We recently connected with Jacqueline Carrington and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Jacqueline, so great to have you on the platform. There’s so much we want to ask you, but let’s start with the topic of self-care. Do you do anything for self-care and if so, do you think it’s had a meaningful impact on your effectiveness?
Working out is my self-care. It is my time to myself to challenge myself, focus on myself, and build a stronger, healthier self. It took my a while to get into a good fitness routine after having my 3 children. However, in April 2020 I came across Caroline Girvan on YouTube and she had just what I was looking for. Structured workouts, with each video being muscle group focused for strength training and cardio/HIIT videos on Sundays. It was perfect for getting me into a routine, structure, and easy to follow along, without me having to plan a workout schedule for the week or just guessing what to do each day.
Setting the tone for my workouts and doing them in the morning has allowed my day to flow more effectively as I feel like I am putting myself first to start the day versus letting the day get away from me, and not feeling that I was able to take care of me. It also gives me the energy I need to tackle the day, and I enjoy being active!
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
People of Color is a non-toxic, vegan, cruelty-free nail polish brand made to complement the various shades of brown skin as the first thought, not an afterthought. The brand was launched in May 2019, after I was inspired by her daughter’s interest in nail polish. It rekindled my interest as well, and made me think back to my childhood, in which I skipped wearing nail polish due to playing basketball and never seeing the colors shown on brown hands in most advertising and marketing. I wanted to create a nail polish brand that celebrated and represented people of color from all over the world by telling our stories, our way through nail polish collections. We make “nail polish for People of Color and those who live in color”, because we all live in a world of color!
We recently launched our Mystery Bottles, which is a mix of colors we’ve accumulated from our curation process over the last few years. These are excess samples from previous and/or current collections, variations of current or past colors, as well as colors that didn’t make the cut while curating a collection. When someone places an order for a mystery bottle, the colors will be randomly selected for the order. So you never know what you might receive!
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 believe my faith, creativity, and knowledge of business operations have been impactful in my journey. When things aren’t quite going my way, or business slows down, my faith keeps me going and I am reminded of why I started, how far I’ve come, and how much more impact I have left to give through my business. Creativity comes into play with all aspects of business and keeps things fun and challenging when problem-solving and ways to continue to grow. In my previous jobs prior to launching People of Color, I worked in hotels (front desk and housekeeping), as well as property management. I got to learn and be part of business operations and management in two industries and knew that if I could manage a business for someone else, that I would be able to do it for myself. I also gained valuable knowledge in leading and managing people.
Most of the skills required to run your own business you may already have through life and work experiences. It’s just taking a moment to really assess the experiences you’ve had and seeing how to apply that knowledge to your current journey. Plus, we never stop learning. I encourage everyone to continue to learn and grow in areas that are important to business growth such as operations (systems/processes), finances, and marketing.
What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?
Maintaining peace under pressure.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.peopleofcolorbeauty.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peopleofcolorbeauty/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/peopleofcolorbeauty
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacqueline-carrington-poc/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsvitOHw5Lz9xWHiKow9Tuw
