As Founder, it was initially about coming up with the idea. Nubian Skin was essentially born out of frustration. I wanted a product that I couldn’t find in shops, so I decided to create it. I knew I couldn’t be the only one who felt the same way. I’ve always wanted to be an entrepreneur, and I’ve always wanted my business to be fashion related. I had several ideas in the past and a few that I looked into moving forward with, but ultimately when this idea came into my head, it truly stuck. I realised it was something I needed and was so essential, that it had to be something other women of colour would want. The thing that really gave me the push I needed was receiving a card from my friend which said “It’s time to start living the life you have always imagined,” so I decided to do just that.
As the Founder and Director of Nubian Skin, there is no typical day! Usually as soon as I wake up I look through emails on my phone. Then I’ll check Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to see what people have said - it’s a great way to get direct feedback from customers or potential customers. After that, I head to the office to really get started. I'll have different priorities each day, whether that’s meetings, changing something on the website, logistics, finance, coming up with new ideas, visiting a manufacturer or helping to process different orders.
What three pieces of advice would you give to college students (young and old) locally or internationally who want to become entrepreneurs?
-If you’ve got an idea you’d like to bring to life, It’s really important to research your idea to make sure that whatever it is, it’s valid.
-Make sure you really believe in the idea especially if you’re working in another job. If you’re up at 4:00 a.m. or 2:00 a.m. working on this, then you want to believe in it. You also need to be willing to work really hard. Everybody who is going to start something anticipates that it’s going to be difficult, and that it’s going to be hard, but it will be so much more difficult and so much harder than you can prepare yourself for.
-And also have faith in yourself. If you don’t believe in yourself, then who will?
If you had the chance to start your career over again, what would you do differently?
There are 101 things we could do differently in hindsight, but the most productive thing is to just take them as lessons learned and see how to make the business better and stronger.
What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur?
A good idea, hard work and positivity!
