Shades & Layers
Shades and Layers is a podcast focused on black women entrepreneurs from across the globe. It is a platform for exploring issues and challenges around business ownership, representation and holistic discussions about the meaning of sustainability in an increasingly complex global context. Conversations are wide- ranging and serve not only as a Masterclass in Entrepreneurship but also provide wisdom and tools for Successful Living. It is a space for meaningful conversation, a place for black and other women of color to be fully human and openly share their quirks and vulnerabilities.
Guests include prominent figurers in the beauty, fashion and wellness industries both in the Northern Hemisphere and the Global South.
Dr. Theo Mothoa-Frendo of USO Skincare discusses her journey from being product junkie to creating an African science-based skincare range. Taryn Gill of The Perfect Hair is a brand development whizz who discusses supply chain and distribution of her haircare brands. Katonya Breux discusses melanin and sunscreen and how she addresses the needs of a range of skin tones with her Unsun Cosmetics products.
We discuss inclusion in the wellness industry with Helen Rose Skincare and Yoga and Nectarines Founder , Day Bibb. Abiola Akani emphasizes non-performance in yoga with her IYA Wellness brand and Anesu Mbizho shares her journey to yoga and the ecosystem she's created through her business The Nest Space.
Fashion is all about handmade, custom made and circular production with featured guests like fashion designer Maria McCloy of Maria McCloy Accessories; Founder and textile/homeware designer Nkuli Mlangeni Berg of The Ninevites as well as Candice Lawrence, founder of the lighting design company Modern Gesture. These are just a few the conversations on the podcast over the past three years.
Shades & Layers
BlackTravelBox with Orion Brown (S5, E10)
Orion Brown, founder and CEO of the multicultural lifestyle brand BlackTravelBox. They make travel-size hair and skincare for black and other travelers of color. Their mission is to bring ease to the travel experience. Heaven knows how many times so many have had their business or even holiday trips ruined by hotel shampoos and lotions.
Orion is a frequent traveler herself and the idea to start BlackTravelBox came to her after being inconvenienced too many times by the act of packing toiletries and also being in hotel rooms where you can’t even look at the products, let alone use them. There’s also the issue of getting your toiletries trashed by airport security. And so she started talking to other black travelers, who told her how they were playing chemist in their hotel and Airbnb bathrooms and kitchens. To Orion, the solution was not easy but it was offensively simple: make on-the-go products for black travelers.
Having worked for 18 years in corporate and gaining expertise in brand strategy in the FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) sector, she combined this experience with research and personal travel experience to strike out on her own and build her unique brand.
Our conversation is not only about the products she makes, but also strategic choices, sustainability in a notoriously unsustainable industry and standing out in a very noisy market.
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