The Power Audit

A cold November forecast isn’t just about the weather. We unpack the rumoured tax rises and talk plainly about value: why working people are told to pay more while getting less from basics like transport and the NHS. From there, we zoom in on power dynamics how leadership shields or exposes you and what it really means when institutions police tone instead of tackling racism. If you’ve ever been told “it was the situation, not you,” this conversation gives you language, strategy, and a line in the sand.

The business runway is packed with lessons. Toys R Us shows what happens when you outsource the customer relationship and “win” money but lose time. Plant Made’s new ownership underlines the hard rules of capital, fulfilment, and scaling at a pace your operations can actually serve. And there’s a masterclass in talent placement as Skims taps Diarrha N'Diaye to build beauty and fragrance proof that cultural fluency and product excellence win globally. We also track MAC’s push into Sephora US and what legacy brands must do to earn attention in a Fenty shaped market.

Money talks, and sometimes it walks. The Target boycott demonstrates how collective spending choices force corporate pivots, while “courses without capital” feel like optics. On the career front, we challenge the trap that trades flexibility for lower-skilled work. The better path, make them fall in love with your impact, then negotiate time, place, and scope without downgrading pay or progression. You’ll leave with practical framing to assess managers, hold boundaries, and architect your next move like a business protecting its core.

Enjoyed this conversation? Follow, rate, and share with a friend who needs renewed leverage this month. Drop your thoughts in the reviews and tell us where you’re drawing the line.

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Music (Intro and Outro) Written and created by Nomadic Star

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Chapters

• 0:00 Setting The Stage For November
• 1:44 Anticipating Rachel Reeves’ Budget
• 4:16 Exit Tax, Cost Of Living, And Services
• 10:20 NHS Access And Working Class Frustration
• 14:55 Managerial Backing And Leadership
• 22:20 Calling Out Racism And Gaslighting
• 31:20 Toys R Us And Owning The Customer
• 37:40 Plant Made: Growth, Funding, Reality
• 48:10 Skims Beauty, Fenty’s Blueprint, MAC
• 57:20 Target Boycott, DEI Optics, Power
• 1:04:00 Flexibility, Parents, And Negotiation
• 1:13:00 Architecting Your Career And Closing

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:00

Happy new month. It is November, and we in the UK are officially three weeks away from the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves' autumn budget. Reform MP Sarah Pochin, MP for Run Corn and Howlsbury, has complained that adverts are being full of black people and Asian people. She has since apologised and alleges her words were phrased poorly. Plant Maid is under new ownership, and we get into that. Bouncer is bouncing. And Skim's Beauty has a new beauty, and I cannot wait to discuss her. She is the founder of Amy Cole. Her name is Diara Ndea, and I hope I'm pronouncing her name correctly. And I can't wait to discuss her new venture. There is also a report that states that three in ten parents are working in jobs below their skill level just to get more flexibility. My name is Toy Washington, and you have entered the Toy Talks podcast. So the clocks have gone backwards by an hour, which um marks the end of British summertime as we know it, as we enter the colder, darker winter months. And it's not the only thing that's slightly backwards here, but I did mention in the opener about Rachel Reeves, and we need to talk about her anyway because the ancestors are definitely not happy with her and how she flipping conducts business, if you like, if you want to call it that. But yeah, three weeks' time, I believe it's the 26th of November, uh, Rachel Reeves will be delivering her autumn budget. Now, those of you who remember, the I was about to say conservatives, but Labour are cosplaying. Uh so for me, they operate like conservatives, but they are indeed the Labour Party, which are prevailing here in the UK. But they did talk about and more so Rachel Reeves actually. In her last budget, um, she actually said that we would effectively have to, and I'm paraphrasing here, effectively kind of shoulder a lot of the tax increases, and that she didn't envisage that she would have to um make as many increases um in the following budget, which is this budget coming up in in a couple of weeks, and that's not exactly true because if the speculations are too to be believed, there is a sus uh it's there's suspicions that she'll be increasing income tax, and also she is going to levy a 20% exit tax upon leaving the UK. So if you decide that you want to leave the UK and you have assets here, you're going to have to pay a 20% exit fee. These are all speculations that have come out and hit in the media about what her budget actually contains. Um, it's also alleged that she has gone on to said, say and say to other media outlets that um she has no desire, no wish, and she will not be resigning um from her position as the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and that if there are increases, they need to be done. And she does, you know, apparently and allegedly, because obviously we haven't actually heard her deliver her autumn budget, but they're already starting sowing the seeds of blame. Oh, lay um Conservative Party were operating for almost 10 years, and you know, they left the economy in a state and COVID, this and all of that. I would have expected those excuses in her first budget, but no, these excuses seem to paper over the cracks of promises that she had left the the British people. Um, and do you know what the crazy thing is? If this 20% exit tax on assets is to be believed, effectively people are leaving the UK, and we've we've seen an increase in people leaving the UK to go to tax-free countries like the UAE, so they can save and actually enjoy the fruits of their labour under the sun, as well as just kind of have a better work-life balance than what the UK provides. Because the UK, high tax, bad weather, bad economy, bad transportation, it's just shit, really, and you just make good out of a bad situation here in the UK. But it's not the rich that have to shoulder this 20%, it's people like you and I, the working class, the people who actually roll up our sleeves and actually work, who are going to be penalised by this 20% exit tax on assets. Because if we do have assets here and we decide we want to relocate, you're almost penalized for wanting more for yourself. And this is why I say the UK's bad vibes, because I feel like if you want more from yourself for yourself and you try hard and you work harder, whatever the case is, there is always a levy of tax waiting for you. The level of tax we pay here doesn't equate to the life we we experience here in the UK. As we enter the winter months, we know the transportation's just gonna get worse and worse and worse. We just know this country's infrastructure, transportation infrastructure is so bad that if it dares snow, that's it. Everything gets cancelled. It's it's it's a shit show, is what it is. And this is why remote working and work from home, um hybrid working, you know, are you really expecting people to battle the winter weather and the transportation to get into work when we know we know what happens around this time of year, it becomes a an astronomical pile of shit. And that's me just being honest. We don't expect anything less from the UK because it gives us nothing more than tax, false and broken promises by members of parliament. And as we anticipate what this budget will be, this autumn budget will be, we know that we're gonna face increases. And no matter how the government tries to justify the reasons, it's people like you and I, not the rich billionaires that use um other uh uh uh tax haven countries to maximize their profits. We don't have that. We're taxed at source, and God forbid we actually want to access anything that we pay um for at source, like the NHS fucking L. I tried to book an appointment at the doctor's surgery for my daughter, and basically they don't take um phone appointments anymore, so you can't call, make an appointment. Everything is done online now with the doctor's surgery. You see what the problem is with that is you're relying on people's interpretation of assessment because when you used to call at the doctor's surgery, at least when I did, there was a triage in that happened when when the receptionists were had breakfast and they were sane in the mind, they would ask you quite um, you know, they'd ask you leading um following questions, like probing questions, and they would make an initial assessment. Because I know many a times I've called up, especially being a first-time mum, and they would speak to the on-duty doctor, and I would they'd say to me, right, Taya, bring your daughter down immediately. You know, you you kind of lose that human element to an assessment that where if you were to call up and speak to receptionists and now everything is done online, and then the doctor's triage priority, and it's a lot of it is based on how you have communicated what the issue is, and some people don't have a conceptual understanding of an emergency. I mean, how do you expect we're not doctors? But these are these are the services we pay for at source, and we are being triaged, not we're not even being triaged by the government, we're now triaged by things that we pay for at source that we should have access to, and it get it's getting further and further away from accessing, but we're getting taxed more and more. So I'm just trying to look at the silver lining of this country that continues to punish us, working class people, and actually create safe financial havens for billionaire companies like the Amazons in this world who don't pay the tax really that I think that they should be paying, versus what we as working class um people have to shoulder. This country suffers from a lot of poverty, and no matter how they talk about what quote unquote the Western world, this country honestly, I don't think deals in reality. I remember a few months ago, my husband and I and my daughter were all going into London. No, we're coming back from London, and as we're on the train, there's a man that approaches my husband and he says, Please, sir, have you got any food? I'm really hungry. And it's interesting because I don't much hear that. I hear, Oh, have you got any money? I never hear, have you got any food uh food? And my heart broke because this man was hungry. We we didn't have any food on us. So my husband gave him£10 and he said, Excuse me, this is£10, are you sure? My husband said yes, get a meal. Hopefully, you can get something, just you know, see what you can do with that. That's all I have for you. And he goes, Thank you, I just need food. And that made me so mad because I thought to myself, this is the UK, this is England. And they talk about starvation and in you know, they start assessing from a place of superiority about other countries and starvation. But you've got people in your very country who are starving who don't have anything to eat, and yet we are the people you punish for earning a living to sustain this economy. This country is broken from the NHS to transportation to the actual governments that refuse to actually be real about in their manifestos about what they intend to do and how they intend to do it. And I know a lot of it is they don't really see what's going on financially, but come on, it's not a secret. And on top of all of that, the way we are taxed is crazy. This is this isn't it's it is it just it doesn't make sense. Do you know how much a loaf of bread costs? Okay, forget the loaf of loaf of bread. Do you know how much a packet of wheat a bicks? This country is mad. I feel like this country wants us all to be poor because we're not encouraged to be entrepreneurial. How dare you! If you're you're too entrepreneurial earn money, not only will they tax you, but you'll um they see it as taxable income if you pay over a certain amount of dividends. Your personal tax allowance has been the same, the same over the last four and a half, five years. It's not risen with inflation, and it hasn't risen to reflect the high taxes we pay. No one wants to talk about that. Where is that in your fucking manifestos? Talk about Rachel Reeves, because in three weeks' time, she's gonna be probably the most important person in this country, and uh, we're gonna have to look at the share price of um uh you know where we fall in the stock market because depending on what she announces, the market will talk, you know. But Rachel Reeves effectively um moved into is it number 11 Downing Street, the Chancellor of Exchequer. So effectively, what they do is they move um to obviously prime ministers at number 10, and Rachel Reeves then decides that she wants to rent out her family home because obviously now they're going to be living at number 11 Downing Street. Now, as her home is based, I believe it's in Dullitch, her family home, and that is governed by the local authority. So the local authority for Dullwich is Southwark, is is is what I've I've read and researched. And basically in Southwark, if you want to rent out your home, therefore you're a landlord, you have to apply for a landlord's licence, right? And I think it costs about£900. So Rachel Reeves allegedly went used an estate agent to rent out her family home in Dullitch, was it East Dulwich? Just call it Dulwich, right? And failed to apply for the landlord licence. So this has all come out now. And um she effectively um spoke to the Prime Minister because in this situation the Prime Minister was her boss. Yeah. And he then referred the matter to his his like his the ethics committee. And she basically apologised, she basically said this and this was I went off what I was advised by the estate agent. And um I've now applied for this license, but I didn't know I uh that I needed to apply. One thing I respect about Keir Starmer is he'll back it, he'll back his cabinet. That's a manager, that's a line manager that will back his what? His his cabinet are his effectively are his employees, right? If we look at it from a work structure. And basically the ethics committee said, listen, that the the ethics representative, listen, Rachel Reeves is not done anything here, she's clearly didn't know, she's rectifying it. I'm satisfied that there was no, you know, underhanded, you know, attempt to avoid paying the£900 for this landlord license. But a question has been asked. Has Rachel Reeves, by not applying for this landlord licence and therefore not paying this landlord licence fee, has she broken ministerial code? Now we've not received any answers. The press have asked, everyone's asked, and Kia Starmer, up until the recording of this episode, has not said yay or nay. Neither is the representative from this ethics committee. And apparently as well, Rachel Reeves went through her emails and found correspondence between her and the estate agents, where the estate agents allegedly said that they will apply for this licence on her behalf. So what she's basically then trying to say is I left it to the estate agents, they're the subject matter experts, and actually their failure in doing that directly affects me as a member of parliament, but I'm not culpable, therefore, I've not done anything underhanded. This was a mistake that has come to my attention. I I apologize and I've rectified. So the Prime Minister basically allegedly went back to her and said, Listen, I would have preferred that you had done all this research before you come to me because I've already given um my response. But again, I accept your explanation of what's happened. Thank you for this. And the reason I talk about it is because number one, Rachel Reeves, I don't know what karma or what energy you've put out there, but clearly the ancestors are not liking whatever it is is in your April budget, um, your August budget that is too due to be announced in three weeks. But the way they I don't know who this is, I don't know who tipped, I don't know how this came to be. But the fact that Rachel Reeves is under scrutiny in terms of honesty from a white, you know, you should have done this and you didn't, this still remains a question mark about whether this was a breach of ministerial code. But more than anything, and I think the the the bit that I want us to take away here is Kia Starmer is the manager that will back you. He's probably had words with her away from scrutiny, but he has come out and said, Listen, I stand by her. Then part of me thinks, have you done that? Because you know the autumn budget is coming, so you need someone to be the full woman if this doesn't go how you want it to go. So you can't afford for her to resign right before that um the eight um the autumn budget. So I don't know if it's strategic. However, what I am gonna say is I I think a good manager's relative, right? Because I don't think there's anything like a perfect manager, but even how he he kind of like you know dealt with the press and everything, and he's had quite a quite a few ministers who have had to resign. Um I spoke about one a couple of weeks ago, I can't remember her name. Um, but she was the deputy leader of the Labour Party, she was a deputy prime minister, I think she was, I can't remember her name, but she had to to resign because there was it was found that there was a breach of ministerial code. His entire like his cabinet, there are questionable breaches that has seen a lot of like movement within the cabinet. But one thing I will always say is whenever something comes out about any of his cabinet, my man will back them until he can't back them no more. How many of your managers would back you if there was a situation whereby you had a differing of opinion about something? However, you really, you know, in doing your job and executing your job, you hold a position. How many of your managers would back you in holding that position? Irrespective if they really truly believe that you were right or wrong. And it made me really also consider the fact that sometimes part of delivering your job or your role to the best of your ability is actually the infrastructure of support that allows you to deliver your job. And irrespective if you've got the toughest job or the level of scrutiny you're under, a good manager will make you feel as though you are safe enough to do your job, irrespective of any backlash that you can receive. So it had me thinking about a future episode about what a good manager looks like and what we're defining as good. Because I feel like we need to have like almost like a measure or a metrics in how we assess our managers, especially in how they support us in promotions, progress, and the execution of our jobs. Because there has to be something we anchor on these managers, albeit from an objective-setting perspective, or just from a perspective of I can only deliver if you fulfil your end of the bargain, and actually us being proactive in ensuring that our managers take accountability for certain things, especially within the ecosystem of the world of work. I still say that we remain the architects of our career because our careers are ours to build. But the reality is your managers play a really important role as part of your job, albeit that stage of your career, and how you leverage and lose utilize their influence, their authority, their contacts, or their just ability to enable you and support you to deliver your role cannot be overlooked. A shit manager is it it makes for a very uncomfortable environment. A shit manager will either labour you or blame you. It's really that simple. But yeah, I just thought I would talk about Rachel's because I found that whole thing interesting and the timing is questionable. You know, we've got the autumn budget coming. Questions about whether she's breached ministerial code in relation to this landlord license, and actually looking at the dynamic of how Kia Starmer has chosen to deal with it is very interesting. Now, what happens when she delivers this autumn budget in relation to the you know the market and how the market responds? Be interesting how Kia Starmer responds. But this is the same Rachel Reeves that was crying unprovoked during parliamentary question time a few a few months ago. And me, I don't know whether those tears were like the backdrop of the tears we're all gonna cry once she delivers this autumn budget because them crocodile tears now. I don't I just don't see I don't I I literally don't see how we as working people can come out of this budget unscathed. So be prepared for our pay packets to be a little lighter. So just staying on the whole UK politics. I talk I spoke about um reform MP and MP for Runcorn and Hellsbury, Sarah Potchin. She complained that adverts um were basically full of black people and Asian people. She's since apologised after being challenged and being labelled a racist because this is a very racist comment. She alleged her words were phrased poorly. So as a result of that, Dawn Butler, MP for Brent East, um racist within the House of Commons during Parliament was in session, and she basically you know repeated what was said and said, you know, this this is a racist comment. Now bear in mind she didn't say that Sarah is a racist, she says the comment that she made is racist, and it is. If you look at the definition of racism versus what um Sarah Putchen said, it is racist. Now, as Dawn Butler was kind of discussing this um in par um in Parliament, um sorry, in the House of Commons, then the House speaker then interjects and says, you know, you need to apologise for basically calling Sarah Putchen a racist, or at least what she said was racist, you can't say that. You need to watch this. I see if I can find the link and put it in the show notes, but I think what I find really interesting is whenever, especially a black woman, whenever black women, whenever we call out racism, apparently we're the problem. What in the motherfucking fragility is that? If you don't want to be called racist or don't want to be accused of being or saying racist things, don't say racist things. It's almost like you want to silence the truth. And Dawn Butler, this is not the first time Dawn Butler has called out bullshit and then been targeted because she did speak about a reference when she basically called Boris Johnson a liar and he had told some untruth, but she wasn't allowed to call him a liar even though he had lied. And it's becoming problematic now because we know racism engulfs this country, and I find it really hard to believe or accept anyone thinking that racism doesn't run riot within the House of Commons and Parliament, because I feel as though this freedom of speech is not free. If someone says something racist, it's racist, and actually, if someone says something racist and then is accused of being a racist, I can see how both can correlate. Because if you was not racist, a racist person, you wouldn't say racist things. It's really like it's logic. But the way Dawn Butler dealt with it was actually really good and really interesting because while she would withdrew the accusation of Sarah Pochin being racist, she doesn't withdraw withdraw the actual statement, comments that she made as being racist. And it's a shame that Dawn Butler had to move in that way because she says, I don't want to be thrown out like I was before when I spoke on Boris Johnson um being a liar, and it's the commitment to humiliate us as black women for calling bullshit out, and we find that, don't we? Not just you know, in the House of Commons, but even in the at work. I remember um I had a situation I've spoken about it before in earlier podcast episodes, and I had a colleague um basically had a meeting, there was three of us in the room, and one of my colleagues did not like the commercial contract advice I was giving her, and she goes, This is fucking bullshit, this is fucking shit. She goes, This is fuck like she and she kept saying it. And she swore at me because she didn't like the advice I was given her. So when I made a formal complaint to HR, bearing in mind the other lady that was in the room corroborated what I said word for word. She goes, What Toya said it that's it, how it happened. The person who swore at me admitted to swearing at me, but HR said no no, she didn't swear at you. She swore um at the situation, at what you said. It wasn't at you. And I was like, don't fucking gaslight me. Well, I didn't say don't fucking guess. I said I did say to her, I said, don't gaslight me. She swore at me. She didn't swear at anyone else in the room, and there was more than one of us. And she swore at me because she didn't like the advice I was given to her. So just because she doesn't say toy, you're a fucking doesn't mean that she's still not swearing at me. Because I am replying to her and she swore. So even at the point where somebody admits to it and there's a witness, I'm being told, no, no, no, no, no, it's at the situation. And I had to dig my heels in to the point where I had to then question to HR whether they were being unconsciously biased, and they were like, Well, why would you on what basis? I said, on the basis of of abuse, it's an assault. She verbally assaulted me because she didn't like the advice I was giving her, because she works in sales and she was trying to do something commercially that she could not do, and she refuses to accept and mitigate the risk, and I had to tell her what the risks were, and she swore at me. It's the exact same thing. Someone says something racist, and you say this person is said something racist and is a racist, but then you are basically placed in a position whereby if you don't retract, you'll be chucked out. So is it any wonder that there's a lot of people at work that will people please and bend? Somebody will will make a racist comment, and then you can't say, Oh, it's a racist comment, or the person's racist, because the person themselves is not seen as racist, it's what they said. You cannot separate. Sorry, baby monitor my baby, my daughter's just stirring, but you can't, you it doesn't make any sense. So then it makes me think about how we advocate for ourselves in the world of work, right? And you have to be able to be ten toes in just owning what you say without bending it to flex comfortability for those who know they're in the wrong. It's almost like they know they're in the wrong wrong, but if they can slightly absorb themselves, it doesn't make what they've done so bad. And it's problematic because what it does is it causes us to relax our boundaries, to flex them, and it causes us as black women and as women in general, but specifically black women, it causes us to question the reality of a situation. So we are constantly being gaslit, and then what happens is you're always then on edge because then you're questioning your own thoughts or whether situations are accurately reflected the way you remember them. And this is my advice to you if it quacks like a duck. If it walks like a duck, if it looks like a duck, it's a duck. Don't allow these people to tell you that something isn't the way it is. Because it makes them more comfortable and it makes it more palatable to their ears. If something's wrong, it's wrong. If it's racist, it's racist, whether they use the N-word or not. And we have to get to a point, I think, as black women, where we're like, no, this is the line, and I'm holding the line. And it doesn't matter how young you are, or if you're a junior level, or whatever level you sit at, even if you're the most senior, you need to be able to be comfortable with being the only person in the room that thinks how you think. You need to be okay with that. And I think that comes from when I can speak for myself here. I have to be confident and convicted in my own view about number one, who I am as a person, number two, what I'm willing to accept, and number three, my boundaries. And I'm very clear about my boundaries. I'm very um clear about how I see things, and I'm very clear that my ears are waxed daily, so I process information as it is delivered, and I'm not afraid to call somebody out on being racist. I don't give a shit if you said something racist and you don't think it makes you a racist. If you say something racist, you're a racist. Otherwise, why would you say it? We have to get to a point, and I don't know how long it's gonna take us in the black community to get to a point where we just hold people accountable because I feel like we don't do that enough because we feel like in order for us to be seen less problematic, we have to absolve people from responsibilities, and I just can't I can't move like that as a person. I just can't because to be truly true to who I am, I have to call out the bullshit for what it is, and I'm not gonna pamper fragility in exchange for my uncomfortability. Who remembers uh the toy shop Toys R Us? Now I grew up um next to a Toys R Us, it was actually in Wood Green in North London, and anyone from North London will recall the Toys R Us was literally near uh it was in Wood Green shopping centre, and it was huge, right? And me and my family used to like my dad used to park inside the car park, but outside, if that makes sense. So you have to come in, you have to like go round and round in. You go through the barriers, and then my dad would park outside. And Toys R Us is literally part of my childhood, it's part of like it was just like a kid in a candy store, it was it was amazing, and it was just toys, it was just full of toys and excitement, and it was bright, and it was just it was like Argos on steroids in HD 4K at that time did not exist, but just imagine just like a Hamley's to people was like Toys R Us was a Hamley's for us. So I want to read something out before it leads to the next segment, just to bring to life the next segment, or at least where you can see some synergies. A 12 billion lesson in trusting your competitor, the betrayal that bankrupted Toys R Us. At the turn of the millennium, Toys R Us was a retail powerhouse, the number one toy store in the world, but they were late to one thing: e-commerce. Rather than build their own online store, Toys R Us made a faithful decision, partner with a rising tech company called Amazon. The deal was signed in 2000. Under the agreement, Toys R Us would become the exclusive seller of toys on Amazon. Amazon would handle the back end, the logistics, shipping, techs, and tech support. It would it was supposed to be a win-win. But Amazon had other plans. Behind the scenes, they quietly allowed other toy sellers on the platform violating the exclusivity clause and collecting massive amounts of customer data. Toys Rus noticed they weren't the only toy shop on their page. By 2004, they sued Amazon for breach of contract. The lawsuit dragged on for two years. In 2006, Toys R Us won. They received a$51 million settlement, but they lost something much bigger. Time. Toys Rus tried to launch its own site, but it was clunky, outdated, and too late. They had already trained millions of parents to shop on Amazon. By 2010, Amazon dominated online toy sales. Toys Russ was drowning in debt, still reliant on malls, and in our case in the UK, shopping centres, still behind on digital. The decline was slow but steady. 2015 closed dozens of stores, 2017 filed for bankruptcy, and 2018 the toy giant Toys R Us shut down completely. Meanwhile, Amazon became a$2.5 trillion company selling everything to everyone, including toys. The original deal, it was never just about logistics, it was about control over the customer relationship, and Toys R Us gave it away. They handed Amazon the playbook, and Amazon ran with it faster, smarter, and far more ruthless. What started as a friendly partnership became one of the most expensive miscalculations in retail history. A twelve billion dollar lesson in trusting your competitor. And that's from it's underscore on site. Understanding your competitive advantage, understanding that not all money is good money, and really understanding how technology advancements will leave you behind if you don't get on the train of it of evolving. Now, don't get me wrong, I think some partnerships make sense, but it's about what you are willing, what you're able to control as part of that partnership, and why you're actually partnering. Um, understanding how to enforce contracts, but more importantly, how to retain and maintain IP and also learning from your competitors where you fall short. So, for example, where Toys R Us was better at the front end, the malls, the selling, it recognized there was a technology gap. And effectively, that's why they're partnership partnered with Amazon. That exclusivity clause effectively wasn't worth the paper it was written on, and it's a shame because even though they won, they truly lost. Because what made them amazing is what they sold. It was the trust, it was the data, it was the customer relationship. And I don't know, like when I think about what Toys of Us could have done differently, I think it's accepting that sometimes you don't have in the in-house skills to advance, you go out and find those skills and bring them in-house, and you have a solid ironclad contract that is very clear about rights, rules, and responsibilities. And just because somebody waves money at you, like a tech giant like Amazon, doesn't mean it's beneficial to you, and it's understanding commercially where you are, where you're going, and where the risk sits. Well, a trillion-dollar company, but Amazon are sharks, and actually, who took the time to really study Amazon? You know, if it was just the logistics, why couldn't they bring something in-house? Toys are Us now. Um I've seen like a small little pop-up within WH Smith. It's embarrassing, especially considering where Toys R Us were in the toy market that they dominated to where they are now, which is non-existent, um, apart from some adjacent pop-ups. Um, but yeah, I mean, the biggest lesson is about trusting your competitor, or in this case, not trusting your competitor, understanding the value, and actually realize, I mean, they realized too late about the logistics that it was never about logistics, but control over the customer relationship. You know, that that was a relationship that was built over years, whereby families would go through the whole experience of going to a Toys R Us, going to a mall, um, not understanding how your competitors do business better than you is a big problem because you have to understand that you are not the there are th there are businesses that are better than yours. So, what makes them better? What are you how are you able to scale but retain critical business intelligence? These are all things I think from a business perspective you you've got to think about. But that very comfortably leads me on to plant made. So, for those of you who do not know plant made, where have you been? Under a rock, they provide like natural like hair care oils and um soap bars for the hair, you name it, they they kind of do it, especially when it comes to kind of hair, less so skincare, more I'd say hair beauty. That's kind of where they would sit. Now, Plant Made was founded by Ama Amo Ajay, and there's it's all over the medium anyway, so you can go ahead and have a look. But she's basically um announced that she's departing as the founder of Plant Made, and it's now under new ownership, and basically it's been restructured, and the decision has been made by the new owners that the current leadership no longer works with kind of the new ownership and the new strategy and direction, and after five years, she's decided to step aside. Now, I do actually want to read out kind of what she says. Um, I'm not going to read out all of it, but the bits that I think are quite pertinent for this discussion. As of the 10th of October, the management team, which includes myself, my brother Fred, and my husband Travis, are no longer involved with Plant Made. In recent years, Plant Made faced many challenges, which I've been open about online. We sought investment, both private and institutional, to help us continue growing. All more than a year, after more than a year of many no's and few maybes, we brought in external investors who seemed to believe in the mission. Together, we shaped a strategy to move forward, which involved restructuring the company and its ownership. Unfortunately, although the team has run the business as usual for several months, it appears that the new partners did not share the vision for the founding team to remain involved and contribute to this new phase of the business. The brand continues under new ownership, and many of our long-standing team members remain employed. But due to circumstances beyond our control, Plant Maid is no longer a family-owned business operated under our leadership. She then goes on to say, you know, how she started the business with£100 from her mum's house, and that um, you know, she's been transparent and you know, she's been very public about some of the challenges, and it just goes on and on. Okay. It has the new owners have since released a statement that basically says that Plantmade went under administration, they bailed them out, they took over, and for them, the current leadership did not work with the new structure, hence, where they are now effectively. Now, me and a friend, I've got a friend that owns a business, she's a business owner, and I forwarded it to her and she'd already seen it. But we had a discussion, and at that time, the new owners of Plantmade had not kind of released a statement to say that actually Plant Made were under administration and they basically bailed them out of it. But I had said to my friend, listen, first of all, something doesn't sound right here. Number two, as a consumer of Plant Made, I can tell you that their customer service is shit, is my experience. I'm sorry, it's a black-owned business. I'm gonna be really honest. And when I say customer service, I mean when I order something on Monday and you tell me it's five days to be delivered, and I haven't received it within three weeks, and you're not sending up a follow-up email and I'm chasing you with no response, and I have to at you on social media to get a response, that is a fucking problem. That's a fulfillment issue. Very recently, Plant Made um came under scrutiny again because there was a lot of customers that hadn't received any items over a month, so the business was struggling for whatever reason. But I can't help but think upon being a viewer and watching how they grew, that they grew quite exponentially, exponentially and grew very quickly. Then as soon as they started growing, they bought, they um leased, I assume, rented warehouse space, hiring staff. It just seemed to evolve very quickly. And in my head, I'm like, okay, how are you really managing this if you can't actually fulfill the orders? Like, do you understand? So already you can see telltale signs. When you're asking for investment, is it because you've scaled too quickly? Now, there are so many questions, and I hope Amma actually maybe looks at possibly providing the education because one thing you can't take away from her is she started a grassroots business from the beginning. There's so many lessons that she's learned, so many decisions that she's made, but I'd love a very honest conversation where she is able to just be honest and say, I fucked up here, I was really good here, this is what actually happened, this is what I've learned, and these are my learning lessons. Because I think that people will be more interested in that story than the one she's trying to push as part of her statement because that made no sense to me. We're not dumb, we're not stupid, okay? And we talk about black businesses and supporting black businesses. I'll be the first one to say that I feel as though as black a black business owner and looking at black businesses, we're we're measured to a different standard to non-black businesses, which doesn't make sense. Sometimes our community can literally be setting traps, and it doesn't make any fucking sense. However, I've just shared what happened to Toys R Us, and there are some synergies there. Um, and I think one of the synergies is actually understanding how your market is evolving and responding to that, and also recognizing when you need to scale, like when you need to kind of like reduce things. So for me, I'm like, okay, well, I can't afford this, some downsizing, I can't do this, so I'm downsizing. Where is that that pragmatic approach? Sometimes I feel that we're chasing the dream in business to be a multi-million pound company, that we move in a multi-million pound way, but are not delivering multi-million pound services. It doesn't make any sense. Um, I'm about to launch my stationary company, and I'm gonna be really honest with you. I will utilize my home as much as possible to reduce my costs. I'm not gonna go and get a storage unit. I'm not doing any of that shit. I'm gonna try and keep everything as in-house as possible. If I now decide, due to demand and response, that I need to expand and maybe get in a 3PL to fulfill, I'm still gonna have to manage that as part of my supply chain. I put my name to things, I'm still gonna have to. Do you understand what I'm saying? But now don't get me wrong, I understand how investment works, and sometimes in order to develop and grow a business, you need investment. But if you can't if you're not making enough money to reinvest and you're having to use angel investors, I didn't even know what angel investor was until recently, but you're then having to get loans and stuff. I do question um the financial prowess of those business owners, especially the business was five years old, they're still pretty young of a business with the rate in which they grew, and I get it. Maybe they needed that financial assistance to meet demand, but I I don't know, like how can I say this like respectfully without I feel like okay, if I know that I'm not great in a certain aspect of business, I'm gonna go to someone or go to a I'm gonna go to who is best in class in that. So if for example, I'm not great with um accountancy, finance, all that stuff. I know how to manage money, but I'm not a fight, I'm not an accountant. If I was that person, I would then hire an accountant. And I'm not saying they didn't, but we don't know because she's not even shared that they were in administration, and I don't think there's anything to be ashamed of because actually she's built um, she built a it hit a million, but she she built a successful business, grassroots, and you've got to respect it. The hustle of a woman in this in that industry, I respect it, and being a black woman in that industry, I respect it. I remember when they had trademark issues, and even how she dealt with that was amazing, and we all learnt from that. Well, you should have learned from it, but I do question a lot of our dis financial decision making in businesses. I feel like when a business grows too quickly, I think excitement sometimes takes over, and it's like it's almost like you know, like when you work somewhere, you don't earn that much money, then you land that job, that six-figure salary, then you start overspending because you're like, oh, I earned six figures and you forgot how you started. It's kind of like that, and I get listen, I get it, but I feel like now, and I don't know, maybe someone who's listening that knows Alma. I think now is the time to kind of utilize everything that she's learnt to teach others because people will pay for that level of knowledge. I know I will, I would, and I think we need to have more transparent conversations about going into administration, the reasons, the causes, and the lessons learnt. But one other thing I said to my friend, I was like, listen, you can't accept money to be bailed out of administration and then tell them that you want to keep the same leadership. Because the fact that you were in that financial situation or distress, those investors, those people that have basically bailed you out of administration, are not gonna trust your financial approach to things. So they have to put people or instill people or install people who they know they can trust that will give be their eyes and ears. And it's not gonna be that same leadership that led them into administration. It is logic. It's to me, it's lot if God forbid I had a business that went into administration, I just resign because there can never be two captains of one ship. The captain will be the person who plays the tune because he pays the piper, in this case, the the people the new owners. So I do think there's an element of a reality check we have to have in our community where we understand that yes, it's great to have the leadership title, but sometimes you cannot remain the leader, especially in the same capacity you you you led. If you had to go outside to be bailed out, they will have to install people who will be able to keep an eye on their financial investment because the the new owners who bailed them out, and now they're they're financial investors, and bear in mind they will have to now change things up to ensure scalability and to ensure attractiveness of a business, and what is commendable based on what Amma's statement said is that they've been able to retain all the staff that's employed. Because typically, if if things are really bad, they have to let go of staff. So people who at least their jobs and livelihoods is still maintained, right? But I think this is like a 101 in business that we all can learn from because me too, as a business owner, especially with one starting a stationary brand, I'm learning. I'm gonna be really honest with you with my stationary brand. I will only create and sell what I can afford. And I believe in reinvestment. I typically a business, they say, you won't make a profit. You you start to make a profit, a real profit, within the first five, or not until you've done at least five years. You should be reinvesting, reinvesting, and sometimes you have to know when there's sunken costs. You have to know. And it and it don't get me wrong, as well, it's also about production costs. Are you producing things here in the UK? Is it being manufactured outside of the UK? These are all things I I as a business owner for Sister Scribble, I'm having to work out and figure out. And and operating in the UK is very expensive, manufacturing costs in the UK are crazy. But the problem we have in the UK is if you go externally, you have minimal minimum orders that they're expect they like manufacturers would expect you to um accept before they'll engage, but you can negotiate. I spoke to one of my friends, and she was telling me a situation where she had to negotiate with a manufacturer um outside of the UK where they had minimum orders and be like, listen, this is a collaborative partnership, and part of that is that you're gonna have to meet me halfway. These are all things in business, but I feel like we're not taught this in education, we're learning the hard way, and it's funny, isn't it? Because our community, when um Plantmaid first made the announcement, people were leaving comments that oh, this is what happens when you sell a business, and you know, a company will come in. No, honey, this is not selling a business, this is administration, and we as a community need to know the difference between the two. Success is not is not in ignorance, success is clarity, it's being honest, it's confronting the heart and having those hard conversations, and also it's in knowledge, we have to seek the knowledge because a lot of us are doing this b business thing for the first time, we're figuring out we are there's certain things in my business until it turns a profit, I will not do it because I'm not gonna put money into something that won't yield something, and you know, I'll give you an example. I had a friend and he started a business, and I don't actually want to say what it was in, but anyway, he started a business and it wasn't going anywhere, it was not he he wasn't even he had like one client every few months and was pumping, pumping, pumping, pumping, pumping with this money. It says toy, I don't I said, Listen, sometimes you have to take your sign from the universe that maybe the market doesn't want this, maybe you need to change it up. Maybe something about this business model is not working, but you can't keep putting pumping money into this and getting nothing out of it, and you're pumping time, time is that money too. He went on to be a fitness instructor, he's doing actually amazing, and then he's taken all the lessons from that business that didn't do so well, and he's putting it into his fitness business, and he's coming out with a line of stuff, and he's doing so so so so so well. So well. Sometimes you've got to be clear about when to cut your losses as well. And it's not just as a business person, but even in the world of work, you have to know when an environment is no longer conducively healthy for you to operate. You've got to be okay with keeping abreast of what's happening in your industry, knowing that at any one time you have the power to leave or pivot. Sometimes you can pump all your energy into a role and you're not getting anything out of it. Some of us need to know when to walk away, when to separate, when to understand it's time. And we have to have very real conversations about what what your where your business is. You have to do health checks. Even as an employee, you have to be doing health checks. Does this still serve me? Does this still work? Am I able to continue? How much of myself, time, and money am I giving to this and what am I getting out of it? What are the telltale signs that I'm not listening to? And who knows this better than me? Let me go and seek counsel. Let's move on to skims. When Diara Ndea and Beyer announced earlier this year that she had to close her brand Amicole, the industry was shocked. Girls around the world could not believe that this was happening and were rightfully gutted. But as the saying goes, when one door closes, another opens, and Diara, a new door is draped in neutral tones and goes by the name of Skims. It has been announced that Kim Kardashian's latest venture has appointed Diare as the new executive vice president of beauty and fragrance. And this means that she will be developing products, developing brand strategy and innovation. Note that Diare is an African black woman hailing from Senegal, and she represents a global beauty brand in a multi-million pound industry. Now, one thing I'm gonna say about Kim Kardashian is say what you want about her. When it comes to business, she is savvy and astute, and it doesn't go above my head that she has people around her that influence her decision making and/or make decisions for her. Emma Greedy is one of them. Emma Greedy, anyway, one thing I'm gonna say about Emma Greedy is she is an astute businesswoman and she's all over this. I can feel it. And Diare actually did an interview on Emma Greedy's um podcast. So how this has come about is amazing. I think that Kim Kardashian is not only and I I say Kim Kardashian, bearing in mind that there's people around her that are making these decisions. Kim Kardashian is a businesswoman in her own right, but she's also the face. So this is a classic example. Example where you hire the best, you hire the subject matter experts to deliver and deliver at a global level. A multi-million pound company deserves multi-million dollar representation. And Diare is that, she is that girl. It doesn't also go above my head that Kim Kardashian knows that she's gonna have to surround herself with the best. So where does she go? To black women. I'm gonna say it, it is the truth. I cannot wait to see what Diare delivers as part of the beauty and fragrance um element or arm of skims because one thing I know about Kim Kardashian is she stays on the neutral tones. But all these all these businesses, all these brands are learning from Fenty Beauty. Let's just call it what it is. Fenty Beauty shook the table of the beauty industry. Are we talking about the foundation ranges in colour? Are we talking about the different brands and the sorry the different products that sit under the Fenty brand? Are we talking about body care, skincare? What are we talking about? Now I don't particularly like Fenty makeup. The only thing I like is their contour sticks, and even that I'm not a massive fan of. But what I am a fan of is the business acumen that Fenty Beauty has surrounding itself with the best of the best in the industry to deliver a brand on a global scale. So if Fenty is the blueprint, you can't blame Skims for wanting to have a healthy piece of that pie. And I cannot wait to see what innovations um are delivered as part of Skim's um beauty and uh and fragrance. And if it is gonna be makeup, let it be the best. I mean, Diara developed Amicole, and I had never heard of Amicole until as a brand, until it was announced that Diara was now um uh executive VP add, you know, so I'm very excited, I'm very interested, and people talk about Kim Kardashian appropriation. I think they're very different conversations to the Skims brand because as women and as black women, they are we are free to choose to work for these brands, and clearly Diare can see the synergy and the opportunity. So, as a community, we should support her. And when I say support her, it is be positive and speak positivity into this union, and you don't have to like the products that come out of it, but Kim Kardashian hasn't done badly. Are we talking about um collaborations with Nike, Beats by Dre? And she's hiring some of the best of the best. One thing is for sure, I feel like Kanye had a massive influence on Kim from a business perspective because as a viewer and a consumer, I know how influenced I am via from a business perspective by Kanye. Talk less of being married to him and accessing that level of knowledge that Kim Kardashian clearly harnessed. Because I think on her on her own, I don't rate Kim, but I rate him for surrounding herself with the best and understanding that she doesn't know everything and and wanting to go on a global journey of global domination, knowing that black women have to be at the helm. That's the truth of it. Black women, as far as I'm concerned, as a fellow black woman, I know how hard we have to work, how we have to appear 10 times, five, 10 times, 15, 20 times better, how are 10 times better is just to get in the door. So if you want the best, you come to where it's at, honey. And I'm gonna tell y'all, it's black women, honey, because we we do we do the damn thing. Facts, and I can't talk for any any other um race or uh you know, I'm a black woman, don't have to talk from my perspective, and that is the gospel truth. So as a as a as a Skims brand, I'm loving the strategy. And Diare, listen, I I can't wait to see what comes out of this collaboration, this union, but what I am ready, what I am ready is for the aesthetic, honey, because we know Skim stays neutral. And for those of you beauty fiends, have you ever wondered why MAC is actually not sold in Sephora? Yeah, it's not. I made the assumption, and I think it's because of the colour aesthetic of Sephora being black and white, and the colour aesthetic of Mac being black, that I thought Mac would be in there because Sephora houses a lot of brands, but up until recently had never housed Mac Cosmetics. However, Mac Cosmetic lands in 500 Sephora stores across the US in 2026, which is next year, and this is a strategic collaboration. This strategic collaboration is the result of years of successful partnerships with Sephora in global markets, and um they've gone on to say, as in Sephora's gone on to say, that they're proud to debut Mac Cosmetics in Sephora in the US for the first time in early 2026, and um they deeply they're deeply committed to delivering Sephora US clients a dynamic shopping experience both in-store and online while continuing to innovate, inspire creativity, and build community. The launch comes as Mac looks to attract younger consumers amid sales challenges in Asia and travel retail. The expansion will complement existing department store counters while strengthening Mac's presence in the US market. Makeup fans have expressed mixed feelings online, though dedicated Mac enthusiasts are sure to go wherever this brand takes them, and that is from Ballerilla. Um obviously, it's being rolled out Sephora US is coming here to the UK. We know how that works, right? It happens in the US, it's it it depends on how the rollout works, and then we will see it here in the Sephora's within the UK. Um it makes sense. Um, I'm not surprised about the decline, Mac decline because I feel like with Mac again, I've not seen much evolution in terms of the like, for example, the foundations and stuff, the colour um ranges are not as extensive or expansive as say a Fenty Beauty. I think Mac relies on historical support. There's not much innovation, there's not much excitement, and there's not much collaborations that they make. So, like I I grew up with Mac where they were collaborating, they were doing lines with um Aaliyah, you know, like the Aaliy range, and I got a couple of things from there. I know that Mac did a collaboration, I believe, with Taraji P. Henson, that didn't get promoted very well. I didn't even know it happened. Do you know what I mean? So I feel like Mac are not being strategic from a brand perspective, especially with collaborations with um celebrities or other brands. So I feel like it needs this injection of kind of mass rollout from a Sephora, like a powerhouse-like Sephora, because honestly, Mac like you're not really exciting us, and you dominated for so long, but you didn't dominate well, and I don't think they envisaged the impact of other brands like a Fenty Beauty and Soon Skim's Beauty and Fragrance. So, and the the the crazy thing is they have nice things in isolation, but collectively, I don't think, oh shit, I've got to go to Mac. I don't think that if I want a liquid lipstick, I'm not thinking I'm gonna go to Mac. I don't think like I I will just either go to a Sephora or go to the store in which I think would do a good liquid lipstick. Do you know what I mean? But it'd most likely be Sephora. But then what is gonna be really interesting is how Sephora will then push Mac. Do you know what I mean? Because it's gonna have to push, there's gonna have to be, I'm hoping Mac would have kind of incorporated some type of support push from Sephora to kind of plug the gap in the like downward spiral of sales. But again, that's strategic brand thinking. I don't know if Mac are thinking that, or are Mac just that much of an arrogant brand that they think, oh, we've been here for a long time, like it's gonna sell itself. Clearly, it's not working, hence the collaboration with with Sephora. But um we just I feel like Mac needs an injection of fun and colour, like everything their packaging is we need a bit more colour, a bit more excitement, a bit more interesting, and we need more collaboration with celebrities. That makes sense. Do you know what I mean? Like, for example, why didn't Mac collaborate with like Beyonce on her tour or something? Do you know what I mean? Like, make it exciting, make it fun because Mac, no one's really checking for you like that no more. Sorry, NARS is is doing really well. Estee Lauder, which house other brands, but actually the Estee Lauder brand, they're doing really well. Mac, you're not really in the conversation. Sorry, but it's true. So anyone like man management, you want to hire me for a talk? I'll give you my opinion. But as as an OG Mac girly, I'm telling you, I'm not I'm not checking for you like that. I think I bought some Mac stuff the other day, but I think it was like lip stuff. I think I use it once, twice, I haven't used it since Mac. Sort it out. Those of those of you, my US listeners, um, and obviously UK, you must have heard about the boycott of Target, um, and it's this whole removal of like DEI and things like that. So Target have now responded because obviously their bottom line has been massively affected from this boycott. So Target now attempts to reaffirm support for black entrepreneurs amid DEI boycott by offering a seven-month course designed to help black entrepreneurs navigate the retail industry. No investments or opportunities, you get a course. So this is being reported by black millionaires underscore on Instagram. After receiving criticism for pulling back on its diversity, equity and inclusion DEI programs, Target is once again promoting its partnership with Russell Innovation Centre of Entrepreneurs Rice. The move appears to be an attempt to repair its image and regain support from its black consumers who have voiced frustration over the company's recent policy changes. Target's renewed focus highlights its Retail Readiness Academy, a seven-month training course that helps black small business owners learn how to navigate the retail landscape. The program offers mentorship, networking and guidance but doesn't include any direct funding, investment or product placement opportunities. While the company points to its partnership as proof of its continued commitment to black entrepreneurs, critics note the timing. Target's new push comes just months after it dismantled its broader DEI initiatives, including its racial quality action and change reach program, a move made under increasing federal pressure to scale back DEI efforts. That decision sparked widespread backlash, leading to calls for a 40-day boycott organised by Pastor Jamal Bryan. During the protest period, Target saw nine straight weeks of declining foot traffic, especially from black shoppers. Now with sales slipping and leadership transitions following CEO Brian Connell's departure, Target's renewed emphasis on community partnerships feels to some more like damage control than genuine investment. While offering educational support through Rice may help some entrepreneurs gain insight, many observers say the absence of tangible financial opportunities like capital or retail shelf space raises questions about how serious Target truly is about empowering black businesses beyond optics. This is optics. This is the problem, in it. Even in the UK, this is a massive problem, and of course, in the US, they don't place any respect on black spending power. And one thing I respect about our US cousins is they will they will protest with their feet in the way the UK wouldn't. They will a pastor will say, we black community, let's come together to teach these people a lesson, put some respect on our name and our race. Let's boycott 40 days. And while some people failed, because that's what it was, some people went and did went there anyway, the majority listened, and there was collective action by not shopping in Target. When you hit their bottom line, they start getting scared, but they won't respect us enough before it gets to that point. You want to remove DEI initiatives because of federal pressure, but you're not considering the pressure that the black community are going to put on you when we don't spend in your store. What the fuck do you think is going to happen? But this is where I see the difference in the UK. In the UK, our talk is so cheap. It's we will be disrespected by a say a club will disrespect us as a black community. They will be racist against us. We'll say, right, we're not going there. That will last a week. We're back in there. If you want respect, you have to command it. Especially in an industry where our spending power is our power. I will always say, unless as a community, as black people, unless we understand our power socially, economically, societally, we're never gonna benefit, profit, gain, any respect. That's the truth. We know a company is discriminating against black people because we have seen evidence of it via video or whatever the case is. As a community, we're not strong enough here in the UK to say we're not tolerating it. We don't have a voice because we we refuse to use our power and erode the bottom line. Until that happens, we are going to be the most disrespected, continue to be disrespected, and we are never going to truly understand how powerful we are. A pastor calls for the boycott of Target and the majority listen to the call. Now, Target, this little course that you got running is an insult. Because unless you provide product placement or financial investment, it doesn't benefit our community. The insights alone are not enough. We need action. The same action we've shown you with our feet. We need you to operate in the same proactive action. You can't give us crumbs and call it bread. You can't give us crumbs and call it a loaf. And it has to get to a point as black people where we understand our value and we have the confidence in ourselves to say no. Until that happens, we will continue to be disrespected. And the same is in the world of work. Your managers are giving you crumbs. The culture in your workplace is giving you crumbs. You cannot make bread. You cannot eat, you starve. So understand your power enough to say no. I'm not gonna tolerate this. I'm gonna be real honest with you. In the workplace, the most disrespected is black women. If you don't know it, know it now. We are the most disrespected. I don't need data to tell me that. I have an email box full of disrespect that we as individuals, as black women, experience. But what is remains a theme is how we as black women, we as women, and then as black women, don't understand our value. We need to not be ashamed to reinforce our value by looking elsewhere. This displaced loyalty as women, especially as black women, that we have to companies that wouldn't piss on us if we were on fire, needs to be studied. Where does this displace loyalty come from? And it comes from a lack of understanding and confidence in ourselves. That's where it comes from. I'm gonna tell you this right now. I don't give a shit who the company is. I don't care how old I am. If a company cannot meet me halfway, I'm out. If I cannot get the respect I deserve, I'm and that respect is I want to know what my objectives are, how you're supporting me to achieve these um objectives, what I can anchor as your responsibility and accountability to ensure that I'm able to do X, Y, Z. There's no point telling me discretionary budget and discretionary bonus, but yet you're not giving me the opportunity to be able to deliver to achieve or potentially achieve that bonus. Why am I here? Some of you think that when you're signing your contracts or when they're advertising the role, they say one of the benefits is discretionary bonus. How can a discretion be a benefit? That's not a benefit, is it? Because it could be easily taken away. They just say, we've decided we're not giving bonuses this year. What the fuck are you gonna do? That's not a benefit. A pension is not a benefit, it's a legal requirement. They have to offer pension. 25 days' holiday is not a benefit. That's a legal requirement that legally obligates employers to give uh annual leave. That is not a benefit. Your salary being paid the same time every month is not a benefit. That's a legal requirement because of unlawful deduction of rate wages. We'll see them in employment tribunal. They have to do it. What you call benefit is what you're able to gain from over and above what is legally required. That is a benefit. We need to stop accepting crumbs and calling it bread. So what usually happens in the States will usually happen here, but the difference is the type of boycott that um Target experience. What business here in the UK can we say that we boycotted because they did something to black people? And this is how affirmative action we we affirm with our feet and say we are not going to buy from them. When has that ever happened here in the UK? What we affirm is with our mouth, they inspect their regular programming, they don't take us seriously. It's only affirmative if their bottom line feels the impact. You erode their bottom line, their ability to make money from us. We have the largest, most impactful spending power in the beauty industry. Yet they will disrespect us. They will not, they will have limited colour ranges, but will go and buy all the other products they do. If you have a business that doesn't cater to you, why do you buy anything from them? Oh, they've got a good mascara, so I've got to buy it. Value in the bin. Until as a community we know our value, we will never ever gain the respect we deserve. Until as black women we understand our value, they will never place a value on us. And it's really that simple. And we can start to make those changes in terms of our career by not tolerating nonsense. And I hate it when they then try to shame you by saying, Oh, you're being um, some people say, Oh, I don't like confrontation. Confrontation is not always bad, you know. I just want you to know, and confrontation doesn't mean aggressive. Sometimes confronting an issue is calling it out and then saying, the consequence of this is I am no longer spending in your store. We don't even have any voices that are strong enough to command the level of respect like Pastor Jamal Bryant has. We don't have that here in the UK. Because I don't think it's Pastor Toby. I'm just saying that now. Let's move on. So there was a study done, a poll done, sorry, by UGAF, and it was polled in 2022 that said three in ten parents are working in jobs below their skill level just to get more flexibility. This means a wealth of talent is going untapped in workplaces across the UK, and that um was reported by NetMoms, where they said that that millions of mums and dads are not reaching their full potential and talent. That's going to waste. Isn't it time that workplaces worked for parents, not against them? Well, yes, but the problem is we're no longer at in an employee market. Again, not recognizing the power of the employee, especially post-COVID. We gave it away. So, this is the reason why they could come to us now and say three days a week in the office and then call it hybrid. Sorry, that's nonsense. Flexibility is more than how many days a week you go to the office, by the way. Flexibility speaks to culture, it speaks to how you are managed, minus the micromanagement. Flexibility talks about how am I able to deliver my job in a healthy environment that gives me the opportunity to also have a life outside of work, whether it's parenthood, whether it's solo hood, whether it is whatever, carer, being a carer and balancing work. That's what real flexibility is. And I've come to understand this. If you think flexibility is being fully remote, that's not flexibility. It isn't. That's called inflexibility. In flexible, that's not flexible. Some of us need to really understand what flexibility looks like and start to target organizations that are going to give you that flexibility. That's the reality of it. Now, the reason why parents are working in jobs that they're less skilled for for that flexibility is because society is telling you that as a parent, if you want flexibility, you have to be on less money. But you're still going to be paying those high taxes. This is what I don't understand with people. You're better off forcing flexibility. You're subject matter expert, you deliver your job well. It's inconvenient for these organizations to advertise and start recruitment. They spend more money on recruitment and the process of recruitment than they would in a month on the summer salary. Doesn't make sense. And it's going to come from being confident enough to know what your value is and what you bring. I had a uh work friend, work colleague. I won't even call them friends. If I say work friend, I mean colleague, right? I don't mean friend in the definition of a friend. And here's perm. He went perm a few years ago. We were all contracting. And recently he said to me, Toya, um, I'm leaving where I am, basically being made redundant, and I want to come back into contracting. I said, Well, the market ain't great right now. Okay, so the money we were commanding, we're back. It's not the money we're commanding now. However, whatever job they advert advertise, whatever the salary the day rate is, let them fall in love with you at interview stage and then you can negotiate from there. Don't look at the day rate and be put off by it. It's the starting point, it's not an end point. This is to him. Because when you allow them to fall in love with you, whether it's as a contractor or a perm, they imagine you in that role. You become the safe pair of hands for the job position that has been open and they've been looking for to fill. You have to be confident enough to allow them to know that not only are you the person for the job, but this job cannot go to anyone else but you. They need to fall. That's what I mean when I say fall in love with you. And the notion that this is your job, this person is the only person that could do the job the way we need it to be done. That is called the starting point or the opener of your leverage because they want you. So I sent a colleague uh a role that I'd seen, a contractor role that I'd seen, and he came back to me and he says, The rate's too low, so I'm not gonna apply. That was the last job I sent to him. You're not wasting my time. In this Kyostama economy, you're not wasting my time. Nope. Because you're failing to understand the bigger picture is not the day rate you see in front of you, it's what you're able to create and negotiate. Simple, and I've got no time for low vibrational something. So, can you see that for my colleague, flexibility that he needs is in the day rate, but what he's gonna find is the market's gonna be shrink so much, especially going towards Christmas now. And I'm not saying there's no roles available in Christmas because every I've been high during Christmas, it's not that, it's about your access to the pool is is slimmer. So you're gonna have to be flexible on the roles you interview for. You understand now to those who feel they have to compromise with flexibility um and skill level, that's what they want you to believe. That if they pay you less money, um flexibility that's what they sell you that flexibility comes with less money. That's not flexible. I need everything to flex, I need my bank account to flex, I need my time to flex, and I need my opportunity to just flex in the flexibility to. Able to deliver what people don't know is that the more rigid you make an environment, the less people are allowed to flex and deliver at an optimal level. That's that's what organizers really understand. Your job is to enforce flexibility, and the starting point is allowing them to fall in love with you. That's what it is. Because it's not in these organizations, it's not in their interest to go and look for your replacement. It really isn't, unless you're completely zero nil point at a job. So now you have to work out and negotiate with yourself about how you're gonna navigate. That's your job. When I talk about you're the architect of your career, these are the other ancillary things that I'm talking about. What is an architect? It's someone who designs and builds, right? Start designing and building your career so that you can find the flexibility in flexing and negotiating. I'm gonna leave it there. I hope you found this episode useful, and I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I've enjoyed delivering it to you all. I'm gonna go ahead and edit and upload. Very proud of myself because honey, I'm juggling a lot at the moment. Talking about juggling, for those of you who do not follow my stationary brand, Sister Scribble, what's going on? Because the downloads are not equaling the follows on Instagram, and I'm gonna need y'all to go and follow me on Instagram, Sister Scribble, spell S-I-S-T-A-H S-C-R-I-B-B-L E, and I'll put it in the show notes. I am launching my first collection, it's called The Origin Edit, and it launches on the 24th of November 2025 at midday. I'm so excited because I'll be launching the collection as well as the website. So I'm really excited about that. I had hoped that I would launch in October for Black History Month, but let's really be real. Talking about putting respect on our name, they never put respect on Black History Month this month. So for me, kind of battling to kind of get everything ready for Black History Month, I was like, girl, take a step back. You are gonna launch at the right time when you can give justice to the beauty and the creation of the stationary brand that re-imagines and allows us to rebirth creativity in a most unique way. And in order for me to do that, I can't rush the creative process. So make sure you follow my stationary brand, Sister Scribble. I'm really, really, really proud of it. All the work that's going into it, all the things that have to come in 2026. I'm gonna blow your mind because I'm really doing the stationary thing. I love stationary, but more importantly, I want functional stationary. It's not just about creating um unique stationary. I want it to be motivational, I want to be visually inspired and captivated by the stationary. I want to create journals that make sense. I want to create stationery that is world class. That's what I want to do. I want to inject a lot of kind of my work mind into the stationery from manifestation to planning to capturing ideas to um really working on how stationery can assist and uplift our lives, be it in the world of work, in business. I want my stationery to be your go-to. And in an industry that I feel like has become very boring, I want to inject creativity, fun, colour, and brightness into stationery. And my stationary brand is for all. It's for all, it's for whoever loves stationery and knows that stationery can be fun, it can be functional, and it is needed. This brand is needed, and I'm so excited that I'm able to announce the launch date. Please pray for me. I've got three weeks to deliver it, and the same way that Rachel Reeves is anxious about delivering her autumn budget. I'm not nervous about delivering my brand, honey. I just want everything to be as it should be in order for me to deliver it. Just in time for as we enter the Christmas month, and in time for um Black Friday and all the rest of it, it's the season of giving and living, and I'm hoping that my brand creates some waves, honey. I'm so excited. And 2026 is gonna be like amazing for the brand. So I'm very excited, I'm very grateful to even be in a position where I'm able to deliver this brand because my husband has really been the one encouraging me to do this. Because for so long, I was like, I don't know if I could do this. I taught myself out of it until one day he was like, Girl, I'm putting your brand on a t-shirt so that you know how much this brand is needed. So a lot of work has gone into this, both emotionally, financially, and spiritually. But I'm so excited for what this brand could do, and I'm working on obviously I want my brand to be accessible to all, so I have US followers who I know follow Toyota Talks and um adjacent to that, Sister Scribble. I've got new followers who I know are new to Sister Scribble, and I'm so excited. But I'm trying to reach US as well, so I know the tariffs, I know the delivery charges, and I'm I've got a slight workaround temporarily, but I am looking long term about how I can distribute in the US. I'm having conversations, so like you're able to purchase and everything, but long term, I'm I am thinking about how I can you know be more present in the US because I'm based in the UK, so the UK market is gonna be serious. How many to serve y'all in the US as well, as well as globally? So, yeah, anyway, I'm gonna leave it there. If you have a work-related dilemma, your anonymity will be protected. Email us at hello at toytalks.com. I do have access to my emails by the way. Um, we're still moving over the Toy Talks plat um website to a new platform, but for the most part, I believe that you can still go to the website and purchase. But I'm I'm so excited for 2026 and all the things it has in store for all of us. And I just want to thank you for listening to the podcast for supporting. Make sure you put a podcast in the group chat. Let me know what you're chatting about in a group chat about the podcast as well. Um, if you're f if you want to follow me on social media, it's Toya underscore talks or Toya Talks across all major um social media platforms that is Instagram, TikTok. I'm I'm barely on Snapchat, I can't even lie. Um, and make sure if you're interested in any of the masterclasses, you go to toyotalks.com. I'm gonna leave it there. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for going on this journey as you always do. My name is Toy Washington, and you have been listening to the Toyota podcast.