Mogul Moments with CDJ S3E3 W/guest CoCoBella Founder Renae Williams

Well, hello and welcome to Mogul Moments. This is season 3 of Mogul Moments, episode number 3, and this episode is called Just Do You. And we're going to talk about, um, entrepreneurs who have gone into an already crowded market and how they stake their claim and infiltrate it that industry despite those odds. We're also going to talk about an entrepreneurial journey, get her highs, her lows, get encouraged, get motivated, and hear the real deal, the behind the scenes, as I say, behind the velvet rope, as to what entrepreneurship is all about. So if you are looking to become an entrepreneur, if you're looking to become a mogul, which is of course building multiple businesses and multiple industries eventually, then you are in the right place. If you're just looking to be motivated and encouraged in your 9 to 5, I am certain that there is something that you're going to glean from this as well. If you're watching this later on YouTube, welcome. Next time, try to catch us live. Make sure you're liking me on Facebook at The Camille Company, and, um, there you can ask questions. Um, but if you leave questions here um, in YouTube myself or my assistant will definitely see them. And if there are questions for our guests, we will definitely get those back to her. So with that being said, let's get started. I'm going to read a little bit of an introduction. Who is that? Hey Jeff, thank you so much! That means everything coming from you because, um, you know, you, you're that deal. And for those of you who don't know who Jeff Eisner is, you need to like his his page. That's just a whole nother story, but he's amazing. We are pyramid brothers and sisters for life. So anyway, let me go, let me get started. I'm so excited. Okay, um, Renee Williams, she is our founder and CEO of Coco Bella Natural, and her natural hair journey began in June of 2012. Now she has some other things here that she's going to go into in detail, but the piece that I wanted to share about Renee is that, like I said, she did the big chop. And for those of you who don't know what that is, it's when African American women have used chemicals in their hair to straighten it for a long period of time. And in order for your hair to kind of go back to its natural state, you've got to cut all of that off and basically start over. So that's what the big chop is. So Renee says here in a piece of her bio that educating herself about natural hair, hair care, became her passion. Knowledge is indeed power, and that's not a cliché. During her own natural hair care journey transformation, she developed the desire to help other women who have found themselves on a path to natural hair, either by choice or by circumstance. She began to blog about natural hair. She started a YouTube channel and then formed a natural hair support group where she encourages women to love themselves and their hair. It is a fact that most of how a woman views herself and feels about herself is tied to her hair. Her self-esteem is sometimes connected, literally, to her hair. Her main objective is to help women unlearn the negative stereotypes surrounding natural hair, to dismiss what society has taught us about hair, to refuse to believe that hair is ugly or unkept or unprofessional. Have some of us heard maybe some of those statements? Renee wants them to realize the beauty in their hair and understand how equally different and beautiful it is from anyone else's. I want them to learn to care for their hair passionately, to transform it from something they're embarrassed about to something that screams confidence without even having to say a word. Now, she believes in order to achieve healthy hair, it's essential that your hair be sufficiently hydrated. And that's how we got to where we are today. She says, with proper care, you can achieve thriving, healthy, hydrated hair regardless of what number-letter combination on a hair typing chart you feel you most relate to. She wants to change the conversation surrounding natural hair one curl at a time. Will you guys help me welcome the awesome Renee Williams of Cocobella Natural. No, clap right here while she's coming on. That will really help a lot. Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap! You guys aren't clapping. Hey, Renee! You gotta unmute. Let me see. We're not doing this again. We're gonna get this right this time. I think there you are. There you are!

Hey!

How you doing?

Well, how are you?

Good, good. I was just giving them your spiel about your, um, natural hair care passion and, um, uh, talking about how the negative stereotypes, um, connected to our hair and how, um, you want to change, um, that conversation and how, uh, we view our hair. And I was really honored to share that piece of your story. But there is a pre-piece, um, to this that I want people to really hear about. So can you give me an idea— introduce yourself, of course, um, um, and give me an idea of your entrepreneurial journey and how you got to Kokobella Natural?

First of all, I am Renee Williams, founder and CEO of Kokobella Natural, home of Quench Tropical Threat Conditioning Treatment. So my entrepreneurial journey started, it started before it started, it started before I knew. Some years back, I had developed some upper respiratory issues and fibroids. And in speaking with my physician, it led me to believe that the chemicals in the relaxers that I was using to straighten my hair um, had caused that and that I could either continue to relax my hair and use harsh chemicals that was damaging my body because it's not just what goes in your hair that affects your hair and what you eat. All those things affect your health. And so I wanted to get serious about my health. And so I made the choice to leave relaxers and chemicals alone. And so I started on my natural hair journey. I never knew that it would lead me to become an entrepreneur because if you knew then, I thought I would always be just a corporate girl. I would always work a 9 to 5 job and go home. I never wanted to be in business for myself. But along that journey, I developed this passion to educate myself on my hair. And I know that, and you'll know this as well, is that I believe that a woman's self-esteem, how she feels about herself, how she views herself, I believe that is connected to her hair. Case in point, if you were— if I were to call you and say, hey Camille, let's meet up for drinks, you might say, I would, but girl, I ain't did nothing to my hair yet. That's right. The way our hair looks or how we feel our hair looks has everything to do about how we feel about ourselves.

That's a great point.

I learned that speaking with women, I just know that our self-esteem is absolutely connected to what our hair looks. And so there's all these stereotypes about natural hair, how it's ugly and unkempt and unprofessional. And some women have bought into that. And so my objective is to change that mindset and to get women to appreciate what God gave them. This is the way your hair grew out of your scalp, and so to appreciate that. And, um, I developed— I started a natural hair, um, support group. I started doing YouTube just, just to bring women in. I wanted them to feel good about themselves, and that grew into—

tell me about that support group a little bit. We didn't get to talk about that much. Tell me what, what was going on in that group?

So the way my— the way I started my group, I was, I was in another group and there was a, there was a natural hair community. And so there were women in there who were on their natural hair journey. The thing about those other groups is that the, the, the atmosphere was, it wasn't, it wasn't— I didn't like it. There was a lot of cattiness and backbiting. And my, my goal is always encourage and uplift and build women up and this group was tearing people down. And I was like, yeah, this, this ain't my cup of tea. I need to start a community where women can feel safe and not judged, you know, and not criticized for the decisions that they make. So I started my own group. And my goal was like, let me get 50 people to follow me. And like, I have well over 8,000 people in that group now. So, okay.

So how did you get from just talking in a Facebook group and doing some YouTube videos to now a whole business?

So that, that's a God thing, Camille D. Jamerson. So I was educating not just myself, other people. I was educating myself and people in the group. Um, I, I actually worked for several brands, um, promoting their products or whatever, but then it was laid on my heart that I needed to, I needed to do my own. It was time for me to do my own. So it went from idea to launch in like a matter of 8 months.

Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. So now what was that process like? Because I know that there was like testing and, you know, putting these products together, seeing if that works. I mean, what, How did you get that done in 8 months?

This is the thing, I'm not necessarily a DIY person. Like, I was the type of person that would go out and purchase what I needed. I didn't have time to be blending and mixing stuff together, but I knew exactly what I wanted a product to do. I knew the type of ingredients that I wanted in the product, and I knew the promises that I wanted the product to make. So I did a lot of research on ingredients and their benefits and how they work together. And then because it was important to me that I put out something that people could trust because I developed a trust with the people that, you know, that follow me or in the community and they know I don't mess around with no BS.

Responsibility, it's a responsibility.

Yeah, exactly. So it was important to me that I got the formula right. So I did solicit the help of a cosmetic chemist 'cause I wanted to make sure that what I put out was absolutely the best.

That's amazing. And that's important because we have to know when to call in the experts. We can't wing everything. And there's a lot that we know, but there's also a lot that we don't know. And for something as important as this, I'm glad that you sought expert advice, especially when you're talking about putting stuff on folks' head, because that's exactly the experience that you just left. So what was it like working with the chemist?

Yeah.

Oh my God.

So it was amazing. Like, so we did, like, before I, before I worked with the chemist, I did a lot of research, like I say, on ingredients and benefits of ingredients or whatever. And it's so funny how you can work with someone remotely. Like, I've never met her in person. And so we kind of—

Wow.

No, never. But we had, um, it's called a VIP session. So we talked like for hours, I know like 8 hours and we went over everything. She listened to everything that I, that I wanted, the things that I didn't want, what was important to me, things that didn't matter. And we got developed, um, ingredients that we wanted to use. And so she developed, um, helped me develop the formula on how much to put it, how much of this to put in or whatever. And so we worked through that by Zoom. I mix, I mean, I still mix everything. No one has ever, um, the product, I do everything myself, but through her guidance, um, is this the right, you know, is this the right amount and stuff like that? So it was pretty amazing. I have to trust someone that I had never met before.

Yeah. That's hard.

That, but that's how I know it was a God thing because it went Perfectly.

Yeah, yeah, because you feel— I mean, anytime you have a business, or, and I'm assuming a product too, it's like your baby, you know, you don't want to share it with anybody, you don't want it to end up stolen, you know what I'm saying? You don't want— and then you definitely want the product to turn out right, you know. So is this somebody who's reputable? My name is on the line, my reputation is on the line, so To know that that all worked out for the good, um, is just— that's just amazing. So getting to our subject matter at hand, um, as you know and, and as I know and, and probably some of our, our watchers, um, the natural hair care movement has just blown up. I mean, everybody's talking about natural hair care. It's brands that have never marketed to us before that have a whole natural hair care department, which is amazing to me. Um, so on the outside looking in, it's like, well, there's so many products that are doing X, Y, and Z. There's so many products that, um, are now being made for African American women for their natural hair care journey. Do we really need another one? Did you have to ask yourself that question? And what was your, um, how did you make your mark in the industry and, and kind of infiltrate in a market that was so heavily saturated, that is so heavily saturated?

Oh, infiltrate, that's a good word. I like that word. So no, I, I absolutely did not ask myself, um, what they were doing. I, I could There is, if you walk down the aisle in Walmart or any grocery store, there's like a million loaves of bread made by a million different people. Well, people aren't stopping making bread. So if you, if, what if it was a bakery that says, you know, I wanna, I wanna open a bakery, but everybody bakes cakes. If, if I allow what the market and what everybody else was doing, I would have never made it. I would have, I would have been frozen in fear. So my goal wasn't to figure out what everybody else was doing. I had something to offer, and so I was going to offer that despite or regardless of what everybody else was doing. So I think that people, people like, they like authenticity, they, they like transparency. And so that is how I have lived through my whole natural hair journey. So I wasn't worried about what somebody else was doing. Because even if I gave someone my exact formula, what is for me is for me. They couldn't— they couldn't—

what I did, deliver it like you. Yeah, they can't deliver it the way that you deliver it, right? That is awesome. Now, as people started buying your product, how did word spread and what was some of the feedback you started getting back?

So even before the product launched, I did a focus group. So I sent out product to people and say, hey, can you try this out for me? Let me know what me what you think. And so, um, I did it with like about 25 people. So I did get the feedback. Once the product launched, um, oh my gosh, it went crazy. I was overwhelmed by the amount of product that was flying off the shelves. I underestimated myself, but word of mouth. And I mean, like, I do what I do. I post like I do every day. Um, but I have so many people who are marketing for me, if, if that's the— if that's the correct term. I don't really do that much because word of mouth. The people who buy it, um, they tell everybody, and they tell a friend, they tell a friend, and so on and so on. The next thing you know, it's like boom.

Referral marketing is some of the most powerful marketing there is. And that's why, um, and people don't understand that this is at the core of this whole influencer trend, because people, uh, businesses understand that people buy from people. And if it's somebody that they trust, they're more likely to get the product that they refer or recommend or are using than they would just going off the shelf and grabbing it. So to hear that referral marketing, um, is kind of how your product has taken off the way that it has, um, and I just went through some of your Instagram posts and saw there were times you were sold out, totally sold out.

Absolutely. I mean, literally sold out the first time. I said, like, I knew that, I knew that I wanted to do well and I was set up for to do well. I was not prepared for what happened. I sold out twice. I mean, the second time I sold out, I didn't even have a jar to put it in.

Like, y'all, I ain't even got nothing to put it in if I had some more stuff.

I really want to send y'all some quench, but I ain't got the jar to put it in. I'll put it in a baggie and ship it to you, but right now I ain't even got a jar to put it in. So yeah, that was amazing. I was so moved by that. I, I was— I, I just I couldn't believe it. I could, but I couldn't.

Yeah. That wasn't what— I mean, it's funny because, um, we have all of these kind of contingency plans if things don't necessarily work, but it's very rare that we prepare for, well, what happens when it does well.

Exactly.

When it succeeds, am I prepared for that? And do I have what it takes? To continue the momentum. So with it growing the way that it did, now I have like 50 million different questions. With it growing the way that it did, do you see yourself eventually taking yourself out of production and entrusting that differently? Or what do you think there? And I know it's a labor of love, so I know that's gotta be hard.

So yeah, just like you said before, like this is my baby. So it's not easy to take your child and just pass it off to somebody else. That might happen eventually. I'm not ready for that yet because this is, this is my, this is my baby. Um, but I know that I'm going to grow out. I'm already growing out of what I'm already doing. So I'm going to have to do that eventually. I'm just trying to, I'm just trying to pray about it and work myself through it. Cause like, I'm not ready to hand my baby over to somebody. People don't take care of your kids like you take care of your own kids.

And then you've got to worry about quality control, you know, because you know when you're doing it, you know exactly what you're putting in each, you're not skimping anywhere, and you don't know if everybody is going to treat it the same way. So I have to Imagine that, that's, that's difficult. That is really difficult.

I am not willing to compromise the ingredients that I use or anything. I, I started the way I started. I won't be one of those brands that try to use cheaper ingredients so I can make a bigger profit. I put out a good product. That's what I intend to keep doing. So if I can't find something that would do that, then I'll just keep making it myself.

How about that? Now you talked about your profit margin. So what's, what's the end game with Quench? What do you look to expand the product line? Do you look to do more as far as maybe teaching or courses, or how do you look to expand the brand itself? Because Kokobella Naturals I mean, I just see that blowing up so much differently. And you know, that mutual friend of ours, if she was in on this conversation, she would be saying that too. But we're not going to say no names, Katrina, because that would be inappropriate. But we're not going to say that. But so yeah, how do you see it expanding as far as what you offer?

So the answer to the question is yes. Yes, I will. Yes, I plan to expand. So my goal is not just to have a product. Um, I plan on expanding this line, but then I also want to, um, because with the product that I sell now, I have so many men that are also— they're using it for their hair, they're using it for their beards. So Why not a men's line? I have people who are using it for their children. Why not a children's line? So I can't even think past how, how large or how big I want to go. Like, there is no limit.

Wow. Now I didn't even think about men because I definitely was going to ask you about children, um, because, um, I know there are a lot of moms who are now taking their— keeping their children, I should say, on that natural hair care journey. The other thing that I was going to ask you about is, I know that, um, the intent of the brand is primarily for African American women. However, um, because of all of the natural ingredients, would your product also be good, um, for women of other cultures Would it be good for mixed kids or mixed people? What, what are your thoughts there?

So it's already been proven. So the initial thing was African American women, but like you said, hair is hair is hair. Everything, every ingredient that I use is either 100% natural or organic. And again, hair is hair. I have Caucasian customers, I have mixed race customers. Yes. Hair is hair, you know what I'm saying?

So like you said, um, that I read that piece of your bio, um, all of it needs to be hydrated regardless. Um, some might need more hydration than others, um, just because of the nature of the beast, but all of it needs to be hydrated. I'm glad you said that because I've got mixed grandbabies. Um, so, um, yeah, I'm always sending, you know, product to mom to help her because she does— she's not accustomed to all those curls. So she, she don't know what to do with all of that. So I'm— but, you know, I try to send her natural products. I think we use something else. I won't call their name, but knowing that your product is safe for children is definitely a value add. I will definitely keep that in mind. Now I also want to tell you guys, if you have some questions, drop them in the chat. I'm checking back and forth as much as I can, but I want to ask her any questions that you have. Those of you who came on here live, you do have the option to ask live questions. So drop them in the comments. We'll try to get to as many of them as we can. If you're watching this later on YouTube, then drop the questions in the comments. And if it's something specifically for our guests, myself or my assistant will definitely get that question to her and get back to you with the response. Okay, so, and we've got people in the comments now, Renee, just so you know, talking about they need your product now. So I put your website.

I got you. She got y'all.

I'm still in my quarantine here. So when I take this down though, we got to give Quench a try. So, okay, let's, let's go to our next question. Um, this is interesting, and I don't even know why I put this down, but we're gonna ask it. Is there a celebrity or a public figure that is ideal that you would like— oh, I would love if they were using my product? Anybody that comes to mind? Because we're gonna just put it out there.

Like, I'm gonna tell you who it is, and then I'm gonna ask you if you got their number. Or you got a connection. Because let me tell you, I would love, love, love, love to wet Michelle Obama's hair and throw some quenching in and see her curls pop. That would, that would make me the happiest person in the world, ma'am.

Because there was one time I saw her hair natural. Did you see it? And everybody was like, yes, ma'am. She was trying to do that forever.

Oh my goodness, forever. I know you got connections, so I'll be expecting a text that says, hey, here's, here's Mrs. Obama's phone number so I can— her PO box—

like right over there in my office. But you never know, I know some people who know some people.

How about that? There you go.

Okay, so, and be— but that's also important because whomever endorses your brand, you really want it to be somebody you could trust because they can make or break your brand just because people don't want to be associated with that particular individual.

So, um, that, that's, that's why I asked that. She is like, yeah, I can't think of it.

You can't lose. You can't lose. Um, and that— I mean, people are racist, crease colors, both sides of the line. Um, really have an admiration for her. So that, that definitely was a good one. So this is a good question. What encourages you when you hit a valley in your business? What do you do to get yourself out of a funk? Because all of us as entrepreneurs, I know the ones that I know and met, just go through, go through our go-through. So what do you do when that happens to you and how do you pull yourself out of it?

So I think that everybody, every person needs a person, and sometimes that person doesn't necessarily need to say anything as much as they just need to be there. Like, for the most part, I'm a glass half full kind of person, so I'm always optimistic and upbeat. But then those rare occasions when I'm not, I need to reach out to my person. And so I might call my person and just say, start talking. I just need to hear myself talk it out loud to talk myself through it. And so that person says, oh, well, I'm glad I could help, because they haven't said anything. I've had the whole conversation out loud, and I was like, well, I'm glad I could help. You're good now. And I'm like, yeah, because I think you— when you can't encourage yourself You either need somebody to talk you out of it or you need to talk yourself through it with someone listening because they're there just in case you can't get there by yourself. They're there to pull you the rest of the way. And so that's what I do.

So everybody hear that? Everybody, you need to have a person. Everybody needs a person.

Everybody needs a person.

And, uh, I've got several persons, thank goodness. Um, but when you said that, it reminds me of, um, somebody that I used to call back when answering machines were hot. Um, because they had an answering machine at their house, and so when they wouldn't answer the phone, I would just talk on the answering machine like I was actually talking to them. So they'd be like, hello, babe, and I'm like, yeah, so such as that, just go. And I just go in, and then by the time I get through, I'm like, oh well, okay, I worked that out.

You got it out.

That's the best.

The thing is to take it from here where it's making you feel some type of way and to get it out. And that person or that answering machine is there to catch it. And if you— long as you got it out. And so you're fine.

And then I find out later that sometimes they hear me talking to answering machine, they wouldn't even pick up because they like, because you're going to work it out eventually yourself anyway.

So now, because you got it out, you're fine now. That's good.

So now that's good advice, you guys. So everybody, entrepreneur or no, you need to have a person. Okay.

But a couple, I have about 3 persons, but when it comes to business, I have a person that I don't care if she is not a morning person. I don't care if her mouth don't want to work, you know, at 8 o'clock in the morning, I'm calling anyway, because I don't need her to talk. I just need her to listen to me talk.

Right. Let me just say what I need to say. Yeah. Cause you'll work because 9 times outta 10, we know the answer. You know, we know what we need to do, but we gotta talk that thing through, especially creatives, because that's how we function. We function visually or audibly or hearing things. And so talking things out, um, definitely helps us get ourselves over the hump. But we do need that vehicle. And sometimes it's another person, sometimes it's an answering machine. But you got it. You got to do what works.

But you got to do it.

Get a person. Get a person. OK, so this question, this question. Oh, given the recent chain of events, we know that honestly, we're still fighting COVID-19. But then you— stack that with the civil unrest that our country is going through right now. And all of a sudden, the spotlight is again shining on how important it is for African Americans to build wealth. And given your new recent addition that I'll let you tell people about, give me, give me your thoughts. On, um, how, um, we should be setting up the next generation and, um, your thoughts on African American wealth building.

So when I was a little girl, I wanted to start there. When my daddy always talked about building a family legacy and something to leave on to the family, and I just never grasped it back then. It just never made any sense. I used to say, Daddy, your dreams ain't everybody's dreams. Everybody don't want to do what you want to do, because it didn't make sense to me then. But as I got older and honestly, after, after my dad passed, I was like, I get it. I know what he's talking about because other cultures, their family leaves them. They've had businesses in their family since they can market back to whenever. And most of us don't. We go work for someone, we work for them until we retire, and then we don't. And so I think that is important for us to leave a legacy, a business, or something for your grandkids. I mean, I have a 3-week-old grandson, his name is Crimson. He is adorable. He's like the love of my life now. And so yeah, I, I, although I want him to explore things on his own, but I want to make sure that he is taken care of, you know, when I'm no longer here, you know, that's right.

You think differently once that happens. You, you start thinking generationally. And my kids swear that I've forgotten all about them. I'm like, no, I like you guys, you're great people, but I'm on to, I'm on to the next generation now. I just started learning to play golf and the one of the very first things I thought of was I need to teach my grandkids because I want them to have that advantage of being able to go on the golf course and make deals and talk to movers and shakers and not have that be a boundary or a hindrance, um, to them in the future. You just start thinking differently.

Yeah, because we've always said that we— the, the goal was to have your kids do better than you, their kids do better than them. We always meant that in the term of like a better job or a higher salary and not like generational wealth. And so I see that differently now. When I say I want my daughter to be better than me and her son to be better than her, it's not just go to work for a better, better company, like to have something of her own, of their own.

That's good, because what we, what we've seen in the African-American community, um, is these cycles of poverty, you know what I'm saying, where the grandmom was, you know, lived a certain way, and then she raised her children a certain way, and they were in there in this cycle of poverty, and nobody seems to have the way out. And so we start leaning towards sports, but that's not the only way. Um, and I think entrepreneurship, um, really has to be, um, reevaluated as an option, um, for children. I mean, coming out of high school Um, we, we put everybody in this collegiate path, and okay, that's fine, but we're just teaching them how to work for somebody else. Who's teaching these children how to work for themselves?

You know what, Camille? Um, that made me think of something. Like, when I was in school— because I ain't no spring chicken, although I do look like one, but whatever— so what, like a trade school, they taught you Um, woodshop that they taught you, auto mechanics, they taught you economics, they taught you metals so that you could literally come out of high school and open up a business doing fixing cars or whatever. And I agree that, you know, going to college is, you know, is part of the American dream, but you need— you're right, we're teaching them how to work for somebody else and we need to teach them how to start a business for themselves. And so I'm on board with that now.

I am, um, looking to see how to affect, um, our educational curriculum, um, to include, um, entrepreneurship and, and trades because we're raising a bunch of cookie cutter kids. Um, and they're graduating with degrees and working at Target, you know, with debt, with tens of thousands of dollars in debt. So I do understand and, and, and have a value for education. However, it should be just as valuable to have your own business. And isn't it amazing? That reminds me of a post that I saw. Um, and, and the example that this girl gave was that if she had posted on her Facebook page that she became the new vice president of GM, her whole page would have lit up. Everybody would have been all over, oh, congratulations, congratulations, sending her flowers and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But she posts that she just started a new business and it's crickets.

And that's true. You know that's— Oh, I lived it.

I know.

It's very true. So you get a promotion at work, like, hey, I just got a promotion.

And you're right.

People are like, oh my God, congratulations. So happy for you. Like, hey, I just started a landscaping business. And it's like, where did everybody—

no respect for the hustle, no respect for business building, no respect for entrepreneurship. Because I think we've been conditioned to believe that that collegiate track is the only way. And I think it was our governor, Governor Gretchen Whitmer, in her State of the Union address she was saying how we have to stop looking at the pathway to success like it's just a ladder, it's only one way up and one way down. She's like, because it's not, that's not true. The example that she gave is that it's more like rock climbing, where there are multiple ways and multiple paths that you can take to get to the top, and each are just as valuable as the other. And depending on the child, every child is not college material. That's not what they're designed to do, especially— I mean, I wasn't— thank God, you know, I mean, I did what I had to do anyway because it was just what was expected. But I'm a creative, so I would have flourished more if I had been an entrepreneur back then.

Oh my God, I would have been the bomb, you know.

But I didn't respect— well, thank you, baby. Um, but you know, I didn't— I didn't understand entrepreneurship. I didn't respect it. I just looked at it as, um, side hustles, you know, that, that really weren't gonna amount to anything. But we're building, I mean, our people are building million-dollar businesses, billion-dollar brands. So, um, and our dollar spends just like everybody else's.

Absolutely.

So, um, we definitely have to get in a place where we're empowering the next generation to, um, think that way. As well, let me see if I got any questions in there. Entrepreneurship is very necessary, no glass ceilings. That's from Patricia. Absolutely. Gwen, I want to teach— yes, yes. People are talking about wanting to teach children to become entrepreneurs down that path versus— or in conjunction with, I should say, college. You guys got any questions? I want to make sure that I don't miss any. I had— great, you got some great comments. Patricia joined something, I don't know what it is. Do you have a join in on your page or something?

Me?

Yeah.

Oh, okay.

I just got a question. It says, and this is from Gina, is it possible to order without setting up an account?

Um, why would you want to set up an account, Gina?

I don't know. And I know this Gina, she's amazing. So yeah, is it— so is this— she must be talking about going on to your page on the website.

So when you go to order, it asks, you know, for some information, but that's just so like if we want to do giveaways. And so if we're not going to like mass, um, advertising you advertisement, a spam email or any, anything like that. But so yeah, you have to establish an account to order.

In order to place the order. And so I'm assuming that through— and I'm going to address that right now, Gina. So as far as getting emails and stuff, if they don't want the emails, can they always unsubscribe to that? You can, you can. Right. Okay, so if, um, when you— after you get— place your order, if you get emails or what have you, coming into your box, you can always unsubscribe. And I do that too, or I have an email that I just use for all this kind of stuff, so it's not flooding my main box. So marketers, something that you need to know, people are doing that, smart people like me. So let me see if we got any other questions in here. So true, we have to teach legacy. Absolutely, Karen, I totally agree. Totally, totally agree. And if any of you find out— if any of you find out about Quench through Mogul Moments and you try it and you, you like it, please make certain that you let Renee know that you leave her a good product review. Share it with me. I want to make certain that we help push and promote her brand as much as possible. And my daughter— oh, okay, um, I've got a question. Um, someone's daughter wants to know what's your hair type. She's having trouble finding the right products for her and she's a 4C.

Okay, so this— the hair typing, I don't, I don't necessarily subscribe to the, the number-letter hair typing charts. I think that is a way that creates, it creates divisiveness in my opinion. Because if you say that you're, uh, 4A, then people say, oh, of course it's gonna work because she has good hair. If you say that you're a 4C, people are gonna think that, oh, I'm doomed. And so I don't really like that good and bad hair thing.

And it's not—

healthy hair is good hair, and it doesn't matter what number, a letter that you closely relate to. Most products are not made for hair types, they're made for hair porosity. And so if you find out what porosity— whether that be high porosity or low porosity— low porosity hair, it means that it takes forever. Your, your hair repels water. It takes a long time for your hair to get moisturized or to get water to get through the strands. High porosity, water goes through easy, but it also evaporates easily. So determining what your hair porosity is is much more, um, important in my view than 4A, 4B, 4C. That's just— I, I don't— if I was forced to say a hair type, I have, uh, multiple hair types. Like, right here is 4A, this is 4C. That's as honest as I can be, but I don't, I don't subscribe to that. And I think that, like I say, learning about your porosity and the density of your hair is a much more, um, better tool to learn how to care for your hair.

Yeah, now I just learned something. Um, she's sharing that she's low porosity, so that means low, low—

people with low porosity hair, like I say, have an extremely difficult time getting what the object is to get your hair hydrated. And so when you have low porosity hair, the strands are so tight that moisture can't get through. So you have to spend an extreme amount of time underwater, like in the shower, to get your hair totally saturated. And so when, when water doesn't work by itself, you need products that will have like heat with, with a deep conditioner with the heat. The heat opens up the pores of the hair, gets the moisture inside, 'cause you wanna get the moisture inside the strand, not just the coat on the outside. And so lighter products like creams or like light oils are better for low porosity hair, and heavier oils, 'cause you wanna seal up the holes in the hair on the high porosity hair. So yeah, but—

Oh God, this is a lot. This— so I love, I love this because, um, first of all, it's not necessarily an exact science, um, and I love the fact that you've taken the time to really learn and understand hair. It's not just, oh, it's good for all hair types. No, this is why we need to look at porosity versus just, um, you know, whether it's a 4A or 4B or— yeah, so I, I definitely appreciate you, um, and then I've got people on there um, that are saying that Quench works on all hair types and all porosities. Um, and Janice, she's like, the daughter, um, is, is watching now. So, um, you were saying that this front part of your hair— so you got like combination hair?

Absolutely, we all do, we all do.

I agree. Yeah, we all, we all— the front is, um, so the, my—

the front of my hair is a looser curl pattern Then this part right here, this part up here is tightly, tightly coiled, and this is just a little bit more looser. But the front is, is looser. But also I manipulate the front a lot too. Yeah, I have one, multiple textures.

So what's your system? How do you, how do you take care of your hair? That's the piece that I can't get with. It's been like, it's a lot of work, Renee.

So you tell It's not a lot of work. Um, once you— you have to develop a system. And so, um, for me, I mean, it took some years. I've been a natural for 8 years. I returned natural 8 years ago in 2012. So it took some getting used to, but right now I just cleanse my hair. I deep condition my hair. I moisturize and style. It's that simple, but I do that on a consistent basis. Every week. You can't not be good to your hair and expect your hair to flourish. It's just like a plant. Like, if you got a plant and you haven't watered and the soil is dry, that plant starts to wilt over because it's old. And so that's kind of like your hair. If you don't give it moisture, if you don't give it a nice clean place to thrive, it won't thrive. It's just dead, limp hair. And so you've got to take care of your hair if you want your hair to help take care of you, you know.

Now, for those of you who aren't following, um, uh, Cocabella Natural on Instagram, I would highly recommend that because you still do videos and stuff on there too. Um, and show— I mean, you see her tying up her hair at night and doing the twist outs and wash day and all of that. So if you're not following her, um, I highly recommend that you do that. Now, I do have a question, um, on here about color-treated hair? Um, is quench good for color-treated hair, or is that—

you should—

you cut that out, or, or you tell me what you think is best there.

So quench is good for color-treated hair, color, color-treated straight hair, curly hair, kinky hair, coily hair. Quench works. It's, it's hair. How you use it might be different. Like with someone who had straight hair, they might not use it as a leave-in. They might want to use it as a conditioner, rinse it out. But if you have really curly hair, because you know, of course, when you got the curly hair, um, it has to travel down the whole strand of hair when it's curly, and you might lose the moisture before it gets to the end. So yes, as far as color treated, like I color my hair, but I use, I use dark, so I deposit color. When you go lighter, you have to lift the hair to, to get it light. So that's extra drying. So I'm not saying that you should never color your hair because that's not my choice to make, but you have to be more vigilant about keeping your hair moisturized and hydrated when you have color-treated hair, because it's prone to breakage. Cause it dries— the chemicals and the color dries your hair out. Dry hair becomes brittle and it breaks.

Right. You guys hear that? We are getting educated on today. Okay, I'm just checking questions. I don't think I'm missing anything. Oh gosh, I think Patricia ordered some while we're talking. So she said, yeah, she said she has 4C and then 3A in the front. So she says she's looking forward, uh, to getting Quench. Well, Patricia, please Report back and let me know how that works for you. And again, if you guys are not following Renee on Instagram, please do that. And I'll let you, Renee, share kind of how people can find you on your social media platforms and how they can order your product.

Okay, so I am Cocobella62 on Instagram, @cocobella62. I do tutorials, I do blog posts. I educate on there. I have a Cocobella, Cocobella Natural business page on Facebook, but you can also join my natural hair community, Naturals by Design. Send us a, um, a request and we'll approve you. There's so much education going on there. We have over 8,000 women who are on the same journey. We're doing it together. We're encouraging and uplifting and inspiring. And if you want to order Quench, You can go to Cocobella, C-O-C-O-B-E-L-L-A, natural, N-A-T-U-R-A-L.com, CocobellaNatural.com. It will take you right there to order.

Perfect. And I've also put her Instagram right in the comment section. And her Facebook group, someone just posted, is called Naturals by Design, and Naturals has an S on the end. On that one. Okay, so Naturals by Design. So for those of you who want to join her Facebook group, make sure you let her know that you saw her here on Mogul Moments. And those of you who want to see the tutorials and all of that, make certain that you're following her on Instagram. Now, do you have a YouTube page, or is it just the Instagram?

YouTube also is @Cocobella62 on YouTube.

Now, where does that name come from? I didn't even think to ask you that.

Oh, okay. It sounds vain, but it's actually not. Okay, so I had a boyfriend— this is back in the day— that used to call me— back, back, back in the day when I was a kid— used to call me Chocolate Beauty. And so when I wanted to come up with a name, I was like, I'm not gonna call myself Chocolate Beauty, that's just way too vain. And so Cocoa Chocolate Bella Beauty. Cocoa Bella.

Boom and bam and bam. You know what, I'm here for it. I'm here for other— you see me, I just named my company the Camille D. Jamerson Company. I wasn't even trying to be creative. It's just like, that's all I got at this point. It's like, oh, but let's just go with that. And then my first baby CDJ and Associates. It's like, that's it, that's it, man. I'm gonna get creative with my third company. I'm gonna get real creative.

The thing about it, it doesn't necessarily just have to be me, Coco Bella. We're all chocolate beauties, so I just felt like everybody could relate to Coco Bella Chocolate Beauty, natural skin. So that, that's, that's where I got it from.

That's perfect. And thank you to Katrina, who is also adding all of your stuff, um, into the chat to help people find you all over the place. She's amazing. And Katrina, who is, um, the founder and CEO of Fundamental Spa, um, is how my guest and I met. Um, I was able— I didn't even share that at the beginning. Normally I do that. Um, but, um, Katrina was working on, um, Renee's brand and, and brought me in to do her promo video. And for the promo— I know, that was like one of my favorite pieces. It was a great video. And the song that Renee used for that video was called "Just Do You." And so I thought it was fitting that we use that to title today's MOGO Moment because, like I said, we were talking about infiltrating a market and, um, not really being turned off because you think, um, that the world has so many XYZs already. No, if you have an idea, if you're called to be an entrepreneur, if you're called to be a bit— a business owner, then regardless of how many are out there before you— like Renee gave the example about the bread, um, Butter Weet Bread didn't stop making bread because Wonder did. You know, it's like, just because someone else has your product, they can't do it the way that you do it. You bring something unique to the table that this world needs. So be encouraged. And as the title of Kokobella says, just do you.

Just you.

So Renee, is there anything else you want to say as we get ready to sign off?

No, I mean, just thank you for this opportunity. I I am moved. This was fun. So this is, this is cool. Like, just like what Camille just said, you know, uh, uh, just do you. Don't, don't compare yourself. This, this is my whole message for, for everyone, whether it be another person whether it be anything, is that if you spend your time comparing yourself to another person, you will never fully become the person that you intend to be. Because if you're trying to be like them, you will never be like you. So my whole thing is, never try to be beautiful like her, just be beautiful like you.

You know, I love that. That is an amazing way to end this broadcast. Thank you so much, Renee. You could go ahead and click off. I'm gonna just tell people what to expect next week. Thank you, thank you, thank you for gracing me. Oh, I'm so glad. This is such a pleasure having you. I had so much fun, and I mean, we could have talked probably another half an hour or so. Bye-bye, and kiss that grandbaby for me.

Bye. Yes.

Stay tuned, everybody. I want to tell you about, um, next week, um, we are going to, um, have, um, actually a panel, um, of people next week, um, and these business owners, um, are all people that I know and respect highly, um, and they're going to bring it. We're going to talk about how their businesses were affected by COVID-19. We're also going to talk about what safety measures or precautions they had to take in order to reopen and how they're going to do business differently in the future to be better prepared the next time something like this happens on this scale. So you definitely don't want to miss next week, specifically if you're a business owner, but even if you're not, because if you have to go back to work in a typical environment you want to know some things that other businesses are doing and see if your business is doing those things, because you might want to suggest, hey, such and such business is doing XYZ to protect their employees or their staffers. Maybe we should consider blah, blah, blah. So it would be a great episode whether you are a business owner or not. But if you are, you're definitely going to glean something. And we're talking a brick and mortar business. We're talking a realtor, myself, who is an online, predominantly online business owner. So you'll have it coming from all sides. And whatever your business, however your business falls, we'll definitely have someone to speak right to kind of what you're thinking and feeling and going through at the time. So again, my name is Camille D. Jamerson. If I didn't say that before, I'm saying it now. And I'm the CEO of the Camille D. Jamerson Company and CDJ Associates. I am so honored and pleased that you spent this Mogul Moment with me. I had a blast. Um, so make sure you come back next week. We're going to talk, um, this will be episode 4 of season 3. We got one more, um, episode in this season, and then what, two more next week, and then the one following. And then, um, we'll be doing Mogul Minutes um, for the summer. Those are shorter condensed versions of kind of what you're seeing tonight. So thank you guys for tuning in and joining. I had a blast. Thanks for commenting and chatting. Um, thank you guys, um, those of you that ordered right on the spot. Um, I really appreciate it. Pat and Gina, Katrina, all you guys, thank you so much. Um, you guys really made this a lot of fun. Those of you that are watching via YouTube, please make sure you comment. Um, tell Renee what you think of her product. Um, if you've tried it, let her know that you're ordering or that you're following her on her social media outlets. I'm sure she would be glad to hear from you. Camille D. Jamerson signing out. Thank you guys, it's been a pleasure. Have a great evening.