Chef Pii Confronts Online Critic Over Her Viral Pink Sauce | KARAMO

Thousands, if not millions of people use social media as a financial resource, a way to support themselves, which is great. But one mistake on social media when running a business could cost you more than you think. That's exactly what happened to my next guest. Y'all know Pink Sauce from TikTok, right? Yeah, okay. So Chef Pii says her online business quickly went downhill when her social media followers and customers turned on her. Everyone, welcome Chef Pii to the show. How you doing, gorgeous?

Ooh.

How you doing? Very pleasant to meet you. Well, tell me about the Pink Sauce. What inspired that?

Between the years of 2018 and 2020, I battled with anxiety, and I started using dragon fruit to build the levels of magnesium in my body. That's how I became fond of the coloring of the red dragon fruit. And the Pink Sauce was created.

Okay, why do you think it went viral overnight?

Because it's extremely unique and everyone was super curious about it.

So I wanna know this because first of all, I'm gonna give it up to you big time 'cause if I ever hear of a Black woman that is creating her own business, big up, okay?

Thank you.

Because that is powerful, you know what I mean?

Yes, and thank you.

We have a world that tells you that you're not able to pursue these things, you're not able to do these things, so big up. But when it comes to the Pink Sauce, do you think you rushed the business a little bit? 'Cause it sound like you was like, oh, I wanna do this. I like fruit. Okay, cute. I didn't really hear a lot of planning there.

Yeah, so I did plan. However, I didn't realize that it was gonna take off like so fast. In planning everything, I literally, had 120 units, like starting off on my own in my own kitchen. So this thing like blew up.

Overnight.

Overnight. Overnight.

So how many orders did you receive immediately?

A few thousand.

And you only had 120 units?

I only had 120 units starting off, yes.

See, that's the power of social media. That's the good side of it. It's like, okay, I got this thing, I got the business, but you weren't ready for it.

No.

Did you have a negative response from your customers?

Yes.

Why?

I made a mistake. There was a packaging mistake. So initially someone who received the first order was someone that I knew personally. So she called me like, "Girl, my package looks horrific." And so then I was like, "Okay, we have to put it in. Like we have to stop all of these orders." contact each and every customer. We contacted everyone directly, meaning single emails, and let them know, hey, the shipment got damaged. We're aware of this. We will either refund you or send you a brand new bottle of Pink Sauce. And you know, we did offer exclusivity, like, you know, just special offers to our customers, letting them know like, hey, we care.

You handled your business like a boss. She was like, I made a mistake. I'm gonna rectify it.

Yes.

Okay. 'Cause I need to know, When did you start receiving the backlash and what was that backlash saying?

Okay, so there was a young lady on social media. She took it as the moment to say, hey, this is my moment to become viral. And that is what happened. She became viral from posting that video.

So this is someone who got one of your products. Yes. And saw that maybe if I post about this, I'm gonna get attention for saying, Hey, Pink Sauce is wrong, Pink Sauce is this.

Yes, so I mean, it was so bad, even down to someone lying about their own death. I mean, it was just horrible. And my son saw that video first. I walked in the door and just see my son laying on the floor like, did my mom kill somebody?

Oh my God.

You know?

And that was all in the backlash from people getting online saying things about you.

Yes.

So this one mistake of packaging with your Pink Sauce turned into people creating exaggerated stories about your product, about everything that's going on.

Yes, under 50 orders.

And it just blew up with negativity.

Yes.

So I heard that because of the negative backlash in the comments, you went into financial ruins and you basically had to move outta your house.

Well, no, I moved outta my house for safety reasons.

Safety.

I was receiving threats. People were sending me my address. They were telling me that they were going to post it on social media. There were people calling me with like random events, like calling me outta my name, racial slurs.

Crazy stuff. So this is somebody who sent you an iMessage saying that what, these are like your address, your telephone number, all this stuff?

Yes.

That they're putting online?

Yes. So they were like, oh, we can negotiate. This isn't— and then afterwards they were like, oh, this isn't blackmail. And then I'm like, okay, but why are you sending my personal information? Yeah, I would say over 15 people.

Did that?

Yes.

More than one, I'd have been scared, especially with a child.

Yes.

Can you imagine that? You doing a business online, then all of a sudden people are dissatisfied, so they start to threaten you?

Yes. Yes. Wow. Yeah, it's—

That is horrible. So even with that, why are you so passionate about the pig sauce?

Because it's me. It's my legacy. I'm literally the foundation for my children, for everyone around me, for growth. And I'm raising two young men and this simple mistake, like I tell them, making a mistake sometimes can be detrimental. Or it can impact you tremendously. And I feel like I'm leading an inspiration to them. You can do whatever you want to do. You know, you put your mind to that and you do that.

What's making you emotional?

I guess just releasing everything that I'm saying. And you know, I was a teen mom. My kids are like my best friends. Everyone in the world thinks I'm a horrible person. I created this sauce for fun and food.

What I appreciate about your vulnerability with these tears right now is that I know that we're talking about Pink Sauce and this is fun and things of that, but this is what I mean when I say social media has these negative effects on us that sometimes we don't even realize. You start talking about people posting these things and it's like in the moment you're like, oh, this is crazy or whatever. But after a while that affects your psyche. That affects your soul. All right, when we get back, we're going to talk to one of your customers and fellow TikTok influencers, Allie. I think she's one of the people that you said kept on with the harassment, right? We gotta hear more about that when we come back.

So here's my bottle. I'm just a little worried about it being swollen and I don't know if this is considered swollen. Swollen or not. Check the seal, everything's good on that. Um, the aftertaste, I'm not messing with. It's like watered-down ranch. It's not bad, definitely not worth $20 a bottle, but we support small businesses. I don't know if she's fixing things or not, that's not my problem. Today when I went to go open it Something is not right. The smell that's coming out of this bottle— something is wrong. It's rotten. So I pulled out the bottle and I opened it up and I had to stick my finger inside of it, but there is a piece of glitter. Is it edible glitter? Am I going to die? Is it safe? I would be so interested to sending this to a food safety, um, testing lab and I think it's like $300. I'm willing to send this to be tested.

All right, everyone please welcome Allie to the show. Hi. How are you? Can I have a hug? Nice to meet you. Take a seat. All right, so this is the first time you two have ever met each other, right?

Correct.

Okay then. And you're both influencers, obviously. On TikTok. Now before we go any further, I do have to ask this, Allie, because my producers did tell me that the reason that we had to separate the couches is because you didn't feel comfortable in sitting next to Chef Pii. Why is that?

Yeah, I just, I feel like I haven't met her yet and just kind of the last line of her saying that I harassed her just didn't make me, made me uncomfortable because I never set out to harass anybody. And I think that's like a little bit delusional to say something like that.

So tell me from your perspective, she says that she didn't harass you.

I think it's delusional to send a sample to a laboratory after you stuck your finger in it.

Okay, so let's talk about this because we don't have these details and I need to know this. So when you tasted Chef Pii's sauce, you did the viral video, which everyone does those. People did their taste test. But you then went further. Tell me what you then did.

So I saw it and I was like, wow, this is such a cool sauce. It's bright pink, like I'm a sauce girl. So when I was doing the review, there was just so many red flags that I saw in it. The label, you know, when you make a USDA label, you have to put in batch numbers because if something were to be recalled, you have to be able to trace it down to the salt and pepper that is in something. And so if something—

Okay, not to cut you off, but to cut you off. So you didn't see the video because you follow me, right?

Well, I wanna hear Allie.

I'm gonna give you a chance. Yeah, absolutely. You had your time to talk, so just let me have mine. So I understand like if it does have dairy in it, you see all these concerns, you saw my TikTok, I follow you, you have my address, my phone number, my email. If once I posted my original video, if you wanted to make things right, as a business owner, when you create a product, that's your pride and joy. You send it off to someone, they don't like it, you're like, oh my gosh, like that's my pride and joy, let me fix this.

So you're saying that if you weren't contacted by Chef Pii.

No, and the thing is, if you knew I had a problem with it, you could've contacted me and I could've turned around. And I'm not a hateful person. I could've been like, wow, Chef Pii contacted me.

So you're saying that you contacted me.

No, I'm saying you didn't contact me. I never reached out.

Okay, but why would I contact someone who's fabricating something on the internet?

But nothing was fabricated.

To be honest, you're not special. You're not special. Okay? So why should I lose my mind and approach you directly when you're fabricating something on the internet?

I will say this, 'cause I wanna hear both of your sides. I will say this. As Chef Pii, as a businesswoman, no matter what someone reviews your products, Unfortunately, everyone is special to you because that's gonna be your business.

I could have taken down the video and done my testing and kept it to myself, which I did.

No, you could have reached out to me like, hey girl, you know what? I see what you're doing, it's amazing and all, I'm a supporter, but I think you should look into this. Take this step. Did you research this? Did you check out your packaging there? Versus trying to tear down my business. My business and my livelihood. You could have contacted me directly just like—

Can you receive that?

Yeah, and I keep saying that I should have reached out to you, but, and also, and I'm gonna touch your hand when I say this. When I said that you're not special, I meant that as you're not special as far as someone trying to hurt me. So I didn't take it as a direct insult because I know the industry and I know how people use different topics to build their platforms. That's all I'm saying. And I forgive you.

I think at the end of the day, I think this is a moment of reflection.

Absolutely, and I think it's a moment of learning on both parts.

I think the learning is more on your part.

Yes.

And that's being real. And this is being real here because I literally, the thing is the matter that she is, her business, her livelihood, her safety is being affected now. And these are things that we don't think about. This moment is for you to realize that your power is really in what you're saying and what you're doing. And that one video that you did for that second, the follow-up video had ripple effects that you have to acknowledge is there because if it was on the other foot, You'd be sitting here upset, crying, mad if you had to move every week because you and your child were in danger.

Absolutely.

So this is the moment for you just to say, you know what? Next time I will take this step. Before I post something, I'm gonna do my research. Before I do something, I'm gonna reach out to her. Before I do something, I'm really gonna realize, is this really my responsibility? Your responsibility is to build each other up as women. All right, listen, never forget that social media can unconsciously unconsciously or consciously lead to the demise of your relationships. You must pay close attention because you could invite trouble into your home every time you open your phone. So don't forget to come back next time, friends, so we can keep talking and growing.

Love.

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