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[00:00:01.120 --> 00:00:02.160] Race the runners!
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[00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:06.800] Over.
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[00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:37.280] You're one headshot vial away from a pigeon.
[00:00:37.280 --> 00:00:38.240] Just try it out.
[00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:40.240] If it doesn't work, do something else, right?
[00:00:40.240 --> 00:00:45.440] Like you're going to learn something along the way and it's going to be valuable in another environment.
[00:00:46.720 --> 00:00:55.440] You're listening to Side Hustle Pro, the podcast that teaches you to build and grow your side hustle from passion project to profitable business.
[00:00:55.440 --> 00:00:58.320] And I'm your host, Nikayla Matthews Okome.
[00:00:58.320 --> 00:00:59.840] So let's get started.
[00:01:02.080 --> 00:01:03.280] Hey, hey, friends, welcome.
[00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:04.320] Welcome back to the show.
[00:01:04.320 --> 00:01:07.360] It's Nikayla here, back with another awesome episode.
[00:01:07.360 --> 00:01:10.160] And today in the guest chair, I have Sheena McCullers.
[00:01:10.160 --> 00:01:13.920] Sheena is the founder of Della's in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
[00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:23.520] Now, Sheena grew up in Toledo, Ohio, watching the women in her family do their hair in kitchens, beauty salons, basements, and sometimes the church bathroom.
[00:01:23.520 --> 00:01:30.160] She watched in awe as family members of all beautiful brown shades shapes shifted with every hairstyle.
[00:01:30.160 --> 00:01:37.360] Weaves, finger waves, texturizers, blowouts, pressing curls, box braids, vibrant hair colors, and more.
[00:01:37.360 --> 00:01:42.480] With a gang of sisters, countless aunties and cousins, there were plenty of styles to go around.
[00:01:42.480 --> 00:01:48.800] And Sheena saw this work up close when her eldest sister became a beautician at a local salon.
[00:01:48.800 --> 00:01:54.960] Every time her school offered Take Your Daughter to Work Day, Sheena begged her sister to spend the day at the salon.
[00:01:54.960 --> 00:02:04.520] She loved beauty shop life, watching her sister crank out style after style, listening to salon gossip, and observing the business and fun of Black beauty.
[00:02:04.840 --> 00:02:09.160] So it's so serendipitous that she's doing what she's doing now.
[00:02:09.160 --> 00:02:17.480] Never in a million years could Sheena have imagined that she would take all of her experience, including a few stints at entrepreneurships.
[00:02:17.480 --> 00:02:28.440] She has had five side hustles, we can't even get into all of them, and turn it into a platform that would have a big impact in the world of beauty she grew up loving.
[00:02:28.440 --> 00:02:41.800] Sheena created Della's to bring a much-needed sense of belonging for BIPOC beauty lovers in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she, her husband, and her son moved from Brooklyn, New York for her husband's PhD program.
[00:02:41.800 --> 00:02:55.640] Now, Sheena is laser-focused on curating a unique experience, starting with Della's first location in Ann Arbor, where there is more inclusivity and representation in entrepreneurship and the beauty space.
[00:02:55.640 --> 00:03:02.680] Through Della's, Sheena hopes that Black women and allies will find representation, cool things, and good vibes.
[00:03:02.680 --> 00:03:13.960] And fun fact about Sheena: I actually went to high school with her husband Kyle, and we have crossed paths at various entrepreneurship events and conferences.
[00:03:13.960 --> 00:03:15.640] And so I follow her in IG.
[00:03:15.640 --> 00:03:19.640] And when I saw that she opened up Della's, I was so excited.
[00:03:19.640 --> 00:03:21.720] I was watching this space.
[00:03:21.720 --> 00:03:25.880] And sure enough, when the time was right, I said, you have to be in the guest chair.
[00:03:25.880 --> 00:03:29.400] So here she is today, and let's get right into it.
[00:03:31.640 --> 00:03:32.680] Welcome, welcome, welcome.
[00:03:32.680 --> 00:03:34.200] Sheena to the guest chair.
[00:03:34.280 --> 00:03:36.280] Oh, I'm so happy to be here, Nikayla.
[00:03:36.280 --> 00:03:47.920] You know, I've like, I don't know if I've told you this, but I've listened to Side Hustle Pro for years, like on the train in Brooklyn, and it's like helped me along my journey as I've had so many sort of like side hustles.
[00:03:44.600 --> 00:03:51.280] And so, it's so crazy to actually be having this conversation today.
[00:03:44.680 --> 00:03:51.840] Thank you.
[00:03:52.080 --> 00:03:53.600] So, thank you for all the people.
[00:03:53.600 --> 00:03:55.440] I'm very, very honored to have you here.
[00:03:55.440 --> 00:03:58.240] I'm very honored that you've been listening all these years.
[00:03:58.240 --> 00:04:01.600] You are a true side hustler, so I'm excited to get into your story.
[00:04:01.600 --> 00:04:10.080] And yes, I was just so impressed when I saw that you'd open a whole establishment in Ann Arbor.
[00:04:10.080 --> 00:04:12.000] I was like, wait, what's going on, Sheena?
[00:04:12.160 --> 00:04:24.240] So, we have to dive into this because I think what you've done and how you've gone about exploring your interests and starting various businesses and side hustles throughout the years is really inspiring.
[00:04:24.240 --> 00:04:26.320] So, take us back a little bit.
[00:04:26.320 --> 00:04:28.560] What was your first side hustle?
[00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:29.520] Oh, girl.
[00:04:29.520 --> 00:04:33.200] So, my first side hustle was flipping baby clothes.
[00:04:33.200 --> 00:04:40.160] I learned about basically flipping merchandise from my mailman at a job in Atlanta.
[00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:43.840] I was complaining about how I wasn't making a lot of money.
[00:04:43.840 --> 00:04:48.640] And, you know, Atlanta was expensive to live, and I needed to subsidize my income.
[00:04:48.640 --> 00:04:51.200] And he was like, Oh, just started an eBay store.
[00:04:51.200 --> 00:04:52.640] And I said, Well, what's that?
[00:04:52.640 --> 00:05:01.520] And he told me about how he and his wife had started an eBay store and how they would go to thrift stores and discount stores and buy merchandise and flip it online for a higher price.
[00:05:01.520 --> 00:05:05.440] So, he like really taught me the blueprint to run that type of a business.
[00:05:05.440 --> 00:05:13.520] And it really saved me like living in really big cities because that's how I subsidized my rent, you know, paid for my fun outings, travel, whatever.
[00:05:13.520 --> 00:05:15.840] And so, yeah, that was my first side hustle.
[00:05:15.840 --> 00:05:17.440] It was called Bye-Bye Boutique.
[00:05:17.440 --> 00:05:18.640] Bye-bye Boutique.
[00:05:18.640 --> 00:05:19.600] Oh my God, that's smart.
[00:05:19.600 --> 00:05:25.040] And I know some of you guys are going to take that as a hustle because that is so smart.
[00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:27.680] And you could do that with anything, not just baby clothes.
[00:05:27.680 --> 00:05:28.960] What were you doing in Atlanta?
[00:05:28.960 --> 00:05:30.000] Are you originally from Atlanta?
[00:05:30.840 --> 00:05:33.080] I am not originally from Atlanta.
[00:05:33.080 --> 00:05:39.160] So right out of undergrad, I had the opportunity to apply for this competitive internship program.
[00:05:39.160 --> 00:05:41.960] And it was basically a journalism internship program.
[00:05:41.960 --> 00:05:44.680] And one of the sites that I selected was Atlanta.
[00:05:44.760 --> 00:05:46.600] I think I also selected Cleveland.
[00:05:46.600 --> 00:05:52.360] I just thought about places where I thought I knew I had family in, like very, very, very distant cousins.
[00:05:52.360 --> 00:05:56.120] And I ended up being, you know, matched with this employer in Atlanta.
[00:05:56.120 --> 00:06:02.360] And at the time, I thought I was going to be like Sidney Shaw and Black and Sugar, like the Sanai Layton character.
[00:06:02.440 --> 00:06:05.400] I was like, oh, I'm going to be writing for this fabulous magazine.
[00:06:05.400 --> 00:06:07.000] I'm going to Atlanta.
[00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:11.320] Girl, I got to Atlanta and I was working for a construction publication.
[00:06:11.320 --> 00:06:14.600] And I was like, this is not at all what I envisioned for my life.
[00:06:14.600 --> 00:06:16.440] Like I literally had on a hard hat.
[00:06:16.440 --> 00:06:20.680] I was at a John Deere construction site writing about construction.
[00:06:20.680 --> 00:06:23.240] And I was like, okay, this isn't it.
[00:06:23.240 --> 00:06:26.840] But it did launch sort of like my career in publishing around that time.
[00:06:26.840 --> 00:06:29.000] And I started to do more like pop culture writing.
[00:06:29.000 --> 00:06:34.120] And so that's what took me to Atlanta and kind of gave me the bug for wanting to be in larger cities.
[00:06:34.440 --> 00:06:37.240] So you had a whole career in journalism.
[00:06:37.480 --> 00:06:39.960] Is that what you thought you would do for the rest of your life?
[00:06:39.960 --> 00:06:41.000] I thought so.
[00:06:41.000 --> 00:06:41.640] I thought so.
[00:06:41.800 --> 00:06:46.600] I've pivoted so much since then, but I really did think that that's what I was going to do.
[00:06:46.920 --> 00:06:48.680] I interviewed a lot of celebrities.
[00:06:48.680 --> 00:06:49.400] I enjoyed it.
[00:06:49.400 --> 00:06:52.760] I had access to, you know, all the parties, the fun lifestyle.
[00:06:53.160 --> 00:07:07.720] The publishing industry ultimately led me to move to New York because I thought, okay, instead of working at this construction company, this, you know, construction publication, I could move to New York and then I have access to, you know, these bigger, better-name magazines because I wanted to work in a beauty closet.
[00:07:07.720 --> 00:07:10.120] Like, that's what I envisioned, you know, for my life.
[00:07:10.120 --> 00:07:13.240] You know, I wanted free makeup and free shoes and free clothes.
[00:07:13.240 --> 00:07:14.680] And so, I truly thought that.
[00:07:14.800 --> 00:07:27.520] And it's so funny how low our expectations were because I remember thinking too, like, I want to potentially be a beauty writer, and I'm thinking about free makeup, like, girl, go after a highest salary, please.
[00:07:27.520 --> 00:07:29.040] That's all I want to see the clothes.
[00:07:29.040 --> 00:07:30.320] Like, that was so bad.
[00:07:30.320 --> 00:07:34.000] Um, hey, you know, life was simple back then.
[00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:36.480] You know, I'm just a girl, and that's all I really wanted to do.
[00:07:36.480 --> 00:07:38.720] But then, I just didn't really feel that fulfilled.
[00:07:38.720 --> 00:07:47.840] Because if you speak to enough celebrities or actresses, actors, whatever, like musicians, they're having these conversations with interviewers, you know, all day.
[00:07:47.840 --> 00:07:55.040] And, you know, you can probably relate to this, like, you do such a great job with the research that you do for anyone who steps into your guest chair.
[00:07:55.040 --> 00:07:56.720] And it's a lot, a lot of work.
[00:07:56.720 --> 00:08:07.680] And sometimes you don't know who's going to show up in front of you, whether or not they're going to have good energy or whether or not they're going to, you know, tell a side of their story that's compelling or that will be different from the last person who interviewed them.
[00:08:07.680 --> 00:08:11.520] And then I just kind of felt like, am I really helping anyone by doing this work?
[00:08:11.520 --> 00:08:17.200] And when I couldn't answer yes, that's when I started to, you know, kind of pivot and start to look for other opportunities.
[00:08:17.200 --> 00:08:36.000] And that kind of landed me into some career development work, working for an education nonprofit, leading, you know, diversity work, leadership development work, and really working with black and brown youth, which kind of brings me full circle in this space in Ann Arbor because though I don't work in that environment necessarily, I see so many students from the University of Michigan day to day.
[00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:41.520] And it's sort of like, oh, wow, that like thread throughout my career really did connect in a weird way.
[00:08:41.680 --> 00:08:44.480] But that's what ultimately got me out of journalism.
[00:08:44.480 --> 00:08:44.960] You're right.
[00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:47.200] I can relate to that feeling.
[00:08:47.200 --> 00:08:54.800] I remember wanting to work in entertainment and thinking it would be so much fun, glamorous, and going to the parties.
[00:08:54.800 --> 00:08:56.480] The perks seemed wonderful.
[00:08:56.480 --> 00:09:00.280] But then, after you've talked to enough people, I two things happened for me.
[00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:01.560] And let me know if this happened for you.
[00:09:01.880 --> 00:09:09.960] One, I just started feeling like these people are not that special for me to base my whole career around catering to them or writing about them.
[00:09:09.960 --> 00:09:10.920] Like, who are they?
[00:09:10.920 --> 00:09:12.520] Like, I started to resent it.
[00:09:12.520 --> 00:09:15.000] Like, wait, we're doing too much for this person.
[00:09:15.240 --> 00:09:19.080] And then, two, it was like this emptiness of now, what else?
[00:09:19.080 --> 00:09:21.240] Okay, I've interviewed, I've met this big name.
[00:09:21.240 --> 00:09:21.960] What else?
[00:09:21.960 --> 00:09:25.400] They're going on with their life, they're rich, they're flying around the world.
[00:09:25.800 --> 00:09:28.440] What am I doing?
[00:09:28.440 --> 00:09:28.840] Right.
[00:09:28.840 --> 00:09:36.600] You know, you tell this amazing story, like, oh, I got to interview S, Y, and Z, or people read the article or whatever, you know, they watch the clip, whatever, and then you're just done.
[00:09:36.600 --> 00:09:40.360] And like, you're like on chasing the next story or waiting for the next assignment.
[00:09:40.360 --> 00:09:42.600] And I just kind of felt, you know, a bit of burnout.
[00:09:42.920 --> 00:09:47.640] No, not to anyone who does that now because I know the industry has, you know, evolved so much.
[00:09:47.800 --> 00:09:50.360] I just felt like I knew I wanted to do something else.
[00:09:50.360 --> 00:09:51.320] Yes, I feel that.
[00:09:51.320 --> 00:09:51.800] And you're right.
[00:09:51.800 --> 00:09:52.840] The industry has evolved.
[00:09:52.840 --> 00:09:55.800] So no, not to anyone because you can certainly do a lot more now.
[00:09:55.800 --> 00:10:02.680] Like you can build your whole brand name on Instagram and have more autonomy over your career and your options.
[00:10:08.040 --> 00:10:09.560] So now let's pivot, right?
[00:10:09.560 --> 00:10:13.000] I know a lot happened between New York and Ann Arbor.
[00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:18.920] Like I remember you, we met at a conference and at that point you had a jewelry business.
[00:10:18.920 --> 00:10:21.880] So how did that come about, right?
[00:10:21.880 --> 00:10:23.720] Yeah, we go way back.
[00:10:24.360 --> 00:10:27.320] So tell us about the jewelry side hustle.
[00:10:27.320 --> 00:10:29.640] Girl, I completely forgot about that.
[00:10:31.880 --> 00:10:35.240] Y'all, this girl designed her own wedding bands.
[00:10:35.240 --> 00:10:35.560] Okay.
[00:10:35.560 --> 00:10:37.240] That's how talented she is.
[00:10:37.240 --> 00:10:38.040] I didn't forget.
[00:10:38.040 --> 00:10:38.600] You forgot.
[00:10:38.600 --> 00:10:39.400] I didn't forget.
[00:10:39.400 --> 00:10:40.520] That's pretty cool.
[00:10:40.760 --> 00:10:41.160] Okay.
[00:10:41.160 --> 00:10:45.600] So as you know, I have gone through like so many pivots with side hustles.
[00:10:44.600 --> 00:10:49.920] My first side hustle was Bye Buy Boutique where I was flipping those baby clothes.
[00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:58.720] The second two side hustles were kind of like if you're familiar with Sophia Amarusso's story, where she used to flip vintage clothes, kind of like the Nasty Gal early story.
[00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:01.840] I was doing that and made a ton of money, and that was great.
[00:11:01.840 --> 00:11:06.720] The next business was the one that you're talking about, and I designed my own jewelry.
[00:11:06.720 --> 00:11:09.600] So it was a brass statement jewelry company.
[00:11:09.600 --> 00:11:12.560] And I was living my best life at that time.
[00:11:12.560 --> 00:11:22.160] My partner, Kyle, who you know, he sort of like gave me a free pass, I guess, to kind of like live my life, get out of corporate, and explore my interests.
[00:11:22.160 --> 00:11:24.720] And so I went to metalsmithing school.
[00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:25.920] I learned how to metalsmith.
[00:11:25.920 --> 00:11:27.840] I started designing jewelry.
[00:11:27.840 --> 00:11:31.760] And I was doing all these pop-up shops, selling jewelry on my website.
[00:11:31.760 --> 00:11:34.080] And I felt really, really, really fulfilled.
[00:11:34.080 --> 00:11:46.640] And that was the sort of like turning point for me with a side hustle where I truly felt like I was building community and I was doing it for a different sense of purpose because before that, I was truly just all about making money.
[00:11:46.640 --> 00:11:48.080] It was like, I need to make money.
[00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:49.440] I need to buy this thing.
[00:11:49.440 --> 00:11:50.640] I want to go out and party.
[00:11:50.640 --> 00:11:51.440] I want to travel.
[00:11:51.440 --> 00:11:54.240] And so it was all about that extra income.
[00:11:54.240 --> 00:11:59.840] But once I started doing the jewelry and people told me how special it was, or oh, my fiancé, she needs a new chain.
[00:11:59.840 --> 00:12:01.200] Can you tell us where you'll be next?
[00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:03.040] That people started to follow me.
[00:12:03.040 --> 00:12:09.040] And I kind of felt like, oh my gosh, I really enjoy this community aspect that I'm building with this jewelry brand.
[00:12:09.360 --> 00:12:11.680] So you eventually moved on from it.
[00:12:11.680 --> 00:12:12.720] Why is that?
[00:12:12.720 --> 00:12:14.400] Girl, I had a baby.
[00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:19.800] I love the content.
[00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:22.080] I mean, you know, you're a mom of two.
[00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:28.400] I had a baby, and the like the small studio that I had in my home became a baby room, right?
[00:12:28.400 --> 00:12:33.800] And like the things that I was doing with my hands, I was no longer, you know, twisting and turning metal.
[00:12:29.680 --> 00:12:36.440] Instead, I was like nurturing a small human.
[00:12:37.080 --> 00:12:40.840] And that just took so much of like my time and my energy.
[00:12:40.840 --> 00:12:44.440] And then I felt this isn't how I want to spend my time.
[00:12:44.440 --> 00:12:47.160] You know, I just felt like there was something else I wanted to do.
[00:12:47.160 --> 00:12:53.800] And it was really all about spending those early moments with my child, getting through postpartum, which was insane for me.
[00:12:54.600 --> 00:12:56.600] I really, really struggled during that time.
[00:12:56.600 --> 00:13:00.520] And so I put the business on pause, thinking that I would go back to it.
[00:13:00.520 --> 00:13:02.600] And I just evolved and grew from it.
[00:13:02.600 --> 00:13:05.640] Although, if I'm being honest, I think about it all the time.
[00:13:05.640 --> 00:13:08.680] Like I'm wearing a ring from the brand today.
[00:13:08.680 --> 00:13:09.800] And I think about it all the time.
[00:13:09.800 --> 00:13:14.600] And I think about restarting it because I believe it could live really well in the story that I have now.
[00:13:14.600 --> 00:13:16.920] But I feel like everything aligns when it's supposed to.
[00:13:16.920 --> 00:13:21.960] And if it is meant to be, it'll be a way to kind of like weave back into my life.
[00:13:21.960 --> 00:13:22.680] Yes, yes.
[00:13:22.680 --> 00:13:24.360] I absolutely believe that as well.
[00:13:24.360 --> 00:13:27.400] Everything aligns when it's meant to be.
[00:13:27.720 --> 00:13:30.840] And what you said about having a baby is real.
[00:13:30.840 --> 00:13:36.680] So tell us a little bit more about how that shifted your career goals.
[00:13:36.680 --> 00:13:37.960] Yeah, it really.
[00:13:37.960 --> 00:13:41.080] So when I had my baby, he was very young.
[00:13:41.080 --> 00:13:43.960] We kind of went into the pandemic around that time too.
[00:13:43.960 --> 00:13:55.560] And so not only was I rethinking my identity and just sort of like warning who I was before I had a child, I was also just thinking about my life in general and just mortality, right?
[00:13:55.560 --> 00:13:58.600] Because it was the pandemic and so much was happening.
[00:13:58.600 --> 00:14:01.080] And we were based in New York when the pandemic happened.
[00:14:01.080 --> 00:14:04.120] And I just kind of felt like, What, like, what am I really doing?
[00:14:04.120 --> 00:14:06.600] Like, how do I really want to spend my time?
[00:14:06.600 --> 00:14:12.200] And so much was around like flexibility and like being with my son, spending that extra time.
[00:14:12.200 --> 00:14:19.840] And so, it just shifted how I wanted to connect with people because I felt if I'm going to do something, it needs to be worth my time to be away from my child.
[00:14:20.400 --> 00:14:24.880] And so, everything was more of like a weighted decision than it was before.
[00:14:24.880 --> 00:14:27.440] Because, you know, before having a kid, everything was just flipping.
[00:14:27.440 --> 00:14:32.640] I'm like, you want me to pop up in you know, New Jersey on a whim, you know, just like five hours' notice?
[00:14:32.640 --> 00:14:37.600] I'll pack up, you know, all my jewelry and stuff, and I would, you know, hop in the car, hop on a train, whatever.
[00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:39.760] And like, I would pop up, no problem.
[00:14:39.760 --> 00:14:45.600] After I had a kid, I was like, if you want to get me out of my house, it better be happening.
[00:14:45.600 --> 00:14:46.240] You know what I mean?
[00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:48.480] It's just like, it just happened meaningful for me.
[00:14:48.480 --> 00:14:51.520] So, it really just like shifted how I moved.
[00:14:56.960 --> 00:15:00.000] Now, you are in Ann Arbor.
[00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:03.120] Some people don't even know Ann Arbor exists.
[00:15:03.440 --> 00:15:05.920] How did you know existed?
[00:15:05.920 --> 00:15:09.120] You know, I never even thought about Ann Arbor.
[00:15:09.120 --> 00:15:11.440] I never looked at the Midwest or anything like that.
[00:15:11.440 --> 00:15:14.560] I wasn't a sports fan growing up, so I didn't know anything about it.
[00:15:14.560 --> 00:15:28.560] And then, when I was looking to go to business school and I joined MLT, Michigan was one of their partner schools, and they have a huge incoming NBA recruitment effort, especially from the Black Business Students Association.
[00:15:28.560 --> 00:15:31.440] So, went there, I just fell in love with that.
[00:15:31.440 --> 00:15:35.520] Like, from there, I was like, Wait, this is-I mean, it's only two years for me.
[00:15:35.520 --> 00:15:36.720] You guys are there for longer.
[00:15:36.720 --> 00:15:39.520] So, for me, it was a quaint and wonderful time.
[00:15:40.160 --> 00:15:43.680] I don't know, I don't know how the extended stay is going.
[00:15:43.680 --> 00:15:46.560] But, so, tell us, how did you get to Ann Arbor?
[00:15:46.880 --> 00:15:49.360] I love that you called it an extended stay.
[00:15:49.360 --> 00:15:51.800] Um, extended stay.
[00:15:51.800 --> 00:15:54.080] Because it definitely uh does feel like that.
[00:15:54.080 --> 00:16:03.160] So, during the pandemic, as I was rethinking, you know, my life and what I wanted to do and how I wanted to spend my time, I was not at all thinking about side hustles.
[00:15:59.840 --> 00:16:05.080] To be honest, I was thinking about stability.
[00:16:05.400 --> 00:16:07.080] I'm like, where's the check?
[00:16:07.080 --> 00:16:07.960] Where's the bag?
[00:16:07.960 --> 00:16:11.160] Like, where can I go and get some good health care, some good benefits, right?
[00:16:11.160 --> 00:16:13.800] Like, make sure my family is taken care of.
[00:16:13.800 --> 00:16:17.400] So, you know, that shifted my perspective and my priorities.
[00:16:17.400 --> 00:16:21.880] And Kyle, my husband, he started to look at some PhD programs.
[00:16:21.880 --> 00:16:23.960] And I was like, okay, I can get down with that.
[00:16:23.960 --> 00:16:26.200] You know, that could take us to any city.
[00:16:26.200 --> 00:16:30.760] And I truly felt like our time in New York was up at that moment.
[00:16:30.760 --> 00:16:32.360] Like, I felt like we need a shift.
[00:16:32.360 --> 00:16:37.000] Like, the pandemic is shifting some things up and it would be nice to do something different.
[00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:46.520] And so I saw the PhD program as a way for us to, you know, explore something new with our son and just get out of New York for a little bit and experience a new environment.
[00:16:46.520 --> 00:16:49.080] And so he applied to several schools.
[00:16:49.080 --> 00:16:50.360] He got into a bunch.
[00:16:50.360 --> 00:16:53.560] We were seriously considering Boston and Ann Arbor.
[00:16:53.560 --> 00:16:56.520] So I had strong feelings about raising a black son in Boston.
[00:16:56.520 --> 00:17:01.160] And so ultimately, we did not end up choosing Boston.
[00:17:01.160 --> 00:17:05.240] We chose Ann Arbor because it was just a really good fit for all of us.
[00:17:05.240 --> 00:17:11.160] And because I have family in Ohio and, you know, with a young child, you need that extra village, right?
[00:17:11.160 --> 00:17:11.960] People tell you all the people.
[00:17:12.120 --> 00:17:12.600] Absolutely.
[00:17:12.920 --> 00:17:15.000] Have the baby, you know, we'll help you.
[00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:17.320] And then I have the kid and I'm like, where's this village?
[00:17:17.320 --> 00:17:21.160] I'm like waiting for the village to pop up to help with the kid.
[00:17:21.160 --> 00:17:22.680] And they were late, honey.
[00:17:22.680 --> 00:17:25.160] So we had to move to the village.
[00:17:26.120 --> 00:17:27.480] The village was late.
[00:17:27.560 --> 00:17:28.200] How is that?
[00:17:28.280 --> 00:17:29.640] We moved to the village too.
[00:17:29.640 --> 00:17:31.000] We're like, okay, all right.
[00:17:31.000 --> 00:17:31.640] Hello.
[00:17:31.640 --> 00:17:32.360] Hello.
[00:17:32.360 --> 00:17:34.760] So, yeah, so we have to go knocking on the village's door.
[00:17:34.760 --> 00:17:40.440] So, we landed in Ann Arbor, you know, during the pandemic, and I was really, really struggling.
[00:17:40.440 --> 00:17:43.720] Again, postpartum hit me really, really hard.
[00:17:43.720 --> 00:17:44.800] Then it was removed.
[00:17:44.520 --> 00:17:51.040] Postpartum plus pandemic was just, I, I mean, I hear you because it's just so much isolation.
[00:17:51.600 --> 00:17:54.960] And you're already in this new role and you're isolated.
[00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:56.560] It was a lot.
[00:17:56.560 --> 00:17:57.440] That's the key word.
[00:17:57.440 --> 00:17:58.880] It was, it was isolation.
[00:17:58.880 --> 00:17:59.840] That's what it was, right?
[00:17:59.840 --> 00:18:04.800] It's like, as I was like grieving again, this sort of like identity piece, like, who am I now?
[00:18:04.800 --> 00:18:07.600] Like, I know I'm a mother, but what about the old pieces of me?
[00:18:07.600 --> 00:18:08.240] What do I like?
[00:18:08.240 --> 00:18:09.440] What am I into?
[00:18:09.440 --> 00:18:13.760] And then it's like, you think about that, but also you need to move to another city.
[00:18:13.760 --> 00:18:17.040] Like, think about that, but also keep yourself and your family safe, right?
[00:18:17.040 --> 00:18:21.360] And so my husband was going into the classroom every day with his mask.
[00:18:21.360 --> 00:18:24.240] My son's going into his learning environment with his mask on every day.
[00:18:24.240 --> 00:18:36.400] And I'm literally sitting at home in front of a laptop working remotely in isolation with all of my thoughts, building zero community in a city that people say it's a college town and it's very diverse.
[00:18:36.400 --> 00:18:40.960] And with that, they mean that it's, as you know, like internationally diverse.
[00:18:40.960 --> 00:18:43.680] And so I was looking for, you know, black and brown people.
[00:18:43.680 --> 00:18:45.360] Like, I had just moved from New York.
[00:18:45.360 --> 00:18:47.440] We were in Brooklyn in Best Eye.
[00:18:47.440 --> 00:18:48.800] And so I'm like, where are my people?
[00:18:48.800 --> 00:18:51.680] You know, I've moved off.
[00:18:51.680 --> 00:18:52.960] I'm not seeing anyone.
[00:18:52.960 --> 00:18:54.560] And so I struggled.
[00:18:54.560 --> 00:18:58.960] I'm like, wait, I really, really needed to build community, or I didn't think I was like, I'm not going to make it.
[00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:04.240] Like, Ann Arbor is, you know, I'm going to die here, is what I was thinking.
[00:19:05.520 --> 00:19:07.200] Just keeping it real.
[00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:07.520] Yeah.
[00:19:08.080 --> 00:19:12.640] It's funny you say that because I also was in a bubble, right?
[00:19:12.640 --> 00:19:14.240] And Kyle, maybe he can relate to that too.
[00:19:14.240 --> 00:19:20.000] But when you're in the school setting, it's like, yes, there are fewer of us, but we're there.
[00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:23.600] So I was in this bubble of my black business school friends.
[00:19:23.600 --> 00:19:30.440] So I didn't feel the lack in Ann Arbor as much as, like, if you're home and you're isolated.
[00:19:30.440 --> 00:19:31.160] Yes.
[00:19:29.840 --> 00:19:31.720] And right.
[00:19:31.880 --> 00:19:33.560] And so that's exactly what was happening, right?
[00:19:33.560 --> 00:19:42.040] So he's going off and you know, he has his co-worker friends, you know, his classmates, and he's built his own, like, he has a built-in community, right?
[00:19:42.040 --> 00:19:45.960] So even if it's just a small number of them, he's seeing them every day, right?
[00:19:45.960 --> 00:19:47.240] I'm not making any friends.
[00:19:47.240 --> 00:19:48.760] I'm at home working remotely.
[00:19:48.760 --> 00:19:57.400] And so I couldn't do play dates even with his parents at my son's school because, again, we were still not quite coming out of the pandemic yet when we moved here.
[00:19:58.120 --> 00:20:02.280] And so after being here a year, I was like, okay, something, something's got to give.
[00:20:02.280 --> 00:20:03.400] Like, I've got to build community.
[00:20:03.400 --> 00:20:06.840] I've got to find a way to connect with more people who look like me.
[00:20:07.160 --> 00:20:12.600] And during that time, I happened to be walking in the downtown area, the downtown Ann Arbor area.
[00:20:12.600 --> 00:20:17.960] And Kyle played his game and he would point to a commercial, like a vacant commercial real estate building.
[00:20:17.960 --> 00:20:19.480] And he's like, ooh, what would you put there?
[00:20:19.480 --> 00:20:21.640] And we've always, we've done it for years.
[00:20:21.960 --> 00:20:24.280] And he pointed to a building.
[00:20:24.280 --> 00:20:28.280] And I don't remember what I even said would go there, but then I thought about it and I said, you know what?
[00:20:28.280 --> 00:20:29.000] It actually should be?
[00:20:29.000 --> 00:20:30.280] It should be a beauty supply store.
[00:20:30.280 --> 00:20:32.600] Like there's no beauty supply store around here.
[00:20:32.600 --> 00:20:37.240] Like I was traveling back to New York and getting my beauty supply products from Fulton Street.
[00:20:37.240 --> 00:20:39.480] And then I would come back to Ann Arbor.
[00:20:39.720 --> 00:20:44.280] I would sometimes go to Ipsy, but I didn't really love that environment and how I felt shopping there.
[00:20:44.280 --> 00:20:46.200] And so I, you know, pivoted to Amazon.
[00:20:46.360 --> 00:20:47.400] I would buy products there.
[00:20:47.400 --> 00:20:49.400] And I felt like I shouldn't have to do that.
[00:20:49.400 --> 00:20:53.560] Like, I grew up being able to go to a beauty supply store, you know, very quickly.
[00:20:53.880 --> 00:20:56.040] And I wanted that experience in Ann Arbor.
[00:20:56.040 --> 00:20:58.360] And I was just hoping that other people did too.
[00:21:05.080 --> 00:21:11.720] This is why I had to interview you because I'm always impressed when action follows the idea.
[00:21:12.040 --> 00:21:19.120] Do you know how hard it is to have what can seem like a pie in the sky idea and then to bring it to fruition?
[00:21:19.120 --> 00:21:21.760] Like, that's no, I hope you're really proud of yourself.
[00:21:21.760 --> 00:21:23.840] That is no small feat.
[00:21:23.840 --> 00:21:28.880] I have so many ideas all day, every day, like to make a physical store.
[00:21:28.880 --> 00:21:30.320] That is incredible.
[00:21:30.320 --> 00:21:36.880] So, tell us, walk us through how it started to come into fruition, like reserving the location, however, you did it.
[00:21:36.880 --> 00:21:45.520] So, the craziest part about opening up the beauty supply store, which is called Della's, the craziest part is we signed a lease first, right?
[00:21:45.520 --> 00:21:51.040] So, from that moment when we were walking downtown, and I said to Kyle, I will put a beauty supply store here.
[00:21:51.040 --> 00:21:53.360] You know, Kyle, and you know how his mind works.
[00:21:53.360 --> 00:21:56.400] So, if let's say that was at noon, right?
[00:21:56.400 --> 00:22:00.560] By the time we got home, I made dinner, maybe it was seven o'clock.
[00:22:00.560 --> 00:22:05.040] In my inbox, there were a list of commercial spaces in Ann Arbor.
[00:22:05.040 --> 00:22:06.400] And he's like, You said you want to do it.
[00:22:06.560 --> 00:22:07.120] Here you go.
[00:22:07.120 --> 00:22:08.160] Here's some places.
[00:22:08.160 --> 00:22:10.320] And I was like, Wow.
[00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:13.280] I was like, Yeah, like, you really think I could do that?
[00:22:13.280 --> 00:22:20.560] And he's like, Yeah, like you, like, let's just follow the path and like see where you go because it seems like you would be the target market for something like this.
[00:22:20.560 --> 00:22:23.040] And so, let's just see where you get.
[00:22:23.040 --> 00:22:25.840] And so, we reached out, we saw some spaces.
[00:22:25.840 --> 00:22:28.960] The space that we ultimately decided on, I loved it.
[00:22:28.960 --> 00:22:36.800] I knew that it was right because it's on State Street, right in downtown Ann Arbor, a few steps away from the University of Michigan's campus.
[00:22:36.800 --> 00:22:41.280] And I knew that a sweet green was opening up right close, like right nearby.
[00:22:41.280 --> 00:22:45.200] And I thought, oh, this is great because there will be a lot of foot traffic here.
[00:22:45.200 --> 00:22:47.760] And the space is on the second floor.
[00:22:47.760 --> 00:22:56.400] And I thought, okay, it's a bit of like a honeycomb hideout, but I know that this is like a very high traffic area and I might be able to make it work.
[00:22:56.400 --> 00:22:58.720] So, I signed a lease first.
[00:22:58.720 --> 00:23:02.280] And then I was like, oh, shoot, now I got to get like an LLC.
[00:22:59.920 --> 00:23:05.240] And now I have to figure out how to actually grow this business.
[00:23:05.400 --> 00:23:06.840] Like, how do I actually start it?
[00:23:07.160 --> 00:23:15.080] And so I was very fortunate to stumble upon a Facebook group that helped me learn the basics of how to start this business up.
[00:23:15.080 --> 00:23:18.920] I reached out to an interior designer and said, hey, here's how I want the space to feel.
[00:23:18.920 --> 00:23:20.040] I want it to be different.
[00:23:20.040 --> 00:23:22.280] I want it to be warm, curated.
[00:23:22.280 --> 00:23:25.960] I want people to walk in and feel like they like stepped into a black aunties living room.
[00:23:25.960 --> 00:23:32.920] Like I want them to have a shopping experience that, you know, we deserve when we talk about beauty and hair care and this space.
[00:23:32.920 --> 00:23:44.680] Like we should be selling to one another and we should be able to shop without being followed around or, you know, people should be knowledgeable of the products, folks who are selling the products to one another.
[00:23:44.680 --> 00:23:50.280] And so I had this big vision for the store and I wanted the colors and the environment to reflect that.
[00:23:50.280 --> 00:23:51.960] And she delivered on that for me.
[00:23:51.960 --> 00:23:56.600] I made the connections with vendors to, you know, get the store fully stocked up.
[00:23:56.600 --> 00:23:59.800] And then we started marketing and the store opened up.
[00:23:59.800 --> 00:24:00.440] Wow.
[00:24:00.440 --> 00:24:02.280] What were startup costs like?
[00:24:02.280 --> 00:24:08.600] Because I am trying to wrap my mind around signing a lease before really having the business flushed out.
[00:24:08.600 --> 00:24:09.240] Right.
[00:24:09.560 --> 00:24:11.080] No proof of concept at all.
[00:24:11.080 --> 00:24:13.320] Like, had not like touched with the market.
[00:24:13.320 --> 00:24:17.720] Like, I know like your NBA brain is like, girl, what were you doing?
[00:24:19.000 --> 00:24:20.120] What were you doing?
[00:24:20.440 --> 00:24:21.560] You know what, though?
[00:24:21.560 --> 00:24:26.280] I'm going to have to stop you there because that is the downfall of an NBA brain, right?
[00:24:26.280 --> 00:24:29.960] We can be so great with the plans and the boom, boom, boom, boom.
[00:24:29.960 --> 00:24:32.520] And the action, the follow-through is very low.
[00:24:32.520 --> 00:24:34.280] The percentage is very low.
[00:24:34.280 --> 00:24:35.800] So, tell us about it.
[00:24:35.800 --> 00:24:36.120] Yeah.
[00:24:36.120 --> 00:24:42.040] So I thought if all else fails, I could, you know, turn the space into a co-working space, right?
[00:24:42.040 --> 00:24:45.440] I could have my like mom friends who work remotely.
[00:24:45.440 --> 00:24:48.960] You know, you can pay me every month, you can come in this space while our kids are at school, right?
[00:24:44.680 --> 00:24:50.880] And those, I figured I could pay for the space.
[00:24:51.040 --> 00:24:53.040] So, exactly, I like that.
[00:24:53.040 --> 00:24:55.600] It didn't work out because I had signed a whole lease, right?
[00:24:55.600 --> 00:25:00.160] So, startup costs, I originally thought that it was going to cost $10,000.
[00:25:00.160 --> 00:25:01.040] Why $10,000?
[00:25:01.040 --> 00:25:01.520] I don't know.
[00:25:01.520 --> 00:25:03.520] I just thought it's a nice round number.
[00:25:03.920 --> 00:25:07.120] I should be able to get things done with about $10,000.
[00:25:07.120 --> 00:25:08.320] Girl, I was wrong.
[00:25:08.960 --> 00:25:11.840] And thank God that we had a little bit of a nest egg.
[00:25:11.840 --> 00:25:19.440] So, we during the pandemic, we sort of like saved up some money that we knew we wanted to invest, but we didn't know what we would invest it in.
[00:25:19.440 --> 00:25:28.720] And so, once this idea came about, we ended up pulling about $25,000 for the business that set in an account specifically for Della's.
[00:25:28.720 --> 00:25:35.120] And the thing about that money is, like I said, I was like, okay, I only need to withdraw, you know, $10,000.
[00:25:35.120 --> 00:25:36.560] Girl, that went real quick.
[00:25:36.560 --> 00:25:41.840] Like, the invoice is for, you know, hair product alone, right?
[00:25:41.840 --> 00:25:44.640] You know, we're looking at $5,000 a pop, right?
[00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:56.000] And so I blew through that money between paying the interior designer, getting all the products into the store, you know, buying whatever furniture that I needed for the space, any of like the legal things that I needed to take care of.
[00:25:56.000 --> 00:25:57.600] And then, you know, I was kind of good to go.
[00:25:57.600 --> 00:26:00.240] I paid for a tiny bit of marketing, not much.
[00:26:00.560 --> 00:26:04.320] And that kind of like, we did, we did a lot with a little.
[00:26:04.320 --> 00:26:09.520] I appreciate that realness and for breaking it down plainly, like, oh, this is how much it costs.
[00:26:09.520 --> 00:26:15.600] Because I also thought, being that it's Ann Arbor, I also thought it would be less than $25,000 myself.
[00:26:15.600 --> 00:26:19.760] So I could understand that because I'm like, oh, Ann Arbor, real estate must be cheaper, right?
[00:26:20.400 --> 00:26:24.000] And the investment, no, a business is a business.
[00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:25.680] A business is definitely a business.
[00:26:25.680 --> 00:26:30.200] And so, the interesting part about the space that I have, like I said, it's on the second floor.
[00:26:30.200 --> 00:26:32.360] And so, I happened to get lucky, right?
[00:26:29.760 --> 00:26:33.240] It was during the pandemic.
[00:26:33.400 --> 00:26:35.560] People weren't really looking for space like that, right?
[00:26:35.560 --> 00:26:37.720] Businesses weren't just popping up.
[00:26:37.720 --> 00:26:40.040] And I took two suites, right?
[00:26:40.040 --> 00:26:41.880] So they almost look like office.
[00:26:42.040 --> 00:26:44.520] And so I turned them into this really cozy space.
[00:26:44.680 --> 00:26:51.160] I tipped the door off between the two suites and, you know, turned it into a really cozy space and made it feel like I wanted people to feel.
[00:26:51.160 --> 00:26:53.560] It's like, I will tell you what this space is.
[00:26:53.560 --> 00:26:55.080] And so it's different than that.
[00:26:55.080 --> 00:27:00.120] If I were looking to, you know, get a lease on a commercial space right off of the street, right?
[00:27:00.120 --> 00:27:05.400] I'm sure that process would have been a lot different, way more expensive, you know, and a lot more hoops to go through.
[00:27:05.400 --> 00:27:09.880] But again, it was during the pandemic, and I happened to find space on the second floor.
[00:27:09.880 --> 00:27:13.800] And I feel like it just, it was easy and there weren't that many obstacles.
[00:27:13.800 --> 00:27:18.440] And so I felt like, okay, I'm just going to keep on trucking along with my little idea.
[00:27:18.440 --> 00:27:19.080] Love it.
[00:27:19.080 --> 00:27:25.000] And that's why you have to be able to visualize too when you look at a space and visualize what you can create there.
[00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:34.360] So kudos to you for being able to do that, not just thinking, oh, someone needs to look through the window and see braid packs on the wall to know that's where the beauty supply store is.
[00:27:34.360 --> 00:27:35.800] No, you can educate people.
[00:27:35.800 --> 00:27:38.440] You can tell the space what it's going to be.
[00:27:38.760 --> 00:27:45.000] And if you have ever lived somewhere where you are the minority, they're not a lot of us.
[00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:51.800] If we find out that there is a good beauty supply store, oh, we're going to go.
[00:27:51.800 --> 00:27:53.720] Okay, the word will spread.
[00:27:53.720 --> 00:27:55.880] So has that been your experience?
[00:27:56.200 --> 00:27:57.960] Absolutely.
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[00:30:51.480 --> 00:30:53.240] So, there's one thing about us.
[00:30:53.240 --> 00:31:01.800] I don't know if anyone's listening, if you've ever lived in a community where they're not enough of us and we don't have all the things that we need, like a beauty supply store.
[00:31:01.800 --> 00:31:08.600] You know that if you find out about a good restaurant or a good beauty supply store, it doesn't matter where it is.
[00:31:08.600 --> 00:31:09.240] We will go.
[00:31:09.240 --> 00:31:10.040] We will go.
[00:31:10.440 --> 00:31:15.000] When I was in Ann Arbor, I would be going to people's houses to get my hair braided.
[00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:20.280] Like, wherever, whatever it takes, us black women, we're gonna do it.
[00:31:20.280 --> 00:31:24.600] So, tell us what has been the support like in Ann Arbor.
[00:31:24.600 --> 00:31:27.080] So, you are a thousand percent correct.
[00:31:27.080 --> 00:31:32.840] I am so grateful to all of the group chats and people who say my name or my business's name in the group chat.
[00:31:32.840 --> 00:31:35.720] Some folks are like, Dallas, wait, you didn't know about Dallas?
[00:31:35.720 --> 00:31:37.960] That's the weather, you know, that's the beauty supply store.
[00:31:37.960 --> 00:31:47.520] That's all it's safe, and like the word kind of spread because you have to remember, I'm associated through you know, my husband to the university, but I don't go to the university, right?
[00:31:44.680 --> 00:31:50.080] So I'm not necessarily entrenched in the way that he is.
[00:31:50.400 --> 00:31:52.400] And like, Kyle's a man, right?
[00:31:52.400 --> 00:31:56.080] And so imagine him trying to spread the word, which I'm so grateful that he does.
[00:31:56.080 --> 00:32:03.120] Like, he sees people who are my target demographic, and he'll like slip them a card, like, hey, did you know there's this like black-on-but?
[00:32:03.120 --> 00:32:12.560] Because he knows, shout out to Kyle, yeah, yeah, he's doing you know the Lord's work for sure because he knows that like I needed it so much and other people also need it as well.
[00:32:12.560 --> 00:32:19.680] And so when I first opened up the store, a big part of like the soft launch was to have like a family and friends day.
[00:32:19.680 --> 00:32:31.920] And so what we would do is, you know, Kyle would reach out to any cohort mates who he thought fit the demographic, and he would let them know that they could sign up for like, you know, a 30-minute tour of the space.
[00:32:31.920 --> 00:32:34.160] And we gave people the opportunity to get feedback.
[00:32:34.160 --> 00:32:37.680] And so it's like, come in, check the space out, let us know what you think.
[00:32:37.680 --> 00:32:40.240] And, you know, if you want to shop around, you're welcome to do that.
[00:32:40.240 --> 00:32:42.320] But we really wanted people to see the space.
[00:32:42.320 --> 00:32:44.640] Like, I wanted people to know, hey, this thing is coming.
[00:32:44.640 --> 00:32:45.600] We're about to open.
[00:32:45.600 --> 00:32:46.960] Like, start talking about it.
[00:32:47.280 --> 00:32:53.680] And if people followed the Della's Instagram page, I would then respond back to them and say, Hey, thank you so much for following.
[00:32:53.680 --> 00:32:56.560] Thanks for believing in what we're doing, the community that we're building.
[00:32:56.880 --> 00:32:59.840] If you want to check out the space, click this link, right?
[00:32:59.840 --> 00:33:02.160] Schedule a private tour, come in, right?
[00:33:02.160 --> 00:33:08.400] So, like, I was so connected to this community early on because, again, this is like I'm the target demographic, right?
[00:33:08.400 --> 00:33:11.280] It's like I want to treat people how I want to be treated.
[00:33:11.280 --> 00:33:13.520] I want to be connected to in like a special way.
[00:33:13.520 --> 00:33:17.920] And so, people just started to share the word in group chats and in Facebook groups.
[00:33:17.920 --> 00:33:24.360] And folks would come in and they would show me like their phones, like, look, so-and-so mentioned the blah, blah, blah, and told me that you had this hair.
[00:33:24.440 --> 00:33:26.160] So I'm coming to get it.
[00:33:26.160 --> 00:33:32.920] And like, not a day goes by that I'm not like blown away by people supporting this community around this business.
[00:33:29.680 --> 00:33:35.880] So, so, yes, the word definitely spread really quickly.
[00:33:36.200 --> 00:33:39.400] And do you have any small group events or anything like that too?
[00:33:39.400 --> 00:33:39.640] Yes.
[00:33:39.640 --> 00:33:41.800] So, we started to do a lot of programming.
[00:33:41.800 --> 00:33:44.760] I am at the point now where I've got a pretty good team.
[00:33:44.760 --> 00:33:49.720] We're a year in, which sounds crazy to even say that, but I have a team of four.
[00:33:49.720 --> 00:33:51.960] They're all University of Michigan students.
[00:33:51.960 --> 00:33:58.920] I also have a team of three brand ambassadors, and they do a lot of, you know, this really great engagement work for us as well.
[00:33:58.920 --> 00:34:02.120] And then, with them, I'm able to plan pop-up events.
[00:34:02.120 --> 00:34:03.640] So, we do some events at the store.
[00:34:03.640 --> 00:34:07.640] We'll have salons come in and do some hair education.
[00:34:07.640 --> 00:34:09.800] So, we partner with a salon in Ipsy.
[00:34:09.800 --> 00:34:12.440] They specifically specialize in curly hair.
[00:34:12.440 --> 00:34:18.440] So, they'll come in maybe once a quarter and we'll do like a fun-themed event around doing free hair assessments.
[00:34:18.440 --> 00:34:22.840] And I just get so much joy out of being able to bring this knowledge to the community.
[00:34:22.840 --> 00:34:25.880] Like, I'm not a licensed stylist, I'm a curator, right?
[00:34:25.880 --> 00:34:30.040] It's like I have the space, I have the products, and I have these ideas.
[00:34:30.040 --> 00:34:37.160] I will bring people together to talk about whatever the thing is or to, you know, receive the education that I feel like we need in our community.
[00:34:37.160 --> 00:34:50.840] And I'm just grateful for partners who believe in that work and who say, Yes, I'll show up and who stay for hours like looking through people's hair, testing products on them so that people know how to care for, you know, their hair while they're away at college.
[00:34:50.840 --> 00:34:57.640] And I don't know if you remember or if you even had that experience, but when I went away to college, right, like that's when all my hair broke off.
[00:34:57.640 --> 00:34:58.600] Like, I didn't know what I was doing.
[00:34:58.680 --> 00:35:02.760] Oh, yeah, I went natural by accident because my hair broke off.
[00:35:02.760 --> 00:35:04.920] I'm like, I guess I'm natural now.
[00:35:05.240 --> 00:35:05.560] Right.
[00:35:05.560 --> 00:35:07.160] So, I guess we're doing this, right?
[00:35:07.880 --> 00:35:09.640] And so, that's a lot of people's experience.
[00:35:09.640 --> 00:35:15.000] They're going natural, you know, by accident, you know, using the wrong products or keeping in protective styles too long.
[00:35:15.680 --> 00:35:23.200] And so, it's just great to be able to have these events and have stylists and other community members come in to just create like a third space for people, right?
[00:35:23.200 --> 00:35:27.600] It's like sometimes people say, What do you sell in your beauty supply store?
[00:35:27.600 --> 00:35:36.560] And I always have to tell them, Dell is about like, Yes, of course, we have the hair, we have the extensions, we have the beauty supply products that you're used to, gift items, et cetera.
[00:35:36.560 --> 00:35:38.400] But we also have community, right?
[00:35:38.400 --> 00:35:44.960] Like, people pop in and they're like, I got that internship, or I got that job, or my son made the soccer team.
[00:35:44.960 --> 00:35:56.080] You know, this is a space in the community that we can all convene around where you don't feel seen often in this, you know, really vibrant, like charming city.
[00:35:56.080 --> 00:35:58.960] There's so much happening around you because it is a college town.
[00:35:58.960 --> 00:36:04.320] It's centered around sports, it's centered around the university, but it's not centered around a black experience.
[00:36:04.320 --> 00:36:06.720] It's not centered around a BIPOC experience.
[00:36:06.720 --> 00:36:17.920] And so, the store really does exist to be that kind of like middle space and that hub so that people can come in and, you know, just feel seen and shop in a space that feels safe and comfortable.
[00:36:17.920 --> 00:36:29.120] It's so funny that you should mention that because I don't think I ever realized until this conversation just how central having a beauty supply is for my experience in a city.
[00:36:29.120 --> 00:36:44.080] I knew it was important because when I interned out in the bay, sorry, bay friends, I know, I know, I'm always talking about this, but I just remember feeling like I could spend, you know, New York is expensive too, right?
[00:36:44.080 --> 00:36:46.240] But at least I know I'm gonna find Jamaican food.
[00:36:46.240 --> 00:36:48.320] At least I know I'm going to find a beauty supply store.
[00:36:48.320 --> 00:36:52.880] Like, I refuse to be spending all this money and I can't find myself.
[00:36:52.880 --> 00:36:54.800] I can't see myself.
[00:36:54.800 --> 00:37:00.920] So, for me, you know, being somewhere shorter for a short amount of time, my expectations were lower, right?
[00:36:59.760 --> 00:37:05.480] But if you're going to be somewhere, you should be able to see yourself and find what you need.
[00:37:12.440 --> 00:37:13.640] Absolutely.
[00:37:13.640 --> 00:37:14.280] Absolutely.
[00:37:14.280 --> 00:37:24.680] And, like, think about how many spaces we've been in where you've looked around for the signals, like in businesses to signal whether or not you belong or like that they're marketing to you.
[00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:27.320] And in the city, I didn't see that, right?
[00:37:27.320 --> 00:37:28.520] And I thought, what a shame!
[00:37:28.520 --> 00:37:42.520] Like, coming directly from Brooklyn, like, I was used to being able to go to my special spaces where I felt like you appreciate me, you're marketing to me, like, you value me, you value my dollar, like, you actually care about me as a human, right?
[00:37:42.840 --> 00:37:45.560] And I didn't experience that here when I first got here.
[00:37:45.560 --> 00:37:47.160] And I thought, what a shame!
[00:37:47.160 --> 00:37:51.400] Like, people here are missing out, like, they don't know what, like, what they could experience.
[00:37:51.400 --> 00:37:56.360] And so, part of opening up Della's was really to show people, hey, we can have cool stuff here too.
[00:37:56.360 --> 00:37:59.720] Like, you know, we can, you know, our experience here too.
[00:37:59.960 --> 00:38:06.120] And again, I didn't know if people would catch on to it or if people would enjoy it or like it or even see things the way that I saw it.
[00:38:06.120 --> 00:38:07.960] So it really was a big risk.
[00:38:08.200 --> 00:38:13.720] But I feel grateful that people responded really well to the idea and have supported the store for over a year.
[00:38:13.720 --> 00:38:21.320] Yeah, I can't believe it's, it's, I think of it like, I can't believe it's only been a year, you know, like it feels like it's been around longer.
[00:38:21.320 --> 00:38:24.200] So it's a happy anniversary.
[00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.720] Now, what has it been like hiring and staffing and keeping the store staffed?
[00:38:29.720 --> 00:38:31.480] That's been a journey.
[00:38:32.120 --> 00:38:38.200] So in the very beginning, I staffed the store solely by myself.
[00:38:38.200 --> 00:38:41.960] And I just felt like this is my baby.
[00:38:41.960 --> 00:38:43.240] This is my store.
[00:38:43.240 --> 00:39:00.320] I want to know every nook, every cranny every every like product that's coming in and i did it to the point where i was like really close to burning out because i don't know if i mentioned this at all earlier but i still work a full-time job right which is wild.
[00:39:00.320 --> 00:39:01.840] I happen to work a job.
[00:39:01.840 --> 00:39:04.640] I work at human resources and talent recruitment.
[00:39:04.640 --> 00:39:15.200] And so there is some flexibility in that work, but not enough flexibility where I feel like, okay, I could literally work this store every day and not have any additional help.
[00:39:15.200 --> 00:39:22.960] And so because that is my background, hiring for me was easier, I guess, like hiring and retaining people easier.
[00:39:22.960 --> 00:39:24.960] And also I've got a built-in customer base, right?
[00:39:24.960 --> 00:39:26.400] People really love the store.
[00:39:26.400 --> 00:39:33.440] And I feel grateful that when I, you know, immediately mentioned on, I think, an Instagram post I posted that we were hiring.
[00:39:33.440 --> 00:39:38.800] And I was just like flooded with applications and like emails and people popping into the store.
[00:39:38.800 --> 00:39:41.680] And I'm like, oh my gosh, y'all really, like, really, y'all rock with this store.
[00:39:41.680 --> 00:39:45.760] Like, you actually care about the work that we're doing and you want to be associated with it.
[00:39:45.760 --> 00:39:47.040] You want to work here.
[00:39:47.040 --> 00:39:53.120] And so I was able to quickly do one crucial hire, which I thought, this is great.
[00:39:53.120 --> 00:39:57.120] To be honest, I knew I needed more than one person, but I thought I can't afford it.
[00:39:57.120 --> 00:40:00.400] So let me just like find one person and see how I could do.
[00:40:00.400 --> 00:40:04.720] And then that one person turned to two and that turned to three and then that turned to four.
[00:40:04.720 --> 00:40:09.920] And like present day, a year from opening, like I'm able to not work any shifts in the store at this moment.
[00:40:09.920 --> 00:40:11.680] And that feels great.
[00:40:11.920 --> 00:40:15.120] How did you know the right size, the right amount of people?
[00:40:15.120 --> 00:40:18.080] Like, how did you know when you needed three versus four?
[00:40:18.080 --> 00:40:20.720] That's a really good question because I didn't know.
[00:40:20.720 --> 00:40:26.480] Like, I just knew that I was going to take it like incrementally because I just wasn't certain.
[00:40:26.480 --> 00:40:28.800] So, the store is not open every day just yet.
[00:40:28.800 --> 00:40:30.440] We have very specific hours.
[00:40:30.440 --> 00:40:32.600] So, we opened Wednesday to Saturday, right?
[00:40:29.840 --> 00:40:36.520] Hopefully, in the fall, we can open, you know, Sunday through, you know, Saturday.
[00:40:36.680 --> 00:40:42.600] You know, it kind of like incremental changes over time have been the name of the game because we're such a small space.
[00:40:42.600 --> 00:40:47.080] But after I hired the first person, I realized, oh, you have very limited hours, right?
[00:40:47.080 --> 00:40:50.840] You still have schoolwork and you have club activities, right, that you're engaged in.
[00:40:50.840 --> 00:40:51.240] Great.
[00:40:51.240 --> 00:40:52.840] That means I'm still on the schedule.
[00:40:52.840 --> 00:40:54.680] So I said, okay, I need another person.
[00:40:54.680 --> 00:40:59.480] And then I hired one more person and I was like, okay, I'm still doing a couple shifts here and there.
[00:40:59.480 --> 00:41:02.600] That's not enough because I still needed to like pull back.
[00:41:02.600 --> 00:41:10.200] Because remember, I had a full-time job that I had to get back to because I was on a bit of a lead trying to get the store, you know, exactly where I needed it to be.
[00:41:10.200 --> 00:41:17.400] And so I just took it one hire at a time because also, like, I needed to be able to fund, you know, each of the hires.
[00:41:17.400 --> 00:41:22.600] Like, are we making enough money in the store to sustain, you know, staff members over time?
[00:41:22.600 --> 00:41:25.000] And so one, one person at a time.
[00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:34.040] And so I felt like I got to the point where it's like, okay, four is a really good sweet spot for like the hours that we have now where people feel like they can still manage their course load.
[00:41:34.040 --> 00:41:37.800] They can still come here and do great work and not be burned out.
[00:41:37.800 --> 00:41:41.400] How has business been in terms of revenue?
[00:41:41.400 --> 00:41:45.560] So business has been good and also it's just challenging.
[00:41:45.560 --> 00:41:49.000] Like first year in business is no joke.
[00:41:49.000 --> 00:41:56.680] I've had side hustles before, but nothing like having a physical location where I'm like, okay, rent has to be paid.
[00:41:56.680 --> 00:41:58.600] I have staff members that have to be paid.
[00:41:58.600 --> 00:42:01.000] And these are like real, real bills, right?
[00:42:01.000 --> 00:42:03.000] Like people are actually coming and knocking on the door.
[00:42:03.000 --> 00:42:09.000] And I'm like, oh, like I can't hide behind like a website the way that I was with like the other side hustles.
[00:42:09.000 --> 00:42:11.560] So it definitely feels like more is at stake.
[00:42:11.560 --> 00:42:13.240] And so business has been good.
[00:42:13.240 --> 00:42:16.800] It was a little slow to start up as people were learning about the store.
[00:42:17.440 --> 00:42:23.280] And I remember last summer there was a big African-American festival that happens in downtown Ann Arbor.
[00:42:23.280 --> 00:42:31.520] And so I got a booth there and I thought, oh, this would be a really great way, right, to spread the word beyond the like University of Michigan community, right?
[00:42:31.520 --> 00:42:36.800] Because the goal is to have people throughout Ann Arbor and It's Alani to come to the store.
[00:42:36.800 --> 00:42:42.960] And also if people are visiting Detroit, I want you to come to Ann Arbor because we've got this really special thing here.
[00:42:42.960 --> 00:42:47.600] And I know so many people like to center their travel experiences around black-owned businesses.
[00:42:47.600 --> 00:42:52.400] And so in order to get the word out, I knew I had it to be more visible in the community.
[00:42:52.400 --> 00:42:55.920] So last year I popped up at this festival.
[00:42:55.920 --> 00:42:59.600] I did a really cute booth and I thought it was like so beautiful.
[00:42:59.600 --> 00:43:04.800] I brought all this product out and I met a ton of people, but a lot of folks said, huh?
[00:43:04.960 --> 00:43:06.720] Della's, what's that?
[00:43:06.720 --> 00:43:07.840] And they were so confused.
[00:43:07.840 --> 00:43:11.200] They were like, there's a beauty supply store in downtown Ann Arbor.
[00:43:11.200 --> 00:43:12.480] And they just couldn't believe it.
[00:43:12.480 --> 00:43:14.880] And they were just like, no, we've never seen that before.
[00:43:14.880 --> 00:43:16.320] And they were really challenging me.
[00:43:16.320 --> 00:43:18.080] They were just like, what?
[00:43:18.080 --> 00:43:18.960] That, what?
[00:43:18.960 --> 00:43:21.840] We've never, you know, because it was a, this wasn't the student community, right?
[00:43:21.840 --> 00:43:49.080] Like, they weren't coming through this like busy thoroughfare like the students were day to day and like faculty and staff members were and so they didn't really believe it and they were kind of like side-eyeing the whole thing and i just thought okay i got more work to do i got more marketing to do and i saw it as a challenge so full circle i just did that that festival again a few weeks ago and it was like night and day like people will walk by and say oh my god, Jeff, this is amazing.
[00:43:49.080 --> 00:43:56.600] I saw that before the other day, or you know, I just learned about it, or oh my god, they were talking about this in the facebook, Facebook group the other day.
[00:43:57.240 --> 00:44:00.840] So, in just a short amount of time, people knew.
[00:43:58.400 --> 00:44:07.640] I say short amount of time, but it you know had been a year's worth of work that it took to get the word out about the business.
[00:44:07.640 --> 00:44:11.960] And that felt really good because I'm like, Okay, like that is amazing, right?
[00:44:12.040 --> 00:44:13.160] I love that.
[00:44:13.160 --> 00:44:18.280] What kind of things were you doing with the marketing, you know, to go beyond just word of mouth?
[00:44:18.280 --> 00:44:24.520] Yeah, so word of mouth was a big one because you know, money, you know, that pot of money ran out really quickly.
[00:44:24.520 --> 00:44:28.760] And so, I think I printed some postcards, and that was pretty much it.
[00:44:28.760 --> 00:44:38.920] Also, you know, I was active on Instagram, a little bit of Facebook, the brand ambassadors, of course, you know, they would come in, get product, make posts, um, and then share content.
[00:44:38.920 --> 00:44:39.960] So, that was great.
[00:44:39.960 --> 00:44:43.880] And then I started to realize, okay, you need to put some real money behind this.
[00:44:43.880 --> 00:44:53.400] And so, I started to invest in a small agency, a Black woman-led agency around Facebook ads and Instagram ads.
[00:44:53.400 --> 00:44:59.560] And we started to see a lot more traffic coming to the website through, you know, that marketing that we were doing.
[00:44:59.560 --> 00:45:01.400] And so, that helped a ton.
[00:45:01.400 --> 00:45:06.440] And then, aside from that, when students are away in the summer, I do a lot of pop-ups.
[00:45:06.440 --> 00:45:08.120] So, I'm at a lot of festivals.
[00:45:08.440 --> 00:45:15.080] I'm popping up at other business establishments and just kind of spreading the word because you know, the business still has to grow.
[00:45:15.080 --> 00:45:22.600] And I think most businesses in Ann Arbor kind of know that, you know, during the academic year, when students are here, business is great.
[00:45:22.600 --> 00:45:29.720] Students are going to support the business, but you better have a plan for the summer because students are gone and you are going to see that traffic day to day.
[00:45:29.720 --> 00:45:34.600] And so, so, yes, all that to say, the business has been doing good.
[00:45:34.600 --> 00:45:37.800] We are profitable, which is insane to say for our first year.
[00:45:38.760 --> 00:45:39.600] We're in the black.
[00:45:40.960 --> 00:45:44.880] We're not a ton of money, but you know, we're not in the red in our first year.
[00:45:44.880 --> 00:45:48.000] And so that feels really, really great.
[00:45:48.000 --> 00:45:49.280] I'm proud of you.
[00:45:49.280 --> 00:45:50.320] That's amazing.
[00:45:44.680 --> 00:45:51.840] Thank you.
[00:45:57.600 --> 00:46:00.000] I wish this was there when I was there.
[00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:01.840] I would have been there all the time.
[00:46:01.840 --> 00:46:05.440] When I tell you, we would have had events there.
[00:46:05.920 --> 00:46:07.600] We would have had sponsorship.
[00:46:07.600 --> 00:46:08.080] Yeah.
[00:46:08.080 --> 00:46:09.200] That's exactly what happens.
[00:46:09.200 --> 00:46:14.000] Like we're very closely connected to like the DEI office over at the University of Michigan.
[00:46:14.880 --> 00:46:17.920] The Black Student Union, Black at UMish group chat.
[00:46:17.920 --> 00:46:21.200] Like we do as many events here as we can hold.
[00:46:21.200 --> 00:46:24.960] And also keep in mind, like this is a very small space.
[00:46:24.960 --> 00:46:29.680] And so, I mean, we are like overflowing into the hallways, like when we have events.
[00:46:29.680 --> 00:46:35.520] But some people say, oh my gosh, I've not seen this many black and brown people since I've like moved here.
[00:46:35.520 --> 00:46:40.400] And, you know, it's just very heartwarming to know that Dellas can be that space for so many people.
[00:46:40.400 --> 00:46:49.760] And so, yes, I would hope that if this store existed when you were here, that you would also like, you know, pop by from time to time and kind of check it out because it does make a difference.
[00:46:49.760 --> 00:46:51.760] And are you still working full time?
[00:46:51.760 --> 00:46:53.120] Are you still side hustling?
[00:46:53.120 --> 00:46:55.680] Yes, I am still side hustling.
[00:46:55.680 --> 00:46:56.400] Yes.
[00:46:56.400 --> 00:46:59.120] That is amazing too, because people need to see this.
[00:46:59.120 --> 00:47:03.440] Like, what's possible when you're growing a business on the side?
[00:47:03.440 --> 00:47:06.480] And, but you mentioned you took kind of a leave.
[00:47:06.480 --> 00:47:07.600] So how did you go about that?
[00:47:07.600 --> 00:47:14.720] What are some tips for people so they can, you know, have a moment to like really go hard on their business before they go back to work?
[00:47:14.720 --> 00:47:16.000] Yeah, that's a great question.
[00:47:16.000 --> 00:47:26.000] So once I, at the time, I've since switched jobs since that time, but at the time I was working for a Black woman-led um executive recruiting firm.
[00:47:26.000 --> 00:49:02.800] And I shared my idea with her that I was creating della's and, you know, how important it was to you know have this in the community and she's like a thousand percent definitely do it and she supported me wholeheartedly and with that i said okay can we pause the contracts and so i was like you know doing some contract work i said can we pause the contracts for you know a few months so i can get the store where it needed to be and so i did exactly that the contracts i think i took maybe four or five months or so oh wow pausing the contracts meaning pausing the money too oh yeah there's no money coming in um just gotta be clear oh yeah oh yeah yeah yeah so you don't work you don't get paid right so that work that i was doing that recruitment work was specifically um you know on a contract basis and so when contracts came in i worked the contracts i got paid and so i had the opportunity to say i'm not taking on any contracts i'll focus on the business and that meant no money came my way unless it was money that was like 30 60 you know 90 days out and i would have some like triple triple money coming in and so once i eventually did return back to that business it was not uncommon for me to take the you know my cause in here in della's or you know sometimes i would be in between customers and i would hop on my calls or i would have to you know pause my meetings help a customer real quick and then i would hop back on you know i would say oh i'm stepping away to the bathroom and i just did what i needed to do um in order to you know make it all work for me because at the end of the day i'm not at the point yet, where i'm paying myself through the store.
[00:49:02.800 --> 00:49:11.600] And so, my advice for people would be figure out a part-time or a full-time situation that works for you, or even if it's part-time, so that you can side hustle.
[00:49:11.600 --> 00:49:11.840] Right?
[00:49:12.080 --> 00:49:16.640] I knew that i was working for someone who was very supportive of the work that I was doing.
[00:49:16.640 --> 00:49:19.600] And so, it's not like I said, Hey, I want to pause on this work.
[00:49:19.600 --> 00:49:21.520] And she said, Okay, I don't need you, right?
[00:49:21.520 --> 00:49:24.560] She said, Great, do that, and come back when you're ready.
[00:49:24.560 --> 00:49:34.560] And to me, that just felt you know great to know that I had a space to return and that I could pick, you know, pick back up on the work and make money, which was you know, really important to me.
[00:49:34.560 --> 00:49:42.160] Yes, I love that, and that's a piece of advice I always like to emphasize too: like, find a job where you can side hustle.
[00:49:42.160 --> 00:49:51.040] So, if you're working right now and you can't side hustle, you will need to switch jobs to something less time-intensive that may come with a pay cut.
[00:49:51.040 --> 00:50:07.200] Yes, but if it's really important to you, like find a way to make it work, see what you can scale back so that you can do both because you just cannot work a job that you have no energy or no time to do your side hustle and expect to side hustle a thousand percent.
[00:50:07.200 --> 00:50:08.560] A thousand percent.
[00:50:08.560 --> 00:50:16.960] So, now, as you're moving forward, uh, what's your vision, you know, especially with your multi-passions, how do you see it all coming together?
[00:50:16.960 --> 00:50:20.080] So, it's a multi-pronged approach, right?
[00:50:20.080 --> 00:50:23.840] Like, the first thing is we have to get down to the ground floor.
[00:50:23.840 --> 00:50:29.280] Like, the vision is for the store to be bigger and to serve more people than we currently serve.
[00:50:29.280 --> 00:50:34.960] Like, there's such a big need here in this community, and like I said, we are like bursting at the seams.
[00:50:34.960 --> 00:50:37.920] Like, I'm putting inventory on top of inventory.
[00:50:37.920 --> 00:50:43.920] Like, it's, I do hope they'll make it look aesthetic and cute, but we're definitely running out of space.
[00:50:43.920 --> 00:50:52.240] And so, the name of the game is all about finding funding and finding the right space in Ann Arbor to move down to the ground floor so we can have a bigger impact.
[00:50:52.240 --> 00:50:54.320] So, that's like number one.
[00:50:54.320 --> 00:50:59.600] Number two is turning Della's into more of like this cultural hub, right?
[00:50:59.720 --> 00:51:02.600] Like people, like I said, we're selling community.
[00:51:02.600 --> 00:51:11.400] Like people come here and they support Dellas because they care about us, they care about the work that we're doing and how closely connected we are in the community.
[00:51:11.400 --> 00:51:20.440] And so it's not lost on me that sometimes people walk past the target on State Street and then they come to me and say, Do you have to blah, blah, blah?
[00:51:20.440 --> 00:51:23.240] And I might say, oh, you know, we don't have that yet.
[00:51:23.240 --> 00:51:25.720] Or, you know, we just sold out.
[00:51:25.800 --> 00:51:27.640] They're like, okay, I'm just checking here first.
[00:51:27.640 --> 00:51:29.320] And then they'll go back down.
[00:51:29.480 --> 00:51:30.360] I love it.
[00:51:30.360 --> 00:51:34.680] And it just goes to show me like the loyalty that we've been able to build here.
[00:51:34.680 --> 00:51:40.600] And with that loyalty and like the trust that I'm given from the community, I want to be able to make this a bigger hub.
[00:51:40.600 --> 00:51:49.880] Like I want a space where people can come all the time and hang and like feel like they have a place where they belong because I know I needed that so much when I moved here.
[00:51:49.880 --> 00:51:51.480] And that's going to continue, right?
[00:51:51.480 --> 00:51:54.440] Because the demographic of the city likely will not change.
[00:51:54.440 --> 00:52:03.000] And people are coming here for very short periods of time, even if it's just two years or four years, it's still a good amount of time where you need a space.
[00:52:03.000 --> 00:52:06.600] And we want to be that space where people can, you know, just find home.
[00:52:06.600 --> 00:52:08.280] And it doesn't have to be BIPOC folks.
[00:52:08.280 --> 00:52:09.560] It's like allies.
[00:52:09.560 --> 00:52:14.280] Like if you've got textured hair or if you just need a space, like we're like, we're here.
[00:52:14.280 --> 00:52:16.600] So excited to be able to continue that work.
[00:52:16.920 --> 00:52:19.320] And how has it been for you personally?
[00:52:19.640 --> 00:52:25.800] You know, we started our conversation touching on just how hard it was to become a mom, then go right into the pandemic.
[00:52:25.800 --> 00:52:28.600] So postpartum plus isolation.
[00:52:28.600 --> 00:52:36.600] And how has starting Della's helped with you forging new relationships and friendships in your new town?
[00:52:36.600 --> 00:52:40.760] That's a really great question because I was lost.
[00:52:41.080 --> 00:52:44.760] Like, very much, like, am I depressed because I don't have any friends?
[00:52:44.960 --> 00:52:47.360] Like, I'm like, really struggling here.
[00:52:48.000 --> 00:52:49.360] And it has

Prompt 2: Key Takeaways

Now please extract the key takeaways from the transcript content I provided.

Extract the most important key takeaways from this part of the conversation. Use a single sentence statement (the key takeaway) rather than milquetoast descriptions like "the hosts discuss...". 

Limit the key takeaways to a maximum of 3. The key takeaways should be insightful and knowledge-additive. 

IMPORTANT: Return ONLY valid JSON, no explanations or markdown. Ensure:
- All strings are properly quoted and escaped
- No trailing commas
- All braces and brackets are balanced
Format: {"key_takeaways": ["takeaway 1", "takeaway 2"]}

Prompt 3: Segments

Now identify 2-4 distinct topical segments from this part of the conversation.

For each segment, identify:
- Descriptive title (3-6 words)  
- START timestamp when this topic begins (HH:MM:SS format)
- Double check that the timestamp is accurate - a timestamp will NEVER be greater than the total length of the audio
- Most important Key takeaway from that segment. Key takeaway must be specific and knowledge-additive.
- Brief summary of the discussion

IMPORTANT: The timestamp should mark when the topic/segment STARTS, not a range. Look for topic transitions and conversation shifts.

Return ONLY valid JSON. Ensure all strings are properly quoted, no trailing commas:
{
  "segments": [
    {
      "segment_title": "Topic Discussion", 
      "timestamp": "01:15:30",
      "key_takeaway": "main point from this segment",
      "segment_summary": "brief description of what was discussed"
    }
  ]
}

Timestamp format: HH:MM:SS (e.g., 00:05:30, 01:22:45) marking the START of each segment.

Prompt 4: Media Mentions

Now scan the transcript content I provided for ACTUAL mentions of specific media titles:

Find explicit mentions of:
- Books (with specific titles)
- Movies (with specific titles)  
- TV Shows (with specific titles)
- Music/Songs (with specific titles)

DO NOT include:
- Websites, URLs, or web services
- Other podcasts or podcast names

IMPORTANT: 
- Only include items explicitly mentioned by name. Do not invent titles.
- Valid categories are: "Book", "Movie", "TV Show", "Music"
- Include the exact phrase where each item was mentioned
- Find the nearest proximate timestamp where it appears in the conversation
- THE TIMESTAMP OF THE MEDIA MENTION IS IMPORTANT - DO NOT INVENT TIMESTAMPS AND DO NOT MISATTRIBUTE TIMESTAMPS
- Double check that the timestamp is accurate - a timestamp will NEVER be greater than the total length of the audio
- Timestamps are given as ranges, e.g. 01:13:42.520 --> 01:13:46.720. Use the EARLIER of the 2 timestamps in the range.

Return ONLY valid JSON. Ensure all strings are properly quoted and escaped, no trailing commas:
{
  "media_mentions": [
    {
      "title": "Exact Title as Mentioned",
      "category": "Book",
      "author_artist": "N/A",
      "context": "Brief context of why it was mentioned",
      "context_phrase": "The exact sentence or phrase where it was mentioned",
      "timestamp": "estimated time like 01:15:30"
    }
  ]
}

If no media is mentioned, return: {"media_mentions": []}

Prompt 5: Context Setup

You are an expert data extractor tasked with analyzing a podcast transcript. 
I will provide you with part 2 of 2 from a podcast transcript. 
I will then ask you to extract different types of information from this content in subsequent messages. Please confirm you have received and understood the transcript content.

Transcript section:
0:51:30.360] I love it.
[00:51:30.360 --> 00:51:34.680] And it just goes to show me like the loyalty that we've been able to build here.
[00:51:34.680 --> 00:51:40.600] And with that loyalty and like the trust that I'm given from the community, I want to be able to make this a bigger hub.
[00:51:40.600 --> 00:51:49.880] Like I want a space where people can come all the time and hang and like feel like they have a place where they belong because I know I needed that so much when I moved here.
[00:51:49.880 --> 00:51:51.480] And that's going to continue, right?
[00:51:51.480 --> 00:51:54.440] Because the demographic of the city likely will not change.
[00:51:54.440 --> 00:52:03.000] And people are coming here for very short periods of time, even if it's just two years or four years, it's still a good amount of time where you need a space.
[00:52:03.000 --> 00:52:06.600] And we want to be that space where people can, you know, just find home.
[00:52:06.600 --> 00:52:08.280] And it doesn't have to be BIPOC folks.
[00:52:08.280 --> 00:52:09.560] It's like allies.
[00:52:09.560 --> 00:52:14.280] Like if you've got textured hair or if you just need a space, like we're like, we're here.
[00:52:14.280 --> 00:52:16.600] So excited to be able to continue that work.
[00:52:16.920 --> 00:52:19.320] And how has it been for you personally?
[00:52:19.640 --> 00:52:25.800] You know, we started our conversation touching on just how hard it was to become a mom, then go right into the pandemic.
[00:52:25.800 --> 00:52:28.600] So postpartum plus isolation.
[00:52:28.600 --> 00:52:36.600] And how has starting Della's helped with you forging new relationships and friendships in your new town?
[00:52:36.600 --> 00:52:40.760] That's a really great question because I was lost.
[00:52:41.080 --> 00:52:44.760] Like, very much, like, am I depressed because I don't have any friends?
[00:52:44.960 --> 00:52:47.360] Like, I'm like, really struggling here.
[00:52:48.000 --> 00:52:49.360] And it has helped tremendously.
[00:52:49.360 --> 00:52:53.440] It's sort of like build it and they will come, or at least that's what I hoped would happen.
[00:52:53.760 --> 00:52:56.480] And that's exactly what ended up happening for me.
[00:52:56.480 --> 00:53:03.040] Like, I built this space, and a lot of my close friends have come through the Della space and they're like, okay, girl.
[00:53:03.040 --> 00:53:09.760] Or they've read a piece of press that I've gotten through the store and they'll pop their head in and they're like, we saw you put that best signal out there.
[00:53:09.760 --> 00:53:11.120] Like, we know you're looking for people.
[00:53:11.120 --> 00:53:13.760] Like, we see you kind of connect, right?
[00:53:13.760 --> 00:53:16.960] And like, they've become, you know, really good friends of mine.
[00:53:16.960 --> 00:53:22.000] And part of it too has helped me to feel more confident, like branching out into the community.
[00:53:22.000 --> 00:53:24.960] So I recently joined the Jack and Joe chapter here.
[00:53:24.960 --> 00:53:27.520] I'm involved in like the local NAACP chapter.
[00:53:27.520 --> 00:53:38.240] And so having a business in the community just makes me want to be so much more involved in the community and to connect with more people because like we're all doing this together in a way.
[00:53:38.240 --> 00:53:42.560] And so it's at the point where I'm like, okay, like I've got way too many friends now.
[00:53:42.560 --> 00:53:44.320] It's like an embarrassment of riches.
[00:53:45.360 --> 00:53:48.400] I just feel so loved being here and like so happy.
[00:53:48.400 --> 00:53:51.280] And that's a huge difference from when I first moved here.
[00:53:51.280 --> 00:53:53.760] I was just sort of like, I don't have any friends.
[00:53:53.760 --> 00:53:55.440] I don't have anyone to connect with.
[00:53:55.440 --> 00:54:00.800] And now I'm like, oh, I can call a multitude of people and, you know, I will be good.
[00:54:00.800 --> 00:54:03.040] So that feels really fantastic.
[00:54:09.680 --> 00:54:10.560] I love that.
[00:54:10.560 --> 00:54:15.120] And I'm sure it's a little hard for your, you know, your husband too when he sees that because it's like, he's here.
[00:54:15.120 --> 00:54:16.560] He brought you here.
[00:54:16.560 --> 00:54:18.320] He's having a blast.
[00:54:18.640 --> 00:54:21.440] That used to always be a struggle with the NBA partners.
[00:54:21.440 --> 00:54:26.080] Like they're having a blast, and their partners are like, Uh, what's happening?
[00:54:26.080 --> 00:54:26.400] Yes.
[00:54:26.400 --> 00:54:32.200] No, the funny part about it is we have a whiteboard in the kitchen, and so had to map it out.
[00:54:29.840 --> 00:54:33.720] He's like, Okay, you're talking about too many friends.
[00:54:33.880 --> 00:54:39.320] He's like, Let's write them all down, how you're connected to all them because now you've just got too wide of a net.
[00:54:39.640 --> 00:54:48.920] And he said, You know, he's talking to Phil a certain way because he's like, Man, I don't make enough friends because now I've got this full board of friends, and I'm just like, Uh-huh, like, don't call me out.
[00:54:48.920 --> 00:54:50.120] Who are these people?
[00:54:50.120 --> 00:54:54.600] Yeah, and also, and who are these people?
[00:54:54.600 --> 00:54:56.920] Yeah, I love that.
[00:54:56.920 --> 00:55:04.600] So, before we transition to the lightning round, you briefly touch on the fact that, okay, you guys might be, you know, one day leaving.
[00:55:04.600 --> 00:55:07.320] Like, what are your thoughts as it relates to that?
[00:55:07.320 --> 00:55:09.560] Like, will you pass it on to someone else?
[00:55:09.560 --> 00:55:11.960] Will you relocate it to your next city?
[00:55:11.960 --> 00:55:21.960] Girl, I try not to think about that because I know you're thinking too far ahead, but it is a very big question and an important question, right?
[00:55:21.960 --> 00:55:27.800] The work that I'm doing right now is to really determine what the future of Dellas will look like.
[00:55:27.800 --> 00:55:33.800] I know that the store needs to stay here because there's such a big need, and I could see it going a lot of different ways.
[00:55:33.800 --> 00:55:48.200] One, I have family close by, and you know, it will be my dream to be able to have like one of my sisters, you know, come and you know, run the store and just do their thing and just keep it alive and well and vibrant.
[00:55:48.520 --> 00:55:53.160] Two, I know there are a lot of like co-op sort of options, right?
[00:55:53.160 --> 00:55:56.520] Will people you know let their employees buy into the business?
[00:55:56.520 --> 00:55:59.000] And maybe that could be an option for Dellas as well, right?
[00:55:59.000 --> 00:56:05.320] It is a community business, and I want it to stay a community business, and so I could see that happening.
[00:56:05.320 --> 00:56:11.720] Um, depending on what city we head to next, I could also see Della's going with us, right?
[00:56:11.720 --> 00:56:15.600] Not as like the flagship is leaving, but like, no, the flagship stays here.
[00:56:14.920 --> 00:56:18.480] And then we also open another location somewhere else.
[00:56:18.800 --> 00:56:27.680] And I think it truly takes the next like two years for me to really realize: okay, which direction are we going to go in and what's going to work best?
[00:56:27.680 --> 00:56:30.480] But we're definitely the store will stay around.
[00:56:30.480 --> 00:56:34.640] What it will look like, we don't know yet, but like the store has to stay.
[00:56:34.640 --> 00:56:36.560] Like it, it can't leave.
[00:56:37.600 --> 00:56:38.160] It can't.
[00:56:38.160 --> 00:56:38.800] I can't.
[00:56:38.800 --> 00:56:41.200] I want to go back to Ann Arbor and pop in.
[00:56:41.200 --> 00:56:43.040] You mentioned you joined a Facebook group.
[00:56:43.040 --> 00:56:44.400] What was the name of the Facebook group?
[00:56:44.400 --> 00:56:46.000] And what did it teach you exactly?
[00:56:46.000 --> 00:56:47.520] Like how to start a beach?
[00:56:47.680 --> 00:56:48.080] Yep.
[00:56:48.080 --> 00:56:49.760] So it's a Facebook group.
[00:56:49.760 --> 00:57:00.880] I'll have to look up the name of it, but if you Google Black Beauty Supply Owners Facebook group, there's a questionnaire that you have to submit in order to be accepted into the group.
[00:57:00.880 --> 00:57:18.080] And once you're accepted into the group, there's like a wealth of information and peers in that group who also have similar businesses, whether they have, you know, some have an online beauty supply store, some have a mobile truck, some have, you know, physical locations, some have multiple locations, right?
[00:57:18.400 --> 00:57:21.520] And so there's opportunities for mentorship in that group.
[00:57:21.520 --> 00:57:27.920] And the most important thing that helped me out in the beginning is there is a template in there where it's like, hey, are you starting from scratch?
[00:57:27.920 --> 00:57:31.840] Here are all the like traditional products that you need in your store, right?
[00:57:31.840 --> 00:57:35.760] Here are all the vendors you need to make.
[00:57:35.760 --> 00:57:38.720] Because like we're like, how would I even know that?
[00:57:38.720 --> 00:57:38.960] Right.
[00:57:38.960 --> 00:57:42.000] I have this idea, but I don't have the expertise, right?
[00:57:42.640 --> 00:57:46.240] And so it really did help me with all of those like startup nuances.
[00:57:46.240 --> 00:57:48.800] And so I printed out this guy.
[00:57:48.800 --> 00:57:50.400] I, you know, called the vendors.
[00:57:50.400 --> 00:57:51.440] I made these connections.
[00:57:51.440 --> 00:57:59.200] And I was literally like with my pen and paper with this list of products that I needed to carry in the store, like grabbing things off the shelf, like, okay, I need one of those.
[00:57:59.200 --> 00:57:59.440] Okay.
[00:57:59.440 --> 00:58:05.080] I need 10 of those, or whatever the number was, because there's a bit of a formula, right?
[00:58:05.080 --> 00:58:18.920] It's like, okay, in this type of area, people typically buy these things, and it's like you get your baseline, and then from there, the advice is, okay, now you pay attention to buying patterns and customer behaviors, and then you update your inventory from that point.
[00:58:18.920 --> 00:58:23.000] But they definitely like gave me the blueprint, and I'm just so grateful for that.
[00:58:23.000 --> 00:58:29.080] And I still pop into that group day to day because I'm like, oh, so-and-so, stop, stop selling the X, Y, and Z.
[00:58:29.080 --> 00:58:32.360] Or where do I get this new boho hair that everybody loves?
[00:58:32.440 --> 00:58:32.760] Right.
[00:58:32.760 --> 00:58:35.160] And you know, people are so quick.
[00:58:35.160 --> 00:58:36.680] They're like, oh, this vendor has it.
[00:58:36.680 --> 00:58:39.640] And there's like no negativity in the group.
[00:58:39.640 --> 00:58:44.200] And there's not a mentality where people feel like if I tell you, then I won't have right.
[00:58:44.200 --> 00:58:47.720] It's like everyone wants everyone to be successful.
[00:58:47.720 --> 00:58:50.600] And it's just a great mentoring group.
[00:58:50.600 --> 00:58:51.720] That is beautiful.
[00:58:51.720 --> 00:58:53.880] I didn't even know that existed either.
[00:58:53.880 --> 00:58:55.960] So you have just put me on game.
[00:58:55.960 --> 00:59:01.160] I know some people are going to be listening to this and starting a beauty supply store after this because who knew?
[00:59:01.160 --> 00:59:01.800] I love that.
[00:59:01.800 --> 00:59:02.760] That is amazing.
[00:59:02.760 --> 00:59:08.920] That like group cooperative economics kind of thing, realizing that like we can all help each other.
[00:59:08.920 --> 00:59:15.000] And I know there's a lot of assumption that there are things that are being gatekept out there, but you'll be surprised.
[00:59:15.000 --> 00:59:16.600] Do a Google search.
[00:59:16.600 --> 00:59:22.040] Like there are people who share tips on starting a vending machine business, starting like you said, a beauty supply business.
[00:59:22.040 --> 00:59:22.920] You'd be surprised.
[00:59:22.920 --> 00:59:29.080] So thank you for reminding us about that, but also letting us know about this whole world that we didn't know about.
[00:59:31.320 --> 00:59:33.480] All right, so now we're jumping into the lightning round.
[00:59:33.480 --> 00:59:37.240] We could clearly talk a lot longer, but we're going to jump right in.
[00:59:37.240 --> 00:59:38.200] So you know the deal.
[00:59:38.200 --> 00:59:40.200] You just answer the first thing that comes to mind.
[00:59:40.200 --> 00:59:40.920] Are you ready?
[00:59:40.920 --> 00:59:41.880] Let's go.
[00:59:41.880 --> 00:59:42.760] All right.
[00:59:42.760 --> 00:59:45.920] Number one: what is a resource that has helped you in your business?
[00:59:46.240 --> 00:59:53.680] I know we just talked about one, but another resource that has helped you in your business that you can share with the Side Hustle Pro audience?
[00:59:53.680 --> 00:59:55.840] Obviously, the Facebook group that I just mentioned.
[00:59:55.840 --> 01:00:02.800] But also, I don't think when we talk about resources, I don't think we talk enough about groups, right?
[01:00:02.800 --> 01:00:06.880] I feel like there are so many businesses that are thriving off of community right now.
[01:00:06.880 --> 01:00:27.840] And I truly do not know where my business would be without the group chats, the Facebook groups, like these smaller communities, like these pockets of like ISHOC moms, you know, whatever mom group in your area, whatever, you know, student group that's closely connected to the work that you're doing, lean into those groups because that's advertising and marketing that you can't pay for, right?
[01:00:27.840 --> 01:00:31.520] Like people will organically talk about the work that you're doing.
[01:00:31.520 --> 01:00:35.760] And it's free marketing, but also marketing from people who trust one another.
[01:00:35.760 --> 01:00:38.240] And so that just really invaluable.
[01:00:38.240 --> 01:00:48.400] So as people are thinking about marketing strategies, definitely consider leaning into those groups or finding a way to get people to start talking about it in those groups because it's invaluable.
[01:00:48.400 --> 01:00:49.440] Oh, yes.
[01:00:49.440 --> 01:00:57.680] And number two, who is a non-celebrity black woman entrepreneur who you admire and would want to trade places with for a day and why?
[01:00:57.680 --> 01:00:58.560] Ooh.
[01:00:58.880 --> 01:01:05.360] So I mentioned before, I'm really into businesses that are centered around community right now.
[01:01:05.680 --> 01:01:09.760] And I know folks sell products, et cetera, services, but there's a woman I follow.
[01:01:09.840 --> 01:01:17.120] Her name is the Sabatini, or I think it's Saba, and she has a business called The in-demand VA.
[01:01:17.440 --> 01:01:24.480] And she does such a beautiful job with curating a community, building a community, building a circle of trust.
[01:01:24.480 --> 01:01:31.960] Though she's offering a course that people are paying for it and they're buying into a community, there's just so much trust and love in that group.
[01:01:29.840 --> 01:01:35.240] And it's just something that I feel like you, it's hard to learn.
[01:01:35.400 --> 01:01:40.520] Like, either you have it and you can build this community and you can nurture it, or you just don't.
[01:01:40.680 --> 01:01:49.560] And so, yeah, I'd love to trade places with her just to learn a little bit more about how she goes about like nurturing her community and keeping people invested and invested.
[01:01:49.560 --> 01:01:53.960] Number three, what is a non-negotiable part of your day these days?
[01:01:55.240 --> 01:01:56.920] It really is family time.
[01:01:56.920 --> 01:01:58.280] Like, I'm doing so much.
[01:01:58.280 --> 01:01:59.800] Like, I'm working a full-time job.
[01:01:59.800 --> 01:02:01.640] I have the business.
[01:02:01.880 --> 01:02:02.600] I'm a wife.
[01:02:02.600 --> 01:02:03.320] I got a kid.
[01:02:03.320 --> 01:02:05.080] You know, I have family close by.
[01:02:05.080 --> 01:02:07.560] I'm involved in a lot of community organizations.
[01:02:07.560 --> 01:02:11.400] And so I often feel like I'm spread a little too thin.
[01:02:11.400 --> 01:02:22.200] And so, whenever I can, I'm just sort of like getting my hugs in, my cuddles in, and like being with like Kyle and my son Kenzo, because I just feel like there's just a lot happening in the world.
[01:02:22.200 --> 01:02:25.240] And I just am like, give me my hugs, give me my cuddles.
[01:02:25.240 --> 01:02:27.000] Like, since you know what I mean?
[01:02:27.000 --> 01:02:28.760] Like, I need that right now.
[01:02:29.080 --> 01:02:30.120] That grounding.
[01:02:30.600 --> 01:02:31.080] Yeah.
[01:02:31.720 --> 01:02:36.200] Number four, what is a personal trait that has really contributed to your success?
[01:02:36.200 --> 01:02:37.080] I'm open to feedback.
[01:02:37.080 --> 01:02:38.040] I'm always listening.
[01:02:38.040 --> 01:02:45.880] Like, either it, whether it's through customers, Kyle, he has a lot of opinions about stuff that I'm doing.
[01:02:47.160 --> 01:02:50.120] And also, like, really good ideas that maybe I feel like I'm not ready for.
[01:02:50.120 --> 01:02:51.720] But I'm always open to feedback.
[01:02:51.720 --> 01:02:57.560] My staff members, like my full team, like they're always sharing ideas, other business owners in the area.
[01:02:57.560 --> 01:02:59.800] I'm always, always looking for feedback.
[01:02:59.960 --> 01:03:01.560] And I take it, I receive it.
[01:03:01.560 --> 01:03:08.840] And sometimes I sit on it a little too long, but I'm just so grateful that people ever care about the work that I'm doing, that they want it to be better.
[01:03:08.840 --> 01:03:11.160] And so I'm always open to feedback.
[01:03:11.160 --> 01:03:11.720] Love it.
[01:03:11.720 --> 01:03:21.120] And then finally, what is your parting advice, Sheena, for fellow black women entrepreneurs who want to be their own boss, but don't want to lose a steady paycheck?
[01:03:21.120 --> 01:03:27.280] Oof, you know, I just feel you, people know the story at this point.
[01:03:27.280 --> 01:03:33.200] I've pivoted so many times, and who knows, there are probably even more pivots to come.
[01:03:33.200 --> 01:03:38.720] And I just always feel like you're one like headshot and vial away from a pivot.
[01:03:38.720 --> 01:03:39.360] You know what I mean?
[01:03:39.360 --> 01:03:40.800] Just like, try it out.
[01:03:40.800 --> 01:03:42.960] If it doesn't work, like do something else, right?
[01:03:42.960 --> 01:03:47.760] Like you're going to learn something along the way and it's going to be valuable in another environment.
[01:03:47.760 --> 01:03:52.480] And so I know it's cliche that people come on here and they're always like, just do it.
[01:03:52.480 --> 01:03:53.280] Try it out.
[01:03:53.280 --> 01:03:56.480] But it really is like test it out and start small.
[01:03:56.480 --> 01:04:07.840] Like I am literally on the second floor of a building with like 600 square feet and I am like building this really vibrant community around beauty, connections, hair products, right?
[01:04:07.840 --> 01:04:11.760] It's like, it's a space for people that I've never thought would have thrived.
[01:04:11.760 --> 01:04:14.560] And so you're just, you're just a pivot away.
[01:04:14.560 --> 01:04:16.400] Just give it a shot.
[01:04:16.400 --> 01:04:18.080] You're just a pivot away.
[01:04:18.080 --> 01:04:18.720] I love that.
[01:04:18.720 --> 01:04:21.520] That has to be the quotable from this episode.
[01:04:22.000 --> 01:04:28.000] And, you know, so many people can say it, but the reason I ask this question is I don't think it can be said enough.
[01:04:28.000 --> 01:04:29.200] I think you hear it.
[01:04:29.200 --> 01:04:32.720] And if you don't, aren't ready to receive it yet, it goes out of your spirit.
[01:04:32.720 --> 01:04:40.400] You never know when the moment is that someone hears it for the 300th time that it will finally sink in and hit.
[01:04:40.400 --> 01:04:42.240] So thank you for your words.
[01:04:42.240 --> 01:04:46.240] And where can people connect with you, Sheena and Della's after this episode?
[01:04:46.240 --> 01:04:51.360] Yes, I am on mostly Instagram at Auntie Della's.
[01:04:51.920 --> 01:04:53.600] And that's really where people can find me.
[01:04:53.600 --> 01:04:56.560] I do have a personal Instagram page that I never post on.
[01:04:56.560 --> 01:05:06.600] And if folks ever want to see me, I am literally mostly on the business page, so much so that my family usually go to the business page because they know I'm usually on Instagram stories or something over there.
[01:05:06.840 --> 01:05:09.960] So at Auntie Della's on TikTok and Instagram.
[01:05:09.960 --> 01:05:10.760] All right.
[01:05:10.760 --> 01:05:14.280] And with that, you guys, I will talk to you next week.
[01:05:14.280 --> 01:05:16.440] Thank you so much, Sheena, for being in the guest chair.
[01:05:16.520 --> 01:05:17.320] Thank you.
[01:05:17.320 --> 01:05:18.360] Bye.
[01:05:20.280 --> 01:05:20.920] Hey, guys.
[01:05:20.920 --> 01:05:23.320] Thanks for listening to Side Hustle Pro.
[01:05:23.320 --> 01:05:28.120] If you like the show, be sure to subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts.
[01:05:28.120 --> 01:05:31.560] It helps other side hustlers just like you to find the show.
[01:05:31.880 --> 01:05:36.440] And if you want to hear more from me, you can follow me on Instagram at SideHustle Pro.
[01:05:36.440 --> 01:05:43.560] Plus, sign up for my six-foot Saturday newsletter at sidehustlepro.co slash newsletter.
[01:05:43.560 --> 01:05:50.920] When you sign up, you will receive weekly nuggets from me, including what I'm up to, personal lessons, and my business tip of the week.
[01:05:50.920 --> 01:05:55.640] Again, that's sidehustlepro.co slash newsletter to sign up.
[01:05:55.640 --> 01:05:57.320] Talk to you soon.
[01:06:01.160 --> 01:06:06.200] Take control of the numbers and supercharge your small business with Xero.
[01:06:06.200 --> 01:06:13.720] That's X E R O With our easy to use accounting software with automation and reporting features.
[01:06:13.720 --> 01:06:18.520] You'll spend less time on manual tasks and more time understanding how your business is doing.
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[01:06:23.800 --> 01:06:29.640] Search Zero with an X or visit zero.com slash ACAST to start your 30-day free trial.
[01:06:29.640 --> 01:06:31.240] Conditions apply.

Prompt 6: Key Takeaways

Now please extract the key takeaways from the transcript content I provided.

Extract the most important key takeaways from this part of the conversation. Use a single sentence statement (the key takeaway) rather than milquetoast descriptions like "the hosts discuss...". 

Limit the key takeaways to a maximum of 3. The key takeaways should be insightful and knowledge-additive. 

IMPORTANT: Return ONLY valid JSON, no explanations or markdown. Ensure:
- All strings are properly quoted and escaped
- No trailing commas
- All braces and brackets are balanced
Format: {"key_takeaways": ["takeaway 1", "takeaway 2"]}

Prompt 7: Segments

Now identify 2-4 distinct topical segments from this part of the conversation.

For each segment, identify:
- Descriptive title (3-6 words)  
- START timestamp when this topic begins (HH:MM:SS format)
- Double check that the timestamp is accurate - a timestamp will NEVER be greater than the total length of the audio
- Most important Key takeaway from that segment. Key takeaway must be specific and knowledge-additive.
- Brief summary of the discussion

IMPORTANT: The timestamp should mark when the topic/segment STARTS, not a range. Look for topic transitions and conversation shifts.

Return ONLY valid JSON. Ensure all strings are properly quoted, no trailing commas:
{
  "segments": [
    {
      "segment_title": "Topic Discussion", 
      "timestamp": "01:15:30",
      "key_takeaway": "main point from this segment",
      "segment_summary": "brief description of what was discussed"
    }
  ]
}

Timestamp format: HH:MM:SS (e.g., 00:05:30, 01:22:45) marking the START of each segment.

Prompt 8: Media Mentions

Now scan the transcript content I provided for ACTUAL mentions of specific media titles:

Find explicit mentions of:
- Books (with specific titles)
- Movies (with specific titles)  
- TV Shows (with specific titles)
- Music/Songs (with specific titles)

DO NOT include:
- Websites, URLs, or web services
- Other podcasts or podcast names

IMPORTANT: 
- Only include items explicitly mentioned by name. Do not invent titles.
- Valid categories are: "Book", "Movie", "TV Show", "Music"
- Include the exact phrase where each item was mentioned
- Find the nearest proximate timestamp where it appears in the conversation
- THE TIMESTAMP OF THE MEDIA MENTION IS IMPORTANT - DO NOT INVENT TIMESTAMPS AND DO NOT MISATTRIBUTE TIMESTAMPS
- Double check that the timestamp is accurate - a timestamp will NEVER be greater than the total length of the audio
- Timestamps are given as ranges, e.g. 01:13:42.520 --> 01:13:46.720. Use the EARLIER of the 2 timestamps in the range.

Return ONLY valid JSON. Ensure all strings are properly quoted and escaped, no trailing commas:
{
  "media_mentions": [
    {
      "title": "Exact Title as Mentioned",
      "category": "Book",
      "author_artist": "N/A",
      "context": "Brief context of why it was mentioned",
      "context_phrase": "The exact sentence or phrase where it was mentioned",
      "timestamp": "estimated time like 01:15:30"
    }
  ]
}

If no media is mentioned, return: {"media_mentions": []}

Full Transcript

[00:00:01.120 --> 00:00:02.160] Race the runners!
[00:00:02.160 --> 00:00:03.040] Raise the sales!
[00:00:03.040 --> 00:00:04.160] Raise the sales!
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[00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:06.800] Over.
[00:00:06.800 --> 00:00:10.400] Roger, wait, is that an enterprise sales solution?
[00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:13.760] Reach sales professionals, not professional sailors.
[00:00:13.760 --> 00:00:18.160] With LinkedIn ads, you can target the right people by industry, job title, and more.
[00:00:18.160 --> 00:00:20.960] Start converting your B2B audience today.
[00:00:20.960 --> 00:00:26.640] Spend $250 on your first campaign and get a free $250 credit for the next one.
[00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:29.600] Get started today at linkedin.com/slash campaign.
[00:00:29.600 --> 00:00:31.440] Terms and conditions apply.
[00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:37.280] You're one headshot vial away from a pigeon.
[00:00:37.280 --> 00:00:38.240] Just try it out.
[00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:40.240] If it doesn't work, do something else, right?
[00:00:40.240 --> 00:00:45.440] Like you're going to learn something along the way and it's going to be valuable in another environment.
[00:00:46.720 --> 00:00:55.440] You're listening to Side Hustle Pro, the podcast that teaches you to build and grow your side hustle from passion project to profitable business.
[00:00:55.440 --> 00:00:58.320] And I'm your host, Nikayla Matthews Okome.
[00:00:58.320 --> 00:00:59.840] So let's get started.
[00:01:02.080 --> 00:01:03.280] Hey, hey, friends, welcome.
[00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:04.320] Welcome back to the show.
[00:01:04.320 --> 00:01:07.360] It's Nikayla here, back with another awesome episode.
[00:01:07.360 --> 00:01:10.160] And today in the guest chair, I have Sheena McCullers.
[00:01:10.160 --> 00:01:13.920] Sheena is the founder of Della's in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
[00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:23.520] Now, Sheena grew up in Toledo, Ohio, watching the women in her family do their hair in kitchens, beauty salons, basements, and sometimes the church bathroom.
[00:01:23.520 --> 00:01:30.160] She watched in awe as family members of all beautiful brown shades shapes shifted with every hairstyle.
[00:01:30.160 --> 00:01:37.360] Weaves, finger waves, texturizers, blowouts, pressing curls, box braids, vibrant hair colors, and more.
[00:01:37.360 --> 00:01:42.480] With a gang of sisters, countless aunties and cousins, there were plenty of styles to go around.
[00:01:42.480 --> 00:01:48.800] And Sheena saw this work up close when her eldest sister became a beautician at a local salon.
[00:01:48.800 --> 00:01:54.960] Every time her school offered Take Your Daughter to Work Day, Sheena begged her sister to spend the day at the salon.
[00:01:54.960 --> 00:02:04.520] She loved beauty shop life, watching her sister crank out style after style, listening to salon gossip, and observing the business and fun of Black beauty.
[00:02:04.840 --> 00:02:09.160] So it's so serendipitous that she's doing what she's doing now.
[00:02:09.160 --> 00:02:17.480] Never in a million years could Sheena have imagined that she would take all of her experience, including a few stints at entrepreneurships.
[00:02:17.480 --> 00:02:28.440] She has had five side hustles, we can't even get into all of them, and turn it into a platform that would have a big impact in the world of beauty she grew up loving.
[00:02:28.440 --> 00:02:41.800] Sheena created Della's to bring a much-needed sense of belonging for BIPOC beauty lovers in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she, her husband, and her son moved from Brooklyn, New York for her husband's PhD program.
[00:02:41.800 --> 00:02:55.640] Now, Sheena is laser-focused on curating a unique experience, starting with Della's first location in Ann Arbor, where there is more inclusivity and representation in entrepreneurship and the beauty space.
[00:02:55.640 --> 00:03:02.680] Through Della's, Sheena hopes that Black women and allies will find representation, cool things, and good vibes.
[00:03:02.680 --> 00:03:13.960] And fun fact about Sheena: I actually went to high school with her husband Kyle, and we have crossed paths at various entrepreneurship events and conferences.
[00:03:13.960 --> 00:03:15.640] And so I follow her in IG.
[00:03:15.640 --> 00:03:19.640] And when I saw that she opened up Della's, I was so excited.
[00:03:19.640 --> 00:03:21.720] I was watching this space.
[00:03:21.720 --> 00:03:25.880] And sure enough, when the time was right, I said, you have to be in the guest chair.
[00:03:25.880 --> 00:03:29.400] So here she is today, and let's get right into it.
[00:03:31.640 --> 00:03:32.680] Welcome, welcome, welcome.
[00:03:32.680 --> 00:03:34.200] Sheena to the guest chair.
[00:03:34.280 --> 00:03:36.280] Oh, I'm so happy to be here, Nikayla.
[00:03:36.280 --> 00:03:47.920] You know, I've like, I don't know if I've told you this, but I've listened to Side Hustle Pro for years, like on the train in Brooklyn, and it's like helped me along my journey as I've had so many sort of like side hustles.
[00:03:44.600 --> 00:03:51.280] And so, it's so crazy to actually be having this conversation today.
[00:03:44.680 --> 00:03:51.840] Thank you.
[00:03:52.080 --> 00:03:53.600] So, thank you for all the people.
[00:03:53.600 --> 00:03:55.440] I'm very, very honored to have you here.
[00:03:55.440 --> 00:03:58.240] I'm very honored that you've been listening all these years.
[00:03:58.240 --> 00:04:01.600] You are a true side hustler, so I'm excited to get into your story.
[00:04:01.600 --> 00:04:10.080] And yes, I was just so impressed when I saw that you'd open a whole establishment in Ann Arbor.
[00:04:10.080 --> 00:04:12.000] I was like, wait, what's going on, Sheena?
[00:04:12.160 --> 00:04:24.240] So, we have to dive into this because I think what you've done and how you've gone about exploring your interests and starting various businesses and side hustles throughout the years is really inspiring.
[00:04:24.240 --> 00:04:26.320] So, take us back a little bit.
[00:04:26.320 --> 00:04:28.560] What was your first side hustle?
[00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:29.520] Oh, girl.
[00:04:29.520 --> 00:04:33.200] So, my first side hustle was flipping baby clothes.
[00:04:33.200 --> 00:04:40.160] I learned about basically flipping merchandise from my mailman at a job in Atlanta.
[00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:43.840] I was complaining about how I wasn't making a lot of money.
[00:04:43.840 --> 00:04:48.640] And, you know, Atlanta was expensive to live, and I needed to subsidize my income.
[00:04:48.640 --> 00:04:51.200] And he was like, Oh, just started an eBay store.
[00:04:51.200 --> 00:04:52.640] And I said, Well, what's that?
[00:04:52.640 --> 00:05:01.520] And he told me about how he and his wife had started an eBay store and how they would go to thrift stores and discount stores and buy merchandise and flip it online for a higher price.
[00:05:01.520 --> 00:05:05.440] So, he like really taught me the blueprint to run that type of a business.
[00:05:05.440 --> 00:05:13.520] And it really saved me like living in really big cities because that's how I subsidized my rent, you know, paid for my fun outings, travel, whatever.
[00:05:13.520 --> 00:05:15.840] And so, yeah, that was my first side hustle.
[00:05:15.840 --> 00:05:17.440] It was called Bye-Bye Boutique.
[00:05:17.440 --> 00:05:18.640] Bye-bye Boutique.
[00:05:18.640 --> 00:05:19.600] Oh my God, that's smart.
[00:05:19.600 --> 00:05:25.040] And I know some of you guys are going to take that as a hustle because that is so smart.
[00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:27.680] And you could do that with anything, not just baby clothes.
[00:05:27.680 --> 00:05:28.960] What were you doing in Atlanta?
[00:05:28.960 --> 00:05:30.000] Are you originally from Atlanta?
[00:05:30.840 --> 00:05:33.080] I am not originally from Atlanta.
[00:05:33.080 --> 00:05:39.160] So right out of undergrad, I had the opportunity to apply for this competitive internship program.
[00:05:39.160 --> 00:05:41.960] And it was basically a journalism internship program.
[00:05:41.960 --> 00:05:44.680] And one of the sites that I selected was Atlanta.
[00:05:44.760 --> 00:05:46.600] I think I also selected Cleveland.
[00:05:46.600 --> 00:05:52.360] I just thought about places where I thought I knew I had family in, like very, very, very distant cousins.
[00:05:52.360 --> 00:05:56.120] And I ended up being, you know, matched with this employer in Atlanta.
[00:05:56.120 --> 00:06:02.360] And at the time, I thought I was going to be like Sidney Shaw and Black and Sugar, like the Sanai Layton character.
[00:06:02.440 --> 00:06:05.400] I was like, oh, I'm going to be writing for this fabulous magazine.
[00:06:05.400 --> 00:06:07.000] I'm going to Atlanta.
[00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:11.320] Girl, I got to Atlanta and I was working for a construction publication.
[00:06:11.320 --> 00:06:14.600] And I was like, this is not at all what I envisioned for my life.
[00:06:14.600 --> 00:06:16.440] Like I literally had on a hard hat.
[00:06:16.440 --> 00:06:20.680] I was at a John Deere construction site writing about construction.
[00:06:20.680 --> 00:06:23.240] And I was like, okay, this isn't it.
[00:06:23.240 --> 00:06:26.840] But it did launch sort of like my career in publishing around that time.
[00:06:26.840 --> 00:06:29.000] And I started to do more like pop culture writing.
[00:06:29.000 --> 00:06:34.120] And so that's what took me to Atlanta and kind of gave me the bug for wanting to be in larger cities.
[00:06:34.440 --> 00:06:37.240] So you had a whole career in journalism.
[00:06:37.480 --> 00:06:39.960] Is that what you thought you would do for the rest of your life?
[00:06:39.960 --> 00:06:41.000] I thought so.
[00:06:41.000 --> 00:06:41.640] I thought so.
[00:06:41.800 --> 00:06:46.600] I've pivoted so much since then, but I really did think that that's what I was going to do.
[00:06:46.920 --> 00:06:48.680] I interviewed a lot of celebrities.
[00:06:48.680 --> 00:06:49.400] I enjoyed it.
[00:06:49.400 --> 00:06:52.760] I had access to, you know, all the parties, the fun lifestyle.
[00:06:53.160 --> 00:07:07.720] The publishing industry ultimately led me to move to New York because I thought, okay, instead of working at this construction company, this, you know, construction publication, I could move to New York and then I have access to, you know, these bigger, better-name magazines because I wanted to work in a beauty closet.
[00:07:07.720 --> 00:07:10.120] Like, that's what I envisioned, you know, for my life.
[00:07:10.120 --> 00:07:13.240] You know, I wanted free makeup and free shoes and free clothes.
[00:07:13.240 --> 00:07:14.680] And so, I truly thought that.
[00:07:14.800 --> 00:07:27.520] And it's so funny how low our expectations were because I remember thinking too, like, I want to potentially be a beauty writer, and I'm thinking about free makeup, like, girl, go after a highest salary, please.
[00:07:27.520 --> 00:07:29.040] That's all I want to see the clothes.
[00:07:29.040 --> 00:07:30.320] Like, that was so bad.
[00:07:30.320 --> 00:07:34.000] Um, hey, you know, life was simple back then.
[00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:36.480] You know, I'm just a girl, and that's all I really wanted to do.
[00:07:36.480 --> 00:07:38.720] But then, I just didn't really feel that fulfilled.
[00:07:38.720 --> 00:07:47.840] Because if you speak to enough celebrities or actresses, actors, whatever, like musicians, they're having these conversations with interviewers, you know, all day.
[00:07:47.840 --> 00:07:55.040] And, you know, you can probably relate to this, like, you do such a great job with the research that you do for anyone who steps into your guest chair.
[00:07:55.040 --> 00:07:56.720] And it's a lot, a lot of work.
[00:07:56.720 --> 00:08:07.680] And sometimes you don't know who's going to show up in front of you, whether or not they're going to have good energy or whether or not they're going to, you know, tell a side of their story that's compelling or that will be different from the last person who interviewed them.
[00:08:07.680 --> 00:08:11.520] And then I just kind of felt like, am I really helping anyone by doing this work?
[00:08:11.520 --> 00:08:17.200] And when I couldn't answer yes, that's when I started to, you know, kind of pivot and start to look for other opportunities.
[00:08:17.200 --> 00:08:36.000] And that kind of landed me into some career development work, working for an education nonprofit, leading, you know, diversity work, leadership development work, and really working with black and brown youth, which kind of brings me full circle in this space in Ann Arbor because though I don't work in that environment necessarily, I see so many students from the University of Michigan day to day.
[00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:41.520] And it's sort of like, oh, wow, that like thread throughout my career really did connect in a weird way.
[00:08:41.680 --> 00:08:44.480] But that's what ultimately got me out of journalism.
[00:08:44.480 --> 00:08:44.960] You're right.
[00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:47.200] I can relate to that feeling.
[00:08:47.200 --> 00:08:54.800] I remember wanting to work in entertainment and thinking it would be so much fun, glamorous, and going to the parties.
[00:08:54.800 --> 00:08:56.480] The perks seemed wonderful.
[00:08:56.480 --> 00:09:00.280] But then, after you've talked to enough people, I two things happened for me.
[00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:01.560] And let me know if this happened for you.
[00:09:01.880 --> 00:09:09.960] One, I just started feeling like these people are not that special for me to base my whole career around catering to them or writing about them.
[00:09:09.960 --> 00:09:10.920] Like, who are they?
[00:09:10.920 --> 00:09:12.520] Like, I started to resent it.
[00:09:12.520 --> 00:09:15.000] Like, wait, we're doing too much for this person.
[00:09:15.240 --> 00:09:19.080] And then, two, it was like this emptiness of now, what else?
[00:09:19.080 --> 00:09:21.240] Okay, I've interviewed, I've met this big name.
[00:09:21.240 --> 00:09:21.960] What else?
[00:09:21.960 --> 00:09:25.400] They're going on with their life, they're rich, they're flying around the world.
[00:09:25.800 --> 00:09:28.440] What am I doing?
[00:09:28.440 --> 00:09:28.840] Right.
[00:09:28.840 --> 00:09:36.600] You know, you tell this amazing story, like, oh, I got to interview S, Y, and Z, or people read the article or whatever, you know, they watch the clip, whatever, and then you're just done.
[00:09:36.600 --> 00:09:40.360] And like, you're like on chasing the next story or waiting for the next assignment.
[00:09:40.360 --> 00:09:42.600] And I just kind of felt, you know, a bit of burnout.
[00:09:42.920 --> 00:09:47.640] No, not to anyone who does that now because I know the industry has, you know, evolved so much.
[00:09:47.800 --> 00:09:50.360] I just felt like I knew I wanted to do something else.
[00:09:50.360 --> 00:09:51.320] Yes, I feel that.
[00:09:51.320 --> 00:09:51.800] And you're right.
[00:09:51.800 --> 00:09:52.840] The industry has evolved.
[00:09:52.840 --> 00:09:55.800] So no, not to anyone because you can certainly do a lot more now.
[00:09:55.800 --> 00:10:02.680] Like you can build your whole brand name on Instagram and have more autonomy over your career and your options.
[00:10:08.040 --> 00:10:09.560] So now let's pivot, right?
[00:10:09.560 --> 00:10:13.000] I know a lot happened between New York and Ann Arbor.
[00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:18.920] Like I remember you, we met at a conference and at that point you had a jewelry business.
[00:10:18.920 --> 00:10:21.880] So how did that come about, right?
[00:10:21.880 --> 00:10:23.720] Yeah, we go way back.
[00:10:24.360 --> 00:10:27.320] So tell us about the jewelry side hustle.
[00:10:27.320 --> 00:10:29.640] Girl, I completely forgot about that.
[00:10:31.880 --> 00:10:35.240] Y'all, this girl designed her own wedding bands.
[00:10:35.240 --> 00:10:35.560] Okay.
[00:10:35.560 --> 00:10:37.240] That's how talented she is.
[00:10:37.240 --> 00:10:38.040] I didn't forget.
[00:10:38.040 --> 00:10:38.600] You forgot.
[00:10:38.600 --> 00:10:39.400] I didn't forget.
[00:10:39.400 --> 00:10:40.520] That's pretty cool.
[00:10:40.760 --> 00:10:41.160] Okay.
[00:10:41.160 --> 00:10:45.600] So as you know, I have gone through like so many pivots with side hustles.
[00:10:44.600 --> 00:10:49.920] My first side hustle was Bye Buy Boutique where I was flipping those baby clothes.
[00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:58.720] The second two side hustles were kind of like if you're familiar with Sophia Amarusso's story, where she used to flip vintage clothes, kind of like the Nasty Gal early story.
[00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:01.840] I was doing that and made a ton of money, and that was great.
[00:11:01.840 --> 00:11:06.720] The next business was the one that you're talking about, and I designed my own jewelry.
[00:11:06.720 --> 00:11:09.600] So it was a brass statement jewelry company.
[00:11:09.600 --> 00:11:12.560] And I was living my best life at that time.
[00:11:12.560 --> 00:11:22.160] My partner, Kyle, who you know, he sort of like gave me a free pass, I guess, to kind of like live my life, get out of corporate, and explore my interests.
[00:11:22.160 --> 00:11:24.720] And so I went to metalsmithing school.
[00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:25.920] I learned how to metalsmith.
[00:11:25.920 --> 00:11:27.840] I started designing jewelry.
[00:11:27.840 --> 00:11:31.760] And I was doing all these pop-up shops, selling jewelry on my website.
[00:11:31.760 --> 00:11:34.080] And I felt really, really, really fulfilled.
[00:11:34.080 --> 00:11:46.640] And that was the sort of like turning point for me with a side hustle where I truly felt like I was building community and I was doing it for a different sense of purpose because before that, I was truly just all about making money.
[00:11:46.640 --> 00:11:48.080] It was like, I need to make money.
[00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:49.440] I need to buy this thing.
[00:11:49.440 --> 00:11:50.640] I want to go out and party.
[00:11:50.640 --> 00:11:51.440] I want to travel.
[00:11:51.440 --> 00:11:54.240] And so it was all about that extra income.
[00:11:54.240 --> 00:11:59.840] But once I started doing the jewelry and people told me how special it was, or oh, my fiancé, she needs a new chain.
[00:11:59.840 --> 00:12:01.200] Can you tell us where you'll be next?
[00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:03.040] That people started to follow me.
[00:12:03.040 --> 00:12:09.040] And I kind of felt like, oh my gosh, I really enjoy this community aspect that I'm building with this jewelry brand.
[00:12:09.360 --> 00:12:11.680] So you eventually moved on from it.
[00:12:11.680 --> 00:12:12.720] Why is that?
[00:12:12.720 --> 00:12:14.400] Girl, I had a baby.
[00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:19.800] I love the content.
[00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:22.080] I mean, you know, you're a mom of two.
[00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:28.400] I had a baby, and the like the small studio that I had in my home became a baby room, right?
[00:12:28.400 --> 00:12:33.800] And like the things that I was doing with my hands, I was no longer, you know, twisting and turning metal.
[00:12:29.680 --> 00:12:36.440] Instead, I was like nurturing a small human.
[00:12:37.080 --> 00:12:40.840] And that just took so much of like my time and my energy.
[00:12:40.840 --> 00:12:44.440] And then I felt this isn't how I want to spend my time.
[00:12:44.440 --> 00:12:47.160] You know, I just felt like there was something else I wanted to do.
[00:12:47.160 --> 00:12:53.800] And it was really all about spending those early moments with my child, getting through postpartum, which was insane for me.
[00:12:54.600 --> 00:12:56.600] I really, really struggled during that time.
[00:12:56.600 --> 00:13:00.520] And so I put the business on pause, thinking that I would go back to it.
[00:13:00.520 --> 00:13:02.600] And I just evolved and grew from it.
[00:13:02.600 --> 00:13:05.640] Although, if I'm being honest, I think about it all the time.
[00:13:05.640 --> 00:13:08.680] Like I'm wearing a ring from the brand today.
[00:13:08.680 --> 00:13:09.800] And I think about it all the time.
[00:13:09.800 --> 00:13:14.600] And I think about restarting it because I believe it could live really well in the story that I have now.
[00:13:14.600 --> 00:13:16.920] But I feel like everything aligns when it's supposed to.
[00:13:16.920 --> 00:13:21.960] And if it is meant to be, it'll be a way to kind of like weave back into my life.
[00:13:21.960 --> 00:13:22.680] Yes, yes.
[00:13:22.680 --> 00:13:24.360] I absolutely believe that as well.
[00:13:24.360 --> 00:13:27.400] Everything aligns when it's meant to be.
[00:13:27.720 --> 00:13:30.840] And what you said about having a baby is real.
[00:13:30.840 --> 00:13:36.680] So tell us a little bit more about how that shifted your career goals.
[00:13:36.680 --> 00:13:37.960] Yeah, it really.
[00:13:37.960 --> 00:13:41.080] So when I had my baby, he was very young.
[00:13:41.080 --> 00:13:43.960] We kind of went into the pandemic around that time too.
[00:13:43.960 --> 00:13:55.560] And so not only was I rethinking my identity and just sort of like warning who I was before I had a child, I was also just thinking about my life in general and just mortality, right?
[00:13:55.560 --> 00:13:58.600] Because it was the pandemic and so much was happening.
[00:13:58.600 --> 00:14:01.080] And we were based in New York when the pandemic happened.
[00:14:01.080 --> 00:14:04.120] And I just kind of felt like, What, like, what am I really doing?
[00:14:04.120 --> 00:14:06.600] Like, how do I really want to spend my time?
[00:14:06.600 --> 00:14:12.200] And so much was around like flexibility and like being with my son, spending that extra time.
[00:14:12.200 --> 00:14:19.840] And so, it just shifted how I wanted to connect with people because I felt if I'm going to do something, it needs to be worth my time to be away from my child.
[00:14:20.400 --> 00:14:24.880] And so, everything was more of like a weighted decision than it was before.
[00:14:24.880 --> 00:14:27.440] Because, you know, before having a kid, everything was just flipping.
[00:14:27.440 --> 00:14:32.640] I'm like, you want me to pop up in you know, New Jersey on a whim, you know, just like five hours' notice?
[00:14:32.640 --> 00:14:37.600] I'll pack up, you know, all my jewelry and stuff, and I would, you know, hop in the car, hop on a train, whatever.
[00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:39.760] And like, I would pop up, no problem.
[00:14:39.760 --> 00:14:45.600] After I had a kid, I was like, if you want to get me out of my house, it better be happening.
[00:14:45.600 --> 00:14:46.240] You know what I mean?
[00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:48.480] It's just like, it just happened meaningful for me.
[00:14:48.480 --> 00:14:51.520] So, it really just like shifted how I moved.
[00:14:56.960 --> 00:15:00.000] Now, you are in Ann Arbor.
[00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:03.120] Some people don't even know Ann Arbor exists.
[00:15:03.440 --> 00:15:05.920] How did you know existed?
[00:15:05.920 --> 00:15:09.120] You know, I never even thought about Ann Arbor.
[00:15:09.120 --> 00:15:11.440] I never looked at the Midwest or anything like that.
[00:15:11.440 --> 00:15:14.560] I wasn't a sports fan growing up, so I didn't know anything about it.
[00:15:14.560 --> 00:15:28.560] And then, when I was looking to go to business school and I joined MLT, Michigan was one of their partner schools, and they have a huge incoming NBA recruitment effort, especially from the Black Business Students Association.
[00:15:28.560 --> 00:15:31.440] So, went there, I just fell in love with that.
[00:15:31.440 --> 00:15:35.520] Like, from there, I was like, Wait, this is-I mean, it's only two years for me.
[00:15:35.520 --> 00:15:36.720] You guys are there for longer.
[00:15:36.720 --> 00:15:39.520] So, for me, it was a quaint and wonderful time.
[00:15:40.160 --> 00:15:43.680] I don't know, I don't know how the extended stay is going.
[00:15:43.680 --> 00:15:46.560] But, so, tell us, how did you get to Ann Arbor?
[00:15:46.880 --> 00:15:49.360] I love that you called it an extended stay.
[00:15:49.360 --> 00:15:51.800] Um, extended stay.
[00:15:51.800 --> 00:15:54.080] Because it definitely uh does feel like that.
[00:15:54.080 --> 00:16:03.160] So, during the pandemic, as I was rethinking, you know, my life and what I wanted to do and how I wanted to spend my time, I was not at all thinking about side hustles.
[00:15:59.840 --> 00:16:05.080] To be honest, I was thinking about stability.
[00:16:05.400 --> 00:16:07.080] I'm like, where's the check?
[00:16:07.080 --> 00:16:07.960] Where's the bag?
[00:16:07.960 --> 00:16:11.160] Like, where can I go and get some good health care, some good benefits, right?
[00:16:11.160 --> 00:16:13.800] Like, make sure my family is taken care of.
[00:16:13.800 --> 00:16:17.400] So, you know, that shifted my perspective and my priorities.
[00:16:17.400 --> 00:16:21.880] And Kyle, my husband, he started to look at some PhD programs.
[00:16:21.880 --> 00:16:23.960] And I was like, okay, I can get down with that.
[00:16:23.960 --> 00:16:26.200] You know, that could take us to any city.
[00:16:26.200 --> 00:16:30.760] And I truly felt like our time in New York was up at that moment.
[00:16:30.760 --> 00:16:32.360] Like, I felt like we need a shift.
[00:16:32.360 --> 00:16:37.000] Like, the pandemic is shifting some things up and it would be nice to do something different.
[00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:46.520] And so I saw the PhD program as a way for us to, you know, explore something new with our son and just get out of New York for a little bit and experience a new environment.
[00:16:46.520 --> 00:16:49.080] And so he applied to several schools.
[00:16:49.080 --> 00:16:50.360] He got into a bunch.
[00:16:50.360 --> 00:16:53.560] We were seriously considering Boston and Ann Arbor.
[00:16:53.560 --> 00:16:56.520] So I had strong feelings about raising a black son in Boston.
[00:16:56.520 --> 00:17:01.160] And so ultimately, we did not end up choosing Boston.
[00:17:01.160 --> 00:17:05.240] We chose Ann Arbor because it was just a really good fit for all of us.
[00:17:05.240 --> 00:17:11.160] And because I have family in Ohio and, you know, with a young child, you need that extra village, right?
[00:17:11.160 --> 00:17:11.960] People tell you all the people.
[00:17:12.120 --> 00:17:12.600] Absolutely.
[00:17:12.920 --> 00:17:15.000] Have the baby, you know, we'll help you.
[00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:17.320] And then I have the kid and I'm like, where's this village?
[00:17:17.320 --> 00:17:21.160] I'm like waiting for the village to pop up to help with the kid.
[00:17:21.160 --> 00:17:22.680] And they were late, honey.
[00:17:22.680 --> 00:17:25.160] So we had to move to the village.
[00:17:26.120 --> 00:17:27.480] The village was late.
[00:17:27.560 --> 00:17:28.200] How is that?
[00:17:28.280 --> 00:17:29.640] We moved to the village too.
[00:17:29.640 --> 00:17:31.000] We're like, okay, all right.
[00:17:31.000 --> 00:17:31.640] Hello.
[00:17:31.640 --> 00:17:32.360] Hello.
[00:17:32.360 --> 00:17:34.760] So, yeah, so we have to go knocking on the village's door.
[00:17:34.760 --> 00:17:40.440] So, we landed in Ann Arbor, you know, during the pandemic, and I was really, really struggling.
[00:17:40.440 --> 00:17:43.720] Again, postpartum hit me really, really hard.
[00:17:43.720 --> 00:17:44.800] Then it was removed.
[00:17:44.520 --> 00:17:51.040] Postpartum plus pandemic was just, I, I mean, I hear you because it's just so much isolation.
[00:17:51.600 --> 00:17:54.960] And you're already in this new role and you're isolated.
[00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:56.560] It was a lot.
[00:17:56.560 --> 00:17:57.440] That's the key word.
[00:17:57.440 --> 00:17:58.880] It was, it was isolation.
[00:17:58.880 --> 00:17:59.840] That's what it was, right?
[00:17:59.840 --> 00:18:04.800] It's like, as I was like grieving again, this sort of like identity piece, like, who am I now?
[00:18:04.800 --> 00:18:07.600] Like, I know I'm a mother, but what about the old pieces of me?
[00:18:07.600 --> 00:18:08.240] What do I like?
[00:18:08.240 --> 00:18:09.440] What am I into?
[00:18:09.440 --> 00:18:13.760] And then it's like, you think about that, but also you need to move to another city.
[00:18:13.760 --> 00:18:17.040] Like, think about that, but also keep yourself and your family safe, right?
[00:18:17.040 --> 00:18:21.360] And so my husband was going into the classroom every day with his mask.
[00:18:21.360 --> 00:18:24.240] My son's going into his learning environment with his mask on every day.
[00:18:24.240 --> 00:18:36.400] And I'm literally sitting at home in front of a laptop working remotely in isolation with all of my thoughts, building zero community in a city that people say it's a college town and it's very diverse.
[00:18:36.400 --> 00:18:40.960] And with that, they mean that it's, as you know, like internationally diverse.
[00:18:40.960 --> 00:18:43.680] And so I was looking for, you know, black and brown people.
[00:18:43.680 --> 00:18:45.360] Like, I had just moved from New York.
[00:18:45.360 --> 00:18:47.440] We were in Brooklyn in Best Eye.
[00:18:47.440 --> 00:18:48.800] And so I'm like, where are my people?
[00:18:48.800 --> 00:18:51.680] You know, I've moved off.
[00:18:51.680 --> 00:18:52.960] I'm not seeing anyone.
[00:18:52.960 --> 00:18:54.560] And so I struggled.
[00:18:54.560 --> 00:18:58.960] I'm like, wait, I really, really needed to build community, or I didn't think I was like, I'm not going to make it.
[00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:04.240] Like, Ann Arbor is, you know, I'm going to die here, is what I was thinking.
[00:19:05.520 --> 00:19:07.200] Just keeping it real.
[00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:07.520] Yeah.
[00:19:08.080 --> 00:19:12.640] It's funny you say that because I also was in a bubble, right?
[00:19:12.640 --> 00:19:14.240] And Kyle, maybe he can relate to that too.
[00:19:14.240 --> 00:19:20.000] But when you're in the school setting, it's like, yes, there are fewer of us, but we're there.
[00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:23.600] So I was in this bubble of my black business school friends.
[00:19:23.600 --> 00:19:30.440] So I didn't feel the lack in Ann Arbor as much as, like, if you're home and you're isolated.
[00:19:30.440 --> 00:19:31.160] Yes.
[00:19:29.840 --> 00:19:31.720] And right.
[00:19:31.880 --> 00:19:33.560] And so that's exactly what was happening, right?
[00:19:33.560 --> 00:19:42.040] So he's going off and you know, he has his co-worker friends, you know, his classmates, and he's built his own, like, he has a built-in community, right?
[00:19:42.040 --> 00:19:45.960] So even if it's just a small number of them, he's seeing them every day, right?
[00:19:45.960 --> 00:19:47.240] I'm not making any friends.
[00:19:47.240 --> 00:19:48.760] I'm at home working remotely.
[00:19:48.760 --> 00:19:57.400] And so I couldn't do play dates even with his parents at my son's school because, again, we were still not quite coming out of the pandemic yet when we moved here.
[00:19:58.120 --> 00:20:02.280] And so after being here a year, I was like, okay, something, something's got to give.
[00:20:02.280 --> 00:20:03.400] Like, I've got to build community.
[00:20:03.400 --> 00:20:06.840] I've got to find a way to connect with more people who look like me.
[00:20:07.160 --> 00:20:12.600] And during that time, I happened to be walking in the downtown area, the downtown Ann Arbor area.
[00:20:12.600 --> 00:20:17.960] And Kyle played his game and he would point to a commercial, like a vacant commercial real estate building.
[00:20:17.960 --> 00:20:19.480] And he's like, ooh, what would you put there?
[00:20:19.480 --> 00:20:21.640] And we've always, we've done it for years.
[00:20:21.960 --> 00:20:24.280] And he pointed to a building.
[00:20:24.280 --> 00:20:28.280] And I don't remember what I even said would go there, but then I thought about it and I said, you know what?
[00:20:28.280 --> 00:20:29.000] It actually should be?
[00:20:29.000 --> 00:20:30.280] It should be a beauty supply store.
[00:20:30.280 --> 00:20:32.600] Like there's no beauty supply store around here.
[00:20:32.600 --> 00:20:37.240] Like I was traveling back to New York and getting my beauty supply products from Fulton Street.
[00:20:37.240 --> 00:20:39.480] And then I would come back to Ann Arbor.
[00:20:39.720 --> 00:20:44.280] I would sometimes go to Ipsy, but I didn't really love that environment and how I felt shopping there.
[00:20:44.280 --> 00:20:46.200] And so I, you know, pivoted to Amazon.
[00:20:46.360 --> 00:20:47.400] I would buy products there.
[00:20:47.400 --> 00:20:49.400] And I felt like I shouldn't have to do that.
[00:20:49.400 --> 00:20:53.560] Like, I grew up being able to go to a beauty supply store, you know, very quickly.
[00:20:53.880 --> 00:20:56.040] And I wanted that experience in Ann Arbor.
[00:20:56.040 --> 00:20:58.360] And I was just hoping that other people did too.
[00:21:05.080 --> 00:21:11.720] This is why I had to interview you because I'm always impressed when action follows the idea.
[00:21:12.040 --> 00:21:19.120] Do you know how hard it is to have what can seem like a pie in the sky idea and then to bring it to fruition?
[00:21:19.120 --> 00:21:21.760] Like, that's no, I hope you're really proud of yourself.
[00:21:21.760 --> 00:21:23.840] That is no small feat.
[00:21:23.840 --> 00:21:28.880] I have so many ideas all day, every day, like to make a physical store.
[00:21:28.880 --> 00:21:30.320] That is incredible.
[00:21:30.320 --> 00:21:36.880] So, tell us, walk us through how it started to come into fruition, like reserving the location, however, you did it.
[00:21:36.880 --> 00:21:45.520] So, the craziest part about opening up the beauty supply store, which is called Della's, the craziest part is we signed a lease first, right?
[00:21:45.520 --> 00:21:51.040] So, from that moment when we were walking downtown, and I said to Kyle, I will put a beauty supply store here.
[00:21:51.040 --> 00:21:53.360] You know, Kyle, and you know how his mind works.
[00:21:53.360 --> 00:21:56.400] So, if let's say that was at noon, right?
[00:21:56.400 --> 00:22:00.560] By the time we got home, I made dinner, maybe it was seven o'clock.
[00:22:00.560 --> 00:22:05.040] In my inbox, there were a list of commercial spaces in Ann Arbor.
[00:22:05.040 --> 00:22:06.400] And he's like, You said you want to do it.
[00:22:06.560 --> 00:22:07.120] Here you go.
[00:22:07.120 --> 00:22:08.160] Here's some places.
[00:22:08.160 --> 00:22:10.320] And I was like, Wow.
[00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:13.280] I was like, Yeah, like, you really think I could do that?
[00:22:13.280 --> 00:22:20.560] And he's like, Yeah, like you, like, let's just follow the path and like see where you go because it seems like you would be the target market for something like this.
[00:22:20.560 --> 00:22:23.040] And so, let's just see where you get.
[00:22:23.040 --> 00:22:25.840] And so, we reached out, we saw some spaces.
[00:22:25.840 --> 00:22:28.960] The space that we ultimately decided on, I loved it.
[00:22:28.960 --> 00:22:36.800] I knew that it was right because it's on State Street, right in downtown Ann Arbor, a few steps away from the University of Michigan's campus.
[00:22:36.800 --> 00:22:41.280] And I knew that a sweet green was opening up right close, like right nearby.
[00:22:41.280 --> 00:22:45.200] And I thought, oh, this is great because there will be a lot of foot traffic here.
[00:22:45.200 --> 00:22:47.760] And the space is on the second floor.
[00:22:47.760 --> 00:22:56.400] And I thought, okay, it's a bit of like a honeycomb hideout, but I know that this is like a very high traffic area and I might be able to make it work.
[00:22:56.400 --> 00:22:58.720] So, I signed a lease first.
[00:22:58.720 --> 00:23:02.280] And then I was like, oh, shoot, now I got to get like an LLC.
[00:22:59.920 --> 00:23:05.240] And now I have to figure out how to actually grow this business.
[00:23:05.400 --> 00:23:06.840] Like, how do I actually start it?
[00:23:07.160 --> 00:23:15.080] And so I was very fortunate to stumble upon a Facebook group that helped me learn the basics of how to start this business up.
[00:23:15.080 --> 00:23:18.920] I reached out to an interior designer and said, hey, here's how I want the space to feel.
[00:23:18.920 --> 00:23:20.040] I want it to be different.
[00:23:20.040 --> 00:23:22.280] I want it to be warm, curated.
[00:23:22.280 --> 00:23:25.960] I want people to walk in and feel like they like stepped into a black aunties living room.
[00:23:25.960 --> 00:23:32.920] Like I want them to have a shopping experience that, you know, we deserve when we talk about beauty and hair care and this space.
[00:23:32.920 --> 00:23:44.680] Like we should be selling to one another and we should be able to shop without being followed around or, you know, people should be knowledgeable of the products, folks who are selling the products to one another.
[00:23:44.680 --> 00:23:50.280] And so I had this big vision for the store and I wanted the colors and the environment to reflect that.
[00:23:50.280 --> 00:23:51.960] And she delivered on that for me.
[00:23:51.960 --> 00:23:56.600] I made the connections with vendors to, you know, get the store fully stocked up.
[00:23:56.600 --> 00:23:59.800] And then we started marketing and the store opened up.
[00:23:59.800 --> 00:24:00.440] Wow.
[00:24:00.440 --> 00:24:02.280] What were startup costs like?
[00:24:02.280 --> 00:24:08.600] Because I am trying to wrap my mind around signing a lease before really having the business flushed out.
[00:24:08.600 --> 00:24:09.240] Right.
[00:24:09.560 --> 00:24:11.080] No proof of concept at all.
[00:24:11.080 --> 00:24:13.320] Like, had not like touched with the market.
[00:24:13.320 --> 00:24:17.720] Like, I know like your NBA brain is like, girl, what were you doing?
[00:24:19.000 --> 00:24:20.120] What were you doing?
[00:24:20.440 --> 00:24:21.560] You know what, though?
[00:24:21.560 --> 00:24:26.280] I'm going to have to stop you there because that is the downfall of an NBA brain, right?
[00:24:26.280 --> 00:24:29.960] We can be so great with the plans and the boom, boom, boom, boom.
[00:24:29.960 --> 00:24:32.520] And the action, the follow-through is very low.
[00:24:32.520 --> 00:24:34.280] The percentage is very low.
[00:24:34.280 --> 00:24:35.800] So, tell us about it.
[00:24:35.800 --> 00:24:36.120] Yeah.
[00:24:36.120 --> 00:24:42.040] So I thought if all else fails, I could, you know, turn the space into a co-working space, right?
[00:24:42.040 --> 00:24:45.440] I could have my like mom friends who work remotely.
[00:24:45.440 --> 00:24:48.960] You know, you can pay me every month, you can come in this space while our kids are at school, right?
[00:24:44.680 --> 00:24:50.880] And those, I figured I could pay for the space.
[00:24:51.040 --> 00:24:53.040] So, exactly, I like that.
[00:24:53.040 --> 00:24:55.600] It didn't work out because I had signed a whole lease, right?
[00:24:55.600 --> 00:25:00.160] So, startup costs, I originally thought that it was going to cost $10,000.
[00:25:00.160 --> 00:25:01.040] Why $10,000?
[00:25:01.040 --> 00:25:01.520] I don't know.
[00:25:01.520 --> 00:25:03.520] I just thought it's a nice round number.
[00:25:03.920 --> 00:25:07.120] I should be able to get things done with about $10,000.
[00:25:07.120 --> 00:25:08.320] Girl, I was wrong.
[00:25:08.960 --> 00:25:11.840] And thank God that we had a little bit of a nest egg.
[00:25:11.840 --> 00:25:19.440] So, we during the pandemic, we sort of like saved up some money that we knew we wanted to invest, but we didn't know what we would invest it in.
[00:25:19.440 --> 00:25:28.720] And so, once this idea came about, we ended up pulling about $25,000 for the business that set in an account specifically for Della's.
[00:25:28.720 --> 00:25:35.120] And the thing about that money is, like I said, I was like, okay, I only need to withdraw, you know, $10,000.
[00:25:35.120 --> 00:25:36.560] Girl, that went real quick.
[00:25:36.560 --> 00:25:41.840] Like, the invoice is for, you know, hair product alone, right?
[00:25:41.840 --> 00:25:44.640] You know, we're looking at $5,000 a pop, right?
[00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:56.000] And so I blew through that money between paying the interior designer, getting all the products into the store, you know, buying whatever furniture that I needed for the space, any of like the legal things that I needed to take care of.
[00:25:56.000 --> 00:25:57.600] And then, you know, I was kind of good to go.
[00:25:57.600 --> 00:26:00.240] I paid for a tiny bit of marketing, not much.
[00:26:00.560 --> 00:26:04.320] And that kind of like, we did, we did a lot with a little.
[00:26:04.320 --> 00:26:09.520] I appreciate that realness and for breaking it down plainly, like, oh, this is how much it costs.
[00:26:09.520 --> 00:26:15.600] Because I also thought, being that it's Ann Arbor, I also thought it would be less than $25,000 myself.
[00:26:15.600 --> 00:26:19.760] So I could understand that because I'm like, oh, Ann Arbor, real estate must be cheaper, right?
[00:26:20.400 --> 00:26:24.000] And the investment, no, a business is a business.
[00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:25.680] A business is definitely a business.
[00:26:25.680 --> 00:26:30.200] And so, the interesting part about the space that I have, like I said, it's on the second floor.
[00:26:30.200 --> 00:26:32.360] And so, I happened to get lucky, right?
[00:26:29.760 --> 00:26:33.240] It was during the pandemic.
[00:26:33.400 --> 00:26:35.560] People weren't really looking for space like that, right?
[00:26:35.560 --> 00:26:37.720] Businesses weren't just popping up.
[00:26:37.720 --> 00:26:40.040] And I took two suites, right?
[00:26:40.040 --> 00:26:41.880] So they almost look like office.
[00:26:42.040 --> 00:26:44.520] And so I turned them into this really cozy space.
[00:26:44.680 --> 00:26:51.160] I tipped the door off between the two suites and, you know, turned it into a really cozy space and made it feel like I wanted people to feel.
[00:26:51.160 --> 00:26:53.560] It's like, I will tell you what this space is.
[00:26:53.560 --> 00:26:55.080] And so it's different than that.
[00:26:55.080 --> 00:27:00.120] If I were looking to, you know, get a lease on a commercial space right off of the street, right?
[00:27:00.120 --> 00:27:05.400] I'm sure that process would have been a lot different, way more expensive, you know, and a lot more hoops to go through.
[00:27:05.400 --> 00:27:09.880] But again, it was during the pandemic, and I happened to find space on the second floor.
[00:27:09.880 --> 00:27:13.800] And I feel like it just, it was easy and there weren't that many obstacles.
[00:27:13.800 --> 00:27:18.440] And so I felt like, okay, I'm just going to keep on trucking along with my little idea.
[00:27:18.440 --> 00:27:19.080] Love it.
[00:27:19.080 --> 00:27:25.000] And that's why you have to be able to visualize too when you look at a space and visualize what you can create there.
[00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:34.360] So kudos to you for being able to do that, not just thinking, oh, someone needs to look through the window and see braid packs on the wall to know that's where the beauty supply store is.
[00:27:34.360 --> 00:27:35.800] No, you can educate people.
[00:27:35.800 --> 00:27:38.440] You can tell the space what it's going to be.
[00:27:38.760 --> 00:27:45.000] And if you have ever lived somewhere where you are the minority, they're not a lot of us.
[00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:51.800] If we find out that there is a good beauty supply store, oh, we're going to go.
[00:27:51.800 --> 00:27:53.720] Okay, the word will spread.
[00:27:53.720 --> 00:27:55.880] So has that been your experience?
[00:27:56.200 --> 00:27:57.960] Absolutely.
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[00:30:51.480 --> 00:30:53.240] So, there's one thing about us.
[00:30:53.240 --> 00:31:01.800] I don't know if anyone's listening, if you've ever lived in a community where they're not enough of us and we don't have all the things that we need, like a beauty supply store.
[00:31:01.800 --> 00:31:08.600] You know that if you find out about a good restaurant or a good beauty supply store, it doesn't matter where it is.
[00:31:08.600 --> 00:31:09.240] We will go.
[00:31:09.240 --> 00:31:10.040] We will go.
[00:31:10.440 --> 00:31:15.000] When I was in Ann Arbor, I would be going to people's houses to get my hair braided.
[00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:20.280] Like, wherever, whatever it takes, us black women, we're gonna do it.
[00:31:20.280 --> 00:31:24.600] So, tell us what has been the support like in Ann Arbor.
[00:31:24.600 --> 00:31:27.080] So, you are a thousand percent correct.
[00:31:27.080 --> 00:31:32.840] I am so grateful to all of the group chats and people who say my name or my business's name in the group chat.
[00:31:32.840 --> 00:31:35.720] Some folks are like, Dallas, wait, you didn't know about Dallas?
[00:31:35.720 --> 00:31:37.960] That's the weather, you know, that's the beauty supply store.
[00:31:37.960 --> 00:31:47.520] That's all it's safe, and like the word kind of spread because you have to remember, I'm associated through you know, my husband to the university, but I don't go to the university, right?
[00:31:44.680 --> 00:31:50.080] So I'm not necessarily entrenched in the way that he is.
[00:31:50.400 --> 00:31:52.400] And like, Kyle's a man, right?
[00:31:52.400 --> 00:31:56.080] And so imagine him trying to spread the word, which I'm so grateful that he does.
[00:31:56.080 --> 00:32:03.120] Like, he sees people who are my target demographic, and he'll like slip them a card, like, hey, did you know there's this like black-on-but?
[00:32:03.120 --> 00:32:12.560] Because he knows, shout out to Kyle, yeah, yeah, he's doing you know the Lord's work for sure because he knows that like I needed it so much and other people also need it as well.
[00:32:12.560 --> 00:32:19.680] And so when I first opened up the store, a big part of like the soft launch was to have like a family and friends day.
[00:32:19.680 --> 00:32:31.920] And so what we would do is, you know, Kyle would reach out to any cohort mates who he thought fit the demographic, and he would let them know that they could sign up for like, you know, a 30-minute tour of the space.
[00:32:31.920 --> 00:32:34.160] And we gave people the opportunity to get feedback.
[00:32:34.160 --> 00:32:37.680] And so it's like, come in, check the space out, let us know what you think.
[00:32:37.680 --> 00:32:40.240] And, you know, if you want to shop around, you're welcome to do that.
[00:32:40.240 --> 00:32:42.320] But we really wanted people to see the space.
[00:32:42.320 --> 00:32:44.640] Like, I wanted people to know, hey, this thing is coming.
[00:32:44.640 --> 00:32:45.600] We're about to open.
[00:32:45.600 --> 00:32:46.960] Like, start talking about it.
[00:32:47.280 --> 00:32:53.680] And if people followed the Della's Instagram page, I would then respond back to them and say, Hey, thank you so much for following.
[00:32:53.680 --> 00:32:56.560] Thanks for believing in what we're doing, the community that we're building.
[00:32:56.880 --> 00:32:59.840] If you want to check out the space, click this link, right?
[00:32:59.840 --> 00:33:02.160] Schedule a private tour, come in, right?
[00:33:02.160 --> 00:33:08.400] So, like, I was so connected to this community early on because, again, this is like I'm the target demographic, right?
[00:33:08.400 --> 00:33:11.280] It's like I want to treat people how I want to be treated.
[00:33:11.280 --> 00:33:13.520] I want to be connected to in like a special way.
[00:33:13.520 --> 00:33:17.920] And so, people just started to share the word in group chats and in Facebook groups.
[00:33:17.920 --> 00:33:24.360] And folks would come in and they would show me like their phones, like, look, so-and-so mentioned the blah, blah, blah, and told me that you had this hair.
[00:33:24.440 --> 00:33:26.160] So I'm coming to get it.
[00:33:26.160 --> 00:33:32.920] And like, not a day goes by that I'm not like blown away by people supporting this community around this business.
[00:33:29.680 --> 00:33:35.880] So, so, yes, the word definitely spread really quickly.
[00:33:36.200 --> 00:33:39.400] And do you have any small group events or anything like that too?
[00:33:39.400 --> 00:33:39.640] Yes.
[00:33:39.640 --> 00:33:41.800] So, we started to do a lot of programming.
[00:33:41.800 --> 00:33:44.760] I am at the point now where I've got a pretty good team.
[00:33:44.760 --> 00:33:49.720] We're a year in, which sounds crazy to even say that, but I have a team of four.
[00:33:49.720 --> 00:33:51.960] They're all University of Michigan students.
[00:33:51.960 --> 00:33:58.920] I also have a team of three brand ambassadors, and they do a lot of, you know, this really great engagement work for us as well.
[00:33:58.920 --> 00:34:02.120] And then, with them, I'm able to plan pop-up events.
[00:34:02.120 --> 00:34:03.640] So, we do some events at the store.
[00:34:03.640 --> 00:34:07.640] We'll have salons come in and do some hair education.
[00:34:07.640 --> 00:34:09.800] So, we partner with a salon in Ipsy.
[00:34:09.800 --> 00:34:12.440] They specifically specialize in curly hair.
[00:34:12.440 --> 00:34:18.440] So, they'll come in maybe once a quarter and we'll do like a fun-themed event around doing free hair assessments.
[00:34:18.440 --> 00:34:22.840] And I just get so much joy out of being able to bring this knowledge to the community.
[00:34:22.840 --> 00:34:25.880] Like, I'm not a licensed stylist, I'm a curator, right?
[00:34:25.880 --> 00:34:30.040] It's like I have the space, I have the products, and I have these ideas.
[00:34:30.040 --> 00:34:37.160] I will bring people together to talk about whatever the thing is or to, you know, receive the education that I feel like we need in our community.
[00:34:37.160 --> 00:34:50.840] And I'm just grateful for partners who believe in that work and who say, Yes, I'll show up and who stay for hours like looking through people's hair, testing products on them so that people know how to care for, you know, their hair while they're away at college.
[00:34:50.840 --> 00:34:57.640] And I don't know if you remember or if you even had that experience, but when I went away to college, right, like that's when all my hair broke off.
[00:34:57.640 --> 00:34:58.600] Like, I didn't know what I was doing.
[00:34:58.680 --> 00:35:02.760] Oh, yeah, I went natural by accident because my hair broke off.
[00:35:02.760 --> 00:35:04.920] I'm like, I guess I'm natural now.
[00:35:05.240 --> 00:35:05.560] Right.
[00:35:05.560 --> 00:35:07.160] So, I guess we're doing this, right?
[00:35:07.880 --> 00:35:09.640] And so, that's a lot of people's experience.
[00:35:09.640 --> 00:35:15.000] They're going natural, you know, by accident, you know, using the wrong products or keeping in protective styles too long.
[00:35:15.680 --> 00:35:23.200] And so, it's just great to be able to have these events and have stylists and other community members come in to just create like a third space for people, right?
[00:35:23.200 --> 00:35:27.600] It's like sometimes people say, What do you sell in your beauty supply store?
[00:35:27.600 --> 00:35:36.560] And I always have to tell them, Dell is about like, Yes, of course, we have the hair, we have the extensions, we have the beauty supply products that you're used to, gift items, et cetera.
[00:35:36.560 --> 00:35:38.400] But we also have community, right?
[00:35:38.400 --> 00:35:44.960] Like, people pop in and they're like, I got that internship, or I got that job, or my son made the soccer team.
[00:35:44.960 --> 00:35:56.080] You know, this is a space in the community that we can all convene around where you don't feel seen often in this, you know, really vibrant, like charming city.
[00:35:56.080 --> 00:35:58.960] There's so much happening around you because it is a college town.
[00:35:58.960 --> 00:36:04.320] It's centered around sports, it's centered around the university, but it's not centered around a black experience.
[00:36:04.320 --> 00:36:06.720] It's not centered around a BIPOC experience.
[00:36:06.720 --> 00:36:17.920] And so, the store really does exist to be that kind of like middle space and that hub so that people can come in and, you know, just feel seen and shop in a space that feels safe and comfortable.
[00:36:17.920 --> 00:36:29.120] It's so funny that you should mention that because I don't think I ever realized until this conversation just how central having a beauty supply is for my experience in a city.
[00:36:29.120 --> 00:36:44.080] I knew it was important because when I interned out in the bay, sorry, bay friends, I know, I know, I'm always talking about this, but I just remember feeling like I could spend, you know, New York is expensive too, right?
[00:36:44.080 --> 00:36:46.240] But at least I know I'm gonna find Jamaican food.
[00:36:46.240 --> 00:36:48.320] At least I know I'm going to find a beauty supply store.
[00:36:48.320 --> 00:36:52.880] Like, I refuse to be spending all this money and I can't find myself.
[00:36:52.880 --> 00:36:54.800] I can't see myself.
[00:36:54.800 --> 00:37:00.920] So, for me, you know, being somewhere shorter for a short amount of time, my expectations were lower, right?
[00:36:59.760 --> 00:37:05.480] But if you're going to be somewhere, you should be able to see yourself and find what you need.
[00:37:12.440 --> 00:37:13.640] Absolutely.
[00:37:13.640 --> 00:37:14.280] Absolutely.
[00:37:14.280 --> 00:37:24.680] And, like, think about how many spaces we've been in where you've looked around for the signals, like in businesses to signal whether or not you belong or like that they're marketing to you.
[00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:27.320] And in the city, I didn't see that, right?
[00:37:27.320 --> 00:37:28.520] And I thought, what a shame!
[00:37:28.520 --> 00:37:42.520] Like, coming directly from Brooklyn, like, I was used to being able to go to my special spaces where I felt like you appreciate me, you're marketing to me, like, you value me, you value my dollar, like, you actually care about me as a human, right?
[00:37:42.840 --> 00:37:45.560] And I didn't experience that here when I first got here.
[00:37:45.560 --> 00:37:47.160] And I thought, what a shame!
[00:37:47.160 --> 00:37:51.400] Like, people here are missing out, like, they don't know what, like, what they could experience.
[00:37:51.400 --> 00:37:56.360] And so, part of opening up Della's was really to show people, hey, we can have cool stuff here too.
[00:37:56.360 --> 00:37:59.720] Like, you know, we can, you know, our experience here too.
[00:37:59.960 --> 00:38:06.120] And again, I didn't know if people would catch on to it or if people would enjoy it or like it or even see things the way that I saw it.
[00:38:06.120 --> 00:38:07.960] So it really was a big risk.
[00:38:08.200 --> 00:38:13.720] But I feel grateful that people responded really well to the idea and have supported the store for over a year.
[00:38:13.720 --> 00:38:21.320] Yeah, I can't believe it's, it's, I think of it like, I can't believe it's only been a year, you know, like it feels like it's been around longer.
[00:38:21.320 --> 00:38:24.200] So it's a happy anniversary.
[00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.720] Now, what has it been like hiring and staffing and keeping the store staffed?
[00:38:29.720 --> 00:38:31.480] That's been a journey.
[00:38:32.120 --> 00:38:38.200] So in the very beginning, I staffed the store solely by myself.
[00:38:38.200 --> 00:38:41.960] And I just felt like this is my baby.
[00:38:41.960 --> 00:38:43.240] This is my store.
[00:38:43.240 --> 00:39:00.320] I want to know every nook, every cranny every every like product that's coming in and i did it to the point where i was like really close to burning out because i don't know if i mentioned this at all earlier but i still work a full-time job right which is wild.
[00:39:00.320 --> 00:39:01.840] I happen to work a job.
[00:39:01.840 --> 00:39:04.640] I work at human resources and talent recruitment.
[00:39:04.640 --> 00:39:15.200] And so there is some flexibility in that work, but not enough flexibility where I feel like, okay, I could literally work this store every day and not have any additional help.
[00:39:15.200 --> 00:39:22.960] And so because that is my background, hiring for me was easier, I guess, like hiring and retaining people easier.
[00:39:22.960 --> 00:39:24.960] And also I've got a built-in customer base, right?
[00:39:24.960 --> 00:39:26.400] People really love the store.
[00:39:26.400 --> 00:39:33.440] And I feel grateful that when I, you know, immediately mentioned on, I think, an Instagram post I posted that we were hiring.
[00:39:33.440 --> 00:39:38.800] And I was just like flooded with applications and like emails and people popping into the store.
[00:39:38.800 --> 00:39:41.680] And I'm like, oh my gosh, y'all really, like, really, y'all rock with this store.
[00:39:41.680 --> 00:39:45.760] Like, you actually care about the work that we're doing and you want to be associated with it.
[00:39:45.760 --> 00:39:47.040] You want to work here.
[00:39:47.040 --> 00:39:53.120] And so I was able to quickly do one crucial hire, which I thought, this is great.
[00:39:53.120 --> 00:39:57.120] To be honest, I knew I needed more than one person, but I thought I can't afford it.
[00:39:57.120 --> 00:40:00.400] So let me just like find one person and see how I could do.
[00:40:00.400 --> 00:40:04.720] And then that one person turned to two and that turned to three and then that turned to four.
[00:40:04.720 --> 00:40:09.920] And like present day, a year from opening, like I'm able to not work any shifts in the store at this moment.
[00:40:09.920 --> 00:40:11.680] And that feels great.
[00:40:11.920 --> 00:40:15.120] How did you know the right size, the right amount of people?
[00:40:15.120 --> 00:40:18.080] Like, how did you know when you needed three versus four?
[00:40:18.080 --> 00:40:20.720] That's a really good question because I didn't know.
[00:40:20.720 --> 00:40:26.480] Like, I just knew that I was going to take it like incrementally because I just wasn't certain.
[00:40:26.480 --> 00:40:28.800] So, the store is not open every day just yet.
[00:40:28.800 --> 00:40:30.440] We have very specific hours.
[00:40:30.440 --> 00:40:32.600] So, we opened Wednesday to Saturday, right?
[00:40:29.840 --> 00:40:36.520] Hopefully, in the fall, we can open, you know, Sunday through, you know, Saturday.
[00:40:36.680 --> 00:40:42.600] You know, it kind of like incremental changes over time have been the name of the game because we're such a small space.
[00:40:42.600 --> 00:40:47.080] But after I hired the first person, I realized, oh, you have very limited hours, right?
[00:40:47.080 --> 00:40:50.840] You still have schoolwork and you have club activities, right, that you're engaged in.
[00:40:50.840 --> 00:40:51.240] Great.
[00:40:51.240 --> 00:40:52.840] That means I'm still on the schedule.
[00:40:52.840 --> 00:40:54.680] So I said, okay, I need another person.
[00:40:54.680 --> 00:40:59.480] And then I hired one more person and I was like, okay, I'm still doing a couple shifts here and there.
[00:40:59.480 --> 00:41:02.600] That's not enough because I still needed to like pull back.
[00:41:02.600 --> 00:41:10.200] Because remember, I had a full-time job that I had to get back to because I was on a bit of a lead trying to get the store, you know, exactly where I needed it to be.
[00:41:10.200 --> 00:41:17.400] And so I just took it one hire at a time because also, like, I needed to be able to fund, you know, each of the hires.
[00:41:17.400 --> 00:41:22.600] Like, are we making enough money in the store to sustain, you know, staff members over time?
[00:41:22.600 --> 00:41:25.000] And so one, one person at a time.
[00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:34.040] And so I felt like I got to the point where it's like, okay, four is a really good sweet spot for like the hours that we have now where people feel like they can still manage their course load.
[00:41:34.040 --> 00:41:37.800] They can still come here and do great work and not be burned out.
[00:41:37.800 --> 00:41:41.400] How has business been in terms of revenue?
[00:41:41.400 --> 00:41:45.560] So business has been good and also it's just challenging.
[00:41:45.560 --> 00:41:49.000] Like first year in business is no joke.
[00:41:49.000 --> 00:41:56.680] I've had side hustles before, but nothing like having a physical location where I'm like, okay, rent has to be paid.
[00:41:56.680 --> 00:41:58.600] I have staff members that have to be paid.
[00:41:58.600 --> 00:42:01.000] And these are like real, real bills, right?
[00:42:01.000 --> 00:42:03.000] Like people are actually coming and knocking on the door.
[00:42:03.000 --> 00:42:09.000] And I'm like, oh, like I can't hide behind like a website the way that I was with like the other side hustles.
[00:42:09.000 --> 00:42:11.560] So it definitely feels like more is at stake.
[00:42:11.560 --> 00:42:13.240] And so business has been good.
[00:42:13.240 --> 00:42:16.800] It was a little slow to start up as people were learning about the store.
[00:42:17.440 --> 00:42:23.280] And I remember last summer there was a big African-American festival that happens in downtown Ann Arbor.
[00:42:23.280 --> 00:42:31.520] And so I got a booth there and I thought, oh, this would be a really great way, right, to spread the word beyond the like University of Michigan community, right?
[00:42:31.520 --> 00:42:36.800] Because the goal is to have people throughout Ann Arbor and It's Alani to come to the store.
[00:42:36.800 --> 00:42:42.960] And also if people are visiting Detroit, I want you to come to Ann Arbor because we've got this really special thing here.
[00:42:42.960 --> 00:42:47.600] And I know so many people like to center their travel experiences around black-owned businesses.
[00:42:47.600 --> 00:42:52.400] And so in order to get the word out, I knew I had it to be more visible in the community.
[00:42:52.400 --> 00:42:55.920] So last year I popped up at this festival.
[00:42:55.920 --> 00:42:59.600] I did a really cute booth and I thought it was like so beautiful.
[00:42:59.600 --> 00:43:04.800] I brought all this product out and I met a ton of people, but a lot of folks said, huh?
[00:43:04.960 --> 00:43:06.720] Della's, what's that?
[00:43:06.720 --> 00:43:07.840] And they were so confused.
[00:43:07.840 --> 00:43:11.200] They were like, there's a beauty supply store in downtown Ann Arbor.
[00:43:11.200 --> 00:43:12.480] And they just couldn't believe it.
[00:43:12.480 --> 00:43:14.880] And they were just like, no, we've never seen that before.
[00:43:14.880 --> 00:43:16.320] And they were really challenging me.
[00:43:16.320 --> 00:43:18.080] They were just like, what?
[00:43:18.080 --> 00:43:18.960] That, what?
[00:43:18.960 --> 00:43:21.840] We've never, you know, because it was a, this wasn't the student community, right?
[00:43:21.840 --> 00:43:49.080] Like, they weren't coming through this like busy thoroughfare like the students were day to day and like faculty and staff members were and so they didn't really believe it and they were kind of like side-eyeing the whole thing and i just thought okay i got more work to do i got more marketing to do and i saw it as a challenge so full circle i just did that that festival again a few weeks ago and it was like night and day like people will walk by and say oh my god, Jeff, this is amazing.
[00:43:49.080 --> 00:43:56.600] I saw that before the other day, or you know, I just learned about it, or oh my god, they were talking about this in the facebook, Facebook group the other day.
[00:43:57.240 --> 00:44:00.840] So, in just a short amount of time, people knew.
[00:43:58.400 --> 00:44:07.640] I say short amount of time, but it you know had been a year's worth of work that it took to get the word out about the business.
[00:44:07.640 --> 00:44:11.960] And that felt really good because I'm like, Okay, like that is amazing, right?
[00:44:12.040 --> 00:44:13.160] I love that.
[00:44:13.160 --> 00:44:18.280] What kind of things were you doing with the marketing, you know, to go beyond just word of mouth?
[00:44:18.280 --> 00:44:24.520] Yeah, so word of mouth was a big one because you know, money, you know, that pot of money ran out really quickly.
[00:44:24.520 --> 00:44:28.760] And so, I think I printed some postcards, and that was pretty much it.
[00:44:28.760 --> 00:44:38.920] Also, you know, I was active on Instagram, a little bit of Facebook, the brand ambassadors, of course, you know, they would come in, get product, make posts, um, and then share content.
[00:44:38.920 --> 00:44:39.960] So, that was great.
[00:44:39.960 --> 00:44:43.880] And then I started to realize, okay, you need to put some real money behind this.
[00:44:43.880 --> 00:44:53.400] And so, I started to invest in a small agency, a Black woman-led agency around Facebook ads and Instagram ads.
[00:44:53.400 --> 00:44:59.560] And we started to see a lot more traffic coming to the website through, you know, that marketing that we were doing.
[00:44:59.560 --> 00:45:01.400] And so, that helped a ton.
[00:45:01.400 --> 00:45:06.440] And then, aside from that, when students are away in the summer, I do a lot of pop-ups.
[00:45:06.440 --> 00:45:08.120] So, I'm at a lot of festivals.
[00:45:08.440 --> 00:45:15.080] I'm popping up at other business establishments and just kind of spreading the word because you know, the business still has to grow.
[00:45:15.080 --> 00:45:22.600] And I think most businesses in Ann Arbor kind of know that, you know, during the academic year, when students are here, business is great.
[00:45:22.600 --> 00:45:29.720] Students are going to support the business, but you better have a plan for the summer because students are gone and you are going to see that traffic day to day.
[00:45:29.720 --> 00:45:34.600] And so, so, yes, all that to say, the business has been doing good.
[00:45:34.600 --> 00:45:37.800] We are profitable, which is insane to say for our first year.
[00:45:38.760 --> 00:45:39.600] We're in the black.
[00:45:40.960 --> 00:45:44.880] We're not a ton of money, but you know, we're not in the red in our first year.
[00:45:44.880 --> 00:45:48.000] And so that feels really, really great.
[00:45:48.000 --> 00:45:49.280] I'm proud of you.
[00:45:49.280 --> 00:45:50.320] That's amazing.
[00:45:44.680 --> 00:45:51.840] Thank you.
[00:45:57.600 --> 00:46:00.000] I wish this was there when I was there.
[00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:01.840] I would have been there all the time.
[00:46:01.840 --> 00:46:05.440] When I tell you, we would have had events there.
[00:46:05.920 --> 00:46:07.600] We would have had sponsorship.
[00:46:07.600 --> 00:46:08.080] Yeah.
[00:46:08.080 --> 00:46:09.200] That's exactly what happens.
[00:46:09.200 --> 00:46:14.000] Like we're very closely connected to like the DEI office over at the University of Michigan.
[00:46:14.880 --> 00:46:17.920] The Black Student Union, Black at UMish group chat.
[00:46:17.920 --> 00:46:21.200] Like we do as many events here as we can hold.
[00:46:21.200 --> 00:46:24.960] And also keep in mind, like this is a very small space.
[00:46:24.960 --> 00:46:29.680] And so, I mean, we are like overflowing into the hallways, like when we have events.
[00:46:29.680 --> 00:46:35.520] But some people say, oh my gosh, I've not seen this many black and brown people since I've like moved here.
[00:46:35.520 --> 00:46:40.400] And, you know, it's just very heartwarming to know that Dellas can be that space for so many people.
[00:46:40.400 --> 00:46:49.760] And so, yes, I would hope that if this store existed when you were here, that you would also like, you know, pop by from time to time and kind of check it out because it does make a difference.
[00:46:49.760 --> 00:46:51.760] And are you still working full time?
[00:46:51.760 --> 00:46:53.120] Are you still side hustling?
[00:46:53.120 --> 00:46:55.680] Yes, I am still side hustling.
[00:46:55.680 --> 00:46:56.400] Yes.
[00:46:56.400 --> 00:46:59.120] That is amazing too, because people need to see this.
[00:46:59.120 --> 00:47:03.440] Like, what's possible when you're growing a business on the side?
[00:47:03.440 --> 00:47:06.480] And, but you mentioned you took kind of a leave.
[00:47:06.480 --> 00:47:07.600] So how did you go about that?
[00:47:07.600 --> 00:47:14.720] What are some tips for people so they can, you know, have a moment to like really go hard on their business before they go back to work?
[00:47:14.720 --> 00:47:16.000] Yeah, that's a great question.
[00:47:16.000 --> 00:47:26.000] So once I, at the time, I've since switched jobs since that time, but at the time I was working for a Black woman-led um executive recruiting firm.
[00:47:26.000 --> 00:49:02.800] And I shared my idea with her that I was creating della's and, you know, how important it was to you know have this in the community and she's like a thousand percent definitely do it and she supported me wholeheartedly and with that i said okay can we pause the contracts and so i was like you know doing some contract work i said can we pause the contracts for you know a few months so i can get the store where it needed to be and so i did exactly that the contracts i think i took maybe four or five months or so oh wow pausing the contracts meaning pausing the money too oh yeah there's no money coming in um just gotta be clear oh yeah oh yeah yeah yeah so you don't work you don't get paid right so that work that i was doing that recruitment work was specifically um you know on a contract basis and so when contracts came in i worked the contracts i got paid and so i had the opportunity to say i'm not taking on any contracts i'll focus on the business and that meant no money came my way unless it was money that was like 30 60 you know 90 days out and i would have some like triple triple money coming in and so once i eventually did return back to that business it was not uncommon for me to take the you know my cause in here in della's or you know sometimes i would be in between customers and i would hop on my calls or i would have to you know pause my meetings help a customer real quick and then i would hop back on you know i would say oh i'm stepping away to the bathroom and i just did what i needed to do um in order to you know make it all work for me because at the end of the day i'm not at the point yet, where i'm paying myself through the store.
[00:49:02.800 --> 00:49:11.600] And so, my advice for people would be figure out a part-time or a full-time situation that works for you, or even if it's part-time, so that you can side hustle.
[00:49:11.600 --> 00:49:11.840] Right?
[00:49:12.080 --> 00:49:16.640] I knew that i was working for someone who was very supportive of the work that I was doing.
[00:49:16.640 --> 00:49:19.600] And so, it's not like I said, Hey, I want to pause on this work.
[00:49:19.600 --> 00:49:21.520] And she said, Okay, I don't need you, right?
[00:49:21.520 --> 00:49:24.560] She said, Great, do that, and come back when you're ready.
[00:49:24.560 --> 00:49:34.560] And to me, that just felt you know great to know that I had a space to return and that I could pick, you know, pick back up on the work and make money, which was you know, really important to me.
[00:49:34.560 --> 00:49:42.160] Yes, I love that, and that's a piece of advice I always like to emphasize too: like, find a job where you can side hustle.
[00:49:42.160 --> 00:49:51.040] So, if you're working right now and you can't side hustle, you will need to switch jobs to something less time-intensive that may come with a pay cut.
[00:49:51.040 --> 00:50:07.200] Yes, but if it's really important to you, like find a way to make it work, see what you can scale back so that you can do both because you just cannot work a job that you have no energy or no time to do your side hustle and expect to side hustle a thousand percent.
[00:50:07.200 --> 00:50:08.560] A thousand percent.
[00:50:08.560 --> 00:50:16.960] So, now, as you're moving forward, uh, what's your vision, you know, especially with your multi-passions, how do you see it all coming together?
[00:50:16.960 --> 00:50:20.080] So, it's a multi-pronged approach, right?
[00:50:20.080 --> 00:50:23.840] Like, the first thing is we have to get down to the ground floor.
[00:50:23.840 --> 00:50:29.280] Like, the vision is for the store to be bigger and to serve more people than we currently serve.
[00:50:29.280 --> 00:50:34.960] Like, there's such a big need here in this community, and like I said, we are like bursting at the seams.
[00:50:34.960 --> 00:50:37.920] Like, I'm putting inventory on top of inventory.
[00:50:37.920 --> 00:50:43.920] Like, it's, I do hope they'll make it look aesthetic and cute, but we're definitely running out of space.
[00:50:43.920 --> 00:50:52.240] And so, the name of the game is all about finding funding and finding the right space in Ann Arbor to move down to the ground floor so we can have a bigger impact.
[00:50:52.240 --> 00:50:54.320] So, that's like number one.
[00:50:54.320 --> 00:50:59.600] Number two is turning Della's into more of like this cultural hub, right?
[00:50:59.720 --> 00:51:02.600] Like people, like I said, we're selling community.
[00:51:02.600 --> 00:51:11.400] Like people come here and they support Dellas because they care about us, they care about the work that we're doing and how closely connected we are in the community.
[00:51:11.400 --> 00:51:20.440] And so it's not lost on me that sometimes people walk past the target on State Street and then they come to me and say, Do you have to blah, blah, blah?
[00:51:20.440 --> 00:51:23.240] And I might say, oh, you know, we don't have that yet.
[00:51:23.240 --> 00:51:25.720] Or, you know, we just sold out.
[00:51:25.800 --> 00:51:27.640] They're like, okay, I'm just checking here first.
[00:51:27.640 --> 00:51:29.320] And then they'll go back down.
[00:51:29.480 --> 00:51:30.360] I love it.
[00:51:30.360 --> 00:51:34.680] And it just goes to show me like the loyalty that we've been able to build here.
[00:51:34.680 --> 00:51:40.600] And with that loyalty and like the trust that I'm given from the community, I want to be able to make this a bigger hub.
[00:51:40.600 --> 00:51:49.880] Like I want a space where people can come all the time and hang and like feel like they have a place where they belong because I know I needed that so much when I moved here.
[00:51:49.880 --> 00:51:51.480] And that's going to continue, right?
[00:51:51.480 --> 00:51:54.440] Because the demographic of the city likely will not change.
[00:51:54.440 --> 00:52:03.000] And people are coming here for very short periods of time, even if it's just two years or four years, it's still a good amount of time where you need a space.
[00:52:03.000 --> 00:52:06.600] And we want to be that space where people can, you know, just find home.
[00:52:06.600 --> 00:52:08.280] And it doesn't have to be BIPOC folks.
[00:52:08.280 --> 00:52:09.560] It's like allies.
[00:52:09.560 --> 00:52:14.280] Like if you've got textured hair or if you just need a space, like we're like, we're here.
[00:52:14.280 --> 00:52:16.600] So excited to be able to continue that work.
[00:52:16.920 --> 00:52:19.320] And how has it been for you personally?
[00:52:19.640 --> 00:52:25.800] You know, we started our conversation touching on just how hard it was to become a mom, then go right into the pandemic.
[00:52:25.800 --> 00:52:28.600] So postpartum plus isolation.
[00:52:28.600 --> 00:52:36.600] And how has starting Della's helped with you forging new relationships and friendships in your new town?
[00:52:36.600 --> 00:52:40.760] That's a really great question because I was lost.
[00:52:41.080 --> 00:52:44.760] Like, very much, like, am I depressed because I don't have any friends?
[00:52:44.960 --> 00:52:47.360] Like, I'm like, really struggling here.
[00:52:48.000 --> 00:52:49.360] And it has helped tremendously.
[00:52:49.360 --> 00:52:53.440] It's sort of like build it and they will come, or at least that's what I hoped would happen.
[00:52:53.760 --> 00:52:56.480] And that's exactly what ended up happening for me.
[00:52:56.480 --> 00:53:03.040] Like, I built this space, and a lot of my close friends have come through the Della space and they're like, okay, girl.
[00:53:03.040 --> 00:53:09.760] Or they've read a piece of press that I've gotten through the store and they'll pop their head in and they're like, we saw you put that best signal out there.
[00:53:09.760 --> 00:53:11.120] Like, we know you're looking for people.
[00:53:11.120 --> 00:53:13.760] Like, we see you kind of connect, right?
[00:53:13.760 --> 00:53:16.960] And like, they've become, you know, really good friends of mine.
[00:53:16.960 --> 00:53:22.000] And part of it too has helped me to feel more confident, like branching out into the community.
[00:53:22.000 --> 00:53:24.960] So I recently joined the Jack and Joe chapter here.
[00:53:24.960 --> 00:53:27.520] I'm involved in like the local NAACP chapter.
[00:53:27.520 --> 00:53:38.240] And so having a business in the community just makes me want to be so much more involved in the community and to connect with more people because like we're all doing this together in a way.
[00:53:38.240 --> 00:53:42.560] And so it's at the point where I'm like, okay, like I've got way too many friends now.
[00:53:42.560 --> 00:53:44.320] It's like an embarrassment of riches.
[00:53:45.360 --> 00:53:48.400] I just feel so loved being here and like so happy.
[00:53:48.400 --> 00:53:51.280] And that's a huge difference from when I first moved here.
[00:53:51.280 --> 00:53:53.760] I was just sort of like, I don't have any friends.
[00:53:53.760 --> 00:53:55.440] I don't have anyone to connect with.
[00:53:55.440 --> 00:54:00.800] And now I'm like, oh, I can call a multitude of people and, you know, I will be good.
[00:54:00.800 --> 00:54:03.040] So that feels really fantastic.
[00:54:09.680 --> 00:54:10.560] I love that.
[00:54:10.560 --> 00:54:15.120] And I'm sure it's a little hard for your, you know, your husband too when he sees that because it's like, he's here.
[00:54:15.120 --> 00:54:16.560] He brought you here.
[00:54:16.560 --> 00:54:18.320] He's having a blast.
[00:54:18.640 --> 00:54:21.440] That used to always be a struggle with the NBA partners.
[00:54:21.440 --> 00:54:26.080] Like they're having a blast, and their partners are like, Uh, what's happening?
[00:54:26.080 --> 00:54:26.400] Yes.
[00:54:26.400 --> 00:54:32.200] No, the funny part about it is we have a whiteboard in the kitchen, and so had to map it out.
[00:54:29.840 --> 00:54:33.720] He's like, Okay, you're talking about too many friends.
[00:54:33.880 --> 00:54:39.320] He's like, Let's write them all down, how you're connected to all them because now you've just got too wide of a net.
[00:54:39.640 --> 00:54:48.920] And he said, You know, he's talking to Phil a certain way because he's like, Man, I don't make enough friends because now I've got this full board of friends, and I'm just like, Uh-huh, like, don't call me out.
[00:54:48.920 --> 00:54:50.120] Who are these people?
[00:54:50.120 --> 00:54:54.600] Yeah, and also, and who are these people?
[00:54:54.600 --> 00:54:56.920] Yeah, I love that.
[00:54:56.920 --> 00:55:04.600] So, before we transition to the lightning round, you briefly touch on the fact that, okay, you guys might be, you know, one day leaving.
[00:55:04.600 --> 00:55:07.320] Like, what are your thoughts as it relates to that?
[00:55:07.320 --> 00:55:09.560] Like, will you pass it on to someone else?
[00:55:09.560 --> 00:55:11.960] Will you relocate it to your next city?
[00:55:11.960 --> 00:55:21.960] Girl, I try not to think about that because I know you're thinking too far ahead, but it is a very big question and an important question, right?
[00:55:21.960 --> 00:55:27.800] The work that I'm doing right now is to really determine what the future of Dellas will look like.
[00:55:27.800 --> 00:55:33.800] I know that the store needs to stay here because there's such a big need, and I could see it going a lot of different ways.
[00:55:33.800 --> 00:55:48.200] One, I have family close by, and you know, it will be my dream to be able to have like one of my sisters, you know, come and you know, run the store and just do their thing and just keep it alive and well and vibrant.
[00:55:48.520 --> 00:55:53.160] Two, I know there are a lot of like co-op sort of options, right?
[00:55:53.160 --> 00:55:56.520] Will people you know let their employees buy into the business?
[00:55:56.520 --> 00:55:59.000] And maybe that could be an option for Dellas as well, right?
[00:55:59.000 --> 00:56:05.320] It is a community business, and I want it to stay a community business, and so I could see that happening.
[00:56:05.320 --> 00:56:11.720] Um, depending on what city we head to next, I could also see Della's going with us, right?
[00:56:11.720 --> 00:56:15.600] Not as like the flagship is leaving, but like, no, the flagship stays here.
[00:56:14.920 --> 00:56:18.480] And then we also open another location somewhere else.
[00:56:18.800 --> 00:56:27.680] And I think it truly takes the next like two years for me to really realize: okay, which direction are we going to go in and what's going to work best?
[00:56:27.680 --> 00:56:30.480] But we're definitely the store will stay around.
[00:56:30.480 --> 00:56:34.640] What it will look like, we don't know yet, but like the store has to stay.
[00:56:34.640 --> 00:56:36.560] Like it, it can't leave.
[00:56:37.600 --> 00:56:38.160] It can't.
[00:56:38.160 --> 00:56:38.800] I can't.
[00:56:38.800 --> 00:56:41.200] I want to go back to Ann Arbor and pop in.
[00:56:41.200 --> 00:56:43.040] You mentioned you joined a Facebook group.
[00:56:43.040 --> 00:56:44.400] What was the name of the Facebook group?
[00:56:44.400 --> 00:56:46.000] And what did it teach you exactly?
[00:56:46.000 --> 00:56:47.520] Like how to start a beach?
[00:56:47.680 --> 00:56:48.080] Yep.
[00:56:48.080 --> 00:56:49.760] So it's a Facebook group.
[00:56:49.760 --> 00:57:00.880] I'll have to look up the name of it, but if you Google Black Beauty Supply Owners Facebook group, there's a questionnaire that you have to submit in order to be accepted into the group.
[00:57:00.880 --> 00:57:18.080] And once you're accepted into the group, there's like a wealth of information and peers in that group who also have similar businesses, whether they have, you know, some have an online beauty supply store, some have a mobile truck, some have, you know, physical locations, some have multiple locations, right?
[00:57:18.400 --> 00:57:21.520] And so there's opportunities for mentorship in that group.
[00:57:21.520 --> 00:57:27.920] And the most important thing that helped me out in the beginning is there is a template in there where it's like, hey, are you starting from scratch?
[00:57:27.920 --> 00:57:31.840] Here are all the like traditional products that you need in your store, right?
[00:57:31.840 --> 00:57:35.760] Here are all the vendors you need to make.
[00:57:35.760 --> 00:57:38.720] Because like we're like, how would I even know that?
[00:57:38.720 --> 00:57:38.960] Right.
[00:57:38.960 --> 00:57:42.000] I have this idea, but I don't have the expertise, right?
[00:57:42.640 --> 00:57:46.240] And so it really did help me with all of those like startup nuances.
[00:57:46.240 --> 00:57:48.800] And so I printed out this guy.
[00:57:48.800 --> 00:57:50.400] I, you know, called the vendors.
[00:57:50.400 --> 00:57:51.440] I made these connections.
[00:57:51.440 --> 00:57:59.200] And I was literally like with my pen and paper with this list of products that I needed to carry in the store, like grabbing things off the shelf, like, okay, I need one of those.
[00:57:59.200 --> 00:57:59.440] Okay.
[00:57:59.440 --> 00:58:05.080] I need 10 of those, or whatever the number was, because there's a bit of a formula, right?
[00:58:05.080 --> 00:58:18.920] It's like, okay, in this type of area, people typically buy these things, and it's like you get your baseline, and then from there, the advice is, okay, now you pay attention to buying patterns and customer behaviors, and then you update your inventory from that point.
[00:58:18.920 --> 00:58:23.000] But they definitely like gave me the blueprint, and I'm just so grateful for that.
[00:58:23.000 --> 00:58:29.080] And I still pop into that group day to day because I'm like, oh, so-and-so, stop, stop selling the X, Y, and Z.
[00:58:29.080 --> 00:58:32.360] Or where do I get this new boho hair that everybody loves?
[00:58:32.440 --> 00:58:32.760] Right.
[00:58:32.760 --> 00:58:35.160] And you know, people are so quick.
[00:58:35.160 --> 00:58:36.680] They're like, oh, this vendor has it.
[00:58:36.680 --> 00:58:39.640] And there's like no negativity in the group.
[00:58:39.640 --> 00:58:44.200] And there's not a mentality where people feel like if I tell you, then I won't have right.
[00:58:44.200 --> 00:58:47.720] It's like everyone wants everyone to be successful.
[00:58:47.720 --> 00:58:50.600] And it's just a great mentoring group.
[00:58:50.600 --> 00:58:51.720] That is beautiful.
[00:58:51.720 --> 00:58:53.880] I didn't even know that existed either.
[00:58:53.880 --> 00:58:55.960] So you have just put me on game.
[00:58:55.960 --> 00:59:01.160] I know some people are going to be listening to this and starting a beauty supply store after this because who knew?
[00:59:01.160 --> 00:59:01.800] I love that.
[00:59:01.800 --> 00:59:02.760] That is amazing.
[00:59:02.760 --> 00:59:08.920] That like group cooperative economics kind of thing, realizing that like we can all help each other.
[00:59:08.920 --> 00:59:15.000] And I know there's a lot of assumption that there are things that are being gatekept out there, but you'll be surprised.
[00:59:15.000 --> 00:59:16.600] Do a Google search.
[00:59:16.600 --> 00:59:22.040] Like there are people who share tips on starting a vending machine business, starting like you said, a beauty supply business.
[00:59:22.040 --> 00:59:22.920] You'd be surprised.
[00:59:22.920 --> 00:59:29.080] So thank you for reminding us about that, but also letting us know about this whole world that we didn't know about.
[00:59:31.320 --> 00:59:33.480] All right, so now we're jumping into the lightning round.
[00:59:33.480 --> 00:59:37.240] We could clearly talk a lot longer, but we're going to jump right in.
[00:59:37.240 --> 00:59:38.200] So you know the deal.
[00:59:38.200 --> 00:59:40.200] You just answer the first thing that comes to mind.
[00:59:40.200 --> 00:59:40.920] Are you ready?
[00:59:40.920 --> 00:59:41.880] Let's go.
[00:59:41.880 --> 00:59:42.760] All right.
[00:59:42.760 --> 00:59:45.920] Number one: what is a resource that has helped you in your business?
[00:59:46.240 --> 00:59:53.680] I know we just talked about one, but another resource that has helped you in your business that you can share with the Side Hustle Pro audience?
[00:59:53.680 --> 00:59:55.840] Obviously, the Facebook group that I just mentioned.
[00:59:55.840 --> 01:00:02.800] But also, I don't think when we talk about resources, I don't think we talk enough about groups, right?
[01:00:02.800 --> 01:00:06.880] I feel like there are so many businesses that are thriving off of community right now.
[01:00:06.880 --> 01:00:27.840] And I truly do not know where my business would be without the group chats, the Facebook groups, like these smaller communities, like these pockets of like ISHOC moms, you know, whatever mom group in your area, whatever, you know, student group that's closely connected to the work that you're doing, lean into those groups because that's advertising and marketing that you can't pay for, right?
[01:00:27.840 --> 01:00:31.520] Like people will organically talk about the work that you're doing.
[01:00:31.520 --> 01:00:35.760] And it's free marketing, but also marketing from people who trust one another.
[01:00:35.760 --> 01:00:38.240] And so that just really invaluable.
[01:00:38.240 --> 01:00:48.400] So as people are thinking about marketing strategies, definitely consider leaning into those groups or finding a way to get people to start talking about it in those groups because it's invaluable.
[01:00:48.400 --> 01:00:49.440] Oh, yes.
[01:00:49.440 --> 01:00:57.680] And number two, who is a non-celebrity black woman entrepreneur who you admire and would want to trade places with for a day and why?
[01:00:57.680 --> 01:00:58.560] Ooh.
[01:00:58.880 --> 01:01:05.360] So I mentioned before, I'm really into businesses that are centered around community right now.
[01:01:05.680 --> 01:01:09.760] And I know folks sell products, et cetera, services, but there's a woman I follow.
[01:01:09.840 --> 01:01:17.120] Her name is the Sabatini, or I think it's Saba, and she has a business called The in-demand VA.
[01:01:17.440 --> 01:01:24.480] And she does such a beautiful job with curating a community, building a community, building a circle of trust.
[01:01:24.480 --> 01:01:31.960] Though she's offering a course that people are paying for it and they're buying into a community, there's just so much trust and love in that group.
[01:01:29.840 --> 01:01:35.240] And it's just something that I feel like you, it's hard to learn.
[01:01:35.400 --> 01:01:40.520] Like, either you have it and you can build this community and you can nurture it, or you just don't.
[01:01:40.680 --> 01:01:49.560] And so, yeah, I'd love to trade places with her just to learn a little bit more about how she goes about like nurturing her community and keeping people invested and invested.
[01:01:49.560 --> 01:01:53.960] Number three, what is a non-negotiable part of your day these days?
[01:01:55.240 --> 01:01:56.920] It really is family time.
[01:01:56.920 --> 01:01:58.280] Like, I'm doing so much.
[01:01:58.280 --> 01:01:59.800] Like, I'm working a full-time job.
[01:01:59.800 --> 01:02:01.640] I have the business.
[01:02:01.880 --> 01:02:02.600] I'm a wife.
[01:02:02.600 --> 01:02:03.320] I got a kid.
[01:02:03.320 --> 01:02:05.080] You know, I have family close by.
[01:02:05.080 --> 01:02:07.560] I'm involved in a lot of community organizations.
[01:02:07.560 --> 01:02:11.400] And so I often feel like I'm spread a little too thin.
[01:02:11.400 --> 01:02:22.200] And so, whenever I can, I'm just sort of like getting my hugs in, my cuddles in, and like being with like Kyle and my son Kenzo, because I just feel like there's just a lot happening in the world.
[01:02:22.200 --> 01:02:25.240] And I just am like, give me my hugs, give me my cuddles.
[01:02:25.240 --> 01:02:27.000] Like, since you know what I mean?
[01:02:27.000 --> 01:02:28.760] Like, I need that right now.
[01:02:29.080 --> 01:02:30.120] That grounding.
[01:02:30.600 --> 01:02:31.080] Yeah.
[01:02:31.720 --> 01:02:36.200] Number four, what is a personal trait that has really contributed to your success?
[01:02:36.200 --> 01:02:37.080] I'm open to feedback.
[01:02:37.080 --> 01:02:38.040] I'm always listening.
[01:02:38.040 --> 01:02:45.880] Like, either it, whether it's through customers, Kyle, he has a lot of opinions about stuff that I'm doing.
[01:02:47.160 --> 01:02:50.120] And also, like, really good ideas that maybe I feel like I'm not ready for.
[01:02:50.120 --> 01:02:51.720] But I'm always open to feedback.
[01:02:51.720 --> 01:02:57.560] My staff members, like my full team, like they're always sharing ideas, other business owners in the area.
[01:02:57.560 --> 01:02:59.800] I'm always, always looking for feedback.
[01:02:59.960 --> 01:03:01.560] And I take it, I receive it.
[01:03:01.560 --> 01:03:08.840] And sometimes I sit on it a little too long, but I'm just so grateful that people ever care about the work that I'm doing, that they want it to be better.
[01:03:08.840 --> 01:03:11.160] And so I'm always open to feedback.
[01:03:11.160 --> 01:03:11.720] Love it.
[01:03:11.720 --> 01:03:21.120] And then finally, what is your parting advice, Sheena, for fellow black women entrepreneurs who want to be their own boss, but don't want to lose a steady paycheck?
[01:03:21.120 --> 01:03:27.280] Oof, you know, I just feel you, people know the story at this point.
[01:03:27.280 --> 01:03:33.200] I've pivoted so many times, and who knows, there are probably even more pivots to come.
[01:03:33.200 --> 01:03:38.720] And I just always feel like you're one like headshot and vial away from a pivot.
[01:03:38.720 --> 01:03:39.360] You know what I mean?
[01:03:39.360 --> 01:03:40.800] Just like, try it out.
[01:03:40.800 --> 01:03:42.960] If it doesn't work, like do something else, right?
[01:03:42.960 --> 01:03:47.760] Like you're going to learn something along the way and it's going to be valuable in another environment.
[01:03:47.760 --> 01:03:52.480] And so I know it's cliche that people come on here and they're always like, just do it.
[01:03:52.480 --> 01:03:53.280] Try it out.
[01:03:53.280 --> 01:03:56.480] But it really is like test it out and start small.
[01:03:56.480 --> 01:04:07.840] Like I am literally on the second floor of a building with like 600 square feet and I am like building this really vibrant community around beauty, connections, hair products, right?
[01:04:07.840 --> 01:04:11.760] It's like, it's a space for people that I've never thought would have thrived.
[01:04:11.760 --> 01:04:14.560] And so you're just, you're just a pivot away.
[01:04:14.560 --> 01:04:16.400] Just give it a shot.
[01:04:16.400 --> 01:04:18.080] You're just a pivot away.
[01:04:18.080 --> 01:04:18.720] I love that.
[01:04:18.720 --> 01:04:21.520] That has to be the quotable from this episode.
[01:04:22.000 --> 01:04:28.000] And, you know, so many people can say it, but the reason I ask this question is I don't think it can be said enough.
[01:04:28.000 --> 01:04:29.200] I think you hear it.
[01:04:29.200 --> 01:04:32.720] And if you don't, aren't ready to receive it yet, it goes out of your spirit.
[01:04:32.720 --> 01:04:40.400] You never know when the moment is that someone hears it for the 300th time that it will finally sink in and hit.
[01:04:40.400 --> 01:04:42.240] So thank you for your words.
[01:04:42.240 --> 01:04:46.240] And where can people connect with you, Sheena and Della's after this episode?
[01:04:46.240 --> 01:04:51.360] Yes, I am on mostly Instagram at Auntie Della's.
[01:04:51.920 --> 01:04:53.600] And that's really where people can find me.
[01:04:53.600 --> 01:04:56.560] I do have a personal Instagram page that I never post on.
[01:04:56.560 --> 01:05:06.600] And if folks ever want to see me, I am literally mostly on the business page, so much so that my family usually go to the business page because they know I'm usually on Instagram stories or something over there.
[01:05:06.840 --> 01:05:09.960] So at Auntie Della's on TikTok and Instagram.
[01:05:09.960 --> 01:05:10.760] All right.
[01:05:10.760 --> 01:05:14.280] And with that, you guys, I will talk to you next week.
[01:05:14.280 --> 01:05:16.440] Thank you so much, Sheena, for being in the guest chair.
[01:05:16.520 --> 01:05:17.320] Thank you.
[01:05:17.320 --> 01:05:18.360] Bye.
[01:05:20.280 --> 01:05:20.920] Hey, guys.
[01:05:20.920 --> 01:05:23.320] Thanks for listening to Side Hustle Pro.
[01:05:23.320 --> 01:05:28.120] If you like the show, be sure to subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts.
[01:05:28.120 --> 01:05:31.560] It helps other side hustlers just like you to find the show.
[01:05:31.880 --> 01:05:36.440] And if you want to hear more from me, you can follow me on Instagram at SideHustle Pro.
[01:05:36.440 --> 01:05:43.560] Plus, sign up for my six-foot Saturday newsletter at sidehustlepro.co slash newsletter.
[01:05:43.560 --> 01:05:50.920] When you sign up, you will receive weekly nuggets from me, including what I'm up to, personal lessons, and my business tip of the week.
[01:05:50.920 --> 01:05:55.640] Again, that's sidehustlepro.co slash newsletter to sign up.
[01:05:55.640 --> 01:05:57.320] Talk to you soon.
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