July 23, 2025 • 26 mins
Candi Carter On Taking a Leap of Faith, Launching Shop Red Bag, Helping Founders Win + More
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
What's up, way up with Angela. Yee.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
This is exciting for me. On this Wealth Wednesday, I
got my girl Stacy Tisdale here.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
Happy Wealth Wednesdays everybody, and we are so excited. We
are going to talk shopping, we are going to talk uplifting,
we are going to talk everything because we have city diversity, everything.
We have Candy Carter with us today. Hello, Hello, Thank
you so much for being here. Candy is a former
major television executive Emmy Award winning multiple Emmy Award winning.
(00:32):
She was the senior producer of a show you might
have heard of called The Oprah Winfrey Show. She was
executive producer of the View. She was executive producer of
The tamer and Hall Show. And then she said, stop,
I am going into e commerce. What happened girl?
Speaker 4 (00:49):
I know?
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Right?
Speaker 4 (00:50):
Hi, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
It's a pleasure.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
I'm a huge fan.
Speaker 5 (00:53):
I've listened to you for years and years and years,
and let me just say, from one sisten to another,
I'm so happy to see you having your own platform.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
I'm hallelujah. Thank you. That is good.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
I absolutely love it.
Speaker 5 (01:03):
So as you said, I was an executive producer of
the View, in Tameran. While I was there, I was
doing shoppable content. So on the View if you watch
that show right now, there's a segment called view your
Deal once a week. I was in charge of that
for all the years I was there. It is very
lucrative to sell products in content, and so when I
(01:23):
took over for the Tameron Hall Show, when you have
a new show in television, you have to think of
creative ways to generate revenue. And I said, well, you
know what, let's do some products. People love it. If
your favorite host is like, oh my god, I love
this necklace, you guys are going to get it today.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
You're like, yeah, and you're going to get it at
a special dal within that period of time.
Speaker 5 (01:45):
Absolutely, So we launched tamfam Deals. And so while I
was doing that, the company I brought in I ended
up joining, And that's how I kind of moved out
of the day to day show running and moving to
the other side because I was already doing it.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Yeah, and it's exciting to me.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Honestly, when I started this show, I had pitched us
doing something like that based off of seeing that on
these talk shows. Because I also feel like it's a
win win for everybody, right, it is. It helps the
network the show make money. It also helps the founder
make money off their product and get more visibility. And
then people get a special deal. It's like wins for
everybody across the board.
Speaker 5 (02:22):
It is, but it's even more than the deal you
would curate.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Like we were just.
Speaker 5 (02:26):
Sitting here and you were saying, I love Black owned brands.
You're finding brands that we don't even know about, and
so there's a huge benefit for the viewer the listener
because you're going to bring brands to the table they've
never heard of.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Me, Like this mirror behind us. I was telling you,
shout out to True Unique.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
I purchased this mirror just I was seeing him on
Instagram and saying I love his products, and then I
went to his page and I saw this. I saw
he has these lego mirrors, Black owned brand out of Baltimore.
Speaker 5 (02:52):
Yeah, so if you did this here, which we can do,
wink wink, you can actually recommend products that people wouldn't
know about, and so there's a value all the way around.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
I mean that was coffee uplips people. I heard that.
Coming back to that, everything she said that was still
quite a pivot and we're going to get into all
the shopping and shopbread bag. What was that like to
go from that type of a career into entrepreneurship because
so many people are, you know, on the fence. Don't
make that turn? What what made you?
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Because that's a dream job and people's eyes they're like
executive producer, like just those positions that you would win
Emmy award. Winning that's a big step out on faith
and a risk.
Speaker 5 (03:37):
It's a big step on faith. I always say I'm
that chick that jumps off the building and I just
know the parachutes coming. I've never hit the ground.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
Just so we're clear.
Speaker 5 (03:45):
So I always say I turned nothing down but my collar.
And that's the truth. So you know, for me, I
see opportunity and it's exciting for me. I don't get
scared until after and then I'm like.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Oh Lord, right here, right, I tell you what did
I do?
Speaker 5 (04:00):
But I will tell you every time I've taken the leap,
I've leaped higher and higher and higher. And so for me,
one of my girl, my best friend, lives in Katar
and we talk every day and she said to me, Candy,
when you are anxious about something, she goes go to
the worst case scenario and back into it.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Just go the case and ask for advice for people.
Speaker 5 (04:20):
Yeah, go to the worst case scenario. So the worst
case scenario for me is I got to move home.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (04:25):
Fortunately I have parents who if I had to, I
could live with them. That's the worst case scenario. And
I like them, So if that's.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
It, I'm good.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
They would love that, right, Yeah, I do that too.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
I'm always like the worre's that it can happen, is
it doesn't work out, and now I gotta that's the
worst case scenario. And you know what, I feel like
things that I've done to have and worked have been
really huge lessons for me. It's been a great education.
You make some great relationships along the way. You never
know what's going to end up coming further on down.
Speaker 5 (04:51):
You don't know who you're talking to ever. You when
you open a door, you don't know what's behind that door.
And most of the times it's something that can be
uplifting for you when lightning helpful. And I'm fifty six
years old, So I started this two years ago and
I'm learning. Literally I've gotten an MBA in the last
two years.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
Well, now you are an entrepreneur.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
I'm an entrepreneur, and you have a daughter who does content.
I mean she's very good.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Yeah, we're gonna have the whole family. Yes, what was
it like to raise money as a black woman entrepreneur?
Speaker 1 (05:20):
And we got to say the name of the website, yes,
shopread Bag.
Speaker 5 (05:23):
So shop red Bag dot com. Yeah, shopread Bag dot com.
It's a new store. When I saw people, when I
saw all the the outrage on the internet about the
DEI rollbacks, and in my company, we build online stores
for media partners, so we had shop with BT. At
the time, we had so many black brands that were
being impacted negatively. Some worried about closing, and I said, look,
(05:48):
this is.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
What we do.
Speaker 5 (05:49):
We're all women too, by the way. I'm like, this
is what we do. We can build stores. So I said,
let's build Shop red Bag because we need a place
for people.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
To go explain to people what it is.
Speaker 5 (05:57):
Okay, So Shop red Bag is an online If you
are boycotting Target, Walmart, any of the things, you can
now go to Shop red Bag and you can buy
the things that you'll find in retailer.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
But here's the hitch.
Speaker 5 (06:10):
These are all brands that fall under the DEI umbrella.
So if you just want to shop black owned brands,
hip browse categories, go to black owned brands. You want
to shop women own brands, shop women own brands, veteran
owned brands, disability, LGBTQIA. We all have to come together
right now because all of these diverse groups are creating
really high quality products, which I'll talk about some of
(06:32):
the brands that are in the store in a bit,
and we have to be able to support them because
guess what, the big retailers don't want us, right, they
don't want us, So guess what, here's a platform where
we can go. But we have to change our habits.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
I agree with that.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
That's the biggest things.
Speaker 5 (06:47):
That means if you're at home and you need some
toilet paper, you have to consciously say, I'm gonna go
to shop Red Bag and buy some toilet paper. Just
do it one time. So if everybody does it one time,
then next time it's like losing weight. You ain't gonna
lose weight if you don't meal plan.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Let's shout out to Royal Flesh.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
Yes, and we have Leafy Is.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
This is Angela's favorite show.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
And I know Juneteenth was a special day launched.
Speaker 5 (07:15):
Yes, and we have Leafy, which is a black owned bamboo.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Bamboo tape paper that's only the best for your butt.
That's what I say, the.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Best for your butt. But guess what this is what
people don't know real talk.
Speaker 5 (07:27):
Every time you're wiping with commercial toilet paper, you're putting,
you're putting them.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
What are the chemicals called.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
I thought you were gonna go with dollars to the company,
but you're going to chemicals in the book.
Speaker 5 (07:38):
You're putting forever chemicals in your body. They are going right,
the fastest way to go into your body. And so
the thing was shop red bag having black owned brands
and brands of people of color. We have organic chemists,
they're all organic materials. These are like the best quality
products you can buy because we're making them for us.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Right.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
But you're also really expanding the definition definition of diversity.
Speaker 5 (08:01):
Which absolutely absolutely because here's the thing, look at the
country we're in. We all have to come together. We
have to be allies for all the businesses. So as women,
we have to come together. My husband's a veteran, my
child has a disability, Like I'm all the.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
Things yeah, I'm a black girl. Right, Don checked off
four boxes. Right.
Speaker 5 (08:21):
So, like in shopreadback dot Com, we have merch that
says I heart black owned brands. I heart women own
brands like get the shirts wear I'm proud. We have
to tell people like we have to educate everybody, like
we have to keep our money in our communities.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
That's something I've always been really intentional about to and that's.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Why I was excited.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
I ran into you and speaking of supporting, and we
ran into each other at this off Broadway play and
it was absolutely amazing.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Have to go see it.
Speaker 5 (08:52):
It's Duke and Royal, it is Roya, it's so good.
It's I literally fall asleep in Broadway.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
I was wide awake. Was so good. I was like,
oh my god, I love this. Yeah, let's go see
if you're coming to New York. If you're in New York,
it's so good.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Yeah, black writer, black director. You know the cash Way
ellis amazing.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Yeah, so you know, I just want to shot that
out too. But I saw you there and we had
this whole conversation about Shop read Bag. So I'm excited
that you're here. And that's one thing I always tell
people when it comes to me like going out, most
of the times, I will choose to go to a
business that's owned by somebody that looks like us. People
be like, Angela, we're going to another Caribbean restaurant because
you're going to the same one.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
I know, I've got a different ones, though, I to
spread it around.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
But I do feel like sometimes there's this really false
I think, you know, people say that, oh, the businesses
and the servicesn't so good, this, this, and that.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
I do not find that at all.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Like I really find that when we go to our businesses,
I get treated really really well, and so does everybody.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
The food is amazing.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
But we got to be more intentional about supporting, like
we said, and making those decisions like I could buy
it from here.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
I could buy it from here, that's right.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Talk about the importance of that. You and I even
got emotional. We were talking about how people now have
to create their own economies and the context of the
new economic and administration realities.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
Talk about it's hurtful.
Speaker 5 (10:14):
You know, a lot of my brands will say, you know,
I've spoken to We've got over one hundred and something
brands in the store, and I've talked to a lot
of them, and they're just like, it's personal. Yeah, personal,
it's really personal. And my thing is, if somebody said
to you, I don't want you up in my house,
I don't like you, I don't want you in my house,
are you going to run over there and.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Hang out their house?
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Absolutely not No, You're gonna move on.
Speaker 5 (10:36):
So guess what, Why are we taking our hard earned
dollars and spending them in places where they don't want us?
Speaker 2 (10:42):
And you know, to be honest, the reason we even
studied this coffee company, Coffee Up Lift people was because
of how not diverse it is when it comes to
people who are selling coffee, setting up coffee shots, and
where the coffee beans come from. When you look at
where it comes from, it's all black and brown places.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
But no black and brown owners, No black and brown
but very few.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
And even as far as how much they get paid.
You know, you talk about fair trade and people say,
look for that fair trade stamp when you're buying your beans,
because you want to make sure that people are getting
compensated because a lot of times they're getting taken advantage of.
And so it's a whole thing when you think about
colonialism and you think about coffee beans, and so that
was part of the reason why I was like, let's
get into this business.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
I know this really smart, really cute coffee business woman
who I want to see on Shop Red Bag.
Speaker 5 (11:30):
We're we are onboarding you. We're going to get you
on and get you in absolutely, because my thing is this.
It's like, it's why a Popeyes and a Churches and
a KFC are all on the same corner because you
go there for options, and I would like to see
more coffee in there, so more people are buying their
coffee from Shop Red Bag, Black owned coffee companies, and
(11:51):
we have two in there now, so we add you in.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Let me ask you this, what did you think about
certain people who when the Target boycott started happening, it
did affect some of the brands that were in the store,
and some people were like, oh, come on, guys, like
still this is going to hurt us.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
This is that?
Speaker 2 (12:06):
What do you say to people like that who are like,
because I do understand, also people have contracts, they need
to sell their products. They don't want to pull it
off the shelves, and therefore maybe they feel like, Okay,
I don't want to support this boycott because what about
our brands.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
But some people are like, listen.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
You got to just suffer and take, you know, because
of what it is, the statement that we're trying to make.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
But what do you say when it comes to that.
Speaker 5 (12:27):
I think it's I think it's really tough for those brands.
But the good news about having a brand is you
can sell on multiple platforms, right, And I think if
people are boycotting Target, there are like shop read Bag,
there are other platforms where you can sell your products
and you can promote your products, right, And so it's
not like you I know that those brands can sell
in other places. Typically brands sell in a million places, right,
(12:49):
and you can go to shop Rite and here and
there and see the same brand.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
So you know, that's what I would say to that.
Speaker 5 (12:54):
I think I've never seen a boycott this impactful in
my lifetime. Right, I said, I'm fifty years.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Old and I Target.
Speaker 5 (13:02):
It's Target, And God blessed Dwayne Bryant, I mean Pastor
Bryant for what he's done, because it's incredible. I mean
it's literally incredible. We took billions of dollars away from
major retailers. So people need to wake up and say,
wait a minute, our money makes a difference. And so
(13:22):
when people are like, well I don't vote because my
vote don't make a difference. Right now, your dollar is
making a difference. And Black people proportionately spend more money
than other races. So now we have an opportunity to
take those billions of dollars and circulate them into our
communities and grow our businesses over the next four years,
so that this is not a fly by night thing.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
I've seen these.
Speaker 5 (13:43):
Types of stores come and go. Right, We're not going anywhere.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
Economic boycotts, love them, love. People can just make such
change if they use their power. I remember a girl
when there was all that controversy over banking fees. Yeah,
girls start a social media campaign after some legislation came
out to regulate banks, but they just weren't listening to it. Yeah,
just said everybody pull out of the big banks and
(14:08):
go to community lenders this weekend. So many people did it,
and the following Tuesday, the big banks dropped their fees. Right.
We saw the same thing with Game Stop. You know,
we were talking about wire that stock when they said
sell that stock. The black community has the power, so.
Speaker 5 (14:23):
Part of the reason I did shop read back in
the comments, because I heard so many people going, well,
where am I supposed to shop?
Speaker 4 (14:28):
Right?
Speaker 5 (14:28):
Like this guy was on the internet. I keep saying
I cannot find this clip, but he was in Target,
Like so where am.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
I supposed to buy my toothpaste? So where am I
supposed to buy? Blah blah blah blah.
Speaker 5 (14:36):
And it's like, here's the solution. Because people are throwing
out lists and things and that, but let's have one platform,
easy to navigate. You can shop by categories. If you
only want to do black owned brands, have at it.
You're still supporting your women. You want to support women,
have at it.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Even in building our coffee shop, we used everybody that
was you know, from our plumber to our electrician to
our designer. It was all black and brown own people
and then brands inside of the store. And we did
a partnership with Pronghorn, you know as well, so that
we could also promote some of these diverse brands to
make sure. That's when we got our liquor license. What
(15:15):
you see on the shelves, and we've been doing special events.
We did something with Happy Cork in Brooklyn.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
You know.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
So I just think you're right, Like, we have amazing,
high end, great quality products and people just need to
go and be intentional about supporting that because we see
so many brands that people just, you know, just kind
of gravitate toward, yeah, because of the hype about it,
But that doesn't mean that it's better yeah, or quality.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
The way she's talking about intentionality, you were saying that
you're seeing it a lot in younger generations. They're just different.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 5 (15:45):
So it's so funny because as we grow shop red
bag dot com. I'm on the street, Like I was
on the street all day Sunday in Montclair talking to people.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
I'm like, I'm masterpe out.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
The trunk, you know, selling CD out the trunk.
Speaker 5 (15:57):
But I did talk to a twenty year old and
I assumed that she would say. I said to her,
do you pay attention to where you shop? Do you
think your money matters? And she literally was like yeah, absolutely,
and brought up like five other issues. She's like she's
telling me all these things. And I was like, that's
amazing because people, you know, the gen z stare this
that I thought, Oh, you're twenty, you don't even care
(16:19):
She's like, no, no, and she said, an I'm boycotting Target, right.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
So the young people and the look she over there.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
What a natural. It's natural for them. My son's that age.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
It is.
Speaker 5 (16:29):
But then I heard from some young people who are like,
I just buy what I like. Yeah, So I was
very happy to see this young lady say no, no, no.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
Not only am I doing that, but I'm looking at this.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
I'm somebody is a founder right now, or they have
a product that they would like to get on shot
red Bag.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
How can they make that happen? And what's the process?
Speaker 5 (16:49):
Go to shopredbag dot com and scroll down and it'll
just say are you a brand?
Speaker 4 (16:53):
We need to know about it?
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Let me do that now.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
Yeah, what are some of the things you're looking for
from entrepreneurs?
Speaker 5 (17:01):
I mean, you know, it's interesting because one of the
one of the things you'll see in Shop red Bag
is that we really wanted to do practical items to
just get people there. So you can buy toilet paper,
cleaning supplies, dental stuff. We have and I want to
tell you about some of the first that are in.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Okay, let us let's see.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
African American expression.
Speaker 5 (17:19):
So that's greeting cards, journals, bags and umbrellas.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Umbrellas things we need every day. They're the largest black
owned gift company in the country. Afro Unicorn, I love her.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Where's my unicorn?
Speaker 5 (17:32):
Afro Unicorn. So she's got children's bed sets unicorns with
the Afros. She's the first black woman to have a
brand in retail.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Right here. Yah, she's supposed to be over here. I
don't know how I got over there.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
See, I love it.
Speaker 5 (17:52):
Beauty IY is one of the best vitamin C serums
on the market, and it's a brother. Ron Robinson is
a black chemist. Thirty plus years he was formulating for
Clinique Laurel Revlon Avon in the store. That's what I'm saying.
There's quality stuff, but Toy Sweet Treats out of Chicago
going up against Harry and David and Garrett's Popcorn and
(18:14):
her popcorn is a mazing.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
We need to get proper yes, yes.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
An approval process. Well, it's you put that you so
someone applies.
Speaker 5 (18:25):
Somebody applies. You know, a lot of times it really
comes down to the margins, right, are you able to
you know, there has to be a certain margin to
come into the store. We don't charge anything so and
we're doing free shipping. So we have to figure out
a way that the brand can offer free shipping because well,
for a lot of smaller brands, the pricing is slightly higher,
(18:45):
so we don't we're not asking them to discount, and
so we're doing free shipping so that we can get
people to come and shop.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Yeah those criteria, Yeah yeah.
Speaker 5 (18:54):
And we you know, our team will go through with
them and kind of talk about their their different skews.
And it's not gonna work for everybody, but I'm here.
I'm here to support brands. I want to give this
platform to the brands. I'm a black owned, woman owned
business and we're all women.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
So what has reactions been so far?
Speaker 5 (19:11):
Too?
Speaker 4 (19:12):
Oh my god. People love it.
Speaker 5 (19:13):
They're like finally and I didn't know where to go,
and this is great, this is what we need and
you know all the things, it's just now at this point,
people are excited. Now people have to start shopping. And
every time I say it's shop and share, shop and share.
Every time you get something from shop red Bag posted
on social media. It's not a store, you guys, it's
(19:34):
a movement. We are starting a movement.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
So you said people are excited. So, and who wouldn't
be excited to invest in you? Honestly, that's what we.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Were talking about all your investors out there.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Really, what was it like raising capital as a black
female entrepreneur? Are a female?
Speaker 5 (19:57):
Yes, as an entrepreneurs, So it's an ongoing thing raising capital.
I will tell you I have been loved by black folks.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
I have.
Speaker 5 (20:06):
We've raised capital from friends and family. At this point,
ninety nine percent of our money are Black people, yay.
And what I've found when we talk about community and
coming together over the next four years and beyond, is
that I've found that there are groups of black folks,
just doctors, lawyers, business people who are coming together, pooling
(20:27):
their money and investing in black owned businesses.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Yes, there are, because there's a lot. Yes, now, you're
absolutely right about that.
Speaker 4 (20:34):
There's a lot.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
I love that.
Speaker 5 (20:36):
And those are the folks that have gotten behind. So
my company is called Cistus Media and so, and like
I said, we have big media partners, we have stores
for and shop. Redbag is our store. But our investors
in Sistus Media are black, which is really great.
Speaker 4 (20:51):
So, but it is tough.
Speaker 5 (20:52):
I will tell you it's hard for women it's hard
for communities of color to raise money because those on
our networks, and so when you reach out to those networks,
they're less inclined to be like, I'll just write you
a check because yeah, And I had a thing where
there was I went to a to Boston College and
I reached out to a gentleman that I know, older
gentlemen who went to BC and were connected, and it
(21:15):
was kind of like, ah, well, I don't waste your time.
You know, I typically don't invest in businesses. I don't understand.
Have that been a black and I've done, and this
has happened. I've had that same conversation with black folks
who were like, tell me a little bit more because
we're you see what I'm saying different, Well exactly, but
that's how people do business. They do business with people
(21:36):
who look like them, who they like, and you have
to be persistent.
Speaker 4 (21:39):
I ended and the guy is a wonderful guy.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
I ended up, so glad you're making this point. The
Pope and my media company, one of our divisions is consulting,
and that's when consult with companies and they're like, oh,
you know, we have this money and we want to
invest in black female entrepreneurs. I'm like, but you have
to do business the way they do business. So many
companies or grants or all sorts of things. Okay, we're
(22:02):
going to give this to you, but you have to
do X, Y and z instead of seeing it from
their perspective.
Speaker 5 (22:07):
Yes, and what's interesting, just from general principle, if two
guys went to Notre Dame together and one guy you
know what I mean, I know, right, they're two guys,
they look alike, they kind of have a similar upbringing,
they both worked on Wall Street. He's gonna say, hey,
you know what, I don't typically invest in those types
of businesses.
Speaker 4 (22:23):
But all right, yes, yeah, yeah, here you go.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
That small tech is a nice check too, usually, right,
But I don't get that, and you're right, we don't,
cause I would tell you, like boosttrapping my business myself,
me and my partner used all our own money and
did not get not one investment from anybody. But it's
also hard to figure out when do you want to
get an investment and what are you giving up because
these are all things that are you know, I've seen
people do their businesses where they start that way and
(22:47):
they really funded themselves and empty out everything and make
it happen, and then.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Later on it pays off or it doesn't, you know
what I mean.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
And then I've seen people who from the beginning have
started a business and went about trying to raise money
and do those things just I think always hard to
People will tell you use other people's money, but then
other people want to see you invest your own money
into your plan and get it to a certain point also,
and so that's such a that's a balance.
Speaker 5 (23:11):
You can do it either way. It depends on how
big of a business you're building. E Commerce is incredibly lucrative,
so to you want to raise money because you want
like you want a ten x one hundred million or
two hundred million. It's different than that a shop, right,
So it just depends on the type of business.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
But then we also had to get the beans important.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
It was a lot of business that you started.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Yeah, yeah, that's a lot, but it will off.
Speaker 5 (23:36):
But it's just like a brick and mortar retail business
is very different from like an e commerce tech business
versus healthcare something business.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Yeah, bad technology.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
And I want to say I was talking about this earlier,
how it's been really tough for brick and mortar businesses
right now too.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
I see like so many things.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
I mean, it's tough times for landlords, for businesses.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
I was in Brooklyn, Like when I drive down and
I'm going home.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
I see all these businesses that have been there forever,
like closing Damn Applebee's Clothes on Fulton.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
I was like, what that's been there? Yeah.
Speaker 5 (24:10):
But here's the difference between a coffee shop, which was
smart for you to start that business is because it's
about community, and Shop red Bag is about.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
Community and action. And that's the difference.
Speaker 5 (24:20):
It's my normal every morning because a lot of people
work from home, including me. Every morning, I have my
hour of zen and I pick a coffee shop in
my neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
That's good.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
I love it when people don't know it's mine and
they're like, I was at your coffee shop. I didn't
even know that was yours. But then they have my
face looping all over to TV.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
And they're like, oh, well damn.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
But yeah, so this is something we definitely want to
support Shop red Bag and that's the Instagram page as well.
Speaker 5 (24:47):
Yeah, shopread bag dot com, come shop Bookmarket, come back,
come back. We're adding brands every day, we'll be adding
some coffee.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Yeah, I'm gonna scroll down and apply.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
Yeah, yes, but you know, listen, it's it's a marathon,
not a sprint.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
No, absolutely, And I'm.
Speaker 5 (25:04):
Gonna be out the trunk of my car. I might
be coming to a neighborhood near you.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
Listen.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
And even what I also like to do is pop ups,
because I know pop ups are important. So if there's
some collaborative pop.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
Ups, we can do a Wealth Wednesday pop up.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
Ya just do it, and maybe a couple of the
brands that are on the site, we can do something.
Speaker 5 (25:20):
We have so many brands in New York can come out,
easy done.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
Everybody follow Wealth Wednesdays on Instagram so that you can
see our pop up that we're gonna do a shop
red bag and you can taste the coffee that's going
to be featured at the top shop or a bag.
We're so excited.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
I love it you.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
This woman means so much to me. When I was
starting out as a financial journalist, it was being on
the Oprah Winfrey Show. It was being on those shows,
and no one was giving many people. I'm a black
female financial behaviorist who worked on Wall Street. They've showed
you know what, there's the door. Thank you for opening
(25:57):
so many and now you're opening them for our community.
So I applaud you, but I'm not surprised.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
Oh thank you.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
I appreciate that, and congratulations. It's amazing. So everybody supports.
Speaker 5 (26:07):
Please, I'm grateful to be on this platform. And just
so we're you know, when we were talking about folks
who complain about quote unquote trifling black businesses, you got
three black businesses right here.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Oh yeah, and we are not trifling.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
We are a lot of fun too. And with that said,
Happy Wealth Wednesdays.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Everybody remem
What's up, way up with Angela. Yee.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
This is exciting for me. On this Wealth Wednesday, I
got my girl Stacy Tisdale here.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
Happy Wealth Wednesdays everybody, and we are so excited. We
are going to talk shopping, we are going to talk uplifting,
we are going to talk everything because we have city diversity, everything.
We have Candy Carter with us today. Hello, Hello, Thank
you so much for being here. Candy is a former
major television executive Emmy Award winning multiple Emmy Award winning.
(00:32):
She was the senior producer of a show you might
have heard of called The Oprah Winfrey Show. She was
executive producer of the View. She was executive producer of
The tamer and Hall Show. And then she said, stop,
I am going into e commerce. What happened girl?
Speaker 4 (00:49):
I know?
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Right?
Speaker 4 (00:50):
Hi, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
It's a pleasure.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
I'm a huge fan.
Speaker 5 (00:53):
I've listened to you for years and years and years,
and let me just say, from one sisten to another,
I'm so happy to see you having your own platform.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
I'm hallelujah. Thank you. That is good.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
I absolutely love it.
Speaker 5 (01:03):
So as you said, I was an executive producer of
the View, in Tameran. While I was there, I was
doing shoppable content. So on the View if you watch
that show right now, there's a segment called view your
Deal once a week. I was in charge of that
for all the years I was there. It is very
lucrative to sell products in content, and so when I
(01:23):
took over for the Tameron Hall Show, when you have
a new show in television, you have to think of
creative ways to generate revenue. And I said, well, you
know what, let's do some products. People love it. If
your favorite host is like, oh my god, I love
this necklace, you guys are going to get it today.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
You're like, yeah, and you're going to get it at
a special dal within that period of time.
Speaker 5 (01:45):
Absolutely, So we launched tamfam Deals. And so while I
was doing that, the company I brought in I ended
up joining, And that's how I kind of moved out
of the day to day show running and moving to
the other side because I was already doing it.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Yeah, and it's exciting to me.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Honestly, when I started this show, I had pitched us
doing something like that based off of seeing that on
these talk shows. Because I also feel like it's a
win win for everybody, right, it is. It helps the
network the show make money. It also helps the founder
make money off their product and get more visibility. And
then people get a special deal. It's like wins for
everybody across the board.
Speaker 5 (02:22):
It is, but it's even more than the deal you
would curate.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Like we were just.
Speaker 5 (02:26):
Sitting here and you were saying, I love Black owned brands.
You're finding brands that we don't even know about, and
so there's a huge benefit for the viewer the listener
because you're going to bring brands to the table they've
never heard of.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Me, Like this mirror behind us. I was telling you,
shout out to True Unique.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
I purchased this mirror just I was seeing him on
Instagram and saying I love his products, and then I
went to his page and I saw this. I saw
he has these lego mirrors, Black owned brand out of Baltimore.
Speaker 5 (02:52):
Yeah, so if you did this here, which we can do,
wink wink, you can actually recommend products that people wouldn't
know about, and so there's a value all the way around.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
I mean that was coffee uplips people. I heard that.
Coming back to that, everything she said that was still
quite a pivot and we're going to get into all
the shopping and shopbread bag. What was that like to
go from that type of a career into entrepreneurship because
so many people are, you know, on the fence. Don't
make that turn? What what made you?
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Because that's a dream job and people's eyes they're like
executive producer, like just those positions that you would win
Emmy award. Winning that's a big step out on faith
and a risk.
Speaker 5 (03:37):
It's a big step on faith. I always say I'm
that chick that jumps off the building and I just
know the parachutes coming. I've never hit the ground.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
Just so we're clear.
Speaker 5 (03:45):
So I always say I turned nothing down but my collar.
And that's the truth. So you know, for me, I
see opportunity and it's exciting for me. I don't get
scared until after and then I'm like.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Oh Lord, right here, right, I tell you what did
I do?
Speaker 5 (04:00):
But I will tell you every time I've taken the leap,
I've leaped higher and higher and higher. And so for me,
one of my girl, my best friend, lives in Katar
and we talk every day and she said to me, Candy,
when you are anxious about something, she goes go to
the worst case scenario and back into it.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Just go the case and ask for advice for people.
Speaker 5 (04:20):
Yeah, go to the worst case scenario. So the worst
case scenario for me is I got to move home.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (04:25):
Fortunately I have parents who if I had to, I
could live with them. That's the worst case scenario. And
I like them, So if that's.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
It, I'm good.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
They would love that, right, Yeah, I do that too.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
I'm always like the worre's that it can happen, is
it doesn't work out, and now I gotta that's the
worst case scenario. And you know what, I feel like
things that I've done to have and worked have been
really huge lessons for me. It's been a great education.
You make some great relationships along the way. You never
know what's going to end up coming further on down.
Speaker 5 (04:51):
You don't know who you're talking to ever. You when
you open a door, you don't know what's behind that door.
And most of the times it's something that can be
uplifting for you when lightning helpful. And I'm fifty six
years old, So I started this two years ago and
I'm learning. Literally I've gotten an MBA in the last
two years.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
Well, now you are an entrepreneur.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
I'm an entrepreneur, and you have a daughter who does content.
I mean she's very good.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Yeah, we're gonna have the whole family. Yes, what was
it like to raise money as a black woman entrepreneur?
Speaker 1 (05:20):
And we got to say the name of the website, yes,
shopread Bag.
Speaker 5 (05:23):
So shop red Bag dot com. Yeah, shopread Bag dot com.
It's a new store. When I saw people, when I
saw all the the outrage on the internet about the
DEI rollbacks, and in my company, we build online stores
for media partners, so we had shop with BT. At
the time, we had so many black brands that were
being impacted negatively. Some worried about closing, and I said, look,
(05:48):
this is.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
What we do.
Speaker 5 (05:49):
We're all women too, by the way. I'm like, this
is what we do. We can build stores. So I said,
let's build Shop red Bag because we need a place
for people.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
To go explain to people what it is.
Speaker 5 (05:57):
Okay, So Shop red Bag is an online If you
are boycotting Target, Walmart, any of the things, you can
now go to Shop red Bag and you can buy
the things that you'll find in retailer.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
But here's the hitch.
Speaker 5 (06:10):
These are all brands that fall under the DEI umbrella.
So if you just want to shop black owned brands,
hip browse categories, go to black owned brands. You want
to shop women own brands, shop women own brands, veteran
owned brands, disability, LGBTQIA. We all have to come together
right now because all of these diverse groups are creating
really high quality products, which I'll talk about some of
(06:32):
the brands that are in the store in a bit,
and we have to be able to support them because
guess what, the big retailers don't want us, right, they
don't want us, So guess what, here's a platform where
we can go. But we have to change our habits.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
I agree with that.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
That's the biggest things.
Speaker 5 (06:47):
That means if you're at home and you need some
toilet paper, you have to consciously say, I'm gonna go
to shop Red Bag and buy some toilet paper. Just
do it one time. So if everybody does it one time,
then next time it's like losing weight. You ain't gonna
lose weight if you don't meal plan.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Let's shout out to Royal Flesh.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
Yes, and we have Leafy Is.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
This is Angela's favorite show.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
And I know Juneteenth was a special day launched.
Speaker 5 (07:15):
Yes, and we have Leafy, which is a black owned bamboo.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Bamboo tape paper that's only the best for your butt.
That's what I say, the.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Best for your butt. But guess what this is what
people don't know real talk.
Speaker 5 (07:27):
Every time you're wiping with commercial toilet paper, you're putting,
you're putting them.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
What are the chemicals called.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
I thought you were gonna go with dollars to the company,
but you're going to chemicals in the book.
Speaker 5 (07:38):
You're putting forever chemicals in your body. They are going right,
the fastest way to go into your body. And so
the thing was shop red bag having black owned brands
and brands of people of color. We have organic chemists,
they're all organic materials. These are like the best quality
products you can buy because we're making them for us.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Right.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
But you're also really expanding the definition definition of diversity.
Speaker 5 (08:01):
Which absolutely absolutely because here's the thing, look at the
country we're in. We all have to come together. We
have to be allies for all the businesses. So as women,
we have to come together. My husband's a veteran, my
child has a disability, Like I'm all the.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
Things yeah, I'm a black girl. Right, Don checked off
four boxes. Right.
Speaker 5 (08:21):
So, like in shopreadback dot Com, we have merch that
says I heart black owned brands. I heart women own
brands like get the shirts wear I'm proud. We have
to tell people like we have to educate everybody, like
we have to keep our money in our communities.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
That's something I've always been really intentional about to and that's.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Why I was excited.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
I ran into you and speaking of supporting, and we
ran into each other at this off Broadway play and
it was absolutely amazing.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Have to go see it.
Speaker 5 (08:52):
It's Duke and Royal, it is Roya, it's so good.
It's I literally fall asleep in Broadway.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
I was wide awake. Was so good. I was like,
oh my god, I love this. Yeah, let's go see
if you're coming to New York. If you're in New York,
it's so good.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Yeah, black writer, black director. You know the cash Way
ellis amazing.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Yeah, so you know, I just want to shot that
out too. But I saw you there and we had
this whole conversation about Shop read Bag. So I'm excited
that you're here. And that's one thing I always tell
people when it comes to me like going out, most
of the times, I will choose to go to a
business that's owned by somebody that looks like us. People
be like, Angela, we're going to another Caribbean restaurant because
you're going to the same one.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
I know, I've got a different ones, though, I to
spread it around.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
But I do feel like sometimes there's this really false
I think, you know, people say that, oh, the businesses
and the servicesn't so good, this, this, and that.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
I do not find that at all.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Like I really find that when we go to our businesses,
I get treated really really well, and so does everybody.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
The food is amazing.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
But we got to be more intentional about supporting, like
we said, and making those decisions like I could buy
it from here.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
I could buy it from here, that's right.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Talk about the importance of that. You and I even
got emotional. We were talking about how people now have
to create their own economies and the context of the
new economic and administration realities.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
Talk about it's hurtful.
Speaker 5 (10:14):
You know, a lot of my brands will say, you know,
I've spoken to We've got over one hundred and something
brands in the store, and I've talked to a lot
of them, and they're just like, it's personal. Yeah, personal,
it's really personal. And my thing is, if somebody said
to you, I don't want you up in my house,
I don't like you, I don't want you in my house,
are you going to run over there and.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Hang out their house?
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Absolutely not No, You're gonna move on.
Speaker 5 (10:36):
So guess what, Why are we taking our hard earned
dollars and spending them in places where they don't want us?
Speaker 2 (10:42):
And you know, to be honest, the reason we even
studied this coffee company, Coffee Up Lift people was because
of how not diverse it is when it comes to
people who are selling coffee, setting up coffee shots, and
where the coffee beans come from. When you look at
where it comes from, it's all black and brown places.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
But no black and brown owners, No black and brown
but very few.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
And even as far as how much they get paid.
You know, you talk about fair trade and people say,
look for that fair trade stamp when you're buying your beans,
because you want to make sure that people are getting
compensated because a lot of times they're getting taken advantage of.
And so it's a whole thing when you think about
colonialism and you think about coffee beans, and so that
was part of the reason why I was like, let's
get into this business.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
I know this really smart, really cute coffee business woman
who I want to see on Shop Red Bag.
Speaker 5 (11:30):
We're we are onboarding you. We're going to get you
on and get you in absolutely, because my thing is this.
It's like, it's why a Popeyes and a Churches and
a KFC are all on the same corner because you
go there for options, and I would like to see
more coffee in there, so more people are buying their
coffee from Shop Red Bag, Black owned coffee companies, and
(11:51):
we have two in there now, so we add you in.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Let me ask you this, what did you think about
certain people who when the Target boycott started happening, it
did affect some of the brands that were in the store,
and some people were like, oh, come on, guys, like
still this is going to hurt us.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
This is that?
Speaker 2 (12:06):
What do you say to people like that who are like,
because I do understand, also people have contracts, they need
to sell their products. They don't want to pull it
off the shelves, and therefore maybe they feel like, Okay,
I don't want to support this boycott because what about
our brands.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
But some people are like, listen.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
You got to just suffer and take, you know, because
of what it is, the statement that we're trying to make.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
But what do you say when it comes to that.
Speaker 5 (12:27):
I think it's I think it's really tough for those brands.
But the good news about having a brand is you
can sell on multiple platforms, right, And I think if
people are boycotting Target, there are like shop read Bag,
there are other platforms where you can sell your products
and you can promote your products, right, And so it's
not like you I know that those brands can sell
in other places. Typically brands sell in a million places, right,
(12:49):
and you can go to shop Rite and here and
there and see the same brand.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
So you know, that's what I would say to that.
Speaker 5 (12:54):
I think I've never seen a boycott this impactful in
my lifetime. Right, I said, I'm fifty years.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Old and I Target.
Speaker 5 (13:02):
It's Target, And God blessed Dwayne Bryant, I mean Pastor
Bryant for what he's done, because it's incredible. I mean
it's literally incredible. We took billions of dollars away from
major retailers. So people need to wake up and say,
wait a minute, our money makes a difference. And so
(13:22):
when people are like, well I don't vote because my
vote don't make a difference. Right now, your dollar is
making a difference. And Black people proportionately spend more money
than other races. So now we have an opportunity to
take those billions of dollars and circulate them into our
communities and grow our businesses over the next four years,
so that this is not a fly by night thing.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
I've seen these.
Speaker 5 (13:43):
Types of stores come and go. Right, We're not going anywhere.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
Economic boycotts, love them, love. People can just make such
change if they use their power. I remember a girl
when there was all that controversy over banking fees. Yeah,
girls start a social media campaign after some legislation came
out to regulate banks, but they just weren't listening to it. Yeah,
just said everybody pull out of the big banks and
(14:08):
go to community lenders this weekend. So many people did it,
and the following Tuesday, the big banks dropped their fees. Right.
We saw the same thing with Game Stop. You know,
we were talking about wire that stock when they said
sell that stock. The black community has the power, so.
Speaker 5 (14:23):
Part of the reason I did shop read back in
the comments, because I heard so many people going, well,
where am I supposed to shop?
Speaker 4 (14:28):
Right?
Speaker 5 (14:28):
Like this guy was on the internet. I keep saying
I cannot find this clip, but he was in Target,
Like so where am.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
I supposed to buy my toothpaste? So where am I
supposed to buy? Blah blah blah blah.
Speaker 5 (14:36):
And it's like, here's the solution. Because people are throwing
out lists and things and that, but let's have one platform,
easy to navigate. You can shop by categories. If you
only want to do black owned brands, have at it.
You're still supporting your women. You want to support women,
have at it.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Even in building our coffee shop, we used everybody that
was you know, from our plumber to our electrician to
our designer. It was all black and brown own people
and then brands inside of the store. And we did
a partnership with Pronghorn, you know as well, so that
we could also promote some of these diverse brands to
make sure. That's when we got our liquor license. What
(15:15):
you see on the shelves, and we've been doing special events.
We did something with Happy Cork in Brooklyn.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
You know.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
So I just think you're right, Like, we have amazing,
high end, great quality products and people just need to
go and be intentional about supporting that because we see
so many brands that people just, you know, just kind
of gravitate toward, yeah, because of the hype about it,
But that doesn't mean that it's better yeah, or quality.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
The way she's talking about intentionality, you were saying that
you're seeing it a lot in younger generations. They're just different.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 5 (15:45):
So it's so funny because as we grow shop red
bag dot com. I'm on the street, Like I was
on the street all day Sunday in Montclair talking to people.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
I'm like, I'm masterpe out.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
The trunk, you know, selling CD out the trunk.
Speaker 5 (15:57):
But I did talk to a twenty year old and
I assumed that she would say. I said to her,
do you pay attention to where you shop? Do you
think your money matters? And she literally was like yeah, absolutely,
and brought up like five other issues. She's like she's
telling me all these things. And I was like, that's
amazing because people, you know, the gen z stare this
that I thought, Oh, you're twenty, you don't even care
(16:19):
She's like, no, no, and she said, an I'm boycotting Target, right.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
So the young people and the look she over there.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
What a natural. It's natural for them. My son's that age.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
It is.
Speaker 5 (16:29):
But then I heard from some young people who are like,
I just buy what I like. Yeah, So I was
very happy to see this young lady say no, no, no.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
Not only am I doing that, but I'm looking at this.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
I'm somebody is a founder right now, or they have
a product that they would like to get on shot
red Bag.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
How can they make that happen? And what's the process?
Speaker 5 (16:49):
Go to shopredbag dot com and scroll down and it'll
just say are you a brand?
Speaker 4 (16:53):
We need to know about it?
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Let me do that now.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
Yeah, what are some of the things you're looking for
from entrepreneurs?
Speaker 5 (17:01):
I mean, you know, it's interesting because one of the
one of the things you'll see in Shop red Bag
is that we really wanted to do practical items to
just get people there. So you can buy toilet paper,
cleaning supplies, dental stuff. We have and I want to
tell you about some of the first that are in.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Okay, let us let's see.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
African American expression.
Speaker 5 (17:19):
So that's greeting cards, journals, bags and umbrellas.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Umbrellas things we need every day. They're the largest black
owned gift company in the country. Afro Unicorn, I love her.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Where's my unicorn?
Speaker 5 (17:32):
Afro Unicorn. So she's got children's bed sets unicorns with
the Afros. She's the first black woman to have a
brand in retail.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Right here. Yah, she's supposed to be over here. I
don't know how I got over there.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
See, I love it.
Speaker 5 (17:52):
Beauty IY is one of the best vitamin C serums
on the market, and it's a brother. Ron Robinson is
a black chemist. Thirty plus years he was formulating for
Clinique Laurel Revlon Avon in the store. That's what I'm saying.
There's quality stuff, but Toy Sweet Treats out of Chicago
going up against Harry and David and Garrett's Popcorn and
(18:14):
her popcorn is a mazing.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
We need to get proper yes, yes.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
An approval process. Well, it's you put that you so
someone applies.
Speaker 5 (18:25):
Somebody applies. You know, a lot of times it really
comes down to the margins, right, are you able to
you know, there has to be a certain margin to
come into the store. We don't charge anything so and
we're doing free shipping. So we have to figure out
a way that the brand can offer free shipping because well,
for a lot of smaller brands, the pricing is slightly higher,
(18:45):
so we don't we're not asking them to discount, and
so we're doing free shipping so that we can get
people to come and shop.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Yeah those criteria, Yeah yeah.
Speaker 5 (18:54):
And we you know, our team will go through with
them and kind of talk about their their different skews.
And it's not gonna work for everybody, but I'm here.
I'm here to support brands. I want to give this
platform to the brands. I'm a black owned, woman owned
business and we're all women.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
So what has reactions been so far?
Speaker 5 (19:11):
Too?
Speaker 4 (19:12):
Oh my god. People love it.
Speaker 5 (19:13):
They're like finally and I didn't know where to go,
and this is great, this is what we need and
you know all the things, it's just now at this point,
people are excited. Now people have to start shopping. And
every time I say it's shop and share, shop and share.
Every time you get something from shop red Bag posted
on social media. It's not a store, you guys, it's
(19:34):
a movement. We are starting a movement.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
So you said people are excited. So, and who wouldn't
be excited to invest in you? Honestly, that's what we.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Were talking about all your investors out there.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Really, what was it like raising capital as a black
female entrepreneur? Are a female?
Speaker 5 (19:57):
Yes, as an entrepreneurs, So it's an ongoing thing raising capital.
I will tell you I have been loved by black folks.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
I have.
Speaker 5 (20:06):
We've raised capital from friends and family. At this point,
ninety nine percent of our money are Black people, yay.
And what I've found when we talk about community and
coming together over the next four years and beyond, is
that I've found that there are groups of black folks,
just doctors, lawyers, business people who are coming together, pooling
(20:27):
their money and investing in black owned businesses.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Yes, there are, because there's a lot. Yes, now, you're
absolutely right about that.
Speaker 4 (20:34):
There's a lot.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
I love that.
Speaker 5 (20:36):
And those are the folks that have gotten behind. So
my company is called Cistus Media and so, and like
I said, we have big media partners, we have stores
for and shop. Redbag is our store. But our investors
in Sistus Media are black, which is really great.
Speaker 4 (20:51):
So, but it is tough.
Speaker 5 (20:52):
I will tell you it's hard for women it's hard
for communities of color to raise money because those on
our networks, and so when you reach out to those networks,
they're less inclined to be like, I'll just write you
a check because yeah, And I had a thing where
there was I went to a to Boston College and
I reached out to a gentleman that I know, older
gentlemen who went to BC and were connected, and it
(21:15):
was kind of like, ah, well, I don't waste your time.
You know, I typically don't invest in businesses. I don't understand.
Have that been a black and I've done, and this
has happened. I've had that same conversation with black folks
who were like, tell me a little bit more because
we're you see what I'm saying different, Well exactly, but
that's how people do business. They do business with people
(21:36):
who look like them, who they like, and you have
to be persistent.
Speaker 4 (21:39):
I ended and the guy is a wonderful guy.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
I ended up, so glad you're making this point. The
Pope and my media company, one of our divisions is consulting,
and that's when consult with companies and they're like, oh,
you know, we have this money and we want to
invest in black female entrepreneurs. I'm like, but you have
to do business the way they do business. So many
companies or grants or all sorts of things. Okay, we're
(22:02):
going to give this to you, but you have to
do X, Y and z instead of seeing it from
their perspective.
Speaker 5 (22:07):
Yes, and what's interesting, just from general principle, if two
guys went to Notre Dame together and one guy you
know what I mean, I know, right, they're two guys,
they look alike, they kind of have a similar upbringing,
they both worked on Wall Street. He's gonna say, hey,
you know what, I don't typically invest in those types
of businesses.
Speaker 4 (22:23):
But all right, yes, yeah, yeah, here you go.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
That small tech is a nice check too, usually, right,
But I don't get that, and you're right, we don't,
cause I would tell you, like boosttrapping my business myself,
me and my partner used all our own money and
did not get not one investment from anybody. But it's
also hard to figure out when do you want to
get an investment and what are you giving up because
these are all things that are you know, I've seen
people do their businesses where they start that way and
(22:47):
they really funded themselves and empty out everything and make
it happen, and then.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Later on it pays off or it doesn't, you know
what I mean.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
And then I've seen people who from the beginning have
started a business and went about trying to raise money
and do those things just I think always hard to
People will tell you use other people's money, but then
other people want to see you invest your own money
into your plan and get it to a certain point also,
and so that's such a that's a balance.
Speaker 5 (23:11):
You can do it either way. It depends on how
big of a business you're building. E Commerce is incredibly lucrative,
so to you want to raise money because you want
like you want a ten x one hundred million or
two hundred million. It's different than that a shop, right,
So it just depends on the type of business.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
But then we also had to get the beans important.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
It was a lot of business that you started.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Yeah, yeah, that's a lot, but it will off.
Speaker 5 (23:36):
But it's just like a brick and mortar retail business
is very different from like an e commerce tech business
versus healthcare something business.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Yeah, bad technology.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
And I want to say I was talking about this earlier,
how it's been really tough for brick and mortar businesses
right now too.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
I see like so many things.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
I mean, it's tough times for landlords, for businesses.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
I was in Brooklyn, Like when I drive down and
I'm going home.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
I see all these businesses that have been there forever,
like closing Damn Applebee's Clothes on Fulton.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
I was like, what that's been there? Yeah.
Speaker 5 (24:10):
But here's the difference between a coffee shop, which was
smart for you to start that business is because it's
about community, and Shop red Bag is about.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
Community and action. And that's the difference.
Speaker 5 (24:20):
It's my normal every morning because a lot of people
work from home, including me. Every morning, I have my
hour of zen and I pick a coffee shop in
my neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
That's good.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
I love it when people don't know it's mine and
they're like, I was at your coffee shop. I didn't
even know that was yours. But then they have my
face looping all over to TV.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
And they're like, oh, well damn.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
But yeah, so this is something we definitely want to
support Shop red Bag and that's the Instagram page as well.
Speaker 5 (24:47):
Yeah, shopread bag dot com, come shop Bookmarket, come back,
come back. We're adding brands every day, we'll be adding
some coffee.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Yeah, I'm gonna scroll down and apply.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
Yeah, yes, but you know, listen, it's it's a marathon,
not a sprint.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
No, absolutely, And I'm.
Speaker 5 (25:04):
Gonna be out the trunk of my car. I might
be coming to a neighborhood near you.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
Listen.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
And even what I also like to do is pop ups,
because I know pop ups are important. So if there's
some collaborative pop.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
Ups, we can do a Wealth Wednesday pop up.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
Ya just do it, and maybe a couple of the
brands that are on the site, we can do something.
Speaker 5 (25:20):
We have so many brands in New York can come out,
easy done.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
Everybody follow Wealth Wednesdays on Instagram so that you can
see our pop up that we're gonna do a shop
red bag and you can taste the coffee that's going
to be featured at the top shop or a bag.
We're so excited.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
I love it you.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
This woman means so much to me. When I was
starting out as a financial journalist, it was being on
the Oprah Winfrey Show. It was being on those shows,
and no one was giving many people. I'm a black
female financial behaviorist who worked on Wall Street. They've showed
you know what, there's the door. Thank you for opening
(25:57):
so many and now you're opening them for our community.
So I applaud you, but I'm not surprised.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
Oh thank you.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
I appreciate that, and congratulations. It's amazing. So everybody supports.
Speaker 5 (26:07):
Please, I'm grateful to be on this platform. And just
so we're you know, when we were talking about folks
who complain about quote unquote trifling black businesses, you got
three black businesses right here.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Oh yeah, and we are not trifling.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
We are a lot of fun too. And with that said,
Happy Wealth Wednesdays.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Everybody remem
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