Today in the guest chair, we Gwen Jimmere. Gwen is the CEO and founder of Naturalicious. What really stood out to me about Gwen is that she’s already cemented her place in history as the first African American woman to hold a patent for a natural hair care product.

Not only is she a respected authority in the hair care industry, she was named one of the 100 Most Influential African Americans in the U.S. as a 2016 Root 100 Award honoree. She is also the winner of the Black Enterprise Elevator Pitch Competition, and has been featured everywere from Fast Company and Essence to Entrepreneur and The Washington Post.

On today’s episode, Gwen gets into:

• How she quit her job and created Naturalicious with $32 dollars in the bank, she founded Naturalicious
• The way she hustled and marketed during the early days
• What her target customer has to do with Shonda Rhimes
• How she’s been able to push past self-doubt + much more!
  
  

I really love what Gwen had to share.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Stitcher and Google Play

Links mentioned on this episode

• Naturalicious
• National Association for Women Business Owners
• Black Enterprise Entrepreneur Summit
• Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
• Sara Blakely, Founder of Spanx

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Social Media Info

Connect on Instagram:

Gwen Jimmere - @gwenjimmere

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#SideHustlePro

Today on the show, we have a woman who is a millennial CEO shaping Black digital media.

Her name is Morgan DeBaun and she is the Founder of Blavity, one of the fastest growing digital media startups and a top destination for black youth culture. In March 2017, she launched a new lifestyle brand called 21Ninety, a website focused on beauty, health and wellness for women of color. She is one of only 12 Black women to raise over 1 million dollars in venture funding and has been featured on Essence, New York Magazine, Teen Vogue, Nylon, and was a finalist for 2016 TechCrunch Founder of the year.

I first encountered Morgan at the Blavity EmpowerHer conference back in 2016. I was already impressed enough with Blavity to buy a ticket, but what Morgan created in that room, really sealed the deal for me. I needed to start Side Hustle Pro. As a matter of fact, when the emcee asked, I forget what the question was, but she basically asked who wanted to share a new initiative or something, I raised my hand, got on stage and announced to this room full of black women creators and entrepreneurs that I was starting Side Hustle Pro. And there was NO turning back after that. So it's a pleasure to welcome Morgan to the guest chair today.