Today we’d like to introduce you to Marsherrie Madkins.
Hi Marsherrie, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My first company started out as a side hustle back in 2014, it’s a really simple story… There was a point in my life where I began to feel uncertain and question my purpose after being cut from full-time to a part-time employee. Eventually, I sought out one of my best friends, who asked if I was praying, with confidence, reassured her friend that I was. The second question and advice are what put it all into perspective. “Are you listening? If you are, then you would know.” my friend stated, to which I truly believed I was listening. The next day, I met with a fellow entrepreneurial confidant who advised her to start my own hair company. There it was the lightbulb when I realized that it was only confirmation from the many signs of life and the divine had given over the years. For the love of hair! Whether it’s to experiment with styles, cuts, colors, etc., or to inspire others to explore self-confidence, Belle Noir Extensions (Belle Noir Beauty) has it all! Over the years, people have always asked me about hair extensions, my personal style, and beauty tips so I decided to go for it while juggling full-time and part-time employment between 2014-2019.
My mother taught us early in life that we can achieve anything that we wanted in life as long as we put in the effort and hard work. I witnessed her raise three heavily active children as a single mother, work a full-time job, part-time job, attend college, graduate, as well as volunteer when possible, and travel with us! In December 2019, I comfortably saved enough money to take my mother on a full expenses paid vacation for her 50th birthday. During that time, we furthered our bond while talking about life experiences woman to woman.
Things in my life and mindset started to shift which was an ongoing mantra as one life continues to develop. At the time, working in a company that I truly manifested for my ideal company at that time in my life within a year and a half my promotion came about. The exceptional hard work displayed was being noticed by the founders and everyone else at the company which was amazing so I dedicated four years to that company. Let’s just say that I didn’t realize my true worth and value for all the exceptional work that everyone continuously complimented that I was bringing to the company but when I did things took a turn. Wishful thoughts of my awakening bettering things did not happen, standing up for yourself in December 2019 landed me with an EMAIL of termination in mid-January 2020.
The idea for my second company, a delivery service that catered to the hair industry (My Beauty Runner) had been brewing mid-2019 but it wasn’t something that I could truly dedicate time to so I shelved it until January 2020 my unknowingly final meeting with my former supervisor at the time. In the past year-plus, I noticed salon owners’ frustrations when they ran out of products needed. Upon recognizing the difficulty that these salon owners were experiencing, I found it highly imperative to access products that were needed for same-day services.
I became convinced that there was a better way to do business in the beauty industry. My Beauty Runner is a service designed to make owners’ inventory problems a thing of the past, thereby allowing stylists to maximize their time catering to their clientele. We make same-day salon inventory runs look easy. My Beauty Runner provides reliable same-day delivery to enable local beauty industry businesses to meet rising business demands and customer expectations. We partnered with local stylists and retail stores to fulfill business needs using our runners and proactive customer service. We help businesses serve their customers at the speed of life. Yes, we said that the speed of life instead of light because we all know how fast life happens.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
What does a smooth road look like?! LOL Can’t say that I’ve seen a smooth road in life to be completely honest. However, if it was smooth would you appreciate it as much!
My first challenge with my beauty company was funding and finding a vendor that would be affordable and dropship my products in a timely manner. Initially, my vendor was the company that encouraged me to start my own company which was great because I knew the products would be quality. Crazy to think about it now, Quality was all that I was worried about not knowing that it was so much more that I should be focusing on dropshipping, clients, prices, packaging, etc. Where was I going to get clients, naively I thought all my family members that wore hair extensions would be my clients then the rest would just fall into place! WRONG. My first client was my cousin, Brandy whom I honestly can’t even recall wearing hair extensions and I was so grateful.
Meanwhile, the challenge of getting more clients to trust the products behind the name Belle Noir Extensions became easier when I started partnering with different hairstylists around the area. Kenya Rynea Salon was the first hairstylist that took a shot at advertising us with her services which forged a dynamic business relationship still going strong today. We have built a great community of stylists and Belle Noir Beauty sisterhood that true us as well as our products ranging from eyelashes, weft extensions, wigs, and recent relaunch of our tape-in extensions.
During COVID-19 quarantine, we definitely had to pivot because people weren’t really purchasing hair extensions, however, they bought lashes for at-home makeup practice. I was extremely thankful that by this time, I locked in my LLC for My Beauty Runner so the work finally begins launching to the world, getting branding, marketing, website, etc. With ready built-in relationships with several hairstylists around the city it felt good but how would we get more relationships while everyone is in quarantine, no one is working or leaving the house. INSTAGRAM!!! I insta-stalked a lot of hairstylists, barber and all local retailers that had anything to do with the service that we were starting to provide which landed us a partnership with Barber to The People on South Congress. They opened in March 2020 but were forced to close due to Covid when they reopened, we scheduled a meeting to finalize My Beauty Runner as their local delivery service which has led to us managing their in-store inventory as well as their local delivery.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Hardwork, Determination, Tenacity, Resilience, Authenticity, Relationship, Honesty, Communication, Understanding, and Comprehension.
Pricing:
- Eyelashes starting at $15
- Tape-In Extensions starting at $125
- Weft Extensions starting at $75
- Local Delivery starting at $10
- Personal Beauty Runner Assistant starting at $75
Contact Info:
- Email: BelleNoirExtensions@gmail.com & MyBeautyRunner@gmail.com
- Website: https://www.shopbellenoirbeauty.com/ https://www.mybeautyrunner.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bellenoirextensions/ https://www.instagram.com/mybeautyrunner/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bellenoirextensions https://www.facebook.com/mybeautyrunner
- Other: https://apps.wix.com/place-invites/invite-lp/07a6604c-3b0e-4a4f-860a-2934eec89480?ref=sms
Image Credits
Personal Photo – Darnell Porter (Shot By D. Porter) Banner mashup Image – Marcus Mayes (Marc Mayes) & Darnell Porter (Shot By D. Porter)
