You never know, you might be that tipping point of motivation that someone needed to start their own Business, might be selling something someone somewhere is looking for, so if you want to tell us about your Business refer to the Spotlight Tab for details on how to submit your own story!

Sit back, take a few minutes and indulge in all of the beautiful stories and pictures! 

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07/07/2016

It is a pleasure to introduce you to one of my “Instagram Natural Sisters” Toshia – owner and creator of Butter Me Up. This beautiful business owner used her desier to create, her drive to be self-empowered, her motivation to target natural-conscious women (and yes if any men are reading this there is something for you too) to develop her successful company featuring stunning products! So without further-ado please do read more about Butter Me Up! Thank you Toshia for sharing with us!

• Introduce yourself

• Introduce yourself

Hello, my name is Toshia – the owner & creator of Butter Me Up! I’m 25 years old & from a small town in Alabama, born & raised. I’m a woman of many creative talents, that’s truly a jack of all trades – I love to sing & write, which have always been my most dominant passions. My goal is to be a very successful performer & entertainer, while being a successful business owner, all at once – it’s something that’s embedded in my soul & I know that I’m destined for but somehow, the universe worked its magic & here I am, building my first company, at 25, which is funny to me because I always had it planned out that, I’d dedicate my life to music & then work my way into becoming a business owner lol. But now, it makes so much more sense, why I’ve been, truly, blessed to become my own boss, before transitioning into music – I’ve learned & still learning so much about the business side of things, that I feel are so important & have given me a whole new level of perspective & respect for my craft. I’m completely enjoying the process of catering to my baby, Butter Me Up, it is a lot when you’re a one-woman-army but I love it & the consistent support, from everyone, means more than I can express.

• What motivated you to start your business? 

My true motivation for starting my company was, what I think we all deal with, at some point in our life, we’re not satisfied with our jobs or financial situation & at the time, I was very unhappy, I felt like I deserved so much more than what, the job I was working at the time, was offering me – I didn’t see the need of going to a workplace that added more negativity to the dark space I was in & thankfully, during that time, I had a support system that helped me through my transition.
I’ve always been a crafty/homemaker, I think I get that aspect from my mother – I love to experiment, do research & see how I can combine things to create something beneficial. I started out being a hair care product junkie & then it blossomed into being a skincare product junkie lol I loved trying things out but with that came, bad skin reactions, irritations etc. & I’m very sensitive to a lot of things, products especially, so that was my first step into starting my own business.
I, initially, was going to start a candle company but the entire process was a little time consuming & much more of an investment than I wanted, so creating skincare products felt more of a comfort thing for me – I felt it was something, that was needed – I was inspired to, specifically, create a skincare line that’s dedicated to ethnic skin (but can be used by everyone) for many reasons but one being, to offer knowledge on the difference between processed, synthetic ingredients & organic ingredients, which is very crucial & important.
With that inspiration & the excitement I had for the starting process, it was something I had to bring to life, even if no one saw or felt the vision, I did & because of that, Butter Me Up is thriving & continuing to grow – it’s still very surreal.

• What do you sell/produce?

My company is centered around non Shea Butter based, organic skincare products & it’s very important that I stress, non Shea Butter based! LOL because while Shea Butter has good skin benefits, my company’s combination of Almond, Avocado & Mango butter is something very magical with an abundant of skin & overall health properties. I’ve spent so much time researching & experimenting with different butters & formulas for my products, not to obtain that particular recognition, so that’s a must for me.

• How long have you been in business?

Butter Me Up is officially 2 years old! Yay lol

• Who are your main clientele/customers?

My main customers/supporters are the ones that I started this business for, my culture, I’m a black woman & to have my culture fully support & believe in my vision & my company, it’s a feeling I can’t explain. I’m beyond appreciative & always reaching out, so that I’m able to continue providing great customer service & products that cater to all of our needs.

• How can people buy your products (are you am online store, based somewhere specific, several locations etc)? 

You may visit ButterMeUpGoods.com & browse all of the products my company offers, I try to make everything on the website, accessible & informative as possible.

• How can you be contacted? (Blog, Twitter, Facebook etc.)? 

Twitter is a great way to reach out because me & my advertising partners are very social & connecting with our customers, every day, so feel free to follow ButterMeUpGoods on Twitter & Instagram or Email us at ButterMeUpGoods@Gmail.com

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24/7/2015

I am delighted to share the business interview of Aurélia | Zierre, a budding Altruistic Natural Skin Care company based in the United States. The company built itself on providing everyone with the opportunity to nurture their skin with all natural products and ingredients that are good for you after using a number of skin care products that left the skin feeling dry. Apart from their wonderful products, the company cherishes its local community and for that reason have partnered with a number of local charities in order to give directly to those in need.  I of course love the total concept of the company and am excited to share their story. Thank you Aurélia | Zierre for sharing with us! 

• Introduce yourself

Aurélia | Zierre is an all natural skincare company based out of District Heights, Maryland & Washington, DC. We currently offer a line of products specifically designed to help aid and repair damaged skin while also keeping healthy skin glowing. We’re very dedicated to changing the world so we’ve partnered with four local charities in order to give directly to those in need.

• What motivated you to start your business?

We began creating our products in 2014 after going to a local market and purchasing a few “name brand” jars of body scrub. We loved the aroma of the products but were truly unhappy with the dry skin aftereffects. To top it off we realized we actually had no clue what the ingredients were in the body scrub; once we found out the ingredients we realized we had to Google every ingredient in order to figure out what we were actually putting on our skin. Needless to say, we didn’t enjoy the unnatural products or their effects on our natural skin. So after much trial and error & community feedback in 2014 we started 2015 off by officially selling our own version of body scrubs that contained all natural ingredients and were specifically designed to leave our skin feeling soft and rejuvenated.

• What do you sell/produce?

We originally started Aurélia | Zierre with our Herbal Infused Exfoliating Skin Scrubs; as we began to grow we began to expand our product line in order to give a complete bath experience to all. We added Body Créme to our team along with Artisan Soaps – all natural, of course.

• Who are your main clientele/customers?

We can honestly say we don’t have a specific group of people that enjoy our products. We’ve received feedback from people of all shades, genders, and everything in-between –  we never want to alienate anyone in need of beautiful skin.

• How can people buy your products (are you an online store, based somewhere specific, several locations etc)? 

Our products can be purchased either online (aureliazierre.storenvy.com) or in store (H Street Organic Market – 806 H Street NW, Washington, DC).

• How can you be contacted?(Blog, Twitter, Facebook, etc.)?

We use social media heavily to stay in contact with our customers and supporters. Simply search @aureliazierre in Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pintrest, Google+, and Tumblr to find our pages.

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17/4/2015

I was given the opportunity to interview Ms. Sharon Njavika the wonderful Director of AJANI Handmade, a Kenyan based Online natural store that focuses on developing hair and skin care products for those who are focused on growing and nurturing healthy hair and skin. Sharon came up with the business concept after she noticed she had a passion for making healthy DIY products for herself and believed that there was a need in the local market for more natural hair and skin care products. From this the concept of AJANI Handmade was born. I am delighted to share the story of the company and would like to say Thank You Sharon for sharing your company’s story!

• Introduce yourself

My name is Sharon Njavika and I am a 25 year old social entrepreneur based in Nairobi, Kenya.

• What motivated you to start your business?

I believe I had always started thinking about starting this business from the time I started making my own DIY products about 2 years into my natural hair journey. After I completed my university education in late 2013, I moved back to Nairobi permanently and I realized that there were no local brands at the time set up to cater to highly textured hair in its natural state. I also found that most black Kenyan women that wore their hair naturally were looking for foreign brands to cater to their hair and were paying way more to get these products to Kenya. Given that part of the natural hair movement was grounded in appreciating what is your own, I decided to start a brand that was authentically Kenyan, African. I also I found myself getting into conversations with other women and even men about the kind of impact and conversations that came up from hair and self- image and how these things impacted black women, our relationships with ourselves and how we reflected this in the ways we carried ourselves and how we related to those around us. It was at this time that I decided to start a business that would provide natural alternatives to textured hair care as well as address the wider social issues related to black hair.

• What do you sell/produce?

We sell natural based, health conscious handmade products for hair and skin care. Currently, we only retail two products, a natural water- based, shea-butter based whipped moisturizer for hair and skin as well as an oil blend designed for sensitive, itchy and flaky scalp and hair care. We are looking to expand our range in due time.

• How long have you been in business?

We have been in business for? Just over 9 months.

• Who are your main clientele/customers?

Currently, our main clientele are women living within Nairobi. We currently only retail within the Nairobi area but are looking to begin catering and shipping to a broader client base both within and outside of Kenya. In terms of our online platform, we have visitors from all over the world reading our blog and we hope to get some more users to contribute to our site.

• How can people buy your products (are you an online store, based somewhere specific, several locations etc)?

We have an online based store. You can visit our website on www.ajanihandmade.com. Also available on the website is a blog where we discuss hair, and all topics related to self- image and the impact of how the black woman’s body is presented to society.

• How can you be contacted?(Blog, Twitter, Facebook, etc.)?

You can find us on online at www.ajanihandmade.com/blog, Twitter: @Ajanihandmade, Facebook: AJANI Handmade and on Instagram: @Ajanihandmade

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19/3/2015

Introducing my first Natural In business – Ms. D’Arcy from Crazy4Coconut. She makes beautiful products that includes coconut oil, scrubs, jewelry and more. This stunning natural is good at what she does! Take a peek at her online store as well as her blog because D’Arcy has a lot of helpful information regarding hair care, healthy living and life in general. Thank you for sharing your story D’Arcy!

• Introduce yourself

Hey! My name is D’Arcy I’m a graduate student, blogger, entrepreneur and a lover of all things natural.

• What motivated you to start your business?

I was motivated to start my business when I began to include coconut oil into my natural hair regimen. I began to hunt for coconut oil that didn’t have that “loud burnt” coconut smell. I tried Vatika Coconut oil, my hair loved it but I hated the smell so I decided to ask my mom to make some for me. My friends asked to try some as well and told me I should make into a product line.

• What do you sell/produce?

 I offer pure coconut oil, coconut and clove oil, coconut lavender oil and coconut jasmine oil. I also offer sugar scrubs that are made with raw cane sugar and coconut oil as well as body butters which also includes coconut oil. All the ingredients in my products are natural. I only use essential oils and not fragrance oils because essential oils are produced from the flowers or plant while fragrance oils are man made.

• How long have you been in business?

Crazy4Coconut started in July 2013.

• Who are your main clientele/customers?

My main customers are naturalistas, women transitioning to their natural hair and people who prefer all natural handmade products.

• How can people buy your products (are you an online store, based somewhere specific, several locations etc)? 

People can by my products on the Crazy4Coconut website via Paypal.

• How can you be contacted?(Blog, Twitter, Facebook, etc.)?

I can be contacted on www.crazy4coconutt.com or Facebook Page: crazy4coconut

Note: You can also follow D’Arcy on Twitter: crazy4coconutt and Instagram: crazy4coconut