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You Only Lose If You Quit: with Afro Unicorn Founder April Showers · QUESTION EVERYTHING

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Big things happen when you're pretty, pretty bold, pretty clever,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: pretty strong. I'm Danielle Robe and each week my guests
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: and I have conversations that put a new spin on
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: pretty This is pretty smart. Today's episode is about going
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: after what you want and figuring it out. It's the
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: idea that if you know your why, you simply figure
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: out the how and the what. And let's be honest,
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: it's not as simple as that statement, right. There are
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: times that I feel like I can't figure my way
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: out of a box. I know what I want, but
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: I can't quite figure out how to get it, to
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: be honest, I've been feeling that way about the card
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: game question everything lately. I'm trying to get it into
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: anthropology and just haven't figured out what that in is.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: When I started working in TV, I instinctually understood the
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: landscape of the industry with retail, I just don't. There's
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: a huge learning curve for me, and I share that
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: because I think we all have moments like this when
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: we know what the end goal is and just don't
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: know the path there. Today's guest is going to be
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: a dose of inspiration when it comes to figuring it out.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: April Showers is an entrepreneur, innovator, and the creator of
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: afro Unicorn, a brand designed to represent the uniqueness of
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: women and children of color in a truly diverse and
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: inclusive fashion. She sells apparel, accessories, to toys, puzzles, books,
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: and more. She did what so many told her was impossible.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: She's the first female black owned business to own a
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: licensed character brand in a major retailer. Afro Unicorn is
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: sold in national chains like Walmart, Target, Cohle's, Amazon, JC, Penny,
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: Home Goods, and more. It's on the shelves next to
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: Disney characters, Star Wars characters. Her peers are huge corporations.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: Everyone knows Star Wars, everyone knows Nicky Mouse, So we're
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: positioning it that everyone's going to know Africiniforn.
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: I basically say after for as a modern day Hello Katie.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: But let me back up a little bit to understand
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: the barriers April has broken. I think we have to
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: go back into the history books a little bit. The
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: first barbie was released in nineteen fifty nine. The first
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: black and Hispanic barbies weren't released until nineteen eighty, twenty
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: one years later. And that's just one of many examples.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: Until recently, most kids of any ethnic or racial minority
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: group didn't have toys that looked like them at all.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: And for children, play is serious learning. Through it, kids
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: learn about their emotions, cooperation, self expression, creativity. What message
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: are we sending and what are kids learning about themselves
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: in the world around them when their toys don't ever
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: look like them. But we're living in a different era now,
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: one where entrepreneurs like April are building businesses that amplify representation.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: That video and viral to every block past you can
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: think of sharing it, Viola Davis, Tina Knowles, and then.
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: Oprah Daily shared it.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: I have a mantra, so you help enough people get
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: to where you want to be, you will get to
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: where you need to be.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: Today, April is sharing how she did it, and it
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: turns out will working to help others break barriers. She
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: actually broke one of her own.
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: So I had my first son. I've never seen a
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: positive single mother in my family. I've only heard of
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: negative things about single moms. So when I did become
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: a single mother, I just thought the world was going
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: to come to an end. And so the lesson that
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: I learned from my boys, is that no single moms.
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: Actually do rock.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: So every time I have an interview, I say I'm
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: a single mother of two amazing boys. And I like
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: to say that because there might be someone else out there,
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: like how I felt that didn't think that you can
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: be a single mom, and that was the most horriblest
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: thing in the planet earth to be.
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: But they see this girl.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: It's the first black woman have a license friend character
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: in major retail and she's.
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: A single mother. She can do it. I can do it.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: April's achieving a level of success that she calls her ancestors'
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: wildest dreams. Oh and we also get into white karma matters.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: So April, I read that from when you were very,
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: very young, you said you always knew you were going
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: to live an extraordinary life. What did extraordinary mean to you?
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: Back then?
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: It was a lifestyle.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: I am from south central Los Angeles, Adie ninth and Western,
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: but my mother always kept me out of the area.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: Even the schools that I went to, I was bussed out,
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: So I was a school in Hollywood. I went to
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: school at Cafe La in Alhambra for high school. So
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: every weekend she would take me to like rolling hills
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: or to be hills, so I'll either go to the
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: movies to eat. So I saw how the areas were
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: outside of eighty ninth and Western, so I always knew
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: I would have that type of life for so extraordinary
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: for me was a big.
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: House, nice cars, greenery.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: My family's from the south, so I've always seen trees,
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: and I didn't see a lot of trees in the
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: inner city, but I do.
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: One day I would live in an area.
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: Or it was full of trees, but I would still
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: be somewhere close to home. And I really I'm there now,
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: like everything that I saw as a child growing up
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: is what I envisioned, and it's where I am now.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: A lot of people will say, like you have to
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: see it to believe it, even interviews I'll do if
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: I get nervous, I'll sit in my bed and I'll
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: picture the way they're going, and oftentimes they'll go that way.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: Did anything surprise you? Is there anything now that you
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: have or don't have that you didn't envision?
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: So I always knew that after Unicorn, my brand was
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: gonna be a big deal, that was gonna be a
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: I used to call it a household name. Okay, I
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: just didn't know that I would still be the CEO.
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: This is a wow factor. I really thought that I
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: was going to have to sell the brand to a big,
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: major corporation in order to get it into mass retail.
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: So it is a true aha. And it's also like
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: a god moment. Like you put it out there. You
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: said that you wanted to be a household name.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: You thought you weren't going to still be in the seat,
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: But I'm gonna make it so that you can also
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: still be in the seat and you can witness exactly
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: what you manifested.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: When you say major retail, you mean Walmart, right.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: Walmart, Target, Pennies, Cohle's, CBS, We're going everywhere.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: So you're the first female black owned business to own
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: a licensed character brand and a major retailer. Wow, that's
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: what I said, because when I think licensed characters, I
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: think Star Wars, I think Mickey Mouse. That is pretty major.
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: You're looking at the future the next Walt Disney.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: So what is that distinction? That moment in history that
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: you made mean to.
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: You everything.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: Because it's never been done before, and these are big,
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: major companies. Everyone knows Star Wars. Everyone knows Mickey Mouse.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: So we're positioning it that everyone's going to know after
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: a unicorn, that's a big deal and it's female lid like,
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: that's amazing.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: And it started as your favorite emoji, right, yeah, the unicorn?
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: Yes?
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: And so how did it become this big business?
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: So a friend kept referring to me as a unicorn
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: for over two years, and one day I was like, Quarts,
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: why do you keep calling me a unicorn? He said, well,
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: because you have your multiple businesses, you're.
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: Raising your boys. I'm a single mother, so you're a unicorn.
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: I'm just a woman. That's what we do.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: He's like, no, you do it an extraordinary level. You
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: are in c a unicorn. I didn't know much about unicorns,
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: being honest, I was very basketball video games growing up.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: You know, Shira was my doll that I played with,
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: not my little ponies. So I had to go look
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: to see what they were. I saw that they were mystical.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: I saw that they were unique, and I'm like, I'm
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: definitely blackgir magic, I'm definitely unique. So I started to
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: use emoji over and over again. But it hit me like,
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: after some time, why is it only white? Like who
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: determined to have. These attributes could only be white, so
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: no longer resonated with me. So I went to go
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: find one that looked like me, and I couldn't find one,
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: And so instead of complaining about it, I just decided
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: to be the change.
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: That I wanted to see.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: And that's why how I created after Unicorn. So I
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: was really interested to read that. Your entrepreneurial spirit started
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: pretty young. You had a personal assistant agency at nineteen,
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: an insurance agency, then you became a licensed real estate broker.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: You just were a doer.
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, people ask me, was it my parents, but no,
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: they were both state employees, So it wasn't that I
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: grew up, you know, in a household where they had
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: their own businesses.
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: I just have always been a boss. I've always been
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: kind of bossy if you asked my mom. Since I
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: was two, I've been running things.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: So it was just in me to always want to
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: have my own And not that I saw anything wrong
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: with working for anyone.
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: I just I don't know. I'm a unicorn.
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: It's kind of hard to tame me, and I just
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: couldn't see me working for anyone.
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: Do you?
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: Because you have two sons you mentioned I'm curious how
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: building this brand made reflect on the toys that they
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: play with and the toys that you played with when
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: you were younger.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: So again I'm a little different. I'm like Shira, I
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: made mud pies, but I have boys. They played with
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: toys for a short period of time and then it's
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: all into video and gaming. I think what really helps
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: me when I'm developing different ideas is what childre when
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: I see young girls playing with and what they're doing,
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: and when I see their response just on a T
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: shirt of Afro Unicorn, and to know that we can
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: have it's endless opportunities of the items that they play with.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: To have it after Unicorn, I basically say, after your
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: he is a modern day hello kitty.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: Oh.
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: I like that.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: Well what's interesting too is I heard you built it
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: for adults, not even for kids.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: Originally correct, the very first, very first, first first item
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: tween nineteen was just a pail, okay in May, and
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: then like after I dropped the shirts a week later,
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: like can we get this on the bag? Can we
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: get this on a mud? Can we get this on
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: a notebook? And I started to put all those products out.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: So there was a media demand immedia. So you started
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: living with a quote all gas no breaks mentality when
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: you created this company. What did that look like?
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: Someone said to me that April. You see a brick
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: wall and you go through it. It's really all gas,
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: no breaks. When I launched AUF for Unicorn, my son
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: was in the hospital. He was in the hospital for
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: twenty days. I had already said that May seventeenth was
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: going to be the launch day. He went into the
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: hospital on May twelfth, May eleven, May twelfth. We didn't
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: get out to the end of the month. I think
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: it was May thirtieth. And then once we finally got
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: out of the hospital, I still launched the brand from
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: the hospital. My favorite uncle died of a massive heart attack.
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: Seventy two hours later, his oldest brother, my uncle, died
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: of pneumonia.
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: I had to go to Louisiana for the following week
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: for a double funeral. As a result, it took a
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: toll on my grandmother, who was already not at her
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: best in her late eighties. It broke her heart. She
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: got terminally ill. She died six months later, but the
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: marathon continued. It was all gas, no breaks. So that
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: mentality is I don't take anyone else's excuses of why
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: they can't, why they haven't. If I could go through
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: all of that back to back to back and not
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: give up and truly go all gas, no breaks, there's
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: no excuse why anyone else can't do it.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: Did you feel like did anything residually hit you later?
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: Any of those emotions, the sadness or you were just.
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: Kind of powered through. I carry all that sadness with me.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: I used it as fuel to push through because I
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: knew that it was one, it was bigger than me,
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: and that this movement was going to help other entrepreneurs,
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: other young entrepreneurs, old entrepreneurs, to realize their dreams.
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: So I was hurt.
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: I'm still hurt about it, but again I use that
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: hurt to fuel me to keep going.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: Tell me about how this was started really for adults,
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: because when I look at this plush and the book
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: that you brought, it feels so kid centric to me.
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, it's definitely more kid centric now, but it
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: definitely was for adults. When I first lunch, I brought
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: twenty four women, I was the twenty fifth woman to
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: a table and say, Hey, we're building a community where
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: we're going to support each other.
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: So it started as adults.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: But can I say this not that it's my idea.
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: I was being referred to as a unicorn. It was
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: personal for me. It was created as my avatar.
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: The icon was me.
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: So I wanted to find other people like me that
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: could identify as a unicorn or one to be a unicorn,
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: to have multiple streams of revenue, never relying on one.
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: Source to dictate your livelihood. So that was the goal.
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: But from the gate, before I even launched, there were
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: people around me and said, April, I think kids will
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: love this too, I really think that. I'm like, what
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: do you mean, they're not unicorns. I'm a unicorn. How
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: could a kid be a unicorners, I'm a unicorn.
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: So someone showed me.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: A picture they mocked it up off a little girl
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: wearing a unicorn shirt with an Afro puff with her
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: hands out, and I was like, Okay, I get it.
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: I get that it's for children too. So when I
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: launched it, I did have shirts for children and I
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: but I did lean more towards the women. But those
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: kids came in and might I tell you.
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: They oh, So.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: In a way that I got one post watch just
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: broke down crying because they received a shirt that their
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: mom ordered. They didn't know what it was, and they
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: opened it and they were just jumping up and down,
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: and I'm like, wow, what.
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: If I have missed that opportunity.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: When I saw some of your previous interviews on GMA
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: and CBS, the kids light up, specifically little girls freak
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: out over the Afro unicorn.
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: It's really cute they do.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: So you wrote on Instagram, not everyone is going to
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: see your vision. That's not their assignment. However, your assignment
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: is to see it through. I'm curious how you decipher
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: good advice from bad advice. Who did you take advice
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: from as you were building this and whose advice did
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: you kind of turn a blind eye to.
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: Turn blind eyes to X's or even current their future excess?
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: Oh damn, Okay, there's a whole different story here, yees
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: for a different interviews, for a whole different interviews.
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: Really, what pushed after Unicorn?
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: I kind of like took it out of the story,
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: But I'll go back to give you this exclusive that
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: no one has asked me about.
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: It really came out of me going through a really
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: bad breakup.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: You know, I've heard that before from entrepreneurs. You're not
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: the first person to tell me that it fuels some women.
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: I created the unicorn. The guy that I'm referring to
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: kept calling me unicorns, who's like, you're such a great girlfriend.
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: Like to this other person, it's like, you're amazing, Like
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: you're a unicorn. Women don't do the things that you do,
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: and that's what made me.
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: He's like, you're the unicorn.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: So I'm like, you know what, darn it, I am
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: a unicorn, and I'm going to be this unicorn. I'm
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: no longer going to be a mule donkey. You know,
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: you could fill in the blanks. I'm going to be
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: a unicorn. So I don't take advice from those kind
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: of people. But I had a coach who told me
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: something that you said very early on. But the quote
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: is from Charles's Teacher a millionaire is if you can
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: see it with your mind's eye, one day, you'll get
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: to see it with your realize And that certain things
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: stick with me, and that was one that really stuck
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: with me. So when you visualize it, when you can
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: see it with your mind's eye, one day, you'll get
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: to see it with your realize. Like you'll realize exactly.
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: What you saw.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: I normally wouldn't quote beyond it, but she doesn't do
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: a ton of interviews, and when you hear her speak,
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: she often talks about visualization. Also, it's very.
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: Powerful, very powerful, very real thing. And I also journal.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: I write down what I want to happen, and I
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: write down things I'm grateful for.
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: Do you write it as if it's already happened. Do
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: you write in the present tense? Or you write in
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: the future.
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: So I have a practice.
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: I write down like three massive goals that I want
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: to happen, and I do this daily, and then I
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: write ten things I'm grateful for, and I try to
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: do different things every day because you will get blessings
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: out of what has already been done. So I'll just
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: put it in the universe. I'm grateful that all of
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: these things have happened, and it just opens up room
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: to receive more. It's interesting because I'm hearing Oprah, like
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: people are sending me clips like Oprah is always talking
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: about being the spirit of gratitude. Like I didn't even
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: know she was saying that, But I guess I'm on
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: the right way.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: You know, if you're on the same mindset.
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: She's got it. Yeah.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: So you encourage your customers to connect with you and
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: send videos and pictures, engaging with all your projects. What
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: has it been like to see your message of representation
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: shining through these young girls.
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: It's very emotional, Yeah, a lot of the times, and.
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: It's it's even so to see the little girls to
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: see themselves.
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: It's really.
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: I know, I know I'm part of history. I know
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: I'm going to be like part of their forever. They're
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: taking their school book pictures and Unicorn, so I'm part
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: of their story.
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: But not just.
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: The little girls. We're impacting everyone, not even just women.
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: I went to have dinner two nights ago with my
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: family and the waiter came and I have always were
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: after Unicorn, but he said, that's a cool after unicorn.
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: And I go, how do you know it's after Unicorn?
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: And he looked up. He goes, it's you.
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: It's you. He said, You've been sharing and supporting my
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: business since I started. He started balling out, crying, started saying,
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: there's times where I've wanted to give up, and then
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: there you are a Saturday morning every morning, willing to
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: share my business.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: What do you mean willing to share? You share other people's.
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: Part of after Unicorn's DNA that we support other entrepreneurs.
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: I'm up every Saturday at six am, every single Saturday,
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: from six am to nine am, sharing everyone's page, all
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: my stories for free.
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: Oh that's I haven't stopped for the last four years.
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: That's what we do.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: And you see that people really respond.
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I get so many.
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: That was the one first time in person to get
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: that type of response. But I get messages all day
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: about how they've gotten into different stores and how they
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: wanted to quit but they got to sell today.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: And I want to know about your hardest day as
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: an entrepreneur, Like I know quitting is not in your spirit,
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: yes today, but what's been the hardest day for you?
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: I have my moments. I'm not going to quit. I
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: just recently spoke to my manager about this. I told
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: them when I get into those fearful moments, it's okay
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: for me to have them, because if you're not fearing
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: what you're doing, it's not big enough. So it's the
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: moments that I have is when I don't feel like
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: the message is getting out there to enough people. My
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: competitors are Star Wars Mickey. I mean they have major films,
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: major location based entertainment.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: We don't have that, teams of people, teams of people.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: But I'm competing with these other brands at the same retellers.
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: So when we're going through reports and we're seeing where
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: Africncorn is falling, compare Like, those are hard days because
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: I'm like, Okay, we don't have the big television or
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: movie series or whatever, but we have to figure it out.
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: Do you think that's coming?
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: Oh, oh yeah, it's coming.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that was the first thing.
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: I thought, Oh yeah, the animated series is coming. But
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: I can't wait for the coming. I gotta figure out
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: how to make it happen in the now. Yeah, So
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: those are the hard days to try that whole marketing
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: piece of it making it happen.
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: Now.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: Your experience getting into Walmart seems like the ultimate moment
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: of Karma to me. To take me back to that
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: first moment when that happened.
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: That is so interesting that you said the ultimate moment
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: of Karma.
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: So you must know the backstory.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: I do, but it's kind of what I felt from
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: you when I was researching.
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: Okay, so I have a mantra if you help enough
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: people get to where you want to be, you will
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: get to where you need to be.
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: And I got that from zig Ziegler. There was a
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: little girl, four year old.
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: Cassidy Brihanna, and I had her since she was two.
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: When I say had her a meaning sharing her photos
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: on African and Korn's platform, then promoting her. She's such
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: a live, bubbly little girl. She was out one day
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: in Brooklyn taking photos with her Africancorn's shirt. So I
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: walked by her and said, I love your hair with
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: all the confidence in the world.
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: She said, thank you, It's an Afro.
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: That video went viral to every blog post you can
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: think of sharing it, Viola Davis, Tina Knowles, and then
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: Oprah Daily shared it. And when Oprah Daily shared it,
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: that's when the merchant at Walmart saw it and they
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: reached out to me and they said, hey, Afrikaan Korn,
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: what do you think about doing a party collaboration party
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: supply collaboration. But the karma part is Cassidy's mom had
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: just sent me a car just almost a year to
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: the date prior, and it said I.
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: Hope one day.
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: We will be just as a blessing into your life
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: as you have been into ours. Typically, karma doesn't happen
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: that way, like it doesn't go full circle like you'll
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: put it. You put good out and it'll come back
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: a different way. But it's magical when it literally comes
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: back the same way you put it out. If that
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: video was never made, this opportunity wouldn't have happened. And
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: her card, it's on my desk that we hope that
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: one day we can you know, be I think it
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: was impact.
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: We can impact your life as much as you've impact ours.
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: I think for me, what after Unicorn has done, I've
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: really let, being honest, have lived in the bubble.
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: I've really just thought that everyone was supportive.
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: Everyone does this, So when I latched after Unicorn, was
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: a no brainer to support other entrepreneurs because I've always
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: felt supported in my life. It wasn't until I got
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: into people's stories and were like, no one's ever supported me.
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: I've never felt seen I've always been a Unicorn. This
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: ain't new, Like I've always had people around me cheering me.
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: And rooting for me and all of that.
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: So I just was oblivious to think that everyone else
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: had that as well. And I really say that I
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: believe God created me for this position because of a
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: couple of things. One, I've always just been confident. I've
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: always thought that there was no one better that even the.
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: Skin that I'm in.
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: That I just thought that it was great to wake
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: up to be black every single day and to know
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: that other people around the world, well in the States,
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: probably around the world too, definitely around the world, but
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: didn't feel that confident waking up being black, not liking
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: their hair, looking at other people wishing they had this
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: or that. So I really believe that I grew up
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: with all this confidence, all this support, so that I
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: can really pour it into others. I'm like, what you
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: pop it, you had, like you everything, And I can
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: truly do that from a very sincere place because I
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: truly really believed that.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: It's like the shine theory. Okay that I can't believe
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: that your merchandise is next to Mickey Mouse, Star Wars,
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: Disney princesses. If you can get into the weeds with
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: me a little bit, I'm not even gonna sure, I'm
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: not even trying to understand all of the terminology here,
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: So go slow. But what's the process like to have
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: that type of ownership over a creation, Like how do
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: you license something and how do you get it on
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: the shelves?
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: So you have to have partners, licensing partners.
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: Okay, So I'm gonna go back to the infamous interview
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: with Sway and Kanye. Yeah, because most people don't understand
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: what that was about. And truth be told, he didn't
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: know what it was all about because no one really
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: knows what licensing is really about. So they're going into
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: this conversation where Kanye is saying, no one's giving me
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: the information. I don't know how to get my brand
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: in these retailers and do it like the Calvin Kleins,
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: the Ralph Lawrence are doing it. And Sway is like,
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: you're rich, just go get a warehouse, Just go print
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: your own clothes, go print your own items. He was like,
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: that ain't it, Sway, You ain't got the answers. I
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: lost twenty seven million trying to do.
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: It that way. That ain't it.
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: And so it was information. So licensing is all about
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: the who you know. It's a very small, tight knit community.
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: I just got back from New York and I'm in
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: a seventy two hour period. I met with ten of
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: my partners. While I was there, they were all blocks
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: from each other, and most of them knew each other.
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: I'm not to say most of them, they all know
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: each other.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: How'd you get into that world? How'd you like get
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: into that art? Well, so once you were in the room,
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: meaning Walmart, it opened up the rest of the doors.
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: When Walmart reached out to me, they connected me with
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: my first two licensees. So that's how I learned about
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: the world of licensing.
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: And I really didn't even know then.
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: They were talking about royalties and MG and I'm like,
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: what kind of language are you're speaking of? So I
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: reached out to someone, my now manager, and I'm like, can.
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: You please help me? He reached out to someone.
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: They said, watch The Toys That Made Us on Netflix,
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: And that's how we got our one on one on licensing.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: Just from the Netflix show The Toys That Made Us?
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: That is fascinating. Who do you look to as the like?
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: Is it a Mattel? Like? Who? What brands do you
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: look to as?
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: Was the biggest one? Disney That's who I'm coming for.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: Can you say it into that camera?
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: Disney, That's who I'm coming for. I love it.
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: That's awesome. Yep. So you say a lot on your
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: social media that you're in your Jordan year. I'm a
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: Chicago girl, so I particularly appreciated that. What does MJ
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: mean to you?
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: I think was it MJ that had the quote of
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: he only missed X amount of shots?
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: Are the ones that he didn't take?
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that whole mentality of take the shot, just knowing
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: that if I don't go after the opportunity, it will
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: never happen. Yeah, So knowing that I just have to
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: go for the I have to go for the shot.
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: I have to take the shot. So that's what it
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: means to me. I can't wait to see the movie
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: that Nike has because it's all about licensing and Jordan.
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: So I'm like, and it's coming out in my Jordan year.
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: What you think if you can point to one decision
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: you've made since you started this brand, what has been
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: the most pivotal decision in your success?
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: The most pivotal decision is never ever giving up.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: So you only lose if you quit.
• 28:19
  Speaker 3: That's the only time.
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: And I don't think people really get that, Like, it's
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: not even the outside factors. It's not about the money,
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: it's not about the network. It's really about you. If
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: you quit, it dies, if you say I'm in it,
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: it's alive.
• 28:37
  Speaker 3: It's really that simple. One of my favorite movies is
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: Forrest Gump, Like it's really really us.
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: Yeahs, Like for if mom tells you to run, you run.
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: They tell you to hit the ball across the net.
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: You hit the ball.
• 28:50
  Speaker 3: They tell you they're shrimp in the ocean. Go fish,
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: go get them. Like people make life so complicated. Just
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: be like Forrest, just run.
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: You know, I find when I want to quit, I
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: need to sleep. What do you when you feel like,
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: holy I can't go anymore? What's your vice?
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: I'm right there, We're you sleep.
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: I had that day yesterday. Well it's a nice bath
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: and then it's go straight to bed. But that's my thing.
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: I'm like, clearly today is day and it needs to
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: be night, yeap, And we have to check this all
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: out tomorrow and I'll have a better attitude when I
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: wake up.
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: You know, I have a mantra in my head, don't
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: quit sleep because I just am like Tomorrow's a new day.
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: M h Okay.
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: I have some rapid fire for you, a daily practice
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: that you believe in journaling. What's a skill that you've
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: had to work on your path to success patience? After
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: this interview, that's very you. What's a trait that you
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: consider your superpower?
• 29:55
  Speaker 3: Unstoppable?
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: What big lesson have you learned from your sons?
• 29:59
  Speaker 3: Wow? Oh that was hard. That single mothers really do.
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: Rock a popular wellness technique. Actually, can I ask you
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: a follow up on that? Yeah?
• 30:09
  Speaker 3: Please?
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: When you say single mothers actually do raw? Oh why
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: are you getting emotional?
• 30:15
  Speaker 3: Well, because.
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: I have my first son. I've never seen a positive
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: single mother in my family. I've only heard of negative
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: things about single moms. So when I did become like
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: a single mother, I just thought the world was going
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: to come to an end. And so the lesson that
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: I learned from my boys is that no single moms
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: actually do rock. So every time I have an interview,
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: I say I'm a single mother of two amazing boys.
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: And I like to say that because there might be
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: someone else out there like how I felt that didn't
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: think that you can be a single mom, that it
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: was the most horriblest thing in the planet earth to be.
• 30:59
  Speaker 3: But they see this girl.
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: It's the first black woman have a license brand character
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: in major retail and she's a single mother.
• 31:05
  Speaker 3: She can do it. I can do it.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: It's really powerful to see that imagery.
• 31:10
  Speaker 3: H I didn't see it. That's why representation in all
• 31:12
  Speaker 3: types of forms matters.
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: A good friend who said to me, you never mess
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: with a single mom because there's nobody who has that
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: kind of fight in them.
• 31:22
  Speaker 3: She's right.
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, okay. A popular wellness technique that you think is overrated.
• 31:29
  Speaker 3: Overrated when people detox? How about underrated?
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: I think like just like walking outside off the treadmill
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: in nature.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: A book that changed your life, something you think everyone
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: should read.
• 31:46
  Speaker 3: See you at the top, zig Ziggler.
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: I haven't read that yet. Can I see the children's book?
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: Yes?
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: Our book A Magical Day Afro Unicorn yep. I can't
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: wait to read this. So fifty two cards for deeper conversation. Oh, actually,
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: I'm just going to give him to you and you
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: pick whicheveryone speaks to you because I always think like
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: people get the card that they're meant to pick.
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: Oh, I just pick one, yeah, which everyone randomly. Yeah.
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: In the past, people were buried with items they would
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: need in the afterlife. What what would you want buried
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: with you in the afterlife?
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: Just an after Unicorn.
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: Just I agree with you.
• 32:26
  Speaker 3: That's all I need.
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you are the after Unicorn, so you don't even
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: need the plus nice. So we go, and I ask everybody, this,
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: the smartest decision you've ever made.
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: The smartest decision I ever made was to launch After Unicorn,
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: even with my son in the hospital.
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: Because I almost didn't do it.
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I understand why. Thank you, thank you. You're so
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: I wish I could give you a hug. I'm gonna
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: come over.
• 32:52
  Speaker 3: Here, thank you, thank you.
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: So love this.
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: I want to thank the people that make the show possible.
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: Colleen O'Neill, Jill Salama, Karrie O'Keeffe, and Phil Speed Tech. Okay,
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: you know what time it is. Today's a good day.
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: To have a good day. I'll see you next week