Monique Rodriguez On Building Mielle Organics, Facing Criticism, Staying True to the Mission + More
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
What's up?
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Its way up with Angela Yee and how exciting Monique
Rodriguez is here with me today. You know her as
the founder of my Yell Organics. Welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
Thank you, thank you for having me. Excited to be here.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Man, Listen, I look at you as a celebrity already.
I remember we did a panel together, yeah, for our Bows,
and I was like, for real Moniques on the panel.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
It's just exciting, Semenok.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Wise, you know, just see everything that you've accomplished, and
now you have a book out the glory in your story.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
Congratulations, thank you, thank you so much. Likewise, I feel
the same about you. I've been a fan of yours
for a minute, so it's always good to see you.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
I just saw you the other day.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Yeah, so I've been outside.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Yes, we've been outside.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
We were at Accelerate Her, Yes.
Speaker 4 (00:43):
And it was an amazing conference. I went for one
day and I was just so full just from going
at one day. So yes, it's good to see other
like beautiful black women that are doing amazing things. So
I always we always have to celebrate each other.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
So you're on this book tour now.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
It's interesting because in the book you talk about being
in introvert yes, which is not something that I would
necessarily think of.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
You really everybody says that.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
So how is it being on this book tour but
also having a book out that details things about your
life that the average person wouldn't know.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
Yeah, you know, I wanted to share my story because
I think that people look at me and they see
this like perfect picture and they see the glory, but
they don't really understand like the struggle and what I
went through even as a child, coming out of like
childhood trauma and overcoming that, you know, dealing with the
loss of my son. And I really wanted to use
this book as my living testimony to show people that
(01:37):
no matter what you go through, no matter what circumstances
you face, you can come out on the other side.
You know, there is power in your voice, there's power
in your story, even the messy, the broken pieces. God
will put it back together and restore you, and there
is glory on the other side of that pain. So
I wanted to show and share not just the accomplishments,
(01:58):
right because people see Mayel and they see everything that
I post on social media and it's like celebrated. But
I wanted to show like there is a real journey
behind what you see in the forefront, what you see
behind that glory, And people see the glory, but they
don't know the story. And I know that this book
will not only just inspire, it will inform, educate, motivate,
(02:19):
and bring people closer to God.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Well, definitely that because you were on a journey also,
and God is really what you feel like is the
foundation of everything, everything that you have going on. And
there's times when God even spoke to you and told
you what it is that you needed to do. You
get those signs and you talk about that in the
book too, And knowing because there are a lot of
different things you wanted to do. You knew you wanted
to be an entrepreneur, but sometimes it's choosing the right business.
(02:44):
And owning a salon was something that you had kind
of toyed with. But you're right, that's a lot of
personalities to deal with.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Yeah, And because I am an introvert, right, you know,
it was a lot and I thought about it and
I asked myself, like do I really want to deal
with all of that? Like I really wanted to just
be in my zone and create and even when I
started the company, I didn't think that, you know, I
would have the level of exposure and be out there
talking with people in the community like I've been doing.
(03:13):
You know, it came by surprise because I'm like, oh,
this is what I have to do because I want
people to trust that, you know the products that I'm creating.
I want them to feel the love and the passion.
And I feel that if you don't talk about your
brand and what you love, nobody's gonna know about it.
So I had to like stretch myself and push myself
out of my comfort zone to do things that you know,
(03:33):
I wasn't necessarily comfortable with in order for people to
even know about ma l.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
You know what was important when you told this story
about wanting to own a Salione but then pivoting and
realizing that products is where it was for you is
having somebody to tell you that this is not necessarily hate.
When somebody's telling you, you know what, I don't know
if this might be the right path for you. I
don't know if you've considered X, Y, and Z, because
sometimes we do want people to be supportive of us,
(03:58):
but you also want people to tell you when they
I don't think something's a good idea.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
Absolutely, like you don't want yes people around you because
it's you know, the what you're referring to. The girl
could have easily said, and I won't say her name
because you got to read the books to find out, right,
but she could have easily said, yeah, go ahead and
start a salon and not care and let me go
down this path where she already knew and she's been
there before, and she knows the industry and how caddie,
(04:23):
you know it can be working in a salon and
especially me not coming from that space, having you know,
coming from a nursing background and starting a hair salon.
You know, her point was you may not get the
level or of respect that you're looking for, and that
was a point well taken and dealing with so many
different personalities, point well taken. And I always say to
people you have to consider the source of where you're
(04:45):
getting advice from, right and also ask yourself what is
their experience in the industry. Are they coming from a
place of negativity or are they coming from a place
of wisdom? And there are people that will come from
a place of hate and negativity, but that's where your
discernment has to come in as well, Like you really
have to have that relationship with God to ask God like, Okay,
(05:06):
what direction do you want me to go in? And
God will send those people to also either confirm or
redirect the path that you should take. And I felt
that in that moment it wasn't coming from a place
of negativity or hate. It was coming from a place
of redirection. God sent her, And now I look back
in hindsight, I know that God sent her as a
way to reroute my thinking because the Salon route wasn't
(05:28):
for me.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
The products were, you know what I picked up onto
In the beginning of the book, You've talked about a
lot of the chima that you had as a child,
and you discuss your relationship with your father and the
things that you went through with him. I felt like
you were very careful because you love your dad. So also,
sometimes it's hard to put things out there about people
that we care about in our lives because you don't
(05:51):
know how other people will perceive that. And I felt
like you were very cautious in how you approach that.
How was that process for you?
Speaker 4 (05:57):
Yeah, I tried to be more concise versus cautious because
there was a lot more that I could have shared, right.
And the thing about with my dad is he wanted
me to share his story, so I didn't feel like
I had to hold back a lot of things. I
just felt like I couldn't put everything in there because
that probably would have been the entire book.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Right, So, you know, he set me down.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
I mean, well, we had a conversation and he told
me that, you know, he wanted me to share his
story because I think with my dad, it kind of
shocks him that, you know, I was able to overcome
going through what I went through as a child and
being this you know, celebrity in his eyes and his
eyes living the American dream. And he's like, I want
you to tell my story because I think that your
(06:41):
story and sharing my story will inspire you know, kids
that may be going through you know, broken homes and
broken systems or dysfunctional households and how you have literally
built the American dream. He's like, you should share that
because you're going to inspire people. So I felt really
good about sharing his type simony. And also, you know,
(07:02):
the thing is, like my dad, he's not a bad person.
So I did not want to make him out to
be a bad person, because that's not his spirit, that's
not his soul. I know that he suffers with an addiction.
It's a sickness, and it's a stronghold that's over him
that he, you know, he has no control over. He
made a choice a long time ago, and that choice
(07:24):
his life is a result of those choices that he made.
And I just wanted people to realize that. You know,
we all probably have someone in our family that suffers
with addiction, and we have to look at them for
who they are, their heart and their soul, and we
can try as much as we want to to try
to get them help, but they have to want to
get to help themselves, right, And it's not any fault
(07:47):
of yours. It's not a reflection of who you are.
Because I used to be embarrassed and my dad was
addicted to drugs when I was younger, and I had
to realize that those life choices that he made were
not a reflection of me. What I do is the
power to break those generational curses and to do something
different to change my family lineage and legacy and get
(08:09):
my family a better life. And now I know what
not to do, because I've seen what drugs and alcohol
does to break up families, because that's what happened with
my family.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Right and your husband's here of course. Yes, So hello, Malvin,
how you doing today. You guys got together at a
really young age.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
I kind of feel like you might.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Have been the you know, after you guys had crossed
each other's path several times, you kind of initiated the
actual link up.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Well do you look at it that way? Because I
know couples argueable. We know you were in the me first,
but no, you were.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
I think it was I think it was well number one,
I was twelve, you know when we first sat. Yeah,
so I don't think I was like too aggressive at twelve.
I think I was just twelve year old girls did
later in life. I think that. I I think I
was just you know, presenting the opportunity and like letting
(09:07):
him know, like, listen, you got something good that's coming
across you better better it up because you know you
may not find nobody else like me. So you know,
I just presented the opportunity, you know. And then when
we did start dating, you know, I was like, okay,
(09:28):
we gotta we gotta do better here, Like there, I
have no way to get in contact with you. You got
to step up to the plate. You know, he was
late for our first date, so I had to really
like show him how to treat me. I had to
like set these standards. And we broke up for like
a little minute when we first started dating. So then
that's when he had to come back, and he was
more the aggressor aggressor at that point because he knew that.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
That's a good lesson though that with my ex boyfriend,
I remember he was late, like early on in the
date and I went out to you did the same thing.
You were like, he's late, Okay, I'm outside with my friends.
And I went out with my friends too, And when
he called me, I was like, I'm sid I didn't
know what you were doing. I went out, you said
this time, and you do have to show people how
to treat you, because if you're just they're waiting like
where's he at? You know after that, he'll never do
(10:13):
it again.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
And he never did. Right here he did, so you know.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
You also discuss the rules that you have because you
guys also are work on ma l together right as
a unit, and so there is also that balance of
people will tell you it can be really difficult to
work with your significant other, but it feels like you
guys have gotten a pretty good balance and a good structure.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
Yeah, no, we have a really great balance. You know,
it's not always perfect. And I think as husband and wife,
you know, or partners, you're not going to always agree.
You're going to have disagreements. Sometimes you may be at
each other's throats, and that's quite all right, but you
have to focus on, like what is the overall bigger
picture here? And you know, I really feel Melvin and
(10:58):
I are like, are are like intertwined, like we have
you know, known each other for so long and we
literally think like he can complete my sentences and vice versa.
And when you are so aligned with someone like you
can focus on you know that what you're doing, the
purpose is bigger than both of you and for us,
our purpose is our legacy and what we're passing down
(11:20):
from generation to generation and also the impact that we
are doing on our community and people access all the time,
like how do you work so well together? You have
to like remove any egos, there is no egos involved.
You have to have a mutual respect for each other,
respect each other's roles and lanes, and compliment yourself with
(11:41):
someone that has the opposite skill set that you don't have.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
So if whether it's your spouse.
Speaker 4 (11:46):
Or any partner that you're looking for in business, you
should partner with someone that does something that.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
You don't do.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Right, we can't both do the same thing. You can't
both do it because but is that adding to the business?
Speaker 3 (11:56):
No value?
Speaker 4 (11:56):
And we both offer, you know, two different sets of
skill that brought value to the company, with me being
the visionary and having the idea to create these products
and knowing a lot about hair care and having that
science background. Of course, Melvin didn't know anything about hair care,
but what he did offer was his logistical engineering background
because he was an engineer by trade. I was a nurse.
(12:18):
And complementing those two skill sets together it created us
to be this dynamic duo and we've built this amazing
company together because we both offer two different things. And
I think it's important with any partnership. I think that
you know entrepreneurs, A smart entrepreneur knows how to surround
themselves with people that are smarter than them in areas
that they're not because it's okay to know that you
(12:40):
are not an expert at every single aspect.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Of the business.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
It's impossible.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
It's impossible.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
And he does still have hair. So that's a good thing. Yes,
that's great for the brand. Now I want to ask
you because I know there were difficult times where people
were coming at Mayel and I've been using Mayel products
even before you know clearly like snce way before where.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
We've met, thank you, yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
And so, and I saw you being very transparent and
you said, let me address this head on. How hard
was that for you mentally, because I know it can
seem like it's okay, but that's like your baby. But
that's also trust, right because you've built such a rapport
with your audience and the consumers and people love you.
But in a second, people can also turn the other way.
(13:21):
And I feel like that and a lot of different
aspects when it comes to entertainment any public figure. So
talk to me about that time because I feel like
I do feel like we've navigated kind of past that
and that you did address it head on. Because transparency
being the face of the brand, it's.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
A good thing.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
But then it's also like when good things happen, you're
the face, and when bad things happen, you're the face.
Speaker 4 (13:42):
Yeah, I mean, of course it was hurtful, right, you know,
I think that anyone that says that criticism doesn't hurt
or they don't care, you know, they're not being truthful.
And I wanted to be very transparent and vulnerable with
my community because the thing is, I understand, like hair
loss is a huge issue.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
You know.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
I think that you know, at some point in our
lives we've suffered with both I'm saying me and you like,
as women, we may suffer with hair loss, hair shedding.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
And it's devastating, it's devastating. I remember I had a
bun that was too tight and I ended up getting like.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
You can get alabacia.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Yeah yeah, and it's still like not fully grown back.
And I was like, what's happening right here?
Speaker 4 (14:19):
And so that's the thing, like different styles, you know,
everyone's genetic makeup is different. So the thing is, like
I understand like the heartbreak of people that's suffering with
any type of hair loss.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Right.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
But that's the reason why I started the company because
I care. I care about the women that I serve,
and I operate with integrity.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
And the men and dan us man drops for his hair.
He said it helped him a lot.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
Thank you, thank you, your hair looks great. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
So, like I created this brand, you know, to solve
a problem. I felt that there was a void in
the market of a lack of great products that perform well,
a lack of like high quality ingredients. So I've always
focused on being mission driven and the mission of Mayel
has never changed and has never wavered and will never wavered.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
So I wanted to.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
Address it head on because I know and I can
speak to the confidence that the products that we create,
the processes, the formulas, the formulas have not changed.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Our processes and procedures have not changed.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
We still create the great formulas that people have come
to love from before P and G came on board, right,
And it's because of that, it's why people have made
these accusations that our formulas have changed. But quite frankly,
it's just not true. And so I always have led
with transparency and integrity, and so that's why I wanted
to address it head on. And I think that people
(15:42):
also they forget the fact that I was a nurse, right,
I dealt with people's lives every single day. Like, I
would never operate with any ill intentions or any ill
motive to do something that was going to ruin or
damage anyone's heir. I use the products, my family uses
the products like this is something I love, This is
my passion, and I would never sacrifice that.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
I think people have the conception that if a brand.
When P and G came in and started working with
a brand, people always think that's what happens, right. I
feel like that happens with a lot of products. They
feel like, Okay, well they're going to scale the product,
They're going to mass produce it more, it's going to
be in different locations, so to sup for it to
be more profitable. Because I think people also look at
(16:24):
large companies like that as not being like you. They
look at it as the man, you know what I'm saying,
And so people, I think automatically, the assumption is always
that something's going to change.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
Yeah, And I think that, you know, I took the
time to educate my community on you know, why brands
like Mayel scale up and take on you know, private
equity money, why we become acquired because my goal was
to be a global beauty brand is to be a
global beauty brand. And as a black woman, you know,
we already have a lack of resources, lack of finance.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
The least amount of resources, the least the amount of.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
Vcy to grow and scale our businesses. So at the
same time, while there is a lack of we cannot
automatically assume or tear down brands that receive the abundance
of capital. Because when Amonic Rodriguez receives capital from private
equity or is acquired, that opens the door so we
(17:21):
can have more access to funding, expertise, and mentorship, the
things that we lack right, So we have to embrace it,
and we have to take the time to understand when
information is being given to us and checking the source
of where the information is coming from. So if you
have a credible source that's telling you the why and
(17:43):
you're still choosing to misunderstand why companies become acquired or
scale up, then I feel that you're being ignorant by choice.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
See, I've learned that we should always be building companies
as if we want to sell them that is the goal,
and not even necessarily to seldom because but also just
building it that way. So that that means everything's in order.
So if one day you kind of got to stay ready,
so you don't have to get ready. So the way
you build a brand when you're building it is as
(18:13):
if you wanted to get acquired, because that means that
you're going to be crossing all your te's downing all
your eyes no matter what it is that you decide
to do, and what you decide to do can always.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Change too, Like you might be like I.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Want to stay you know, a small black owned business,
and then one day you might be like, I'm two
million dollars in debt. As you were dealing with this,
I need to get some funding because I might lose
my house. And that puts you in a different frame
of mind. And people have to also understand that too,
because as entrepreneurs, as a consumer, I feel like sometimes
you want to keep things and we have a connection,
(18:46):
and I don't think that's a bad thing. But you
also have to be supportive of when a brand is
saying okay, I want to grow. And you talk about
rich Jennis, because I know he was helpful with the
brand too, what he went through when I felt like
people were tearing him down over shame, way, but then
for him to go and acquire essence and also have
a fund that actually helps with black owned businesses. Those
(19:07):
are things that are very necessary that he probably wouldn't
have been able to do if he hadn't gotten with
Unilever exactly.
Speaker 4 (19:13):
And so we should celebrate that as a community. And
to your point, we as a community, we should allow
the freedom and flexibility for any entrepreneur to do whatever
it is that they want to do with their brand,
and that is the goal to either exit or to ipo.
And you are building your brand. I've always built Mayo
with the mentality that this is a multimillion dollar brand
(19:36):
when we were just in our kitchen, right, And so
when you are an entrepreneur and you are trying to
make the decision do I grow do I take on capital?
The biggest concern for us is how is our community
going to react to it?
Speaker 3 (19:51):
You know?
Speaker 4 (19:51):
And what we do is we stifle the community when
we do that, tear other brands down for being acquired
or taken on private equity because it creates now of
fear for the strategics and private equity firms that either
will devalue us because they're afraid that the community is
going to tear us down after the brand takes on capital,
(20:12):
or they are afraid to invest at all. Now it
makes us a bigger risk to take on capital. So
we have to just educate the community as much as
we can that these are the things. This is a
normal trajectory of business. This is how we should celebrate
this as a community, because we don't want to keep
pushing ourselves behind because we're not creating opportunity for us
(20:34):
to grow and scale. And growing and scaling does not
mean you have to lose your authenticity. And I'm still
the leader of this company. I still lead and make
the decisions. And you can't disrupt rooms that you're in
if you don't have a seat at the table. So
I don't look at it as I've sold out my company.
I looked at it as I've leveled up, and I
(20:54):
brought my seat with me to make those decisions.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Now that's interesting because I just also think what you're
saying is true. You said one of the questions they
asked you was, well, what about the backlash from the
community when you were getting investment, right, Yeah, and to
the brand, And you were like, do you ask other
businesses that or is it just because this is a
black owned brand, because it will make somebody be like, ooh,
what if this changes public perception?
Speaker 1 (21:16):
What if we do this? But that's not a question.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
And it's kind of when you think about Ryan Kugler
doing what he's doing, or certain movies, people will feel like, oh, well,
black movies don't make money if we don't go and
see them. But then you have to show and prove that, like, yes,
this was an amazing investment. Now things that have never
been done before have been done, and now that shows
you what you need to keep on investing.
Speaker 4 (21:37):
Absolutely, like you know, we're working hard to open up
those those pathways, like I stand on the shoulders of
those that have gone before me, like you know, Lee
surprised Carol's daughter, Madam C. J. Walker, And we're working
so hard to break those barriers and open those doors.
And yes, it's hurtful when we're working hard to create opportunity,
(21:57):
but yet we're being torn down by the same unity
that we're working hard to open doors for.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
I do feel like you are.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
And it's interesting because reading the book, you have a
chapter hold on I think I wrote it down chapter twelve.
We can all win, ignore the naysayers and haters, but
don't become one. And that is you know, and look
that was in my bio is like I'd rather be
hated than a hater, and you know, because yeah, it's
(22:25):
not a good position. I don't want to ever sit
around and like tear down other people or be like,
don't support this brand. But you've dealt with a lot
of that in the business. Could you ever have foreseen
how this business like we talk about the salon and
not opening the salon and knowing that's nut, but you've
had to deal with a lot even just having your
own brand, you know, on the shelves in stores and
(22:47):
this product. Would you ever have thought that other people,
other brands would tear, like you said in the book,
tear you down the way that they have, or have
issues with you people you've never met, when it's like
we can't all do this together?
Speaker 1 (22:59):
Can we win together?
Speaker 3 (23:01):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (23:01):
I mean no, I wasn't expecting it because you know,
I am a girl's girl, and like I said earlier,
I love to see other women winning. So when that
wasn't reciprocated, you know, I felt a little isolated. I
felt like, well, am I doing something wrong. So I
made several attempts to, you know, create that camaraderie with
other women that were in my industry, and the love
(23:22):
just wasn't there in return, but it only allowed me
to add more fuel to my fire right and motivated
me to just focus on me, have tunnel vision and
just be great at what I'm doing. And I had
to realize that, you know, if you are great at
what you're doing, it's gonna come with hate. If you don't,
if you don't want to be copied or criticized, and
(23:42):
don't be great, and that's been my model. So just
having the tunnel vision and focusing on like how I
can grow mayel to be the best at what I
can be.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
And the thing is, like I am competitive.
Speaker 4 (23:52):
I'm competitive at sports, you know, I'm competitive with my
kids playing games. I think that's you can have a
friendly competitive nature. You should understand your competitive landscape as
a smart entrepreneur. But that doesn't mean that I have
to like throw shots or tear you down or have
the crabs in a barrel mentality. Like I never felt
that I had to tear another black woman down in
(24:13):
order to win, and I do feel that's why Mayo
has been so successful because I've always congratulated everyone else
you know that has been winning. Like when you are
not in your winning season and you clap for others
that are winning, that's how your blessings flow. When you
see other people winning and you can't clap for them
because it's coming from a place of envy or you're
making up excuses as to why you can't support, then
(24:36):
you're just going to stay right where you're at. So
to your point earlier, like it's not a good place
to be, like to be in the position of being
in the hater seat versus the one that's being hated on.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Right, you can always ignore that, Yeah you can, But
I feel like being a hater is such a burden
on you, Like I gotta really be so mad.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
Yeah, there's energy, Yeah, you know, the same energy that
you're using to hate, Like you can take that same
energy to create, Like you know, and I'm sure you're
too busy, like building your company's your brand, Like you
don't have time.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
You're right about that.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
I do not have time to be negative. Yeah, that
is very true.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
I don't have time to hate.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
No, Now, you talked about your son earlier, briefly and
that tremendous loss that you have, but you also in
the book looked at it from a.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Different perspective, which I thought was interesting.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
You said, I don't believe God orchestrated my loss, but
I do believe He used the stillness that the loss.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Created to speak to my heart.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Yeah, and for you to be able to have that
perspective and also just deal with something but understand that
there's a lesson for you that came with that loss.
I can't even picture even reading that. That part of
the book was felt emotional for me. It wasn't even
me going but I was like, I can't even imagine
how hard that was for you to have to go
through that. The baby was in nick you and the
(25:52):
things that women deal with because we have these conversations
all the time being a black woman and three and
four times more likely to have issues use when it
comes to.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
You know, giving birth and all of that.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
I you know, I feel like this is a conversation
that's being had more now than ever before. It wasn't
something that I felt like was in the forefront, but
now we see when it comes to policy, when it
comes to people being able to speak out and seeing
these numbers and what it is that we can do
about it, how we can kind of more advocate for ourselves.
But sometimes you were advocating for yourself, but sometimes nobody's listening.
Speaker 4 (26:26):
Correct, Yeah, yeah, And the thing is, I was a nurse.
I was a labor and delivery, so you knew. So
I knew, you know, everything that was going on. I
knew when his heart rate was dropping, and you know,
of course I'm in pain, so I can't advocate as
much and speak for myself, but I knew that the
doctor should have been there, and he didn't get there
in time, and unfortunately, you know, it resulted in my
(26:50):
son passing away because of that traumatic birth. And you know,
I use my story to also be a voice for
other women to be an advocate for themselves, even if
you feel like no one's listening to you, like you know,
ask for another doctor, and you know, I don't. I
don't really like to look back and dwell on, Okay, well,
I could have done this better because the story was
(27:13):
already written, right, it was nothing that I can do
to control that. I felt like I did everything right,
everything that I was supposed to do, and I will
not let guilt, you know, overtake me. But I do
want women to understand that you have a voice, and
you can listen to your body, and you can speak
up and advocate for what you feel is not going
right at the time, and prayer forerly and hopefully you
(27:35):
will have the right doctors to do what they're supposed
to do, and hopefully making the decision before you know
you start, you know your pregnancy process, that you're choosing
the right doctors that look like you, that will understand
your needs and not just be dismissive. Because the doctor
that I had was very dismissive of some of my symptoms,
(27:57):
and I was a nurse, so I just felt, you know,
the reason to share that was so people can learn
from that story and just advocate a little bit differently.
But it was very hard. It was heartbreaking, and you know,
I've could I could have gotten mad at God. But
God was the only spirit that got me through that painful,
(28:17):
dark moment. And God used one of my darkest moments
for a purpose in my life. Because God knew that
he was going to elevate me and that I was
not going to forget about him, that I was going
to glorify Him because there's always glory on the other
side of pain.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
And sometimes you know, with pain, you may go through.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
It and you don't like it when you're going through it,
But God is pruning you. It's building character, it's increasing
your faith, it's increasing your resilience. Like different characteristics that
I have now, I probably wouldn't have had if I
didn't go through the pain that I went through with
the loss of my son. The relationship that I have
with God probably wouldn't be what it is today if
(28:59):
I didn't and go through the loss of my son.
So even though my son was here for a very
short time, his life was so impactful. His life has
impacted myself, my husband, my two girls in more ways
than probably anyone could ever imagine. So he served his purpose,
and ultimately our purpose is to glorify God. And so
(29:20):
with this book, I wanted to write it to not
only just inform, educate, and inspire, but to glorify God
at the same time, because there is purpose on the
other side of the pain. But we just have to
unlock that gift and be stilled and listen to God
because there is a gift inside of that pain. We
just have to open it up.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
That was beautifully said.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
I want to ask you too, because when you were young,
what was your relationship with God when you were younger?
Because I know that it's gotten so much stronger, Your
faith has gotten so much stronger.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Going to church is something that has pretty much saved you.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
I would say, as it should, what was your relationship
like as a younger person?
Speaker 4 (30:03):
Though, Yeah, so my relate, like I knew, I know
there was a God, right, But I think I grew
up a little confused because we would go to church
on just like Easter, you know, nothing else. And then
my mom put me in Catholic school one year, and
so their teachings and belief system is similar but still
(30:24):
a little bit different. So I kind of grew up
a little confused of like, you know, my faith right,
and my mom she wasn't big on church.
Speaker 3 (30:34):
I'm not saying that she's not a believer.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
She believes God, but doesn't feel like they have to
go to church just like I have to go to church.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
And so.
Speaker 4 (30:42):
There was no like community of other believers that helped
develop me spiritually, help develop my prayer life. I didn't
have any mentors that you know, helped show me how
to increase my faith in God. Showed me how to
pray right, you know, because prayer can also be intimidating,
like you're you feel like you're just sitting there talking
to yourself and there's anyone listening. But I had to
(31:04):
learn like God is always here with us. He's never
far away, and God is always just waiting for us
to come to him. He's an inviting God. He's not
a loud God. He's not a forceful God. He's just
standing there and saying, like in the spirit, I'm opening
up my arms and when you're ready, I'm gonna be
here for you. And I felt like that has been
my journey for God. With God, like he's always been there,
(31:28):
He's never left my side. And I share lots of
stories in the book where it's like the only way
I was able to get through that situation. Like God
had his hand on me when I was little and
you know, experiencing life with my dad and the places
that he had me, and it was only God that
saved me from things happening that could have been worse. Right,
So I know that God has always had his hand
(31:49):
on me, but he was just waiting for me to
just take myself out of the equation and just start
having that relationship with him. And the only way that
we can have a relationship with God is by being
in his house, being in his kingdom, knowing his word,
and having a conversation with him. And I learned that
going through that loss because my husband and I we
(32:10):
started going to church and we began we got saved
once we started going to church, and that's when our
lives totally shifted.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
So I can.
Speaker 4 (32:20):
Testify to how God has glorified us and has lifted
us up, have brought us through something so devastating and
so painful. And I know how life was before my
relationship with God, and I can say I like life
a lot better on the other side of having my
relationship with God versus trying to figure out things the
(32:40):
Monique way because things were not going the way that
I wanted to go, because I was trying to assist
God and I was trying to manipulate situations to get
the outcome that I wanted. But God doesn't need our help,
he doesn't need our assistance. He's just waiting for us
to step aside, surrender and submit.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
Well, I want to ask you this because I don't
belie believe this was in the book. How did Melvin
propose to you?
Speaker 3 (33:02):
Oh, how did he propose? Yeah, he proposed.
Speaker 4 (33:09):
I don't even know if they have you know, these
places here at the Ciberus.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
What's that?
Speaker 4 (33:13):
Yeah, exactly, it's like a I don't even know if
they're still open now, but it's like a hotel. And
they sold it as like a nice resort type of
you know, hotel that was more special than a motel
six or eight.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
But it really was. But at that time, you know,
I thought it was really nice.
Speaker 4 (33:38):
Yeah, but looking back, I don't even know if they're
still open.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
I think they call that a rump shop. Question. Did
you know that was going to happen?
Speaker 4 (33:50):
I kind of felt it in my spirit, like he
didn't come out the blue, Like we had been talking
about marriage and you know, having kids long before we
started having kids, and you know, he says this all
the time, and I hope he's telling me the truth.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
I hope he's not a lie.
Speaker 4 (34:04):
He's like, I always knew that you were going to
be my wife, So since you were twelve, maybe not twelve,
but maybe since sixteen. But yeah, I think that like
like he knew, and I felt it that he was
gonna You think.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
You knew too, Yeah, of course, since like you always
knew that you would that was going to be your person.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
I did.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
Even when he was messing up he didn't have a
cell phone, yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
Because he used to. He used to piss me off.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
Now, I want to know about some of the rules
that you guys have.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
One of them in the book that you talk about
is that you guys cannot get phone numbers from people
of the opposite sex, right, Like, even if you know
somebody will approach you, it's business, and it's like here's
the assistance email.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
What are other rules that you have when it comes
to like intertwining those two things, like some boundaries that
you have set.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
Up, Yeah, you know, some boundaries that we have set up.
Speaker 4 (34:53):
It's like, you know, obviously when we're out, we meet
a lot of people from the opposite sex, and you know,
changing phone numbers is you know, it's not necessarily because
of like you.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
Know, jealousy or insecurity.
Speaker 4 (35:06):
It's more of a respects you because you know, sometimes
people can take your friendliness or being extroverted as if
they're a broken individual. They can take that as being
flirtatious and for both of us, right, because I make
sure that when I'm interacting with people, I'm always very
nice and cordial, but I never want to give off,
(35:27):
you know, any other type of vibes.
Speaker 3 (35:30):
Right.
Speaker 4 (35:30):
We want to draw the line and say, okay, if
you want to go to the next step, if you
want to connect with us, here's our assistance, right, because.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
You can't control how people will convey exact somebody be like, yeah,
you know.
Speaker 4 (35:43):
Aming his number or I gave him my number, so
you know, we have to be very like, you know,
strict with that. And then also we travel a lot,
and you know, we travel with the opposite sex. So
and I put this in the book, like we are
always on FaceTime pretty much the whole night until it's
time to go to sleep. So we know like each
other and we trust each other. But we have to
(36:03):
be careful with other people out in this world because
there are a lot of broken people that don't like
to see a happy married couple and will try to,
you know, do whatever to like break up a happy home.
And so knowing that we have to just have like
really great discernment and knowing how to read people and
being careful with how we interact with people so it's
(36:24):
not misconstrued or taking the wrong way. But that's that's
a big one for us.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
And what about business and pleasure for you guys when
you're how do you turn it off? Like if you're
trying to be on vacation but things are happening. Is
there any rules as far as like can we not
talk about business for X, Y and Z?
Speaker 1 (36:40):
How do you handle that?
Speaker 4 (36:41):
Yeah, it's hard because especially in the beginning, you know,
like building Mayel was something that brought us so much
joy and we had so much fun doing it, so
when we would have conversations about Mayel, it didn't feel
like it was inappropriate because you know, this was something
that we loved talking about. And then we had a
conversation with our past and you know, Melvin, he would
(37:01):
bring the laptop in the bareroom and we would like,
you know, look at the back end of the website
and he'll talk about sales in the bedroom like where
you know, that's like.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
We're trying to ye much time.
Speaker 4 (37:13):
And our pastor told us, like, your bedroom is a
place of you know, it's sacred and you don't want
to bring work into that badroom. Your bedroom is for X,
Y and Z, and that's exactly what it should be for.
So don't bring in, you know, your work, keep your
work separated at the office, and keep home that sacred
place where you can unwind and relax and talk about
(37:36):
other things outside of work. And since he told us that,
we've taken that advice, and it's been a lot better
and easier for us to navigate not bringing work home.
And sometimes it still slips through the crack. You have
to give each other grace, but setting those rules. And
since we have had that conversation with our pastor, Melvin
has not brought a laptop into our bedroom.
Speaker 3 (37:56):
So he's like, I don't even have a laptop anymore.
Speaker 4 (38:01):
Well, he'll use his phone, But you know, I try
to not let my phone or laptop control me because
you know, it can't interfere. And sometimes even with my kids,
your kids will be talking to you and you're on
the phone. I have to check myself like, oh, let
me be present in this moment. So we try to
practice at least I try to practice it a lot more.
(38:21):
Maybe it's just being present in the moment.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
Now the book is out, how do you feel.
Speaker 4 (38:27):
I feel very free, Like it feels very like cathartic
to just like put my story out there and to
be vulnerable and to share stories and insights that I've
never shared publicly.
Speaker 3 (38:40):
Okay, Number one Amazon.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
All right, congratulations, thank you. You got to celebrate that.
Speaker 2 (38:48):
Oh my gosh, let me drink empty to that. That's
amazing Number one on Amazon.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
I like to think I'm assigned for you to.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
But when it comes to you being on tour, how
has that been with people receiving this story talking to
you about it?
Speaker 1 (39:07):
What has stood out to you?
Speaker 3 (39:08):
Oh? Man? Like, what has stood out the most? Well,
two things.
Speaker 4 (39:13):
One lady she drove six hours to just get her
book signed because she's been a longtime fan, and you know,
that was just like, wow, this is what I'm supposed
to be doing. Like that's impact. We had another lady
that drove four hours and she ended up missing the
entire segment of me speaking. She got there just in
(39:35):
time for me to sign her book, and she was
just like, you know, I know I missed it, but
I just wanted to just see you in the presence.
I just wanted to get your signature. And that's impact,
And for me, it's not just about success of the book.
It's really about significance. So if I am impacting someone's
life by sharing my story and inspiring them to dream
(39:57):
bigger and lighting the fire inside of them to say,
you know what, it's not too late. Because I've read
monique story and she started this company when she was
thirty years old, she was married with kids, like you know,
she went through a loss, she went through heartbreak, like
there is nothing that I can accomplish, there is nothing
that's too hard for me. And seeing my story and
(40:20):
seeing how I dealt with grief, and I say this,
the company is successful, but that didn't save me. God
save me. I had to deal with my grief. I
had to process it because in order for me to
lead effectively, in order for me to be whole, I
had to deal with issues. I had to deal with grief.
I had to deal with childhood trauma. And it's a
(40:42):
healing journey. And we're all the work in progress and
this is a lifelong journey and I just want to
impact people with my words, with my story to just
motivate them to be great, great at whatever it is
that they do, like it's never too late.
Speaker 2 (40:58):
And listen, you guys, so you get the glory in
your story. See that completely sums up the title of
the book. But there's so many lessens here. I mean,
there's this is like a soap opera too. There's scammers there.
Everything is in this book. You know, there's love, there's God,
which we all need in our lives. And I think
this will really solidify that for anybody who might feel lost,
(41:18):
maybe it is time to go back to church.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
Maybe it is you really tapping.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
In and listening to what God is telling you in
what direction it is that you're supposed to be going
in and paying attention to those signs and asking for
those signs too. By the way, but congratulations to you.
I'm glad you were able to come up here. I'm
glad the book is out and I had a chance
to read it.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
Thank you, Thank you for reading it.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
Oh listen, you already know.
Speaker 2 (41:38):
I also want to say, as an entrepreneur, there's a
lot of great information in here. And I always tell
you this, you know, for me being an entrepreneur myself
and reading like certain tips that you have and look,
you've gotten tips from your CFO that's in this book.
Just different people that have been around you, lessons that
you've learned, and you're definitely passing those on in a
time like this. For me being a black woman trying
(42:00):
to get my brand off the ground too, it's a
different type of brand. I have a coffee company, but
it's also just so many things that I can take
valuable lessons from from reading this book too.
Speaker 3 (42:09):
Of course you can, because you're still building a brand.
Speaker 1 (42:12):
Yes I am.
Speaker 4 (42:13):
And congratulating and be patient with myself, yes, and give
yourself grace.
Speaker 1 (42:17):
I will, but not too much. We gotta go.
Speaker 2 (42:18):
Okay, but thank you so much. I appreciate it and congratulations.
Speaker 3 (42:22):
Thank you again, thank you for having me
Speaker 2 (42:26):
Wa
What's up?
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Its way up with Angela Yee and how exciting Monique
Rodriguez is here with me today. You know her as
the founder of my Yell Organics. Welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
Thank you, thank you for having me. Excited to be here.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Man, Listen, I look at you as a celebrity already.
I remember we did a panel together, yeah, for our Bows,
and I was like, for real Moniques on the panel.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
It's just exciting, Semenok.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Wise, you know, just see everything that you've accomplished, and
now you have a book out the glory in your story.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
Congratulations, thank you, thank you so much. Likewise, I feel
the same about you. I've been a fan of yours
for a minute, so it's always good to see you.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
I just saw you the other day.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Yeah, so I've been outside.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Yes, we've been outside.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
We were at Accelerate Her, Yes.
Speaker 4 (00:43):
And it was an amazing conference. I went for one
day and I was just so full just from going
at one day. So yes, it's good to see other
like beautiful black women that are doing amazing things. So
I always we always have to celebrate each other.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
So you're on this book tour now.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
It's interesting because in the book you talk about being
in introvert yes, which is not something that I would
necessarily think of.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
You really everybody says that.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
So how is it being on this book tour but
also having a book out that details things about your
life that the average person wouldn't know.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
Yeah, you know, I wanted to share my story because
I think that people look at me and they see
this like perfect picture and they see the glory, but
they don't really understand like the struggle and what I
went through even as a child, coming out of like
childhood trauma and overcoming that, you know, dealing with the
loss of my son. And I really wanted to use
this book as my living testimony to show people that
(01:37):
no matter what you go through, no matter what circumstances
you face, you can come out on the other side.
You know, there is power in your voice, there's power
in your story, even the messy, the broken pieces. God
will put it back together and restore you, and there
is glory on the other side of that pain. So
I wanted to show and share not just the accomplishments,
(01:58):
right because people see Mayel and they see everything that
I post on social media and it's like celebrated. But
I wanted to show like there is a real journey
behind what you see in the forefront, what you see
behind that glory, And people see the glory, but they
don't know the story. And I know that this book
will not only just inspire, it will inform, educate, motivate,
(02:19):
and bring people closer to God.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Well, definitely that because you were on a journey also,
and God is really what you feel like is the
foundation of everything, everything that you have going on. And
there's times when God even spoke to you and told
you what it is that you needed to do. You
get those signs and you talk about that in the
book too, And knowing because there are a lot of
different things you wanted to do. You knew you wanted
to be an entrepreneur, but sometimes it's choosing the right business.
(02:44):
And owning a salon was something that you had kind
of toyed with. But you're right, that's a lot of
personalities to deal with.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Yeah, And because I am an introvert, right, you know,
it was a lot and I thought about it and
I asked myself, like do I really want to deal
with all of that? Like I really wanted to just
be in my zone and create and even when I
started the company, I didn't think that, you know, I
would have the level of exposure and be out there
talking with people in the community like I've been doing.
(03:13):
You know, it came by surprise because I'm like, oh,
this is what I have to do because I want
people to trust that, you know the products that I'm creating.
I want them to feel the love and the passion.
And I feel that if you don't talk about your
brand and what you love, nobody's gonna know about it.
So I had to like stretch myself and push myself
out of my comfort zone to do things that you know,
(03:33):
I wasn't necessarily comfortable with in order for people to
even know about ma l.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
You know what was important when you told this story
about wanting to own a Salione but then pivoting and
realizing that products is where it was for you is
having somebody to tell you that this is not necessarily hate.
When somebody's telling you, you know what, I don't know
if this might be the right path for you. I
don't know if you've considered X, Y, and Z, because
sometimes we do want people to be supportive of us,
(03:58):
but you also want people to tell you when they
I don't think something's a good idea.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
Absolutely, like you don't want yes people around you because
it's you know, the what you're referring to. The girl
could have easily said, and I won't say her name
because you got to read the books to find out, right,
but she could have easily said, yeah, go ahead and
start a salon and not care and let me go
down this path where she already knew and she's been
there before, and she knows the industry and how caddie,
(04:23):
you know it can be working in a salon and
especially me not coming from that space, having you know,
coming from a nursing background and starting a hair salon.
You know, her point was you may not get the
level or of respect that you're looking for, and that
was a point well taken and dealing with so many
different personalities, point well taken. And I always say to
people you have to consider the source of where you're
(04:45):
getting advice from, right and also ask yourself what is
their experience in the industry. Are they coming from a
place of negativity or are they coming from a place
of wisdom? And there are people that will come from
a place of hate and negativity, but that's where your
discernment has to come in as well, Like you really
have to have that relationship with God to ask God like, Okay,
(05:06):
what direction do you want me to go in? And
God will send those people to also either confirm or
redirect the path that you should take. And I felt
that in that moment it wasn't coming from a place
of negativity or hate. It was coming from a place
of redirection. God sent her, And now I look back
in hindsight, I know that God sent her as a
way to reroute my thinking because the Salon route wasn't
(05:28):
for me.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
The products were, you know what I picked up onto
In the beginning of the book, You've talked about a
lot of the chima that you had as a child,
and you discuss your relationship with your father and the
things that you went through with him. I felt like
you were very careful because you love your dad. So also,
sometimes it's hard to put things out there about people
that we care about in our lives because you don't
(05:51):
know how other people will perceive that. And I felt
like you were very cautious in how you approach that.
How was that process for you?
Speaker 4 (05:57):
Yeah, I tried to be more concise versus cautious because
there was a lot more that I could have shared, right.
And the thing about with my dad is he wanted
me to share his story, so I didn't feel like
I had to hold back a lot of things. I
just felt like I couldn't put everything in there because
that probably would have been the entire book.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Right, So, you know, he set me down.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
I mean, well, we had a conversation and he told
me that, you know, he wanted me to share his
story because I think with my dad, it kind of
shocks him that, you know, I was able to overcome
going through what I went through as a child and
being this you know, celebrity in his eyes and his
eyes living the American dream. And he's like, I want
you to tell my story because I think that your
(06:41):
story and sharing my story will inspire you know, kids
that may be going through you know, broken homes and
broken systems or dysfunctional households and how you have literally
built the American dream. He's like, you should share that
because you're going to inspire people. So I felt really
good about sharing his type simony. And also, you know,
(07:02):
the thing is, like my dad, he's not a bad person.
So I did not want to make him out to
be a bad person, because that's not his spirit, that's
not his soul. I know that he suffers with an addiction.
It's a sickness, and it's a stronghold that's over him
that he, you know, he has no control over. He
made a choice a long time ago, and that choice
(07:24):
his life is a result of those choices that he made.
And I just wanted people to realize that. You know,
we all probably have someone in our family that suffers
with addiction, and we have to look at them for
who they are, their heart and their soul, and we
can try as much as we want to to try
to get them help, but they have to want to
get to help themselves, right, And it's not any fault
(07:47):
of yours. It's not a reflection of who you are.
Because I used to be embarrassed and my dad was
addicted to drugs when I was younger, and I had
to realize that those life choices that he made were
not a reflection of me. What I do is the
power to break those generational curses and to do something
different to change my family lineage and legacy and get
(08:09):
my family a better life. And now I know what
not to do, because I've seen what drugs and alcohol
does to break up families, because that's what happened with
my family.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Right and your husband's here of course. Yes, So hello, Malvin,
how you doing today. You guys got together at a
really young age.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
I kind of feel like you might.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Have been the you know, after you guys had crossed
each other's path several times, you kind of initiated the
actual link up.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Well do you look at it that way? Because I
know couples argueable. We know you were in the me first,
but no, you were.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
I think it was I think it was well number one,
I was twelve, you know when we first sat. Yeah,
so I don't think I was like too aggressive at twelve.
I think I was just twelve year old girls did
later in life. I think that. I I think I
was just you know, presenting the opportunity and like letting
(09:07):
him know, like, listen, you got something good that's coming
across you better better it up because you know you
may not find nobody else like me. So you know,
I just presented the opportunity, you know. And then when
we did start dating, you know, I was like, okay,
(09:28):
we gotta we gotta do better here, Like there, I
have no way to get in contact with you. You got
to step up to the plate. You know, he was
late for our first date, so I had to really
like show him how to treat me. I had to
like set these standards. And we broke up for like
a little minute when we first started dating. So then
that's when he had to come back, and he was
more the aggressor aggressor at that point because he knew that.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
That's a good lesson though that with my ex boyfriend,
I remember he was late, like early on in the
date and I went out to you did the same thing.
You were like, he's late, Okay, I'm outside with my friends.
And I went out with my friends too, And when
he called me, I was like, I'm sid I didn't
know what you were doing. I went out, you said
this time, and you do have to show people how
to treat you, because if you're just they're waiting like
where's he at? You know after that, he'll never do
(10:13):
it again.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
And he never did. Right here he did, so you know.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
You also discuss the rules that you have because you
guys also are work on ma l together right as
a unit, and so there is also that balance of
people will tell you it can be really difficult to
work with your significant other, but it feels like you
guys have gotten a pretty good balance and a good structure.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
Yeah, no, we have a really great balance. You know,
it's not always perfect. And I think as husband and wife,
you know, or partners, you're not going to always agree.
You're going to have disagreements. Sometimes you may be at
each other's throats, and that's quite all right, but you
have to focus on, like what is the overall bigger
picture here? And you know, I really feel Melvin and
(10:58):
I are like, are are like intertwined, like we have
you know, known each other for so long and we
literally think like he can complete my sentences and vice versa.
And when you are so aligned with someone like you
can focus on you know that what you're doing, the
purpose is bigger than both of you and for us,
our purpose is our legacy and what we're passing down
(11:20):
from generation to generation and also the impact that we
are doing on our community and people access all the time,
like how do you work so well together? You have
to like remove any egos, there is no egos involved.
You have to have a mutual respect for each other,
respect each other's roles and lanes, and compliment yourself with
(11:41):
someone that has the opposite skill set that you don't have.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
So if whether it's your spouse.
Speaker 4 (11:46):
Or any partner that you're looking for in business, you
should partner with someone that does something that.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
You don't do.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Right, we can't both do the same thing. You can't
both do it because but is that adding to the business?
Speaker 3 (11:56):
No value?
Speaker 4 (11:56):
And we both offer, you know, two different sets of
skill that brought value to the company, with me being
the visionary and having the idea to create these products
and knowing a lot about hair care and having that
science background. Of course, Melvin didn't know anything about hair care,
but what he did offer was his logistical engineering background
because he was an engineer by trade. I was a nurse.
(12:18):
And complementing those two skill sets together it created us
to be this dynamic duo and we've built this amazing
company together because we both offer two different things. And
I think it's important with any partnership. I think that
you know entrepreneurs, A smart entrepreneur knows how to surround
themselves with people that are smarter than them in areas
that they're not because it's okay to know that you
(12:40):
are not an expert at every single aspect.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Of the business.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
It's impossible.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
It's impossible.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
And he does still have hair. So that's a good thing. Yes,
that's great for the brand. Now I want to ask
you because I know there were difficult times where people
were coming at Mayel and I've been using Mayel products
even before you know clearly like snce way before where.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
We've met, thank you, yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
And so, and I saw you being very transparent and
you said, let me address this head on. How hard
was that for you mentally, because I know it can
seem like it's okay, but that's like your baby. But
that's also trust, right because you've built such a rapport
with your audience and the consumers and people love you.
But in a second, people can also turn the other way.
(13:21):
And I feel like that and a lot of different
aspects when it comes to entertainment any public figure. So
talk to me about that time because I feel like
I do feel like we've navigated kind of past that
and that you did address it head on. Because transparency
being the face of the brand, it's.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
A good thing.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
But then it's also like when good things happen, you're
the face, and when bad things happen, you're the face.
Speaker 4 (13:42):
Yeah, I mean, of course it was hurtful, right, you know,
I think that anyone that says that criticism doesn't hurt
or they don't care, you know, they're not being truthful.
And I wanted to be very transparent and vulnerable with
my community because the thing is, I understand, like hair
loss is a huge issue.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
You know.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
I think that you know, at some point in our
lives we've suffered with both I'm saying me and you like,
as women, we may suffer with hair loss, hair shedding.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
And it's devastating, it's devastating. I remember I had a
bun that was too tight and I ended up getting like.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
You can get alabacia.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Yeah yeah, and it's still like not fully grown back.
And I was like, what's happening right here?
Speaker 4 (14:19):
And so that's the thing, like different styles, you know,
everyone's genetic makeup is different. So the thing is, like
I understand like the heartbreak of people that's suffering with
any type of hair loss.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Right.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
But that's the reason why I started the company because
I care. I care about the women that I serve,
and I operate with integrity.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
And the men and dan us man drops for his hair.
He said it helped him a lot.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
Thank you, thank you, your hair looks great. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
So, like I created this brand, you know, to solve
a problem. I felt that there was a void in
the market of a lack of great products that perform well,
a lack of like high quality ingredients. So I've always
focused on being mission driven and the mission of Mayel
has never changed and has never wavered and will never wavered.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
So I wanted to.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
Address it head on because I know and I can
speak to the confidence that the products that we create,
the processes, the formulas, the formulas have not changed.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Our processes and procedures have not changed.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
We still create the great formulas that people have come
to love from before P and G came on board, right,
And it's because of that, it's why people have made
these accusations that our formulas have changed. But quite frankly,
it's just not true. And so I always have led
with transparency and integrity, and so that's why I wanted
to address it head on. And I think that people
(15:42):
also they forget the fact that I was a nurse, right,
I dealt with people's lives every single day. Like, I
would never operate with any ill intentions or any ill
motive to do something that was going to ruin or
damage anyone's heir. I use the products, my family uses
the products like this is something I love, This is
my passion, and I would never sacrifice that.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
I think people have the conception that if a brand.
When P and G came in and started working with
a brand, people always think that's what happens, right. I
feel like that happens with a lot of products. They
feel like, Okay, well they're going to scale the product,
They're going to mass produce it more, it's going to
be in different locations, so to sup for it to
be more profitable. Because I think people also look at
(16:24):
large companies like that as not being like you. They
look at it as the man, you know what I'm saying,
And so people, I think automatically, the assumption is always
that something's going to change.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
Yeah, And I think that, you know, I took the
time to educate my community on you know, why brands
like Mayel scale up and take on you know, private
equity money, why we become acquired because my goal was
to be a global beauty brand is to be a
global beauty brand. And as a black woman, you know,
we already have a lack of resources, lack of finance.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
The least amount of resources, the least the amount of.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
Vcy to grow and scale our businesses. So at the
same time, while there is a lack of we cannot
automatically assume or tear down brands that receive the abundance
of capital. Because when Amonic Rodriguez receives capital from private
equity or is acquired, that opens the door so we
(17:21):
can have more access to funding, expertise, and mentorship, the
things that we lack right, So we have to embrace it,
and we have to take the time to understand when
information is being given to us and checking the source
of where the information is coming from. So if you
have a credible source that's telling you the why and
(17:43):
you're still choosing to misunderstand why companies become acquired or
scale up, then I feel that you're being ignorant by choice.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
See, I've learned that we should always be building companies
as if we want to sell them that is the goal,
and not even necessarily to seldom because but also just
building it that way. So that that means everything's in order.
So if one day you kind of got to stay ready,
so you don't have to get ready. So the way
you build a brand when you're building it is as
(18:13):
if you wanted to get acquired, because that means that
you're going to be crossing all your te's downing all
your eyes no matter what it is that you decide
to do, and what you decide to do can always.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Change too, Like you might be like I.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Want to stay you know, a small black owned business,
and then one day you might be like, I'm two
million dollars in debt. As you were dealing with this,
I need to get some funding because I might lose
my house. And that puts you in a different frame
of mind. And people have to also understand that too,
because as entrepreneurs, as a consumer, I feel like sometimes
you want to keep things and we have a connection,
(18:46):
and I don't think that's a bad thing. But you
also have to be supportive of when a brand is
saying okay, I want to grow. And you talk about
rich Jennis, because I know he was helpful with the
brand too, what he went through when I felt like
people were tearing him down over shame, way, but then
for him to go and acquire essence and also have
a fund that actually helps with black owned businesses. Those
(19:07):
are things that are very necessary that he probably wouldn't
have been able to do if he hadn't gotten with
Unilever exactly.
Speaker 4 (19:13):
And so we should celebrate that as a community. And
to your point, we as a community, we should allow
the freedom and flexibility for any entrepreneur to do whatever
it is that they want to do with their brand,
and that is the goal to either exit or to ipo.
And you are building your brand. I've always built Mayo
with the mentality that this is a multimillion dollar brand
(19:36):
when we were just in our kitchen, right, And so
when you are an entrepreneur and you are trying to
make the decision do I grow do I take on capital?
The biggest concern for us is how is our community
going to react to it?
Speaker 3 (19:51):
You know?
Speaker 4 (19:51):
And what we do is we stifle the community when
we do that, tear other brands down for being acquired
or taken on private equity because it creates now of
fear for the strategics and private equity firms that either
will devalue us because they're afraid that the community is
going to tear us down after the brand takes on capital,
(20:12):
or they are afraid to invest at all. Now it
makes us a bigger risk to take on capital. So
we have to just educate the community as much as
we can that these are the things. This is a
normal trajectory of business. This is how we should celebrate
this as a community, because we don't want to keep
pushing ourselves behind because we're not creating opportunity for us
(20:34):
to grow and scale. And growing and scaling does not
mean you have to lose your authenticity. And I'm still
the leader of this company. I still lead and make
the decisions. And you can't disrupt rooms that you're in
if you don't have a seat at the table. So
I don't look at it as I've sold out my company.
I looked at it as I've leveled up, and I
(20:54):
brought my seat with me to make those decisions.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Now that's interesting because I just also think what you're
saying is true. You said one of the questions they
asked you was, well, what about the backlash from the
community when you were getting investment, right, Yeah, and to
the brand, And you were like, do you ask other
businesses that or is it just because this is a
black owned brand, because it will make somebody be like, ooh,
what if this changes public perception?
Speaker 1 (21:16):
What if we do this? But that's not a question.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
And it's kind of when you think about Ryan Kugler
doing what he's doing, or certain movies, people will feel like, oh, well,
black movies don't make money if we don't go and
see them. But then you have to show and prove that, like, yes,
this was an amazing investment. Now things that have never
been done before have been done, and now that shows
you what you need to keep on investing.
Speaker 4 (21:37):
Absolutely, like you know, we're working hard to open up
those those pathways, like I stand on the shoulders of
those that have gone before me, like you know, Lee
surprised Carol's daughter, Madam C. J. Walker, And we're working
so hard to break those barriers and open those doors.
And yes, it's hurtful when we're working hard to create opportunity,
(21:57):
but yet we're being torn down by the same unity
that we're working hard to open doors for.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
I do feel like you are.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
And it's interesting because reading the book, you have a
chapter hold on I think I wrote it down chapter twelve.
We can all win, ignore the naysayers and haters, but
don't become one. And that is you know, and look
that was in my bio is like I'd rather be
hated than a hater, and you know, because yeah, it's
(22:25):
not a good position. I don't want to ever sit
around and like tear down other people or be like,
don't support this brand. But you've dealt with a lot
of that in the business. Could you ever have foreseen
how this business like we talk about the salon and
not opening the salon and knowing that's nut, but you've
had to deal with a lot even just having your
own brand, you know, on the shelves in stores and
(22:47):
this product. Would you ever have thought that other people,
other brands would tear, like you said in the book,
tear you down the way that they have, or have
issues with you people you've never met, when it's like
we can't all do this together?
Speaker 1 (22:59):
Can we win together?
Speaker 3 (23:01):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (23:01):
I mean no, I wasn't expecting it because you know,
I am a girl's girl, and like I said earlier,
I love to see other women winning. So when that
wasn't reciprocated, you know, I felt a little isolated. I
felt like, well, am I doing something wrong. So I
made several attempts to, you know, create that camaraderie with
other women that were in my industry, and the love
(23:22):
just wasn't there in return, but it only allowed me
to add more fuel to my fire right and motivated
me to just focus on me, have tunnel vision and
just be great at what I'm doing. And I had
to realize that, you know, if you are great at
what you're doing, it's gonna come with hate. If you don't,
if you don't want to be copied or criticized, and
(23:42):
don't be great, and that's been my model. So just
having the tunnel vision and focusing on like how I
can grow mayel to be the best at what I
can be.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
And the thing is, like I am competitive.
Speaker 4 (23:52):
I'm competitive at sports, you know, I'm competitive with my
kids playing games. I think that's you can have a
friendly competitive nature. You should understand your competitive landscape as
a smart entrepreneur. But that doesn't mean that I have
to like throw shots or tear you down or have
the crabs in a barrel mentality. Like I never felt
that I had to tear another black woman down in
(24:13):
order to win, and I do feel that's why Mayo
has been so successful because I've always congratulated everyone else
you know that has been winning. Like when you are
not in your winning season and you clap for others
that are winning, that's how your blessings flow. When you
see other people winning and you can't clap for them
because it's coming from a place of envy or you're
making up excuses as to why you can't support, then
(24:36):
you're just going to stay right where you're at. So
to your point earlier, like it's not a good place
to be, like to be in the position of being
in the hater seat versus the one that's being hated on.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Right, you can always ignore that, Yeah you can, But
I feel like being a hater is such a burden
on you, Like I gotta really be so mad.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
Yeah, there's energy, Yeah, you know, the same energy that
you're using to hate, Like you can take that same
energy to create, Like you know, and I'm sure you're
too busy, like building your company's your brand, Like you
don't have time.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
You're right about that.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
I do not have time to be negative. Yeah, that
is very true.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
I don't have time to hate.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
No, Now, you talked about your son earlier, briefly and
that tremendous loss that you have, but you also in
the book looked at it from a.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Different perspective, which I thought was interesting.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
You said, I don't believe God orchestrated my loss, but
I do believe He used the stillness that the loss.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Created to speak to my heart.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Yeah, and for you to be able to have that
perspective and also just deal with something but understand that
there's a lesson for you that came with that loss.
I can't even picture even reading that. That part of
the book was felt emotional for me. It wasn't even
me going but I was like, I can't even imagine
how hard that was for you to have to go
through that. The baby was in nick you and the
(25:52):
things that women deal with because we have these conversations
all the time being a black woman and three and
four times more likely to have issues use when it
comes to.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
You know, giving birth and all of that.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
I you know, I feel like this is a conversation
that's being had more now than ever before. It wasn't
something that I felt like was in the forefront, but
now we see when it comes to policy, when it
comes to people being able to speak out and seeing
these numbers and what it is that we can do
about it, how we can kind of more advocate for ourselves.
But sometimes you were advocating for yourself, but sometimes nobody's listening.
Speaker 4 (26:26):
Correct, Yeah, yeah, And the thing is, I was a nurse.
I was a labor and delivery, so you knew. So
I knew, you know, everything that was going on. I
knew when his heart rate was dropping, and you know,
of course I'm in pain, so I can't advocate as
much and speak for myself, but I knew that the
doctor should have been there, and he didn't get there
in time, and unfortunately, you know, it resulted in my
(26:50):
son passing away because of that traumatic birth. And you know,
I use my story to also be a voice for
other women to be an advocate for themselves, even if
you feel like no one's listening to you, like you know,
ask for another doctor, and you know, I don't. I
don't really like to look back and dwell on, Okay, well,
I could have done this better because the story was
(27:13):
already written, right, it was nothing that I can do
to control that. I felt like I did everything right,
everything that I was supposed to do, and I will
not let guilt, you know, overtake me. But I do
want women to understand that you have a voice, and
you can listen to your body, and you can speak
up and advocate for what you feel is not going
right at the time, and prayer forerly and hopefully you
(27:35):
will have the right doctors to do what they're supposed
to do, and hopefully making the decision before you know
you start, you know your pregnancy process, that you're choosing
the right doctors that look like you, that will understand
your needs and not just be dismissive. Because the doctor
that I had was very dismissive of some of my symptoms,
(27:57):
and I was a nurse, so I just felt, you know,
the reason to share that was so people can learn
from that story and just advocate a little bit differently.
But it was very hard. It was heartbreaking, and you know,
I've could I could have gotten mad at God. But
God was the only spirit that got me through that painful,
(28:17):
dark moment. And God used one of my darkest moments
for a purpose in my life. Because God knew that
he was going to elevate me and that I was
not going to forget about him, that I was going
to glorify Him because there's always glory on the other
side of pain.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
And sometimes you know, with pain, you may go through.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
It and you don't like it when you're going through it,
But God is pruning you. It's building character, it's increasing
your faith, it's increasing your resilience. Like different characteristics that
I have now, I probably wouldn't have had if I
didn't go through the pain that I went through with
the loss of my son. The relationship that I have
with God probably wouldn't be what it is today if
(28:59):
I didn't and go through the loss of my son.
So even though my son was here for a very
short time, his life was so impactful. His life has
impacted myself, my husband, my two girls in more ways
than probably anyone could ever imagine. So he served his purpose,
and ultimately our purpose is to glorify God. And so
(29:20):
with this book, I wanted to write it to not
only just inform, educate, and inspire, but to glorify God
at the same time, because there is purpose on the
other side of the pain. But we just have to
unlock that gift and be stilled and listen to God
because there is a gift inside of that pain. We
just have to open it up.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
That was beautifully said.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
I want to ask you too, because when you were young,
what was your relationship with God when you were younger?
Because I know that it's gotten so much stronger, Your
faith has gotten so much stronger.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Going to church is something that has pretty much saved you.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
I would say, as it should, what was your relationship
like as a younger person?
Speaker 4 (30:03):
Though, Yeah, so my relate, like I knew, I know
there was a God, right, But I think I grew
up a little confused because we would go to church
on just like Easter, you know, nothing else. And then
my mom put me in Catholic school one year, and
so their teachings and belief system is similar but still
(30:24):
a little bit different. So I kind of grew up
a little confused of like, you know, my faith right,
and my mom she wasn't big on church.
Speaker 3 (30:34):
I'm not saying that she's not a believer.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
She believes God, but doesn't feel like they have to
go to church just like I have to go to church.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
And so.
Speaker 4 (30:42):
There was no like community of other believers that helped
develop me spiritually, help develop my prayer life. I didn't
have any mentors that you know, helped show me how
to increase my faith in God. Showed me how to
pray right, you know, because prayer can also be intimidating,
like you're you feel like you're just sitting there talking
to yourself and there's anyone listening. But I had to
(31:04):
learn like God is always here with us. He's never
far away, and God is always just waiting for us
to come to him. He's an inviting God. He's not
a loud God. He's not a forceful God. He's just
standing there and saying, like in the spirit, I'm opening
up my arms and when you're ready, I'm gonna be
here for you. And I felt like that has been
my journey for God. With God, like he's always been there,
(31:28):
He's never left my side. And I share lots of
stories in the book where it's like the only way
I was able to get through that situation. Like God
had his hand on me when I was little and
you know, experiencing life with my dad and the places
that he had me, and it was only God that
saved me from things happening that could have been worse. Right,
So I know that God has always had his hand
(31:49):
on me, but he was just waiting for me to
just take myself out of the equation and just start
having that relationship with him. And the only way that
we can have a relationship with God is by being
in his house, being in his kingdom, knowing his word,
and having a conversation with him. And I learned that
going through that loss because my husband and I we
(32:10):
started going to church and we began we got saved
once we started going to church, and that's when our
lives totally shifted.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
So I can.
Speaker 4 (32:20):
Testify to how God has glorified us and has lifted
us up, have brought us through something so devastating and
so painful. And I know how life was before my
relationship with God, and I can say I like life
a lot better on the other side of having my
relationship with God versus trying to figure out things the
(32:40):
Monique way because things were not going the way that
I wanted to go, because I was trying to assist
God and I was trying to manipulate situations to get
the outcome that I wanted. But God doesn't need our help,
he doesn't need our assistance. He's just waiting for us
to step aside, surrender and submit.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
Well, I want to ask you this because I don't
belie believe this was in the book. How did Melvin
propose to you?
Speaker 3 (33:02):
Oh, how did he propose? Yeah, he proposed.
Speaker 4 (33:09):
I don't even know if they have you know, these
places here at the Ciberus.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
What's that?
Speaker 4 (33:13):
Yeah, exactly, it's like a I don't even know if
they're still open now, but it's like a hotel. And
they sold it as like a nice resort type of
you know, hotel that was more special than a motel
six or eight.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
But it really was. But at that time, you know,
I thought it was really nice.
Speaker 4 (33:38):
Yeah, but looking back, I don't even know if they're
still open.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
I think they call that a rump shop. Question. Did
you know that was going to happen?
Speaker 4 (33:50):
I kind of felt it in my spirit, like he
didn't come out the blue, Like we had been talking
about marriage and you know, having kids long before we
started having kids, and you know, he says this all
the time, and I hope he's telling me the truth.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
I hope he's not a lie.
Speaker 4 (34:04):
He's like, I always knew that you were going to
be my wife, So since you were twelve, maybe not twelve,
but maybe since sixteen. But yeah, I think that like
like he knew, and I felt it that he was
gonna You think.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
You knew too, Yeah, of course, since like you always
knew that you would that was going to be your person.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
I did.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
Even when he was messing up he didn't have a
cell phone, yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
Because he used to. He used to piss me off.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
Now, I want to know about some of the rules
that you guys have.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
One of them in the book that you talk about
is that you guys cannot get phone numbers from people
of the opposite sex, right, Like, even if you know
somebody will approach you, it's business, and it's like here's
the assistance email.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
What are other rules that you have when it comes
to like intertwining those two things, like some boundaries that
you have set.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
Up, Yeah, you know, some boundaries that we have set up.
Speaker 4 (34:53):
It's like, you know, obviously when we're out, we meet
a lot of people from the opposite sex, and you know,
changing phone numbers is you know, it's not necessarily because
of like you.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
Know, jealousy or insecurity.
Speaker 4 (35:06):
It's more of a respects you because you know, sometimes
people can take your friendliness or being extroverted as if
they're a broken individual. They can take that as being
flirtatious and for both of us, right, because I make
sure that when I'm interacting with people, I'm always very
nice and cordial, but I never want to give off,
(35:27):
you know, any other type of vibes.
Speaker 3 (35:30):
Right.
Speaker 4 (35:30):
We want to draw the line and say, okay, if
you want to go to the next step, if you
want to connect with us, here's our assistance, right, because.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
You can't control how people will convey exact somebody be like, yeah,
you know.
Speaker 4 (35:43):
Aming his number or I gave him my number, so
you know, we have to be very like, you know,
strict with that. And then also we travel a lot,
and you know, we travel with the opposite sex. So
and I put this in the book, like we are
always on FaceTime pretty much the whole night until it's
time to go to sleep. So we know like each
other and we trust each other. But we have to
(36:03):
be careful with other people out in this world because
there are a lot of broken people that don't like
to see a happy married couple and will try to,
you know, do whatever to like break up a happy home.
And so knowing that we have to just have like
really great discernment and knowing how to read people and
being careful with how we interact with people so it's
(36:24):
not misconstrued or taking the wrong way. But that's that's
a big one for us.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
And what about business and pleasure for you guys when
you're how do you turn it off? Like if you're
trying to be on vacation but things are happening. Is
there any rules as far as like can we not
talk about business for X, Y and Z?
Speaker 1 (36:40):
How do you handle that?
Speaker 4 (36:41):
Yeah, it's hard because especially in the beginning, you know,
like building Mayel was something that brought us so much
joy and we had so much fun doing it, so
when we would have conversations about Mayel, it didn't feel
like it was inappropriate because you know, this was something
that we loved talking about. And then we had a
conversation with our past and you know, Melvin, he would
(37:01):
bring the laptop in the bareroom and we would like,
you know, look at the back end of the website
and he'll talk about sales in the bedroom like where
you know, that's like.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
We're trying to ye much time.
Speaker 4 (37:13):
And our pastor told us, like, your bedroom is a
place of you know, it's sacred and you don't want
to bring work into that badroom. Your bedroom is for X,
Y and Z, and that's exactly what it should be for.
So don't bring in, you know, your work, keep your
work separated at the office, and keep home that sacred
place where you can unwind and relax and talk about
(37:36):
other things outside of work. And since he told us that,
we've taken that advice, and it's been a lot better
and easier for us to navigate not bringing work home.
And sometimes it still slips through the crack. You have
to give each other grace, but setting those rules. And
since we have had that conversation with our pastor, Melvin
has not brought a laptop into our bedroom.
Speaker 3 (37:56):
So he's like, I don't even have a laptop anymore.
Speaker 4 (38:01):
Well, he'll use his phone, But you know, I try
to not let my phone or laptop control me because
you know, it can't interfere. And sometimes even with my kids,
your kids will be talking to you and you're on
the phone. I have to check myself like, oh, let
me be present in this moment. So we try to
practice at least I try to practice it a lot more.
(38:21):
Maybe it's just being present in the moment.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
Now the book is out, how do you feel.
Speaker 4 (38:27):
I feel very free, Like it feels very like cathartic
to just like put my story out there and to
be vulnerable and to share stories and insights that I've
never shared publicly.
Speaker 3 (38:40):
Okay, Number one Amazon.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
All right, congratulations, thank you. You got to celebrate that.
Speaker 2 (38:48):
Oh my gosh, let me drink empty to that. That's
amazing Number one on Amazon.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
I like to think I'm assigned for you to.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
But when it comes to you being on tour, how
has that been with people receiving this story talking to
you about it?
Speaker 1 (39:07):
What has stood out to you?
Speaker 3 (39:08):
Oh? Man? Like, what has stood out the most? Well,
two things.
Speaker 4 (39:13):
One lady she drove six hours to just get her
book signed because she's been a longtime fan, and you know,
that was just like, wow, this is what I'm supposed
to be doing. Like that's impact. We had another lady
that drove four hours and she ended up missing the
entire segment of me speaking. She got there just in
(39:35):
time for me to sign her book, and she was
just like, you know, I know I missed it, but
I just wanted to just see you in the presence.
I just wanted to get your signature. And that's impact,
And for me, it's not just about success of the book.
It's really about significance. So if I am impacting someone's
life by sharing my story and inspiring them to dream
(39:57):
bigger and lighting the fire inside of them to say,
you know what, it's not too late. Because I've read
monique story and she started this company when she was
thirty years old, she was married with kids, like you know,
she went through a loss, she went through heartbreak, like
there is nothing that I can accomplish, there is nothing
that's too hard for me. And seeing my story and
(40:20):
seeing how I dealt with grief, and I say this,
the company is successful, but that didn't save me. God
save me. I had to deal with my grief. I
had to process it because in order for me to
lead effectively, in order for me to be whole, I
had to deal with issues. I had to deal with grief.
I had to deal with childhood trauma. And it's a
(40:42):
healing journey. And we're all the work in progress and
this is a lifelong journey and I just want to
impact people with my words, with my story to just
motivate them to be great, great at whatever it is
that they do, like it's never too late.
Speaker 2 (40:58):
And listen, you guys, so you get the glory in
your story. See that completely sums up the title of
the book. But there's so many lessens here. I mean,
there's this is like a soap opera too. There's scammers there.
Everything is in this book. You know, there's love, there's God,
which we all need in our lives. And I think
this will really solidify that for anybody who might feel lost,
(41:18):
maybe it is time to go back to church.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
Maybe it is you really tapping.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
In and listening to what God is telling you in
what direction it is that you're supposed to be going
in and paying attention to those signs and asking for
those signs too. By the way, but congratulations to you.
I'm glad you were able to come up here. I'm
glad the book is out and I had a chance
to read it.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
Thank you, Thank you for reading it.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
Oh listen, you already know.
Speaker 2 (41:38):
I also want to say, as an entrepreneur, there's a
lot of great information in here. And I always tell
you this, you know, for me being an entrepreneur myself
and reading like certain tips that you have and look,
you've gotten tips from your CFO that's in this book.
Just different people that have been around you, lessons that
you've learned, and you're definitely passing those on in a
time like this. For me being a black woman trying
(42:00):
to get my brand off the ground too, it's a
different type of brand. I have a coffee company, but
it's also just so many things that I can take
valuable lessons from from reading this book too.
Speaker 3 (42:09):
Of course you can, because you're still building a brand.
Speaker 1 (42:12):
Yes I am.
Speaker 4 (42:13):
And congratulating and be patient with myself, yes, and give
yourself grace.
Speaker 1 (42:17):
I will, but not too much. We gotta go.
Speaker 2 (42:18):
Okay, but thank you so much. I appreciate it and congratulations.
Speaker 3 (42:22):
Thank you again, thank you for having me
Speaker 2 (42:26):
Wa
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