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.