Fearless Faith: A Candid Conversation w/ Monique Rodriquez

This week on Keep It Positive, Sweetie, I sat down with the powerhouse behind Mielle Organics—Monique Rodriguez. We talked about building a beauty empire, navigating loss, staying rooted in faith, and her brand new book The Glory in Your Story. Monique shares what it really takes to walk in purpose and turn pain into power.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Calling all my sweeties to the forefront. I'm your host,
Christophernaine Hazen and this is the Keep It Positive Sweetie Show.
Monique Rodriguez has shattered the glass ceiling in the beauty
world with her Mayel Organic's brand. As the founder and CEO,
Monique transformed her personal tragedy into a thriving, purpose driven enterprise.

(00:21):
Her journey from registered nurse to a leading global beauty
brand is a testament of resilience, faith, and unwavering determination.
In her new book, The Glory in Your Story, activating
a fearless faith to change your life, your career, and
the world, she shares intimate insights into overcoming adversity and
finding purpose through pain. Monique's story is not just about

(00:44):
business success. It's about inspiring others to embrace their own
narratives and pursue their dreams fearlessly. Join us as we
delve into her incredible journey and the lessions she's learned,
and how she's empowering others to find the glory in
their own stories. Kiss Found, Let's welcome Monique Rodriguez. Monique,
thank you so much for coming today.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
Here me too. We got to hang out for the
first time really together for fashion Weed. Yes you guys,
mo Nick allowed me to come to the Tom Brown
share with her.

Speaker 3 (01:15):
I didn't allow you. You just show up and show
it out. Your presence was it was definitely needed to
be there.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
Thank you. I had a blast. It was like one
of the most amazing shows I've ever seen. So that
was a great time. But fashion has become a part
of your personal brand. When did you really get into fashion?
I know you have Jeremy who was an incredible stylas,
but when did you really decide this is something that's
a part of me and I love it.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
So you know what's funny, So my mom her passion
is fashion. Really so I grew up she was like
a seamstress. She was so you know, garments that she
would pick it up, put it back down because you know,
she wasn't in an environment where she thought it was
something that she can pursue. So I would see her
pick it up all the time and just you know, stop.

(02:01):
And she always instilled in us like you have to
be well dressed, you have to be well manerable, you
have to be poised and well put together, like don't
walk outside looking crazy, make sure your hair is comb
don't have a bond it on. So she always made
sure that we were super well dressed. And even though
like when I look back, I know she couldn't afford

(02:23):
some of the clothes that she was buying us, she
would put stuff on Lowa so we can have the
best type of material and outfits like when we would
start school. So that was just impressionable to me at
a young age. So becoming an adult, I've always loved
to dress up. Like I love to dress up, and
I love to feel like it was nice and thank

(02:43):
you and so to you. So it's just an extension
of just really who I am. So people may look
at it as a personal brand, but it's really me,
Like I am such a girly girl, like you will
probably always see me in like a skirt or a dress.
I wore jeans one time, and like people look, I
mean like I had three faces because they're like, I've
never seen you with jeans, are right, But I'm just

(03:05):
like a girl girl. So I love dressing up. It's
just a part of who I am.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
And your girls, they just they're adorable the way they
dress you do? So you picked that up on your
mom the way that cause they are stylists, they look
so cute all the time. Yes, I love that, so
what about you me? Honestly, my mom used to make
my dresses as well. Yeah, when I was a kid
and we had Layoway too, Yes, but she made my outfits.
And I'm from a small town, so I used to

(03:29):
like get my inspiration from TV and magazines. Like We're
in the grocery store in the line, I'm picking up
Ebony and Vibe and all those magazines and Essence and
reading through them like, oh this, I need this outfit.
So we have to go to Memphis, like two hours
away to get to the nicest mall so that I
could like get certain things that I wanted. Oh wow,
you were two hours fromis two hours no, mam, where

(03:49):
I'm from.

Speaker 2 (03:50):
So because you started as a stylist.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
Yes, yeah here in Atlanta. Yeahs ain't that crazy? Yeah yeah,
came to the town with no mom. It is now,
and I feel like, even from a young age, it
was a part of how I expressed myself. Now you'll
see me in jeans. I'm a tomboy at heart, so
you'll see me in jeans, baggy sweatpants, and it all
kind of just expresses how I feel like today I
came in and I was in pink. Maybe your girliness

(04:14):
is running off because I came in here looking real
cute like girl is today. Other days, my I have
an allo like sweatsuit that I caught. My uniform, I
having all different colors and I wear that like almost
every day.

Speaker 2 (04:25):
I wouldn't have took you, as I thought you were
like a girly girl. I would do your dressed up though.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
Yeah that's for pictures, okay, yeah, you know have like
that on Instagram. It is like this is me ninety
nine percent of the time, like no makeup, hair looking crazy,
and then like the one percent you're on Instagram.

Speaker 3 (04:42):
Like, I mean that's me too. But I said, I
just cleaned up. Well, we clean up very well. Yes,
it was really fun, and I was hoping that you
was coming to Paris, but I know you're such a
busy lady.

Speaker 1 (04:54):
You know.

Speaker 3 (04:54):
That was like I was planning out. We don't have
so much fun. I'm with you, You're not coming, You're.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
Like no, yeah, yes, duty called. I had to get
ready for work and I had twenty two scripts that
landed on my desk that I had to learn. So
I was like, go have fun in pairs and get
back and not know my lines or be ready for
what plays the bills.

Speaker 2 (05:14):
So I had to priority I will always be there, Yes, it.

Speaker 1 (05:17):
Will yes, and we can go again some of the time.
I would love that. I would love that. So thank
you for taking the time. Of course, I'm so excited
to dive into everything about your new book and just
talk to you about your journey and everything you have
going on. Yeah, but I want to start from the beginning.
You are from the South Side of Chicago. That from
the stories I've heard, that is a rough side of town,

(05:38):
like I always hear like stories of down Chicago, and
Michelle Obama is from there, and I read her book
and I was like, oh, okay, it's a very interesting
place to grow up. What was it like for you,
because I know everybody has different experiences in different places.

Speaker 3 (05:50):
What was the South Side of Chicago like for you?
So Chicago gets a bad rap. It's really a beautiful city,
rights you know, It's where I'm from, It's where I
grew up. I feel it's what built the character and
the grit inside of me, right, yea. I feel that
the best entrepreneurs also come from Chicago because Chicago is
a different breed. Like if you can weather the below

(06:15):
zero temperatures and still come out on top, you know,
and wait for the summer in the springs time to come.

Speaker 2 (06:21):
You're gonna be alright in life.

Speaker 3 (06:24):
But outside of the you know, the weather, it's a
beautiful city. Right the skyline, I feel like we have
the most beautiful skyline in the entire country. But you know,
there are some rough parts. I think with any city,
any major city you go to, like, there's going to
be some rough parts. And you know, I was I
don't know if I was fortunate and then I can

(06:45):
say fortunate, but I was able to see both sides
of Chicago. You know, I talk about this a lot
in my book, how I grew up and you know
what I've experienced with my dad, and that was the
rough side of Chicago where you know, I was around
drug addicts and processes and at that time, back in
the day, it used to be called the low End
and that's where like the projects were, and I was

(07:08):
able to see different people from different walks of life.
Like I didn't grow up in the projects, but I
was around the projects and down there because that's where
my dad, you know, would purchase his drugs. So I
feel like it just it has taught me to be
a well rounded individual and to learn how to manage
and be in all different rooms and settings and work

(07:30):
with all different walks of life, because you know, that's
how I grew up. I know how to be with
the best of them, and I know how to be
with the lowest of them.

Speaker 1 (07:37):
So no, I love that.

Speaker 2 (07:39):
It's resilience.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
It is. I can see that. I can see that
because I love to show the shy, and I guess
that shows like a different It shows you different sides
of Chicago's well. Leaning does a really good job of
showing you the political side and I guess the higher
end of it, and then also the crime and the
disparities that go on in that city. But I've always

(08:01):
been fascinated with the city and the people that come
out of it. So to know that that's where you're
from as well, it was like it makes sense.

Speaker 3 (08:06):
Yeah, like I know how to pull out South Simonique.
I'm trying to keep her back there. You know, I'm
a professional.

Speaker 1 (08:12):
So okay, South Simonique is what was the moment that
you can recall where South Simonique tried to creep out?

Speaker 2 (08:20):
Oh, in my professional life, yeah, you know it can.

Speaker 3 (08:23):
It tries, you know, when I faced criticism or when
I have trolls on social media that feel like they
are entitled to say certain things, or you know, people
that may also try me, like in the public or
in doing an interview, and I feel that, you know,
I can politically correct check someone, but still it remains

(08:47):
poised and peaceful about it. And so I feel that,
like in business, being a professional, like you have to
be able to not go there or not pull out
the South Simonique. She has to stay back there because
I'm also a represent a representative of God's kingdom. I'm
a representative for my kids, and I have to lead

(09:09):
by example.

Speaker 2 (09:10):
But it's tempting, and.

Speaker 3 (09:11):
I think we're all tempted to pull that person out.
But it comes with self discipline, self awareness to be like,
you know what, I'm gonna just pray for you and
do we fall short of course absolutely, Like I'm sure
you have had instances where you may want to just
jap out on somebody on social media, and I have

(09:31):
like commented back on certain things and I'll go back
and I'm convicted and I'll delete it. But you know that,
I feel like that's the growth in me, you know.

Speaker 1 (09:39):
Being same girl, I'm right there with you. There's definitely
been times, even recently. It's I guess the last big
one was last year. I did a podcast when we
talk about interviews and sometimes a backlash or the comments
that people make and somebody from the church is like
somebody needs to take your phone. Yeah, put you give
somebody your phone because no.

Speaker 3 (10:01):
Yeah, or you like don't read them, like don't even
like give your energy to things like that. Yeah, And
that's how I also maintain like professional mode, like I
have to choose what I give my energy and what
I give peace away to, Like my piece is not
worth is the negativity and the trolls.

Speaker 1 (10:20):
It's not. It is not let's talk about the glory
in your story. I'm often like inquisitive about like what
makes somebody's decide I want to write a book or
it's time to write a book. So what moment were
you like mos time?

Speaker 3 (10:34):
Yeah, I feel that. So I've built this company over
the past ten years. It'll be eleven years in May,
and I feel that the success that I have garnered,
you know, people tell me all the time, Oh, you're
a unicorn. It's so rare to see a black woman
have such a successful exit in this space. And I

(10:55):
want to normalize that. I don't want to have the
conversation the narrative of like creating more unicorns. I want
this to be normal in our community. And I wanted
to share the road map of what it took to
build a successful company, what it took to scale to
the level that you know the public seedes today and

(11:15):
the trials and the tribulations that you know came with
building this company, because I feel that entrepreneurs need to
hear this story, right, anyone needs to hear this story,
because there's so many different, you know, facets that can
relate to people. Right, if you are a career person,
this book is definitely for you. If you are someone
that's trying to increase your faith walk with God, like

(11:35):
this book is for you. If you are going through
a loss of a career, a loss of a loved one,
a loss of anything that you may be grieving, like,
this book is for you. So it's many different relatable
chapters that I feel relates to anyone. But I wanted
this book to be like, I'm your big sister, and
we're having a conversation, and I'm giving you all the

(11:56):
wisdom the knowledge that I've learned over the past ten years,
because the knowledge is not for me to just keep
to myself. It's for me to share it, and people
ask me all the time, can you be my mentor?
So this is my gift to my community of like
all those people that asks for mentorship, Like, I'm literally
pouring my heart and soul into this book, being very
vulnerable and transparent over not just the Instagram real highlights, yeah,

(12:19):
but like the tough moments when I didn't even think
Mayea was going to make it like right. People don't
see that on Instagram, And I wanted to share because
you may feel that you're the only one going through
what you're going through in this moment, and I want
to give hope to that person that's reading, like, you're
not in this alone. I went through it, and if
I can overcome that you can too. So my husband
would always say, from the very beginning, the story must

(12:42):
be told. We have it painted in our office space,
and he was manifesting that and the story has to
be told because it's not my story, it's God's story,
and that's why the glory goes to him.

Speaker 1 (12:53):
Absolutely, I love that, and thank you for being obedient
and giving us this because I know I get asked
all the time as well, like we mentor, and I'm
sure you can attend with our schedules. It's so hard
to really commit to that. You have two daughters and
then you have businesses and you have so much going on.
I know it's hard to find time to really commit
to mentoring. So this is a great way to pour

(13:13):
it back into and I love that I do. And
in your book you also talked about the passing of
your son, Milan and you worked as a registered nurse,
and then it was that that was a turning point
of view to start your entrepreneurship journey. At what point
in that were you like, I can't do this anymore.
And I also wanted to ask you, and it's a
two part question, when you saw the everything that was

(13:37):
happening in that hospital room as they're calling all the things,
and you're saying, I know that's not right, this is
not what's be happening at what point are You're like,
this is I can't do this this anymore, working in
the healthcare system with all the disparities for minorities.

Speaker 2 (13:51):
Yeah, that's true.

Speaker 3 (13:53):
So I actually started as a labor and delivery nurse,
so I worked in the field, so I understood, you
knew everything about labor and delivery that you can possibly know,
you know. And so when I was in the hospital
room and I went through, you know, being rushed to
the hospital, being on the hospital bed and them having

(14:15):
to like rip my clothes off, put my baby on
the monitor, and when his heartbeat was down, like I knew,
if you all don't act quick, like, it's not going
to be a good outcome. Yeah, And I remember I
kept asking like where's the doctor, where's the doctor? And
the doctor was at home and that was in a

(14:37):
hospital that was equipped to have like an on call
doctor that was twenty four hours yeah, and so them
having to call the doctor to be rushed to rush
to the hospital to deliver my baby. By the time
he got there, his heart rate was like, like it
was so low it was probably no saving at that point.
And so when he did the C section, you know,

(15:01):
and my son came out he was lifeless, so he
didn't get there in time to you know, cut him
out quick enough, and so it was just devastated. And
then I remember like waking up and I asked my
mom and my family, I'm.

Speaker 2 (15:18):
Like, is he pink?

Speaker 3 (15:19):
Because I was incoherent, like I was drugged up, but
I knew to ask, like, what's he pink? And then
I saw the look on my mom's face and I
knew at that point that you know, it wasn't it
wasn't right. So it was very like even talking about it,
just even though it's healing, its therapeutic, it's still so
hurtful because when you think about the health disparities in

(15:42):
the medical system for black women, like I tried to
be my own advocate because I knew I was highly
educated in the field, and my level of education couldn't
save my son. Wow, right, And so I think about
the women or the black people the black community in
general that go to the hospital and don't have any

(16:03):
knowledge of their care or being an advocate for themselves,
Like how doctors and nurses dismiss their symptoms, dismiss you know,
their care for whatever reason because of the disparities, and
something has to give. Something has to stop, and I
also wanted to be an advocate for that and bring

(16:24):
awareness to you know, our health system, right and to
hopefully educate more black and brown young adults to go
into the medical field and be our advocates. Because my
doctor at the time was white. He did not look
like me, and you know, it's always what I should
have could have I wish I would have done this,

(16:45):
but I had to learn, like I can't blame myself,
but all I can do is be an advocate for
you know, more black and brown people to step up
to go into the medical field so they can be
a voice and an advocate and have the empathy and
caring and compassion that our community needs. Right yes, because
like even now, my dad when he goes into the hospital,

(17:06):
I have to like always step in and advocate for
him or ask questions. And about the questions I asked
are always like are you a nurse?

Speaker 2 (17:14):
Or why does it matter?

Speaker 3 (17:16):
Do you not expect an educated black person to ask
these type of questions? So we have to be our
own advocate. And so I hope that people gather that
from reading you know, my traumatic story of having my
son and when I had my son, and I had
to go back into a career field that number one,
I didn't want to be in in the first place.
And then number two, I was dealing with the loss

(17:39):
of my son and having to now take care of patients.
My hair wasn't there.

Speaker 1 (17:43):
I can imagine, like no.

Speaker 3 (17:45):
I remember my boss pulling me in and she's like,
you're not the same nurse that you were before, and
I'm like, well, you think like I just lost my son,
so I'm not going to be that person. So I
had to go through this healing journey and I knew
that I did not want to go back into a
feel where I felt I was doing everything right. I
knew everything that I should have known, and something still

(18:05):
happened to me. Had I wanted to just cut ties
with the medical around people ask me all the time,
would you want to go back? Absolutely not right, No,
absolutely not just like now, No, absolutely not. And you know,
but it paid its contribution to my journey and who
I am today, but it's not who I am and
I just had to cut ties with it to avoid

(18:26):
being depressed.

Speaker 1 (18:27):
Yes, that's powerful, I know as a black woman, just
finding the right primary care doctor, I have a black
woman that's my primary care doctor. And then I went
and got my first mammogram the other day. Yeah, and
I was so nervous. I was so nervous because I
don't know in my mind, I think sometimes I feel

(18:47):
like a lot of because you know, like some people,
the doctors will say, oh, we see cancer, and then
you'll go get a second opinion that like there's nothing there.
So I always like worried about are they going to
tell me the right thing or it's like, what's going
to happen? Because I was having like this pain, like
right here, and of course you get on Google and
start googling. It's like is your enemy right, You're dying? Gosh,

(19:11):
And so you're automatically like going in kind of preparing
for the worst, but hoping for the best, but understanding
that having I want to look across that room and
see someone that looks like me or reflects me. And
that's so important, which is why I love my primary
care doctor because she is a black woman and she
gives it I'm talking about. I can call her anytime,

(19:31):
I can pull up on her and say whatever I'm feeling,
She's going to look into it and connect me with
the right, another black doctor that's gonna take it serious
versus like, oh, which just comes with age, or oh yeah,
you're fine, you know, like it's very passive. Yes, And
I don't like that, So I totally understand why you
were like, no, I have to get out of this
so that I'm not depressed. I get it from that.

(19:53):
Did that make you more of an advocate for midwives
and doulas? Are you more like an at home birth
mom where you like want to push women like just
kind of stay away from the healthcare system. How do
you feel like I wouldn't.

Speaker 2 (20:04):
Push women to stay away from the healthcare soil.

Speaker 3 (20:06):
I still think that it's needed, But I think that
as women, we should just educate ourselves on speaking up,
educating ourselves on basically what you just said, like having
a black doctor, or if your doctor's not black, maybe
a minority doctor, but having someone that is that here's
your concerns, that listens to your concerns and does not

(20:28):
just blow you off.

Speaker 2 (20:29):
If you have a doctor that comes.

Speaker 3 (20:30):
In the room and they just want to do a
quick assessment, write you a quick prescription. I stay away
from doctors as quick with the pain and write a
prescription without trying to understand and walk through the assessment
skills that they teach you in school of what is wrong.
And then once they identify what is wrong, what is
causing that, are there natural things that you can do

(20:51):
to reverse whatever it is? Like, don't be so quick
to just put me on medication. So I just like
a doctor to be very thorough and to listen to
me as a patient. And I just encourage, you know,
our community to just find those type of doctors because
at the end of the day, we still do need,
you know, doctors. If you are a C section candidate,

(21:13):
you can't have a home birth.

Speaker 2 (21:14):
You need to go to the hospital.

Speaker 3 (21:17):
So in some ways you can't avoid it. But just
make sure you have the right team around you that
listens to you. And if they're not listening to you,
just make sure that you're advocating. You speak up for yourself.

Speaker 1 (21:29):
I love that. That's so good. So this caused a
pivot for you to go into entrepreneurship. What was like
the first thing that you tried Because I know you've
done a few things, What was one of the first
things that you tried to do on your own outside
of being a nurse.

Speaker 3 (21:44):
So Mayo was the first thing outside of being a nurse.
So once I left my nursing career and I started Mayel.
But during my nursing career is when I did try
to like branch off and start getting into like different
business ventures such as multi level marketing. So I did
like Avon and Mary Kay and I talked about all
of the direct seale business ventures that I tried to

(22:05):
like go off into because I've always wanted to be
an entrepreneur. So I've always had that bug and that desire,
and it always pulls on you and keeps nagging, so
you like fulfill that burning desire that you have. And
I just felt that God was just redirecting me and
rerouting me because I did not go the path of
entrepreneurship because I didn't see it growing up. You can't

(22:27):
be what you don't see, so I didn't see black
women that were like running and operating beauty businesses or
any business for that matter. I saw women that were
on magazine covers or on the relaxer kit. So that
was my aspiration. I thought that was the only route
that I can take to be into this beauty world.

Speaker 2 (22:45):
And I felt that God put this vision in me.

Speaker 3 (22:48):
He put this passionate purpose, but I kept running from
it because of fear, because of doubt and not believing
in myself and not thinking that I can achieve it
because I don't have a business degree, didn't have any
business experience. So you know, the enemy gets into your
head and says like, Oh, you can't do this?

Speaker 2 (23:07):
How dare you?

Speaker 3 (23:08):
You have the audacity to dream this and you have
the audacity to think that you can do it. Well,
I'm going to remind you that you can't do that,
because if you don't have the education and you don't
have X, Y and z, like that enemy can be
like something strong. And I had to learn how to
silence the noise, silence of distractions. And when you go
through such a tragic loss like what I went through.

(23:29):
For me, it was like what are what are my chances?
Like at this point, I don't care what people think.
I don't care, you know, about this career anymore. Like
my mind frame was like, what's the worst that can happen?
Because the worst has already happened. Yeah, So it just
gave me another level of grit and tenacity that I

(23:52):
didn't know that I had, And I decided to just
follow guy's calling and be obedient to what he had
been calling me to do for years, and decided to
not feed into the fears, but to feed the faith
and just to trust. And that's how Mayo was started.

Speaker 1 (24:07):
I love it. What made you want to go into
hair care? Like, what was the spark for that? So
besides your beautiful hair? Thank you?

Speaker 3 (24:16):
So I've always loved hair, and I've always been obsessed
with making sure that my hair was always maintained and
always presentable.

Speaker 2 (24:24):
Like I told you, I wanted to be the little
girl on the.

Speaker 3 (24:27):
Just for Me kick. That was my aspiration. Like I
used to ask my mom to drive me to model calls.
Every time they did a model call for a hair company.
I'm like, I'm signing up. I want to be there. Yeah,
And she would take me and she got to the
point she's like, girl, they're not picking you and this
is not something stable. This is like this is cute,

(24:48):
but I need to teach you how to like find
something stable. And you know, because it's one day you're
gonna grow up and I'm not gonna be paying for
you for the rest of your life. You're gonna have
to find your own job. She encouraged me to be
a nurse. Right, she didn't nourish the passion that I
had to pursue beauty. And no fault to her, but

(25:10):
she didn't see it.

Speaker 1 (25:11):
You know.

Speaker 3 (25:11):
She came from an environment. She was raised of survival,
so she was taught to only survive. So when you
are coming from a survival mentality, you're not encouraged to
dream big. And so she instilled that in me. And
so even though I had I was always a dreamer.
But that's the thing, like sometimes people around you that

(25:34):
have good intentions and they mean well, but sometimes their
advice and their wisdom is coming from a place of
fear because they didn't see it for themselves, So why
would they see it for you, right, So she didn't
see that in my future, and so I just put
my dream to the wayside of being in this space.
And once I went through the loss of my son,

(25:56):
it just circled me back and it was like a
full circle moment God which is redirected me back to
that childhood monique. And I feel like Mayel has healed
a lot of that childhood dream that I had, you
know growing up, I mean not healed, but fulfilled a
lot of the childhood dream that I had growing up, Right,
it just made a full circle three sixty Like God's like,
I'm gonna run that back. Yes, so you can know

(26:18):
what's in front of your face.

Speaker 1 (26:20):
Yes, you tached on something about how dare you dream
this big? I was reading a book called The Prayer Circle,
where you like, basically kind of build your own Jericho
wall while you have they go around the wall until
it comes down and it comes true. And in the
book he says something about a lot of times when
you like your faith is too small or you don't

(26:41):
believe big, it's an insult to God.

Speaker 2 (26:43):
Absolutely.

Speaker 3 (26:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (26:44):
So that when you said that, it reminded me of that.
I was like, it is. It's an insult to God, Like,
how dare you not dream that big?

Speaker 2 (26:49):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (26:50):
You know, and I always say too, What's another insult
to God is that when you don't fulfill your dream.
God has attached so many people to your dream, and
when you don't fulfill your dream, you're disappointing the people
who He's assigned to your gift, and you're calling and
you're not being obedient to him, and you're insulting him
because you're not being obedient to the gifts and the

(27:12):
talents and the purpose that he has put you on
this earth to Accomplishence.

Speaker 1 (27:16):
Yes, and you're holding everybody else up or their way,
like sometimes it's you that's holding everybody else up.

Speaker 3 (27:22):
Yes, I think about like we have over three hundred employees,
and some of the employees that we employ probably would
have never been able to have the position that they
had at Mayel because of credentials. We always believe in
giving people an opportunity, a chance.

Speaker 2 (27:39):
We put people in.

Speaker 3 (27:40):
Sometimes we put people in positions that are probably too
high for them, but you know, we wanted to provide opportunity.

Speaker 2 (27:46):
So we've been able to give opportunity to.

Speaker 3 (27:49):
So many people, and experience to so many people, and
exposure that they may not have had if I didn't
follow my dream.

Speaker 1 (27:55):
Yes, that's so true. In your book, you had a
chapter called Finding Your Person and you and your husband
Melvin were at high school sweethearts. Yes, that's crazy. I
only know one other. Well, I know a few people,
but I know de Valenkadeen were like they met in
high school and yeah, are still together to this day.
But you don't hear that happening a lot. At what

(28:17):
point did you know, like in high school? Did you
know then or y'all was just like boyfriend and girlfriend?
Did you see it then? Like this is the person
I'm gonna be with for the rest of my life.

Speaker 3 (28:25):
So when I was in high school, I always saw
something in him, like he had great qualities, great characteristics. Yeah,
and I saw myself like having kids with him and
like having a life with him, even at a young age.
You know, I just didn't know like how it would
all like come together, but he just had. He was

(28:46):
just different from other guys in the neighborhood where we
grew up. And I know that I was also different
for him, and so I always joke with him like
you got lucky because you got a rare one. Okay,
you don't find them, like they don't make them like me. No,
But I was always confident in that. And you know,
I talk about this in the book. My mom instilled
in me, like you know, if a man wants you,

(29:08):
he's going to have to court you, Like you don't
just give it away for free, Like what you have
is precious, you know, your soul, your energy, everything that
you possess as a woman. It is precious and every
man is not deserving of that. So you got to
make him work true and I did that, and you know,

(29:29):
we had some rocky moments, you know, in the very beginning,
but all in all, like he knew that if he
wanted to be with me, he was going to have
to put in the work.

Speaker 1 (29:36):
Yes, I know that's right. I love that you are
really big on your faith and so is he. How
has faith played a role into where you guys are
in your business partners y'all do everything together? From what
I see, how is that played a role even when
you said it was rocky at certain points, Like, how
did that faith play a role through your relationship?

Speaker 3 (29:54):
Yeah, faith is holding on to things that we hope
for that we can't see.

Speaker 2 (29:59):
And faith is everything. It's like our anchor.

Speaker 3 (30:02):
Faith is what keeps us grounded because when you enter
into uncharted territory, it can be very intimidating, like you
don't know what's going to happen. You're walking into the unknown,
and you have to trust and have faith in God
that if he gave me this vision, that He's going

(30:22):
to equip me with everything I needs to be successful
in my calling and it's not for me to figure
out how all the pieces are going to come together
just yet. It's for me to take a little step
watch God do his work, right, because that's how he works.
Like you take that step, he'll open up some doors.
He'll reveal to you his power. And then you're like, oh, okay, God,

(30:43):
let me take another step, right, and then he'll open
up some more doors. He'll reveal his power. And that
is literally a faith walk, Like you're just ta climbing
some stairs. And we don't climb stairs to go from
the bottom of the staircase to the top of the
skit staircase. There are just very small steps that we
have to take to get to the ultimate top. Right,
And that's how I look at my faith journey. And

(31:04):
it's a lifelong journey, right, because you will have moments
that you will doubt yourself. You will have moments where
you're like, you're questioning your faith, and that's normal, Like
we're human. He blessed us with emotions for a reason, right,
But when we do have moments of when we feel
down in despair, like that's when we have to lean
on him even more for his strength. Like he doesn't

(31:26):
want us to run away from him. And even if
you have ran away from God, like, He's still always
right there waiting for us to just come back to him.

Speaker 1 (31:32):
Always.

Speaker 3 (31:33):
You have to trust that. And the only way that
you can trust that and have a true relationship with
God is by knowing his word. Right. If we want
to have a relationship together as friends, we have to
get to know each other. God is no different. God
is saying like, I want you to have a relationship
with me. But in order for us to have this relationship,
you have to know my word because my word speaks
to my character right and my promises. And once we

(31:54):
know his character and his promises, we can stand on
that and his word does not lie and a lit
I mean willing testimony that what God says and his
word will come to pass right and we can hold
God accountable to his word. And that has been what
has manifested in my life.

Speaker 1 (32:10):
I love that now you guys work together. I know
for me like I like my Space, so I like
to be able to go. But y'all, I feel like
you guys, was there any moments as you're building this
huge brand that it is today where y'all were like
bumping heads or was it always just like, no, we're
on the same page, it's smooth.

Speaker 2 (32:28):
Oh, absolutely not.

Speaker 3 (32:29):
No, like we bump hits, Yeah, and we bump heads
quite a bit, but you know, it's at the end
of the day, like we see the big picture. I
think it's normal to have conflict, yes, And I teach
my kids that. And sometimes we may bump heads in
front of our kids because I want them to see
the back and forth bickering, but I also want them

(32:50):
to see how do you solve conflict? Because life is
is not the absence of conflict. It's just it's how
you respond to it. And so that's what we focus
on because we know that we're not going to always agree,
and we know that conflict can be healthy and it's
how you work through it. So because we we are
aligned with the big picture, we're aligned with our vision,

(33:12):
our goals, we're aligned with our legacy that we want
to leave for our family, and we realize that no
matter what we argue over or bigger about, like it's
not even important, right, it's when you look at the
big picture, is it worth messing up what we've built,
what we've created, the legacy that we're leaving, and nine
times out of ten, it's really not.

Speaker 2 (33:33):
It's so minor, it's so minute.

Speaker 3 (33:36):
But we do understand that we have to have our
own individual lives outside of being a wife and a husband,
and that's important for us. So, like you know, I
am a mom, a CEO, a wife, but I have
to have my girl girlfriend time.

Speaker 1 (33:51):
You do that very well too. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (33:53):
I try to high level balance because you need your girlfriends, right,
You need your support group that you can share things
that you can't necessarily share with your husband, Like my
husband can't relate on like female things. So you have
to have the balance of like your your friends, your
inner circle. And he has to have that for himself.

(34:13):
He can go on golf trips, I can go on
my girl trips because when we come back, you want
to miss each other. Yes, I think that's important for
you all.

Speaker 1 (34:23):
Yes, yes.

Speaker 2 (34:24):
And even when we.

Speaker 3 (34:25):
Worked in the in the warehouse, in the office, his office,
we intentionally made his office way on the opposite side
of the warehouse and minds was over here, and that
was because I don't we work together, but I don't
have to see you all day, Like I still want
to miss you, and sometimes we will be in the
office and not see each other until we go home,
and then we still talk about our day, Like you know,

(34:45):
we work in two separate entities that we're actually together,
so you have to give each other time to like
have their space and miss each other, because I think
that's important because you are a person outside of you know,
who you are to your spouse.

Speaker 1 (35:00):
In building my organics, What was the moment where you
both realize we got something and this is a hit.

Speaker 3 (35:09):
Yeah, it was a day that we launched. I realized
that this is something special because when I did all
of the other direct sell business, nothing never took off,
Like I couldn't sell something to save my life. And
then when MAYEO took off, and then I had all
these orders coming in, I was like, oh, this is different,

(35:32):
you know, this is like this is like God ordained
because I had no clue that it would sell the
way that it sold. And I remember my husband jumping
in on board because you know, he has the logistical background, operations,
that's what he focuses on, and I'm the visionary of
the creator. So I created this product, I created this brand,

(35:52):
and then once we started selling, I'm like, oh, now
we got to ship it out to people like the customers.
So I have no idea how that works logistically. So
he jumped on board with his logistical engineering background and
set up a whole process and system. So we were
like very organized. We had a two man shop in
our in our basement at the time, and we were

(36:13):
just shipping out orders and.

Speaker 1 (36:15):
We were a team.

Speaker 3 (36:17):
And yeah, we just came together and I knew, like,
this is something special and if we put a thousand
percent into this, we can really make this thing big.

Speaker 1 (36:24):
Yeah. And when did you decide that we're going to
go into the big stores? Like what was that moment? So,
but you couldn't handle it from the basement anymore.

Speaker 3 (36:33):
Yeah, So we went from our basement to the garage.
So we had a three card garage.

Speaker 1 (36:37):
I remember the garage, Yeah, I think I remember like
put y'all posting that. Yes, yes, yeah, So we.

Speaker 3 (36:42):
Had all we had a time clock in the garage.
We had a pumping system where my husband was like
he put this contraption together and we would pump out
the bubbasu deep conditioner and I would package it and
label it. We had a whole operation and when we
had the call to go into retail Like it wasn't

(37:04):
because we chose to go into retail. We were just
focused on building and the company. And we got the
call from sally Beauty, that was our first retail partner.
And when we got the call, so, Sally's headquarters is
in Denton, Texas, and we happened to be there in
Dallas for my daughter's gymnastic competition and they called us like, hey.

Speaker 2 (37:27):
We want to meet with you.

Speaker 1 (37:28):
Guys.

Speaker 2 (37:28):
We're interested in bringing into our stores.

Speaker 3 (37:31):
And I'm like, Texas. What are the odds that number one,
we're in Texas? And number two Like, I wasn't even
thinking about retail. I had put Sally's on my vision
board to go into retail year five because you know
textbook how they say, oh, once you hit five years,
you have a viable business.

Speaker 1 (37:47):
Yo.

Speaker 3 (37:48):
I was following with the book and that was my vision.
So guys said exceedingly abundantly. And when we got the call,
we told them no because we had our kids with
us and we're like, well, we don't a babysitter, We're
not from Texas. They're like, bring your kids to the meeting.
And that was another like god moment where I'm like, oh, yeah,
this is a serious word.

Speaker 1 (38:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (38:07):
Yeah, we launched into retail, we had the meeting with them,
we launched a following planning ground reset, which is which
was February of twenty twenty, twenty sixteen, and then when
we launched, we sewed out in every store that we
launched in come So it was like the retail came
after us, and once that retailer had the success that

(38:30):
they garnered, other retailers started knocking because they're like, oh, well,
we want to have a piece of that pie too.
So it wasn't that we were searching for retailer. The
retailers came to us, which is a blessing, a.

Speaker 1 (38:41):
Huge blessing because most of the time people are pitching
their products to the retail Yeah, that's amazing.

Speaker 3 (38:47):
We barely had to pitch, like it was so effortlessly
like us going we didn't even have a former presentation.

Speaker 2 (38:53):
We met with Sally's. It was like, hey, this is
the brand.

Speaker 3 (38:56):
Our kids were sitting at the round table and it
was so informal, but that's how bad they wanted us
into their stores.

Speaker 1 (39:04):
Wow, that is incredible. Yeah, so you're on this journey
of just the rise of my l organics. What was
that journey like, so I know, as you're going up,
you're gonna because people always think that like once you
hit make it quote unquote that like I was just
smooth sailing, It's easy. What were some of the bumps
that you guys hit along the way as you continue
to rise?

Speaker 3 (39:23):
Oh, yeah, it gets more challenging because bigger you are.
You know, they always say more money, more problems, right,
and that has some truth to it because there are
more eyeballs on you, the more challenges are gonna come,
the more roadblocks. And we experienced a lot of different
roadblocks and obstacles, and I talk about a lot of
our challenges in the book. At one point we were

(39:45):
not profitable, and at one point I did not know
if Mayel would make it right. We were on the
brinks of like, you know, the bank's gonna come after
us if we don't pay them their money back. So
it was a very challenge in time that people on
the outside didn't know because the brand was doing extremely well,

(40:06):
like the sales were through the roof, so on the
outside people are like, oh, this brand is amazing, But
on the underneath, when you look at our financials, it
was horrible. Wow, And we went through this process of
having to turn our business around and we needed funding, yes, right,
because at that point we had overspent, which is a

(40:30):
common mistake a lot of entrepreneurs make.

Speaker 2 (40:33):
But we felt that we had such great.

Speaker 3 (40:37):
Conviction that what we were building was still so great
that we still had to show up with a smile
on our face. We still had to serve our community,
We still had to serve our employees. At one point,
we were not paying ourselves so people can come to work,
and still they don't hear that, right, Like we were
not making any money. We had to sacrifice a lot

(40:58):
to maintain face because we didn't want our employees to
know what was going on, because what they have the
same level of enthusiasm to show up and work if
they knew that the company was like suffering on the
back yend, right, So those are the moments like people
don't see. And then once we were able to garner funding,
we got a lot of no's and I talk about
one big no that stuck out to me as a

(41:22):
part of this journey. The investors wanted forty percent of
our company and it was a bad deal and we
had to walk away. From that knowing that even though
they were giving us some money that we needed, we
were not willing to sacrifice and give that much of
our company away because we knew how valuable our company
was and as we were building.

Speaker 2 (41:43):
And I think.

Speaker 3 (41:44):
That's a huge key on it for entrepreneurs is that
we can't be so quick to take our money from
investors because that is a whole another animal. It is
a relationship, It is a marriage with whoever you're partnering with,
and you want to make the right choice. And I
tell people like, don't dilute your shares early on, because

(42:07):
what you're building can be so valuable, so you can
have the largest exit ever for a black, female.

Speaker 2 (42:13):
Or male entrepreneur.

Speaker 3 (42:14):
The reason why we had the largest exit was because
I didn't dilute my shares early on. We sacrificed a
lot to not take on that money that they wanted
forty percent, right, So we had to just be patient
and wait it out until we met the right investors
that were willing to invest in us. And patience is
the key, right because that patience is pruning you.

Speaker 2 (42:35):
It's building cares, it's building.

Speaker 3 (42:36):
Resilience, it's building like that tenacious spirit that we need
as entrepreneurs. It's building a new level of wisdom and
knowledge that you need to carry on into your next
venture or project. Right, And so those are some lessons
that I wanted to share because it's so easy for
someone to say, hey, we're going to give you two
million dollars, but what comes with that two million.

Speaker 1 (42:58):
Dollars left with?

Speaker 3 (43:01):
Exactly? Exactly. So I just also caution people to be
very careful with picking investors, being students of life and
always learning and asking questions. You know, I was very
big on raising my hand and finding the people that
had the successful exit. How can I learn from you? Yes,

(43:23):
that was key, right, because in order to be a
champion tomorrow, you have to be teachable today. And I
have always been very teachable and coachable. And that was
one of the reasons why Berkshire, which was our private
equity partner, who was a great partner, by the way,
that's why.

Speaker 2 (43:38):
They invested in us because they said, you and Melbourne
are very coachable.

Speaker 1 (43:42):
I love it. I love that. So we get to
the point where it's time for the biggest exit and
your approach with hey, we want to buy your company.
As an entrepreneur, when do you know it is time
to sell or to say, hey, no, we don't want
to sell, we want to keep it. May did you
guys say this is time?

Speaker 3 (44:01):
So that's a good question because you really don't know,
you don't know when it's the right time.

Speaker 1 (44:07):
Yeah, that's I guess that's when that fearless faith comes in. Exactly.

Speaker 3 (44:11):
Didn't really have to have faith because we did question
like is it time? Is it not time? And I
will tell you, looking back in hindsight, I am so
glad we did it.

Speaker 2 (44:22):
When we did it, Oh good.

Speaker 3 (44:24):
Right, And it's there's no right way to time it.
And we were having this conversation with our investor Berkshire
and we recently just had dinner with them a few
weeks ago, and we were talking about the same thing,
like we couldn't have timed it perfectly, but there's no
way to predict how to time it. So our model
was slow and steady wins the race, but strike while

(44:45):
the iron is hot. You know, we had taken the
company to new heights. We had taken it to a
new level of profitability. And when we looked at our financials,
we looked at where we were as a company, we
looked at, you know, our distribution, our customer base. It
was like all the stars were aligning right and the interest.

(45:08):
We had so many inbound interests from strategic companies, and
the thing is like, you don't know if they're going
to be interested in you tomorrow, because they may have
something else that comes in hot, and they may go
to the next one, and then you've missed your opportunity
or missed your value ryes. So, because we were getting

(45:30):
so many inbound interests and the stars were aligning, we said,
as a team, we're going to just test the market.
We're going to see what it comes back in. We're
going to just see what we're valued at. And we
had to know that once we put our stuff out
there in the market for a potential sale, it's harder
to put yourself out and then take it back.

Speaker 2 (45:51):
So we had to have faith that.

Speaker 3 (45:54):
We were going to get the value or close to
the value that we were hoping for, and have faith
that it was just going to come back. Once we
put our bid out to the market and it came back,
and I remember our investor told us, she said, if
it doesn't come back to what you guys want, there's
no turning back. So we have to be okay with

(46:17):
whatever people bid that. It's something that we have to
be okay with as a team. Wow, and we're going
to have to just roll with it.

Speaker 1 (46:26):
So okay. So you're saying once you put it out there,
there's no saying, oh, we don't want to sell it
now like real estate, like how you can take your
house off the market, can you?

Speaker 2 (46:34):
And it's just not a good look.

Speaker 3 (46:36):
It's just not a good look because the time and
effort to prepare to package the brandy, to put it
out in the market for strategics or investors to bid
on it. That's a lot of heavy lifting. It's a
lot of work. And so you're working with investor investment bankers,
you're working with our investing team. So all the time

(46:58):
and energy that people are going to put in, Like
if you put it out there and say, oh no,
it's not time yet.

Speaker 2 (47:04):
It's just not like it just doesn't look good.

Speaker 3 (47:07):
And then to my point earlier, if you go back
out there later, you may not get the same type
of value because they may say, well, you came out
here before it, are you.

Speaker 2 (47:16):
Going to pull it back?

Speaker 3 (47:17):
Are you not going to be serious with your sell
So it's like a it's literally a faithfulk You really
just have to have faith. It's scary, yeah, because we
knew that we were just gonna put ourselves out there.
So thankfully, once we did put ourselves out there, we
had some really great valuations and we said we're just
going to go for it because we don't know what

(47:38):
the outlook of the world and the economy looks like,
you know, in the future, and we see what it
was going on. Now, that's why I said, it couldn't
have been better timing. So we just said that we
were going to stick with what the values came back
with and we were just going to enter into the
process and start dating strategic partners and find who is
the right partner for Mael.

Speaker 1 (47:59):
And then you ended up with there's a Procter and
gam Gamble, which is a very world renowned company in
the beauty space. They do so many different things. But
so we've all your faithful buyers and customers here that
you sold to Protein Gamble, which is what it's business.

(48:20):
You know, it's business. But there was so much backlash
from that, like, oh she sold out, or oh she
like sold out to the white man. Or whatever the
people say. When you're at home and you're hearing these
things and reading these things, but knowing that this is
the business decision that I made and I'm standing on it.
Did how did that feel when you're reading and hearing
all these things that people are saying.

Speaker 3 (48:41):
Well, Number one, it was the business decision that God
put in me because of what people don't know is
the prayers and the journaling that me and God sat
down and had this conversation right right, So before I
sold to PNG, before we entered into the process we
entered into of August of twenty two, I journaled had

(49:04):
a conversation with God, and I kid you not, I
have the journaling to prove it. In may I wrote down,
MAYO will be acquired by PNG. Wow. Had no idea
that P and G would enter into the process. Didn't
know that we were even going to have a conversation
with them. But that was a vision that came from God,
and I wrote it down. He says, write the vision
and make it plain. And so when we entered into process,

(49:26):
P and G ended up becoming one of the ones
that was in the running, and we were in the
thick of negotiations we went to church. We called our pastor.
It was like ten o'clock at night, and we said
we need prayer because we were in negotiations on Zoom
late at night.

Speaker 2 (49:43):
And we asked him, can we have a breather? Can
we take a break?

Speaker 3 (49:45):
We went to our church, had our pastor pray, and
our pastor said, it's something about P and G that's
jumping out in my spirit. So this was confirmation from
my pastor. Mind you, I forgot that I wrote that down.
Oh okay, that is a crazy so I forgot I
wrote it down confirmation for my pastor. We come back,
get back on a zoom. We made the decision, we're
going to go with PG. Right, we do all the documents,

(50:07):
we close. I go back into my closet because that's
why our journal, and I'm flicking through my journal pages
because I'm getting ready to write down this process of
what happened. Right, I'm flicking through my journal pages and
my thumb lands on the journal entry that I made
in may saying that Mayo will be acquired by PNG.
When I tell you the chills that I received because

(50:27):
I'm like God has confirmed this word. I am going
in the right directory ordering my steps.

Speaker 2 (50:34):
I had to run.

Speaker 3 (50:35):
I get chills talking about this. I had to run
and fine, mel but and I don't know where he
was at. I was like, Helvin, look at look at
what I wrote down. And mind you, this wasn't the
first time that I wrote something down that I prayed
over and God answered my prayers. And I pointed to
I said look what I wrote down, and he was
just like wow, Wow.

Speaker 1 (50:52):
It's like wow, yeah.

Speaker 2 (50:54):
Right.

Speaker 3 (50:54):
So when you talk about the critics, I'm saying all
that to say is when people criticize me for the
decisions that I'm making, it's really not my decisions. These
are decisions that I pray so that God has revealed
to me. So when you are criticizing me, you are
ultimately criticizing the one who put me on this earth
to accomplish the purpose and calling that He has placed

(51:14):
on my life.

Speaker 2 (51:15):
And no one knows the conversations that me.

Speaker 3 (51:17):
And and that's why you can't share your dreams and
your visions with everyone else, because it's not for everyone
else to know what you and God talked about. So
I can sleep well at night because I know that
I operate with integrity. I know I operate with the
utmost respect and confidence and servantry for my community and
my people, and I know that I've done what I'm
supposed to do, so the criticism does not bother me.

(51:40):
I've been through worse, and I pray for them because
I know that it's internal projection of their own insecurities
and their lack of courage to walk in my shoes
and to do what I'm doing, or they don't have
the courage or belief system to even think that they
can accomplish what I have accomplished. And they can if
they take the same energy from criticizing people and turn

(52:01):
them on to something positive. Right, That's really what it is.
Because I never went on something on social media to
criticize them. I may have thought it right. I think
we all think something right, but I'm not going to
actually verbalize it and say it because I don't have
the time or energy and I don't want to block
my blessing by doing that. No, So I just, you know,

(52:23):
I take it with the granted. So I embrace it
because they pushed me to go harder and to keep
showing up, and I feel that, you know, it's also
a testament that you know God is reminding everyone that
sees anyone that's facing adversity to stay sa fast in
the moment of adversity because the grace and the poise

(52:44):
that you carry and possess why you're facing adversity is
inspiring someone else that's watching you. Yes, so I focus
on the people that support me, not the ones that don't. Right.

Speaker 1 (52:53):
I love it. That is so good. It's crazy because
when you are building and grinding, everybody's cheering you on.
But as soon as you become the one, that's when
all the haters and they say, it's just I'm literally
come out the woodworks like little cockroaches. Yes, like they just.

Speaker 3 (53:07):
That's exactly like the pastor Jamal Brian said, when the
LIFs turn on, the cockroaches come out right.

Speaker 1 (53:14):
Literally literally. There was a big viral moment where people
were coming out saying that they were losing their hair
from using one of your products. And I'm going to say,
I got a head full of hair and I've been
using your products for years saying and they lost none
of it, you know, like besides the hair that falls
out on a day day basis just naturally, you know.

(53:34):
And I was just like I cannot believe that, like
somebody's going to this these links, you know, to try
to take down another black woman. And it was just
so disheartening and I can only imagine, and I would
like for you to share, like in those moments in
your closet, because I see you in your prayer closet
praying with other women. What were those conversations like with
God when you saw somebody really trying to attack your brand?
This is like your baby, you know, yeah.

Speaker 3 (53:56):
Yeah, Well those conversations with God was I know that
you're You're not gonna let one what you have built.
No man can take that down, right, So that truth,
because this is just one person, one troll that decided
to be negative, and she can't stop the favor of God, right,

(54:18):
she can't stop what God has blessing ordained. No man
can take that away. And the sad thing about it
is that truth it conflicts with lies to the point
where lies can be perceived as true. And I feel
that because Mael is such a great brand, and when

(54:40):
people can't find anything negative about the brand or about myself,
they make things up. And I know that it comes
with the territory.

Speaker 1 (54:49):
The bigger you.

Speaker 3 (54:50):
Are and The crazy thing is mostly all the big
brands have been attacked on last say, so I really
knew that my time was coming right wait for it seriously,
and it's sad, but it happens with every big brand.
So it was confirmation that why I actually have done

(55:10):
something really great. Yes, that people want to take the
time out of their day to try to tear me
down and nitpick about every single thing. And the people
that already haven't made up in their mind that they
want to misunderstand you, it's nothing you can do or
say to try to prove them wrong. So I'm the
type of person I am not afraid. I will address
it head on, but I'm only gonna do it one time, yep.

(55:31):
And I'm going to address it because of the people
that do support, that do use the product, just to
reassure them that, like the formulas haven't changed, the products
are still the same. You can still use the products.
They're safe and effective to use. There's still the same
products that we had before the acquisition. Nothing has changed.
Look at the labels, and that's what was so like
baffling about is because like people, if you actually read

(55:55):
the labels, you will see that the formula is still
the same in twenty twenty versus today. So it's the
fact that like people didn't even take the time to
like educate themselves. They just want to run with the
false narrative because it's.

Speaker 2 (56:08):
Like I knew it couldn't be that good. It's too
good to be true.

Speaker 3 (56:12):
So let me try to like create this false narrative
because this is just too good, right, And if you
just take the time to educate yourself, and I try
to educate the community, and I feel that the people
that want to be educated hear you, they will hear
me absolutely, because ignorance is a choice. We live in
an error of so much access to information, and if
you choose to still be ignorant when you have the

(56:34):
information being presented in front of you, then you're choosing
to be ignorant. And that is quite all right. You
can stay right where you're at, yes, But I owe
me over here. I'm gonna keep moving, I'm gonna keep elevating. Yes,
So you just gotta like do what you can, but
focus on what's important and not the nay sayers.

Speaker 1 (56:50):
I will and I will say that you handle it
with such grace because I can't imagine like being in
the position you are and working as hard as you
have to get to where you are and then be
hit with something like that. And I was like, my
girl is handles thing.

Speaker 2 (57:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (57:02):
I mean, I'm not gonna lie and say that it's
hurt because it's something I built, right, That's exactly.

Speaker 2 (57:06):
But it's like, at the end of the day.

Speaker 3 (57:08):
My confidence is in God, so I have to stand
on his word. I have to lean on my faith again.
That's where my faith comes in. He keeps me grounded.
And I do know that this social media world, people
will find a topic, they'll jump on it, be real
loud about it, and then then we'll go on to
something else.

Speaker 1 (57:23):
Yeah, and they're definitely on to something else. Now, Yeah,
that is so true when it comes to empowering others.
There are so many people who want to be entrepreneurs.
What is some advice that you would give? And I
think you've given a lot of nuggets today, just even
to me. I'm taking mental notes and I'm going to
go back and rewatch this because I'm building a brand
and I have some other brands I want to do,
and You've given me so many things to think about. Yes,

(57:45):
thank you. But if there's just any like tip that
you could give anybody who really wants to get into
their piece of advice, what would you give them?

Speaker 2 (57:53):
Yeah, so I would say.

Speaker 3 (57:57):
Authenticity is key, Like no one can be you and
being you, And I think that you do a really
great job of just being yourself. And I do know
that's why what you're doing your brand when you do
eventually start something, whatever brand you want to venture off into,
it's going to go well because people are attracted to
your authenticity. And people don't want to do business with

(58:17):
who they feel is fake or it's a facade or
a perception. They really want to connect with you as
a person, right. They want to do business with who
they feel like, they know, who they like, and who
they trust.

Speaker 2 (58:28):
It is a relationship.

Speaker 3 (58:29):
It's not a transaction, even though we look at it
as a cell is a product is purchased, a.

Speaker 2 (58:35):
Cell comes in, we get money in exchange for that.
That's a transaction.

Speaker 3 (58:40):
But I really focus on how do I build relationships
with my customers, how do I date my customers? Because
I want my customers to feel connected and engage because
especially in the beauty space with hair care, it's such
an emotional connection and what we put on our hair.
I feel like it's absorbing our spirit and our energy,
and I always want to put out good vibes and
good energy as I'm building and meeting people from all

(59:03):
across the country to let them know, like you can
trust me with the products that are being produced with
your hair. You can trust that if something is wrong
that I'm going to be an advocate to try to
fix it and make it better to perform because I'm
using the products too, my kids are using the products.
Set I'm not going to put anything out there that
is not healthy or that's causing issues. You know, I'm

(59:23):
going to do my due diligence and do all the
proper testing to make sure that it is a great
product before I put my name on it. Right, And
so you have to be able to build that trust
with people. But the only way you can do that
is by being your authentic self and dating and building
relationships with your clients.

Speaker 1 (59:39):
I love that. I love that leaving a legacy behind.
You spoke about you're building a legacy. What is the
thing that you want to leave behind when it's all
said and done.

Speaker 3 (59:50):
What I want to leave Well, first of I feel
like your legacy is something that you can build while
you're still living, breathing on this earth.

Speaker 2 (59:56):
Because it's about impact.

Speaker 3 (59:58):
And I want to impact to others by way of
helping them be inspired, building their faith, teaching them a
spirit of resilience.

Speaker 2 (01:00:07):
Resilience.

Speaker 3 (01:00:07):
I want my kids to look at me and say, wow,
like my mom, she built this successful company and not
only does she build, but she gave back to the
community that served her, the community that purchased products. She
always made sure that she gave back to the people
that supported her. And I also want people to just

(01:00:30):
be encouraged to continue dreaming big because it's never too late.
Your dreams don't have an expiration date. There's no limits
that you can put on God. So I want people
to just increase their faith in God, bring them closer
to God, because I think that's why we're all here
on earth, to be vessels to bring people to His
kingdom and to know that we serve a limitless God.

(01:00:51):
He does not put any limits on us. And when
you operate from that position of abundance and not lack,
you can accomplish anything in this or that you want
to accomplish. And that's the legacy that I want to
leave behind. I want to create more. Monique Rodriguez is,
I want to normalize this conversation, so we're not sitting
down and saying, so, why did your community criticize you

(01:01:11):
for being acquired? Now this will be a normal conversation.
Like girl, girl, I just get an acquisition.

Speaker 1 (01:01:17):
Who to you like?

Speaker 3 (01:01:19):
Tell us how much it was.

Speaker 2 (01:01:20):
Then let's get.

Speaker 3 (01:01:21):
Tea and let's celebrate you. Create more people to do
this and celebrate this as a community because we're celebrated
when Kim Kardashian does it, but when somebody that looks
like us does it, it's not need to sell out.
It's a sellout, but it's normal for somebody that looks
like them. We got to stop thinking like that real
that is so good.

Speaker 1 (01:01:39):
I love it. So before we get out of here,
what is next for Monique Rodriguez?

Speaker 3 (01:01:43):
Oh? So what is next? I'm always like I have
like a million ideas and my brain is racing. It
goes from one idea to the next idea. But I
really want to focus on, like, you know, building up
the next generation because they are our future. So my daughter,
she's getting into content creation. I want to help build
her career or her platform and help her be an
influencer to the kingdom as well. And just help my

(01:02:06):
kids really pursue and nourish their gifts and their dreams
because they're becoming young ladies and adults and they I
did what I did so they can have their freedom
and flexibility to pursue whatever dreams and passions they want
to do. And continuing to impact my community with things
like you know, this book, this is my gifts to
my community. And you know I have some other key
initiatives that I'm doing with Mayel that you know it's

(01:02:28):
coming down the pipeline. But yeah, just continue to be
great and live with intention and positivity.

Speaker 2 (01:02:33):
Keep it positive, sweetie.

Speaker 1 (01:02:35):
And you're doing it. I am so inspired, I really am.
Before we get out, we're going to do something that
we call positive Outcomes. This is where our listeners write
in and ask us a question and then we give
them advice. You down, yes, all right? So this comes
from Krigan Buck and she says, what advice would you
give to a woman that's struggling with differentiating between a

(01:02:58):
positive and supportive life versus a doormat?

Speaker 3 (01:03:04):
So and you know I talk about this in the
book of not having yes people around. One of my
mentors would tell me she would always say yes people
will get you killed. So you don't want to have
doormats that you can just walk all over and they're
just saying.

Speaker 2 (01:03:19):
Yes to everything that you're presenting to them.

Speaker 3 (01:03:22):
You want to have people around you that are loving, supportive,
but hold you accountable. Yes, right. And the way that
you differentiate is when you have someone that's holding you accountable,
they're doing it from a place of love. If it's
coming from a place of ill motives or hates, it's
probably not a positive you know, accountability partner, right, It's

(01:03:44):
probably someone that's envious of you your life. So I
always look at it as like, how are they giving
me this information? Yes? Is it coming from a place
of love? Is a god aligning is a God ordain
And if you're unsure, also go to mentors that I
feel are spiritual mentors. I have a lot of spiritual

(01:04:05):
mentors in my life. I have a lot of believers
in my life that will give me sound advice from
a biblical perspective. And I'll tell one of my closest friends,
I tell her all the time, like, tell me if
I'm wrong, and tell me from a biblical perspective, don't
even tell me from your own. With them, pray, We're
gonna pray first. I want you to get a download
from God, and I want you to give me advice

(01:04:26):
from that. So you have to be real with yourself
too and ask how you're asking for advice from the
people that are around you, and if you're asking in
a way where they become a doormat and they're just
telling you what you want to hear versus what you
really need to hear, and that's the truth.

Speaker 1 (01:04:41):
I love that.

Speaker 3 (01:04:42):
The truth will set you free and you will be
much more You would just get her much more wisdom
and you'll be on a better trajectory if people sit
you down and tell you the truth.

Speaker 2 (01:04:52):
Would love no, for sure.

Speaker 1 (01:04:54):
I love that, and Cary and I would add to
that a lot of times, when you're trying to make
sure you're not being too supportive or being on the
borderline of being a doormat, I would also say set
healthy boundaries. Yeah, you know a lot of times we
lack boundaries where we do become If you're on the
opposite side of that, where you're the one that's being

(01:05:14):
taken advantage of it being the doormat because you're always yes, yes, yes,
whatever you need, I got you. And then it comes
to the point where, wait, are they taking advantage of me?
That's when I feel like you also have to have
set healthy boundaries.

Speaker 3 (01:05:24):
So was she saying that she was a doormat or
she's having people that are dormats around.

Speaker 1 (01:05:28):
She's trying to differentiate, like she being a supportive lady
or a doormat. Oh okay, but no question.

Speaker 2 (01:05:35):
But that was a good perspective.

Speaker 1 (01:05:36):
Yeah, no, because that what you said is like a
great perspective on it.

Speaker 3 (01:05:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:05:41):
Yeah, that's what I would say. That's good. Yeah, that's
really good money.

Speaker 2 (01:05:44):
Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:05:45):
I am seriously I'm so inspired. I cannot wait to
introduce this book to everyone so we can all read
it together.

Speaker 3 (01:05:51):
Yes, you are so inspiring. Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (01:05:55):
And so are you.

Speaker 2 (01:05:55):
I tell you this all the time, so that's nothing new.

Speaker 1 (01:05:58):
Thank you so much. I can't wait to hang out
with you outside of this And thanks for making time.

Speaker 2 (01:06:03):
You're welcome, appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (01:06:06):
Right, This is good, guys, there was a great conversation.
I hope you all received the message on leading fearlessly
with faith. My takeaway from this was that any decision
Monique makes, she does not make it without talking to
God first. Thank you guys so much for tuning into

(01:06:29):
another episode of the Keep It Positive Sweetie Show. Don't
forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode
with someone who could use a little positivity today. And
it's always stay blessed, stay encouraged, and remember to keep
it positive, Sweetie. I'll see you guys next time.