Mimi Johnson

Q. Thanks for interviewing with us today. Can you tell everyone who you are and what you do.

A.Sure. So, my name is Mimi Johnson, I would say I am a Midwest transplant to Atlanta, been in Atlanta long enough to be an honorary peach, moved here for college, I went to Clark Atlanta University, and I did the traditional thing, I got a degree and got a job. Got into that job, I was grateful, but I knew it wasn’t it. I’ve always been creative. And I knew that whatever or wherever I ended up it would be something within the arts. And I just so happened to be the designated makeup artist out of my friend’s. One trip to New York, one of my friends was like, you’re really good. You should really do this. A light bulb went off, I never thought about it. And I said, why not. So, that was my start in makeup.

Makeup has taken me to so many different places that I’ve never dreamed or imagined. I’ve been doing makeup for 15 years now. I worked on lots of shows with different celebrities, lots of brands. And within that journey, I saw a bigger purpose in helping other female entrepreneurs that look like me that I could share my experience and share stories to inspire. So, simultaneously while being a makeup artist I opened two businesses, The Glamatory, which is now a makeup artist agency/cosmetic line and I own Grind Pretty which is a membership community for women entrepreneurs.

"You have to be open to change and even just ideas of going in a different direction."

Q. So far, what has been your most memorable accomplishment in your career?

A. Oh, that’s hard because there have been so many. I will say this, I can’t pinpoint one moment because I’ve had a lot. I guess I’ll just share a couple of moments. I’ve had a lot of full-circle moments. I remember my car got broken into, and I was working at DISH Network with Da Brat, and I just panicked and freaked out because if you get your makeup kit stolen that’s your livelihood. But I pulled it together. I’m like, I can do this. I pulled together whatever makeup I had around the house, I ransack my store, and I made it there. As professional as I could I got through doing Da Brat’s makeup. When I was done, I let her know what happened. And long story short, she had slid a couple hundred in my bag. And that little piece that really touched me. And then we had a full circle moment where I worked with Judy and her and they came to Grind Pretty fest last year. And it’s just those kinds of moments that keep you going. And then I look back and I’m like, I’m grateful for this journey.

It’s not always pretty and ugly things happen but for those who fight through those things, you’ll see it on the other side. It makes you stronger. So, I think that was one, though it was an unfortunate thing that happened. It connected me with her in a different way that brought something special in the end. So, I guess I can use that. There have been so many other things that happened but that one was on my mind.

Q. Let’s talk about your Grind Pretty fest. How was that experience last year?

A. Again, one of those things where you just are led to do something. And the idea actually came from Traci Steele, my good friend who’s also a celebrity DJ, and we were doing a shoot, and something was going wrong with the shoot. And she brainstormed and was like, you should do that. I got your back. And so many things were going on. We were still in the middle of the pandemic, some personal things went on in my life, and there were so many times I wanted to quit. But God had friends reach out to me and say, hey, what do you need? What can I do without me asking? And when Toyota got behind it last year, I knew that it was something that I was supposed to do. I made a reel recently about it’s a whole lot of money in there. It was. It was a whole lot of money in that room. As I’m looking back. I had a moment. I’m looking around, and I’m like, there are millionaire, almost billionaire women in this room. That was a surreal moment. I look forward to doing Grind Pretty fest, and we’re doing it again this year. And it’s

something I look forward to doing every year. We were able to bless three young ladies with grants. And it was just amazing. And I look forward to continuing that.

Q. What kind of programs or mentorships do you offer?

A. So, within Grind Pretty, the whole basis is to help each other and build meaningful connections. Because when I think about it getting a college degree that’s great, being educated is wonderful. There are different ways to get educated, right? But when I think about my career, and anything that I’ve done, yes, it’s good to be skilled, it’s good to be educated but it’s more so who you’re connected with. Every big opportunity that I’ve ever had, or big thing that I’ve ever done has been through a person, through a connection. So that is something that we foster, for sure. We have open dialogue, like lives and classes and master class videos and things like that but also having the community where we’re doing events and meeting in person. And, of course, we have to pivot around things because of the pandemic. But even having these virtual coffee chats that we have, all of those things, to where we have these personal touchpoints. I think that’s really the key.

Q. How do you define your purpose?

A. I think my purpose is ever-changing but always at the core of that is women. I think every time that I’ve helped someone is some way of helping a woman. Whether it’s younger girls, whether it’s adults, moms, it’s always been, women. And I think that though I don’t claim to be a speaker or anything, and I really don’t like to public speak, believe it or not, every time I do I think that when I’m authentically sharing my story, I’m getting messages back like that really helped me, wow, that is exactly what I’m going through, this is how I’m feeling. And those are the little signs to let me know. Mondays on Grind Pretty and my original intent in doing that was giving the members that are emerging brands the platform. But little did I know, some of their stories that they were sharing were so divine. So, I know that, yes, it’s great to help each other business-wise but I feel like the purpose is a bit bigger than just business, whether it be spiritual, or just your overall well-being. I think my purpose lies there. And I’m still defining and finding out what that purpose is. I’m just being obedient to the things that come my way and what I’m hearing from God.

Q. What are some of the goals you want to achieve for 2022?

A. Well, I’m so ambitious and that’s probably a problem sometimes. But overall, I think one of my focuses, I think I mentioned it before, is creating meaningful relationships. I think that’s in a personal realm as well as a business realm. And processes and systems, I think it’s very important to have the right systems in place, the right processes in place. You know we’re in a very, I don’t want to be pessimistic because I’m optimistic, but we’re in a dark time. A lot of things are happening, and out of our control. And a lot of times we make these plans, these resolutions, all of these things but it’s not in our control. But how do you navigate and pivot around that? And when tragedy happens life still happens. That’s the bigger thing. Life still happens when tragedies happen. And if you don’t have the right systems in place, the right processes in place, that’s when you can start to fall apart. So, I think those are some of my overall life goals. I can say, I would love to grow Grind Pretty, grow our memberships into the thousands. There are a lot of projects I want to do.

color, we just take on stuff, and we’re not okay. We are the backbones of our houses, we have our children, our significant others, our family members, then we take on business, careers, and we just do it. We just learn to do it. But we have to learn to give ourselves a bit more grace and have more systems in place. And it is okay to ask for help. So, I think those are the main things for me. I think overall that says, peace. Peace and having systems in place.

Q. What has been the biggest challenge you’ve had so far in building your career?

A. The biggest challenge, I would say is, now I feel like I’m in a place, I’m very good at building something. You build something, but it’s getting to that next level. And I think I’m there to where the best way to say it is, I’ve been thinking like a founder instead of a CEO. And I think I’m at the point where it needs to switch to CEO. It goes back to what I just said my goals were with processes and systems, building a team being resourceful enough to make it happen without thousands and millions of dollars behind me yet.

Q. Do you have any specials going on? What are your best products that are selling right now?

A. Well, we’ve been focusing on Grind Pretty. So, I will say, our early tickets are out until the end of this month. So, there are deals on the Grind Pretty fest that’s coming up in April. There are sales on our top-selling merch. So, if you see some of those cute sweatshirts, and shirts, head over to the site. Oh, and then our membership. Our membership, the prices are very low right now. So, if you are a female entrepreneur, I would check that out. Or maybe you’re not an entrepreneur but you provide a service through another company like legal or accounting or something like that. We all need those services so check it out. the best seller. I always knew that the formula was great, but I never tested it to the level that I tested it until we started wearing masks. And I started getting customers saying, oh my God, it’s not coming off on my mask. And I was like, oh, now that’s going to be a seller through this pandemic. So, it is our top-selling product. If you love lipstick but you know we’re still wearing masks, I would check out our lip potions at the Glamatory. I often have sales. So, sign up for our email or text message. But I would say check those out.

Q. What advice can you give to the next generation of female leaders or anybody that wants to get into being an entrepreneur?

A. Be authentic and be open to change. Authenticity is what drives people to you. People make real connections. The traditional way of buying has changed over the years, and it’s based on the founder versus the product a lot of times. People are investing in people and not necessarily the business. Of course, the product has to be great to buy again. But I would just say, be authentic. And the other part of that is being open to change. Change is inevitable, and you can plan the hell out of whatever you’re trying to do, you can have this blueprint but sometimes it does not go that way. And if you’re stuck in your way it could hurt you in the end.

Just a quick story. When I started The Glamatory I aspired to be the black-owned Sephora. Sounds great, and it could be achievable. However, I didn’t have millions of dollars like Sephora. So, I was very stubborn. And I kept on with that plan until one day after losing a lot of money I sat down and said what is organically really working. And it was the makeup services, the women that were coming in, and it was the product that I had created. So once I figured out, hey, let’s shift and go this route, things started working. So that’s how life works. That’s how business works. You have to be open to that change, and even just ideas of going in a different direction.

Q. Who would you want to do a makeup-up over on?

A. I get that question a lot. I mean, because there are two ways to think of it. One would be my style, of course, like Rihanna or Beyoncé. Because who doesn’t want to do their makeup? But of course, I would want to sit someone in my chair that I’m truly inspired by their journey, not that I’m not inspired by their journeys. But of course, like Michelle Obama or Oprah. I would definitely want them to sit in my chair.

Q. Where can everybody follow you?

A. Sure. So, my account is Mimi J online which leads you to everything. But if you want to go to my individual businesses @theglamatory, and then @GrindPretty. Those are my accounts.

"Be authentic and be open to change. Authenticity is what drives people to you."