Time flies enjoy it! The months passed, full of transition, my whole world had completely changed. It was for the best and the perfect time to take leaps I'd wanted to take for years. 2015 set my life on a different course. Oh, the juiciness of starting over, up the path towards a new career studying Esthetic(skin).
Keyani McNeil, founder of CHAT Nature's Skin & Hair Co LLC
Walking this new path, sparked an interest in product development. I’d found a “New Love”! Funny, a client mentioned this very thing a few years prior, but I laughed and said, "Yeah right". Crazy as I thought she sounded, now looking back I was already following the path toward this New Love. It started with buying hair products to create a hair maintenance set and then selling them to clients. Next, it elevated to buying products and mixing them to formulate a new product I could use on my clients.
Throughout my career as a cosmetologist, I always concerned with the healthiness of hair. Now a passion for skin and product development had emerged. “At Last My Love Had Come Along!” quoted from a song by Eda James. I decided to run with the notion to develop my own line of skin and hair products.
In 2016, I dove right in. Research, research, research! I was determined to use natural ingredients and I was opposed to creating a collection that only served one demographic, gender, etc. I grew up in California with and served in the Navy to protect a melting pot of different people. And so, my collection would serve everyone. The key, I found was formulating the right ingredients. Can you say fun? From the Ancient Egyptians, to Greece, Asia, Native Americans, Indians, Africans; there were many effective ingredients, right from the earth, that were used for natural and medicinal remedies.
This is how it started. I developed 4 products, tried them on clients and gave out samples. I received good feedback, even had a few consistent customers. Doing everything by yourself and trying to balance a career as a cosmetologist was challenging. Let’s skip the rest and fast forward! The story between 2016 until fall of 2018 will have to wait for another day. For most of 2018, circumstances halted product production. Having a passion that can’t be fulfilled is a crippling feeling. Production had stopped but expanding my knowledge was on the horizon.
Fall of 2018, I started attending UAB to study Business Management and participated in a entrepreneur program called the Student Commercialization Accelerator. The program helped guide students and facility in their quest as entrepreneurs. I was introduced to many wonderful people, one being Cindy Kostelecky, the former President of the Alabama Women in Business (AWIB). We set a meeting, had lunch, and the next thing I knew I was a member of AWIB. This group is filled with amazingly talented women who have been an influence and support in my journey.
The majority of 2018 was a learning stage in entrepreneurship. 2019 was the development stage from creating a new company name, new a logo, labels, packaging, and working with a branding coach. Caroll Atkins of Caroll Creatives, my branding coach, challenged me in so many ways. Her methods were exactly what I needed to guide my branding in the direction it needed to grow. After completing all of this, I took a major leap and had my collection professionally photographed. Gretchen Birdwell of Gretchen B photography had me lost for words. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The photographs in front of me were of the collection I developed.
Now that everything was falling in place, I could finally introduce My Love, CHAT Nature's Skin & Hair Co LLC. “Effective, Informative, Beneficial. A collection for everyone, with a luxurious difference you can trust”. I launched the website (https://chatnshco.square.site/) Christmas 2019 and the launch party is set for February 23rd, 2020. As I look back, it's hard to believe all that I've endured to get to this point. I wouldn't take any of it back and I thank God because the challenges and my support team helped propel me to where I am today.
