- 7 minutes ago
Hear directly from two of the hottest entrepreneurs in the game who have dedicated their platforms to inclusivity, leading with love, laughter and authenticity to grow and empower their communities.
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🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00It's a party.
00:02Okay, I probably didn't say that right there.
00:04Okay.
00:05DJ, how you say it?
00:06It's a party.
00:07It's a party.
00:09All right.
00:09It has definitely been a party.
00:11It has been a party with a purpose right here on this stage all weekend.
00:16Let's give it up for the so-called market, period, and for this stage,
00:21and for all of these amazing entrepreneurs who have graced the space this weekend.
00:26We are going to get this started.
00:27Come on up.
00:28We have another phenomenal moderator with her team.
00:32Come on up.
00:33Come on up.
00:35Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the SoCo stage.
00:38I'm Insa Huger, the CFO of the New Voices Fund,
00:40and I'm being joined here by two phenomenal ladies, Monique at Miel and Beatrice of the Honey Pie Co.
00:47Come on up, ladies.
00:55Well, thank you so much for joining us.
00:57Thanks for having us.
00:58This is awesome.
00:59Well, I know a little bit, just a smidget about your businesses.
01:03So how about you tell everybody else a little bit about yourselves and about your businesses?
01:07Okay.
01:08So I'm going to try to sum this up in a 30-pitch.
01:1230-second pitch.
01:1330-second pitch.
01:13Yes.
01:14But hello, everyone.
01:15Happy to be here.
01:16My name is Monique Rodriguez.
01:17I'm the CEO and founder of the fastest-growing, largest textured hair care brand in the industry, Miel Organics.
01:25I am also known as the queen of hair because I take this very serious.
01:30I'm very passionate about hair.
01:31I started my company nine years ago with one product, and we have over 80 products.
01:41We are in every major retail store across America.
01:44We recently partnered with Procter & Gamble, which is a huge accomplishment and a testament to, you know, what I've been able to build over the course of nine years.
01:53And, you know, we're just looking to take our company to the next level globally, continuing to deliver great, excellent products to my consumer and continuing to over-serve with nothing but excellence, black excellence.
02:04So, I'm super happy to be here.
02:07And, Bea?
02:09Wow, I got to go after that.
02:11So, I'm Beatrice Dixon, co-founder, chief innovation officer, CEO, and face of the Honeypot Company.
02:23The Honeypot is, like, obviously I'm biased, but we are actually the number one better for you vaginal.
02:34Wellness and personal care brand on the market.
02:39We've been doing this since 2004, technically since 2012.
02:44It's been a really, really beautiful journey.
02:46We felt, you know, vaginal wellness, vulva care, vulva wellness is extremely important to me.
02:52I think the thing that's the most important to me is how humans connect to their body, how they connect to themselves, how they understand what they're using, why they're using, when they're using.
03:04Because education is very important at Honeypot.
03:07We focus really, really, really, really hard on education.
03:12And also, making these things, making these conversations easy.
03:16Killing stigma.
03:18Helping people to get over shame.
03:20Respecting people for who they are in their human journey, which is really important.
03:24It's none of our business, whether somebody says that they're a woman, if they feel that they were born as a man, but they're in a human with vagina's body.
03:36You know, so we work really hard to be non-binary and to respect people for where they are in their journey.
03:43And then we so happen to make really, really beautiful, efficacious, clinically tested, dermatologist tested.
03:50We are the most scientifically tested vaginal wellness brand on the market.
03:55Every single thing that we do goes through rigorous human trials.
03:59Rigorous.
04:00The thing that's most important to us is that the products have to work.
04:04Right?
04:04And, you know, our products are plant-derived.
04:08We use herbs in pretty much everything that we do outside of our tampons and our menstrual cups.
04:14Because, yeah.
04:16But, yeah.
04:18Awesome.
04:18Well, both of you, I'm going to dive right into the core of this topic.
04:21And so, both of you have done an amazing job and even alluded to in this discussion about building community through education and trust.
04:27And so, I just want to ask you both, when and why did you decide to focus on building community within your brands?
04:33And why is it important to you?
04:36So, I would say when I first started my brand, it wasn't like I was very intentional in saying, like, I'm going to build this community because I'm going to launch a brand.
04:46I kind of did things very organically.
04:49And I was very authentic and transparent in being myself.
04:52And with me being myself, that's what allowed people to connect with me and people to be attracted to what I was talking about, the value that I was bringing, and what I was offering.
05:05And so, I quickly learned that, you know, people do business with who they know, like, and trust.
05:10And I learned that community building was a huge part of, you know, one of the basic fundamentals of launching a brand.
05:18And so, when I learned that, you know, I said that I'm going to be intentional with relationship building because you have to build relationships with your customers.
05:28I look at it as, like, dating and marriage.
05:31Like, before you go into a marriage, you want to date that person.
05:34And I look at my mavens and mavericks, as I like to say, as the same thing.
05:39Like, I have to allow them to get to know me as a person.
05:43I have to allow them to really understand my passion because I was really just sharing my passion with the world.
05:50And people were gravitating towards that.
05:53And so, community started to develop organic because I feel like you can't manufacture and put together a community.
05:59You really have to do that organically.
06:02And I think that, like, that's one of the challenges that a lot of these bigger conglomerates, they have.
06:06They can't organically connect with people because it's manufactured.
06:12So, you know, I feel like the best way to do is just to be yourself, to be yourself and let people connect with you.
06:18I always say that God has specific people that are assigned to your destiny.
06:23And when you are yourself and you're true to who you are, you're going to attract the right people.
06:30And so, when I decided to launch my first product, which was Arment Almond Oil, because I had developed this trust over the course of, what, six months that I was, like, talking to people on social media.
06:42When I actually launched something, people were like, oh, okay, I feel like I know her.
06:45I feel like she's my best friend.
06:46You know, I know her kids' names.
06:48I know her dog name.
06:50You know, I know pretty much everything about this person.
06:52And so, because I like her, I'm going to support her, and I want to see her grow.
06:57And so, for us, our community has always been our foundation.
07:00We have been very intentional about bringing our community up and taking them on the journey with us.
07:06It is, this is a journey over the course of nine years.
07:09I never left my community out because they were a huge part of this success.
07:13And I feel that it's important that, you know, as I continue to climb this ladder of success, that I'm not just extracting dollars from the community, but how am I supporting and bringing back that money to the community that supports me?
07:25And so, as a part of, you know, our partnership with P&G, we were very adamant.
07:30And we had a choice, number one, to partner with them.
07:32But we were also like, okay, what are you guys going to do for our community?
07:36Because that's what got us here, and that's what's going to continue on.
07:39So, how can we pour that money back into the community?
07:41So, for us, community is everything.
07:44It's the foundation.
07:45Awesome.
07:45And you, B, do you know kind of when and what was the catalyst for you putting community at the forefront?
07:51We're nothing.
07:53We are nothing without the humans that we serve, honestly.
07:57Nothing.
07:58Nothing, nothing, nothing.
08:00Everything that we do is for the humans that we serve.
08:03Whether you're a human who bought our products or whether you're a human who went to social media,
08:08whether you're a human that heard a rumor about a viral moment and decided that you just wanted to say something positive, right?
08:14Not everybody can buy our products.
08:17I'm aware of that.
08:18But I think any kind of good energy is beautiful.
08:21You know, we are here to serve humanity.
08:26That's what all brands are here to do, right?
08:28Whether they're conscious of it or not.
08:32You know, and I think that being responsible with how you meet people, with how you talk to them,
08:39with how you respect them, with how you create products,
08:42to me, that is the most important.
08:45You know, I believe that better for you is the new conventional, right?
08:50I believe that this way of building products and companies,
08:54of actually being authentic and being a human behind your brand,
08:58and people seeing who you are, and knowing what you do,
09:01and resonating with that is really important.
09:04And so I think that, you know, I don't even like the word consumer,
09:13and no disrespect for anybody that uses it.
09:16I personally don't like that word because I feel like, and this is my opinion,
09:23I feel like it can take the humanity out of the experience, you know?
09:28And so, you know, so I mean, to even try to put into words how I feel about the humans that we serve,
09:39about this planet, about what we do, how we talk, how we speak, how we deliver,
09:44how we make and source our ingredients, how we make our products, how we test them,
09:49it's all literally for the betterment, at this point of vaginal wellness,
09:55but in the future of personal care for all humans,
09:59whether you're a human that has a vagina or you're a human who doesn't, right?
10:02You know, and so it's literally everything.
10:08It sits at the top and the bottom and the middle.
10:11It's all through there.
10:14And I just want to say, I'm sorry, just real quick, like your community is also your advocates.
10:19Exactly.
10:19So when you talk about that viral moment, like let's say it's a not-so-great viral moment that happens,
10:25that community that supports you, they're going to stand up, they're going to be your ride or die,
10:29and they're going to be the ones that's fighting your battle.
10:32You're not going to even have to say anything.
10:34You don't have to do it.
10:34Yeah.
10:35And I can't tell you how often somebody will just come up and be like,
10:41girl, we're such and such happy at being my friends.
10:45Yeah.
10:46And that feels really good, man.
10:49You know?
10:50I mean, Mo was there for me when, you know, when the shit hit the fan.
10:56It was rough.
10:57It was hard, you know?
10:59But she was there.
11:01Melissa was there.
11:02My team was there.
11:03Like, it was, those kinds of moments are hard, you know?
11:07They can really, they can take you down.
11:10I'm grateful for the practice because it won't take me down again.
11:15Right?
11:15All things in order.
11:17But it was really the humans in the community that really kept us alive.
11:22So I'm really grateful for that.
11:24We have one last question before we get out of here, and that's just going to focus on if I am a new entrepreneur trying to take that first step in building community within my brand, what would you suggest as my first step in doing that?
11:36I mean, if I could say your first step in building a community, if you're building a brand, is to be yourself.
11:44Be authentic.
11:44No one can beat you at being you.
11:49And know that there are certain...
11:50That's a bar.
11:51Right.
11:51I'm sorry.
11:52I got a couple here and there.
11:54I was just going to say, like, you know, as I mentioned earlier, there are specific people that are attached to your purpose and that are attached to your destiny.
12:06And if you go into this entrepreneurship space and you're not yourself and you put on this superficial facade, you're going to attract the superficial audience.
12:17So when things do hit the fan, that superficial audience is not going to be there for you because they're there on the basis of you being on a high.
12:27Right.
12:27Just on the surface.
12:28So on the surface.
12:29So when you get on that low, those people are not going to support you.
12:33But if you're yourself and people know you and they trust you, when things hit the fan and people try to come at you, and both Bea and I have experiences,
12:43but because we're solid individuals, people can stand up and say, that's not who she is.
12:49I'm still going to support her.
12:50This person is just trying to gain off of her notoriety for clicks or hits or whatever, but it's because of that authentic connection.
12:59So remember, nobody can beat you at being you.
13:01Be yourself because you're going to attract the right crowd that's assigned to you.
13:05Yeah.
13:05Yeah, agreed.
13:07And do things like this.
13:09You know, do festivals.
13:13Anytime you can, anytime, if you are in the product business and you want to make a product for people in the beginning,
13:20anytime in a weekend you can get in front of hundreds of people or thousands of people, nothing can beat that.
13:27Right?
13:27Nothing can beat that because you're meeting them in person.
13:31Find a way to get their email, to get their phone number, through SMS, do, right?
13:35Like events like this, like events like Essence Fest, any like hair show that's in your city, any hair show that's regional to you,
13:45and it doesn't even need to match what you do.
13:48We were a vaginal wellness brand literally on the hair show circuit.
13:53You remember that?
13:54And so, you know, like anytime you can do that, do that.
13:59You know, and don't be afraid, like she said, to be yourself, you know, because it communicates.
14:06Every single thing that you do communicates.
14:09Be honest, be real, make good stuff, put good energy into what you do.
14:14I remember back in the day when we used to make honeypot in the kitchen.
14:19If I was having a bad day, I didn't touch it because that would have, you know, it would have transitioned.
14:27We use water in our products.
14:29We use herbs and, you know, floral essences and hydrosols and things like that.
14:35All those things are matter.
14:38They're organic matter.
14:40And how you're feeling transcends into what you're doing.
14:43So now I can't do that anymore.
14:46It's impossible.
14:47Right?
14:47Like, I, y'all, I don't even know, I don't, I live so high up in strategy now that there's so much about what I do,
14:57about this company that I'm not involved in at this point.
15:00But one thing is for sure.
15:04We know as a company what our mission is, what our vision is, what our values are,
15:09who we're serving, why we're serving them, when we're serving them.
15:12We are deeply devoted to them.
15:14Shout out to Giovanna in the orange right there because she has, listen, the communication and the connection that she has made to our customer is absolutely beautiful.
15:29Yeah.
15:29I think you're highlighting something else, too, is that the internal community, right?
15:33You have a community of employees and staff as well.
15:36We love, we love each other.
15:37Yeah.
15:37Yeah.
15:38Because you got to be good to the people.
15:39They don't work for you.
15:41They work with you.
15:42Yeah.
15:42And you need to treat them that way.
15:45Don't treat them like your employees, right?
15:48Don't sit on no high horse.
15:50You understand what I'm saying?
15:52You can feel it.
15:52Because they are the connection to the outside.
15:56Those are the first humans, those are your first consumers.
16:00They're in your first line of defense if anything ever goes wrong.
16:03And trust, if your house isn't together, when things do hit the fan, it's going to crumble, you know?
16:13And having people that, especially the people that are, like, in brand management, our brand management team is basically sitting right here in this front row.
16:21I'm shouting them out because they're so good, y'all.
16:24They're so good, you know?
16:26They're devoted.
16:27It's real, you know?
16:29And I think the other thing that I love about both of your brands is there's relationship from the very beginning.
16:34For instance, I know Be You and Sai, relationship, we saw that from the beginning.
16:38You and your husband, we saw that from the beginning.
16:40And us being a part of your relationships allowed us to have a relationship with you.
16:44So I just want to thank you for the relationship that we share with the New Voices team and with your brands and all that you've been able to do.
16:51And I want to thank you for joining us on this stage today.
16:54Thank you for having us.
16:55Thank you, y'all.
16:56Let's give it up one more time for Ensa and Mayelle and Honeypot Cole.
17:03Thank you, ladies, so very much.
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