We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Juquita Martin. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Juquita below.
Juquita, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
This is definitely an easy one and I say that because I get it from my parents. As far as I can remember, I have never seen anyone work as hard as my mom and dad. My mom had the role of what we call a “housewife”, caring for 6 kids and a husband, which is my dad. My dad has worked his entire late teen/adult life. My parents, now 68- and 64-years young, started our immediate family tree at the tender age of 18 and 15, but in all of my 37 years of living, I can’t recall a time where they’ve given up on anything that they’ve worked on or towards. The best part about it is that they’ve always worked as one while raising all 6 of my siblings and I, helping raise their grandkids and now great=grandkids. As a mother myself and use to be wife, I know firsthand the will and strength it takes to raise a kid/s, tend to the house and a spouse. We all should know that is a job within itself. However, I can’t recall a time where I’ve heard or seen my mom not do her job at any of the roles I mentioned. My siblings and I thank God for her each and every day because we know that not all people were as privileged as we were, and still is, to have a mom like ours. I will say that I’m my mother’s child because I take my job as a mother serious and without complaints, just as my mom did and still do. However, not to take away from my mom, but I most certainly get the bulk of my work ethics from my dad. That man has worked hard just about all of his life. When my siblings and I visit our parents, we love to go back down memory lane with them telling us about how it was when they were growing up. When I say, it’s always just as interesting to us as it was the first time. More so funny than anything and if you know my family then you’d know that we love to laugh, let me rephrase that, we be screaming, lol! I remember him telling us about how him and some of his siblings would have to stay from school to help tend to the field, and if my memory serves me well, I think he was around 17/18 and the time. He would tell us how tough it was to see some of the neighboring kids play while they had to work in the field, but if you ask me, I think that helped shape my dad into the hardest working man I know and love to the core of my being, I love both of my parents with everything in me. We try our best to always remind them of how wonderful of a job they did at raising and caring for us, especially my mom because of course she did the bulk of the work with tending to us. Now I must say, I didn’t realize how much of my dad I had in me until I became an adult. I am every spit of him, from the personality to working too hard at times. My dad has taught me some things that some men probably doesn’t know of or how to do. I know quite a lot about everything from cars to fixing things, so much so, that when I go into the part store or the dealership, they can’t get over on me just because I’m female, lol, because my dad definitely taught me well! However, my dad is still my handyman to this day. If one of my siblings or myself ask him to do something, he’s the type that will tell us that he’s not going to do it, but as soon as you tell him that you’ve gotten someone else to do it, that’s when he’ll say, “Now, why you went and got someone else when you know that I’m going to do it.” Most times we’ll say, “Well, you said that you weren’t going to do it.” Then, he goes “If that’s what you want to do, then don’t call me when they mess it up!” All we can do is laugh because he doesn’t like it when we say that we’re going to let someone do it, he’ll get in his feelings, but he won’t admit it, lol! And let me tell you, anytime my dad does something, I don’t care how difficult is it, he will not quit until he’s got it fixed or done. He won’t allow anything to defeat him. He’s been this way our entire life. Even at 68, he’s always working on something, whether it’s fixing a mower, tending to their garden, fixing a leak, or getting up to go to work every day, he’s always working, but he never complains. Like I said before, both of my parents are hard workers and have great work ethics to go along with it. I am the exact same way. I do not like to be defeated at all, therefore, whether it’s mastering a new style or manufacturing a new product, I won’t quit until I’ve mastered it. I put my all into everything I do. Anyone that knows me personally can vouch when it comes to how hard I work. I’ve had plenty of late nights and early mornings when it comes to my business. Not only did they show me how developing good work ethics would be beneficial to me running a successful business, but my parents also taught my siblings and I that quitting should never be an option, and that if you follow God’s will for your life and trust in Him and only Him, He will give you everything you need in life to become successful.
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?
Hello, I am Juquita Martin, owner of JSLAYBRAIDS&MORE LLC. Naturally, I’m just a small-town girl, that has always been a dreamer. However, some of those dreams didn’t come into fruition until 3 years ago. If you’re wondering where the business name came from, let me tell you. By day, I’m a braider/stylist. I’ve held that title for over 25 years and I love and enjoy all hair related things. I also enjoy meeting and beautifying women from all walks of life. As I said before, I’ve been in that profession for many years, but it wasn’t until 3 years ago that I decided to get serious about turning what I have loved to do into a business of my own to support my daughter and me. Although I’d been doing this for quite some time, I’d never really thought about showcasing the many hats I now wear. A year ago, I decided to launch my own line of hair and body care products. Let me say this, 3 years ago, I had no earthly idea of me launching anything because God had not put that in my heart at that time. However, in June of 2022, He directed me on the path to producing my own products and of course, I listened. One thing about God, when you surrender yourself to Him and decide to follow His will for your life, He will make sure that your path is straight, and He will make sure you have everything that you need to do so. So, the first thing I did was use my clientele to help me decide on which products they would want to have access to when being serviced or products that would be beneficial to them at home, etc. After surveying my clientele, I had to come up with a name, something unique, but one that would allow for JSlay to be added in at the beginning. So, I decided to name and trademark JSlay Beauty Hair and Body under my LLC. Then, I went to work on my very first set of hair products mid-July 2022. The first line of products consists of our Peppermint Infused Hair & Scalp Oil, Extra Hold Conditioning Edge Gel, Hydrating Rosewater Spray Mist, and our Moisture and Shine Hair Butter. After going to their testing phase, my first line of products was ready to be added to my website and available for purchase. I launched the site on April 17th, 2023, and since then, our Peppermint Infused Hair and Scalp oil and Extra Hold Conditioning Edge Gel instantly became our best sellers. We sell out of those two products extremely quickly, so they’ve remained best sellers going on a year now. We’re coming up on our 1-year anniversary since launching JSlay Beauty and I still remember starting with 5-7 products. Now, we currently have 29 products on our website for purchase. We offer a variety of products, ranging from oils for hair growth to hydrating body creams & lotions for him and her. When asked what made encouraged me to do it, the first thing I say is God did! Followed by my daughter’s sensitivity to store bought hair and body care items, my client’s hair care needs, and most of all, I got tired of buying name brand products that didn’t weren’t effective because they didn’t necessarily cater to our hair and skin care needs. I wanted to be able to use products that are made from truly organic ingredients, and I manufacture and sale exactly what I set out to do. Doing this also gave the women I service a sense security when it comes to the health of their hair and skin. They trust that I won’t steer them wrong and that I’d be sure to aid in their overall hair health. Besides, I always tell them that if I don’t, then what hair will there be for me to braid or style. So yes, the driving force behind my brand has always been present, Nonetheless, I needed confirmation from God before I took any steps, and because I was, and still is, obedient, He has made this journey so smooth.
We do have a few new products that we’re working on right now, so we’re excited about that. We’ve also had some new arrivals that were added to the site, just before Valentine’s Day. When you get a chance to, visit our website, www.jslaybeautyprod.com, and navigate to our Valentine Collection. So far, they’ve been capturing everyone’s nose with their mesmerizing fragrances. There’s another product that will be added soon and the people are waiting. This product is a part of the Shampoo and Conditioner Collection. It’s a 2n1 Revitalizing + Conditioning Shampoo that will focus on revitalizing the hair, bringing it back to life whether it was damaged for coloring, the use of heat, or any other dry/dull looking hair due to seasonal changes. This shampoo, as with all our products, is safe to use on people of all ages, including toddlers. If you’d like to learn more about our products, and/or purchase, head on over to our website to check us out. Also, if you’d like to be the first to know about new product arrivals, offers, and more, fill out the form on the website to sign up for our emails. I can assure you that you’d be glad you did!
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
I think that the three things that were most impactful to me was the fact that I’d been braiding and styling hair my entire life, literally. So, when it comes to developing trust between me and my clients, they know that I wouldn’t steer them in the wrong direction as it relates to the care of their hair and skin. The other thing that I think was most impactful would be my customer service skills, that I will say, greatly differs from 10 years ago. That in itself is kind of a no brainer. I say that because I always say that everyone should take into account of how they’d feel when they don’t receive the customer service that they deserve. I always try to put myself in the other persons shoes as far as customer service goes. My advice to anyone else currently in the beginning phase of starting a business, pray and ask God to guide you on your journey, make your plans known to God, and put in the work because I do believe that faith without works is dead! But while you’re doing that, most importantly trust God with it all because you can never go wrong with Him as your lead.
Alright, so before we go we want to ask you to take a moment to reflect and share what you think you would do if you somehow knew you only had a decade of life left?
The challenge I’m currently facing now is creating content for viewers so that I can build my followers on one of my social media platforms. It has been a struggle for me for some time now since I am the primary source for my business. However, I’ve been working on it for a little while now, so I’ve since gotten a little bit better about freeing up some time for content creation.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jslaybeautyprod.com
- Instagram: @jslaybraids
- Facebook: JSlay Beauty
- Other: TikTok- @jslaybraids
Image Credits
Michael Moorer Photography
