, a creative incubator for entrepreneurs and creative individuals founded by the artist, the Weeknd, and Creative Director, La Mar Taylor.<\/span><\/p>\nI\u2019m extremely grateful to have the opportunity to connect with people that can connect me to others that might be interested in funding my company. And connecting with like-minded individuals is more likely to lead me to like-minded investors.<\/span><\/p>\nI\u2019m banking on the hope that with me pushing forward will eventually get me to that yes. And\u00a0 sometimes even the first yes, is not the one you say yes to. The truth is, due to lack of funding, we often don\u2019t get the best deals either.<\/span><\/p>\nThat\u2019s something I really want to consider, especially for my community\u2014we have a lot of work to do because we\u2019re trying to build our generational wealth and equity. This means we have to be wise when we step into the world of business and learn from those that have already been successful\u2014 and find ways to push that envelope.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nI really encourage other founders to do their research and connect with people that have experience so you can say yes to deals that are actually beneficial to you and your company.<\/span><\/p>\nWhen you receive something favorable, that\u2019s actually a very sound investment for your company, you also ensure that other VCs know that if I’m going to invest in this person and this community, I have to make sure that I’m coming in with the right mentality.<\/span><\/p>\nWorking in this space and PR you learn a lot about IP (Intellectual Property) and how quickly it can be yours one second and gone the next. You have to be very careful about what you sign on for, literally. Sometimes you realize that what you sign up for is not what you actually signed up for and I had to learn that the hard way. In some ways, I’m glad because those were learning opportunities. Now, I know better.<\/span><\/p>\nAs a creator, what are your thoughts on pursuing untraditional education methods?<\/b><\/p>\n
I\u2019m an advocate for educating yourself on your own terms. Many tech companies these days don\u2019t hire people with degrees or diplomas. If you want to build a skill set, there are ways to do so without going to traditional schools for it.<\/span><\/p>\nI went to school for PR at Humber College in Ontario and then I went to the Ontario Tech University for digital communication and design. I ended up dropping out my first year to pursue my business. I had a guidance counselor say to me that school will always be there but the opportunity to build a business will not. She really inspired me to focus full-time on my business.<\/span><\/p>\nHowever, I never stopped my education, I\u2019m really big on that. I didn\u2019t necessarily continue down the technical route but I took the non-traditional route. I did the Bizstart program, then following that, Business in the Streets, which is another type of business Bootcamp that helped me scale my business. I also did UforChange and learned coding and graphic design. Most recently, I made it past three rounds to the top 20 for the HXOUSE No More Dreams program. I got the opportunity to be in the accelerator where I learned many useful things like pitching, and archiving work, as well as getting to network with people who do amazing work in the industry, such as Vanessa Craft, the previous editor of Elle, and now the Director of Partnerships at Tiktok Canada, who also happens to be a woman of color.<\/span><\/p>\nThere are so many non-traditional ways to learn. I’m currently looking to do a part-time course on UX\/UI Design at Juno College.<\/span><\/p>\nThe journey to providing a desirable service for minority communities is nothing short of challenging. However, with the motivation to represent and bring more prosperity and opportunities to her community, D\u2019Andra is steadily building up her arsenal of skills to win game-changing collaborations in the VC world.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nHer hope is that she\u2019ll find someone that shares a similar vision and sees the potential in this largely untapped beauty market.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s been a systemic shift in consumer behavior favored towards the online experience. Whether it\u2019s a new dress for a workplace gathering or new computer parts, nearly anything can be bought within a few clicks. In a modern, busy world, people will pay for what\u2019s most efficient.\u00a0 Companies have worked diligently in the past decade […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":5113,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"The Rise of Customization in Beauty Products: Empowering People of Color in the Online Market","_seopress_titles_desc":"Discover how Empress Mane is breaking barriers by offering personalized hair products for people of color, addressing the lack of inclusivity in the beauty industry. Shop now!","_seopress_robots_index":"","tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1040],"tags":[1180,1181,1005],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5112"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5112"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5184,"href":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5112\/revisions\/5184"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}