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[Renae] Black women.
Let me say that again.
Black women.
Black women are the most amazing beings
gifted to this Earth.
I say this not just because I am a Black woman,
but because it is fact.
From the range of our skin tones
to the textures of the glorious crowns
that adorn our beautiful heads,
we are the most disenfranchised, underrepresented,
least protected, and still we rise like the poetry of Maya.
We make everything we do look effortless,
like a breeze off the Island of Lamu in East Africa.
Black women are the creators of all that is hip and cool.
Everyone takes from us. And I say "take"
because we are oftentimes not credited or compensated
for what we excel at innately:
our fashion, how we style our hair,
our delicious cuisines,
to the natural curves in our thighs and hips
that so many pay top dollars to emulate.
We are the queens of creativity.
We are the bridge to every culture
because we are the culture.
As Mr. 3,000 sang so eloquently,
"We are the prototype."
African-American women control
about 1.3 million businesses and they are
the country's fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs.
[reporter] The number of businesses
owned by African-American women
has grown by 322%.
African-American women are three to five times
more likely to start businesses than White women.
[Renae] I want people to see the truth
behind entrepreneurship.
[Melissa] I want you to look at me and be inspired to say,
"I can do that, too."
[Luvvie] I'm a product of people
who were committed to seeing me thrive.
Can I do this every single month?
Can I be profitable every single month?
[Lisa] Could I have lost everything?
Yes, but it would have been much worse to live with,
"What if?"
[Renae] Since the beginning of time,
we have been creating businesses
and doing it for ourselves.
We know the greats.
Madame CJ Walker,
Cathy Hughes and Oprah,
but there are so many more who came before them,
like Maggie Lena Walker,
who was the first African-American woman
in the US to charter a bank.
Sarah E. Goode,
the first African-American woman
to win a US patent for her invention
of the foldaway bed.
And Clara Brown, who was born into slavery,
later becoming the owner of several successful laundromats,
and is the first Black woman to be a part of the Gold Rush.
Despite the barriers we've had to overcome,
the tides are gradually turning.
The stories that are shared here
will let the next generation know
that with hard work and commitment,
they, too, can be the captains of their own ships.
In 2009, I launched In Her Shoes.
This blog is all about celebrating
Black women and entrepreneurship.
We are, in this moment, making history,
starting businesses at six times the national average.
We talk to entrepreneurs at Essence all the time.
And the constant thread that we're hearing
is that there was some need that was not fulfilled
and they literally
just picked it up and did it themselves.
[Melissa] The Lip Bar is more than just makeup.
I want little brown girls
to grow up having representation,
knowing that they don't have to conform
to society's standards of beauty.
I want you to be so comfortable in your own skin
that you own it.
When I built My Fab Finance
my goal was to get a 750-credit score by the time I turned 30.
And I just started posting,
like, what I was doing, what was working,
and then other people started sharing the content.
I was like, "Hey, there aren't people
who look like me talking about this."
2007 to 2012 there was
a 70% surge in Black women-owned businesses.
Because Black women are historically underserved
in certain markets,
there's so much more potential for growth
and there's so much more potential
for innovativeness and new creative ideas.
I always say that the first time
that Carol's Daughter was a business
was the first time someone gave me money
for my products,
not me giving it to them as a gift.
So that is May 25th, 1993,
where I sold products for the first time
at a church flea market.
I sold out of those products,
and I realized this was something that I could do.
I started blogging in college
back when it was still called weblogging,
but then when I graduated, deleted the whole thing off the web.
And started what is now AwesomelyLuvvie.com
'cause I wanted to talk about just the world
and celebrities and pop culture.
I actively love writing,
and when I don't write I feel
like I'm doing something wrong.
I am from a very quaint little town
right outside of Indianapolis, Indiana,
called Kokomo, Indiana.
I grew up in a family of entrepreneurs.
My grandfather was a funeral director in Indiana,
during a time where it was almost unheard of
for a Black man to be providing for his own family
and not working for someone else.
Seeing families celebrating the lives of their loved ones
every single day was a harsh reminder
that life is short,
and because of that, I realized early
that you have to do what you love.
Both my parents were in the military,
so I lived everywhere.
I was born in the Philippines.
I lived in Texas, Oklahoma, in Germany,
but my parents retired in North Carolina,
so I consider that to be home.
I have a strong sense of family.
My sister and I, you know, early on
we were each other's rocks,
we were each other's support system,
because so often it was only us.
I am Nigerian.
I was born there, raised there.
When I was nine, we moved from Nigeria to Chicago.
I didn't realize we were moving.
I thought we were going on vacation.
There was definitely a class adjustment coming to the US
'cause we lived in a big house in Nigeria
and then we came here and lived in an apartment.
When you have maids and you have drivers and multiple cars,
and you come here and start taking the bus, that was new.
That was new for me.
Growing up,
we did not realize
that there were things
that we didn't have
that other people had.
We were happy.
We had full lives.
There was always food on the table.
Mom and Dad were always there.
Now that I'm an adult,
I know we didn't have any money at all.
[laughs]
But as a child,
I did not feel or see that.
[Melissa] Coming from Detroit
means that you come from a place of grit.
When I moved to New York, or went to college,
or started a business,
I had such a strong foundation because of that.
My dad was in jail basically my entire childhood, adulthood.
I watched my mom do everything,
be that fist, but also be that nurturer,
and be that provider, and be that really independent woman.
Growing up in a family of entrepreneurs
and having this family business kind of made us an anomaly,
so to speak, in Indiana.
My dad used to remind me all the time
that having a family business is rare.
There weren't that many Black families
that had their own businesses, and thriving businesses,
and for that reason, you know, he was always, you know, gently
or not so gently pushing me
to take over the family business.
Having a family business kind of made it a norm for her.
And so Renae kind of got it by osmosis,
so to speak.
And when I went off and acquired other funeral homes,
then is when I really was wishing that Renae would say,
"Hey, Dad, you know, um, I like this thing,
but I think I'm gonna try the family business."
But it never happened.
Renae found a passion.
I'm grateful for these examples
of strong Black men as entrepreneurs
in my life at an early age,
very grateful for the life that my family
was able to provide because of the business.
But it just was not my thing.
In Detroit I went to one of the best high schools,
Cass Tech.
It's a school for scholars,
and they have maybe, like, a 95% college acceptance rate.
So, they push college, like, through and through.
I knew I wanted to go to a Black college.
I knew I wanted that experience.
The thought was, like, what college am I going to?
Howard or FAMU? Howard or FAMU?
But I ended up going to FAMU
because they had the best business program.
I don't think I really learned about Black American history
until I got to college,
and I definitely didn't learn how diverse Black people were.
Going there was the best decision I've ever made.
My mother, I think she saw the challenge with me being
the only Black child in my class most of the time.
And my mother sat me down, and she said,
"It's just time for me to have this conversation with you.
You're a girl, you're going to be a woman, but you're Black.
And because of that,
you're gonna have to work two times harder than anybody else.
But don't ever let anyone make you feel
like you don't deserve to be where you are,
and just know that you are equally as good as anybody."
In hindsight, I always tell my mom, thank you so much
for preparing me for what it is to be a Black woman.
Had my parents not developed that confidence,
I don't know if I'd be where I am right now.
I was a very good student.
I was actually in high school at age 12
instead of starting at 14,
so when I graduated from high school,
it was one month after my sixteenth birthday.
My parents, my grandparents, they believed
that if you worked hard,
there wasn't anything that you could not do.
They knew that there were limitations out there
because of the color of our skin,
but rather than teach us that those were true limitations,
they taught us that if we worked hard,
we could overcome them.
When I was in high school,
my cousin owned a throwback jersey store.
And so, at 16 years old,
I'm, like, basically managing a store at the mall.
He's, like, having me count the registers at night,
I'm coming up with different promotions.
So, he really inspired me to be an entrepreneur.
When I was about 11 or 12,
I wanted to be Diana Ross when I grew up.
I just thought that she was amazing.
So, there was a point in my life when I decided to go back
to that desire to be a singer,
and I was part of a girl's group,
don't laugh, called Tuxedo Gold.
For a very long time, I looked at that part of my life
as, like, the thing that you do not want someone to bring up.
So grateful that there is no social media...
[laughing] ...back then
for somebody to say, "Look at this."
But that process that I went through
to try to be a singer plays into helping you to be
fearless about things.
Starting The Lip Bar was almost like a hobby at first.
It was for my own personal use.
So, at that time, I was deciding to make
a more natural approach
and take a more holistic approach
to my own lifestyle.
So, I started actually reading the ingredients
on all the food that I was eating,
the makeup that I was using,
the skincare that I was buying.
And when it came to lipstick,
it was, like, all these sixteen-letter words.
I had no idea what it was.
And in addition to that,
why can't I find nude lips that match my complexion?
So, I started making lipstick on my own.
Before I took the leap into entrepreneurship,
I was working at one of the top PR agencies
here in New York City.
But I wasn't there.
I realized that I wasn't gonna be completely happy
with the work that I was doing
until I had a little more control
over the types of brands that I was doing PR for,
the types of projects that I was managing.
And the only way to do that was to really start
my own consultancy and become my own boss.
And so, I started moonlighting and freelancing on the side.
I would work from nine to five,
or, let's be real, nine to seven or eight,
and I would come home
and start working on my own client roster.
So, I built up a couple of clients,
had a few things baking,
and realized after a year and a half of moonlighting
that, you know what?
Girl, you can do this.
Like, this is the time to take the leap.
Anyone who knows me, you come to my house,
candles and flowers are something that I always have.
And when I launched, I actually was unemployed,
and I wanted to, like, go to the store and buy candles,
but when you're unemployed, you gotta be very
particular with what you decide to spend your money on.
And I was like, "Why don't I just make candles?"
And it was a lot of trial and error,
but I got the hang of things,
and I decided to launch the company.
Whenever you're putting anything out,
it's always a fear if people are gonna like it.
I think just because we love something doesn't mean
everyone's reaction to it is gonna be the same.
And I remember spending my savings, and I was like,
this has to work, because you can't go broke.
[laughs]
And that's the best time for something to work,
when your back is against the wall and--
I don't know, I just felt like...
all in or nothing.
This was going to be my business.
I feel so empowered, I feel like,
"Ooh, Melissa, you did that.
Like, you can really create lipstick in your kitchen."
I decided that in order for my business
to give me 100%,
I had to give it 100%.
A lot of times women start their own businesses
while they already have a full-time job.
And so, tempering or sort of striking the balance
between your job, and then throwing in
maybe raising a family, and, you know,
doing your side hustle, which, you know, you wanna grow
into a big business, the side hustle often suffers.
So, finding a way to sort of even keel that energy out
a little bit more, and dedicate a little bit more time
to taking a bit more of a risk,
putting a little bit more energy into it--
And I know we're already doing, like, a million things, right?
But that's the one thing I think that holds a business back.
After doing PR for about a year,
I had this idea, like, I wanna create a destination online
for Black women to tell their stories.
Black women who are building brands and building legacies.
I want a place for us to come and inspire each other,
get advice from, get guidance from.
There's a lot of loneliness
behind the scenes of entrepreneurship.
And each and every time a woman is honest about her experience,
the highs, the lows, the challenges, the successes,
and all of the murkiness in between,
she is fueling another woman to keep going
and encouraging another woman to push beyond
whatever challenges she's facing.
So, when I got laid off in April 2010,
I was feeling restless at my job.
But I was not gonna quit,
because I like knowing where my money's coming from,
I like benefits, insurance, you know?
And again, shoe habits.
You know, these shoes not gonna buy themselves.
I was basically pushed to take that leap of faith.
So, I kept on writing.
But I never took writing seriously.
I didn't take it as this is your gift,
this is what you're supposed to be doing,
this is your purpose.
I didn't know writers who were kind of tangible.
Like, I knew the Toni Morrisons and the Terry McMillans,
but they felt like aspirational, but not reachable.
They were novelists.
For me, I was like, okay, writing is not something
that I think I can make a career of, 'cause I don't know anybody
who's doing it who's not, like, super fancy.
And it was definitely one of those
"if you don't know it, you can't see it for yourself."
For me, it was really important to let people know what is available.
You know, whether that means it's within my world
or other people's world and making those connections,
but almost giving them permission
to be able to enter those worlds.
Because I think that's part of the problem as well,
is that we're not aware.
So, what I try to do within my own industry is bring,
you know, younger women of color to participate
in some of the activities that I'm doing.
For them to see that something exists
where they can participate,
and maybe that'll, you know, have a spark.
Any time I tell my girls someone is gonna come
to the school or we're gonna take a visit,
they get so excited.
And part of it is because...
they don't often see that.
We've had our girls go into Essence,
and they are like,
"I've never seen so many Black women
who are just amazing,
who are nice, who have office jobs."
And the majority of them have never been
in an office to begin with.
So, to see something
from us, by us, for us
that includes them, my girls,
they get to see what they can do for their future.
And I can't tell you how heartwarming that is, you know,
because for many of them, you ask them,
"What do you wanna do with your life?"
And, you know, they'll be limited and say,
"Well, I don't know yet,"
or "I think I wanna go to college."
And then when they step into these places
or they meet different people,
then they're saying,
"Well, I wanna be a blogger."
"I wanna be a writer."
"I can see myself being an engineer."
Just for the mere fact that someone made themselves
present in this space.
The times when I would doubt whether I should be writing,
I would always get some type of a note that would tell me,
"Nah, you're supposed to be writing."
Like, I remember one of the first notes
I got from a reader,
she was in the waiting room with her mother
as her mother was getting chemotherapy,
and reading my blog was the only reason why she wasn't crying.
And I was like, "Oh, my God, okay.
So, this is making a difference."
And I got another note from somebody who was like,
"You know, I've been in a depressive episode
for the last six months, and your blog is literally
the only thing that's made me smile."
My finances were in great shape,
and then I got to Miami.
And that's when I just fell off the financial wagon.
Miami is an exciting city, I got sucked into it, you know?
To be in Miami, you kind of wanna look
like you're supposed to be in Miami.
So, I started focusing on that.
I had a lot of credit card debt from clothing,
I had Remy Weave when I lived in Miami.
And then I got into a bad relationship,
and that was the thing
that flipped my finances totally upside down.
I was 21 years old, living in Miami, living my life,
and I met this guy, and it turned out to become
physically, emotionally, and financially abusive.
I remember one time my abuser,
he pulled a gun out on me, and it was loaded.
And he was like, "I will kill you right now."
And just--
I saw the life leave him.
I hadn't spoken to my mother in months at that time,
but I called her.
I was like, "Mom, I'm ready to come home."
And so, I called my mom--
I'm getting emotional.
[sobbing] I called my mom, I was like, "I'm ready to go."
And she's like, "Okay."
[sighs] Sorry.
[sighs]
I don't ever cry when I tell this story.
It took me years to untangle the financial mess.
I was still in college and I wasn't really fully employed, and--
But I had still been taking on debt to support us.
I was the sole provider in the household.
And it did come out he was stealing money from me.
Like, he would take my card when I was asleep.
As a result, I had two broken leases,
he had committed fraud with my PayPal account,
all my credit cards were maxed out.
My finances were in shambles.
Like, picture shambles, that was my finances.
My Fab Finance started in 2013.
It was my accountability partner when I decided
I was gonna untangle the mess from the abusive relationship.
Things are better, and it led to probably
one of my greatest creations, which is My Fab Finance.
[Lauren] What we know about Black women is that we're doers.
So, over the span of ten years, from 2002 to 2012,
Black female entrepreneurs grew their revenue 104%.
A hundred and four percent, over ten years.
It is unprecedented, it's unheard of.
And that just speaks to the work that we're doing in our communities.
I was very fortunate that it could grow organically,
because I didn't have another option.
I couldn't get a loan.
So, everything that I did with the business
needed to be successful
so that I would have money
to reinvest in the next thing.
So, you do one flea market,
you get the sales from that,
now you can go buy supplies for the next craft fair,
and you get the sales from that.
And then you can go--
And you just keep reinvesting
and doing that over and over again.
That growth was constantly being reinvested,
and there was no other way for me to exist.
From day one, The Lip Bar was fully funded by me,
and I worked for a year and a half
while The Lip Bar was still operating.
It really made me feel empowered to know that, you know,
I didn't necessarily have to seek out funding to do this,
and I was able to really work with what I had
to get my dream and my vision started.
[Gwen] We're not getting the funding
that a White counterpart will get.
The banks are not as excited
to give us money, you know?
So, it's our money, our own money,
we're not, you know,
we're not building our restaurant off other people's money,
whereas a lot of our White counterparts can do that.
And so, it's harder for us, and,
and it seems like that most Black businesses
are doing it on their own.
They are pooling their money together
or, you know, digging into their savings,
and, you know, we want a piece of that pie too,
so that's what we're trying to figure out.
You know, how do we get some of that money?
The first time I ever heard of Shark Tank,
we were doing a pop-up with Harlem Fashion's Row.
Everyone is coming to our room, because, you know, when you see someone
with blue lips coming out, it's like, wait.
And then when you see multiple people with blue lips,
it's like, what's in that room?
So, a producer from Shark Tank
walked into that room and said,
"Here's my business card.
You should apply for Shark Tank."
I had never heard of the show.
So, my creative director for The Lip Bar, Rosco Spears,
decided that we would apply.
And three months later,
here we are on Shark Tank.
I was so taken aback
by the fact that they weren't even really willing
to talk to us about business.
From the second that we said we were a cosmetic company,
none of them were interested.
Instead of actually talking to us like the business owners
we were and we are, they complimented our dresses.
They said we would never get market share from the big guys.
They told us that these blue and purple lip colors, you know,
number one, were unattractive,
and that if the bigger companies wanted to do those colors,
they would do that and then crush us like the colorful cockroaches that we are.
[rewind sound]
...crush us like the colorful cockroaches that we are.
[Renae] One of the many reasons we're not getting
the financing we need is quite simple.
We're being overlooked because in most cases,
people lend money to people who look like them.
[Gwen] Part of it might be some--
We gotta get in front of the right people,
but I also do feel like it is a racial thing, you know,
about resources being available to us.
It's really tough being a woman in business having to
talk to men about this beauty brand
that they don't really understand,
they can't relate, they've never used these products.
But at the end of the day,
these are the men who are, like, pulling the triggers
and pressing the buttons,
and making the green light happen for you.
A lot of times people will ask,
"Oh, was there a moment where you wanted to give up?
That you just said, 'Oh, I can't do this?'"
And after being in business for over 20 years,
there are so many of those moments,
because it's hard.
And it's scary,
and it's very precarious,
and there's so much that you discover
as you're doing it that you don't know.
So, I definitely have had many moments over the years
where I just felt like, "Okay, this is crazy, I can't--
I can't do this anymore."
A year into doing all of this,
still couldn't find a full-time job,
but I was on LinkedIn every week,
like, let me find a job.
Finally, I got a job doing social media for a major brand.
Pretty good pay.
I go in the office day one,
I sit there, I'm doing PowerPoint.
By 1 p.m., I felt like the walls were closing in on me.
[laughs] I was like--
I wanted to slide off the chair
onto the ground and just lay there.
I was like this is--
I don't think I'm cut out for this anymore. I think--
I need to make this whole working for myself thing work.
I'm building My Fab Finance and everything is going great,
and then I get connected with Russell Simmons.
And I went in and I interviewed him,
and it was a great interview.
But after that interview I had to go back to work.
So, I walk into my job, and they're preparing
for a staff meeting, a team meeting,
and my boss says,
"Oh, hey, Tonya, welcome back.
Can you print out these agendas for this meeting?"
And I'm not the person
who thinks I'm bigger than things,
but in that moment all of it just hit.
I was like, "I have a master's degree.
We have an intern.
I just sat down with Russell Simmons,
and you're asking me to print out agendas?
I'm done."
Here at Essence, we're always trying to find
the pulse of Black women working in Corporate America.
And we teamed up with Catalyst,
which is a research firm, to commission
the "Black Women in the Workplace" study,
which pretty much takes the temperature of all women
at all levels working in Corporate America.
And what we found from this study
is that 54% of Black men and women
report feeling like they have to be on guard.
People are super vigilant about the way they're being perceived
and the way that people are sort of taking them in.
So, what the study also found is that that vigilance,
every day when you come to the office
and you feel like you have to change who you really are
and constantly be on guard,
has effects on your health, mentally and physically.
I think for Black women entrepreneurs,
where it requires so much of ourselves
and so much of our time,
having mental wellness and having a hold
of our mental health is really important.
Because here's the thing, right?
Regardless if you are a millionaire or not,
we all have--
Some of us have trauma,
some of us have to deal with depression,
anxiety, PTSD, mental health issues,
and we have to take care of that.
That doesn't mean it's like a quick fix, but it means, like,
all right, like, "I really wanna succeed
and I really wanna be great in this, and I'm really passionate,
but I've got some work I need to do on myself too.
And how am I really going to help other people
if I'm not actually taking care of myself?"
I actually recently did this thing with my family
where I asked them all for feedback
'cause I'm trying to, like, work on my self-development
and making sure I'm spending more time,
like, thinking about Chioma the person,
not just Chioma the entrepreneur,
or, like, Chioma the sister, Chioma the friend.
Um, so, trying to be more holistic in how I view myself.
And my feedback, overwhelmingly,
from every person in my life was like,
"You need to take better care of yourself.
We see that you're always working,
or you're, like, always stressed
and you're always, like, you're always going,
and you need to pause and have some of that time to be like--
Like, have some Chioma time,
like, meditate, like, do some yoga,
like, you know, go to the salon, like, relax a little bit."
That's probably, like, an American thing,
maybe a New York thing too, where you're just, like,
you feel like you need to be doing something all the time.
So, I think that's one of the things--
And it gets magnified with entrepreneurship
because your success or failure depends upon your input.
So, I think, like, one of the biggest costs is that you always--
You kind of feel guilty if you're not working.
Therapy is, to date, the greatest investment
I have ever made in myself.
And when I tell you the kind of peace and contentment
that I have in my life because of the therapy.
I understand my feelings, and, oh, business, you know?
And I'm not intimidated anymore,
and I have learned to sort of accept praise.
You know, people tell-- we're always like,
"Oh, no. Oh, no."
You know, learning how to say thank you
and be proud of myself. I struggled with that.
Like, not being proud of the work that I was doing,
almost like, "Well, this is what I'm supposed to do.
I'm Super Woman."
And so, I love, love, love psychotherapy,
and, um, I don't--
I said maybe I'm naive and I don't know
about what's supposed to be taboo, but it's good.
[Gwen] In terms of female entrepreneurs
and Black women entrepreneurs,
I feel like we are in this female moment right now.
People are starting to realize,
"Wow, they-- they got something." You know?
"These women, they're doing their thing,
and they're making it happen."
Like, they're, you know, they're quitting their jobs.
I feel like, too, there's this thing
about women in Corporate America, too.
You kind of--
you know, you're getting passed over for a promotion,
you're getting overlooked, and it's like, "You know what?
I can do this on my own."
And so, it's very--
Like, just, female empowerment thing happening right now.
And I think it's just only gonna get bigger.
One of the most common mistakes
is that we try to do it all, and that leads to burnout.
We have all of these blind spots
and we find ourselves being frustrated.
So, we're very hands on,
that's how we started the business in the first place,
but then we kind of shoot ourselves in the foot
because we're not so good
at sort of divvying out responsibility
and knowing when it's time
to sort of bring on more people on your team.
And as their businesses grow, it sort of outpaces
the threshold that they can sustain.
The Super Woman complex is real.
I see it amongst so many of my clients,
so many of my colleagues, so many of my friends.
And I think the idea that we have to do everything,
we have to be the best parents,
be the best children to our parents,
be the best friends,
and have this amazing, thriving business.
I mean, I think we want all of this, right?
But part of it is that we think we can do it all.
We don't need any help. We got this.
Yeah, I agree, the idea of this invisible cape is--
it's generational, it's cultural, it's diaspora.
You know, it's--
We don't really know how to be another way,
and it is only through the lens of other women who understand
what that struggle looks like, and pass the baton, and go,
"You can relax here" or "You gotta amp it up here."
We need help and we need support.
We need to be able to reach out to others for that.
The biggest issue
is that we have trouble saying no.
It's like, "Oh, you need that? Sure. You need--"
You know, like, "You need to do that other thing,
you need to have that call till midnight? Yeah, fine." You know?
Balance, like--
It's necessary to just take time for yourself,
put the cape down for a moment.
We also need to be able to set boundaries.
And sometimes it's like, if you can't say no to other people,
can you at least say yes to yourself?
You know, there's this sort of like,
"Eff it, I'll do it" thing
that we always feel like we have to do it, you know?
And I don't know if and when we ever give ourselves
a moment to, like,
who takes care of the caretaker?
So, for me, I have always had
that syndrome of doing everything.
From being a single parent and going through a divorce,
having to really fill all the roles,
it's been difficult.
And I used to take it on
kind of like with a badge of honor,
like, "Yes, I can do it. I can do it. I can make it all happen.
I can get to my son's games. I can get to work.
I can do everything for my house.
I can still build my business."
But then there comes a certain point
when you have to let something go.
I can't do everything all at once.
So, for me, I compartmentalize.
It's like, what is most important right now?
Anything else that is not important
right this second can go on the list.
And sometimes the list changes,
sometimes your top five are this,
and sometimes those things
move down in order of importance.
But for me, personally,
I exercise the power of no.
Sometimes it's a "No, thank you."
Sometimes it's a "No."
Sometimes it's, um, "No, I can't do that."
And sometimes it's just like, "Mm-mm, no."
Because if you don't,
you'll find that you overextend yourself,
and then what ends up happening, you suffer.
So now, I do make time for other people,
I do make time for my business,
but I also make time for me.
Self-care is just this, like, magical term
that people don't really know what it is.
And wondering is it yoga?
Is it meditation? Is it eating?
Is it drinking wine? Like, what is it?
And I think that self-care
is definitely more, I believe, like, emotional.
It is boundary setting.
You know, self-care is, like, not letting people bulldoze you,
and not letting people make your-- their emergencies yours.
Self-care is--
Most people are surprised that I don't do non-business things
outside of business hours
that aren't, like, ultra-pressing cash things.
I do not do interviews after six o'clock,
I do not do meetings,
and I don't do them on weekends.
It's, like, you know what?
It can wait.
And that is just a self-care thing for me
that, like, I cannot allow business
to run my life into the ground.
At all times we are living this Black girl experience,
and it-- it--
There's a myriad of hats that we have to wear.
It's the hat of knowing what battle to pick,
and what battle to fight, and when we're even fighting.
It's understanding that we do need help.
Looking at mental health differently,
seeing a lot of our young and older people
going through mental breakdowns, and knowing,
yeah, it's not just that Johnny or Tommy wasn't right.
It's-- there's this stigma
that we're supposed to carry the weight
of all of these other issues
that everybody else in the world gets to pop a pill for.
I mean, it's been proven.
There's statistics, pharmaceutical reviews,
that have been proven to show that Black people
can have the same diagnosis
as someone that is not Black or a person of color,
and they are given a lower form of medication
because the idea is we can tolerate higher forms of pain.
-It's heartbreaking. -It's crazy.
That's a cape that we need to be able to take off.
It's like, just 'cause we can carry the weight of the world
-doesn't mean that you should let us. -No.
When you're an entrepreneur and you're onto something,
and you feel like things are really great,
then you feel like, "Okay, I can open up another one."
And then our pop-up was--
I mean, I'm grateful that we did just the pop-up
and didn't, like, quite open up 100%,
because that was one of the hardest things we ever did,
having to manage two locations.
I mean, it was really hard and discouraging,
and there was times when Gwen and I would do a whole shift
because the kitchen called out.
So, we would be there from 9 to 11,
and then we'd be so beat, we're at the counter,
just waiting for the cleaner to come in.
[whispering] And then the cleaner don't show up.
[chuckles]
-So... -And then we had to scrub after--
I mean, that day, I was shot. I was like--
[laughing] I was ready to throw in the towel,
'cause I was like, I am not doing this every day.
Like, this was going on a lot, and I--
And then it'd be something happening over here,
and I'm like, "What you want me to do about it?
I'm on the grill."
-[Gwen laughs] -So, it was a learning experience.
So that's how you win in this business.
You just learn from each mistake,
and you just keep growing
and be getting stronger and stronger as you go.
[Renae] Let's be real.
When a Black woman launches a business,
she's not just empowering herself,
she's uplifting her family and her entire community.
Research has shown that Black entrepreneurship
is linked to a decline in violence amongst our youth.
When you support a Black woman-owned business,
you can be helping a mom put food on the table,
pay a mortgage, or cover her child's college tuition.
For these reasons, we cannot afford
to exclude our men from the conversation.
It's imperative that they support us
and help move the dial for women entrepreneurs
as partners, investors and champions.
I'm very inspired by Black women
that are doing their thing.
It started with my mother,
my grandmother, like, my aunts,
all of them are strong women.
And I think one thing
that people fail to understand
about entrepreneurship is entrepreneurship is a marathon.
It ain't a sprint, you know, and in a marathon,
you need people on the sidelines
cheering you for all of them 26 point whatever miles it is.
And as Black men, it is of the utmost importance
for us to stand side by side with sisters,
whether it be a platonic relationship,
romantic relationship. It could be your little sister,
It could be your aunty. It could be your mother.
It could be your friend.
It could be someone that you don't even know.
But if we don't, as Black men,
support Black women, then who will?
Gordon, thankfully,
has always been very, very supportive of me
and of Carol's Daughter.
He actually very proudly wears the name Mr. Carol's Daughter.
He likes that.
He likes that I have my thing,
and he has his thing,
but he's always been very, very supportive of the business.
And honestly, there wouldn't be one
if it hadn't been for him,
because he is much more gregarious than I am.
When we would do flea markets and craft fairs and things,
and sell, he was the one
that got the customers to come over and try it.
Once they came to the table or into our booth
and engaged me in questions, I would answer,
I would talk, you know, I would have something to say.
But I couldn't walk up to a total stranger and say,
"Smell this, try this," you know?
And he was the one who did that. He was like,
"My wife makes this great stuff. Come check it out."
So, yeah, very supportive.
In the late '90s, things, you know, grew a lot
with the business, they changed a lot with the business.
-And... it was hard. -Every morning...
-It was hard, it was hard. -...we would have--
When you're waking up and there's people ringing the doorbell,
and you're like, "Is it really... [sighs]
Hi, no, no. It's okay. Come on in.
Y'all want some coffee?"
Yeah, well, we should--
Register is not even on yet or-- whatever, you know. "Just come in."
And then, you know, folks are coming in, "Morning." [knocks on table]
"Hi, Miss Florencia. Hi, Miss--
Hello, Sarah. Good morning, Abbey. How you doing?"
Folks just come in and they put--
And then like it starts humming and it's a thing.
And that's just your life.
That's what you do.
And yeah. So, when everything finally moved out, I was happy.
[laughs]
He-- [laughs]
did a dance from the third floor
all the way down to the first floor...
-Yes, I did. -...with no clothes on.
Yes, I did.
"It's my house, and there's nobody here.
It's my house, and there's nobody here."
I could walk into any room and not be like,
"Oh, are there ladies? Oh, no, there's no ladies in here."
I can just walk around.
[laughs]
Oh, look at that. I don't have to worry about--
"Oh, is this is my-- Oh, no, no.
No?
Is this my room, too?
Yeah."
[laughs]
I think it was a fairly reasonable thing. I had put up with a lot.
[Khiry] Well, before any of the candle things,
Denequa was just an inspiration to me
when I first met her.
I love to see you get up in the morning,
just getting ready to work.
You're always beating me to the punch.
She's always up before me. No matter what.
Even if I get up at seven o'clock, she'll be up by six.
To see her actually build something from the ground up, it's amazing.
Anybody just comes up with the idea of just making candles,
but the fact that you put your energy, your love into it.
And these are in people homes,
and they able to smell the hard work that you put in.
It's, um, it's an amazing feeling.
I support her 1,000%.
[Denequa] To be a Black woman, to have support from your partner
just because sometimes they could be intimidated
by a woman who's successful.
So, to have someone who I don't necessarily feel--
-He doesn't feel threatened... -No.
...but more so is like a--
Not a cheerleader, but like my biggest--
-Number one fan. Number one fan. -Number one fan, yeah.
My family and friends
have absolutely come through for me.
And especially since I lost my husband.
So, that is--
That's so important to me,
and I couldn't do it without them.
And so, this whole thing has actually even made me appreciate
my friends and family even more.
[Fifi] And as entrepreneurs we make it work. We--
She's a single mom now, you know?
And things have changed both of our lives,
and, you know, with the loss of her husband,
and it's been really hard.
But--
I, um...
[whispering] Sorry. Damn.
I don't want her husband's passing
to be the reason why our--
You know, that the fire is lit under us
and we're full speed ahead.
But what it has done is just made us, like,
seriously just focus 'cause my girl has to be okay.
And I feel pressure,
but I also feel an enormous amount of drive
to make sure that she's gonna be okay.
And nothing's gonna stop me until we get there, so--
[Renae] Our counterparts love our money but not us so much,
which is evident with the alarming rates of injustice
that we still face in our country
and the lack of investments
poured back into our communities.
If we spend $1.2 trillion
with those who appreciate us the least,
why can't we make a more conscious effort
to spend with our own?
I have a line of T-shirts with my sayings on it
because, as a writer, one of the things
that makes me stand out is my use of different phrases
and how I bend language and play with it.
So, one of the phrases that I use is,
"Giver of no Dambs."
And I use B instead of N in "Damns"
just because I feel like it rolls better
and it looks better.
So, one of these shirts
ends up on the finale episode
of Insecure, season one.
Issa is wearing it.
And everybody freaks out.
It is the epitome of, like, Black girl magic
and, like, the Voltron of Black women,
how we are so dedicated to supporting each other.
Like, they didn't have to do that.
That was amazing.
And the shirt says, "Awesomely Luvvie" on it.
I still get messages from people who were like,
"I was watching Insecure.
Issa is wearing your shirt."
Issa is so committed to bringing her people with her,
and I think that's one of the things
I love the most about her.
[Renae] Is collaboration the new competition?
Absolutely.
Pulling together our financial, creative and social resources
sets us up for success and allows us to gain access
in a way that may not have been possible before.
We're excited to, like, welcome Melissa and other, you know,
female entrepreneurs and just, you know, share and help one another.
We've talked about two fun things we could do in partnership together, so it's--
-I totally see that event happening. -Yeah.
So, it's really-- it's really fun to have the support
and other like-minded women in the city.
[Anika] Yeah, we're kind of taking over a little bit.
There was, like, a recent article
about women entrepreneurs in the state of Michigan.
One of our local magazines was talking about the undercover,
-like, we're kind of the sneak attack... -Right.
...women entrepreneurs kind of coming through.
[Melissa] Forbes put that out.
-I think I just posted that. -[Anika] Was it Forbes?
And actually, my caption was
-"Sneaking. We did it." Yes. -Sneakin'!
You know, it is really, again, our responsibility
to direct our dollars to support one another,
to open businesses that, you know, we can support.
So, we're, like, just super excited to be able
to raise our hands and say, "Us, too."
[Melissa] I'm part of it.
We met through a mutual friend
who hosted another event in the space.
We hit it off the second that we met.
I think that's why the collaboration
felt so natural for us.
And when we pull together these brands, it's really us, right?
Because a company is just
the people who are behind that brand.
The candles that she makes are amazing because she makes them.
And the same-- I feel like with the space.
People walk in and go, "This is a beautiful space."
But energetically, and when they meet me--
It feels right.
It feels right and things click.
Something also, too, that we--
The commonality, I guess, amongst us is that
we wanna create something that we wish existed.
-Uh-huh. -And I think that that's--
When that's the foundation of it, we kind of--
It just was like a no-brainer.
[Shell] And that for me is the key
in everything, in my business,
in the core values that we lay out.
It's about community.
That is what--
That's, for me, I hope the legacy is of this, of what I do.
It's building that community.
And this idea of Black women not being able to do things together,
it's like--
The reason there's even civilization
is because Black women came together and said,
"One can be on the left, one can be on the right."
You know, literally, we have pushed civilization forward.
So, we've always been able to get along.
It's just not what mainstream media wants to
-present and push out there. -Project.
It's like, if we do not pull it together,
come together as the collective,
who else is gonna do it for us?
Like, we have to, we must. It's imperative.
Yeah.
The idea of collaboration over competition.
There's something really special going on, and it's not just us.
It is a collection, um,
a collective of Black women within an eight-block radius,
and we're sending business to each other.
We're getting business.
It's just so magical.
I'm a fan of nepotism at this point,
especially when it comes to Black women.
I think one of my hobbies is defending Black girls
and, two, supporting Black women, and just Black businesses in general,
'cause I think we need to prioritize that.
If we are going to get on better footing,
we actually have to be very focused about that.
And I think that's what White people have been able to do for centuries.
Like, they've been doing that, where they've just been
insulating their support to themselves.
Why don't we do the same?
And especially now,
when there's so many good people who are doing good things.
Now is the time when we need to really push them forward
and push them upward.
Opportunities that I've gotten
and people I've met
is because other people have made it a point
to push me forward in that way.
And I think we need to make that priority.
And here's the thing,
you're not just gonna put your name behind somebody
just because they're your friend.
But if they're your friend and they're doing good stuff
and you trust them, and you trust their work,
why not put your name behind them?
[Renae] It is our responsibility to push us forward.
We still have some way to go,
but there is definitely a shift happening.
There are some powerful men and women in the industry
rewriting the narrative.
For example,
let's take Richelieu Dennis of Sundial Corporation.
His $240 million portfolio of personal care brands
was recently acquired by consumer goods giant Unilever.
The sweetest part of the deal?
Sundial paid it forward with the development of the New Voices Fund,
which is investing $50 million
to empower us, women of color entrepreneurs.
When Black businesses decide to merge with other brands
or get acquired to help elevate their brands,
a lot of times in our community,
we get in our emotions.
We take it personal.
In October of 2014,
Carol's Daughter was acquired by L'Oréal USA.
The backlash from the acquisition
was people not understanding why you sell,
looking at it as I'm a sellout,
people do anything for a check.
There was press prior to the acquisition
because we had filed bankruptcy
in order to close five stores that weren't productive.
So, the spin was, you know, that,
"Oh, Carol's Daughter files bankruptcy."
So, people think that you're out of business.
And then the sale was, like,
my last-ditch effort to sort of, like, save myself.
You know, my company is in the toilet so, you know,
I had to get a check from someone
to keep my head above water, which is not how business works.
L'Oréal is not going to acquire something that's falling apart.
When brands decide to merge with another larger brand
or if they're acquired,
there's some beauty behind it that we have to appreciate.
One, this person is setting themselves up
for success in the future.
They are creating generational wealth,
which a lot of us don't even think about.
And some entrepreneurs are creating their exit strategy.
They have to think about what their life is gonna look like
as an entrepreneur 10, 15, 20 years from now.
I understand where people's anger and angst comes from
because we don't have a lot of experience in this.
We don't have a lot of business owners that go through this arc.
You know, if someone sells their company to Facebook
for $42 million, people go, "Woo, yay. That's great."
But if we sell something, we're selling out.
I had to counteract all of that negative press,
and I decided to use it as a teaching moment.
People in other communities,
you know, when they build businesses,
a lot of them are building them
for the purpose of flipping them and starting something else.
Entrepreneurship and owning a business
is not till death do us part.
So, in 2015, Black women-owned businesses
generated $54 billion in revenue.
Not million. 54 billion.
There's an amazing woman, Jessica Matthews,
who started an energy company.
She got seven million and Series A funding
for everyday items that generate energy in your home.
So, a soccer ball that can later charge your iPhone.
When you think about representation, people are often thinking
about how many women are in the tech space.
You know, I believe only 17% of startups
are actually founded by women.
Or people might look at how many Black people
are in the tech space.
Of all the women-led startups,
only .04% are run by Black women.
So that means within that small group already
of startups that were run by women,
only .04% are actually run by women of color,
particularly Black women.
Basically, it's one of these stats, right?
It's almost so low that you can't even use a percentage.
I believe that there are 26 Black women
who have ever raised more than $1 million
for their tech startup.
There's a real missed opportunity,
in my opinion,
for women of color,
particularly Black women, to take lead
and solve the problems that we so intimately know.
Every time we get on our phones,
every time we get on our computers,
people are making money off of us
and it's not us being the producers, but the consumers.
So, I make it my business to tell my scholars,
"You don't even have to look at just coding.
Look at design.
Look at starting your own social media company,
'cause that's the way to go."
Like, there are things that are being created every single day
that we have no idea about,
which goes back to why we teach them entrepreneurship.
For an entire year for seventh grade,
our scholars take a course in which they learn
all the parts about making a business,
creating a business plan, having to develop a pitch.
And they actually have to compete against each other.
And it's good because they work in teams,
but they also get to learn
that you have to collaborate with one another.
And if you're gonna compete,
it's not for the purpose of making someone else feel less than who they are,
but how can your product be better,
if not something that other people are gonna wanna invest in?
One of the obstacles that I face as a woman in business
is thinking that you have to be an expert at something
to be able to do it.
I think it's something that a lot of us are raised with.
You know, if you're not schooled properly,
if you didn't go to, you know, college.
And oftentimes it's really just a matter of,
you know, having the guts to do it, you know?
So, I think if you just empower yourself and others
to just have a go at it, right?
Oftentimes, you'll find what you're really,
not only good at, but passionate about.
And that's usually the driver for success,
more so than a formal education, as an example.
The key thing here is to not see
the entrance into tech as a Black woman
as something where you're waiting for someone to open the door.
This is a time for us to begin to build our own table.
For example, I started my own tech company.
I did not build my tech company
downtown in New York or in Silicon Valley.
I built it up in Harlem because I wanted to make sure
we were surrounded by, one, the world that represented
the market we're trying to serve,
and also we were creating a safe space
for people who look like me
and people who didn't look like me
to come together and create the future that we want.
You know, it's funny. People ask me, "How did you get into science?"
You know, "How did you start playing around in the lab?"
And I keep telling them,
it is significantly harder
to give myself, like, a gel manicure
than it is to solder a PCB.
I think we need to start to...
just change the way we talk about science
and change the way we think about ourselves
when it comes to actually engaging in science
and engaging in technology.
If you actually look at the definition of science,
it means the study of life,
which means if you're living, you're halfway there.
And Lord knows, we as Black women,
we are living out here.
We are making do with very little.
And that's invention.
And so, I think once we realize that we're already scientists,
that we're already inventors,
that we're already technologists out in these streets,
it's just gonna be a question
of whether or not we wanna capitalize on that.
[both] We are SASS-E Todds.
[Myla] SASS-E Todds stands for
Stephanie and Samantha Smith Empower Toddlers.
I was looking for a reason and a way
to spend more time with my daughters.
So, the girls, they had gotten
a fashion kit from their aunt.
And so, they were in the room,
drawing away, sketching away,
and I took a look at their pictures and I said,
"Wow, these are some amazing designs."
And I said, "You know, I think
that we can, you know, make this into something."
[both] I think we're a good team.
[Samantha] I kind of know how to draw like my sis.
[Stephanie] She's still working on it,
but her drawing is looking pretty better
since she was three.
We just go with the flow on SASS-E Todds.
And so, there's no pressure to design,
there's no pressure to draw.
The girls, when they feel
like they're in the mood to create,
then they create.
This experience is meant to be a teachable moment.
It's meant to be fun,
and it's meant to help them to garner life skills
that will help them in the long term,
seeing them have that sense of confidence,
knowing they can do anything.
It is like we're doing teamwork,
like working together as a team.
What I would like to see for SASS-E Todds in the future
is I would like to see the brand grow with my girls.
But I would also like to expand it
so that it's a platform for other children to create.
I feel great when other people are wearing
my designs of SASS-E Todds.
It makes me feel happy and my feelings
are like smiley faces and hearts shooting out.
[laughs]
[Myla] I want them to believe
that they can do anything in this world
and there's nothing that can stop them but them.
Lavender purple.
Wow, cute.
"I fear that too many of us think of giving back
as an option instead of an obligation.
And I judge some of us for not being brave enough
to commit to being truly beneficent.
I've never had to worry about where my next meal is coming from
or if I'm gonna have a roof over my head tonight
or if the clothes on my back will suffice to keep me warm.
And for that,
I'm richer than 75% of the people in the world.
This is why I feel like we're failing in existence.
The fact that my having the most basic things I need
makes me an exception rather than the rule,
is how I know we're not doing enough for mankind.
There's still children who are starving or homeless,
and kale is an accepted vegetable that people actually pay to eat.
We've gone wrong somewhere, folks, and I'm judging us."
Basically, my journey has shown
how, when you put it kind of in the universe,
it does conspire to make it happen.
I mean, I had one of those years
that even I couldn't have written up for myself.
You know, I got to be on Oprah's list.
I got to interview Shonda Rhimes.
Got to hit the New York Times Bestseller List.
And I think, it just affirmed
what I've been doing for such a long time.
It reminded me of the times when I was like,
"Why am I doing this?"
Because when I thought no one was listening,
or when I thought I was a class clown of blogosphere,
I get an e-mail that's like,
"Hey. So, Oprah Winfrey is doing a SuperSoul 100 List,
which is, she's picking 100 people
who she thinks are elevating humanity.
And you are one of them."
And I freaked out! I freaked out.
I was like, "Wait. Oprah knows who I am?
She actually knows who I am in, like, real life?"
I give credit to the work that I've done,
but I also understand that a lot of it is God's grace,
'cause there are talented people
who never get the platform that I have.
And there are some really gifted people
who are struggling every day to pay their bills.
So, I can't give full credit to,
like, just my gift or just my hard work.
I think I am being pushed forward by something outside of myself,
something that is greater than me.
So, I give credit to that, too.
And I'm ultimately hoping that my path being like this
and not straight, and not as easy,
but me, whatever success I have now,
I'm hoping to make somebody else's life easier.
Like, somebody who comes behind me shouldn't have
to work as hard as I do to get the success I have.
That's the real goal.
Like, 'cause if what I'm doing is strictly ending here,
that's a waste of time and energy.
Like, it needs to be for something greater.
So, I'm hoping there's a young Black girl, young Nigerian girl,
or just somebody who one day felt like she was too different.
And I'm hoping she looks at me and is like,
"Luvvie is doing that? I can do that. I got it."
Shark Tank never made me feel like I was on the wrong path.
If anything, Shark Tank gave me a lot of momentum to push through.
It put so much fire and rage in me to keep going.
This is my life's work, and there's purpose behind it.
And you may not understand it,
but you don't get to diminish my thoughts,
my ideals, my hard work and, you know,
my purpose that easily, just because you don't understand it
and because you, frankly, you're scared to get in this business.
So, I think it took a lot of strength.
It took a lot of strength
and a lot of remembering why I started
to keep going.
I think the fact that since Melissa was willing to quit her job
and focus strictly on this brand,
that, like, she doesn't, honestly--
She knew nothing about making lipstick at all.
Like, everything was self-taught.
So, the fact that she was so inspired by this idea
of creating cosmetics that were more health conscious
and creating something for Black women, I was like,
"Of course, I'm down. Whatever. We'll figure this out along the way."
It's a really big deal for us
that we're launching in Target stores.
Like, the whole Target thing came about from a blind e-mail.
And so, like, literally, I e-mailed the buyer and was like,
"Your customers are shopping there for their care products,
but not for their beauty because you have nothing for them."
And so, she was like, "All right. Well, you know, just send me samples--"
I sent her samples, and she was like,
"Your packaging is amazing and I really love the product.
I am using it."
And so, then I, like, further pushed the story of, like,
why we stand for beauty
and why we stand for women of color
and why representation matters within the beauty industry.
And she was like, "You know what?
I'm not supposed to do this,
but I'm gonna give you a chance."
We're just really excited.
We're like the first indie brand to launch in Target stores.
[women cheering]
If you go into Target, you're gonna see The Lip Bar,
like, amongst the big guys, like the Revlons,
the Maybellines, the L'Oréals, the NYXs.
Like, these are multi-million-dollar brands.
And so, like, for us to have our three shelves
and them to take in, like, almost 30 products is major.
It's amazing to work with her, not only as a best friend,
but as business partners.
It's kind of crazy looking at her as this business woman.
Like, I still can't understand
not only how we're on Target shelves,
but how she's selling this lipstick to women all across the world.
So, I think one of the biggest misconceptions
about making money as a blogger
is that you have to monetize your blog
or you have to get ad money.
That's how you're gonna make money as a blogger.
When there are so many ways to make money outside of that blog.
My blog became kind of my business card.
It became, um--
It became a tool for me to make money in other ways.
So, the first thing I did
was I created a printable at that time.
And the printable was downloadable,
and people could purchase it online.
And it was a financial organizer.
So that was the first time I started making money.
And then I started doing one-on-one coaching
because other people were like, "Well, how did you do this?
How did you improve your financial situation?"
And then speaking engagements.
Once I started doing speaking engagements, my eyes were like,
"Oh, my God.
There is so much money on this side of the fence."
And after I started to realize the power of My Fab Finance,
then I made it my intention.
I started doing everything with intention.
Like, "I want to reach people in this manner,
and I want to be compensated
for reaching people in this manner."
So, it was just really, like, my vision
was just falling into place.
And so by the time I left my nine to five
to do My Fab Finance full-time,
I had developed four profitable revenue streams.
[woman] Ladies, join me in welcoming Tonya Rapley.
[applause]
Having multiple ways to make money is--
I think it's essential for everyone who owns a business,
because at any given time, the market can change,
the demand for your product can change,
the way that you're marketing your product can change.
If I didn't appeal to millennials anymore,
like, how would I continue to make money?
I would say those are one of the things
that keeps me up at night.
It's like, "What happens if?"
And so, by creating multiple streams of revenue,
I feel like it kind of insulates you from that,
because, you know, like, "You know what? this happened, I can go do this.
If that happened, I can go do this."
And that adds an additional layer of security to you,
to your family, to your business
and knowing that you could continue
to sustain yourself in the unforeseen.
So I'm releasing my first book,
The Money Manual, this year.
And I feel so supported by my team.
Everything, we're putting all of our energy into it
to ensure that it's a bestseller,
but also to ensure that it's helping as many people as possible.
And I'm just excited about all the opportunities.
It continues to blow my mind
where My Fab Finance has taken me.
The acquisition by L'Oréal USA
for me was, and still is,
one of my biggest accomplishments,
professionally and personally.
[all] Congrats!
[Lisa] Because personally,
I knew what it took to get me to that place
and to put me in that position
to be able to help that to unfold and experience it
and live through it.
[cheering]
And then professionally,
to say that you went from your kitchen
and $100
to being a part of the largest beauty company in the world.
[Renae] With all of the strides we're making,
there's still so much more work to be done.
One of the things I've committed to
through In Her Shoes
and its annual holiday gift guide
is to simply build awareness
of Black women-owned brands.
During the holidays there's a significant increase
in the desire to buy Black,
but I want this to be something we're committed to
and deliberate about all year round.
The work I'm doing with In Her Shoes
and She Did That
is so important to me because it's providing
positive representation for women of all ages
and allowing young girls to see their reflections
in the women we're celebrating.
[Renae reading onscreen text]
[Renae continues] "You are sisters, daughters, mothers..."
[continues to read onscreen text]
[both] She did that!
I did that!
-[both] We did that! -She did that!
She did that! Did I tell you she did that?
-She did that. -I did that!
She did that!
She did that.
She did that!
I did that!
I did that. Yes!
She. Did. That.
Bro, did you see?
Did you see?
She did that!
[uplifting music playing]