Black-owned businesses have been at the forefront for years, but there was a huge surge in the support for these companies in 2020. After two years, has the momentum died down? Lisa Williams, founder and CEO of The World Of Entertainment, Publishing and Inspiration, joins Cheddar News to discuss further. 

Between Bells

Entrepreneur Lisa Williams on Supporting Black-Owned Businesses Beyond Juneteenth

Welcome back to between Bells. Black-owned businesses have been at the forefront for years, but in 2020 there was a surge on the support of black-owned businesses during the Black Lives Matter protests after two years, has that momentum died down. Joining me now to discuss is lisa Williams, founder and Ceo of the world of entertainment, publishing and inspiration lisa welcome to the show. Can we first talk about the boom in supporting black businesses in 2020, do you think that people considered it a trend? Do you think that momentum has now dwindled two years later? Well, thank you for having me. I think we were all hoping that it would be a momentum that continued. We didn't want to see, we've seen so many times before that during the time of the tragedy, there's a big insurgence of interest in black owned businesses and then over time it gradually wanes. And unfortunately we are starting to see that same trend happen again. Why do you think consumers may have moved away from actively pursuing black owned businesses? You know, I think it's because it's at the forefront of the news, because unfortunately, you know, George Floyd and many other tragedies. So it's in the forefront. But then after, again, that wayne's people's interest just starts moving in other directions and they forget to support black owned businesses. I think that's such a good point. So how can companies emerge from consumer and maybe media fatigue? How do we get this back in the forefront again. Well, what we must remember is that our customer is king and so customer service is incredibly important. And then in addition to that we have to always manage and innovate come up with new ideas, new projects to always keep our customers engaged and actually wanting more from us. There's so many things even coming up with great partnerships is so important. Um we are thrilled here that we're doing partnerships with Disney and marvel, but we're thrilled that we're now working with Rock the Bells L. L. Cool J's company to help to continue to bring innovative, fresh ideas, something that's gonna keep the consumer engaged and wanting to come back for more. Congratulations on that partnership, that is very exciting. You made a good point because we know treatment of employees and people is so important. So how can black owned businesses and the employers stay aligned with their employees? You said it, it's about committing to your employees. You know, I, as an entrepreneur can create nothing without my amazing employees. And so it's important to create a culture where everyone is honored treating with humanity and each other inspires one another to create the best products possible. And that's what that's what it's all about because I believe that when you have a positive cooperative environment that that is imbibed into the product and into the service and that your customers do feel that you're a business owner yourself as the founder of fresh stalls, which by the way, I'm assuming they're behind you, They're beautiful? I wish I had that when I was a kid, lisa, can you tell us tell us a little bit more about the collection? Oh absolutely. So we are a company that's dedicated. Our mission is to create authentic dolls for all Children. So we have african american, latino, caucasian and asian dolls all to represent unique beauty and diversity. So we custom skin tails and make sure the facial features are truly authentic and pieces of art. We focus on the hair as well all to make sure that all Children feel seen represented and beauty. Beautiful. I see that tagline a girl like you And again, I wish you know someone like me or so many girls at my age had that when I was a kid, thank you so much for doing it for the next generation as the founder of fresh dolls. What steps do you make do you do to make sure your business stays ahead of consumer and media fatigue? Like we just discussed a moment ago. Well, it's what we're saying. It's always innovating. And it's always talking to our customers. We call them our fresh family and I'm always reaching out to say, what do you guys want to see? What can the fresh dolls do better? What are we not doing that? We should be doing? Your customers are gonna be a wealth of information, partner with them, find out what it is that they want and then of course implement that lisa, Can I ask you what juneteenth means to you? Oh my gosh! I'm about to cry, June 10 means that our our treatment of inhumanity on some level came to an end and that we were finally notified of that and that we began to try to live a life equal to what we were supposed to be living. I mean what I mean by that is we were engaged, we were in prison, we were enslaved and then we found out that we can at least strive towards the american vision of equality and we can strive to have economic power. That's what it means to me. Well, it is such a pleasure to have you. Thank you for everything you're doing dr lisa Williams, founder of fresh stalls. We really appreciate your time. Thank you.