Today we’d like to introduce you to Rajneesha Clayton.
Hi Rajneesha, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
So what started my journey and passion for natural body & herbal care. Before we jump into that, let me introduce myself Hi, My name is Rajneesha Clayton, I’m a California native. I grew up in Southern California in my childhood year and then moved to Northern California in my teens. My family tree consists of mostly women. My Mother had four girls, with me being the oldest. I also have two younger brothers on my dad’s side of the family, and I now five nephews. From elementary to high school, I’ve always had a passion for the arts, I was a big lover of dance, painting, and making something out of nothing, I made sure no matter what school I attended, I had to have an art class, As I grew into my teens, life was a little crazy in my household, but my love for creativity always stuck with me and I made that my Zen space.
Fast forward to adulthood, I knew I needed to start figuring out my life/ career path. My mom & sisters decided it would be best to start a new life in Texas and so they moved to Austin, TX in 2005, about five years after I then decided I’ll give Texas a try, and moved here in 2009, signed up for school and was planning work at a hospital as Medical nurse, but I realized this was not my calling, I wasn’t being true to myself so I started working on where I wanted my life to go and how I was going to get to there, of course along the way I ran into many challenges, which made a smarter & stronger Women. This takes me to how I started my creative journey into the world of skin & herbal body care.
The Year is 2013 at this time juggling two jobs doing my best to make ends meet and from the year 2014 – 2016, I was working for a very popular beauty store in the North Austin area, I was super happy I got the job because before I moved to Texas, I worked at my Aunts hair salon as a shampoo girl & natural hairstylist for dreadlocks, so it was only right to place my self back into that environment of cosmetics and hair care. My everyday routine was stocking and attending to the customers, and in my downtime, I would wander the store checking out products and trying on makeup. I became very interested in the skincare section of the store, I was curious as to why someone would pay $100 bucks for a facial serum. I started testing different products to see if they worked and discovered plant-based skincare and fell in love with it.
This new passion for skin and body care was now my new normal. I started to teach myself about what these different products did and how the ingredient was beneficial for different skin types. Even though my job description was customer service/cashier, I was pushing for the opportunity to work in skincare. My voice was not being heard so I realized It was time for me to move on and turn this new passion for skincare into a business. I left the company and started to further educate myself on skincare. I learned how certain foods and products can disrupt your immune system and body cells. This new information help me turn my own life around, I became a more conscious eater and was doing more label reading when purchasing items from the store. With all the new information I study and retained, I felt it was time to jump in and start my own business, I didn’t have clue how to run a business but I took the skills I obtained from working In retail, sales, and customer service and went all in to start my skin & herbal body care brand in 2016, With all the excitement of becoming a small business owner, I knew I had a lot of work to do, not only with my business but with the people and education on understanding why saying no to products and food with harmful ingredients is a must. Tha Purple Flower is now a part of my DNA I live it, I breath it. Who knew my passion for creativity and skincare would lead me here. A young woman who turned a passion into a business.
I hope my story encourages someone to take that big leap to go for their dreams and just do what makes you happy. – Love Tha Purple Flower
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?
Starting and running a small business definitely has its challenges but for me, it’s a lesson bad moments in the world of business are stepping stones for greatness or failure, which is why you have to take those rough moments and learn how to turn them into a positive.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Tha Purple Flower is an honest brand That takes pride in understand skin & body care so that is may benefit the consumers Which is very important to me, from the home to school you don’t see education, on natural health care and skincare, so I’m making it my job and duty to spread knowledge and understanding on the importance of living a more health conscience lifestyle, so we can not only teach ourselves but each other.
You can catch us at local pop-up markets all throughout the Austin, Tx area so look out for news and update on my social media platforms @thapurpleflower. Look out for More products, education and events.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
I see the world of body care going virtual, the world is shifting to digital assets and things of that nature and I want to be right there in that digital world selling my product. I also see myself with about five or more brick & mortar locations in the major cities as well as the virtual world.
Contact Info:
- Email: thapurpleflower@aol.com
- Website: https://www.thapurpleflower.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thapurpleflower/
Image Credits
Rajneesha Clayton
