Making It: Black Women in Business Featuring Girl Cave L.A Ashara Wilson + Perianne Caron

BLACK WOMEN IN BUSINESS MAKING IT

Writing by Ashara Wilson Drawings by Perianne Caron

To be able to exist in a space in which you are supported, have community and truly feel you belong is a rare gift. It seems to be even rarer for Black women. Facing both gender and racebased discrimination, there are limited areas to turn to seek refuge. Discounted by non-Black parties, we are often seen as unprofessional, unintelligent, and incapable of greatness. Within the Black community, we receive slander from our own men, telling us that we are undesirable, too strong and simply not “it.” As a double minority, what has proven to be the best way to find our dream state is to make it ourselves. Specifically highlighting the career life of Black women, many have turned to entrepreneurship. Of the Black-owned businesses in the United States, 36% are owned by Black women, and this number continues to rise. We are controlling the narrative for our realities and making dreams a part of them.

One woman who embodies this trend is Lia Dias, founder and CEO of the beauty supply store chain, The Girl Cave LA. While earning a master’s degree in social work Dias decided to become an entrepreneur, and has since experienced success as a businesswoman. In addition to The Girl Cave LA, she also owns a franchise juice bar, Juice It Up and The Champ City Bar & Lounge in Los Angeles. As a Black woman who harnessed her power and is living out her dream life, Dias shares her story in a sit-down with Haute Magazine. Q: Why did you decide to open a beauty supply store, of all businesses?

A: I mean, I’m just a Black girl from Inglewood, and I used to always go into beauty supply stores and see them in my neighborhood. I knew it was a lucrative business because people were able to sustain them in my neighborhood. And so when I thought of getting into a business, I literally thought of all of the simple businesses, or what we consider simple businesses, that are sustainable. [It] was just a place that I spent a lot of time in.

Q: The Black beauty supply industry is not Black-dominated, which is interesting because it serves Black people. Can you speak to being a Black business owner in a field that is not Black-dominated?

A: Yeah, [it] is difficult. It gets easier every year. But in the beginning, my biggest barriers were not being able to get accounts open [and] not having vendors wanting to work with me. Sometimes if they did, [they were] charging me more or not making products accessible to me. You know, it’s been a process. And I would say that it’s not the customer part of the business that has been difficult, it is building those vendor relationships that [has] been most difficult. I think part of that comes from a lack of trust from other races when it comes to Black businesses –– they don’t trust that you’re going to pay on time. They don’t trust that you’re going to do good business.

Q: How do you combat that?

A: A lot of times I was always having to really just prove myself. If you give me $10,000 worth of product and you tell me I have to pay it back in 30 days, I’m actually going to do it. So once I establish those relationships with my vendors and they understand that I am going to do what I say, and I am trustworthy, then it becomes easier. That’s really been the biggest thing.

Q: How would you say your businesses have affected their respective communities?

A: I think the biggest impact that I have on the community is employment, that there are jobs provided in the neighborhood. It’s really just about making sure that I make sure the girls that work for me are becoming [better] young women in general. Q: Often seen as a competitive mindset between Black business owners, there is this idea that there can only be one person at the top and we all must compete with one another instead of supporting each other. How do we change that?

A: Well, there are so few opportunities –– or maybe I should say the perception is that there are so few opportunities for us to be successful in business. We feel like if someone else is successful then that kind of takes away our opportunity to be too, and I don’t think that that’s true. Some of the best advice I’ve gotten, I have gotten [from] other beauty supply owners and I’m sure that they would say the same thing for me.

Q: On your website, you proudly display a beauty supply business model that anyone can use. Why is it important that you share this publicly?

A: My only competition, really, is myself. I think that the more people who look like me get into the business, it’ll be easier for all of us. And really, the narrative that I’m promoting is that “each one teach one.” So, as I understand how to navigate a situation in this business, I want to share because I don’t want another new business owner to get into this business and struggle. If I can provide the resource and help you through something, then that’s really the tool or the vessel that I want to be.

Q: Looking at where you are now and comparing it to where you started, can you say that the “grass is greener” on the other side? Is it better than you thought it would be? A: The grass is definitely greener than I thought. I never expected that five years into the business, I would be five retail stores in. I thought I was going to have one or two stores. I thought they were going to be successful. I thought that was going to be what it was and I would have been fine with that. But now, the sky’s the limit.

Q: And are there any downsides to living out your biggest dreams?

A: Definitely. I think that there are just growing pains with growing a business and that has been difficult for me to adjust because I am a wife, and I am a mother and I always want to make sure that I’m present for my family, but I also have the ambition to grow this business.

Q: Is there any advice you would give to a young Black person who is wanting to start their own business?

A: I think the biggest thing that I tell my coaching clients or young girls that I’m mentoring is to do your own work and not really trust what other people tell you, especially if they’re not in the business that you’re trying to get into. If I had listened to other people when I started this business, I wouldn’t have it. So definitely do your own research, do your own homework.

Q: How would you suggest that other Black entrepreneurs take back control of the narrative of Black people in business?

A: I think the main thing is just to really be persistent and be creative. And try to work around the barriers that are in place, because they are there. It is clear from the conversation with Dias that to exist in your dream state, you first have to make it yourself. For Black women in business especially, external spaces to thrive in are few and far between. With stiff competition and swift underestimation by peers, hoping for someone to open the door for you is futile. Instead of waiting for a break to be given, create one first. Network yourself. Write a business plan yourself. Secure inventory yourself. Establish a brand yourself. This isn’t to say that there are no support systems to rely on, but to encourage a fiery initiative.

Dias concluded by stating we should always persist with new information. When we inevitably face setbacks, we push forward with a new understanding, a new outlook. This is how we keep the dream alive. This is how we keep Black woman business alive.

Ashara Wilson is a student at the University of Southern California pursuing a degree in Arts, Technology, and the Business of Innovation at the Iovine and Young Academy. Perianne Caron is a student at the University of Southern California pursuing a degree in Communication. She is a CoDirector of Content for Haute Magazine.