Diary of a Founder: Business of the Beat January & February Roundup!
Three themes stood out to me as we kicked off #BusinessOfTheBeat Season Three: the importance of building your brand around your community, the art of knowing when to be patient and when to go full steam ahead, and the power of creating a brand with a purpose beyond ourselves. Our founders and decision-makers left us with key lessons about working smarter ( Denis Asamoah ), setting boundaries ( Arion Long ), constantly striving to learn ( Olamide Olowe ), and so much more. Through building strong teams and keeping their eyes on the prize, these community-focused and strategy-oriented mavericks have been making waves in the beauty and wellness industry.
Catch up on all the episodes you missed!?
Monaè Everett @monaeartistry
Get Out of Your Own Way
Monaè Everett—keynote speaker, diversity advocate, celebrity hairstylist and hair visionary—joins me in an extraordinary conversation about the business skills needed to grow as a stylist, the expansion of inclusivity within the hair industry, and how she is uplifting other multi-talented stylists through the Monaè Life Academy. She also shares more on her new role as the Artistic Director for Blushington and highlights her work as a founder giving other stylists a voice and space to showcase their work on curly and coily hair through The Texture Style awards. She is also the author of Stunning Braids: Step-by-Step Guide to Gorgeous Statement Hairstyles and Get Out of Your Own Way!
“The way you make room is helping someone else so that there's room for you to receive what they're giving to you. If you're holding on to everything that you had, there's no room for getting something new. You're bigger, you're better.”
Asha Coco @ashacoco @forvrmood
Building Towards the Future
Asha Coco—President of FORVR Mood, a lifestyle brand founded by Nigerian-American beauty content creator, US Army veteran, and makeup artist Jackie Aina—talks about the beauty of bringing products to life and moving from being one piece within a larger organization to being the one putting all the pieces together. One of her key points of advice is “Good direction and guidance within an organization can be the key to problem solving together and building towards the future.” Asha also explains how FORVR Mood is about bringing a piece of luxury to everyone that wants to be “bougie on a budget” and showcasing different voices in the fragrance industry.
“Fragrance can completely change your mood. These fragrances are meant to change your mood and lift your vibe.”
Denis Asamoah @denisasamoah @forvrmood
Work Smarter
Known as "Mr. Work Smarter", Denis Asamoah—co-founder and CEO of FORVR Mood, a lifestyle brand founded by Nigerian-American beauty content creator, US Army veteran, and makeup artist Jackie Aina—kicks off the show with his favorite productivity tool: the Pomodoro Technique. Writing his 3 most important tasks down before bed so that he's ready for the morning is his best advice for everyone who wants to Work Smarter. Working smarter allows Denis to spend more time with his partner, Jackie Aina and to indulge in self care. Coming from a background in finance and creating his own company, Denis is no stranger to the startup game. Denis doesn't shy away from failures and believes that the only way to learn, grow, and scale a company is to address failure head on. He talks about working harder and working smarter to outperform, then deliver results. Denis dives deep into the long term value of content, storytelling and firmly declares: "The future is the creator economy." He also shares how he and Jackie made the conscious decision to not mix business with the personal in the early days of their relationship and how that later enabled them to co-found FORVR Mood and scale to 7-digits within weeks of launching.
"There is a Reason there is a Team."
Arion Long @arionklong @femly
I Kept My Eye on the Prize
Arion Long, Founder and CEO of FEMLY—a hi-tech feminine care company that delivers eco-friendly, sustainable, 100% organic cotton period care and products for a healthier cycle—talks about her personal near death experience that led to the creation of Femly. 7 years later, as she embarks on innovation across the brand with her new touchless first-of-its-kind period care dispensers, Arion says, “I'm not a tech person, I'm not an engineer, but I know how to articulate my vision and build a team to make? it a reality.” Arion has set herself and her business apart through her unique award winning pitching expertise winning countless competitions that have helped her fund the business coupled with her intentionality, and thoughtfulness. She discusses how she built out her advisory board, how she learned to set her boundaries, and how she has been advocating for a cause close to her heart. When asked what the most important part of her brand is, Arion says “For Femly, it looks like impact.”
“I didn't know the power of saying no and how it would free me. You'll thank yourself for the chance to set those boundaries later on.”
领英推荐
Karen Lee @gloubeauty
Creating Operational Efficiency
Karen Lee—Founder and CEO of GLOU Beauty, a sustainable beauty marketplace on a mission to reimagine e-commerce for beauty lovers in an age of conscious consumerism—shares the inspiration behind her company and its focus on operational efficiency: “Our whole goal is to try and bring more joy in your life and reduce any kind of pain you might have”. As sustainability becomes more important within the business world, Karen’s concept of “rehoming” makeup, skincare, and other beauty products has become increasingly important. Karen also discusses the importance of listening to consumers, implementing machine learning, and building a team with a shared vision. She attributes her success to “knowing what other people are good at, and putting that together”.
“Beauty is such an intrinsic part of our culture.”
Barbara Jacques @shopjacqs @jacqsorganics
It Didn’t Happen Overnight
Barbara Jacques—Founder and CEO of JACQ’S, a vegan and sustainable skincare line created for women of color by women of color—celebrates her recent success of winning one of Pharrell William’s Black Ambition Prizes, her first time participating in an accelerator program, and the impact of mentorship and coaching to help evolve the brand and its expansion into retail. Barbara talks about the importance of laughter and finding joyful moments in everything she does. She recounts the learnings from her mother saying “She allowed me to find myself in beauty and have fun with it.” Barbara is an advocate for education and encourages founders to read and do their own research. She talks openly about going from an “at home alchemist” to working with a formulator and understanding the importance of science in the end results and delivering efficacy products.
“When I started thinking bigger, I was able to put certain things in place. You have to be financially and mentally ready to enter retail. Sometimes we think we are ready but we aren’t.”
Tonya Lewis Lee @tonyalewislee @movitaorganics
Team is Everything
This week Tonya Lewis Lee—producer, film director, writer, entrepreneur, women’s health advocate and Founder of Movita Organics—discusses her mission to share culturally relevant stories that inspire people to take action, her mindset to find positivity in everything, and her non-negotiables. She takes us deeper on a journey of understanding the importance of a healthy lifestyle and how her work as a film producer to address the maternal and infant mortality crises led her to embark on a new entrepreneurial path. Tonya credits her team for the launch and growth of Movita Organics, a premium vitamin supplement brand, saying that “Team is Everything.”? Through Movita Organics, she is leading the conversation around womens’ access to? healthy outcomes as well as providing the community with a high-quality resource to aid their well-being and overall vitality.
“It takes time. An overnight success is at least 10 years in the making.”
Funding is Rocket Fuel
Olamide Olowe—founder & CEO of Topicals—highlights her tenacity to constantly learn, the importance of mentorship and the journey that led her to earn her most recent title of “the youngest Black woman to raise $10MM in funding”.? She shares that her “strategy in life is to learn as much as [she] can about a particular topic”.? She also discusses how she has been forging a path for entrepreneurial young, Black women through her new platform: The Cost of Doing Business, and how the importance of the community is a core pillar for the brand. She expresses appreciation for the lessons she learned through being a student-athlete and for gaining her “MBA in the real world” through co-founding the beauty brand SheaGIRL, in partnership with SheaMoisture. All of these experiences prepared her to take advantage of what she calls “business rocket fuel.”
“I’ve always had the intention of doing things that were hard, things that would help others.”