- 5 days ago
A Special Shop Essence Live in partnership with New Voices Foundation sponsored by Walmart. Learn about the dynamic products from our Black businesses as we prepare for the holidays. We're speaking with Alaffia, Mielle Organics, The Honey Pot & The Lip Bar. Tap in and bring a friend!
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00this is a very special episode of shop essence live my name is noni donovan i am vice president
00:10of branded content and video here at essence i am so excited for this special edition sponsored
00:16by walmart we're giving you all black owned brands available at walmart.com to fulfill all
00:23the christmas lists that you have i know you have a lot of loved ones in your life to get for
00:27and why not make it all black owned brands on today's show we're going to have incredible
00:33products by myel organics we have the lip bar alafia and the honeypot these founders are going
00:40to tell you all about their products and we're live live live for a reason so make sure that you
00:46ask your questions i'll be looking in the comments to get your questions answered melissa hey how are
00:52you thank you so much for joining us melissa now lip bar you guys had such an incredible
00:58year this year like what what was one of the highlights of your year so far oh goodness
01:04there have been so many things so um we did some amazing collaborations with other black women
01:11founders we closed our series a fundraising round um lit by black investors um i continue to build my
01:21my team my team is all women which is one of the things that i'm like most proud about because at
01:27the end of the day i'm like i want to make sure that we are servicing our customer by being our
01:32customer um so so many highlights i'm just i'm really grateful but i'm also very excited for what's to come
01:39so good um so melissa i want to get into these products right so what do you have that you want to
01:47highlight i do have i you guys are known for this red unmovable red lip that i am wearing uh do you
01:55want to talk a little bit about this and the benefits of it for those that are not familiar
01:59with the lip bar so if you're not familiar with the lip bar we're not called the lip bar for no reason
02:04i literally started the company making lipstick in my kitchen um and that has expanded to into a
02:11phenomena we are known for our reds and our nudes our reds have been worn by the likes of everyone
02:18from michelle obama to taraji p henson boss lady which is what i'm wearing right now is our best
02:25selling red in the entire company but like the little sister to boss lady is actually hot mama and
02:31she's a little bit brighter but also going to last just as long our liquid mats i always tease people i say
02:39if you go to sleep in it you're gonna wake up in it so the reds are super long lasting but they're
02:45also not gonna dry your lips out and so that's the benefit of it if i kiss my hand like it's not
02:52it's not coming off so those are those are our reds and then you have our concealer now the concealer
03:03will just sort of brighten up your look the concealer like it gives you sort of that i i woke
03:12up and i tried to take care of myself just a little bit but i don't look like i'm trying too hard
03:17so i have on right now i have on the brow pencil which all of these products you can get at in walmart
03:24stores and on walmart.com so i have on the brow pencil this took me like 30 seconds to do i put on a
03:31little concealer under my eye i put on mascara and i put on a lip now this makes it look like i have on
03:37a full face of makeup but i don't i have on these four products that completely completely transformed
03:45my look the brow the concealer the mascara and the lip to make it seem like you know i'm not trying too
03:53hard but i care a little bit and so this is sort of like my perfect look for the holidays i think that
03:59the holidays are the best time for a red lip so so great and this is good but there's a lot of women
04:07we look at other people and their makeup looks so perfect but you don't know where to start like you
04:12guys have such a great system the fast face system i love and then also the try on tool on your own
04:18website it's really great it looks so authentic like you literally have put the lips on yourself
04:24really really amazing so you guys are helping those women that like my auntie was like well i want to
04:31wear makeup like you wear makeup what do i do i'm gonna go go go check out the lip bar they will hook
04:36you up and you guys are so so great melissa i want to thank you so much for joining and all the
04:43businesses that are featured today are a part of the new voices family i'd love for you to just touch on
04:48new voices and what being a part of that foundation has done for you throughout your journey as a black
04:54entrepreneur yeah the lip bar was one of the really early companies in the new voices fund um and it was
05:03such an incredible experience for us because i started my business in such a scrappy way and to
05:08um be able to lean on the expertise of people who have done exactly what i want to do in terms of
05:15scaling your business in a massive way launching massively in large retailers like walmart um
05:22building a sustainable supply chain where you can make sure that your customers are getting your
05:28products i know that y'all have seen all of the out of stocks on shelves and so the new voices fund
05:34sort of helped me navigate that in a in a very real way while also providing access to capital and one
05:41of the things that a lot of founders say is like oh i need money to grow and it's like in some ways
05:47that might be true but that's never the only thing money is never sort of like your biggest problem you
05:53need money plus expertise or you need money plus mentorship and the new voices fund provided exactly
05:59that so i'm happy to be a part of of the family thank you so much melissa for joining us
06:05um on this holiday special is there anything else you guys have available at walmart.com around the
06:11holidays that people should be on the lookout for be on the lookout for for promotions we are we are
06:18in that holiday season and we want you to think about you know our red lips or our new lips as like
06:24your perfect stocking stuffers so be on the lookout when you log on to walmart.com look for that
06:30it stands for the lip bar so first entry product is definitely a red or a new lip you will make
06:38someone very happy in your family so thanks for having me thank you so much melissa all right so
06:45if you have just tuned in this is shop essence live holiday special sponsored by walmart we're
06:52bringing you all black owned brands that you can shop right at walmart.com i know you guys have
06:58these long lists of people to buy for don't do it to yourself and wait till christmas weekend that i
07:03have been guilty of you can go to walmart.com right now and shop all black owned brands they have so
07:09many and one of them anna anna i'm bringing you in next girl is alafia hair care and i absolutely love
07:18their line of products for curly girls hey anna hi stephanie how are you i'm doing wonderful and you
07:27look amazing i'm loving this bun oh thank you you got a little tinsel got a little tinsel moment
07:34um so i'd love to get into alafia what is the brand story of alafia and how did you guys uh come up with
07:42this brand yeah so i'm standing in for alawanjo we call him ot um he actually this is a business
07:51actually uh started you know he's from uh togo west africa and um actually started because you
07:59know growing up as a young boy he always you you know would watch his mom and she was a very hard
08:04worker very admirable woman um but she wasn't getting paid very fair wages and so um you know
08:10that entrepreneur spirit you know ot actually uh started alafia um the company and so um alafia
08:19actually means um peace and good health okay so we're spreading all of that this christmas season
08:25um and so yeah so i mean all of the uh refined uh we have all unrefined uh shea butter is in all of our
08:34products and all of that is made in west africa by our queen alafia is what we call them um and so
08:41like uh that's you know every percentage that is um when you buy a piece of alafia a product of alafia
08:49a piece of that goes back to the community that he actually was raised up in so it's really like
08:54this uh cycle and it's very intentional ot's in and so yeah i love the mission of this company so
09:01so great so i do want to get into these products i really love receiving hair care products in my
09:08stocking stuff for every christmas my kids don't know what to buy with my husband and they know if
09:14you get me some really good hair care products natural hair care products we know that that can
09:18add up ladies can that not add up so it's a really really great gift it's a really great gift
09:24so what what products do you want to highlight and remember you guys at home if you have any
09:28questions about anything here whether it's the entrepreneur journey the story of the company
09:33or just about the products and how to use them make sure that you're hitting me up in the comments
09:38i am watching and i'll get your questions answered um so anna what's the first product
09:42that you want to highlight all right stephanie i have our authentic african black soap collection
09:47our scalp care shampoo and our conditioner um we chose this one just simply because well first of
09:54all i don't know if you if you're willing but i would really love if you would open up
09:58the tea tree and mint conditioner and always can smell it number one it smells so good but this is
10:05our scalp care um shampoo and conditioner it is you know uh helps with dry uh dried scalp and you know
10:12just making sure that your scalp is cleansed um it smells really really good but um we chose this one
10:18just um you know i i have braids in my hair um but you know we wear our protective styles uh you know
10:24i'll probably i'll probably have this in for about a a month or so but i definitely want to make sure
10:30that my scalp is cleansed okay and you know if the scalp is nice and cleansed it's nice and healthy
10:35um so yeah so we have the you got you on this all day keep it cleansed keep it fresh you don't have to
10:44do that you don't have to do that so after a good after we have our good uh you know shampoo and
10:50conditioner again this is for our uh this is our scalp care for dry scalp and that type of thing
10:56uh we also have our defined collection of beautiful curls um this is for our textured hair uh ladies and
11:03men um but this is for our type 3 consumer um and it's very important like after you cleanse your hair
11:10then you you know go back in with some moisture and so our leave-in uh conditioner here and we also
11:16have this amazing hydrated oil that it means pause pause pause in the leave-in conditioner because
11:22it smells amazing i love it it smells so good yes i love it um and then and then lastly i'll just show
11:32you this really quick um because i've been waiting all day to put this in for for right now this is
11:36our hydrating oil um really good to use like in between washes um also you know so what i do i just
11:43spray it on my little scalp right there you know spray it on my scalp you know it helps to keep it
11:49moisturize um put it on my uh put it on my scalp as well but um yeah i absolutely love this company
11:55i love the mission um on all of our bottles you know we have our stats here because like i said earlier
12:02every percentage that you put into alafia it's going back into uh the community that's creating this
12:08unrefined shea butter right and so um over the years um we've uh you know we've helped out with
12:15maternal care we've given school supplies bicycles i could give you the exact numbers but if you looked
12:20on the back you'd be able to see so it's almost like you get a chance to see exactly where your
12:24money is going as well and i thought that was very intentional on ot's and so yes these are great
12:30for stocking stuffers these are great you know just meant by me and my husband actually fight over
12:35these products thank you so much for joining us again these products are all available on walmart.com
12:44if you don't now you can get it in time you don't have to go out on the mad dash and rush um and get
12:49these products anna you're so great thank you so much for joining me thank you so reminder you are
12:55tuned into shop essence live holiday special sponsored by walmart we are looking at all black
13:01brands that are available on walmart.com to help you fulfill on your shopping list just a reminder
13:08this is in partnership with the new voices family there have been plenty of times where people have
13:14watched these streams they're sitting on an idea or they just started their business and they want
13:18to be on shop essence live um so you just have to join the new voices family if you go to instagram
13:24and follow them at new voices family they'll give you all the instructions there's a link in their bio
13:30and i could be talking to you in just a few weeks okay so make sure you do up next i'm going to bring
13:36you such an inspiring black entrepreneur i know that you've heard of her i know that you've heard
13:41of her products and she has just such an amazing line i want to get into and we're going to talk about
13:48why this is a great great uh gift that you can get for somebody in your life this christmas
13:54bee hi for anybody that's been on iraq that that has not heard of the honeypot can you just give us
14:01a little bit of what your brand journey has been and where you guys are now yeah i mean our brand
14:08journey you know there's definitely people who haven't heard of honeypot um and for those who
14:14haven't our brand journey or my brand journey or journey to this brand rather was essentially
14:20through my own issues that i was having with my own vagina i had bacterial vaginosis and i had it
14:28for almost a year and essentially my grandmother came to me in a dream told me what to do um basically
14:36told me gave me a list of ingredients for a wash that she told me would actually solve my problem
14:43and so you know at the time i worked at whole foods i went to work i bought all the stuff i went home and
14:50i made myself a formula which was our normal wash um and so you know that was what that was in 2012
15:032012 so we're basically 10 years in but um and it and it and it's blossomed you know when when that
15:11happened i thought you know i remember the moment i was literally going pee um
15:19you know and i remember the moment of realizing that because i had bacterial vaginosis at the time
15:28right and i had only used this wash that my grandmother told me about i had only used it
15:33for a few days maybe four or five days and and i noticed that what i noticed that basically the bb was
15:42gone you know and i was sitting there and being like this is what i do now you know and so and then
15:52here we are and here we are and with this whole beautiful line and this is what i love about
15:59honeypot or the honeypot is because it completely changed the way i thought about feminine care and
16:04i feel like a lot of women can relate a lot of the times we don't really pay attention that much
16:10until there's something wrong right and what i really got from the honeypot and this there's a
16:15specific way that we need to take care of ourselves um i want to get through some of these products
16:21is a really great gift to get for the women in your life um for that exact reason especially
16:28you know moms daughters if you want a gift to your young uh girls to start to teach them
16:33yeah to teach them about how we need to take care of um our vaginas in a very very special way
16:41so b what's the first product that you want to go through that's available at walmart.com
16:45i think um i think our sensitive wash because our washes just remain to be
16:52you know really the powerhouse they're the foundation they're like the matriarch
16:58of the honeypot family of products um you know they're very very very special to me
17:05but our sensitive wash is really amazing because pretty much um even if you're a young human you know
17:13you're eight you're nine you're ten you know all the way up into being an adult right
17:18that you can use this wash um it's a vulva wash it's made with very beautiful ingredients very simple
17:25apple cider vinegar you know coconut lavender rose very very simple ingredients um actually this one
17:34doesn't have a lavender but it does have rose in it but it's ph balance for your vulva and your vagina
17:42right and so literally by using it um you know you just use it every day in the shower the point is
17:50that you're being proactive that's the point you don't write a lot you know in the beginning people
17:56used to think that you know oh if i don't have any problems so i don't need that but it's like
18:00it's not about you having a problem right when you brush your teeth you brush your teeth with
18:06toothpaste when you wash you wash your hair with shampoo and conditioner right you want to think
18:12about the vulva vagina the same way it has its own immune system it has its own ecosystem you know
18:18its own microbiome ecosystem yeah it's a very special place right and so it really needs to be taken
18:26care of with products that are actually meant for it and and you know out of all of our washes
18:33because we have many washes um you know this is a really excellent one to start with um you know and
18:41then you can kind of venture out from there you can try the normal you know you can try the cucumber
18:46you can try the bergamot rose there's options you know so great and now you have even more than
18:55the wash do you want to highlight something yes so the other product that i love is our anti which we
19:01just launched this year is our anti-itch soothing spray so this is really excellent for humans who
19:08have itchy vulvas like that's what i'm i'm just gonna call it that right because these things happen
19:14right um and it could be you have an itchy vulva because you have a yeast infection it could be
19:21you have an itchy vulva just because you're just prone to being itchy right um it could be because
19:27you're going through changes in life and you're a little drier than normal right um it could be for
19:34almost anything but what i love about this product is it's actually an otc so it's an over-the-counter
19:41drug we use promoxine um in this which is which kind of helps to give you a little bit of numbness so
19:50that you can so that the itch the the um the itching sensation can kind of die down a little
19:57um yeah the beautiful thing about our otcs is that our inactive ingredients are really beautiful and
20:05efficacious right there's aloe vera um you know there's lavender there's calendula there's coconut oil
20:13once again there's garlic um you know there's olive leaf extract in here so there's a lot of really
20:19beautiful herbs in this blend that actually can so you're you're when you're when you have a
20:25condition going on if you've got a yeast infection you just want to get rid of the yeast infection
20:31right if you have you're just trying to get rid of your itch but isn't it beautiful to be able to
20:37at the same time while you're getting rid of your itch also deliver your skin because your your your
20:43vulva skin it's skin right being able to deliver your skin these other really beautiful ingredients
20:50so you're really doing two things at once and getting to a level this is so so good um and you
20:58also have pads now let's talk about it i love them so we don't have any of our pads here today
21:06unfortunately we do have so you have you have our so you hold that up but i'll hold this up so what
21:13what stephy's holding up is our regular herbal menstrual pads what i'm holding up is actually our
21:21herbal panty liners and so these are organic cotton or excuse me they're the um the top sheet
21:32essentially of our pads is made with organic cotton they're infused with really beautiful herbs
21:38lavender rose petunia aloe um also mint so if you're gonna go on walmart.com or go into walmart and
21:47buy them understand that when you use our menstrual pads and when you use our panty liners we do make
21:54non-herbal versions but um you know but these are our herbal versions so just know that when you put it on
22:01it's gonna feel like you just stepped into a peppermint patty a little bit but it's beautiful
22:07it's refreshing and it's cool because girl it don't matter if it's 32 degrees outside
22:15when you on your period your coochie is hot it does not matter
22:18but it's true right it's true and these these kinds of conversations
22:29need to be ones that we have often because it's true there's nothing that there's too much
22:35information about it right and so you know that's why these pads are beautiful they're soothing they're
22:43calming um they also you know have a little bit of an uplifting element to them um you know and then
22:50they also help with odor right and so the odor that you have when you when you're on your cycle
22:56you smell like the herbs you know um and it doesn't necessarily smell like period smell right
23:04and so um so yeah so we have so many amazing products but these are the ones that we wanted
23:11to highlight today um thank you so much for asking us to be a part of this steffi
23:17thank you new voices fund um but yeah yeah thank you so much for joining and you do mention new
23:26voices fund and you are one of the ogs um one of the first businesses yeah exactly you and melissa
23:33can you talk a little bit about what you've seen as a benefit and your favorite part about being a part
23:39of the new voices family i think you know i think the biggest benefit is that new voices was there at a
23:45time when nobody else was you know i don't know that we would be where we are today if it was not
23:52for the new voices fund right and you know and and that is extremely valuable you know meeting the
24:01meeting meeting such beautiful humans like me and melissa were literally like road dogs we were
24:06that's how we became best friends you know we spent so much time together in you know in the early
24:12parts of when new voices got started you know and we were like literally like of the maybe first
24:18second or third um brands that they had that they had invested in you know and so it's it's such an
24:25honor um you know what the new voices fund has been able to do for uh for humans of color specifically
24:33for women of color um it's beautiful you know um they they they've raised the gap they they've given
24:40opportunity they've given us the opportunity to be able to show that we we should be invested in
24:46and we are humans and we know how to run businesses and we know how to scale them and we know how to
24:52launch them and grow them um all it takes is for somebody to give you an opportunity and so
24:59you know the new voices fund gave us that opportunity and um you know and here and and and look at what
25:05we've been able to accomplish we're extremely grateful oh and i'm so glad that you you mentioned
25:10that too because it's it's so important for us to have our own because we're there even when it's
25:16not on trend even when it's not black history month or black business month well every day is black history
25:22month isn't it and every day is black i just said that on last week's show too every day is black history
25:28month but new voices and being a foundation that has been there even when it was not the trend and will
25:34still remain and stick around thank you so much um for mentioning that but b i gotta let you go
25:39thank you so much for joining this whole array of products available at walmart.com this would make
25:46for such an incredible care package for the women in your life for the young girls in your life that
25:52are learning how to take care of themselves really really great gift thank you b thank you see you
25:57all right so i have to remind you guys you have tuned into the shop essence live holiday special
26:03sponsored by walmart we're reviewing amazing black owned products that are available at walmart.com
26:10you can fill all of your stocking stuff first for everybody in your life um with these incredible
26:16black owned brands and this is just the tip of the iceberg if you go to walmart.com they have an
26:21incredible black and unlimited collection that you can shop all black owned and founded brands right
26:27there products that are made by us and especially for us last but not least now monique rodriguez very
26:36busy woman so she had to hop but we have somebody else incredible from the brand that's going to be able
26:42to tell us the tea on all that they have available hold on i'm gonna bring her in right now nicole
26:49from my l can you just introduce yourself for the people sure my name is nicole ray robinson and i am
26:58the senior brand director here at my l um we are the fastest growing uh black owned women owned brand
27:07uh hair care brand right now i'm doing wonderful things we have some wonderful products i can't wait
27:13to tell you about them okay all right nicole so let's get into these incredible products here
27:20what do you have first for us okay can i just tell you monique was unable to join which she was
27:27she actually wanted to join but the the connection wasn't working for her um i use these just this
27:33morning these are my holy grail products i love them rosemary mint um wonderful wonderful products
27:42we have the shampoo we have the leave-in conditioner and then we have the holy grail
27:48the whole talk about it this is the number one best selling oil out there in the market right now
27:57um it's killing it one is sold every 15 seconds what do that again say that again nicole sold every 15
28:07seconds so y'all got to make up for lost time and buy them a great stocking stuffer definitely
28:1630 essential oils monique took great pain in putting this item together um making sure that
28:25it had everything that it needed um to strengthen the hair this whole collection is about strengthening
28:30the hair and i need that i'm getting a little bit of you know um my hair is getting a little weak in
28:37the front and so i've been using it and i have definitely seen a difference i love the shine
28:42that it gives my hair um i love the smell i'm like totally in love and it's an intoxicating really nice
28:51clean wonderful smell um can be used for male or female so it actually is is um you know gender
28:59neutral smell there um it's a great line it definitely you know with the shampoo you just use
29:05the whole collection with the shampoo and the leave-in the leave-in is great for curly girls um the
29:11shampoo can be used for anybody honestly for anybody and the oil can be used for anybody as well
29:17um but it's a great collection and definitely great for the holidays uh it's not at a expensive price
29:25point and of course it's sold at walmart come on sold at walmart sold at walmart.com this whole entire
29:33collection would make for a really great stocking stuffer gift i see that you can use this oil not
29:38only on your uh scalp but also on your split ends can you talk a little bit absolutely you can use it
29:46um as a hot oil treatment there's a lot of different ways a lot of hacks you can use this
29:51product you can use it as a hot oil treatment you can use it on your split ends you could use it on
29:56your scalp um i personally use it on my scalp um every other day actually and massage it in i think you
30:03know having i have my husband sort of put a little in my hair and he's sort of that's i already i already
30:10have the visual black love black love y'all black love um so that is it's actually great it helps
30:17stimulate um the scalp which is what you want to do right you want to um stimulate that scalp so that
30:23you will be actually you know helping to strengthen the hair yep so wonderful now i know
30:31we highlighted just these three on the show but if people go to walmart.com what other products are
30:36available for them to to purchase as well just list them all for them all because i know you guys have
30:42a lot wow so um from the from the rosemary mint collection we also have a um very strengthening hair
30:50mask so we have them hair mask there we have a styling cream daily styling cream now y'all know y'all
31:00want your edges to lay right but lady yeah you want this edge gel my holy grail yeah right and those
31:09are that's just one of the collections we offer at um walmart.com we also have our pomegranate and honey
31:15line um as well and a myriad of different lines it's not enough time to talk about them all we've got 11
31:22different lines and most of them are sold at walmart walmart has been a fantastic partner to us and
31:29um we just we we love the company and uh we love we definitely love doing business with walmart and
31:37supporting them in every way that we can so we're very happy to be a part of this program
31:42so great now i do see one question coming in uh from thea dennis and she asked what hair types is the
31:49oil good on is there a particular type that you can use this on let them know nicole i see your face
31:55already yeah you can use it for every hair type every single hair type um i would say for thicker
32:03hair types you can use a little bit more for thinner hair types you want to use a little bit less
32:08um you have to sort of try it out and see how it um how your hair actually responds to it but every hair
32:14type can use this and as a matter of fact it says it right on the label everybody can use it
32:19so this is awesome the line is actually infused with biotin um and biotin as everyone knows is
32:25great for strengthening and that's what this line is all about it's it's a fantastic line
32:32so great well nicole i have to thank you so so much for filling in for monique
32:37this has been really really great y'all gotta go to walmart.com again there's nobody that would not
32:43appreciate getting these i also saw in the comments that somebody uses this oil on their beard as a
32:48perfect beard oil so your bearded bays in your life you need to get this for them as well nicole
32:54so incredible thank you so much for joining us bye all right everybody so thank you i want to thank you
33:01guys so so much for tuning in live to watch this very special episode of shop essence live the holiday
33:07edition sponsored by walmart again next week we have another special a music special with the founder of
33:14sunday service he is going to give us an incredible gospel performance that you do not want to miss
33:22with his new choir the samples so tune in for that on december 12th um on essence.com
33:29also don't forget don't do it to yourself you don't want to be running through the stores
33:34the weekend before christmas to try to fulfill those christmas lists go to walmart.com right now you
33:41can fill your christmas tree and all your stocking stuffers with black owned brands and once again
33:46i am noni your host of shop essence live we are weekly every single week on ig live so make sure
33:52you tune in next thursday we're live every single thursday at 6 30 on ig live with two new black
33:59owned brands that you can continue to shop with us all year round this is not a trend we're here all year
34:04around so thank you guys so much for tuning in and i'll see you guys next week see you later
Comments