Urban Call Briefs

By Lafayette Jones

Monique O’Reilly

Social Media and Marketing Consultant

Drew Barrett

Marketing Expert

Monique O’Reilly

Social Media and Marketing Consultant

Monique O’Reilly is a JamaicanCanadian who now lives in Calgary, Alberta with her family. As a teenager in Jamaica, she entered a regional beauty pageant under the encouragement of

Monique O’Reilly her mother and cousin, which she went

Social Media and Marketing on to win. In a follow-up to that contest, Consultant she later placed in the top 10 of the Miss Jamaica World 1999 pageant. Borne out of that experience, O’Reilly was invited as the guest of honor on a South Florida Hospitality and Goodwill tour. During this visit to the United States, she was presented with keys to the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County as a gesture of good will between both countries.

On the heels of winning her local pageant, O’Reilly was invited to host a weekly, live music video request show. She gladly accepted the offer while she was enrolled in her first university program. O’Reilly is a multidisciplinary professional with a background in software engineering and commerce. She has held roles in sales and marketing across a variety of industries, from hospitality and automotive industries to software-based marketing research.

A servant leader and humanitarian at heart, she has volunteered with the Red Cross in Jamaica and also the British Red Cross in the Turks & Caicos Islands, where she was a First Aid instructor and task force member of the Disaster Response team. After returning to Canada, she worked with organizations serving persons experiencing homelessness, which lead her to pursue her social work designation.

O’Reilly owns a consulting agency with her husband, Antonio. Their company has three different business verticals serving clients around

Timbuktu Kaazim Founder of Kaazim & Company, Inc.

John R. Bost Real Estate Developer, Author and Podcaster

the world. Today, more than ever, it is important for entrepreneurs to continuously work towards value-based leadership. One of her core beliefs is that businesses should provide products and services to the global marketplace with the natural integration of culturally-inclusive personcentered communication.

As a brand advocate, she is a strong supporter of small business success – the heartbeat of the global economy. She is also a member of Every.Black (www.Every.Black), a company that assists entrepreneurs in creating wealth by leveraging technology and utilizing a strategy of global networking. Her unique set of social media marketing skills helps you to strategically leverage social media sites relevant to your business, bringing you bottomline results. The system she follows brings results that can be scientifically calculated - guaranteed. Her Master Mentor in social media marketing hosts free training sessions every Wednesday at 5 pm PST/7 pm EST. You can get in touch with her via www.enchantingsocialmedia.com or by email at hello@enchantingsocialmedia.com for more information.

One of her mantras is “family first, business second, passion always!” It gives her great pleasure being available for her family while serving persons around the world.

Drew Barrett Marketing Expert

Drew Barrett

Marketing Expert

Drew Barrett, a son of Chicago and selfdeclared global citizen, is a marketing expert by vocation and education with four decades of experience working for global and national brands in a range of industrial categories. Drew operates a global business development and

URBAN CALL BRIEFS

By Lafayette Jones

marketing consultancy and services company called Global 3T (http:// global3t.com/).

Barrett has worked in sales and marketing, helping to progress the fortunes of well-known companies such as Merrill Lynch, Avis Rent A Car, Johnsons + Johnsons, as well as tech pioneers like Control Data Corp, US Robotics - a modem pioneer, and MCI - an early telecom disruptor.

As an entrepreneur, he has helped the marketing and sales teams of international and startup brands to exceed objectives. These brands included Hennesy, Jack Daniels, Leblon Cachaca, Tanduay Rum, Heineken, Corona, Guinness, Mercedes Benz, Volvo, Ford, Sprint, North Trust Company, American Family Insurance and Target.

Barrett’s skill sets can be characterized as being a globally-connected, capable business development and marketing pro. His expertise includes marketing strategy, tactical planning and implementation, as well as event marketing and target sales promotions. He initiated some pioneering and innovative initiatives. And Barrett thrives in the digital and traditional media space and leading-edge marketing technologies.

In the 1990s, he assisted African and Latin diaspora cultural events to achieve strategic marketing tactical status for global and national brands seeking to reach viable consumers. He used consumer data to provide a compelling value proposition to open-minded decision-makers at companies like Kraft, Nabisco, TJ Lipton, Ford, General Motors, ColgatePalmolive, Procter & Gamble and Clorox.

His events included the National Black Expo, Chicago’s African Festival of the Arts, Sinbad’s Soul Beach Music Fest, National Real Men Cook for Charities, La Raza, Festival Del Sol, Puerto Rican Festival of Chicago, Caribbean Festival of Life and the International Reggae and World Music Awards. Barrett created branded events such as the Burger King Academic Fair, Nationwide Insurance Holiday Shopping Fest and the Volvo Financial Empowerment Seminar, to name a few.

The industrial and product categories in which Barrett has valuable expertise include global travel and tourism, automotive, spirit and beer beverages, food and ingredients, brick and mortar retail, financial services, consumer technology and consumer packaged goods. His global connections and capabilities have enabled him to complete a variety of projects for small and large businesses, as well as for government and institutional clients in nations like the Philippines, Korea, Hong Kong, Russia, Italy, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, Benin, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Canada, Jamaica, Panama, El Salvador, Colombia and Brazil.

International projects have included global travel and tourism marketing and sales promotions, spirit and malt beverage exportation and marketing, foreign direct investment, international trade and commodities to brand development. Barrett relentlessly over delivers to help clients target, reach, communicate with, sell to and nurture relations with optimum consumers and businesses. He has a bachelor’s in philosophy and a master’s in marketing communications, both from Roosevelt University in Chicago. He also has journalism training and experience. Learn more about Barrett here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drewbarrett/.

Timbuktu Kaazim

Founder of Kaazim & Company, Inc.

Timbuktu Kaazim

Founder of Kaazim & Company, Inc. Timbuktu Kaazim is the founder of Kaazim & Company, Inc., an independent contracting and investment funding company that focuses on bridging entrepreneurs from various industries with virtual business services. In addition, her company silently invests in innovative products or brick and mortar small businesses.

She was born at home with her mother wearing a Dizzy Gillespie shirt, with the assistance of a midwife in Longview, Texas. She later moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, where she attended grade and high schools. Kaazim was always present in her community from the beginning, participating in many community events such as David Walker Day and staying active with community groups like Jazz-A-Ma-Tazz, managed by the late, talented Cynthia Tyson.

Kaazim continued her education at Saint Augustine’s University and has remained in the Raleigh/Durham area since then. She has over a decade of experience in the corporate arena, accompanied by an MBA, which has allowed her to maneuver business-specific endeavors successfully. From a young age, her parents instilled in her “to do for self,” resulting in a strong passion for entrepreneurship and helping others be successful by sharing her experience, education, and resources. She created a blog entitled “Women that Crushed Wednesdays” that related the lives of historical women of color to the lives of women today.

She also assisted with Justice Served NC, Inc. Expungement Clinic and served as an ambassador for the Dudley Mastermind Group RDU Chapter. However, she is now focused on mentoring African American girls through engagement, exposure, and empowerment with the non-profit organization, Girls Talk Movement.

Her most prized contributions to the world are her two sons, Avarie and G’Zahn. She enjoys traveling, reading, writing and spending as much time as possible with her family and friends.

John R. Bost

Real Estate Developer, Author and Podcaster

John R. Bost attributes an escape from poverty to the GI Bill, which afforded his dad’s post-WWII relocation from a small rural town to Winston-Salem, North

John R. Bost Carolina. Still earlier, their limited four-

Real Estate Developer, Author room house would force their family of and Podcaster six into sharecropping on a large dairy. Multiple relocations would be unsettling though ironic, as likely, the care offered by numerous educators in Bost’s early life would become the underlying force of his attraction to education.

His journey accelerated his senior year, leading him to a small two-year Baptist college, though as a first-generation student, he was unaware of the concept of “junior college.” With guidance from the Dean of Men, their acquaintance “spurred on by multiple interventions” would further define his trajectory, positioning him for a degree in Biology from Appalachian State University, along with a teaching certificate. Funding of those four years and what would follow is a story of serendipity, only explainable as a series of God moments. Thus, Bost wrote the book “A Catalyst for Change.”

weekly blog. www.johnthecatalyst.com. Bost also hosts a large and diverse Facebook community (https://www.facebook.com/john.bost.18).

Along with a Bachelor of Science degree, he earned a master’s in Community Education and Resource Development and an Education Specialist degree in leadership and administration.

Twenty years in the public school system, while also serving as a bivocational minister, would lead to early retirement and a position as Executive Pastor in a growing congregation. At the time of his transition, the church, located on 11 acres, would soon expand to 35 acres. Drafting a vision for campus expansion attracted a $3 million HUD 202 Grant, offering affordable housing for senior citizens, as well as launching a parallel capital campaign.

A 328-bed student housing development, Deacon Place developed in partnership with the church, the growing Day School and church expansion attracted the attention of neighboring Wake Forest University. The entire campus was purchased in 2020.

Bost has been involved in real estate development since the late ‘90s, including church campuses, senior housing, beauty salons and barbershops, student housing and two waste management facilities.

While serving two terms on the county planning board, he founded a Family Resource Center, one of the first to include both a birthing suite in partnership with Wake Forest Baptist Hospital, along with a state-of-the-art dental clinic. Significant funding followed through Governor James Hunt’s child-care initiative, Smart Start. That journey would attract the attention of Dr. Seth Lartey and lead to a consulting and, later, a board role on the Goler Community Development Corporation, a Cinderella story for an African-American AME church on the cusp of a major economic expansion in partnership with Wake Forest University. A former chair of Leadership WinstonSalem, and a three-term mayor for the Village of Clemmons, he would later chair the Clemmons Community Foundation and be named as their first Board Member Emeritus. Bost supports a corresponding website for his three books, as well as a

Bost is currently active in an ongoing commitment to racial reconciliation and educational equity in Forsyth County.

Owner of Master Counsel, Inc., adept at land assemblage and acquisition, along with development strategies, Bost has been involved in several community development corporations.

Married to LaDonna, a retired educator and interior designer, they have one daughter, Summer Bost Jackson, a fourth-term public-school principal.

Each month, Urban Call Briefs covers subjects that provide readers of OTC Beauty Magazine with information on multicultural consumers, Hispanics and African Americans, who are the fastest growing consumer segments in the U.S. The mission of this column is to build a bridge of communications and information between manufacturers and retailers and the ethnic consumers they wish to serve better. The column offers resources covering marketing, retail merchandising, consumer research, purchase behavior, fashion and beauty trends, industry events and people, trade association news, new product launches and a potpourri of information designed to help the readers make intelligent decisions about the customers they serve. Urban Call is a registered trademark of Segmented Marketing Services, Inc. (SMSi). For more information, call 336-759-7477 or visit www.segmentedmarketing.com.

PPE | The New General

Merchandise You Must Have

General merchandise in the beauty industry often refers to brushes, combs, applicator bottles and more. But it turns out that the essential general merchandise to have in store is your Personal Protective Equipment, also known as PPE.

The pandemic has required us to wear PPE for our safety. Since beauty supply stores have reopened, OTC owners have scrambled to offer the PPE the public was seeking. Face masks for the general public were a given, but your customers who are beauty professionals may need a bit more supplies to ensure they maintain a clean and safe environment while they work. When customers come to your store for hair products, they will likely be pleasantly surprised to see an inventory of masks, gloves and more. Make your store a one-stop-shop with these on-demand products.

See something you’d like to order? All products are available through your sales representative at Jinny Beauty Supply!

FACE MASKS AND SHIELDS

Every store carries face masks now, so why shouldn’t you? Bulk disposable face masks are a necessity for beauty professionals, so keep the best in stock. We recommend the Brittny Face Mask 50-Piece Box.

These three-layer masks have a high-density filter ply

for comfortable breathability.

The transparent Brittny Face Shield is also a viable face-protecting option. While the Center for Disease Control does not recommend using a face shield as an alternative to a mask, it can be a great way to double your protection when worn with a mask underneath.

DISPOSABLE GLOVES AND CAPES

Gloves have always been a necessity in the beauty supply store. Whether you’re dying your hair or applying a relaxer, it’s always good to keep a pair around. Latex or rubber gloves can both be very effective for protecting yourself, but so can nitrile

and vinyl versions. Having a variety of these disposable options is important since many shoppers may have allergies to latex.

And precautious hairstylists and barbers will likely welcome any PPE that is disposable and inexpensive. Styling necessities such as a styling cape can also be made for one-time use. Graham’s Disposable Capes are available in packs of 50 and in black and white.

DISINFECTANT AND HAND SANITIZERS

Gloves have always been a necessity in the beauty supply store. Whether you’re dying your hair or applying a relaxer, it’s always good to keep a pair around. Latex or rubber gloves can both be very effective for protecting

yourself, but so can nitrile and vinyl versions. Having a variety of these disposable options is important since many shoppers may have allergies to latex.

And precautious hairstylists and barbers will likely welcome any PPE that is disposable and inexpensive. Styling necessities such as a styling cape can also be made for one-time use. Graham’s Disposable Capes are

available in packs of 50 and in black and white.