was starting
03:09Mess in a Bottle. My t-shirt company derives from the 310 B.C. concept of receiving a message
03:17in the ocean. And so that is how the name Mess in a Bottle came about.
03:21Can 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.
03:39I 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?
03:51Really 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
04:05way for you 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
04:26you 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
04:38cost. COVID was a major factor in our bottle manufacturing. And, you know, to be honest,
04:44the 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.
04:58And so 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
05:25amount, depending on the volume.
05:27Okay.
05:28Do you have the scale that it would take to supply a Walmart?
05:31I think that right now we are only on e-commerce. And as I mentioned before, we started the company
05:38with 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, whether that's, it's very important to me to make sure that I am giving back
05:51to the Baltimore community. There's buildings here. We can expand.
05:55Okay, 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.
06:12I'm excited about her having a purpose and this notion of community. That's who we are. We take
06:24care of community at Walmart. So, you know, those two things, I think, you know, we certainly have
06:29in common.
06:29I'm really excited about this Black woman having a product in stores and giving, you know, young
06:36women and even grown women something to aspire to.
06:40I think that Kalila is incredible and I loved her energy. I love her vision. Just a big flag
06:46for me is that the brand is called Mess in a Bottle. So Bottle is a component of it.
06:52I think talking a little bit more about scaling at Walmart, that's huge.
06:59I think we've made a decision. I think we know if Kalila is ready for Walmart shelves.
07:04I think the judges were really intrigued by the company. I'm honored. I think I'm super
07:12humbled 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 story, taking
07:26us on this journey that you've been on since 2016. I think we can all agree that your passion
07:32is unmatched.
07:34One of the things that we all had to spend a little bit time thinking about was the actual
07:39bottle and how does the cost contribute to the profitability.
07:45So Kalila, after a lot of deliberation, are you a little bit nervous?
07:51A lot nervous.
07:52We were also very impressed with you that Mess in a Bottle will go on the shelves at walmart.com.
08:08Thank you guys so much.
08:14Thank you guys so much.
08:17You said welcome to the Walmart family where we have millions of visitors that come to
08:23our .com site every day and they look and shop for amazing items like yours. So welcome to
08:33Walmart.com.
08:35Congrats Kalila. Thank you. Thank you so much. Why am I tearing up like my-
08:41I know. You guys, my makeup. I know. I am so happy that the world is now going to have
08:52access to what this black woman created. Thank you.
08:56Oh, the sky's the limit in terms of what you can do. Yeah.
08:59And we can't wait to wear our shirts.
09:01Thank you. This means the world to me. Thank you.
09:06I'm so excited. I can't even believe what just happened. I'm just beyond grateful and excited about this.
09:16Growing up and, you know, even majoring in architecture, I've been in many spaces where I didn't fit in.
09:24Now I'm standing in a space that I've created. I would have never fathomed that I would be here five years later.
09:34It's life changing. I think I can't wait to go and show my son what a black woman created. Like, I'm just ecstatic.
09:43So I'm coming home, home, home. I'm coming home. Mama, I'm coming home. I'm coming home.
09:57I'm coming home.
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