Afro Unicorn is a conscious brand aiming to celebrate women and children of color. It's one of the first Black female-owned businesses to enter Walmart's celebrations party category. April Showers, founder and CEO of Afro Unicorn, joins Cheddar News to discuss. 


Between Bells

Afro Unicorn Enters Walmart's Celebrations Party Category

Welcome back to Between Bells. Everyone. One brand is looking to celebrate women and Children of color all year long Afro Unicorn creates clothing and accessories that help uplift and impact women and Children of color with its inspiring designs. Now the company is bringing an assortment of party supplies to more than 1500 walmart stores and online joining us now is april showers. Ceo and founder of Afro Unicorn april. Welcome to the show. This launch in walmart makes you one of the first black female owned businesses to enter walmart celebrations party category. Congratulations! Talk about this opportunity. It's an amazing opportunity to be one of the first black women and black brands to enter into party supplies. It's a big, big deal to have these little girls and every basically everyone having parties that look like them and being next to all the princesses and the L. O. L. S. And the nickelodeons. It's a major major deal and I'm so excited for this opportunity and I really thank you guys all for having me. This is, it's a magical, magical day, a magical experience and we're really changing how these little girls and in the world views black beauty. So I'm, I'm just excited to be a part of this. It is very exciting and you're going from E commerce to being a major retail store. This is a huge shift for you. Talk about the learning curve and so the pandemic play a role in any way. So the pandemic played a role in with me. Having my e commerce store because it seemed like it was a cry out for people wanting to feel magical. Always say african corn is for you to feel unique, Divine and magical. And not only did we have the pandemic, we had a lot of the social um ingest that was going on in the country at the same time. So a lot of people like leaned on afro unicorn, so we actually kind of boomed during the pandemic and with all the videos and the content that was shot during, you know, staying at home period. That's how walmart saw was. It was a viral video from a four year old little girl, Cassidy Brianna who was wearing her after unicorn shirt and said, I um I love someone walked by her and said, I love your hair with all the confidence in the world. She said thank you, it's an afro. And that's been, the thing with us is that people have been identifying with their natural hair, their natural state and just loving who they are. And walmart took notice to it and they reached out so walk us through the inspiration for creating afro unicorn. What was missing in the space april where you're like, you know what I have to step up here? Well I was being referred to as a unicorn over and over again because I am a multiple business owner. I'm also a single mom of two amazing boys and this person kept referring to me as a unicorn and I'm like, why do you keep calling me unicorns? Like because you're executing your business is your, your amazing mom. Like I'm just just a woman is like, no, you're a unicorn. So I wanted a marketplace to find this unicorn and see what unicorns were all about. And I saw that they were um unique, that their mystical. So I'm like, okay, I can use the unicorn emoji over and over again. And then one day, like a pound of bricks, it hit me who determined that unicorns are only supposed to be white. Why? Like who determined that if it's supposed to represent who I am, it should look like me. So I went out there, I couldn't find anything. And so instead of complaining about it, I wanted to be the change that I want to see and that's why I created Afro unicorn. Well, you know, your brand has gained the attention of celebrities, big ones like Alicia Keys Tiffany had is why do you think so many people are resonating with this brand april. Again, my friend was calling me a unicorn because of what I was doing and I said, look, that's just who we are as women, we just take on all of it. So I think that the women like Alicia Keys. Tiffany had a Sherri shepherd. These are amazing women who are doing multiple things and executed in a very, very high level. So they probably already coined themselves um unicorns or black unicorns. So to have afro unicorn and actually to have it on apparel to have it on accessories. So they can really identify and show the world who they are at the same time. I think that's why they gravitated to it as well as our brand is helping other women, we help other businesses, we help other young entrepreneur businesses, we help help other women businesses, small businesses. And they see that african corn is just really here to help see other businesses grow. So I think they love that part about it too. Can you talk about the importance of black representation in the beauty industry april? It's very important because for the longest time we have just been subjected to european standards that your hair had to be straight, your color of your skin had to be light. Um if you look at the aisles, even where I'm I'm on right now, most of the princesses are with blonde hair or you know, straight hair, very fair skin. So for a little girl to want to have her party or her event to now actually have something that represents her, not a straight hair character, not a light um white skin character, but beautiful brown, beautiful curly hair wearing a crown like that is major. I believe yesterday was the crown's day or the day before it was a national crowns day and I just love the fact that our unicorn wears the crown, It symbolizes our our women, our kids and our and our natural hair and I love it. Absolutely love it. We know landing VC funding especially is a struggle for entrepreneurs, especially entrepreneurs of color. Can you talk to me about some of the unique challenges you may have faced? Well, I will say that S. B. A. Really stepped up, especially during the pandemic to help out small businesses. Um and so this time around, I think the country just had to take notice. It had to take a pause after everything with George Floyd. And again, when I, when I said we were dealing with the pandemic, we're dealing with social injustice. So I think a lot of the banks and a lot of the small businesses stepped up to really, really help and I know that they were there to help Afro Unicorn. So I hope that this is a moving trend ahead. Um I'm thankful to the S. B. A leaders that are on the ground to actually help and direct small businesses like myself. Um I had small community leaders that were directing advisors that were directed me from the beginning. So I actually said that it has, it's been a welcoming and warming experience now and I just hope it continues to be this way. Well, congratulations to your success and I really appreciate you coming on april shower Ceo and founder of Afro Unicorn, thank you so much april