Turning a Tweet Into a Community with Founder of Black Girls Who Blog Morgan Pitts

Meet today’s Brava guest, Morgan Pitts, the creator of the social account Black Girls Who Blog, a community that celebrates and lifts the voices of black girls and women. Tune in to today’s conversation to learn her start-up story and the behind-the-scenes of how one tweet became a future network for more than 100,000 women to connect and amplify each other’s voices!

SHOW NOTES:

Morgan is the woman behind the online social account, “Black Girls Who Blog”, a community of more than 100,000 women that amplifies and celebrates the voices of black women and girls (0:30.)

After the creation of her own blog and reading the blogs of others, Morgan realized she would love to create an illustration of the phrase “Black Girls Who Blog” which then resulted in an apparel collection and the launch of the infamous Instagram handle (5:00.)

“Despite your best intentions someone is always going to disagree with you or have a piece of criticism. Remember where your heart is and take those comments in stride. Don’t let it diminish what you know to be true. ”

— Morgan Pitts

Through the use of the hashtag [#BlackGirlsWhoBlog], Morgan identifies women in the community to surprise-feature and honor on her platform (9:45.)

No matter how great of a marketing campaign you have, the best advertisement is word of mouth referrals. Readers develop a certain level of trust in the products and services bloggers discuss (15:10.) 

Morgan recommends to find your tribe, you need to expand your circle to communities with like-minded interests and build genuine relationships with people that inspire you (18:25.)

“Just be yourself and do things that are true to you. ”

— Morgan Pitts

What’s next? Morgan is taking things one day at a time and letting the universe guide her to the next project. She is appreciative of the amazing reaction “Black Girls Who Blog” has had so far and will continue to do her best every day. (22:10.)

Want to continue to follow Morgan’s journey and Black Girls Who Blog? Follow here!

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Thank you readers, to tuning into the Brava Podcast. If you like the show please leave a review on iTunes! 

What from our conversation inspired you today? What do you hope to hear next? Tweet or message us on Instagram @BravaPodcast to tell us what you want to hear, even if it’s your own story! 

Innovation and Clean Beauty with CEO and Co-Founder of Wander Beauty Divya Gugnani

Raise your hand if you have ever done your beauty routine on-the-go. Wait a minute, so I’m not the only one that has sat in a parking lot applying make-up? Ok, then I’ll admit it, that mysterious stain on the roof of my car? Mascara. How you ask? An over-packed schedule and a last minute dash for a touch-up gone wrong.

Meet Divya Gugnani, a serial entrepreneur who has taken the beauty industry by storm. She is the CEO and Co-Founder of Wander Beauty, a brand built for the modern woman that offers a line of multi-tasking beauty essentials so that you can take your routine on the go, mess-free, and stress-free.

Read on and tune in below to hear more from Divya as we discuss the power of clean beauty, how to differentiate your brand, her tips to growing a successful business by following your instincts, her beauty favorites, and much more.

SHOW NOTES:

Divya was inspired to launch Wander Beauty while on the NYC subway. She was applying make-up and realized many others were doing the same. She realized she was continuously finding herself doing her beauty routine on-the-go all the time (1:20.)

The need of an innovative solution emerged from a multitude of experiences and situations: from wanting a clean and safe beauty alternative to a product that fits a multitasker’s daily lifestyle (2:30.)

Wander Beauty focuses on real women in the context of their real lives (4:14.)

The driving force behind Wander Beauty’s fast five year success? Outworking the competitors. Divya speaks to the passion and intelligence of her team that has helped drive the incredible outcome and success of her brand (5:00.)

Wander Beauty is created by products that skin loves. (It’s free of parabens, phthalates, synthetic fragrance, and mineral oil. Wander Beauty is also gluten free and cruelty free.) The “clean” beauty movement is very important and a current topic of conversation in today’s industry. What makes Wander Beauty stand out is that their mission was developed from a personal story, not a trend (7:15.)

“The average woman is ingesting 5lbs of damaging chemicals from her beauty products every single year. ”

— Divya Gugnani, CEO and Co-Founder of Wander Beauty

Divya’s go-to tips when shopping for clean beauty products? She steers clear from parabens, phthalates, and sulfates (10:00.)

Her must-have products that she uses daily include 1) Mist Connection Essence and Toner, 2) Baggage Claim Gold Eye Masks, 3) Dualist Matte and Illuminating Concealer, and 4) Mile High Club Volume and Length Mascara (12:12.)

Let’s talk morning ritual: to balance her days with her busy schedule, Divya meditates for a few moments each morning, drinks ginger water, has breakfast with her kids, empties her inbox, streams a 15-minute workout, then starts her day. This allows her to focus on what she calls “deep work” when she gets to the office where she focuses on key projects that uses her full brain power (14:00.)

One of the things that Divya has learned through the years is to trust your gut (17:05.)

“It’s great to take feedback. As an entrepreneur you should listen to everyone: your team, your retail partners, your customers, and read every comment on social; but, you need to react only to things that make sense to you when you see the wholistic picture.”

— Divya Gugnani, CEO and Co-Founder of Wander Beauty

Looking to enter the beauty space as an entrepreneur? Find an opportunity in a white space and innovate. Divya advises to “innovate, don’t imitate” (22:25.)

Follow Divya and Wander Beauty on Instagram to stay connected and continue following along!

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Thank you readers for tuning into the Brava Podcast. If you like the show please leave a review on iTunes! 

What from our conversation inspired you today? What do you hope to hear next? Tweet or message us on Instagram @BravaPodcast to tell us what you want to hear, even if it’s your own story! 

Celebrating Life’s Moments with Entrepreneur Kristen Ley

Today on the Brava Podcast we’re going to hear from a powerful, creative entrepreneur and CEO who turned her passions into a thriving business by simply celebrating life’s moments. I’m SO excited to introduce you to Kristen Ley, CEO, er, actually I should say, “Chief Confetti Maker and Founder” of Thimblepress. Tune in below to get real with Kristen and her start-up story, learn more about differentiating products in a competitive space and advice on how to make your dream a reality.

SHOW NOTES:

Interview Kristen Ley is a party in a podcast! Can’t wait to get started with our interview (1:40)

Kristen has been creating art as early as she can remember. Her parents have always been very encouraging with everything Kristen has gone for despite her family coming from a medical background. She went to school for art and design. She graduated with a BFA in business and graphic design and a minor in marketing (2:40)

She started her career with an internship at Matchbox Studios in Dallas and loved it (4:30.)

She remembers going to the library in Charleston, SC to learn the ins and outs of how to start her business…from scratch! Her and her colleague hustled to launch and sustain their own marketing and branding business (5:00.)

Then she was offered a full-time offer to be a full graphic design artist that was closer back to home and she took the job. After about a year she quickly realized she was not wired for a 8 to 5 job (7:15.)

She used her letterpress as a creative release for years before making it part of her future career. During Christmas of 2012 she was convinced by her friend to start an Etsy and have a craft show (8:00.)

In 2013, she decided to make it official and launch Thimblepress, LLC inspired by her grandmothers and mother who influenced Kristen’s crafting (11:15.)

Thimblepress comes from the deep desire to want to encourage, lift up others, and show others how they can be present and celebrate friends and family (13:00.)

Kristen used to have 20 employees. Over the years she learned a lot about herself and her personality and realized a larger team is not for her. She’s very interested in the enneagram and it also helped her learn more details about her personality and how she can lead in the best way possible. Now she has a very lean team and she loves it both for her business and her wellness (17:45.)

When it comes to competitors, she keeps herself in her lane and focuses on her customer’s happiness and loving them like they are family and friends (20:00.)

“My strategy? Do what’s best for me!”

— Kristen Ley, CEO and Founder of Thimblepress

Looking to launch your own product? Kristen wants you to know that you are already amazing and a success no matter what. Allow opportunities to flow into your life and jump, even if you are afraid. Believe in yourself. If you don’t believe in yourself, how do you expect others to believe in your business? (21:56)

Stay in touch with Kristen’s next steps and business ventures! She recently launched KristenLey.com to be open and honest with her own business. Check it out! Be sure to check out Thimblepress too and celebrate others along the way!

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Thank you readers, to tuning into the Brava Podcast. If you like the show please leave a review on iTunes! 

What from our conversation inspired you today? What do you hope to hear next? Tweet or message us on Instagram @BravaPodcast to tell us what you want to hear, even if it’s your own story! 

Ethical Leadership and Stopping the Spiral of Incivility with Audrey Murrell

Today’s episode is focused on highlighting ethical leadership and putting a proactive end on the spiral of incivility. In the work place, whether we’re leaders, managers or part of any team structure, we can face this at any time. 

I’d like to introduce and highlight the expert on this matter, Associate Dean at the University of the Pittsburgh Business School and Director of the Berg Center for Leadership and Ethics, Audrey Murrell. She is a woman of influence who conducts research, teaches, consults and helps organizations better utilize and engage their most important assets - their human and social capital. 

SHOW NOTES:

Audrey shares that rudeness, bickering, work place behavior, demeaning personalities, taunting…all are examples of incivility. They are not the cost of doing business, they are costly to business. They may start off as something small or manageable, but they are creating a downward spiral for businesses (1:10).  

When incivility is not corrected it has a whole host of consequences for the organization. It erodes culture and affects turnover (2:13).

There are many reasons that incivility is on the rise: we have a tendency to ignore incivility hoping that it will go away itself. Another reason why it may be on the rise is that leadership and higher-ups may be the instigators of bad behavior without ramification or are not providing proper discipline in their own workplace (4:13).

“Leaders must establish norms of zero tolerance for incivility.”

— Audrey Murrell

Audrey always starts off meetings in her unit acknowledging the positive behavior of her employees but also create a model for the norm in the workplace (7:25).

The best way to counter negative behavior is to reinforce positive behavior (8:45).

Audrey will look for people who can be partners with her in this practice. She and a colleague made a pact to model positive vs. negative behavior in their workplace. Overtime they continued to add people to their pact to change their negative workspace into a positive one (10:00).

Careers in reality are not steps, but much more like a labyrinth with adjusting to change and tackling obstacles. Audrey believes that education is transformational both to our thinking and our opportunities. She’s also very passionate about mentoring, specifically peer-to-peer mentoring (11:15).

“I really hate the word networking, it sounds very transactional. I talk about relationships because there is a mutual benefit.”

— Audrey Murrell

Effective leadership is not only about what you do and your skill-set, but it’s also about finding the right context and the environment that is right fit for you as a leader (16:00).

Want to lead and you don’t think you are getting that support from your organization? Look outside your organization to develop your leadership skills, negotiation, organization…at volunteer opportunities, church, community events, etc. It may not be at your job, but it is definitely in your community (19:00).

Ethical leadership is so powerful because you can’t be an effective leader without being ethical and being ethical and particularly shaping the ethical climate and culture in an organization requires leadership (21:30).

Want to star putting Audrey’s insight into action? She recommends seeking ethical role models in your organization that you can talk to and learn from. She also advises to seek training for leadership and ethics within your organization. Lastly, she suggests to connect within your community and push yourself outside your comfort zone. Do something different because that’s where you need your growth (23:20).

“Leaders push themselves even if it’s outside their comfort zone.”

— Audrey Murrell

Audrey works to stop and acknowledge the amazing things their students are doing and to celebrate with them and for them. It’s what keeps her going! (28:18).

If you would like to learn more on leadership and ethics or incivility, please go to audreymurell.com for more information. 

Thank you readers, to tuning into the Brava Podcast. If you like the show please leave us a review on iTunes! 

What from our conversation inspired you today? What do you hope to hear next? Tweet or message us on Instagram @BravaPodcast to tell us what you want to hear, even if it’s your own story! 

Creating Smart Content, Taking Risks and Being Bold with Alisha Johns

Have you ever dreamt about an ideal reality, maybe you see yourself running your own company, managing your own shop or working your way up at the office but in a different department.

What’s stopping you? Fear can be the number one reason that restrains you from achieving that ultimate reality. How do we overcome that paralyzing fear that seeps into our minds telling us you can’t do it?

I think it’s about about taking risks and being bold. Today on the podcast I am honored to have Alisha Johns, the Founder and Creative Director of LISH creative. She’s an innovator and creator who has a flare for color and a passion for entrepreneurship. Today’s episode will be a discussion around creating smart content, how to take those risks and what’s needed to be bold. Listen now!

Photo by Julie Kahlbaugh

SHOW NOTES:

Alisha started her career at a few agencies in Pittsburgh for a small team that worked on huge projects. There, she wore a lot of hats that prepared her for owning her own business (2:32).

She works with up to 14 different contractors at one time. Alisha believes that showing appreciation and gratitude for your team is important for management. That, and knowing when to let go of control (3:34).

Trying to show that gratitude in your workplace? It can be as simple as thanking them and telling them that you appreciate them (4:38).

On delegation, Alisha focuses in what she is best at and then delegating the things she knows other will be better at (5:25).

Right now in her industry it’s all about video. She’s seen an increase in videos requested by clients and she believes that challenge will be how can brands differentiate their videos from each other (6:04).

The latest Instagram video launch, IGTV doesn’t seem to be attracting many viewers as of recent; but, we both agree that it is a good platform to direct viewers to engage in longer form content (7:10).

Alisha defines “Smart Content” as a way to get across to people that Lish Creative isn’t just taking pretty pictures. They (Lish Creative) are going to break down the brand (their client) and tie in content to their greater marketing strategy through learning about their consumer and tell their story (8:23).

Alisha’s creative process? Learning as much about the brand and their brands’ consumer as much as they can. Sometimes the brands’ product can be the most inspiration to spur creativity (9:27).

So many brands end up looking the same. Alisha challenges, “Why not break the mold!” (10:55).

Alisha recommends to chip away at your passion. She did so for 3 years to start her business and eventually leave her full-time job (13:10).

Want to start a side-hustle? Take initiative and just start it! It doesn’t have to be perfect. It’s about starting and building a portfolio of work. Don’t worry about what people think! (14:25).

Loved this episode? Share your voice and leave a review on iTunes now!