- 20 hours ago
A strong personal brand can be a powerful asset for founders as they build their businesses. Hear from two brand rockstar entrepreneurs on how to create a well-managed personal brand knowledge, expertise, achievements, and experience within a community or an industry to expand your network, attract new opportunities, and grow your business.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00And look around at all this beautiful black excellence around us.
00:05So let's give it up again. Great morning.
00:08People ask me, why do you say great morning?
00:11Any day above the ground, I have the ability to choose to make it great.
00:15So again, just so you know that.
00:17We are so excited to launch and open up our so-called marketplace stage,
00:21which we know this is the space for entrepreneurs.
00:25And we're excited about that today.
00:26We're going to go ahead and bring up our first boss lady.
00:29Y'all say it with me, boss lady.
00:32We are bringing up the first boss lady, Sophia.
00:36Come on up, Sophia.
00:56Well, hello, everyone.
01:04Welcome.
01:05Welcome, ladies.
01:07Can you all hear me?
01:10It's on.
01:11Testing one, two, three.
01:13How we sound, Jo?
01:15I can hear you, but I can't hear me.
01:17Joe, check on Sophia's.
01:20Okay.
01:21Hello?
01:23Hello.
01:25Still nothing, right?
01:31No?
01:32Am I audible?
01:34There we go.
01:35There you go.
01:35There we go.
01:36Well, hello, everyone.
01:38As you all know, social media is a huge tool right now for marketing.
01:45And it's actually estimated 4.8 billion social media users throughout the world.
01:52I mean, that's, I don't even know how big the planet is, but that's a lot of people.
01:57And I want to introduce you all to two ladies who are really honing their skills on social media
02:04in a very unique way.
02:05First, Melissa Mitchell, artist, designer, and founder of ABL Creations, a colorful, wearable art brand,
02:14if you can't tell already.
02:16Melissa has partnered with major brands, including Coach, Spanx, and most recently, Foot Locker,
02:23where her designs are sold.
02:26Give it up for Melissa, y'all.
02:27Hey, everybody.
02:28Hey, boo.
02:29Next, Ms. Kim Roxy, founder and creator of Lameek Beauty.
02:36Kim has more than 20 years of experience in makeup and beauty.
02:39In 2020, she launched her e-commerce store for her products that can now be found in Ulta.
02:46And, girl, I watch you on HSN.
02:49Congratulations.
02:50Now, we know that Kim started in 2020, so that's when you kind of jumped on social media,
02:59which, you know, is kind of a little bit late.
03:01But tell me about your story as far as how you got started and why you got started.
03:05Yeah.
03:06So, please.
03:07Is it on?
03:09Push it on.
03:10Here we go.
03:11All right.
03:12I'm on?
03:13Yeah.
03:13Okay, awesome.
03:14All right.
03:15So, I got on.
03:17I actually took over my daughter's bedroom in 2020, March 2020, when the pandemic hit.
03:23We were launching Lameek Nationwide online, but I started off with just a Facebook Live.
03:29So, I turned on my camera.
03:31I took over her bedroom, and I started showing my products and showing women how to do their
03:36makeup from home.
03:37How many people had to figure out how to do their makeup from home on Zoom, right?
03:41Exactly.
03:41So, what I did was every Friday night, starting that first Friday in April of 2020, I started
03:48showing you how to do your makeup, particularly starting with your brows, because your brows
03:52frame 75% of your face.
03:53Exactly.
03:54And I started doing your brows, showing you how to do it.
03:57People were asking questions in the chat, and it turned into this whole thing.
04:01So, like, tonight is Friday.
04:02We got Friday Night Live tonight on there.
04:04So, every Friday night, we go live.
04:07But it was such a great way, one, to show women how to do something that they needed to
04:12know how to do.
04:12You couldn't go to a makeup artist.
04:14You had to figure out how to do it yourself.
04:16But then, also, it brought so much joy, because we played music.
04:20We had fun.
04:22We do a cheers.
04:23I asked you what you were at home drinking.
04:24I mean, we just had so much fun.
04:27And it brought community in a time where we were all so scared, didn't know what was going
04:32on with life, didn't know if the world was ending and we needed to get our life right.
04:36We didn't know what was going on, right?
04:37And so, that's what we did on Friday Night Live.
04:40So, it just spiraled into now being on HSN, where I could take the same skills I had trained
04:47with all of that time for the past three years, and now I'm going to go on national television
04:51and sell our products.
04:52Beautiful.
04:53Incredible.
04:54Yes.
04:54Definitely a very authentic way of selling on social media.
05:00Now, Melissa, I feel like I knew you before I actually knew you.
05:04Right.
05:05So, what you get on her page is what you get in person.
05:10Can you talk about why you got started on social media, especially, and how did you start
05:16using your authentic voice?
05:18I think for me, I'm not an artist.
05:20I'm just a businesswoman that just so happens to sell art.
05:23And so, because I'm an entrepreneur at heart, and I grew up being an entrepreneur, my father
05:27passed away 2010, and so he passes away, and I go into a really dark space.
05:32And when I was going to work, coming home, I said, this cannot be my cycle of life, right?
05:37And so, I began to just doodle on a random piece of paper and some wood, and I put it on
05:41social media.
05:42That was 2014.
05:43Yeah.
05:44That's before we had a pandemic.
05:45We had a pandemic of our own in Atlanta called the Snokepocalypse.
05:48Oh, yes.
05:49And we couldn't leave the house.
05:50And so, I'm like, what am I going to do with my life?
05:52And I literally walked past a box of random, like, old paint.
05:56And so, I began to just use that paint and start talking about my story, but I was actually
06:00grieving out loud.
06:02And so, I began to be healed by the use of color.
06:05So, I realized that it was something called color therapy.
06:07So, everything that I was doing was healing me.
06:09I said, well, if it's working for me, surely it's going to work for some other folks.
06:12And so, I began to say, what if I start wearing this healing?
06:15And that's when the entire world opened up for me.
06:18And also, after the pandemic, I quit my full-time job to do this full-time.
06:22Wow.
06:22And a few weeks later, I signed a deal with Foot Locker.
06:25And so, I realized that my real why, I unlocked something when I decided to.
06:32That everything we do, we're a decision away from something else.
06:34And so, the life that I've been able to manifest now is merely because I decided I wanted something
06:38different.
06:39And every day I wake up, I'm a new canvas.
06:41So, this morning, I say, I'm a wild them.
06:43I'm going to have a good time.
06:44And so, even walking through, I was frustrated.
06:46I was hot.
06:47You know, this new oil is heat.
06:47Got us going crazy.
06:48But because I have on colors, people are gravitating towards me.
06:51So, I immediately had to transform my own attitude.
06:53And I was like, try my own medicine today.
06:55Yes.
06:56I got to be in my own little kaleidoscope of hope.
06:58And so, I enjoy being a walking billboard because it makes me understand why I'm here
07:02and who I'm here for.
07:03And it keeps me going every day.
07:05And so, I went from just randomly trying to heal myself to now healing the world with
07:08colors and all this different apparel.
07:11Yes.
07:12Beautiful.
07:12You know, me and you are crying a minute.
07:14You, like, don't make me start crying here.
07:16I know, I know, I know, I know.
07:18This is, like, we'll run through.
07:20It's right there.
07:21Of course, if you all don't already know, these are very bold and confident women.
07:27And you bring that, you really bring that to social media.
07:31Oh, thank y'all.
07:32But the thing is, you have some ladies out here who are probably really nervous to get
07:38in front of the camera, especially get talking in front of the camera.
07:42Melissa, can you give some tips for those ladies who are just kind of nervous?
07:46I think the biggest thing for me is that I just do it, right?
07:50I don't figure out if my hair is perfect, if my lashes are perfect, my outfits are perfect.
07:55Every day, I challenge myself when I'm coming from the gym.
07:57My new thing is gym from the gym.
07:59So, I get to the gym about 10 minutes early, and I sit in the car, and I train myself to
08:03talk for 60 to 90 seconds because that's what social media is, right?
08:07And so, even when I'm giving my answers, I'm now trained to say, just get to the point,
08:10Melissa.
08:11Just get to the point.
08:12And so, now that I'm doing this every week, when it's time for my moment to happen, I can
08:16get straight to the point.
08:17But what did I start doing?
08:18I started, I think a lot of people make all these plans and try to be so perfect, like,
08:22if it's not that, girl, just get your camera on that, use that phone, you're paying all
08:25that money for every month, and make you some money.
08:28We use the phone that's in your hand, and we have seven-figure businesses from using the
08:32phones in our hands.
08:33When you realize that your little $30, $40 a month phone, $100 a month phone can create
08:38an empire, you'll start looking at that phone a little bit differently.
08:41So, now I can write off that phone.
08:42I can write off that car.
08:43I can write off that house.
08:44I can, I literally can write off my uniform, my outfits, because I love to shop, but it's
08:48my uniform.
08:49So, now I'm creating the life that I want, but I'm being, I'm paying for it with the life
08:53that I've created.
08:54So, you have these phones in your hand, just do it.
08:57Stop it.
08:57And look, you'll find your tribe, and your tribe will find you.
09:00So, all the colorful folks that gravitate towards me, the folks that like doing their
09:03eyebrows on Friday nights, we found our tribe.
09:05And every day we wake up, we're finding different members of our tribe, but it's because we're
09:08being authentic to who we are.
09:10You're wearing a lot of colors, okay, but, and you can too, but $9.95, go to MelissaAMitchin.com,
09:15you know?
09:16And so, you too can be a part of this tribe, but that's what's so important is, I think
09:19starting is the biggest hurdle for many business owners, and because we started, we're now
09:24on the stage at S&S another year in a row.
09:27So, I'm just grateful that I started, that we started.
09:29Woo!
09:29Yes.
09:31Now, Kim, I want to know, okay, so, she's saying just start.
09:35Yes.
09:35Like, turn on the camera and just start.
09:37Yes.
09:37Well, shoot, I'm still nervous about just starting.
09:41What are your thoughts on that?
09:43Well, if you follow Melissa, you'll feel empowered to start because she is so authentic.
09:49So, I have to give you kudos because you can tell that you're not worried about every part,
09:55and a lot of your content is kind of raw.
09:58Yeah.
09:58And I think that's the part that we are attracted to.
10:01Yeah.
10:02How do I feel about just starting?
10:05I feel like starting and feeling scared goes together.
10:10Yeah.
10:10So, let's not worry about starting and feeling confident.
10:15Let's just, if you ain't confident yet, that's all right, too.
10:18So, something that happened to me was I was experiencing hair loss, right?
10:24Wearing a lot of cute wigs, trying to figure it out.
10:27But, to be honest, it started to, like, weigh on me.
10:30Like, trying to figure out my hair, trying to cover up my bald spots, all that kind of
10:34stuff was just, it started to become too much.
10:37So, I shaved my head in 2020, but I did not wear it out.
10:41I would wear head wraps.
10:42I would do everything in between.
10:43And then, finally, last year, I was like, you know what?
10:48I just, I just got to be liberated, right?
10:51And so, I shaved my head, and I put the picture of my head getting shaved on social media.
11:00And the way that my inbox blew up from other people experiencing that, too, and that was
11:07very vulnerable for me.
11:08I am a founder of a beauty company that's on Ulta, HSN, JCPenney, like, different places.
11:17And I showed you bald spots with hair, the looks part, but that was a part of me showing
11:23that social media is not for your perfection.
11:27Social media is for your purpose.
11:29Come on.
11:30And so, I was there to just be vulnerable, to show the, just what I would think is the
11:38worst part, right?
11:40But just to show it to show, because so many people are going through so many things, and
11:43it might not be hair loss for you, but it could be another kind of loss.
11:46And so, I think that, for me, it is about just starting, and it's about starting scared.
11:53It's about posting something that you almost, like, ooh, did I just do that?
11:56Ooh, like, you know, like, kind of thing.
11:59And, but then, it brought in the tribe.
12:01Like, what Melissa talked about, your community, right, that's going to support you.
12:05And so, after I posted that, I just started wearing my hair bald.
12:10I just, you know, so it's been, like, a year for me that I haven't put a wig back on.
12:14And I...
12:15And you look good, girl.
12:17You look good, man.
12:18Shining and everything.
12:21But I have autonomy over my body that if I want to put a wig on now, I can, but I've shown
12:26and liberated myself from the perfection that I thought I had to live by.
12:31And I think that's the most important part.
12:34Anybody identify with that?
12:36And that's, that's what I have to say about that.
12:38And I think that's so beautiful because you hear so many statistics of people becoming depressed.
12:44You know, a few scrolls and then, you know, it makes you even more sad about your life.
12:49But you're saying that social media actually kind of healed you.
12:53Yeah.
12:53Helped you kind of become stronger.
12:56Melissa, I want to ask you because I see that you use, of course, Instagram.
13:01That's your big one.
13:02But now you're, like, using Triller, is it?
13:05Is that the new one?
13:06And so what's so interesting about that is that when you build your community, not only is your
13:10community finding you, but companies will find you also.
13:13Yeah.
13:13So Triller reached out to me for a partnership to post, to do things.
13:17And so that's another beautiful thing that you don't understand about when you start.
13:21You're a voice for a company now because they're not going to the Naomi Campbells and all these
13:25big time people.
13:26They're looking for the Melissa's, the Kim's, and the Sophia's to actually be on the ground.
13:31So they'll sit, you know, influencer.
13:33I don't know if you know the influencer market.
13:34But what happened was they reached out and they said, we love your content.
13:37It's so authentic.
13:37And we would love for your audience to be engaged on another platform.
13:40So I began to post with them monthly.
13:42And so the relationships that you build with them, because not only is somebody watching you,
13:46a company is watching another company watch you.
13:48So like when I got my Spanx deal, that opened up the door for Ford, then Cadillac, then Hallmark,
13:53then Foot Locker.
13:54So once you start, once that avalanche starts, it's like a door you peek through.
13:59The light is small, but when you open the door wide, the light gets bright.
14:02And that's what happened for me is that that light got brighter and companies started just
14:05coming to me.
14:05I never had to pitch.
14:07I didn't have, I don't have a manager.
14:08There's nobody saying, can you look at Melissa's stuff?
14:10It's always God sending me saying, hey, you're saying what we need to be said.
14:13So can we work with you?
14:15Preach.
14:16Definitely a woman of faith here.
14:18Kim, last question.
14:19I want to know, of course, you know, content is king and everything, but some brands are
14:24not necessarily seeing their content convert into sales.
14:27Do you see yours convert into sales?
14:30And if so, what kind of content are you seeing convert to sales?
14:34Yeah.
14:34While I sit here with my social manager in the audience.
14:38Hey girl, you're doing a good job.
14:39Yes, she is.
14:40Yes, she is.
14:41What we really look for, to be honest, is to connect with people.
14:44So we're not so much, you know, just trying to sell you.
14:49We're trying to connect with you.
14:50Trying to let you know that we see you.
14:52The most important part that I learned is for people to be seen.
14:56And so what we try to show is that we see you, we acknowledge you, and I think that's the
15:02part that's resonating.
15:03So seeing other people showing diversity, different looks, different experiences, but
15:09for us, it's the whole education and being seen that we see convert.
15:15And so what happens is then they want to get into the brand, and then from there, they're
15:19like, we just, we want some of it.
15:20Our brand, Lameek, stands for love and makeup and kindness.
15:23Beautiful.
15:23We're a clean color cosmetic brand.
15:25Makeup.
15:26Brows is our big thing.
15:27Yeah.
15:27And we're at booth 8228.
15:308228, over there.
15:31So come get your brows done.
15:32But what we recognize is that we show women how to use it, and then they want it, right?
15:38So it's not so much buy it.
15:39We have to say that.
15:40We just say we want to connect with you.
15:41Let us show you how this can help you, how this can assist you, because even having our
15:46compact in your makeup bag that says Lameek, and you know it stands for love and makeup
15:51and kindness, like what Melissa talked about with color, that affirmation, that love and
15:56makeup and kindness, so I'm made up of love and kindness.
16:00That's my beauty.
16:01Beauty is revealed, not applied.
16:03So having that in your head transforms your day, and you want to connect with that because
16:07it makes you feel more beautiful.
16:09Well, thank you, ladies.
16:09Really quick, where can people find you on Instagram?
16:11A-B-L Creations, A-B-E-I-L-L-E Creations, and MelissaAMitchell.com is my website.
16:17Kim?
16:18At Lameek Beauty.
16:19L-A-M-I-K-B-E-A-U-T-Y on all platforms.
16:23Well, thank you, ladies.
16:24Woo!
16:28This is amazing.
16:30Perfect.
16:30We did it, Joan.
16:31Sophia did a good job, right?
16:32Yes.
16:34Oh, my gosh.
16:35All right.
16:35All right, let's give it up one more time for Sophia, for Kim, and for Melissa.
16:42Wait, one more time.
16:43Stay in the middle, because I need to, listen.
16:44Get your pictures.
16:45One more time.
16:45Do you see all of this black beauty up here?
16:48All of this black excellence.
16:49One more time.
16:50Give it up.
16:51Melissa, Sophia, and Kim.
16:53Also.
16:53Oh, my gosh.
16:53Oh, my gosh.
16:54No.
16:54Okay.
16:54.
16:54We gotris on our beautiful crossroads.
16:55Oh, man.
16:56It's bread.
16:57We got his sw vender.
16:57No.
16:57Good job.
16:58Oh, man.
16:58Thank you so much for this black medicine.
16:59It's really nice.
16:59It's a variety of positives.
17:00Yeah, that's amazing.
17:01Oh, man.
17:01It's a variety ofаюсь.
17:01Oh, man.
17:02Oh, man.
17:03Boom.
17:04Oh, man.
17:04Oh, man.
17:05Oh, man.
17:05Yeah, man.
17:06Oh, man.
17:07Oh, man.
17:07Oh, man.
17:07Hoopy, man.
17:07I know.
17:08Pastor, man.
17:09Oh, man.
17:09Your son, man.
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