Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kamal and Susan Dorsainville. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Kamal and Susan, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.
Kamal: It doesn’t matter if people look like me. I am still unique and I am going to be me and bring what I bring to the table.
Susan: I know my strengths and my weaknesses, I play to my strengths and try the best I can to minimize my weaknesses. I have a partner so we each know how to play to our strengths and we balance each other well in any room. But even if I am in the room by myself I let my experience do the talking.
When you are confident about your skills you don’t worry about who is in the room. Just make sure you go into the room confident that you know what you are doing.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
We are a marketing and production company with a focus in the hair and beauty industry for over 25 years. We are responsible for creating and executing marketing plans and events for our clients. We do everything for them from Brand Awareness events and Launch parties to producing trade shows and video/photoshoots for packaging and marketing materials. We are responsible for partnering the Brand with Celebrities and Influencers for brand awareness. Some celebs we have had the pleasure of working with to name a few include Bow Wow, Keyshia Cole, JT (from City Girls) and Lisa Raye.
We are also responsible for R&D for our Brands through daily, weekly and monthly focus groups where we hire consumers and professionals to test products and give their honest feedback for the Brands.
While our day to day consist of planning, powerpoint preparation, phone calls and meetings, we get to travel and execute some amazing and super fun events on a regular basis. We love our opportunities to Produce video and photoshoots and love that our clients trust us to execute quality products for their Brands. Our favorite is when we get to Produce a full stage presentation for the Brands at Beauty Trade Shows.
There are so many elements to our Business that sometimes we don’t really know how to put it on paper, but we consider ourselves a one stop shop for all things Marketing and Production. We have been truly blessed to be able to do what we love for so many years!!!!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
We were very determined to be our own boss and make our business work. So there was a lot of prayer and faith that has always kept us going. Everything that we do or have done starts with God first. Keeping God in the middle of our marriage and front and center in our business has sustained and elevated us. We have also had amazing mentors and supporters who have always challenged us to be better. And don’t discount the power of failure. Lose some contracts, stand firm in the belief that something even better is coming. You can be down, but you can’t stay down. Stay driven and determined and great things will happen.
There is nothing like experience the longer you can do something and stay focused on it the more success you can have because knowledge is power. Learn something and learn it well. Get really good at it and you can ‘t be denied. Even when it seems like people don’t respect what you are telling them about something you know a lot about just stand your ground. Eventually people will learn to respect your talent and keep coming back. And if they don’t, then just take the check and do it their way with the caveat that you are letting them know it’s probably not going to work. Remember integrity is important. You want people to know they can trust you when doing business with you.
You have to pay your bills!! Realistically that is also a motivator to keep you driven when things are tough. Not saying it’s all about the money, but making sure you can keep a rough over your head is a real thing. Believe in yourself even when others don’t and don’t be too proud to take help from family and friends (financial, free labor, etc). But always give back when you are in a position to do so. God’s favor will show itself throughout your journey, so never ever QUIT!!!
So to answer the question…gaining knowledge in your field, staying determined and keeping the faith are three things we would say will elevate you throughout your journey.
What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?
For both me and my husband our parents have always been supportive and instilled confidence in us growing up. For my husband he ran track and his parents always encouraged him and supported his sporting events. For me I was in everything growing up from school plays and cheerleading to running for class president, I was always into something and my parents were always right there to cheer me on. There is nothing like the support of a parent.
My mother and my husband’s father are both deceased, but we have great memories of how they gave us the confidence to be anything we wanted to be.
My first business was creating and selling some Sorority and Fraternity paraphernalia, and my father invested in my first business and purchased product. My husband’s mother believes in us and is always there to support whatever we need. Both of our parents are proud of us and always let us know. That is important when you get support from your parents even if they don’t really understand what you do, Them just believing in you and encouraging you to keep going means a lot. But if you don’t have the encouragement of your parents there is usually a figure that you can look to for that encouragement, and if you don’t have that person, then encourage yourself. Whatever it takes to motivate you to keep going, use that and push through to victory.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://totalmediagroup.info
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/totalmediagroupinc/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ClickonbeautyTV/videos
