Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: Monique Rodriguez Talks 'The Glory in Your Story,' ‘Mielle Organics,' Hair Loss Controversy + More

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INTERVIEW: Monique Rodriguez Talks 'The Glory in Your Story,' ‘Mielle Organics,' Hair Loss Controversy + More · The Breakfast Club

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Wake that ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club. Morning.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Everybody is dej Envy Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne, the gud We
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: are the Breakfast Club. We got a special guest in
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: the building. Yes, indeed have Miss Monique Rodriguez.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Welcome, Thank you. How are you feeling this.
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: Morning, I'm great. How are you doing well?
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Doing well?
• 0:19
  Speaker 4: She's also got a new memoir out now, The Glory
• 0:21
  Speaker 4: and Your Story, Activating a fearless faith to change your life, your.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Career in the world.
• 0:25
  Speaker 4: Yes, yes, now you turned a kitchen recipe into a
• 0:29
  Speaker 4: multimillion dollar brand.
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 0:31
  Speaker 4: What was the moment you realized you weren't just selling products,
• 0:34
  Speaker 4: you were actually building a movement.
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: Well, you know, I went into this knowing that I
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: was building a movement.
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: You know.
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  Speaker 3: I created this brand out of necessity. You know, I
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: felt that there was a lack of relatability in the
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: haircare space. There was a lack of great products, healthy
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: products for women that look like me, and I wanted
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: to fill this boy, but I always operated with a
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: multimillion dollar mindset, operated with the mindset of like, I'm
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: going to be on the shelf with these bigger brands
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: one day eventually, and the day that we launched, which
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: was May twenty third, our anniversary is actually next week,
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: and we sought out of every oil that we had,
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: and we had a small amount of inventory, about one
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: hundred bottles because I was a small business, didn't know
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: that it was going to take off the way that
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: it did. And the day that we launched, we sought
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: out of every single product. And I knew at that moment,
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: like I'm onto something because I knew that it was
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: a need for it.
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: I loved the multimillion dollar mindset. Explain that to people
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: for those who may not have one.
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I think success is when I talk
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: about like activating fearless faith to change your mind. Success
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: is all about mindset. And you know, I grew up
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: basically in the hood, right, you know. I didn't come
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: from a lot, but I always dreamed big. And I
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: would look at other successful people and say, oh, they're
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: successful because they're lucky. And I knew that I had
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: to change my mindset and shift thinking that no, they're
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: not just lucky. They worked for it, right, you know.
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: They had to step out and be bold and go
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: after their dreams and pursue their purpose. And I shifted
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: my mindset from thinking that I didn't deserve success to
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: thinking that I do deserve it. And I realized that
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: once that started to shift my level of thinking and
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: I operated from a level of abundance and not lack.
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: More things flowed to me.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: Now, in twenty fourteen, you were a registered nurse. Yes,
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: So what made you say, you know what, this is
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: not for me? And what put you to mind frame.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: To actually create these products? Right?
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: Because people could say, you know, they could take a
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: product and sell it, but you actually had to make it.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: You had to try it. I'm sure it didn't work
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: right away the first time. I'm sure your daughter was
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: sitting back then. I'm sure you burnt your hair a
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: couple of times even trying it out.
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: I don't think I birthed it, but you know, she
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: was a definitely a guinea pig.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: So talk about that procedure and how that came about.
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah. So, actually, so I was a labor and delivery
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: nurse and I was a nurse for eight and a
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: half years. And I became a nurse because my mom
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: encouraged me to be a nurse. She was very traditional,
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: you know, go to school, go to college, do you
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: need to do get a real job so you can survive.
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: My mom was basically about survival. She had that mentality,
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: which no fault because most of our parents' generation, they
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: came from that type of generation. And even though when
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: I was younger, like I've always had this dream and
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: passion to be in the beauty space, my mom would
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: always tell me, like, it's cute, but you know, that's
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: not a stable career. So I kind of like put
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: my dreams to the wayside and pursue what my mom
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: wanted me to do. So it was never something that
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  Speaker 3: I saw myself doing. So when I did graduate college
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: and I started work in labor and delivery, I knew,
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: I'm like, this is not a career path that I
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: want to do for the rest of my life. And unfortunately,
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: after doing that for eight years, I was pregnant with
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: my third child, my son, and unfortunately it was a
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: high risk pregnancy, bless you, and he passed away from complications.
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: And when you go through pain, it's something thank you,
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: something that's so traumatic. It's catapulted me to live life
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: on my own terms and not to live my life
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: on someone else's dream, which was my mom. Because you
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: only get one shot at life, and my pregnancy was
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: high risk also for my life, and I decided to
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: pursue my dreams, do something that I love, something that
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  Speaker 3: was purposeful, something that I can wake up and feel
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: like I have fulfillment and enjoy doing. And I went
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: back to that love as a child being in the
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: beauty space, and I started creating. I'm a creative by nature,
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: and I would just go in my kitchen and mix
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: together like different ingredients and study and research like what
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: ingredients work well on our hair? And I started posting
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: it on social media and while people were following me
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: and thinking like, well, what is this girl doing, Like
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: she's posting all these recipes. It was really a creative
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: outlet for me to express myself and to take my
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: mind off of grief, the greed and process. Yeah, and
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: that's how Mayo became what it is.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: Where did Mayo come from?
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  Speaker 5: The name?
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  Speaker 3: The name? Oh, so that's a great question. I love
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: answering that question. It's actually a combination of my kids' names.
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: So I have Mia, Gabrielle back there, Mackenzie Aril. My
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: son's name was Milan. It's a combination of all their
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: names and their middle names L. So they're my l's.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah did they charge you?
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: They did, because I'm still paying for it today, Like
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: they are always asking for something, right, but you know
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: they get paid.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: Well, how did you go?
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: I feel like I'm skipping steps and I want everybody
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: to go read the book The Glory in your story
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: go from the kitchen to actually getting your products on
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  Speaker 4: the shelves.
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  Speaker 1: What were the steps?
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  Speaker 3: Like?
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  Speaker 1: What did you do? Like?
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so you know, my way of going into retail
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: was not a traditional way. I started in twenty fourteen.
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: We entered into retail in twenty sixteen, which number one
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: is very rare for a brand, a small black owned
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: business to start and not have any type of momentum
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: or leverage and to go into retail. So it was
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: very risky and my goal was to go into retail
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: year five. I wasn't even expecting to go into retail
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: the year that we did, but we had built up
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: so much momentum and we had built up this great
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: community and it got the attention of the retailers. So
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: our first retail partner was Sally Beauty, and they heard
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: about us on social media, and of course retailers they
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: want to be a part of brands that can add
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: value to them. So you can't just go into a
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: retailer saying, oh, I want to put my products on
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  Speaker 3: your shelf and expecting them to do the marketing for you.
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: You have to have something that you can bring value
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: or add to their shelf. And we were a brand
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: that was a disruptive brand and it caught their attention
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: and then they called us to have a meeting with them.
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: And it was so divine because when we got the
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: call to have a meeting with Sally's, their headquarters is
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: in Denton, Texas, we were actually there in Dallas for
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: my daughter's gymnastics competition, not there for any business media.
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: And I actually almost turned down a meeting because we
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: were there with our kids and we're like, well, we
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: don't have a babysitter to go into this corporate meeting.
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: And they wanted us so bad. They were like, bring
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: your kids to this meeting. So they were like five
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: and nine at the time, and they did, and I
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: told them, like, you guys better not say anything going
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: there and sit with your hands folded, like don't move,
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: because this is a really big deal. And I went
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: in there with no presentation, just talked about my love
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  Speaker 3: and passion for this space. And they tested us in
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: ninety five stores and they said, we're going to test
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: you out because you're a new brand, and we'll see
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: how the brand goes. We launched in February and every
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: store that we were selling in sewed out in less
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: than two hours.
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  Speaker 1: It was just because of social media.
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  Speaker 3: It was just because of social media Instagram at that.
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  Speaker 1: Wow.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, when you were in your early stages, that early grind,
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  Speaker 4: what was harder getting capital or getting people to believe
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: a black woman could dominate the beauty space?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah?
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  Speaker 3: Actually both, you know, those were some of the challenges.
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  Speaker 3: I say this all this. My challenges were I'm a
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  Speaker 3: black woman and black women don't have access to capital.
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  Speaker 3: And we actually bootstrapped our company from twenty fourteen until
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  Speaker 3: twenty twenty, so we had no big name investors, you know,
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: no one that was I didn't have a rich uncle,
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: no one was handing us money. We built this from
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: the ground up and we took everything that we made
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: and invested that back into the business. And when you
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: are a small black owned brand, you know, we have
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: to like earn our trust with the community, and you know,
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: being someone that had no celebrity status, and you know,
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: I was a a regular everyday person, a nurse working,
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: so it was hard to convince people to believe that
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: what I was putting out there was actually a real
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: legit product that did well, you know on our hair.
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: But I just kept focus on the people that did
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: support me, the people that wanted to know more, that
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: wanted to be educated on their hair routine. And you know,
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: it's it grows from there. Like your community and your
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: your evangelists are the best marketing tool that you can use,
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: and that's how the company grew. Like we didn't have
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: any money to invest in marketing, we really focused on
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: like serving people and being purposeful in our mission and
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: serving people were like great products, and I think that
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: people also felt my passion and knew like, Okay, she's
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: a nurse, Like she's not going to do anything to
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: damage or to to harm us, and like we can
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: see the results on her hair, so like we can trust.
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: But it took building a relationship. I think that when
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: you are building a brand, it's all about you're in
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: a relationship with your customers. You have to date them,
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: you have to get to know them. You have to
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: know their needs and understand who they are as you
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: know the consumers that you're serving, and then you overserve
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: right with your brand. And that's how Mayeo, you know,
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: sowed and disrupted the industry.
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: And did you.
• 9:55
  Speaker 5: Why did you decide to sell it to PNG, you know,
• 9:58
  Speaker 5: prop Down Gamble.
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a great quest us. So when we decided
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: to sell, it was all about scale and global infrastructure.
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: When you are growing a brand, in order to scale,
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: it's all about access to capital and having the great
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: infrastructure and people to help execute your vision. And so
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: the thing is like we didn't need to sell. We
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: wanted to sell because we wanted to invest in innovation.
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: We wanted to have global reach, and we wanted to
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: be able to create more accessibility for the consumers that
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: we serve. You know, when you look at the Texture
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: Haircare aisle, it's a small space and our community, like
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: we complain that we don't have access to great products.
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: And my whole goal from the very beginning of building
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: Mayo was to build a global empire. And I know
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: that as founders, we did our best to take the
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: brand as far as we could with our resources. And
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: this is a normal trajectory of business. The goal of
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: building a brand is to either IPO or eggs, and
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: I've accomplished that goal. And the great thing about it
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: is I've been able to negotiate my contract to where
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: I'm still on board, I'm still making the decisions, I'm
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: still running the company, i still set the vision for it.
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: So it's a very unique structure that you know, not
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: everyone sees, and I know the community tends to be
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: scared of brands that are acquired, but it's really a
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: great win for us, especially as a black brand, a
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: black girl from the South Side of Chicago. Right to
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: even have the opportunity to have a conversation a seat
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: at the table with the conglomerate like a PNG is
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: a huge win of it in itself, because we don't
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: get opportunities like that often. We don't see it all
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: the time, And you know, I wanted to show the
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: possibilities of what's possible, like we can take the heat
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: us as founders. I can take the heat of breaking
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: glass ceilings because I know that I'm also paving the
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: way for my daughter's generation so she can build a
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: brand and create something great and have a successful exit.
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: Because we build thriving communities. When we build brands, scale
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: them exit, we build generational wealth, not just for us,
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: but for the community we serve.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: Preach Monique. But let me tell you something.
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: One of the hardest things to do in life is
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: to explain business to people who ain't up.
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: Who don't understand business. That's the hardest thing. Wow, and
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: I don't understand.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: How did that affect your business?
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: Right?
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: Because people see it differently. Where did you lose a
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: lot of people or people hating on it? Did it
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: mess business up?
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: How did that affect y'all?
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: No, when we soda didn't mess business up. And that's
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: the thing. Like when we made the announcement, you know,
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: I really took the time to try to educate the
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: community on the why, like why businesses scale up, Why
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: you know we become acquired, and it's to create generational
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: wealth and so we can have more access to help
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: our community. So I put this whole message out to explain.
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: And while we did have a huge amount of support
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: from the community, I mean, you know, like the bigger
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: you are, the more eyeballs are you, You're also going
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: to have people that don't like it, that don't understand it.
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: And I feel that if you know, there's so much
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: access to information out here, right, so if you really
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: want to know how business works, you can research it
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: right and you can take the time to listen when
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: someone's trying to educate you. And I say this all
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: the time, ignorance is a choice. Sure, you can choose
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: to be ignorant when you have information in front of you,
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: and if you just choose to not pay attention to it,
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: then that is your choice and you have a right
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: to your choice. But I'm going to choose to focus
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: and educate those that want to be educated, that want
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: to understand the why, and also those that want to
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: start a business have an idea and what is the
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: trajectory of that. I want to show that by example
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: because it's not normal in our community. We have to
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: normalize this because when I did my deal, it was, oh,
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: you're a unicorn. Yeah that's almost great, but it's not
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: great because we don't want to be unicorns. We want
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: this to be a normal conversation for us. And so
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: it didn't hurt the brand. But you know, I think
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: it also comes with the territory. And I say this
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: all the time. Two things if you don't want to
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: be copied, if you don't want to be great, I mean,
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: if you don't want to be copied or criticized, then
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: don't be great. Sure it was.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: Did you say?
• 14:11
  Speaker 5: I'm sure you saw the TikTok trends of people saying
• 14:13
  Speaker 5: that they lost their hair after you did sell to PNG. Silently,
• 14:18
  Speaker 5: you know, did they have something to do with the formula?
• 14:21
  Speaker 5: They said, this is not the same male, this is
• 14:23
  Speaker 5: not the same formula. And people, you know, it was
• 14:28
  Speaker 5: a lot of people saying that they had lost their
• 14:29
  Speaker 5: hair behind And what would you say to that?
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: Yeah? And you know, hair loss is you know, traumatic
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: in it of itself, and I can empathize with anyone
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: that has suffered with hair loss. I myself has suffered
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: with postpartum shedding hair loss right, And I think I
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: want people to realize, like, this is the reason why
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: I created the brand, Right. I created this brand to
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: serve women with healthier products for their hair. When I
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: made the decision to partner with PNG, it was very intentional.
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: A lot of thought went into the decision making process.
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: This was not a fly by night decision, you know,
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: it was a lot of due diligence done on both ends,
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: my end and their ends. And we have to realize,
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: like when you think of PNG, a lot of the
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: products that are in our household are by PNG. They
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: are a brand that's been around for hundreds of years
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: that creates longevity, sustainability across generations with their brands. So
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: I would never sell to a company that I knew
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: that I thought would harm my creation. Like Mayel is
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: my baby. Mayel was birth out of heartbreak, Like this
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: is something that's near and dear to my heart. I
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: would never sell to a company that I thought was
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: going to ruin you know, my brand. So, and the
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: thing is, like people have to realize that I'm also
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: a nurse, right Like I lead with empathy, I lead
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: with compassion, I lead with caring about the community that
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: I serve. We would never put anything in our products
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: that are going to damage or disrupt any woman's hair.
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: And the people that are saying the formulas change, the
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: formulas have not changed. You know, if people would actually
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: take the time to see our products that were in
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: twenty twenty twenty twenty, right, and you look at now
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: since after the partnership, the formulats are still the same.
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: So the thing is like misinformation is spreads like wildfire,
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: and people don't take the time to like do their
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: homework and do their own due diligence before coming to
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: their own assumptions. But I can confidently say that our
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: products do not cause people's hair to fall out.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: And also people just be hating.
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: You mean to tell me that after you get acquired
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: by product in gam before undisclosing mound, they know you
• 16:43
  Speaker 4: got that cake all of a sudden. It's just all
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: of these TikTok videos online people saying, yeah, the product
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: make my hair fall out all of a sudden.
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it came out of nowhere. Come on, man, and
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: it's the same product.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, come on.
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: And it's like I use the products. My daughter she used,
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: Look at her hair, HER's beautiful. Like we my family
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: uses the products Like this is I don't take this lightly.
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: And this partnership has always been led with honesty and transparency,
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: and I'm gonna be honest with you guys. What people
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: also don't realize is that when you are a smaller brand,
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: a lot of the things that you do can go
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: under the radar because you don't have a lot of
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: eyeballs on you. I've seen brands that are smaller that
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: have products out and they don't even have the ingredients
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: listed on their products. Right when you are a bigger brand,
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: you can't do that. So the level of compliance and
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: processes and the level of strictness that we had to
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: be in compliant with to even talk to p ANDNG.
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: The safety regulations were like through the roof. So people
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: have to understand, like this is a large company, they
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: operate with the highest level of safetiness, right and they've
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: even helped us operate even more safer so people can
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: trust like these products are good to use. Nothing has changed.
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: We operate with the same level of integrity. Everything's the same,
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: other than we just have access to more and see all.
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: The brands that Procting and Gamble has just just my
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: stuff makes your hair fall out.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: Allegedly the black women own products making it. The Gamble
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: been around for years.
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: I would also also say that every hair products not
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: for everybody. Like what you use in your hair that
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: might work for you or your daughter might not work
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: for me or my daughter. You know that doesn't mean
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: that it's it's it's all in people's hairs are different, Yeah,
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: and yours, like there's nothing that to work for you.
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: All proct and Gamble have been around forever and nobody's
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: made those complaints, but now all of a sudden, come on, man,
• 18:31
  Speaker 4: of course, do you think the black community puts too
• 18:34
  Speaker 4: much pressure on black owned businesses to be perfect and
• 18:37
  Speaker 4: they'll give grace to like other billion dollar brands that
• 18:40
  Speaker 4: don't ever even.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: Show up for us?
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: Oh? Absolutely, Like I mean we can see it all
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: the time, Like we see millionaires, billionaires that build companies
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: exit all the time, and we celebrate it.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: That's the point of business.
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: Like, that's the point of business. But when a black
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: person does it, like we tear them down. And the
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: thing is like, we gotta choose our heart, we gotta
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: pick our battles. We complain as a community that we
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: have a access lack of access to capital, mentorship, expertise,
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: But then when we're trying to create these avenues of
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: creating wealth so we can create access to capital, expertise
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: and mentorship, there has to be more of us to
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: do it. Then we tear it down. So either you
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: don't want the access or then when we do get
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: the access, you can't tear us down. Forgetting that access.
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: And that's why I said, we gotta choose our heart
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: as a community, because we can't have it both ways,
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: because what happens is we stifle our community when we
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: tear black brands down for doing what other cultures do
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: all the time. We stifle us because now it causes
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: fear in investors, It causes strategics to say, oh, now
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: you're more risky, so now I'm going to de value you.
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: So me, if I was a different culture, my value
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: could have been more if that risk wasn't there. So
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: all we're doing is we're setting ourselves back because the
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: next mony Grodriguez that comes forward that tries to do this,
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: they're going to ask the question like because they asked me,
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: how is your community gonna feel about this? Right? And
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: now we have to come up with a whole strategic
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: plan on how to relay this message in an educational way.
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: When I ask them back, do you have to do
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: this with any other cultures? Their response was no, right,
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: sow dis.
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: You expound on that one, because I think what you're
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: speaking to is whenever it's something like this happens, right,
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: like you know, you do get acquired by p ANDNG.
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: The backlash from social media can be so bad that
• 20:39
  Speaker 4: it makes these companies be like, whoa should we have
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: done that situation?
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: And they'll think about doing that, you know, to the
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: next person.
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: Right, And that's why it's important that when black brands
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: scale and are exited, we have to show up even
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: more as a community to support those brands because now
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: they're looking at these brands as a case study. They're
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: looking at my L now as a case study of
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: like what happens when you're acquired and does the community
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: still ride for you? Do? Does the community still support you?
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: And again, if we don't support and they start to
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: see sales drop off, then it stifles opportunity for a
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: next entrepreneur that wants to scale. And that's the part
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: we have to realize. And again to your point, we
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: can't expect people that you know, don't understands, not in business,
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: to understand business. But again, like we're creating platforms like
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: this to help spread the word and to educate, right,
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: We're taking the time to educate you. So you should
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: say in your mind, I'm gonna support this black founded brand.
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: Like let's not just say we support black owned let's
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: also support black founded brands right, because we're all a community.
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: We're all in this together. In order for us to
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: create these thriving communities, we got to support us right.
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: Things that are made by us, created by us, not
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: just owned by us. Because you should have the freedom
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: and the opportunity to do whatever it is that you
• 21:59
  Speaker 3: want to do with your brand. If you want to
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: stay small and local you have a purpose to serve,
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: you should be able to do that. If you want
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: to stay online and serve just online consumers, you should
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: be able to do that. If you want to scale
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: and exit and be acquired or IPO, you should have
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: the freedom and flexibility to do whatever it is that
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: you want to do with your brand without being criticized.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: I was going to ask, you know, besides Procter and Gamble,
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: what are other companies trying to acquire you?
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: And why did you choose Procter and Gamble.
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: So we were a hot commodity, so we had lots
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: of strategic companies that were like chomping at the bits
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: trying to acquire us. What made us choose Procter and
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: Gamble was because, you know, one of the biggest thing
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: was that there were people that looked like us that
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: were in high C suite level executive positions and decision makers,
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: so people that had an input or say and what
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: we were valued at had an input to say, like, yes,
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: this brand should be acquired. Were people that look like us,
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: and we also need those type of advocates on the
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: other side of the table that can stand up for
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: us and say, yes, this is a great investment. That
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: was one thing. And then their mission of being focused
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: on good and their employees. The longevity of the people
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: that has been in that company for many years right
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: also shows that you know, this is a company that
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: has great value and they respected us as founders. They
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: did not want to take away from the DNA of
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: the brand, They didn't want to disrupt the authenticity, and
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: they even put in our contract we want to keep
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: the Mayel magic. You guys are going to stay on bord.
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: You guys are going to see this vision through because
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: we didn't have to stay on board. That's another thing,
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: like I want people to understand, like we could have
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: sold the brand and left, but because we are passionate
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: about what we do, we wanted to continue on our
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: legacy in this vision and they allowed us to do so,
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: so they did not you know, say that we that
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: you guys have to sacrifice who you are in order
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: to growth. Growth does not mean you have to lose
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: your authenticity. And that's what stood out, you know, with them,
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: amongst the many others you know, that we had talked to.
• 24:03
  Speaker 4: You know, Yeah, you know, I think there's a lot
• 24:05
  Speaker 4: of people feel like, well, a lot of founders get
• 24:07
  Speaker 4: pushed out when the big money shows up, so they
• 24:10
  Speaker 4: just want to make sure that y'all still calling, you know,
• 24:12
  Speaker 4: the shots, and it's not just a black face on
• 24:14
  Speaker 4: like a white white boardroom.
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah no, Like I'm on zoom calls pretty much every day,
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: still talking about my l and product innovation and development
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: and marketing and different events and activations and how we
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: can show up for the community. So you know, I mean,
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: of course, I am the face of the brand. I
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: created the brand, but I'm more than just a face.
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: I'm also the strategic vision behind it as well too,
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: so I have I make the final decisions on everything
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: that touches the consumers, and I do it because I
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: made it that way. So we put like those safeguards
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: in place to protect our brand, to protect our legacy.
• 24:50
  Speaker 5: And you do through with your husband, yeah, I was saying,
• 24:52
  Speaker 5: And it frees up a lot more of your time,
• 24:54
  Speaker 5: so you can do things like write your book and
• 24:55
  Speaker 5: then I'm sure delve into other business endeavors and things
• 24:58
  Speaker 5: like that. Because with PNG also, it's like like good
• 25:02
  Speaker 5: partners for you, Like they take on the bulk of
• 25:05
  Speaker 5: the factory. You had to do all of this by yourself.
• 25:08
  Speaker 5: Yeah at one point, you know, I'm sure you had
• 25:09
  Speaker 5: a team, but that's the part that they take on
• 25:12
  Speaker 5: as well. Like they make it I don't want to
• 25:14
  Speaker 5: say easier, but a little bit more easier to run
• 25:16
  Speaker 5: the whole shit.
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Like they free up a lot of my mental capacity,
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: so I can have the mental capacity to make the
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: hard decisions, the decisions that matter. And you mentioned something
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: about manufacturing, like we still manufacture our own products, So
• 25:31
  Speaker 3: manufacturing was not even P and G doesn't manufacture our products,
• 25:35
  Speaker 3: That's what I'm saying, Like everything is still the same,
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: Like we still manufacture in Chicago, right where I'm from.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: So yeah, and you built it with your hugband, right.
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: Yes, So my husband we've been together since I was sixteen,
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: on each other since we were twelve and thirteen, and
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: so we've literally like grown up together and when I
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: had this dream, he supported it from the very beginning.
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: Like he operates from a very logistical finance operations mind said,
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: and I'm the visionary, the creator, and like when you
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: just merge those two different sides of the brain, you know,
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: skill sets, like we've been able to build this, you know,
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: amazing company and be this dynamic duo because you know,
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: we both add different value to the company and different
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: skill sets.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: A lot of don't mix business in marriage.
• 26:20
  Speaker 5: You say that, I say the wedding rings says it
• 26:22
  Speaker 5: all that crazy.
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: Crazy yours is too, thank you said about mixing.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: Business business with marriage. What do you think I mean?
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: I don't. I think you have to know, like what
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: works for you and your marriage. Like I've met some
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: married couples that are like, well, we can't work together
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: and they're happier not doing so, And that's totally fine.
• 26:44
  Speaker 3: I don't think there's no wrong or right answer. For us.
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: It works well for us because you know, the things
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: that he does for the company, I honestly don't even
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: want to do. And of course he knew nothing about
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: hair care and products, so he couldn't really operate in
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: my space, and I think if you want to make
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: it work, you have to like take your egos out
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: of it. You know, you can't be in competition with
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: your spouse. And my husband, he was always big on
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: like pushing me to the forefront. He's like, listen, this
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: is your time to shine. Women. You guys have been
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: held back for so long, Like I'm okay with putting
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: you out there and letting you be at the forefront
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: and now just helping support you on the back end.
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: And I just think that it takes a real man
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: to say, you know what, I'm okay with being behind
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: the scenes and you being out there and I'm gonna
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: just support your vision and him not feeling like, well,
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: I'm the man, I'm the protector, like you can't be
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: out there. Like he was very comfortable saying I'm just
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: gonna support you, and he's done just that. And you know,
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: my mentor told me, she's like, there will be no
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: may l if it wasn't for you, Melvin and you
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: or you you like you guys had to build this
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: together and you know it's I think it works for us.
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: And you just have to know like what works for
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: you and have respect for each other, respect each other's
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: roles and lanes and and you know, just be aligned
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: with your vision.
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: Melviourne. He's also a black man too.
• 28:05
  Speaker 3: He's also a black man. Yesdriguez come from so his
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: mom is Puerto Rican. Oh yeah, you're black.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: He's black.
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: But all right, yeah, that's a great question.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: Pick up the book right now.
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: The glory in your story.
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: Man.
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: You are an inspiration, Monique, you and your husband Melvin.
• 28:25
  Speaker 4: I really respect what it is that y'all are doing
• 28:28
  Speaker 4: and have done, and I wish and pray for.
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: Much more successful.
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: I appreciate that. Thank you so much.
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: Rodriguez. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning, Wake that ass
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: up in the morning. The Breakfast Club.