Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed April Showers.
The trailblazing entrepreneur behind Afro Unicorn is the first Black woman to own a licensed character brand sold in major retailers like Walmart, JC Penney, Amazon, and CVS. Her brand has achieved over $20 million in sales across 25 product categories, including books, bedding, hair care products, and party supplies. In this Money Making Conversations Masterclass episode, April joins Rushion McDonald to discuss the key elements of building a successful business, from licensing and trademarking to accounting and business modeling. Through her journey, she inspires individuals to embrace their uniqueness and tap into their full potential. This one-of-a-kind conversation offers valuable insights for aspiring entrepreneurs and business leaders alike.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
I am Rashan McDonald, a host the weekly Money Making
Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and information that this show
provides are for everyone. It's time to stop reading other
people's success stories and start living your own. If you
want to be a guest on my show, please visit
our website, Moneymaking Conversations dot com and click the be
a Guest button. Press submit and information will come directly
(00:23):
to me.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Now let's get this show started.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
My next guest is the founder of afro Ulicon, the
first black woman owned a fully licensed character brand in
major retail with sales over twenty million. How groundmaking brand
celebrates diversity and empowers women and children of color, inspiring
countless individuals to embrace their uniqueness and potential. Please work
(00:47):
with the Money Making Conversations Masterclass, April Showers, April, thank
you for coming on Money Making Conversations, Master Colass.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
How are you doing?
Speaker 3 (00:55):
I am living the dream? How about you?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
You know when I was reading this intro, he says,
inspires countless individuals to embrace their uniqueness and potential. Extrapolat
or expound on that for me?
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Please well after Unicorn was created because of who I
am I'm a serial entrepreneur, and I don't know. We'll
probably get into the story later about how it was
actually a creator. I can say it now because it
all ties in when.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
You talk nowt flow of the conversation.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Okay, So I am a licensed insurance agent. I was
a licensed real estate broker. Single mama to amazing young
black boys, one who I just dropped off to LSU
a few weeks ago, and the other one's in high
school now. But back in twenty nineteen, a friend kept
telling me I was a unicorn over and over again,
and so finally I asked him, why do you keep
(01:45):
calling me that? He said, well, because you're running the businesses,
you're raising the boys, you'r a unicorn.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
And I said, Cortes, I.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Am a woman. That is what we do. He's like, no, April,
you do it at an extraordinary level. Trust me. I
date these women in LA and you are a unicorn, like,
you do it at an extraordinary level. So I didn't
know much about unicorns. I kind of was tom boyish
and I was a boy mom. So I had to
go look them up and I saw that they were unique,
(02:13):
they were mystical, and I said, I'm definitely unique. I'm
all things black girl magic, And so I started to
use the emoji of the unicorn and my phone over
and over again, not with text or have any copy.
And then one day I looked at it and I said,
doesn't it represent who I am? Like, I don't see
myself in this unicorn. So then I went to find
(02:36):
one that looked like me and I couldn't. So at
that point I was like, I'm going to create an
avatar for me, and creating it, I saw the potential
of Wow, wait a minute, it's probably a lot of
women out there that felt what I was feeling, that
was probably dealing with some type of imposterum syndrome or something.
Didn't know that they were unique or didn't know that
(02:58):
they had these qualities to be a Unicorn. So I
then wanted to create a movement to find other women
entrepreneurs or those that wanted to join me on this
entrepreneurship journey and give them an avatar to represent who
they were. So when we launched after Unicorn on the
platform on social media, I really was targeting business owners
(03:22):
and I would specify on my page out they will
wear my shirt and I would say, meet Latricia Leatricia
owns this business. She works nine to five two. She
does this, this, this, this is what makes her unique.
Divide in magical. Be sure to follow her business and
patronize her business. And then the movement started April.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
We've already told you got two boys. One you just
dropped off LSU. How are you balancing all this?
Speaker 3 (03:49):
I am managing it.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
The word balance and manages, not that you manage.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Because this is the thing. I don't believe that men
get asked that question. No one asks jay Z how
does he balance being a father in work?
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Okay, hmm, I have not assaulted you with the word
balance now.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
No, no, But because to me, balance is even weight, right,
I got to get fifty here and fifty here to
equal one hundred. I gotta be a mom one hundred
percent of the time. I got to be a business
owner one hundred percent of the time. So I can't
balance either. I have to manage those So I give
(04:37):
whatever I'm in it. I'm given. All My kids are
in school right now, so I know I'm full CEO
mold right now. Once I go get my babies out
of school. My sister knows all my calls stop at
two thirty, so when I can get them home. They're
a little older now, so I get them situation, make
sure they've eaten, and if I want to put on
that sea hat, or if I want to go out
on a date, or do whatever I can.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
So you're out there dancing, you out there dating.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
You just lid that little bad ball up in there,
and now you know the dating scene. You're business warmer,
you know you're motivator, you are a licensed you know
I will say what you can't do, and I'll be
insulting right there, because what you have not done is
limit who you could be and what you can achieve.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Now.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
So in twenty and eighteen, friend of yours started calling
your unicorn. Okay, twenty twenty, we all know that's an
ablute period when you start talking in the COVID and
it starts changing our whole outlooking perspective. And then after
that it's when you started kind of like a galvanizing
people in the unicorn movement.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Oh, the movement started all day one. May twenty nineteen
is when the brand launched. Right May seventeenth. My son
went into the hospital May twentieth, Sorry, my son in
the hospital May tenth. I was reluctant to watch the
brand while my son was in the hospital, not knowing
he will be there for twenty days. With all the
encouragement from the people around me, I launched the brand
(06:04):
while he was in the hospital. When he got out
twenty days, my uncle died of a massive heart attack.
I got the call. Seventeen hours later, his eldest brother,
my second uncle, died of a of pneumonia. We got
a double funeral the following week. Then after that, six
months later, broke my grandmother's heart. She got spiraled down,
(06:27):
she died, and then a month later we were in
a global pandemic. But back all that up, I had
this mindset of all gas, no breaks, the marathon continues.
I'm from Los Angeles. Nipsey Hustle had just passed away
back in March. I had a pre launch a birthday
(06:48):
of After Unicorn with these women on April twenty eighth,
and I told them, look, I'm building something where we're
going to support each other and the marathon's going to continue.
That was before all this tragedy was getting read to
happen in my life. But I had already poured in
these women to say, this is what we're building. We're
building this movement. So what they did is that they
pushed this movement with me, and so I the movement.
(07:12):
I just want to be very clear. The movement started
when we launched after Unicorn tifty had us jumped on
board in July, Alicia Keys jumped on board, Cherry Shepherd.
And when I say jumped on board, I would go
on their comments and I would comment and say, I mean,
I'll go on a pro post and I would comment
and say, hey, have you ever seen after Unicorn? Before
I created a brand of women of color who hustle
(07:33):
follow the movement, and so they would click over on
my page. They would see what we were doing and
how I was highlighting other women and they were like, oh,
this is something I could rock with. And it's been
organic like that from the beginning.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
If you were able to captivate people based on an
idea of motivation, uplift, we could do this together, you know,
want all be all dad thought process. Where did they
come from?
Speaker 3 (08:05):
I would say it was definitely instilled from me for
my parents, my mom and my dad and my uncles.
So it was very heartbreaking when those two uncles passed away,
my grandmother, my family, my family. My name is April Showers,
so I was purposely named April Showers and I wasn't
as a real singer. I mean, I think I'm a
great dancer, but it's like this girl was destined to
(08:29):
be something that I think.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Why you think you're a great dancer.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
You'll throw that out on my show and say you
think you are great because you put the word thank
you a great dancer and you put the word great
and think together.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Okay and stop. I'm a great dancer and everybody know
it except except my kids.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Okay, there you go. I was wonder who was judging?
You think it's the kids. That's right. I've been there.
I've been there because dad will throw dowt in you.
Your kids will. You are great. You're a great motivator,
you're a great entrepreneur.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Now when it comes to your dancing, that's when your
kids put that little doubt in your mind.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Yeah, which is always good. You need to be humbled
by somebody.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Yeah, they definitely humble me.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Now the whole concept of because this is a video interview,
but it's gonna be in for audio, I'm seeing all
these great different unicorns. In the background, you have a
unicorn T shirt that you're wearing. Talk about the development
of the of these concepts.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
So one of the first things you said on the
intro is I'm the first black woman to have a
fully licensed character brand in major retail. It is a
mouthful and most people, ninety nine point nine percent of
the world will be like, what the heck does that mean?
So I'm basically missus Walt Disney. I am the creator
(09:47):
of a character rand like Mickey Mouse, like the Star
Wars characters, Elmo, Sesame Street. I am the creator the
of Afri Unicorns sit on the shelves next to those
legacy iconic brands. So the way that I got into
(10:11):
is a lot of people think I'm sitting here manufacturing
all these products that have this huge warehouse as a licensee.
I do not have license or I do not have
any inventory. What I have as partners that helped me
manufacture these products. So in twenty twenty twenty one August,
(10:36):
because of the movement, there was a video that went
viral of a little girl wearing an Afric Unicorn shirt.
Somebody who walked by her and said, I love your
hair with all the confidence in the world. She said,
thank you, It's an Afro. Everyone shared it on all platforms,
from Tina Knowles Beyonce's mom, and then Oprah Daily shared it.
And then when Oprah Daily shared it, the comments were
(10:58):
flooded with that's afric unicorns baby, that's afric Unicorn's shirt.
And then a buyer at Walmart saw it. A buyer
Walmart saw the comments, looked up after Unicorn and said,
I think this is something we want to bring into
our stores as a licensed character. So she reached out
to me, sent an email and said, after Unicorn ex
(11:21):
Walmart collaboration, would you consider bringing in Afro Unicorn into
party supplies?
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Okay, ok okay, where were you at emotionally now, because
I'm assuming that you had trademarked Afro Unicorn, right, Okay,
so you knew to do dilages on that end and
then but when you were putting this on social media,
was the marketing or the product aspect of taking this
to store branding anywhere in your mind prior to Walmart
(11:52):
contacting you?
Speaker 3 (11:54):
So the thought process in my mind, I talk a
lot about visualization and seeing things before they happened, But
not always trying to figure out all the details of it.
The thought process I had met in April of twenty
nineteen was that African and Korna is going to be
a household name and a world wide brand. I used
to say it all the time, so I knew that
(12:19):
eventually it was going to get out to the world.
But like the rest of the world eight ninety nine
percent of the world, I didn't know about licensing. I
thought that I would have to sell Afro Unicorn to
like a Hazburrow. I just thought I was going to
have to sell it to somebody who knew how to
(12:39):
get it into mass retail. I didn't think because I
didn't know. You only know what you know, So I
didn't know that the little girl from south central Los
Angeles could be the person to still sit in the
C suite and get it out to be a household
name and a worldwide brand. But I always knew it
(13:00):
would be. I just didn't know how well.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
This is impressive because of the fact that you know,
there's so many clients and so many people in this
business want to get in Walmart, and the big fear
is being able to handle the requests now you're the
licensing business. You clearly explained to a Rashall, I'm not
making anything. I don't have a warehouse storing product. I
(13:24):
licensed my brand through other people. Walk us through that step.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
When the buyer at Walmart reached out to me and
we set up the first call, she told me that
she wanted me to meet with two other licensees. At
the time, I just didn't say that that language. She
just told me the name of the two companies that
I can potentially interview to see if I wanted them
to create the party supply line. Because at this point
(13:52):
I think now, I think she already knew I'm bringing
this in to Walmart, and we just got to figure
out who was going to help us bring it in
and the how. The first thing that I did before
I started out for Unicorn was to get it registered,
(14:14):
or at least apply to get the trademark registered, because
I knew, based off of previous businesses that I run,
that I wanted to build this one to sell. Read
a lot of books about it, and I knew that
I wanted to build it to sell. So the first
thing I did was make sure I got a registered.
Second thing I did was make sure. I had an
(14:34):
accountant and I had no money, but I wanted her
to coount all the pennies and make sure that was
all there because I have a fear of going to
prison and I didn't want to do that. So I knew.
I knew that it was going to be big, and
so before it got too big, I need to make
sure all the ducks were in order. So I trademarked.
(14:58):
I made sure that I had to write account and
then I got an attorney on board. But I do
have a little tip we can insert right here. I
went through legal Zoom originally to get my trademark. The
problem is legal Zoom cannot respond. Only an attorney can
(15:18):
respond if they come back with some questions. So you
should just always start with the attorney. To start with
the trademark attorney because they are required to respond to
whatever they submitted. So that's one thing that I learned
through this journey because I had to get a lot
of classes, a lot of trademarks along the way.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
But again, you're doing it the right way because again,
you know, you put together a business model, a business plan,
you shut it. I needed Legal Bam check that out,
re shot. I needed a bookkeeper, slash a county. Check
that out, because when it starts happening, you don't want
to be scrambling, and so many people start scrambling. But
you sit down and in and it's so so much
(16:01):
of a vision of Walmart just called.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Me, I need to get my act together. No, No,
it was before Walmart.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
No, because that's where people mess up. Because if I
have I have a saying, if you stay ready, you
ain't got to get ready. I took it from sugar Free. No,
if Walmart would have called me, I would have missed
the opportunity. If I didn't already have my stuff trademark,
if I didn't already have an accounting place, if I
didn't already have an attorney that I knew, I would
(16:31):
have missed opportunity one. I would have been trying to
scramble and grab and do all of this, and I
would have missed opportunity. So no, day one, you brought
up something that that triggered me, and I forgot before
even all of this. While I was waiting for the trademark,
I went out on upwork and found someone to help
me write a business plan. I gave her the idea
(16:55):
of what I had, and then she did all the research,
tell me who were my competitors, what were my strengths,
what was my weaknesses, what were the threads, what were
the opportunities?
Speaker 4 (17:07):
Like laid it.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
All out for me so I had a clear direction
going in mind. You no money made, nothing happen if
but I knew in order to build a successful business,
I needed all of this on the foundation.
Speaker 4 (17:23):
Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations Masterclass hosted by Rashaan McDonald. Money Making Conversations Masterclass
continues online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and follow money Making
(17:46):
Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
I love the fact that when I sit down and
talk about it, because I just had a big, beating
conversation with a banker and he said, Rashaun, if you're
come into my office and you don't have a business plan,
that's going to be a real short conversation because that
means that you have not sat down and got a
clear grasp of understanding what you're trying to do. You
(18:15):
just out there operating. No hope, this I hope this happened.
I hope when the open these doors, it's going to happen.
A business plan, he says, is the driver's license to
starting your business. And that's why I hop it in
front of people all the time, because, like you said,
it triggered you in your conversation. But that was the
number one thing that really gave you the confidence to
(18:37):
be able to get the accountant, the confidence to be
able to get the attorney, because you knew exactly where.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
You were going.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
Correct, correct, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Now just look at that.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Now got the Walmart mentor two potential license sees your license,
so your license licensere and there's a license see right? Yes, okay, cool?
They had two of them for you. How did you
make a decision on which one you wanted to go with?
Speaker 3 (19:04):
I went with both. They both sold. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
How did they work?
Speaker 3 (19:08):
Well? One handle just like the paper goods, sols, plates, napkins,
and then the other one could do plates and napkins
as well. But then they also did all the accessories.
And when we dropped party, this buyer, I love her
to death. Her name I can't I'm not gonna say
her name, but I love her. I'm gonna call her BC.
(19:29):
She basically brought me into all these categories. So I
was going into party, but I had a bouncy ball,
I had plush and party. I had a hair bowing party.
I have fake nails and party. I have rings and party.
So you're thinking toys cosmetics. These are all different category
(19:51):
hair accessories that she put in the party section. So
once you see it, then you know the opportunities that
can grow further. So I brought them both on because
one had you know, you could do the paper that
I wanted. This other company because they could do those
other accessories. But then it led to so many categories
(20:16):
and the first nine and twelve months I had over
forty five licensees.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Well, okay, not to do it. You know you've been calling,
you know, go on. You jumped on that. Your brand
became Afro Unicorn. Social media influences, celebrity influences took note
of what you were trying to do. Now it's time
that you're hiding an accountant, you hide their lawyer. The
lawyer's handling all your contracts with the licensees. Nine, the
(20:45):
money starts to come in. How do you track the money?
Speaker 3 (20:49):
How do I attrack the money? Well?
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Track the money with your account and how does that work?
Speaker 3 (20:55):
She does every month, she closes out the books, she
reckons everything, she does a profit and laws, and every
single month I get her, we do a review. I
ended up hiring an agency to collect the royalty payments. Yeah,
so they collected, and which was good because I get
(21:17):
a percentage of the royalty means a percentage of sales. Right,
But then I also pay the agency. But I get
to lessen my liability because the agency's collecting the money,
so they're getting their money off the top. So then
I get like less of that. Whatever that percentage is,
(21:37):
whether it's ten to twenty percent, I'm getting less of that.
So now I'm not that the tax liability is not
as great as it would have been at one hundred
and then me paying them so and it also just
helps to keep track of everything that is happening. And
they keep an accounting record too of each licensee, how
much the pos were, what's my percentage and how much
(22:00):
is due to me?
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Wow, let's talk about you as an individual. You know,
I will tell you I'm impressed. I'm impressed with your story.
It's not a lucky story. It's a planning store. And
that's why I like about it, because you know, you
you sit around somebody to tell you an idea and
then you go along the way. But everything was a
business plan out there was a thought prosiland out. Now
(22:25):
in your bio, they said, age of nineteen, you knew
you wanted to be an entrepreneur.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Yeah, age of nineteen is when I actually went into
gear with it. But I knew I was going to
be a business owner at fourteen years old, the age of.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
How how just how? How?
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Just asking you know, I thought I was gonna be
a basketball player. I thought I was gonna be a
football player. You know, an entrepreneur, young African American girl.
Where they were your parents entrepreneurs, where you where you
had mentors, you saw they were entrepreneurs. What sparked that
trigger point in your head to say entrepreneurship, business owners?
Small at fourteen and you eventually pursued it at nineteen?
Speaker 3 (23:05):
It was subconsciously. Both of my parents worked for the state,
They had stay government jobs. I just discovered this in
the last year that my father, though used to hustle
aze a mechanic on the side, So every Saturday morning
cars were filled up down our long driveway.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Y'ah. He was shade treated mechanic.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
Yes, I didn't realize that. So doing multiple interviews, I
was like, no, my parents weren't entrepreneurs this and that.
But I thought about it, I'm like, no, Daddy used
to have those cars lined up every single Saturday, So
the entrepreneurial spirit was there. I guess it's also because
my dad was also that guy throughout my life, like
(23:46):
you sure you don't want to get a government job.
You gotta got your pinshit, you gotta have this. So
I kind of didn't even look at him as being
that guy because he was always trying to make sure
I had some type of security. But when I think
about it, I think it was there. And then also,
one thing my mother did and hopefully my foundation will
(24:07):
mirror this. My mother made sure that I experienced life
out of South central Los Angeles. Lifestyle matters for you
to be able to visualize and to see there's other
opportunities out there. So I don't care if we were
going out to eat, going to the movies, we were
being Beverly Hills, Palisades, Rolling Hills. My mom kept me
(24:31):
in Culver City. She always kept me out of the
inter city. So at a young age, I realized that
the way to make that kind of money, to afford
that type of house, or to live in that type
of neighborhood was to be your own boss.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Wow, April Shatles, Wow fro Unicorn April beautiful name, by
the way, has over twenty five product categories, including books, bedding,
air care, party supplies, and forty five licensed partners world wide.
Does that scare you?
Speaker 3 (25:09):
It motivates me.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Now because all you want to do was just get domestic.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
No, I said, if.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
You Grunba be a household name, the worldwide brand from
day one.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
You just too much for me. April. You know, you know,
let me ask you this now, because you're a special Now.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
I can see why your friend called you a unicorn,
you know, because people like you that come into my
life and I and some people might say, well, show
you're a visionary, but I don't see that because I'm
just grinding you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
But you're unique because you're doing things.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Because I've had businesses, I didn't have the lawyer upfront,
I didn't have to account upfront. I was just happy
to be in business. So I made the mistakes that
you sought not to make the mistakes. I understand trademarking
the fact that worldwide that you can go to London, England, though,
go to Canada, you can go to Australia, you can
(26:01):
go to Brazil, you go to Mexico and you could
probably see your products.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Correct, it's coming. We have the capabilities to get it there,
but it's coming. So we're in Canada right now, but
we were working to get I want to get into
the continent of Africa first.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Wow, and that's impressive. So what's next for Afro Unicorn April.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Next is content? So we just dropped the Miss April ol.
We dropped the trailer for the Miss April's Crown and Bookstore.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
We are that's as you said, Miss April Crown.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
Crown okay and bookstore.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
Okay, explain that to me.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
So it's The show is based off of the character
of Miss April, who has this Crown shop and affirmation
shop with a magical mirror, an affirming mirror and her bestie, Magical,
who is a unicorn puppet and Magical has a low
where Magical can see into the future of how your
(27:05):
story ends in this community. I have four young entrepreneurs,
young little girls between the ages of seven and ten,
who own their own businesses. One has a bakery, there's
a beauty salon, a furntiture shop, and a fashion store.
Problems come up in business, so when they're dealing with
(27:26):
their customers and things come up, they come to Miss
April to get affirmed. Well, first to tell Miss April
the problem. Then Miss April tells them we have to
get into the right mindset. Let's go to the affirmation era.
The affirmation mirror then affirms to them what they need
to know for the day. They're like, okay, I get
the affirmation, but I don't see how this is gonna
work out because I got this, this, this, this, this.
(27:48):
The Magical comes with her globe and Magical's like, well,
I see it working out perfectly for you. Clearly you
see this working out. And they're like, what, that's me
and that's how it's gonna work out. And they're like, okay, well,
let me go back to my shop and let me
just keep on my journey, knowing that I know the
end is going to work out. So in the end,
(28:08):
it works out. They come back to the shop, they
tell me a magical, magical Miss April. It worked out,
we know it would, and we crown them.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
That's beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Now that's in the works. Now
your production.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
Work, it's in pre production. Now, we just dropped the trailer,
but it's in pre production. We'll product you there, will.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
We see that show? Where will we see that show?
Speaker 3 (28:30):
So right now is going to be available on YouTube.
But it's so funny. We dropped the trailer and people
are already messaging me saying, why are you taking this
to YouTube? Why isn't anyone buying it? I'm like, well,
let's talk, let's have a conversation.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Right right.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Well, you know, ob Jagon, because of independent programming, YouTube
streaming and all that, you can't you don't have to
wait on anybody. And you've already shown what your brand
that you just put it out there.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
You have control of it.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
You put it out there and let the general public
set the mark. Is a right of excitement. That's what
happened to Walmart. You put it out there. You just
be in April, which I love about you just be
in April. Now that that is a motivating quality that
I think that naturally comes across with your personality natural
comes across when the ideas come to you, when people
(29:18):
come to you for advice, What are some of the
things or is it a couple of things or is
the motivating tools you immediately give them.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
April I subscribe to a book called The Secret The
Game of Life and How to Play It? The Who
not How. I believe in asking for what you want
and then believing that you're going to receive it, but
(29:47):
have a clear focus on what the end result looks like,
and then you don't worry about how it's going to happen.
You just laser being on how the end is going
to be. I was just made aware, which I gotta
read the story of mister Walt Disney, since I brought
him up before. He his company was going down several times,
(30:15):
but he already knew how big it was going to be.
So the other part was just semantics. It's like, Okay,
we's got it. I mean, it's gonna connect the dots
and it's gonna figure it out. But I already know
that Walt Disney is gonna be the largest brand in
the world. He never once doubted to say, I don't
think this is gonna work out. I'm back in the red.
(30:36):
I just need to pull out real entrepreneurs like me,
real moguls like me. People who are going to change
the game, change the universe, leave a legacy. They don't quit.
So I tell my my fellow entrepreneurs, you gotta show
up every day. You gotta be consistent, and you have
(30:56):
to be willing not to quit, because I'm afraid of
quitting before. It terrifies me to know that I was
just about to turn the corner before Walmart called me,
To know I was just about to turn the corner
before I got this call. I just got to keep
turning these corners to see what's behind them.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
I love it, Afro you of the Corner brand designed
to represent the uniqueness of women and children of color,
that's truly diverse and inclusive fashion April Showers. You know,
I always do these shows, and the blessing is I
always learn something from them. I've learned motivation from you.
I've learned keep the faith. I've learned that don't be
(31:44):
intimidated when you look around that corner, because all.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
You see is opportunity.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
April, That's all you see, and you want to look
around that corner.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
A lot of people fear. You've also told me that.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
When tragedy or dark moments happened, don't stop understanding the
importances of respecting that moment, dealing with that moment, but
don't let that sidetrack you from the mission. And that's
why we're on this call today is that you have
exemplified every quality that I like to talk about on
(32:18):
Money Making Conversation Masterclass. And I always tell people to
leave with your gifts. You not only leaving with your gifts,
you promote them, and you're not only promoting them, but
you're sharing them, and you are managing your life. You're
a great dancer. You're out there on a social scene.
You drop your ball off at LSU Go Tigers and
(32:38):
guess what I got one mode You're gonna get right.
And my friend afro Unicorn, Now when I walk in
this door, I know you are.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
The first black license see in a major retail market. Congratulations,
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
Can I tell them where to find me?
Speaker 1 (32:55):
Just ma'am? Do you think you.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
Can find me at got April Showers on social media?
I am April Showers is my website at Afrinicorn Undersquare
Official Aafrinacorn dot com. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
This has been another edition of Moneymaking Conversation Masterclass hosted
by me Rushaun McDonald. Thank you to our guests on
the show today and thank you our listening to the
audience now. If you want to listen to any episode
I want to be a guest on the show, visit
Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle is Moneymaking Conversation.
Join us next week and remember to always leave with
(33:32):
your gifts.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Keep winning.
Hi.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
I am Rashan McDonald, a host the weekly Money Making
Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and information that this show
provides are for everyone. It's time to stop reading other
people's success stories and start living your own. If you
want to be a guest on my show, please visit
our website, Moneymaking Conversations dot com and click the be
a Guest button. Press submit and information will come directly
(00:23):
to me.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Now let's get this show started.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
My next guest is the founder of afro Ulicon, the
first black woman owned a fully licensed character brand in
major retail with sales over twenty million. How groundmaking brand
celebrates diversity and empowers women and children of color, inspiring
countless individuals to embrace their uniqueness and potential. Please work
(00:47):
with the Money Making Conversations Masterclass, April Showers, April, thank
you for coming on Money Making Conversations, Master Colass.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
How are you doing?
Speaker 3 (00:55):
I am living the dream? How about you?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
You know when I was reading this intro, he says,
inspires countless individuals to embrace their uniqueness and potential. Extrapolat
or expound on that for me?
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Please well after Unicorn was created because of who I
am I'm a serial entrepreneur, and I don't know. We'll
probably get into the story later about how it was
actually a creator. I can say it now because it
all ties in when.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
You talk nowt flow of the conversation.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Okay, So I am a licensed insurance agent. I was
a licensed real estate broker. Single mama to amazing young
black boys, one who I just dropped off to LSU
a few weeks ago, and the other one's in high
school now. But back in twenty nineteen, a friend kept
telling me I was a unicorn over and over again,
and so finally I asked him, why do you keep
(01:45):
calling me that? He said, well, because you're running the businesses,
you're raising the boys, you'r a unicorn.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
And I said, Cortes, I.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Am a woman. That is what we do. He's like, no, April,
you do it at an extraordinary level. Trust me. I
date these women in LA and you are a unicorn, like,
you do it at an extraordinary level. So I didn't
know much about unicorns. I kind of was tom boyish
and I was a boy mom. So I had to
go look them up and I saw that they were unique,
(02:13):
they were mystical, and I said, I'm definitely unique. I'm
all things black girl magic, And so I started to
use the emoji of the unicorn and my phone over
and over again, not with text or have any copy.
And then one day I looked at it and I said,
doesn't it represent who I am? Like, I don't see
myself in this unicorn. So then I went to find
(02:36):
one that looked like me and I couldn't. So at
that point I was like, I'm going to create an
avatar for me, and creating it, I saw the potential
of Wow, wait a minute, it's probably a lot of
women out there that felt what I was feeling, that
was probably dealing with some type of imposterum syndrome or something.
Didn't know that they were unique or didn't know that
(02:58):
they had these qualities to be a Unicorn. So I
then wanted to create a movement to find other women
entrepreneurs or those that wanted to join me on this
entrepreneurship journey and give them an avatar to represent who
they were. So when we launched after Unicorn on the
platform on social media, I really was targeting business owners
(03:22):
and I would specify on my page out they will
wear my shirt and I would say, meet Latricia Leatricia
owns this business. She works nine to five two. She
does this, this, this, this is what makes her unique.
Divide in magical. Be sure to follow her business and
patronize her business. And then the movement started April.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
We've already told you got two boys. One you just
dropped off LSU. How are you balancing all this?
Speaker 3 (03:49):
I am managing it.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
The word balance and manages, not that you manage.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Because this is the thing. I don't believe that men
get asked that question. No one asks jay Z how
does he balance being a father in work?
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Okay, hmm, I have not assaulted you with the word
balance now.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
No, no, But because to me, balance is even weight, right,
I got to get fifty here and fifty here to
equal one hundred. I gotta be a mom one hundred
percent of the time. I got to be a business
owner one hundred percent of the time. So I can't
balance either. I have to manage those So I give
(04:37):
whatever I'm in it. I'm given. All My kids are
in school right now, so I know I'm full CEO
mold right now. Once I go get my babies out
of school. My sister knows all my calls stop at
two thirty, so when I can get them home. They're
a little older now, so I get them situation, make
sure they've eaten, and if I want to put on
that sea hat, or if I want to go out
on a date, or do whatever I can.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
So you're out there dancing, you out there dating.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
You just lid that little bad ball up in there,
and now you know the dating scene. You're business warmer,
you know you're motivator, you are a licensed you know
I will say what you can't do, and I'll be
insulting right there, because what you have not done is
limit who you could be and what you can achieve.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Now.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
So in twenty and eighteen, friend of yours started calling
your unicorn. Okay, twenty twenty, we all know that's an
ablute period when you start talking in the COVID and
it starts changing our whole outlooking perspective. And then after
that it's when you started kind of like a galvanizing
people in the unicorn movement.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Oh, the movement started all day one. May twenty nineteen
is when the brand launched. Right May seventeenth. My son
went into the hospital May twentieth, Sorry, my son in
the hospital May tenth. I was reluctant to watch the
brand while my son was in the hospital, not knowing
he will be there for twenty days. With all the
encouragement from the people around me, I launched the brand
(06:04):
while he was in the hospital. When he got out
twenty days, my uncle died of a massive heart attack.
I got the call. Seventeen hours later, his eldest brother,
my second uncle, died of a of pneumonia. We got
a double funeral the following week. Then after that, six
months later, broke my grandmother's heart. She got spiraled down,
(06:27):
she died, and then a month later we were in
a global pandemic. But back all that up, I had
this mindset of all gas, no breaks, the marathon continues.
I'm from Los Angeles. Nipsey Hustle had just passed away
back in March. I had a pre launch a birthday
(06:48):
of After Unicorn with these women on April twenty eighth,
and I told them, look, I'm building something where we're
going to support each other and the marathon's going to continue.
That was before all this tragedy was getting read to
happen in my life. But I had already poured in
these women to say, this is what we're building. We're
building this movement. So what they did is that they
pushed this movement with me, and so I the movement.
(07:12):
I just want to be very clear. The movement started
when we launched after Unicorn tifty had us jumped on
board in July, Alicia Keys jumped on board, Cherry Shepherd.
And when I say jumped on board, I would go
on their comments and I would comment and say, I mean,
I'll go on a pro post and I would comment
and say, hey, have you ever seen after Unicorn? Before
I created a brand of women of color who hustle
(07:33):
follow the movement, and so they would click over on
my page. They would see what we were doing and
how I was highlighting other women and they were like, oh,
this is something I could rock with. And it's been
organic like that from the beginning.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
If you were able to captivate people based on an
idea of motivation, uplift, we could do this together, you know,
want all be all dad thought process. Where did they
come from?
Speaker 3 (08:05):
I would say it was definitely instilled from me for
my parents, my mom and my dad and my uncles.
So it was very heartbreaking when those two uncles passed away,
my grandmother, my family, my family. My name is April Showers,
so I was purposely named April Showers and I wasn't
as a real singer. I mean, I think I'm a
great dancer, but it's like this girl was destined to
(08:29):
be something that I think.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Why you think you're a great dancer.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
You'll throw that out on my show and say you
think you are great because you put the word thank
you a great dancer and you put the word great
and think together.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Okay and stop. I'm a great dancer and everybody know
it except except my kids.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Okay, there you go. I was wonder who was judging?
You think it's the kids. That's right. I've been there.
I've been there because dad will throw dowt in you.
Your kids will. You are great. You're a great motivator,
you're a great entrepreneur.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Now when it comes to your dancing, that's when your
kids put that little doubt in your mind.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Yeah, which is always good. You need to be humbled
by somebody.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Yeah, they definitely humble me.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Now the whole concept of because this is a video interview,
but it's gonna be in for audio, I'm seeing all
these great different unicorns. In the background, you have a
unicorn T shirt that you're wearing. Talk about the development
of the of these concepts.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
So one of the first things you said on the
intro is I'm the first black woman to have a
fully licensed character brand in major retail. It is a
mouthful and most people, ninety nine point nine percent of
the world will be like, what the heck does that mean?
So I'm basically missus Walt Disney. I am the creator
(09:47):
of a character rand like Mickey Mouse, like the Star
Wars characters, Elmo, Sesame Street. I am the creator the
of Afri Unicorns sit on the shelves next to those
legacy iconic brands. So the way that I got into
(10:11):
is a lot of people think I'm sitting here manufacturing
all these products that have this huge warehouse as a licensee.
I do not have license or I do not have
any inventory. What I have as partners that helped me
manufacture these products. So in twenty twenty twenty one August,
(10:36):
because of the movement, there was a video that went
viral of a little girl wearing an Afric Unicorn shirt.
Somebody who walked by her and said, I love your
hair with all the confidence in the world. She said,
thank you, It's an Afro. Everyone shared it on all platforms,
from Tina Knowles Beyonce's mom, and then Oprah Daily shared it.
And then when Oprah Daily shared it, the comments were
(10:58):
flooded with that's afric unicorns baby, that's afric Unicorn's shirt.
And then a buyer at Walmart saw it. A buyer
Walmart saw the comments, looked up after Unicorn and said,
I think this is something we want to bring into
our stores as a licensed character. So she reached out
to me, sent an email and said, after Unicorn ex
(11:21):
Walmart collaboration, would you consider bringing in Afro Unicorn into
party supplies?
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Okay, ok okay, where were you at emotionally now, because
I'm assuming that you had trademarked Afro Unicorn, right, Okay,
so you knew to do dilages on that end and
then but when you were putting this on social media,
was the marketing or the product aspect of taking this
to store branding anywhere in your mind prior to Walmart
(11:52):
contacting you?
Speaker 3 (11:54):
So the thought process in my mind, I talk a
lot about visualization and seeing things before they happened, But
not always trying to figure out all the details of it.
The thought process I had met in April of twenty
nineteen was that African and Korna is going to be
a household name and a world wide brand. I used
to say it all the time, so I knew that
(12:19):
eventually it was going to get out to the world.
But like the rest of the world eight ninety nine
percent of the world, I didn't know about licensing. I
thought that I would have to sell Afro Unicorn to
like a Hazburrow. I just thought I was going to
have to sell it to somebody who knew how to
(12:39):
get it into mass retail. I didn't think because I
didn't know. You only know what you know, So I
didn't know that the little girl from south central Los
Angeles could be the person to still sit in the
C suite and get it out to be a household
name and a worldwide brand. But I always knew it
(13:00):
would be. I just didn't know how well.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
This is impressive because of the fact that you know,
there's so many clients and so many people in this
business want to get in Walmart, and the big fear
is being able to handle the requests now you're the
licensing business. You clearly explained to a Rashall, I'm not
making anything. I don't have a warehouse storing product. I
(13:24):
licensed my brand through other people. Walk us through that step.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
When the buyer at Walmart reached out to me and
we set up the first call, she told me that
she wanted me to meet with two other licensees. At
the time, I just didn't say that that language. She
just told me the name of the two companies that
I can potentially interview to see if I wanted them
to create the party supply line. Because at this point
(13:52):
I think now, I think she already knew I'm bringing
this in to Walmart, and we just got to figure
out who was going to help us bring it in
and the how. The first thing that I did before
I started out for Unicorn was to get it registered,
(14:14):
or at least apply to get the trademark registered, because
I knew, based off of previous businesses that I run,
that I wanted to build this one to sell. Read
a lot of books about it, and I knew that
I wanted to build it to sell. So the first
thing I did was make sure I got a registered.
Second thing I did was make sure. I had an
(14:34):
accountant and I had no money, but I wanted her
to coount all the pennies and make sure that was
all there because I have a fear of going to
prison and I didn't want to do that. So I knew.
I knew that it was going to be big, and
so before it got too big, I need to make
sure all the ducks were in order. So I trademarked.
(14:58):
I made sure that I had to write account and
then I got an attorney on board. But I do
have a little tip we can insert right here. I
went through legal Zoom originally to get my trademark. The
problem is legal Zoom cannot respond. Only an attorney can
(15:18):
respond if they come back with some questions. So you
should just always start with the attorney. To start with
the trademark attorney because they are required to respond to
whatever they submitted. So that's one thing that I learned
through this journey because I had to get a lot
of classes, a lot of trademarks along the way.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
But again, you're doing it the right way because again,
you know, you put together a business model, a business plan,
you shut it. I needed Legal Bam check that out,
re shot. I needed a bookkeeper, slash a county. Check
that out, because when it starts happening, you don't want
to be scrambling, and so many people start scrambling. But
you sit down and in and it's so so much
(16:01):
of a vision of Walmart just called.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Me, I need to get my act together. No, No,
it was before Walmart.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
No, because that's where people mess up. Because if I
have I have a saying, if you stay ready, you
ain't got to get ready. I took it from sugar Free. No,
if Walmart would have called me, I would have missed
the opportunity. If I didn't already have my stuff trademark,
if I didn't already have an accounting place, if I
didn't already have an attorney that I knew, I would
(16:31):
have missed opportunity one. I would have been trying to
scramble and grab and do all of this, and I
would have missed opportunity. So no, day one, you brought
up something that that triggered me, and I forgot before
even all of this. While I was waiting for the trademark,
I went out on upwork and found someone to help
me write a business plan. I gave her the idea
(16:55):
of what I had, and then she did all the research,
tell me who were my competitors, what were my strengths,
what was my weaknesses, what were the threads, what were
the opportunities?
Speaker 4 (17:07):
Like laid it.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
All out for me so I had a clear direction
going in mind. You no money made, nothing happen if
but I knew in order to build a successful business,
I needed all of this on the foundation.
Speaker 4 (17:23):
Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations Masterclass hosted by Rashaan McDonald. Money Making Conversations Masterclass
continues online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and follow money Making
(17:46):
Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
I love the fact that when I sit down and
talk about it, because I just had a big, beating
conversation with a banker and he said, Rashaun, if you're
come into my office and you don't have a business plan,
that's going to be a real short conversation because that
means that you have not sat down and got a
clear grasp of understanding what you're trying to do. You
(18:15):
just out there operating. No hope, this I hope this happened.
I hope when the open these doors, it's going to happen.
A business plan, he says, is the driver's license to
starting your business. And that's why I hop it in
front of people all the time, because, like you said,
it triggered you in your conversation. But that was the
number one thing that really gave you the confidence to
(18:37):
be able to get the accountant, the confidence to be
able to get the attorney, because you knew exactly where.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
You were going.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
Correct, correct, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Now just look at that.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Now got the Walmart mentor two potential license sees your license,
so your license licensere and there's a license see right? Yes, okay, cool?
They had two of them for you. How did you
make a decision on which one you wanted to go with?
Speaker 3 (19:04):
I went with both. They both sold. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
How did they work?
Speaker 3 (19:08):
Well? One handle just like the paper goods, sols, plates, napkins,
and then the other one could do plates and napkins
as well. But then they also did all the accessories.
And when we dropped party, this buyer, I love her
to death. Her name I can't I'm not gonna say
her name, but I love her. I'm gonna call her BC.
(19:29):
She basically brought me into all these categories. So I
was going into party, but I had a bouncy ball,
I had plush and party. I had a hair bowing party.
I have fake nails and party. I have rings and party.
So you're thinking toys cosmetics. These are all different category
(19:51):
hair accessories that she put in the party section. So
once you see it, then you know the opportunities that
can grow further. So I brought them both on because
one had you know, you could do the paper that
I wanted. This other company because they could do those
other accessories. But then it led to so many categories
(20:16):
and the first nine and twelve months I had over
forty five licensees.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Well, okay, not to do it. You know you've been calling,
you know, go on. You jumped on that. Your brand
became Afro Unicorn. Social media influences, celebrity influences took note
of what you were trying to do. Now it's time
that you're hiding an accountant, you hide their lawyer. The
lawyer's handling all your contracts with the licensees. Nine, the
(20:45):
money starts to come in. How do you track the money?
Speaker 3 (20:49):
How do I attrack the money? Well?
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Track the money with your account and how does that work?
Speaker 3 (20:55):
She does every month, she closes out the books, she
reckons everything, she does a profit and laws, and every
single month I get her, we do a review. I
ended up hiring an agency to collect the royalty payments. Yeah,
so they collected, and which was good because I get
(21:17):
a percentage of the royalty means a percentage of sales. Right,
But then I also pay the agency. But I get
to lessen my liability because the agency's collecting the money,
so they're getting their money off the top. So then
I get like less of that. Whatever that percentage is,
(21:37):
whether it's ten to twenty percent, I'm getting less of that.
So now I'm not that the tax liability is not
as great as it would have been at one hundred
and then me paying them so and it also just
helps to keep track of everything that is happening. And
they keep an accounting record too of each licensee, how
much the pos were, what's my percentage and how much
(22:00):
is due to me?
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Wow, let's talk about you as an individual. You know,
I will tell you I'm impressed. I'm impressed with your story.
It's not a lucky story. It's a planning store. And
that's why I like about it, because you know, you
you sit around somebody to tell you an idea and
then you go along the way. But everything was a
business plan out there was a thought prosiland out. Now
(22:25):
in your bio, they said, age of nineteen, you knew
you wanted to be an entrepreneur.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Yeah, age of nineteen is when I actually went into
gear with it. But I knew I was going to
be a business owner at fourteen years old, the age of.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
How how just how? How?
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Just asking you know, I thought I was gonna be
a basketball player. I thought I was gonna be a
football player. You know, an entrepreneur, young African American girl.
Where they were your parents entrepreneurs, where you where you
had mentors, you saw they were entrepreneurs. What sparked that
trigger point in your head to say entrepreneurship, business owners?
Small at fourteen and you eventually pursued it at nineteen?
Speaker 3 (23:05):
It was subconsciously. Both of my parents worked for the state,
They had stay government jobs. I just discovered this in
the last year that my father, though used to hustle
aze a mechanic on the side, So every Saturday morning
cars were filled up down our long driveway.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Y'ah. He was shade treated mechanic.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
Yes, I didn't realize that. So doing multiple interviews, I
was like, no, my parents weren't entrepreneurs this and that.
But I thought about it, I'm like, no, Daddy used
to have those cars lined up every single Saturday, So
the entrepreneurial spirit was there. I guess it's also because
my dad was also that guy throughout my life, like
(23:46):
you sure you don't want to get a government job.
You gotta got your pinshit, you gotta have this. So
I kind of didn't even look at him as being
that guy because he was always trying to make sure
I had some type of security. But when I think
about it, I think it was there. And then also,
one thing my mother did and hopefully my foundation will
(24:07):
mirror this. My mother made sure that I experienced life
out of South central Los Angeles. Lifestyle matters for you
to be able to visualize and to see there's other
opportunities out there. So I don't care if we were
going out to eat, going to the movies, we were
being Beverly Hills, Palisades, Rolling Hills. My mom kept me
(24:31):
in Culver City. She always kept me out of the
inter city. So at a young age, I realized that
the way to make that kind of money, to afford
that type of house, or to live in that type
of neighborhood was to be your own boss.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Wow, April Shatles, Wow fro Unicorn April beautiful name, by
the way, has over twenty five product categories, including books, bedding,
air care, party supplies, and forty five licensed partners world wide.
Does that scare you?
Speaker 3 (25:09):
It motivates me.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Now because all you want to do was just get domestic.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
No, I said, if.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
You Grunba be a household name, the worldwide brand from
day one.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
You just too much for me. April. You know, you know,
let me ask you this now, because you're a special Now.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
I can see why your friend called you a unicorn,
you know, because people like you that come into my
life and I and some people might say, well, show
you're a visionary, but I don't see that because I'm
just grinding you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
But you're unique because you're doing things.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Because I've had businesses, I didn't have the lawyer upfront,
I didn't have to account upfront. I was just happy
to be in business. So I made the mistakes that
you sought not to make the mistakes. I understand trademarking
the fact that worldwide that you can go to London, England, though,
go to Canada, you can go to Australia, you can
(26:01):
go to Brazil, you go to Mexico and you could
probably see your products.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Correct, it's coming. We have the capabilities to get it there,
but it's coming. So we're in Canada right now, but
we were working to get I want to get into
the continent of Africa first.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Wow, and that's impressive. So what's next for Afro Unicorn April.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Next is content? So we just dropped the Miss April ol.
We dropped the trailer for the Miss April's Crown and Bookstore.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
We are that's as you said, Miss April Crown.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
Crown okay and bookstore.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
Okay, explain that to me.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
So it's The show is based off of the character
of Miss April, who has this Crown shop and affirmation
shop with a magical mirror, an affirming mirror and her bestie, Magical,
who is a unicorn puppet and Magical has a low
where Magical can see into the future of how your
(27:05):
story ends in this community. I have four young entrepreneurs,
young little girls between the ages of seven and ten,
who own their own businesses. One has a bakery, there's
a beauty salon, a furntiture shop, and a fashion store.
Problems come up in business, so when they're dealing with
(27:26):
their customers and things come up, they come to Miss
April to get affirmed. Well, first to tell Miss April
the problem. Then Miss April tells them we have to
get into the right mindset. Let's go to the affirmation era.
The affirmation mirror then affirms to them what they need
to know for the day. They're like, okay, I get
the affirmation, but I don't see how this is gonna
work out because I got this, this, this, this, this.
(27:48):
The Magical comes with her globe and Magical's like, well,
I see it working out perfectly for you. Clearly you
see this working out. And they're like, what, that's me
and that's how it's gonna work out. And they're like, okay, well,
let me go back to my shop and let me
just keep on my journey, knowing that I know the
end is going to work out. So in the end,
(28:08):
it works out. They come back to the shop, they
tell me a magical, magical Miss April. It worked out,
we know it would, and we crown them.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
That's beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Now that's in the works. Now
your production.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
Work, it's in pre production. Now, we just dropped the trailer,
but it's in pre production. We'll product you there, will.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
We see that show? Where will we see that show?
Speaker 3 (28:30):
So right now is going to be available on YouTube.
But it's so funny. We dropped the trailer and people
are already messaging me saying, why are you taking this
to YouTube? Why isn't anyone buying it? I'm like, well,
let's talk, let's have a conversation.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Right right.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Well, you know, ob Jagon, because of independent programming, YouTube
streaming and all that, you can't you don't have to
wait on anybody. And you've already shown what your brand
that you just put it out there.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
You have control of it.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
You put it out there and let the general public
set the mark. Is a right of excitement. That's what
happened to Walmart. You put it out there. You just
be in April, which I love about you just be
in April. Now that that is a motivating quality that
I think that naturally comes across with your personality natural
comes across when the ideas come to you, when people
(29:18):
come to you for advice, What are some of the
things or is it a couple of things or is
the motivating tools you immediately give them.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
April I subscribe to a book called The Secret The
Game of Life and How to Play It? The Who
not How. I believe in asking for what you want
and then believing that you're going to receive it, but
(29:47):
have a clear focus on what the end result looks like,
and then you don't worry about how it's going to happen.
You just laser being on how the end is going
to be. I was just made aware, which I gotta
read the story of mister Walt Disney, since I brought
him up before. He his company was going down several times,
(30:15):
but he already knew how big it was going to be.
So the other part was just semantics. It's like, Okay,
we's got it. I mean, it's gonna connect the dots
and it's gonna figure it out. But I already know
that Walt Disney is gonna be the largest brand in
the world. He never once doubted to say, I don't
think this is gonna work out. I'm back in the red.
(30:36):
I just need to pull out real entrepreneurs like me,
real moguls like me. People who are going to change
the game, change the universe, leave a legacy. They don't quit.
So I tell my my fellow entrepreneurs, you gotta show
up every day. You gotta be consistent, and you have
(30:56):
to be willing not to quit, because I'm afraid of
quitting before. It terrifies me to know that I was
just about to turn the corner before Walmart called me,
To know I was just about to turn the corner
before I got this call. I just got to keep
turning these corners to see what's behind them.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
I love it, Afro you of the Corner brand designed
to represent the uniqueness of women and children of color,
that's truly diverse and inclusive fashion April Showers. You know,
I always do these shows, and the blessing is I
always learn something from them. I've learned motivation from you.
I've learned keep the faith. I've learned that don't be
(31:44):
intimidated when you look around that corner, because all.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
You see is opportunity.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
April, That's all you see, and you want to look
around that corner.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
A lot of people fear. You've also told me that.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
When tragedy or dark moments happened, don't stop understanding the
importances of respecting that moment, dealing with that moment, but
don't let that sidetrack you from the mission. And that's
why we're on this call today is that you have
exemplified every quality that I like to talk about on
(32:18):
Money Making Conversation Masterclass. And I always tell people to
leave with your gifts. You not only leaving with your gifts,
you promote them, and you're not only promoting them, but
you're sharing them, and you are managing your life. You're
a great dancer. You're out there on a social scene.
You drop your ball off at LSU Go Tigers and
(32:38):
guess what I got one mode You're gonna get right.
And my friend afro Unicorn, Now when I walk in
this door, I know you are.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
The first black license see in a major retail market. Congratulations,
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
Can I tell them where to find me?
Speaker 1 (32:55):
Just ma'am? Do you think you.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
Can find me at got April Showers on social media?
I am April Showers is my website at Afrinicorn Undersquare
Official Aafrinacorn dot com. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
This has been another edition of Moneymaking Conversation Masterclass hosted
by me Rushaun McDonald. Thank you to our guests on
the show today and thank you our listening to the
audience now. If you want to listen to any episode
I want to be a guest on the show, visit
Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle is Moneymaking Conversation.
Join us next week and remember to always leave with
(33:32):
your gifts.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Keep winning.
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