By Tavon N. Thomasson Particular to the AFROthomasson@afro.com
Howard College alumna Skyler Buchanan and Bowie State College alumna Chanel Turner took completely different paths into entrepreneurship–one crafting rugs impressed by Black tradition, the opposite constructing a vodka model.
After incomes a grasp’s diploma in graphic design in 2018, Buchanan labored a full-time design job, however when the pandemic hit, she looked for a brand new solution to channel her creativity.
“I began doing rugs as a result of once you work for a enterprise or an organization and also you’re a graphic designer, you need to keep on model—keep inside that theme. Once you’re continuously doing simply that work, you get burned out, and there’s not sufficient room for further creativity,” mentioned Buchanan. “I simply wished one thing else to do, and have some over. I wished to do one thing that not everyone was doing.”
Educating herself tufting by analysis, YouTube tutorials and follow, she launched Decor Ones LLC, producing customized rugs impressed by popular culture, music, tv, video video games and her personal designs.
Credit score: Meta / Decor Ones LLC
“Decor Ones began as a self-made, self-taught enterprise—one thing that took time, one thing that marinated,” mentioned Buchanan. “I spend money on it, and I’m cautious and considerate of what I put out and the way I put it out. I’m additionally true to my area of interest. I’m true to the issues that preserve me linked to my artwork.”
She emphasised every rug displays the influences which have formed her.
“The principle factor that also comes by from my artwork–whether or not I’m making it or getting orders–there’s at all times some hints of Black tradition someplace in it,” mentioned Buchanan. “I get a whole lot of my inspiration from Black tradition after which music, which is what I really like.”
For Buchanan, that cultural affect is tied to high quality.
“Know that in case you store with Decor Ones you wish to get one thing from someone that cares about their product, and that once you do get it, it’s one thing that can assist enhance aesthetics and make no matter area that you just put it in actually yours.”
Chanel Turner, a Bowie State College alumna who studied enterprise, is breaking new floor with FOU-DRÉ Vodka as one the primary African-American ladies to personal a vodka model. A dialog that she had together with her good friend one evening impressed her journey.
Credit score: Picture courtesy of FOU-DRÉ Vodka
“A good friend of mine mentioned it could be nice if there was only a liquor that you may drink and revel in. I considered that, and it resonated with me,” mentioned Turner. “I saved interested by it, so I began trying into the liquor {industry} and did months of analysis, making an attempt to grasp the enterprise as a lot as I presumably may.”
Turner launched FOU-DRÉ in 2009, self-funding its debut.
“To this present day, we’re those funding it. I’m grateful to God that I had an honest job as a authorities contractor, which helped, together with some household assist, and so we had been capable of fund it, to get it to market,” mentioned Turner.
Breaking into the {industry} wasn’t with out challenges. Turner usually discovered herself as the one girl – and the one Black girl – in rooms dominated by established {industry} veterans.
“The challenges got here with industry-specific issues—being the youngest on this {industry} to do one thing like that, being a girl, and, probably the most difficult, being Black,” mentioned Turner. “You didn’t actually have Blacks or African People on this {industry} after I began again in 2009. It wasn’t a factor. There wasn’t a highway map for us, and we didn’t have a lot assist in the sense of mentorship and issues of that nature.”
That’s why she now prioritizes mentorship.
“I didn’t have any mentors. I needed to pay to study. And that’s why mentorship to others, for me, is an enormous deal as a result of I don’t need anybody to make a number of the errors that I did,” mentioned Turner.
Right now, FOU-DRÉ is offered in retailers throughout the Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia space, in choose states, and abroad in Singapore. Turner stays centered on enlargement whereas conserving the model true to her unique imaginative and prescient.
From a house studio to worldwide cabinets, Buchanan and Turner’s journeys show that persistence, creativity and staying true to 1’s imaginative and prescient can flip concepts into thriving ventures.
