A maker of naturally based beauty products, Brianna was able to open a storefront, connect with more opportunities, and learn skills to grow her business thanks to support from Elevate by Grameen America. She hopes to expand with new storefront locations across the Southeast, allowing her to support local communities, build generational wealth, and set her six children up with more opportunities and positive examples than she once had.
Brianna has always been an entrepreneur at heart. In elementary school, one group project called for students to form a business together. Her group sold brownies and root beer floats. In high school, she made money to buy school clothes by selling candy.
Later, she felt called to start her own business while working in retail. She had many ideas to improve the places she worked at, but wanted those ideas to actually benefit her and her family. So she taught herself how to make high-quality self-care products using all-natural ingredients. She began selling them through online ordering and booths at pop-up events.
Like many business owners, though, Brianna soon discovered that getting started can be an uphill battle.
“Finances were a bit difficult. Before joining Elevate by Grameen America, I was struggling financially due to divorce and bankruptcy. I was interested in getting a storefront but had no idea how I would get the money until Grameen America showed up.”
Before applying to the Elevate program, Brianna had located a promising unit to open an actual brick-and-mortar store in Center Point, Alabama. She had already received the approval letter but didn't yet have the funds to start the lease and move in.
“Before Grameen America, obviously I didn't have a storefront, so I was packing orders and stuff at home and shipping them off and just doing the pop-ups.
And now that I do have the storefront, I've been able to make different content, recording the videos there. We're doing daily videos on TikTok and all that. It has taken off and gone viral, so getting a bunch of shared reposts from that has meant that awareness has definitely grown a lot.
And that's the main thing: just having a central location for people to actually come to or to see us online.”
Brianna says that her main goal, as well as what helps her bring in customers, is her commitment to offering quality products so people can take better care of themselves and have healthier bodies.
“Most people aren't aware that what they put on their skin and in their scalp — as far as shampoos, conditioners, and all that stuff — is going into the bloodstream. Yet, some focus on eating healthy. But you have to fight the battle from both sides and try to be as natural as possible with everything.”
Brianna's most popular product is body butter, and body and hair growth oils, but the business also sells everything from shampoo bars, leave-in conditioners, scalp treatments, natural soaps, sugar scrubs, and beard grooming products to vegan deodorant, body oils, and bath teas.
When asked what has inspired her to keep going, she said:
“My customers. Because so many times I wanted to stop, and I would run into people who would come to me crying and be like, 'thank you so much for making this. I've been looking for this for such and such for so long, and I haven't found anything that actually works, but this does! And the fact that you don't use chemicals and everything else that is safe for me and my children.'
There have literally throughout the years been different customers that have begged me to not stop because of the fact that they're happy to have found something that actually works.”
Another major motivator for Brianna is her family. With six kids at home, one of her biggest goals is to create a financial cushion. She's also teaching her children how to be business-minded and provide great customer service. That way, they do not have to start from square one when trying to some day build something of their own.
“Looking back on my childhood, I realize now that my family wasn't really able to fully support me or prepare me for life or help me plan my future. I had to start from scratch. That's why I'm focused on changing the cycle.
I self-motivated to build generational wealth and break generational curses.”
The loan she received from Elevate by Grameen America helped her open her storefront and invest in it. Developing the space allows her business to be as helpful and appealing as possible to the customers who visit.
Brianna says that the next big investment she wants to make is in marketing her business to build up foot traffic. By doing that, she'll be able to not only support her own business but also bring more customers to neighboring businesses in her shopping center.
In that same spirit, she's been able to benefit from the support and boosts offered by the other members of her local business community, especially the ones at her Birmingham Elevate center.
“They're always sharing my videos, my different posts and things, and sending other people to me to inquire about skincare products.
I also definitely benefit from the networking because it puts my name in rooms that I've never stepped foot in. So I do have people that reach out to me and be like, ‘oh I got your information from so-and-so.’
It's because of them that I was able to find out about an art show and pop-up market at House 11. That was a phenomenal show with great support. People came from different cities to travel, and they were buying my products as well. Another vendor who makes copper jewelry told the event organizers about me, which led to them reaching out to me to ask me to vend and sell my products.
I also got connected to the Vibe Tribe through people tagging my business on social media. Before that, I didn't know anything about the event, the music group, none of that stuff. So I wouldn't have known had I not been hyped up by other people in the community.”
Along this journey, she says that the financial and community support offered by Elevate, along with its coaching and networking opportunities, have had a big impact on her business's ability to grow and succeed.
“Personally, I've grown because I've been able to lease and manage my own store by joining Elevate by Grameen America to get the funds for it. Because of that, now I don't have to think 'it definitely won't happen for me right now.’
So I've definitely grown as an entrepreneur, owning my own store, managing the hours, the setup, the painting, and hair decorations, and everything else.
That's the biggest thing I would say — that and being part of a female group where we are not just talking but actually making moves toward our goals. We're also setting the example for those of us who have children or for those of us who just have friends or family who are watching.”
When asked what she enjoys most about Elevate and what keeps her in the program, she says:
“Uplifting other business owners, bouncing ideas off of one another, and benefitting from the constant system of support and accountability.
I also love those ‘glow and grow’ moments, where we discuss challenges we may be facing as like-minded people.”
Brianna says that her ability to find her footing and succeed so far has had a positive impact on her family.
“It has greatly impacted my family. For one, it's showing my children to not limit themselves, that whatever they say, they can do, as long as they work towards it. And they can know this because they've seen me working for the past five years.
When I first got my storefront, my oldest daughter, who had just gone to college, she told me ‘Mom, I'm proud of you. You said you were going to do it, and you did it!’
And that's the type of feeling and recognition I want them to someday have for themselves.”
Brianna's long-term goals for her business are to open a second location in Birmingham then a third in Georgia before expanding to other states in the southern region. To get there, she says she intends to attend more pop-ups to grow her visibility while also promoting herself on social media. That way, people are familiar with her before they see her booth for the first time.
She also hopes to bring more awareness to Center Point as a community since many businesses have been leaving, leading to shopping plazas that look desolate. Her hope is that by getting people excited about local makers and business owners, she can bring people back to come shop and support their local economy.
As part of her business mission, she wants to increase awareness and mindfulness around the types of products people use on their skin and hair, as well. She says that one of her main goals is: “making sure that other people have an outlet to focus on self-care.”
Her favorite part of owning a business?
“Being able to provide the level of customer service that I do because, for one, it's rare.
And being able to interact with people, get their input on what type of products they're looking for, what they want me to make, or getting feedback on products they've already tried and how much it has helped them.
So I enjoy the satisfaction of being able to help people and to communicate with the public and the community and to help implement self-care because I was not big on self-care before, like in my 20s. It would have helped a lot if I would have known about it.”
Overall, Brianna says that starting a business has changed her life for the better. She hopes that the financial gains she makes, the knowledge she builds, and the example she sets can also help her children grow up with more support, guidance, and opportunities than she once had.
When asked how Elevate by Grameen America has changed her life, she says it's by helping her with “Creating generational wealth, one step at a time. Grameen America has really provided me the business loan to secure my storefront.”
