April 8, 2026 • 44 mins
Nicole Ari Parker: Gymwrap, Biz Tips, Funding, Action & Why She Won’t Sell + More
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
What's up his way up at Angela. Yee. I'm here
for Wealth Wednesdays with my girl Stacy Tisdale.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
I mean Wealth Wednesdays everybody, and we are glad. You
could be speechless on radio, it would be, but not really.
But we're so excited. We have the one, the only,
the incomparable Nicole Ari Parker, actress, entrepreneur, friend, all the things.
We are so excited to have you here today.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
I'm so excited to be and go get your dreaming rep.
You know, we all have to go and order those
last time. Yeah, they were here because I'm back on
my little workout journey. Just a fyi baby, and time
is coming and then this summer and then we gotta
be ready. Now listen, there's something I need that I
need something for these braids. I'm gonna tell you what.
I was going in a gym and now I have
to do push ups, which I could do ten in
(00:49):
a row now, yeah, but it's that's huge.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Are you on your knees?
Speaker 2 (00:54):
No?
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Real?
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Ten? And then I have to plank for a few
seconds and then yeah, good. But I was like, I
need something some my braids don't hit the ground. Well,
I can help you with that. Okay, tell me about it,
tell me about it. This is what I love.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
First of all, if everyone listening follows today on your
show and your show Stacy, they will get a free gift.
Oh yes, indeed, tell them where to get it. Just
follow us, Just follow us and follow us gym Wrap
on Instagram. I'm doing this whole thing because I love
your show. That everyone who's listening, if they just follow,
(01:30):
I will see that they followed and they would get
a free gift. Okay, but for edges. You know, when
I created the gym Wrap, I created for all of
the things you're talking about. For the person who doesn't
worry about their hair losing their blowout, they just want
to keep their edges laid down they want it, or
the real athletes who just wants to absorb the sweat.
So my gym rap does all.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Of those things exactly.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
So, and it's that time too, because we got to
get back and I got to get it back, like
I'm trying to go back running again. But I told
you when you walked in here, I was like, I
love how you have your edges out in the front.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Yes, because I'm just giving my edges a little break.
I recommend this to every sister out here who has
suffered through the edge nightmare and growing your edges back.
Like the gym wrap. Actually, I just took mine off.
I have it in my bag. I wear it out
even when I'm socializing and running errands and things. I
have a black one on today and I took it
(02:25):
off just to be on your show. But it made
my edges grow back because it was less manipulation, less
all the things we do with the baby hair gel
and everything, and just having my edges protected just made
them come back.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
I had nothing fantastic. Thank you. I had to take
a step back for everyone out there. We know you.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Recorded, yeah camera, okay, yes, I just keep it here
for y'all to let you know that I created this
product with all of us in mind, and I'm living
the dream.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
And well gim rep is literally uh And we'll get
into it. I know you guys want to talk about
encouraging people to follow through on their ideas. It was
just an idea I had about opting out of our
health because of our hair. And I sat down and
I made my first prototype in my kitchen, and I
(03:20):
I had no business degree. I went to n y
U for for acting for theater Tish and yeah, it
worked out little bit, But I had that. I did
have the wherewithal and the will from my family, from
my mother and father to tell me to follow through,
Like like if I said I was going to do something,
you got to do it. So I did have that,
(03:42):
that fearlessness in terms of starting a business with no
business degree. And I just had this idea that we
as Black women and as Latino women and as women
in general, we were choosing our hair over our health.
And I made it. I've told the story a million
times but four but here I am in twenty twenty
(04:02):
six and the I and it's taking off like it's
it blew up.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
It's something that you knew you needed and therefore you
know we needed it.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Yes, so important. It's thirty percent of black women don't
exercise and they say their hair is the main cause
of that. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
I am one of those people when I'm like, my
hair is.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Yeah, I mean because the black hair business is also
a billion dollar business and we don't play about our hair.
And I get it. Yeah, if you're going to make
a choice, I'm trying to where my money went last Saturday.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
I would literally be like, I have an appearance. I
can't do this because my hair.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Yes, yes, And so I was trying to figure out
and I wanted to get I wanted to get the
stats on it, because not just being a black woman
and knowing what I go through, I really wanted some numbers.
So that year that I created it, and I think
it was twenty and ten, maybe wow, and or yeah,
(04:54):
twenty eleven, I got a meeting with doctor Regina Benjamin,
who was the surgeon Chadow at the time of the
United States of America. I got a meeting with Wow,
doctor Regina Benjamin, and so I got the most breathtaking,
startling real stats about us as women of color in
(05:15):
this country that seventy five eighty percent of the things
that were taking us out, like killing us were preventable
with diet and exercise. Yeah, absolute heart, heart disease, stroke,
fiber Everything that was taking us out wasn't genetic, it
(05:40):
wasn't a curse, it wasn't just because of our history
in this country. It was straight self care.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
And sometimes the things they put in our products that
we need to use also can cause cancer and other issues.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Yes, the aluminium, the metals, the heavy metals, the plastics,
the synthetics everything. I have human hair in my hair
today for the period and it looks like it is
the very It's only three weeks. No, but yeah, so
I was just blown away that I had this idea.
We can get into it about what preventable really means
(06:17):
and what were you and what do you think you're
trying to do, and what do you think you're trying
to preserve and putting all of those things in the
right order. Like I want to be cute. I had
just had kids, I had I had a twenty seven
pounds extras of water and milk, stuff and stuff I had,
(06:39):
you know, Boris Kojo as my husband. I wanted to
be cute for him, and it just wasn't working. I
was too tired to work out. And then if I
had time to go to the hairdresser, I took. I
took that.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
I opted out of it.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
I'm not going to work out.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
I'm not going to work out.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
So so I you know, I was in this space
of But also, exercise is not just for weight loss.
To the sisters out here who love being juicy and thick, like, yes,
that is a form of self care, loving yourself but
as you are. But the no, no, no, it's exercise
(07:20):
relieves stress.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Yeah, it can be great for somebody.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
It's you closer to a meditative state when you need
to talk to God. It's not just about weight loss,
it's about everything. It moves your blood and your oxygen
through your body that you don't have to surrender to
anybody's standard of beauty. But exercise that I've learned as
(07:44):
a grown up now clears my mind.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Yeah, mentally, And look even I just put my parents
a vibrating plate, one of those vibrating yes, and you
know you're supposed to work out on those, and it's
like a low impact or whatever. But it's really good,
like for your bones and for your souls because you
also don't later on in life. It is certainly it
is a benefit to us, and it is like a
(08:09):
blessing to be able to grow old, But you also
want to grow old in a way where you're able
to still do the things you know. You want to
still be able to go take a great walk, you
want to go up and down the steps and your
knee is not hurt and not being able to it's
just so many things that we have to start thinking
about now so that later on, like you said, preventatives,
that we age gracefully.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
But also you know, I also have a thing about
future thinking that creates an anxiety, and you're like, well,
let me do this so I will be okay.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Absolutely, There's something about exercise that I learned late in
life that it really helps you stay in the now.
Like if your teenage son or teenage daughter comes to
you with an issue that they want to confide in
you about, you don't have all of your stress on
top of their need for your attention. Like, it's not
just about your relationship, it's not even just about your body.
(08:58):
It's the way you interact with your family, your friends,
and yourself. And we will opt out of all of that,
even for our hair. Yeah, yeah, because we're still face forward,
we're still presentational and this is the world we live in.
But at a certain point you have to say, I
need to be here for me, I need to be
here for my person, and I need to be here
for my children and my family, and being there for
(09:22):
them is mental and physical.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
You have a twenty one year old too, By the way,
Sophia just turn Sophie is twenty one years old. She
looks she is absolutely beautiful, amazing. What have you taught
her about like hair care, that type of journey about
making sure that your own self care is in order,
because that is something that we do learn from.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Well, Sophie helped me make the first one. Oh jeez, Sophie.
If anybody has an original original gym wrap. When I
was still when I called it Savior due that's what
I say, yes, with the old old emblem on it.
Sophie helped me sew it. I cut up one of
board drive fit kind of workout shirts because I had
(10:02):
the stile idea that I wanted it to be absorbent.
I wanted to wike away the moisture, all the things
that the athlete athletic clothes claimed to do. So I
was like, well, let me just cut this little strip.
Did you tell him first that you were now destroying hiss? Okay,
So Sophie helped me sell my first prototype. But she's
now a junior at Howard finishing up her junior year.
(10:24):
She'll be here with me this summer working. She's in
sports management. Okay, that's really just yes, I'm telling your
business you really just about running her brother's career as
an athlete.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
But she is.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
She's always been kind of artistic and crafty and she
could cook, she can make things. She you know, she's
always been on top of it. So she was my
first assistant.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Amazing.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Yeah, there's so much more to the hair journey. The
health is such a big part of it. But I
remember when you and I first met each other that day, yes,
five hour lunch, I know, and we were talking so
much about the pressure that we've feled to assimilate, and
I was thinking about that. And also there used to
there was a lot in California that you had to
(11:16):
wear your hair a certain way about you know, black Wood.
Their hairstyle had to be a certain way so it
wasn't offensive in the workplace. Hair is such a big.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
Thing to this day and to this day. Yeah, still
to this day. I mean, we've come a long way.
But one of my friends actually over the weekend did
an event and she has curly hair, and she said,
you know, it was an event with a lot of
white people, so she straightened her hair for it because
she said, I don't want people coming up to me
and touching my hair and being like, oh, you know
what's going on with your hair. And I don't even
(11:46):
want to get her in trouble for this because they're
probably But anyway, people say certain things to black women
when it comes to our hair, when we're in different environments.
Even being on TV being a news reporter, that was
a thing. Yeah, we literally had to have the Crown Act.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Yeah, it was the Crown Act. And I wondered, how
much you feel this and you know this so deeply
as everything, how much did those sensibilities. I just want
black women to not worry about their hair at all
played into this whole gym rat movement.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
I think when you're sharing space, like we're always considered
the other, but really we're the center and everyone else's
the other in that situation. Like, I was one of
six black girls in an all white, all girl private
school my whole life from second to twelfth grade. I
took two buses to school in Baltimore, and I had
an incredible education, but I did not. I come from
(12:39):
parents who were like, it's the summer, you're gonna get
your hair braided, right, So by the time school year started,
I still had braids, and then I would have my
hair wet and you know, washing go curly, frizzy, pool
fee black girl, young black girl hair. Then my cousin
would do my braids, you know what I mean. So
I had to be me and then be subjected to questions.
(13:05):
But my self esteem was so intact that I just
answered the questions and let it and shut it down.
Thank goodness, I didn't get I didn't get a double
consciousness from them. I didn't really have that kind of
You know, when you leave an environment like that, you
think you're equipped, But then when you're an adult and
it's still there, that's when you're like exhausted, burnt out,
(13:28):
can't believe it all the things, and you don't realize
how much trauma you've actually been through your whole life
justifying your existence. But I would rather be exhausted by
by affirming my natural beauty than not absolutely. You know,
if you need to keep asking me questions about me,
and I'm not asking any questions about you, I must
(13:49):
be doing the right thing. Yeah, I must be cut
today on Tuesday.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
You I don't ask you one single question about condition.
You want to know how I got the maybe hair laid?
You want to know how I got the Shirley Temples.
You want to know how I got the little grease
down and the afro twists and then the box braids, Like.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
I'm really busy, you know.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
I do want to say that it used to be
that straight hair was like all the rage. I remember, why, Yeah,
But now I feel like texture. Everybody wants to have
some type of texture, and we have so many products
on the market for it, like we didn't used to
have that. I remember, self esteem movement is very strong,
and you know, I was a kid in the seventies,
(14:35):
so I grew up with self esteem in the terms
of beauty. Right.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
All my cousins had afros, right, yeah, you know, so
that wasn't really my issue. But now raising a daughter
in these times, and she wanted her first press out
or she wanted her first relaxer. I never relaxed her hair,
but I just had her let her the hairdresser press
her hair or whatever it's now I had to find
(15:02):
a new vocabulary around Oh yeah, you know, strengthening her
self esteem.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Now I want to talk about gym rep and your
business savvy because this was something you also you've been
actually expanding your line of products.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yes, it sucks Oh.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
My gosh, Oh my gosh. Okay, So I wanted to
solve a very real problem about our health, and I
created the gym Rap and it took off. And I
always give Steve Harvey credit for that. He just did
a shout out for me one time on a radio
show like You, and it was great.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
And it's for men too, by the way. Oh yeah,
I just want to point that out too.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
It's not just my tennis players, all my outdoor athletes,
all my soccer players, football players under their helmet. It's
been incredible, motorcycle biker groups, it's out of control. It's
so amazing that so many men wear my gym rap.
But yeah, so I created it with our health in mind,
(16:02):
and then I expanded because I realized there was like
a whole thing around all the things we like in need.
I'm very girly that way. So I created socks and
I created leggings. And the leggings are soft. First of all,
my socks are off the chain.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
They're cute. They're cute, They're cute, They're very cute.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
She loves them.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Do you have them on your feet?
Speaker 2 (16:28):
No?
Speaker 1 (16:28):
But I need to girl, I'm not this is.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
I'm not your two dollars sock.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
This is like the I'm going to get you a
pair of two sir, performance ankle socks.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
And it's not fancy words. And are performance What are
the words they put.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
On a little question, performance ankle socks, cushion, performance ankle socks.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Yes, indeed, and like the heel has a little and
the front has a little. It's delicious. And then I
have my leggings and of course my taie bands, my bandies,
my wide bandies, everything you could possibly want to my
full triangle.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Yeah, I'm gonna say that gym maps are really good.
Also when you are going to the pool or to
the beach. I just want to put that out there.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
It's not just for working out. It's for taking a
power walk, going to the grocery store, picking up your kids,
running your errand it's everything.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Also going to sleep at night. I do want to
say that.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Yeah, I have been to many event okay, because I'm
an actor and sometimes my hairdresser lays the baby hair
down and I want to be cute the next day.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Yes, so you put on your gym and I preserve this.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
I preserve Yes.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
I love how you're saying this. Like, oh, and I
you know, I just created this and I didn't. You
were an entrepreneur who did not know what they were
doing when you started. How did how did you get there?
I mean when I was the tech part of it alone,
the technology that's behind him, How did you learn all
this stuff?
Speaker 3 (18:00):
I had to, like most black women when we're doing something,
to advocate for myself, even if I didn't have the
right words. I had to find a manufacturer that understood
the idea of tech that grabbed water but then protected
it from the first surface. That's why it's three layers in.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
There and breathable and breathable.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
So I just had no fear.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
And I was.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
So convinced of this idea because it was solving a
personal problem my husband. We had just had Sophia Nicholas.
They were young. He wanted to get our groove back.
And the way he gets our groove back, As most
of you know, I'm married to Spartacus, his idea of
getting groove back is going for a run on the beach.
Not my idea mine either, but he would always ask
(18:54):
me very sweetly, let's go for a run together. Let's
go for a walk. Now that the kids are fed
whatever boom were dropped off at school, and I kept
opting out of it, and I felt so bad that
I was trying to solve a relationship issue. I was
trying to solve a hair issue. And I was trying
now that I collected all this data, I was trying
(19:16):
to save.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Our lives health issue.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
You know, I often tell the story, and this is
a very real story that has stayed with me my
whole life. Is that I used to take Sophie to ballet,
and when she was at ballet, I would go to
the grocery store and get a cup of coffee and
was always the same girl. And she was about twenty
four to twenty five years old, beautiful, beautiful black girl.
I went there one day and it was her photo
(19:42):
on the cash register and I said, and I want
to say her name, but I said, where is she?
She's not here today. She passed away, wow wow, in
her twenties, and she was probably close to three hundred pounds.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Oh wow.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
And when I asked why she passed away or how
she passed away, or when they said she had a
stroke in her twenties, in her twenties, and when I
had gotten I had gathered already that information that most
of the things that are killing us are preventable. She
probably had to work to pay for her family, or
(20:24):
for her schooling, or for her light bill or phone
bill or car note. And she didn't carve out that
thirty minutes for a power walk for herself because she
had spent the little bit of money from her check
to keep her hair done.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
When I tell you her hair was laid, she was beautiful.
Hair was done to go to work and to take
her kids to school and to run her life. But
she had not carved out twenty to thirty minutes to
take a power walk. And in that power walk, you
can pray, you can breathe, and you can burn camel.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
That's all it takes.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Yeah, that's all it takes.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
And that's the first thing we cut sometimes.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
And I just wanted an answer to your question. After
I figured out the tech and all those things, I
knew that I was creating something that was part of
your prayer closet.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
And you had to go out and raise money to
do this.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
Oh yeah, I'm just an actor. Everyone's like, oh, you
and Boris are probably like on the you know, on
the Saint Maritz every summer. We're not so, I you know,
I had a budget and all kinds of things, and
so I really just I you know, I didn't I
(21:41):
had enough money to find my manufacturer, pay for prototypes.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
It's not cheap. It's not cheap.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
Oh no, there's a white guy in an invisible phone
call a thousand miles away going So what exactly is
an edge? What's an edge? I'm like, guys, guys, guys, listened.
I need I need an absorbit layer and I need
an outer layer. All right, all right, all right, you
wanted to tie in the back and you want it
all the way around, Like yeah, yeah, so yeah, So
(22:11):
I needed to raise money to go through the things
like prototypes. I needed to raise money for my first
order of manufacturing and I had never done that before.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Yeah how long was that process? I would love to know.
Because there are people that have an idea and like
you said, your father encouraged you, like you gotta go ahead, quit,
don't quit and not quit? Yes for people who are
like because I also think it's important to be as
prepared as possible to know what you're getting yourself into.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
Well, I say, just start, okay, start dumb. I started dumb,
as in, my rich friends had a luncheon and let
me present my product to them, and nobody butched. This
was all you know, powerful black women, white women, and
(23:00):
nobody budged. And then I I went to another group
of friends and I got a few investments. And this
was just to get my prototypes right. This wasn't even
in the thicket of things. And then my mom had
a lunch at her house with all of her girlfriends
(23:23):
in their seventies and eighties, and they were my substantial investment.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Really tapping into my friends and family.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Crowdfunding and family.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Yeah, that's the best I think in general. That's how
most people who are starting a business, they say that's
always the best way to get started with friends and
family rounds.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
And most people feel like, I don't want to ask
my family, I don't want to ask nobody. That's a
hard thing to do, and you don't and I didn't.
I went all the way to the dream. And I
would encourage everyone, especially right now because I'm coming from
a different time period. I'm now ten twelve years out
from my first prototype. Now you've got twenty year olds
at wanting to invest. You got millionaires everywhere, and people went.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
So that you could really yeah, crowdfund on these platforms,
but people who don't even know you personally.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
That's right and I but I think the through line
is I knew that I was onto something and it
turned out to be incredible, and I've crossed every demographic
that I've ever could imagine. But you just start where
you are. The one thing I will tell people is
that I did not have shame. Yeah I did, and
(24:34):
I knew how to recover from a father and how
to recover from the No.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
That's what I was going to ask you, because sometimes
I heard know all day like I'm not going to cry.
Yeah that's tough because, like you said, the first couple
of rounds didn't go so well for you. And presenting
your product, how do you like? First of all, getting
your pitch right to is important, I think, but as
an actor, my pitch was amazing. Yeah, I'm not gonna lie,
(25:03):
do you again? I had no fear about no fear,
but also like just to keep going. How do you
get that mindset for a person who may go out
and like, start.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
Money wasn't my goal?
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (25:17):
And I know that people where they're like, oh, this
is going to be my money maker. No, I was
really passionately, spiritually invested in this product. It's like someone
who's made the first like heart resuscitation gases right like
you you know this is something. If the heart is
(25:37):
based on electricity, and I can create this electricity, we
might have a shot here. If the number one thing
that is taking us out as as black women is
diet and exercise, and I've now been given an idea
from God to help us exercise. Your no is not
going to stop.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
You said it.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Yeah, seventeen people got that idea that day.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
One person acted on it.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
I like that, you know, like.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
It is what it is. I'm not special. I just
I was obedient.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Yeah. You know, some people will have a great idea,
never do anything about it, and then see it come
to fruition somewhere else and be like, man, I thought
of that. I thought it. Or some people might think, oh,
this has been done already.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
That's a great point. That is a really great point
because I just read up on this stat about the
idea of a headband. Right the idea of a headband
is not original, but the headband right now in the
sweat and exercise space that I entered and I'm a
top contender. Is a two billion dollar industry annually, like
(26:47):
I you know, like it is something. It is something.
And when you get an idea, the seventeen reasons for
it to tell you that it's nothing have to be ignored. Right, absolutely,
And now I am in the I'm in the billion
dollar space.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Yeah no, that's great.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
That's crazy.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
That's crazy.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
It's crazy. Is that girl from Baltimore?
Speaker 1 (27:08):
When did you realize this would be Jim would be
a success?
Speaker 3 (27:11):
Out the gate, out the gate the minute. The hardest part,
like I told you, was creating the original prototype, perfecting it,
getting a manufacturer in a far away place in Jersey
to make my prototype u uh, you know, and get
a patent and all the mathematical things you need to
start your business was very hard for me. Oh and
(27:34):
having business partners that don't work out.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Oh that's we know that drill.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
Were going to bring it up. But moving and recovering, yeah,
right about.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
You know what, how do you know when somebody when
two questions about that? How do you know when somebody
is going to be a good partner? What are some things?
Because trial and error helps you realize. Okay, these are
the questions I need to be asking. And number too,
how do you know when it's time to divorce a
business partner?
Speaker 3 (28:02):
Oh? God will make it very clear. The one thing
I would say about starting your own product business endeavor
is that before you even start, you have to have
the strength of recovery. You have to have a recovery
plan because somebody on the team is going to do
something to you. They're either going to get a better
(28:24):
job and bail out, and they were your accountant, They're
going to steal your idea and they were your friend.
They're going to siphon money funds behind your back, and
they were your cousin. You got to know that one
of those things might happen.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
It's going to happen.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
It definitely will.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
And you have to have your self and esteem and
your self courage and your certainty intact. Yeah, like this
is mine and there's everything you're doing. You're doing to yourself, right,
you get it ex downy. Even if you took five
hundred thousand dollars from me, I can't waste a second
on that because you did it to your self, right,
I'm going to make that back.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Yeah, And more and more.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
You have to have your spiritual life intact, and your
and your and your certainty about your product and yourself
and your idea intact, because all those things are going
to happen in some degree.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
Yeah, there's gonna be some fun.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
And even if you just lose your your best friend
was your accountant and manage your books like nobody and
got you together. She or he might have now been
offered a better job or decided to have a family.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
You want them to and you have to you have
to let them go. What do you think about doing
business with friends and family depends on the friends of them.
Some people are like, it's a hard no for me,
But you know, because I've heard a lot of Sometimes
if I want to remain friends with you, we just
can't work together like some people. But you're right, it
does depend on whoavor that. I think I'm pretty professional
(29:49):
in that way. I can. I can category like if.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
I wanted to cut an album, I would want my
cousin who's a producer, to be a part of that team,
right to tell me the truth to help me out
a boom. But yeah, even family are individuals and you
got to see DVID. Yet whose strength is going to
serve the endeavor.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Sometimes people also look at you and be like, I
want a car has money, so it's no big deal,
and you're like, you know, investing, investing, investing, investing, Yes,
And people are also thinking like, I want to get
paid now. But if there's no money to get paid,
they have to realize something.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
And you're not even paying yourself and then you get
paid last. Yeah, it's tough. It's really tough. I've covered
so much in such a quick amount of time. We
were onto something. I forgot what we were talking about.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
I was talking about how do you know somebody will
be a good business partner? Like, what are some things
now that you can look at because of past?
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Yes, I would say I didn't remember.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
I went.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
I got into n YU early, like I went to
school at seventeen. I went to Tish School Arts. I
was an actor, right, I knew that I was coming.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
You are an actor.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
I am an actor, and so I didn't really invest
in the dal Jones. I really didn't know anything about money,
and I you know, I paid for that ignorance. You
could say later as an adult, but I think that
it's extreme. It's extremely important to understand the business. And
(31:27):
what I did is that I was surrounded myself with
people who did, and sometimes in the bad situation that
I told you about, I just if they would say, well,
you're your your skews are this and that. You know
the return and this quarter and that quarter, and they're
using a lot of different words about the revenue business,
(31:49):
write them down and learn them, because the only difference
between you and the person who's using that word is
a book.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
You're learning a part.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Yeah, now I can run a business, but I learned
the hard way because I defaulted on a lot of
things that I didn't look up myself, right, you know,
I was, I had I was. I was literally a
mom and a working actor, and my job in Boris's job,
kept food on the table and our lights on. So
(32:23):
when I had a business partner that knew all of
the ins and outs of business, I defaulted to them.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
Yeah, I can.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
Tell you right now, I can run any business that
you pred to me. Now I'm like like the queen
of the industry. But yeah, it was. It's a tough
pill to swallow.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
And how did you scale it? I mean, you are
in amazing stores right now, and so many entrepreneurs want
to get to No.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Well, we came out of a lot of stores because
COVID happened and a lot of things are shutting down.
I did all of the dance just online, then in retail,
then in collaboration, and then out of retail. I did.
I was I've been in this really difficult but sweet
educational spot and still here and that. And I think
(33:13):
the through line with the ups and downs of the market,
I think the through line that has saved me and
preserved me as a business is that I listen to
my customer. I didn't overproduce. My socks are off the chain,
my leggings are off the chain, my sweat band. And
I listened to the I have white customers, black customers, young,
(33:37):
we in braids. I listened to every single kind of customer, men,
football players under their helmets, motorcycle gangs under their helmets.
And so that's why I was able to expand in
the right direction.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
I'm hearing pivot, You're not afraid to pivot.
Speaker 3 (33:54):
I'm not afraid to pivot. And you know, my white
girl volleyball outdoor athletes, volleyball players, they didn't want too
much constriction. They just wanted something to keep their hair
out of their face. That's my bandy. My wide bandy
is for you know, my sisters who are out outdoor athletes,
(34:17):
but they need a little bit more compression. They don't
want their braids in their face. They don't want their
bun in their face.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
The wide bandy is my favorite.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
The wide bandy is off the chain. Then you have
your serious gym athletes and they have their and my
male I got male customers, football players. My bandy that
has all the super absorbency that you tie. People were
wearing that under their motorcycle helmets, like motorcycle gangs, like
you know, groups of.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
You can't.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
And I wouldn't say one thing that guys think about that.
We may not have that. Football players they're concerned about
their hairlines too, yes, right, and so they never want
anything that's pushing their hairline back.
Speaker 3 (34:59):
No, but you get on top of your hair long
and it's really not the pushing that takes your hair over. No,
it's the it's the constant wiping of sweat.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
Okay, but if you have a gym wrap, you don't
have to worry about that.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
You don't keep wiping, baby, it gets absorbed and you
keep your hair.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
You know, where do you where do you see this like?
For you now that you are the entrepreneur businesswoman that
can run a business, where do you see this going?
If you had to say, this is how I went
this mapped out.
Speaker 3 (35:30):
Wow, I've had a few offers for a buyout.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
Oh okay, as we did building our businesses.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
So you have an exit strategy.
Speaker 3 (35:41):
But I did not exit. I did. It's me and
I was nervous that they would change because I make
an expensive product. I'm it's high quality, and I know
the minute I let it go the.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
Corner ass produce this and cut some corners, and it
cuts corners.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
My name is still on it, or my name is
still associated with it. So I'm in it for the
long game right now. And I just feel like I'm
still very attached to my customer and I just want
to find more of them.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
It's your passion, it's my passion. It'll tell me when
it's time. And right now, for some reason, it is
just getting the second wind of blowing up. And I
think it's a state of the world that people really
are having faith in themselves and in their health.
Speaker 3 (36:38):
You know, health used to be this fancy vague word like, oh,
I'm getting healthy and like you know, you do your yoga,
your whatever TV show workout. And I think now that
people are connecting their health with their money and their longevity,
that gym rap has a new place. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
Absolutely. How has your work as an actor informed your
business work?
Speaker 1 (37:07):
Mmm?
Speaker 2 (37:08):
By the way, I'm sitting here with a Bossy Media
reunion yes a day Empire fans, I think, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
We had a great conversation. So shy, yes listen because
I was.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
Like real shy when on television, like and Bossy Media.
Speaker 1 (37:32):
Watching that. But we had a conversation when I filmed
that scene for Empire where you were talking about your
health and green juice and you know all of those
amazing things. So it's a real thing. It's not like
that's why I feel like people can equate with Jim
wrap with you because it is your lifestyle. Yeah, and
we trust that.
Speaker 3 (37:52):
Yeah, and I use it. I think I have one
of my purse.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
Yeah, I get the next one.
Speaker 1 (37:58):
We can order him to that we're because that's what
we're gonna or the West Sox too.
Speaker 3 (38:02):
And you know people who even aren't you know, our
natural sisters who aren't even worried about edges or anything
or blowouts. It is just another tool that makes you
feel like you're about to begin something for yourself. You know,
if you buy a cute jacket or cute leggings or
cute shoes, like having that gym wrap made by someone
(38:23):
who you know has your best interest in mind is
just another affirmation when you go for your walk. You know,
even if you're not trying to save your do or
keep your edges laid, you just want to feel like
this is the this is my time. It's a ritual.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
Yeah, and you've been on this natural hair journey too,
tell me about that, because being an actress and always
having to have different hair styles.
Speaker 3 (38:46):
Yes, well I went in. You know, I grew up
when relaxers were the thing, and luckily I stopped that.
And when I got into and I got into I
was living in New York and natural was everything. I
let my hair go back natural. But when I paid
for that blowout, I didn't do anything physical.
Speaker 2 (39:08):
Oh, because it wouldn't.
Speaker 1 (39:11):
I was my own customer. I knew that feeling of
like being on a budget as a young woman in
her twenties, like I got I got my hair dumb.
I want to go Nells tonight. I used to be
a co check girl at Nells. By the way, I
don't know if anybody here.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
Nelly, I saw you there. I know I saw you there.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
Yeah, no, I saw you there. So Cochet girls will
always fly.
Speaker 3 (39:30):
Okay, We're fly.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
I saw you there in Prince in Nels.
Speaker 3 (39:38):
Yeah, Prince was. It wasn't it Neils all the time? Yeah,
Eddie Murphy, a lot of people. But yeah, I just
I don't know. I just felt like that I was
gonna be what was your question again?
Speaker 1 (39:55):
Like, look, I forgot to I was just listening to you,
like you were talking about her natural hair, natural hair
journey and then yeah, well you understood what it was
like to be on a budget, spend your money on you.
Speaker 3 (40:04):
Yeah yeah, but it But by the time I was
a naturalista. Just like if you were going to go
for a run, you have your favorite zip up coat.
There's something about the gym rap that just solidifies the
moment and keeps me on track and keeps me motivated.
I also, in the last i'd say ten years, you know,
wigs are magnificent. Now shout out to Kairie, you know
(40:29):
who made up most of my wigs in La. Wigs
helped me grow my hair back right.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (40:36):
Yeah, so I've been through all of the and I
still do. I like to dress up and change my look,
but the gym wrap stays consistent.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
It's also, like I said, it's also good not to
get nasty. But when you're in the bedroom about to
get it in, yes, get to you know, don't mess
my hair up, right, it's not that kind of a show,
but it is a real thought. It's a real thought,
and you're total It is like, don't you spead all
of it?
Speaker 3 (41:03):
Like?
Speaker 2 (41:03):
Get it.
Speaker 3 (41:06):
You might have to have borso on to confirm or deny,
but I may or may have not excuse me, enjoyed
my spouse with a gym wrap on as you and.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
He probablyized you should, like, Nicole, we're about to get
it in, put that gym.
Speaker 3 (41:27):
I was like, hold on, we are about to get
it in. Let me put my gymrap on. I want
to be cute tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (41:36):
Gotta love it. It serves multiple purposes. Yes, that's bottom line. Well, listen,
I appreciate you for having this conversation with us. Yes,
so people can get a gift if they follow.
Speaker 3 (41:47):
Right, if you follow gym Wrap on Instagram, there's a
free gift. There's a lot of great things happening on
the site, new colors, new sales, everything, So just go
to com check it out. Give me a shout out
on Instagram. But if you follow Jim rap I got
a gift for you.
Speaker 2 (42:07):
Last question, I'm doing this future self program with Dan
Sullivan and it's not looking back, looking forward. So in
five years from now, what is that person going to
thank you for doing right now?
Speaker 3 (42:22):
My customer or me.
Speaker 2 (42:23):
You five years from now, what's Nicole and five years
from now going to thank Nicole today for what she's
doing right now?
Speaker 3 (42:34):
M I would say she's future. Nicole is going to
thank me for pushing through this next chapter of being
a parent to young adults and being there for them.
And I think she is also going to thank me
(42:57):
for not giving up on the gym Wrap as an
idea and as a way of serving her people.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
Makes me cry. She's also gonna thank you for hanging
out with Angela and Stacy.
Speaker 1 (43:13):
We should do a little run club with the gym
Wraps or something like. She would love that fun. Yeah,
I think we should do something like that.
Speaker 3 (43:21):
See you always bring this up at the end and
then we don't. I don't hear from you.
Speaker 1 (43:25):
You have in the midst here.
Speaker 2 (43:28):
I'm here today and.
Speaker 3 (43:30):
The weather's getting better.
Speaker 1 (43:31):
That's what I'm saying. And we are doing a little
collab with the Soca Run Club.
Speaker 3 (43:35):
Okay, and you know that I'm lat.
Speaker 1 (43:39):
Okay and listen. But I know you and outrun a
saf So I'm just gonna put that out there now.
But it's okay. If you have to.
Speaker 2 (43:44):
Walk, we're gonna get you a fifteen push ups.
Speaker 1 (43:47):
We're gonna, as I call it, a wog, a walk jog,
you know, walking the jog. If you whatever you gotta do.
Speaker 2 (43:53):
You say, can we get t.
Speaker 3 (43:55):
Shirts for women? Women?
Speaker 2 (44:04):
Go wogg your gym.
Speaker 1 (44:07):
Rats.
Speaker 2 (44:09):
Nobody has been drinking here. I promise you this.
Speaker 1 (44:17):
Drinks after the wa okay period, wogg a happy hour,
all right.
Speaker 2 (44:22):
Wealth Wednesdays everybody followed Jim Rap. Everybody watched something by
beloved Nicole has ever done. Everybody give her a shout
out for being a mom entrepreneur, everything and Angela. We
are celebrating women Women's history months. Happy Wealth Wednesdays. Everybody
What's up his way up at Angela. Yee. I'm here
for Wealth Wednesdays with my girl Stacy Tisdale.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
I mean Wealth Wednesdays everybody, and we are glad. You
could be speechless on radio, it would be, but not really.
But we're so excited. We have the one, the only,
the incomparable Nicole Ari Parker, actress, entrepreneur, friend, all the things.
We are so excited to have you here today.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
I'm so excited to be and go get your dreaming rep.
You know, we all have to go and order those
last time. Yeah, they were here because I'm back on
my little workout journey. Just a fyi baby, and time
is coming and then this summer and then we gotta
be ready. Now listen, there's something I need that I
need something for these braids. I'm gonna tell you what.
I was going in a gym and now I have
to do push ups, which I could do ten in
(00:49):
a row now, yeah, but it's that's huge.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Are you on your knees?
Speaker 2 (00:54):
No?
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Real?
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Ten? And then I have to plank for a few
seconds and then yeah, good. But I was like, I
need something some my braids don't hit the ground. Well,
I can help you with that. Okay, tell me about it,
tell me about it. This is what I love.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
First of all, if everyone listening follows today on your
show and your show Stacy, they will get a free gift.
Oh yes, indeed, tell them where to get it. Just
follow us, Just follow us and follow us gym Wrap
on Instagram. I'm doing this whole thing because I love
your show. That everyone who's listening, if they just follow,
(01:30):
I will see that they followed and they would get
a free gift. Okay, but for edges. You know, when
I created the gym Wrap, I created for all of
the things you're talking about. For the person who doesn't
worry about their hair losing their blowout, they just want
to keep their edges laid down they want it, or
the real athletes who just wants to absorb the sweat.
So my gym rap does all.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Of those things exactly.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
So, and it's that time too, because we got to
get back and I got to get it back, like
I'm trying to go back running again. But I told
you when you walked in here, I was like, I
love how you have your edges out in the front.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Yes, because I'm just giving my edges a little break.
I recommend this to every sister out here who has
suffered through the edge nightmare and growing your edges back.
Like the gym wrap. Actually, I just took mine off.
I have it in my bag. I wear it out
even when I'm socializing and running errands and things. I
have a black one on today and I took it
(02:25):
off just to be on your show. But it made
my edges grow back because it was less manipulation, less
all the things we do with the baby hair gel
and everything, and just having my edges protected just made
them come back.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
I had nothing fantastic. Thank you. I had to take
a step back for everyone out there. We know you.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Recorded, yeah camera, okay, yes, I just keep it here
for y'all to let you know that I created this
product with all of us in mind, and I'm living
the dream.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
And well gim rep is literally uh And we'll get
into it. I know you guys want to talk about
encouraging people to follow through on their ideas. It was
just an idea I had about opting out of our
health because of our hair. And I sat down and
I made my first prototype in my kitchen, and I
(03:20):
I had no business degree. I went to n y
U for for acting for theater Tish and yeah, it
worked out little bit, But I had that. I did
have the wherewithal and the will from my family, from
my mother and father to tell me to follow through,
Like like if I said I was going to do something,
you got to do it. So I did have that,
(03:42):
that fearlessness in terms of starting a business with no
business degree. And I just had this idea that we
as Black women and as Latino women and as women
in general, we were choosing our hair over our health.
And I made it. I've told the story a million
times but four but here I am in twenty twenty
(04:02):
six and the I and it's taking off like it's
it blew up.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
It's something that you knew you needed and therefore you
know we needed it.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Yes, so important. It's thirty percent of black women don't
exercise and they say their hair is the main cause
of that. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
I am one of those people when I'm like, my
hair is.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Yeah, I mean because the black hair business is also
a billion dollar business and we don't play about our hair.
And I get it. Yeah, if you're going to make
a choice, I'm trying to where my money went last Saturday.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
I would literally be like, I have an appearance. I
can't do this because my hair.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Yes, yes, And so I was trying to figure out
and I wanted to get I wanted to get the
stats on it, because not just being a black woman
and knowing what I go through, I really wanted some numbers.
So that year that I created it, and I think
it was twenty and ten, maybe wow, and or yeah,
(04:54):
twenty eleven, I got a meeting with doctor Regina Benjamin,
who was the surgeon Chadow at the time of the
United States of America. I got a meeting with Wow,
doctor Regina Benjamin, and so I got the most breathtaking,
startling real stats about us as women of color in
(05:15):
this country that seventy five eighty percent of the things
that were taking us out, like killing us were preventable
with diet and exercise. Yeah, absolute heart, heart disease, stroke,
fiber Everything that was taking us out wasn't genetic, it
(05:40):
wasn't a curse, it wasn't just because of our history
in this country. It was straight self care.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
And sometimes the things they put in our products that
we need to use also can cause cancer and other issues.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Yes, the aluminium, the metals, the heavy metals, the plastics,
the synthetics everything. I have human hair in my hair
today for the period and it looks like it is
the very It's only three weeks. No, but yeah, so
I was just blown away that I had this idea.
We can get into it about what preventable really means
(06:17):
and what were you and what do you think you're
trying to do, and what do you think you're trying
to preserve and putting all of those things in the
right order. Like I want to be cute. I had
just had kids, I had I had a twenty seven
pounds extras of water and milk, stuff and stuff I had,
(06:39):
you know, Boris Kojo as my husband. I wanted to
be cute for him, and it just wasn't working. I
was too tired to work out. And then if I
had time to go to the hairdresser, I took. I
took that.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
I opted out of it.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
I'm not going to work out.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
I'm not going to work out.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
So so I you know, I was in this space
of But also, exercise is not just for weight loss.
To the sisters out here who love being juicy and thick, like, yes,
that is a form of self care, loving yourself but
as you are. But the no, no, no, it's exercise
(07:20):
relieves stress.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Yeah, it can be great for somebody.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
It's you closer to a meditative state when you need
to talk to God. It's not just about weight loss,
it's about everything. It moves your blood and your oxygen
through your body that you don't have to surrender to
anybody's standard of beauty. But exercise that I've learned as
(07:44):
a grown up now clears my mind.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Yeah, mentally, And look even I just put my parents
a vibrating plate, one of those vibrating yes, and you
know you're supposed to work out on those, and it's
like a low impact or whatever. But it's really good,
like for your bones and for your souls because you
also don't later on in life. It is certainly it
is a benefit to us, and it is like a
(08:09):
blessing to be able to grow old, But you also
want to grow old in a way where you're able
to still do the things you know. You want to
still be able to go take a great walk, you
want to go up and down the steps and your
knee is not hurt and not being able to it's
just so many things that we have to start thinking
about now so that later on, like you said, preventatives,
that we age gracefully.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
But also you know, I also have a thing about
future thinking that creates an anxiety, and you're like, well,
let me do this so I will be okay.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Absolutely, There's something about exercise that I learned late in
life that it really helps you stay in the now.
Like if your teenage son or teenage daughter comes to
you with an issue that they want to confide in
you about, you don't have all of your stress on
top of their need for your attention. Like, it's not
just about your relationship, it's not even just about your body.
(08:58):
It's the way you interact with your family, your friends,
and yourself. And we will opt out of all of that,
even for our hair. Yeah, yeah, because we're still face forward,
we're still presentational and this is the world we live in.
But at a certain point you have to say, I
need to be here for me, I need to be
here for my person, and I need to be here
for my children and my family, and being there for
(09:22):
them is mental and physical.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
You have a twenty one year old too, By the way,
Sophia just turn Sophie is twenty one years old. She
looks she is absolutely beautiful, amazing. What have you taught
her about like hair care, that type of journey about
making sure that your own self care is in order,
because that is something that we do learn from.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Well, Sophie helped me make the first one. Oh jeez, Sophie.
If anybody has an original original gym wrap. When I
was still when I called it Savior due that's what
I say, yes, with the old old emblem on it.
Sophie helped me sew it. I cut up one of
board drive fit kind of workout shirts because I had
(10:02):
the stile idea that I wanted it to be absorbent.
I wanted to wike away the moisture, all the things
that the athlete athletic clothes claimed to do. So I
was like, well, let me just cut this little strip.
Did you tell him first that you were now destroying hiss? Okay,
So Sophie helped me sell my first prototype. But she's
now a junior at Howard finishing up her junior year.
(10:24):
She'll be here with me this summer working. She's in
sports management. Okay, that's really just yes, I'm telling your
business you really just about running her brother's career as
an athlete.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
But she is.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
She's always been kind of artistic and crafty and she
could cook, she can make things. She you know, she's
always been on top of it. So she was my
first assistant.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Amazing.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Yeah, there's so much more to the hair journey. The
health is such a big part of it. But I
remember when you and I first met each other that day, yes,
five hour lunch, I know, and we were talking so
much about the pressure that we've feled to assimilate, and
I was thinking about that. And also there used to
there was a lot in California that you had to
(11:16):
wear your hair a certain way about you know, black Wood.
Their hairstyle had to be a certain way so it
wasn't offensive in the workplace. Hair is such a big.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
Thing to this day and to this day. Yeah, still
to this day. I mean, we've come a long way.
But one of my friends actually over the weekend did
an event and she has curly hair, and she said,
you know, it was an event with a lot of
white people, so she straightened her hair for it because
she said, I don't want people coming up to me
and touching my hair and being like, oh, you know
what's going on with your hair. And I don't even
(11:46):
want to get her in trouble for this because they're
probably But anyway, people say certain things to black women
when it comes to our hair, when we're in different environments.
Even being on TV being a news reporter, that was
a thing. Yeah, we literally had to have the Crown Act.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Yeah, it was the Crown Act. And I wondered, how
much you feel this and you know this so deeply
as everything, how much did those sensibilities. I just want
black women to not worry about their hair at all
played into this whole gym rat movement.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
I think when you're sharing space, like we're always considered
the other, but really we're the center and everyone else's
the other in that situation. Like, I was one of
six black girls in an all white, all girl private
school my whole life from second to twelfth grade. I
took two buses to school in Baltimore, and I had
an incredible education, but I did not. I come from
(12:39):
parents who were like, it's the summer, you're gonna get
your hair braided, right, So by the time school year started,
I still had braids, and then I would have my
hair wet and you know, washing go curly, frizzy, pool
fee black girl, young black girl hair. Then my cousin
would do my braids, you know what I mean. So
I had to be me and then be subjected to questions.
(13:05):
But my self esteem was so intact that I just
answered the questions and let it and shut it down.
Thank goodness, I didn't get I didn't get a double
consciousness from them. I didn't really have that kind of
You know, when you leave an environment like that, you
think you're equipped, But then when you're an adult and
it's still there, that's when you're like exhausted, burnt out,
(13:28):
can't believe it all the things, and you don't realize
how much trauma you've actually been through your whole life
justifying your existence. But I would rather be exhausted by
by affirming my natural beauty than not absolutely. You know,
if you need to keep asking me questions about me,
and I'm not asking any questions about you, I must
(13:49):
be doing the right thing. Yeah, I must be cut
today on Tuesday.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
You I don't ask you one single question about condition.
You want to know how I got the maybe hair laid?
You want to know how I got the Shirley Temples.
You want to know how I got the little grease
down and the afro twists and then the box braids, Like.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
I'm really busy, you know.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
I do want to say that it used to be
that straight hair was like all the rage. I remember, why, Yeah,
But now I feel like texture. Everybody wants to have
some type of texture, and we have so many products
on the market for it, like we didn't used to
have that. I remember, self esteem movement is very strong,
and you know, I was a kid in the seventies,
(14:35):
so I grew up with self esteem in the terms
of beauty. Right.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
All my cousins had afros, right, yeah, you know, so
that wasn't really my issue. But now raising a daughter
in these times, and she wanted her first press out
or she wanted her first relaxer. I never relaxed her hair,
but I just had her let her the hairdresser press
her hair or whatever it's now I had to find
(15:02):
a new vocabulary around Oh yeah, you know, strengthening her
self esteem.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Now I want to talk about gym rep and your
business savvy because this was something you also you've been
actually expanding your line of products.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yes, it sucks Oh.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
My gosh, Oh my gosh. Okay, So I wanted to
solve a very real problem about our health, and I
created the gym Rap and it took off. And I
always give Steve Harvey credit for that. He just did
a shout out for me one time on a radio
show like You, and it was great.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
And it's for men too, by the way. Oh yeah,
I just want to point that out too.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
It's not just my tennis players, all my outdoor athletes,
all my soccer players, football players under their helmet. It's
been incredible, motorcycle biker groups, it's out of control. It's
so amazing that so many men wear my gym rap.
But yeah, so I created it with our health in mind,
(16:02):
and then I expanded because I realized there was like
a whole thing around all the things we like in need.
I'm very girly that way. So I created socks and
I created leggings. And the leggings are soft. First of all,
my socks are off the chain.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
They're cute. They're cute, They're cute, They're very cute.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
She loves them.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Do you have them on your feet?
Speaker 2 (16:28):
No?
Speaker 1 (16:28):
But I need to girl, I'm not this is.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
I'm not your two dollars sock.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
This is like the I'm going to get you a
pair of two sir, performance ankle socks.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
And it's not fancy words. And are performance What are
the words they put.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
On a little question, performance ankle socks, cushion, performance ankle socks.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Yes, indeed, and like the heel has a little and
the front has a little. It's delicious. And then I
have my leggings and of course my taie bands, my bandies,
my wide bandies, everything you could possibly want to my
full triangle.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Yeah, I'm gonna say that gym maps are really good.
Also when you are going to the pool or to
the beach. I just want to put that out there.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
It's not just for working out. It's for taking a
power walk, going to the grocery store, picking up your kids,
running your errand it's everything.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Also going to sleep at night. I do want to
say that.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Yeah, I have been to many event okay, because I'm
an actor and sometimes my hairdresser lays the baby hair
down and I want to be cute the next day.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Yes, so you put on your gym and I preserve this.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
I preserve Yes.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
I love how you're saying this. Like, oh, and I
you know, I just created this and I didn't. You
were an entrepreneur who did not know what they were
doing when you started. How did how did you get there?
I mean when I was the tech part of it alone,
the technology that's behind him, How did you learn all
this stuff?
Speaker 3 (18:00):
I had to, like most black women when we're doing something,
to advocate for myself, even if I didn't have the
right words. I had to find a manufacturer that understood
the idea of tech that grabbed water but then protected
it from the first surface. That's why it's three layers in.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
There and breathable and breathable.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
So I just had no fear.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
And I was.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
So convinced of this idea because it was solving a
personal problem my husband. We had just had Sophia Nicholas.
They were young. He wanted to get our groove back.
And the way he gets our groove back, As most
of you know, I'm married to Spartacus, his idea of
getting groove back is going for a run on the beach.
Not my idea mine either, but he would always ask
(18:54):
me very sweetly, let's go for a run together. Let's
go for a walk. Now that the kids are fed
whatever boom were dropped off at school, and I kept
opting out of it, and I felt so bad that
I was trying to solve a relationship issue. I was
trying to solve a hair issue. And I was trying
now that I collected all this data, I was trying
(19:16):
to save.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Our lives health issue.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
You know, I often tell the story, and this is
a very real story that has stayed with me my
whole life. Is that I used to take Sophie to ballet,
and when she was at ballet, I would go to
the grocery store and get a cup of coffee and
was always the same girl. And she was about twenty
four to twenty five years old, beautiful, beautiful black girl.
I went there one day and it was her photo
(19:42):
on the cash register and I said, and I want
to say her name, but I said, where is she?
She's not here today. She passed away, wow wow, in
her twenties, and she was probably close to three hundred pounds.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Oh wow.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
And when I asked why she passed away or how
she passed away, or when they said she had a
stroke in her twenties, in her twenties, and when I
had gotten I had gathered already that information that most
of the things that are killing us are preventable. She
probably had to work to pay for her family, or
(20:24):
for her schooling, or for her light bill or phone
bill or car note. And she didn't carve out that
thirty minutes for a power walk for herself because she
had spent the little bit of money from her check
to keep her hair done.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
When I tell you her hair was laid, she was beautiful.
Hair was done to go to work and to take
her kids to school and to run her life. But
she had not carved out twenty to thirty minutes to
take a power walk. And in that power walk, you
can pray, you can breathe, and you can burn camel.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
That's all it takes.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Yeah, that's all it takes.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
And that's the first thing we cut sometimes.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
And I just wanted an answer to your question. After
I figured out the tech and all those things, I
knew that I was creating something that was part of
your prayer closet.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
And you had to go out and raise money to
do this.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
Oh yeah, I'm just an actor. Everyone's like, oh, you
and Boris are probably like on the you know, on
the Saint Maritz every summer. We're not so, I you know,
I had a budget and all kinds of things, and
so I really just I you know, I didn't I
(21:41):
had enough money to find my manufacturer, pay for prototypes.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
It's not cheap. It's not cheap.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
Oh no, there's a white guy in an invisible phone
call a thousand miles away going So what exactly is
an edge? What's an edge? I'm like, guys, guys, guys, listened.
I need I need an absorbit layer and I need
an outer layer. All right, all right, all right, you
wanted to tie in the back and you want it
all the way around, Like yeah, yeah, so yeah, So
(22:11):
I needed to raise money to go through the things
like prototypes. I needed to raise money for my first
order of manufacturing and I had never done that before.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Yeah how long was that process? I would love to know.
Because there are people that have an idea and like
you said, your father encouraged you, like you gotta go ahead, quit,
don't quit and not quit? Yes for people who are
like because I also think it's important to be as
prepared as possible to know what you're getting yourself into.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
Well, I say, just start, okay, start dumb. I started dumb,
as in, my rich friends had a luncheon and let
me present my product to them, and nobody butched. This
was all you know, powerful black women, white women, and
(23:00):
nobody budged. And then I I went to another group
of friends and I got a few investments. And this
was just to get my prototypes right. This wasn't even
in the thicket of things. And then my mom had
a lunch at her house with all of her girlfriends
(23:23):
in their seventies and eighties, and they were my substantial investment.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Really tapping into my friends and family.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Crowdfunding and family.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Yeah, that's the best I think in general. That's how
most people who are starting a business, they say that's
always the best way to get started with friends and
family rounds.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
And most people feel like, I don't want to ask
my family, I don't want to ask nobody. That's a
hard thing to do, and you don't and I didn't.
I went all the way to the dream. And I
would encourage everyone, especially right now because I'm coming from
a different time period. I'm now ten twelve years out
from my first prototype. Now you've got twenty year olds
at wanting to invest. You got millionaires everywhere, and people went.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
So that you could really yeah, crowdfund on these platforms,
but people who don't even know you personally.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
That's right and I but I think the through line
is I knew that I was onto something and it
turned out to be incredible, and I've crossed every demographic
that I've ever could imagine. But you just start where
you are. The one thing I will tell people is
that I did not have shame. Yeah I did, and
(24:34):
I knew how to recover from a father and how
to recover from the No.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
That's what I was going to ask you, because sometimes
I heard know all day like I'm not going to cry.
Yeah that's tough because, like you said, the first couple
of rounds didn't go so well for you. And presenting
your product, how do you like? First of all, getting
your pitch right to is important, I think, but as
an actor, my pitch was amazing. Yeah, I'm not gonna lie,
(25:03):
do you again? I had no fear about no fear,
but also like just to keep going. How do you
get that mindset for a person who may go out
and like, start.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
Money wasn't my goal?
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (25:17):
And I know that people where they're like, oh, this
is going to be my money maker. No, I was
really passionately, spiritually invested in this product. It's like someone
who's made the first like heart resuscitation gases right like
you you know this is something. If the heart is
(25:37):
based on electricity, and I can create this electricity, we
might have a shot here. If the number one thing
that is taking us out as as black women is
diet and exercise, and I've now been given an idea
from God to help us exercise. Your no is not
going to stop.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
You said it.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Yeah, seventeen people got that idea that day.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
One person acted on it.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
I like that, you know, like.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
It is what it is. I'm not special. I just
I was obedient.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Yeah. You know, some people will have a great idea,
never do anything about it, and then see it come
to fruition somewhere else and be like, man, I thought
of that. I thought it. Or some people might think, oh,
this has been done already.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
That's a great point. That is a really great point
because I just read up on this stat about the
idea of a headband. Right the idea of a headband
is not original, but the headband right now in the
sweat and exercise space that I entered and I'm a
top contender. Is a two billion dollar industry annually, like
(26:47):
I you know, like it is something. It is something.
And when you get an idea, the seventeen reasons for
it to tell you that it's nothing have to be ignored. Right, absolutely,
And now I am in the I'm in the billion
dollar space.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Yeah no, that's great.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
That's crazy.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
That's crazy.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
It's crazy. Is that girl from Baltimore?
Speaker 1 (27:08):
When did you realize this would be Jim would be
a success?
Speaker 3 (27:11):
Out the gate, out the gate the minute. The hardest part,
like I told you, was creating the original prototype, perfecting it,
getting a manufacturer in a far away place in Jersey
to make my prototype u uh, you know, and get
a patent and all the mathematical things you need to
start your business was very hard for me. Oh and
(27:34):
having business partners that don't work out.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Oh that's we know that drill.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
Were going to bring it up. But moving and recovering, yeah,
right about.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
You know what, how do you know when somebody when
two questions about that? How do you know when somebody
is going to be a good partner? What are some things?
Because trial and error helps you realize. Okay, these are
the questions I need to be asking. And number too,
how do you know when it's time to divorce a
business partner?
Speaker 3 (28:02):
Oh? God will make it very clear. The one thing
I would say about starting your own product business endeavor
is that before you even start, you have to have
the strength of recovery. You have to have a recovery
plan because somebody on the team is going to do
something to you. They're either going to get a better
(28:24):
job and bail out, and they were your accountant, They're
going to steal your idea and they were your friend.
They're going to siphon money funds behind your back, and
they were your cousin. You got to know that one
of those things might happen.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
It's going to happen.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
It definitely will.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
And you have to have your self and esteem and
your self courage and your certainty intact. Yeah, like this
is mine and there's everything you're doing. You're doing to yourself, right,
you get it ex downy. Even if you took five
hundred thousand dollars from me, I can't waste a second
on that because you did it to your self, right,
I'm going to make that back.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Yeah, And more and more.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
You have to have your spiritual life intact, and your
and your and your certainty about your product and yourself
and your idea intact, because all those things are going
to happen in some degree.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
Yeah, there's gonna be some fun.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
And even if you just lose your your best friend
was your accountant and manage your books like nobody and
got you together. She or he might have now been
offered a better job or decided to have a family.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
You want them to and you have to you have
to let them go. What do you think about doing
business with friends and family depends on the friends of them.
Some people are like, it's a hard no for me,
But you know, because I've heard a lot of Sometimes
if I want to remain friends with you, we just
can't work together like some people. But you're right, it
does depend on whoavor that. I think I'm pretty professional
(29:49):
in that way. I can. I can category like if.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
I wanted to cut an album, I would want my
cousin who's a producer, to be a part of that team,
right to tell me the truth to help me out
a boom. But yeah, even family are individuals and you
got to see DVID. Yet whose strength is going to
serve the endeavor.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Sometimes people also look at you and be like, I
want a car has money, so it's no big deal,
and you're like, you know, investing, investing, investing, investing, Yes,
And people are also thinking like, I want to get
paid now. But if there's no money to get paid,
they have to realize something.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
And you're not even paying yourself and then you get
paid last. Yeah, it's tough. It's really tough. I've covered
so much in such a quick amount of time. We
were onto something. I forgot what we were talking about.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
I was talking about how do you know somebody will
be a good business partner? Like, what are some things
now that you can look at because of past?
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Yes, I would say I didn't remember.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
I went.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
I got into n YU early, like I went to
school at seventeen. I went to Tish School Arts. I
was an actor, right, I knew that I was coming.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
You are an actor.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
I am an actor, and so I didn't really invest
in the dal Jones. I really didn't know anything about money,
and I you know, I paid for that ignorance. You
could say later as an adult, but I think that
it's extreme. It's extremely important to understand the business. And
(31:27):
what I did is that I was surrounded myself with
people who did, and sometimes in the bad situation that
I told you about, I just if they would say, well,
you're your your skews are this and that. You know
the return and this quarter and that quarter, and they're
using a lot of different words about the revenue business,
(31:49):
write them down and learn them, because the only difference
between you and the person who's using that word is
a book.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
You're learning a part.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Yeah, now I can run a business, but I learned
the hard way because I defaulted on a lot of
things that I didn't look up myself, right, you know,
I was, I had I was. I was literally a
mom and a working actor, and my job in Boris's job,
kept food on the table and our lights on. So
(32:23):
when I had a business partner that knew all of
the ins and outs of business, I defaulted to them.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
Yeah, I can.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
Tell you right now, I can run any business that
you pred to me. Now I'm like like the queen
of the industry. But yeah, it was. It's a tough
pill to swallow.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
And how did you scale it? I mean, you are
in amazing stores right now, and so many entrepreneurs want
to get to No.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Well, we came out of a lot of stores because
COVID happened and a lot of things are shutting down.
I did all of the dance just online, then in retail,
then in collaboration, and then out of retail. I did.
I was I've been in this really difficult but sweet
educational spot and still here and that. And I think
(33:13):
the through line with the ups and downs of the market,
I think the through line that has saved me and
preserved me as a business is that I listen to
my customer. I didn't overproduce. My socks are off the chain,
my leggings are off the chain, my sweat band. And
I listened to the I have white customers, black customers, young,
(33:37):
we in braids. I listened to every single kind of customer, men,
football players under their helmets, motorcycle gangs under their helmets.
And so that's why I was able to expand in
the right direction.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
I'm hearing pivot, You're not afraid to pivot.
Speaker 3 (33:54):
I'm not afraid to pivot. And you know, my white
girl volleyball outdoor athletes, volleyball players, they didn't want too
much constriction. They just wanted something to keep their hair
out of their face. That's my bandy. My wide bandy
is for you know, my sisters who are out outdoor athletes,
(34:17):
but they need a little bit more compression. They don't
want their braids in their face. They don't want their
bun in their face.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
The wide bandy is my favorite.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
The wide bandy is off the chain. Then you have
your serious gym athletes and they have their and my
male I got male customers, football players. My bandy that
has all the super absorbency that you tie. People were
wearing that under their motorcycle helmets, like motorcycle gangs, like
you know, groups of.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
You can't.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
And I wouldn't say one thing that guys think about that.
We may not have that. Football players they're concerned about
their hairlines too, yes, right, and so they never want
anything that's pushing their hairline back.
Speaker 3 (34:59):
No, but you get on top of your hair long
and it's really not the pushing that takes your hair over. No,
it's the it's the constant wiping of sweat.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
Okay, but if you have a gym wrap, you don't
have to worry about that.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
You don't keep wiping, baby, it gets absorbed and you
keep your hair.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
You know, where do you where do you see this like?
For you now that you are the entrepreneur businesswoman that
can run a business, where do you see this going?
If you had to say, this is how I went
this mapped out.
Speaker 3 (35:30):
Wow, I've had a few offers for a buyout.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
Oh okay, as we did building our businesses.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
So you have an exit strategy.
Speaker 3 (35:41):
But I did not exit. I did. It's me and
I was nervous that they would change because I make
an expensive product. I'm it's high quality, and I know
the minute I let it go the.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
Corner ass produce this and cut some corners, and it
cuts corners.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
My name is still on it, or my name is
still associated with it. So I'm in it for the
long game right now. And I just feel like I'm
still very attached to my customer and I just want
to find more of them.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
It's your passion, it's my passion. It'll tell me when
it's time. And right now, for some reason, it is
just getting the second wind of blowing up. And I
think it's a state of the world that people really
are having faith in themselves and in their health.
Speaker 3 (36:38):
You know, health used to be this fancy vague word like, oh,
I'm getting healthy and like you know, you do your yoga,
your whatever TV show workout. And I think now that
people are connecting their health with their money and their longevity,
that gym rap has a new place. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
Absolutely. How has your work as an actor informed your
business work?
Speaker 1 (37:07):
Mmm?
Speaker 2 (37:08):
By the way, I'm sitting here with a Bossy Media
reunion yes a day Empire fans, I think, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
We had a great conversation. So shy, yes listen because
I was.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
Like real shy when on television, like and Bossy Media.
Speaker 1 (37:32):
Watching that. But we had a conversation when I filmed
that scene for Empire where you were talking about your
health and green juice and you know all of those
amazing things. So it's a real thing. It's not like
that's why I feel like people can equate with Jim
wrap with you because it is your lifestyle. Yeah, and
we trust that.
Speaker 3 (37:52):
Yeah, and I use it. I think I have one
of my purse.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
Yeah, I get the next one.
Speaker 1 (37:58):
We can order him to that we're because that's what
we're gonna or the West Sox too.
Speaker 3 (38:02):
And you know people who even aren't you know, our
natural sisters who aren't even worried about edges or anything
or blowouts. It is just another tool that makes you
feel like you're about to begin something for yourself. You know,
if you buy a cute jacket or cute leggings or
cute shoes, like having that gym wrap made by someone
(38:23):
who you know has your best interest in mind is
just another affirmation when you go for your walk. You know,
even if you're not trying to save your do or
keep your edges laid, you just want to feel like
this is the this is my time. It's a ritual.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
Yeah, and you've been on this natural hair journey too,
tell me about that, because being an actress and always
having to have different hair styles.
Speaker 3 (38:46):
Yes, well I went in. You know, I grew up
when relaxers were the thing, and luckily I stopped that.
And when I got into and I got into I
was living in New York and natural was everything. I
let my hair go back natural. But when I paid
for that blowout, I didn't do anything physical.
Speaker 2 (39:08):
Oh, because it wouldn't.
Speaker 1 (39:11):
I was my own customer. I knew that feeling of
like being on a budget as a young woman in
her twenties, like I got I got my hair dumb.
I want to go Nells tonight. I used to be
a co check girl at Nells. By the way, I
don't know if anybody here.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
Nelly, I saw you there. I know I saw you there.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
Yeah, no, I saw you there. So Cochet girls will
always fly.
Speaker 3 (39:30):
Okay, We're fly.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
I saw you there in Prince in Nels.
Speaker 3 (39:38):
Yeah, Prince was. It wasn't it Neils all the time? Yeah,
Eddie Murphy, a lot of people. But yeah, I just
I don't know. I just felt like that I was
gonna be what was your question again?
Speaker 1 (39:55):
Like, look, I forgot to I was just listening to you,
like you were talking about her natural hair, natural hair
journey and then yeah, well you understood what it was
like to be on a budget, spend your money on you.
Speaker 3 (40:04):
Yeah yeah, but it But by the time I was
a naturalista. Just like if you were going to go
for a run, you have your favorite zip up coat.
There's something about the gym rap that just solidifies the
moment and keeps me on track and keeps me motivated.
I also, in the last i'd say ten years, you know,
wigs are magnificent. Now shout out to Kairie, you know
(40:29):
who made up most of my wigs in La. Wigs
helped me grow my hair back right.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (40:36):
Yeah, so I've been through all of the and I
still do. I like to dress up and change my look,
but the gym wrap stays consistent.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
It's also, like I said, it's also good not to
get nasty. But when you're in the bedroom about to
get it in, yes, get to you know, don't mess
my hair up, right, it's not that kind of a show,
but it is a real thought. It's a real thought,
and you're total It is like, don't you spead all
of it?
Speaker 3 (41:03):
Like?
Speaker 2 (41:03):
Get it.
Speaker 3 (41:06):
You might have to have borso on to confirm or deny,
but I may or may have not excuse me, enjoyed
my spouse with a gym wrap on as you and.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
He probablyized you should, like, Nicole, we're about to get
it in, put that gym.
Speaker 3 (41:27):
I was like, hold on, we are about to get
it in. Let me put my gymrap on. I want
to be cute tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (41:36):
Gotta love it. It serves multiple purposes. Yes, that's bottom line. Well, listen,
I appreciate you for having this conversation with us. Yes,
so people can get a gift if they follow.
Speaker 3 (41:47):
Right, if you follow gym Wrap on Instagram, there's a
free gift. There's a lot of great things happening on
the site, new colors, new sales, everything, So just go
to com check it out. Give me a shout out
on Instagram. But if you follow Jim rap I got
a gift for you.
Speaker 2 (42:07):
Last question, I'm doing this future self program with Dan
Sullivan and it's not looking back, looking forward. So in
five years from now, what is that person going to
thank you for doing right now?
Speaker 3 (42:22):
My customer or me.
Speaker 2 (42:23):
You five years from now, what's Nicole and five years
from now going to thank Nicole today for what she's
doing right now?
Speaker 3 (42:34):
M I would say she's future. Nicole is going to
thank me for pushing through this next chapter of being
a parent to young adults and being there for them.
And I think she is also going to thank me
(42:57):
for not giving up on the gym Wrap as an
idea and as a way of serving her people.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
Makes me cry. She's also gonna thank you for hanging
out with Angela and Stacy.
Speaker 1 (43:13):
We should do a little run club with the gym
Wraps or something like. She would love that fun. Yeah,
I think we should do something like that.
Speaker 3 (43:21):
See you always bring this up at the end and
then we don't. I don't hear from you.
Speaker 1 (43:25):
You have in the midst here.
Speaker 2 (43:28):
I'm here today and.
Speaker 3 (43:30):
The weather's getting better.
Speaker 1 (43:31):
That's what I'm saying. And we are doing a little
collab with the Soca Run Club.
Speaker 3 (43:35):
Okay, and you know that I'm lat.
Speaker 1 (43:39):
Okay and listen. But I know you and outrun a
saf So I'm just gonna put that out there now.
But it's okay. If you have to.
Speaker 2 (43:44):
Walk, we're gonna get you a fifteen push ups.
Speaker 1 (43:47):
We're gonna, as I call it, a wog, a walk jog,
you know, walking the jog. If you whatever you gotta do.
Speaker 2 (43:53):
You say, can we get t.
Speaker 3 (43:55):
Shirts for women? Women?
Speaker 2 (44:04):
Go wogg your gym.
Speaker 1 (44:07):
Rats.
Speaker 2 (44:09):
Nobody has been drinking here. I promise you this.
Speaker 1 (44:17):
Drinks after the wa okay period, wogg a happy hour,
all right.
Speaker 2 (44:22):
Wealth Wednesdays everybody followed Jim Rap. Everybody watched something by
beloved Nicole has ever done. Everybody give her a shout
out for being a mom entrepreneur, everything and Angela. We
are celebrating women Women's history months. Happy Wealth Wednesdays. Everybody
Way Up With Angela Yee News
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The Sound Reset Challenge, Week Four: Believe You Can Do It
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Host
Angela Yee
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