IAM2459 – Social Media Influencer, Model and Author Provides Loc Maintenance Tips and Products

Keisha Charmaine

00:00 - 00:29

I help to prepare people who are starting their lock journey on how it will definitely impact your view on yourself and the world. And people don't expect that when you're, you think that your hair is not, you know, that important, but for, for women and especially black women, which is the majority of my, my audience, my customers, the black women, it's hair is, It says so much about one's self-esteem and sense of self, really, identity.

Intro

00:31 - 00:57

Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Grist values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I am CEO podcast.

Gresham Harkless

00:58 - 01:07

Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I am CEO podcast. And I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Keisha Charmaine of KeishaCharmaine.com. Keisha, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Keisha Charmaine

01:07 - 01:09

Thank you so much for having me.

Gresham Harkless

01:09 - 01:38

No problem. Super excited to have you on. And what I want to do is just read a little bit more about Keisha so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. And Keisha Charmaine is a small business owner, social media influencer, model and author. She is best known for documenting her entire lock journey over the past eight years on YouTube, providing lock maintenance tips. On her online shop, you can find organic hair growth products and hair accessories to adorn your crown. Keisha, are you ready to speak to the I am CEO community?

Keisha Charmaine

01:38 - 01:39

Yes, I'm ready.

Gresham Harkless

01:40 - 01:46

Awesome. Let's do it. So the first question I had was to hear about what I call your CEO story and what led you to start your business.

Keisha Charmaine

01:47 - 02:23

Well, in a way, I started my business by accident. Well, I went to college, and while I was in college, I decided to go natural. For those of you who are not familiar with what I mean by that, I had my hair permanently straightened for about 10 years, and I decided I wanted to grow out my natural afro and learn how to take care of my own hair. And while I was in college, I was doing that, and I was filming it on YouTube. So I was on YouTube in college, starting my locks and showing my experience.

Keisha Charmaine

02:24 - 03:00

And as I got more experienced, I started giving tips to other people and I organically grew a following. And after college, I had difficulty finding, I guess, adequate employment. And I was a social worker and it was very stressful. I ended up quitting abruptly. like one day I just didn't go and um I decided you know what um I started I built the following you know what it's time that I really monetize it by then I had already been getting like Google money and a couple sponsorships here and there but

Intro

03:01 - 03:01

I

Keisha Charmaine

03:01 - 03:30

decided this I need to turn my followers into customers in some sort of way so that I can you know make a living so um that's when I decided to create an online store and I've always been very artsy and craftsy so I started making hair accessories and yeah they started selling and eventually I expanded and I started selling head wraps and creating organic hair products so that's where I am now.

Gresham Harkless

03:31 - 03:58

Nice. I absolutely love that story. And a lot of times you find that, you know, sometimes you just create something for yourself. And then all of a sudden you start, you know, sending it to one or two people. Then all of a sudden those two, three people start sending it to their 10 friends. Then it starts to grow. And, you know, like you said, it'll gradually grow from that. But I love the fact because you documented, you know, everything in the whole process because, and correct me if I'm wrong, because I definitely, you know, don't have logs or anything like that to know exactly what that is.

Gresham Harkless

03:58 - 04:11

But I feel like a lot of people do have, I don't wanna say difficulty, but it is a process to transition from that into having your natural hair. So you being able to document that, do you feel like that's one of the strong reasons you've been able to kind of grow organically?

Keisha Charmaine

04:11 - 04:36

Oh, definitely, especially since I had videos from the very beginning, you know, my quality wasn't very good back then. So I've often what I just like get the idea to delete those videos because it's embarrassing. But I keep those videos up so people can see that, see where I started. So you can see that this is really a process. And if you are patient, you can, you know, cultivate your locks into looking how you how you want them to look.

Gresham Harkless

04:37 - 04:54

Absolutely. Yeah, I love that because it's a process to grow social media followings, a process to have your locks that's grown too. So it's definitely something that I appreciate you for being able to keep that up and keeping that up so that people can see that transition because everything, everybody sometimes thinks everything happens overnight.

Keisha Charmaine

04:55 - 04:55

Right.

Gresham Harkless

04:56 - 04:57

Yeah,

Keisha Charmaine

04:57 - 04:58

definitely not the case.

Gresham Harkless

04:58 - 05:12

Yeah, definitely for anything. So I know you touched on a little bit. Did you have anything else more that you got that you're doing to kind of support the clients that you're working with? I know you mentioned your site. Were there any things that you didn't touch on or things that you have in the works?

Keisha Charmaine

05:13 - 06:38

Well, um, my book is um, well, I wrote my book I started writing my book initially right when I quit my job and um, The book is about it's called more than a hair journey um, and it and it basically details how my hair journey kind of kick-started my self-love journey and I I give tips on maintenance, on lock maintenance, but also on, I help to prepare people who are starting their lock journey on how it will definitely impact your view on yourself and the world. And people don't expect that when you're, you think that your hair is not, you know, that important, but for, for women and especially black women, which is the majority of my, my audience, my customers of black women, it's hair is, it it says so much about one's like self-esteem and sense of self really identity and um yeah when you go on a lock journey you you're it's you're you're tested and um i talk about that a lot in the book and i i give my experience and my tips on navigating that so i also have the book but um Instagram and YouTube are, you know, more like daily resources where you can get tips and get inspiration for your lock journey and just lock styles and maintenance.

Gresham Harkless

06:40 - 07:05

Awesome. I absolutely love that. And I love the title of the book because like you mentioned, I had no idea or I've heard, but you know, just for you cementing it, that, you know, having your hair and, you know, parts of the outside sometimes do tie in with your self esteem. So to be able to bring light to that for one, two, to be able to kind of cultivate that through your social medias, but also through your book is definitely something that's huge.

Keisha Charmaine

07:05 - 07:07

Thanks. Yeah, I definitely agree.

Gresham Harkless

07:08 - 07:16

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. And you might have already touched on this, but I want to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. And this is what you feel kind of distinguishes you or your organization. What do you feel kind of sets you guys apart?

Keisha Charmaine

07:16 - 08:03

Well, I think that because my following is such a small niche, um, we don't, people with locks, I feel like don't really have much resources as far as, you know, what to do with what not to do. what products to use and just different day-to-day maintenance tips and techniques and things and I find that there's not a lot of resources. Even when it comes to professional stylists, there's, you know, Cognitology School and, you know, stylists have to go and get licenses to do hair. However, there's no formal license to do locks. You know, there's licenses to maintain natural hair like loose afros, but there's nothing for locks in particular.

Keisha Charmaine

08:04 - 09:12

So that's why I think that my brand is very important. There are other people on YouTube who give their tips and tricks, but I find that I am one of the most consistent. Especially since I've been doing it for my entire lock journey, and I'm almost nine years lock now so I've I've been a resource for nine years so far and Yeah My consistency and my niche. I feel like that sets me apart and a lot of times people Pay for followers they pay for engagement But that I find that to be completely unnecessary. All you really need is to be yourself put your personality forward well that is if you're a face it's like if your company has has a face like which mine does obviously keishacharmaine.com and then i think that it's important that you engage with the with your followers which is what i do very consistently and um yeah make them feel comfortable so they can trust you and i think that's what sets me apart i'm i'm Tangible in a way I'm people can reach out to me.

Keisha Charmaine

09:13 - 09:29

They can email me DM me and I'll get back to them and Yeah, I feel like oh, I think that that my audience my viewers my subscribers They view me as an actual person. I'm not just a brand. So I think that's really important

Gresham Harkless

09:30 - 09:53

Yeah, absolutely. In this day and age, and definitely correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like when you are going on the Laga journey, as you said, because it ties in so many things, not just your hair, but like you mentioned, your self-esteem and things like that, sometimes it can be, I guess nervous might be the right word, to go through that journey and to have somebody you can reach out to, like you said, through social media or however, is definitely something that helps make the journey a little bit better.

Keisha Charmaine

09:54 - 10:12

Yes, definitely. And they tell me that all the time, like, Keisha, thank you so much. You know, you're the reason why I started my locks. You're the reason why I felt encouraged to keep it up and things like that. So those kind of comments really helped me to stay true and push forward with what I'm doing. It makes me feel like there's definitely some value in my business.

Gresham Harkless

10:13 - 10:23

Awesome. I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Keisha Charmaine

10:23 - 11:59

Well, personally, I do struggle with anxiety and bouts of depression. So being self-employed and I'm actually, I don't have anyone beneath me either. Like this is a one woman show. So I have to hold myself accountable for everything. So that gets really difficult when I do have my bouts of depression or when I'm feeling really anxious. So what I need to do to make sure that I'm productive and I'm getting my work done, like every morning I have to pray and I have to meditate. And that's something that I've been doing For several years now, I don't know how many years maybe about three four years and um What I like to do is go on youtube and search a guided meditation whether that be like a morning meditation or something more specific like um guided meditation to relieve stress or guided guided meditation to um anything just a relaxation like any I need to do that in the morning to put myself in the right headspace and the right mood to feel like you know today's a good day I'm gonna get everything I need to get done um and I'm good enough um you know because sometimes that that's also another issue that um I have you know imposter syndrome you feel like um You don't really deserve to be in the position that you're in, but that's really just, you know, your anxiety talking.

Keisha Charmaine

11:59 - 12:12

That's not the truth. So oftentimes I rely on my guided meditations and my affirmations so that I can stay in the right headspace to get everything done.

Gresham Harkless

12:12 - 12:18

Awesome. That makes perfect sense. And a lot of times if you don't have that to kind of lean on, sometimes it can be really, really difficult.

Keisha Charmaine

12:19 - 12:20

Yes, exactly.

Gresham Harkless

12:20 - 12:31

Yeah, that makes sense. So I appreciate you for sharing that with us. And now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice. Or if you can hop into a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Keisha Charmaine

12:32 - 13:15

I would tell my younger business self to invest my own money more into my business. At first, I guess I didn't really understand what it took to start a business. I knew that obviously I would have to put some money into it and the issue was at first my sales weren't coming in as much as I would have liked and the money that I was making you know at the time when I started my business I was maybe 24, 25. I was spending my money going to parties, hanging out, spending money on things I didn't really need to be spending it on.

Keisha Charmaine

13:15 - 13:53

Yes, I had bills, I was paying my bills, but I could have been using a lot of that money to reinvest into my company. That might not be an issue for a lot of people, but that was definitely an issue for me. I would have definitely managed my money differently in the beginning, but I've gotten a lot better with it now, so that's how I know I would have I would advise that to other entrepreneurs. Yes, there are definitely opportunities. You can get grants or you can get investors, but people are more willing to give you money when they see that you're spending your own money.

Keisha Charmaine

13:53 - 14:02

When they see that, okay, this person really sees value in what they're doing enough that they're putting their own money into it. That makes me want to support you, so.

Gresham Harkless

14:02 - 14:29

Yeah, absolutely. And then even for those difficult times, because you love to do it and you couldn't see yourself doing anything else, a lot of times that's what you have to fall back on. I myself can say that's been the case because there's definitely ups and downs, roller coasters in the journey. So definitely appreciate you for sharing that with us as well. So I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're having different quote unquote CEOs on the show. So Keisha, I wanted to ask you, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Keisha Charmaine

14:29 - 15:16

Well, it's very weird to call myself a CEO. I don't go by that title. So it's kind of strange, especially because my business is just run by me, no employees. But I would say someone who is an owner, first and foremost, but also someone who is a boss. I mean, and when I say boss, obviously I don't have any employees, but I would still consider myself a boss. because I do have to take all the accountability and all the initiative myself to run this business and my business Although it's just me running it, I do impact so many people, so many people around the world.

Keisha Charmaine

15:16 - 15:58

And when you have that sort of impact, you know, you're a CEO. And I don't want to be too modest, but I think that that title is appropriate for me. Eventually, I do see myself having more employees as my business continues to grow. I'll definitely need more help. Um, actually I need, I could use some more help right now, but, um, yeah, eventually I will have those, um, employees and I feel more comfortable referring to myself as the CEO, but I can say that already. I am a CEO and that's because I run this business.

Keisha Charmaine

15:58 - 16:06

I'm the owner. I run it. I wear all the hats and, Yeah, I'm impacting thousands of people on a daily basis.

Gresham Harkless

16:06 - 16:09

Truly appreciate you and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the

Keisha Charmaine

16:09 - 16:10

day. Thank you so much.

Intro

16:10 - 16:45

Thank you for listening to the I am CEO podcast powered by CB Nation and Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at imceo.co. I am CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Google podcasts, and everywhere you listen to podcasts. Subscribe and leave us a five star rating. This has been the I am CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.