Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon, CEO of The Village Retail, says her shop and night marketplace helped circulate more than $8 million for Black-owned businesses.
Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jabariyoung/2024/06/06/she-pivoted-a-business-model-now-this-retailer-profits-from-uplifting-solopreneurs/
Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
0:00 Introduction
1:28 What Its Like For Dr. Key To Be Director Of A NonProfit And Also CEO Of Village Retail
4:43 The Transition Of Retail After Pandemic: How Has It Changed?
8:25 The Mission Of Village Retail Is For Black Entrepreneurship To Thrive
11:50 Dr. Key On Growing Up In Mississippi And Making The Move To Atlanta
16:47 What Heavily Influenced Dr. Key To Leave The Corporate World And Pursue Entrepreneurship Full Time
22:24 How Much Has Village Retail Made Since Opening?
28:10 Dr. Key's Advice For Entrepreneurs Wanting To Pivot In Their Careers
32:44 Village Retail's Second Location And What's Next?
Stay Connected
Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.
Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jabariyoung/2024/06/06/she-pivoted-a-business-model-now-this-retailer-profits-from-uplifting-solopreneurs/
Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
0:00 Introduction
1:28 What Its Like For Dr. Key To Be Director Of A NonProfit And Also CEO Of Village Retail
4:43 The Transition Of Retail After Pandemic: How Has It Changed?
8:25 The Mission Of Village Retail Is For Black Entrepreneurship To Thrive
11:50 Dr. Key On Growing Up In Mississippi And Making The Move To Atlanta
16:47 What Heavily Influenced Dr. Key To Leave The Corporate World And Pursue Entrepreneurship Full Time
22:24 How Much Has Village Retail Made Since Opening?
28:10 Dr. Key's Advice For Entrepreneurs Wanting To Pivot In Their Careers
32:44 Village Retail's Second Location And What's Next?
Stay Connected
Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Transforming small business development,
00:02creating solopreneurs and micro-businesses,
00:05all in efforts of circulating the black dollar
00:08among black businesses.
00:09That is the mission of Dr. Lakeisha Hallman,
00:12CEO of Village Retail.
00:14We'll dive into all of that and more for our journey,
00:17the Forrest B.O.K. series right now.
00:19♪♪♪
00:22And we are here with Dr. Hallman, Dr. Keith.
00:24I'm gonna call you Dr. Keith
00:25throughout this whole interview
00:27here in Atlanta at the Village Retail.
00:29Thank you so much for inviting us into your space.
00:31This store is wonderful.
00:32Thank you, and thank you for having me.
00:34Y'all are always welcome to come back.
00:36Yeah, absolutely.
00:37But I'm excited for this conversation today.
00:39Listen, when I leave,
00:40I'm gonna have to buy a whole bunch of stuff in here, too.
00:42So when I come back, I might be broke, right?
00:44Don't be broke.
00:45Don't be broke.
00:46But believe me, I'm not gonna be broke.
00:48I'm not gonna be broke.
00:49I'm not gonna be broke.
00:50Don't be broke.
00:51Don't be broke.
00:52But buy a lot of things.
00:53But buy a lot of stuff.
00:54Okay.
00:55So how's your 2024 been?
00:56What's going on with the business
00:57before we dive into all of that stuff,
00:58your background?
00:59So much to talk about here
01:00as we lead up to our journey
01:01to Forrest B.O.K. series in June.
01:03How's 2024 been for you?
01:052024 has been busy.
01:08Yeah.
01:09That is entrepreneurship.
01:10Yeah.
01:11That's owning businesses.
01:12And so I will say that we continue to grow and scale.
01:15And because of that, we're being stretched
01:17as a company, as an organization.
01:19Personally, though, I am doing phenomenal
01:21because I ground myself to make sure
01:23that I'm well in mind, body, and spirit,
01:25and that flows into my business.
01:27Yeah.
01:28What's it like to be CEO of a retail store
01:30and also you as the director of a nonprofit, right?
01:32If I'm not mistaken,
01:33the One Village United nonprofit.
01:35What's it like?
01:36That's two jobs,
01:37but what's it like to be CEO?
01:39Yes.
01:40So to be the CEO of the Village Market,
01:42the Village Retail, where we are today,
01:44and be the founder and executive director
01:46for Our Village United,
01:48the nonprofit arm, number one,
01:50it feels like an honor.
01:52I am deeply grateful to be able to have a vision
01:56and a team to get behind the vision
01:58that I have in mind.
01:59But all with the gratefulness and all of that,
02:02it also requires a challenge.
02:04Every single day, I am positioned to have
02:07to answer and solve big problems.
02:09Some days are slower than others,
02:11but one day I can wake up with an email
02:13or a litany of things that I need to address.
02:15And the next day, there'll be an email
02:17and the next day,
02:18there'll be a litany of things
02:19that I need to celebrate.
02:20And I think that's how entrepreneurship feels.
02:22It's the highs and lows.
02:23And so why the work is made possible for me
02:28is because I have a really great team.
02:30And as a leader,
02:31I really believe in servant leadership,
02:33working side by side with my team,
02:35enabling them to push the mission forward.
02:38Yeah.
02:39So take me inside Village Retail.
02:41I mean, I'm looking around
02:42and I see greatness in these stores, right?
02:44Me and you were talking off camera
02:46and I was trying to find the next entrepreneur
02:48that I want to talk to, right?
02:49And thank you for your help.
02:50We identified one.
02:51But I'm looking around
02:52and I'm just seeing so much stuff.
02:53I can't buy it all.
02:54Not today.
02:55But this is,
02:56I feel like I'm in a black mega mall, right?
02:58And all of these products are black owned.
03:00Take me inside of the Village Retail
03:02and explain for those people who may not know.
03:04And I want them to come to these doors and buy,
03:06but what's going on here?
03:07So before there was a retail store,
03:09before I knew anything about retail,
03:11I launched the Village Market in 2016.
03:13And my vision behind the Village Market
03:15was to create quarterly nighttime marketplaces
03:17to center black entrepreneurship,
03:19to galvanize the community,
03:21to circulate the dollar.
03:22And so these are some sexy events.
03:24People came out and spent loads of money
03:26and we began to attract entrepreneurs
03:28from all over America.
03:29And so originally we began with 25 businesses
03:33and in 2019 we had up to 150
03:36coming from 26 different states.
03:38And so that was phenomenal.
03:40And what happened to me
03:41happened to hundreds of entrepreneurs
03:43across the country and globally.
03:45The pandemic happened in the spring of 2020.
03:48And so that shuttered my business model
03:50of the Village Market.
03:51Not shuttered, paused it and allowed me to pivot.
03:54As I had those months to envision
03:56what would be my place in the world
03:58after this pandemic,
04:00I had the vision of building the Village Retail
04:02where we are today.
04:03And so I got an opportunity to pivot
04:05and that's the testament of entrepreneurship.
04:07And I'm a former basketball player.
04:09So the pivot can really get you to the basket.
04:12And so I had an opportunity then
04:14to figure out,
04:15I'm working with all these entrepreneurs,
04:16when the world open up,
04:18do I want to continue in a quarterly marketplace
04:20or do I want to open something
04:22that is open every single day
04:23where I can have placement
04:25and give entrepreneurs
04:26their very first time in retail
04:28to help them grow and scale
04:30and to welcome shoppers from all over the world.
04:32So Jabari, with little experience,
04:34I began to dream of the Village Retail.
04:37And I reached out to entrepreneurs
04:38whom I worked with with the Village Market
04:40and I said, I need you to trust me.
04:42I know now it doesn't look like the world
04:44is going to open back up,
04:45but the world is going to open back up.
04:47And when the world opens up,
04:48there will be a Village Retail
04:49and your products will be on the shelves.
04:51And so that is what we're in today.
04:54Looking at over 35 different brands,
04:56many of them dreamed of one day
04:59being in Ponce City Market,
05:00but to be in the second highest foot traffic place
05:03in Atlanta is a burden financially.
05:06But if you go after it like a village,
05:09we can do this, not just as a single company,
05:11but representing many different companies.
05:13So the reason why people should come here
05:15is because we're all things excellent.
05:17You can get candles from hair products, body products,
05:21but most importantly,
05:23you get to be a part of somebody's dream.
05:25You get to give some of the finest products
05:27from some of the finest founders
05:29in the country right here in Atlanta.
05:32So yes, people need to come here.
05:34People need to spend their money here.
05:35But this is a testament of an incredible pivot
05:38and we continue to grow.
05:39When you, did you have to gain their trust?
05:41Like, did you have to sell them?
05:42I mean, I know the village market was working, right?
05:44But again, you're in the middle of a pandemic.
05:46Everybody is scrambling, right?
05:47And then we're in this era
05:48where everybody can just go directly
05:50to consumer e-commerce as well.
05:51Did you have to gain their trust to get their products in?
05:54Because I've been working with entrepreneurs since 2016
05:58and they saw the way the village market consistently grew
06:01and that we were such a different model.
06:03It was beyond creating a marketplace.
06:05This was a marketplace that people didn't window shop
06:08and just take selfies.
06:09They did that, but they also shopped.
06:11So entrepreneurs said, all right,
06:13if Dr. Key has the audacity to talk about a retail store
06:17while the world is shuttered in place,
06:19then I'm going to go on this mission
06:21and this vision with her.
06:22But I also didn't over-promise performance.
06:25What I said is that it is going to be a beautiful location,
06:29that your products would be cared for,
06:32that your branding would be seen throughout,
06:34and it would be a seamless story of the village.
06:36And as people come in,
06:38they would get to experience your product.
06:40If they walk away and don't buy something,
06:42we would make sure that they have a card
06:44where they can shop from us online
06:46and they would get their products within 48 hours.
06:49So it was a commitment
06:50that it was going to be a layered relationship.
06:52But I think as a founder and if you're doing something new,
06:55never over-promise of what the outcomes are going to be.
06:59The promise of what you can build,
07:01and I knew that I could build an excellent model
07:03that will lift the elevation of what it meant
07:06to be a Black entrepreneur in the city of Atlanta
07:11and how to test that market right here at Ponce City Market.
07:14And is Atlanta, is it because it's here that it's working so well?
07:18Because again, this is Wakanda, right?
07:20This is what people call this place when you come to Atlanta
07:23and the camaraderie is there, right?
07:25The cohesiveness is there.
07:26Everybody is just connected.
07:28There's people, I come from Philly, they live down here,
07:30and they say, man, it's just a special place.
07:33Did it have to start here in Atlanta?
07:35I think it's working because of the intentions put behind it
07:39and the level of work effort to make sure that it is excellent.
07:43There are no corners cut,
07:45that we make sure that we are positioned for success
07:48and the entrepreneurs are positioned for success.
07:50And the backdrop of all of that is that it's built in Atlanta.
07:54There's no place in the world like Atlanta to build.
07:57So, yes, I believe that we're successful because we work hard
08:01and we put in the work, but also we're in a very fertile ground
08:06like Atlanta to be able to grow.
08:08I heard you say before that people can walk in this store
08:10and they might leave and not buy.
08:11Who can walk in here and not buy anything, right?
08:14You've got to buy something, right?
08:15It smells so good in here, you want a candle or something like that.
08:18But I noticed on your back wall, right, when you walk into those doors,
08:20support is a verb.
08:22Why that phrase when you walk in?
08:23Why do you want people to know that?
08:25I want people to understand what the mission is.
08:28I want you to come here and understand that there's a verb attached to it.
08:32So either you buy and you take a great picture by the wall
08:36and you post it and tell people about the experience,
08:38but there's some action that should happen here.
08:41Action in buying a product, bringing somebody in with you,
08:45leaving us a great review.
08:46Y'all check out our reviews, 4.9, we're trying to get to 5.
08:49But we're doing extremely well.
08:51This is beyond a retail space.
08:53I center black entrepreneurship.
08:55This is one of the verticals that we have.
08:57Across the village businesses, support is a verb.
09:00It's in everything that we do.
09:02As we think about economic efficacy for black people,
09:05as we think about creating generational wealth,
09:07as we think about scaling black companies,
09:09it is going to require some commitments, intentionality,
09:12and a whole bunch of verbs.
09:14It takes intentional action for us to be able to scale and build.
09:18It takes intentional action to make sure funds are created
09:20to support businesses.
09:22So the verb is our call of action, our charge,
09:26that when you say that you are for black people,
09:29black communities, for black businesses, I often ask you,
09:32then what is your verb like?
09:34Well, we want to get into your verb, right,
09:36because you had to learn it at one point.
09:37I don't want to dig into your background,
09:38but it's interesting you say that.
09:39You know, I always have a stat, McKinsey & Company, right,
09:42their stat that, you know, estimates that, you know,
09:44black collective economic power, excuse me,
09:46is set to expand $1.7 trillion by 2030.
09:50That's up from 910, right?
09:52Now, if you think about that, that's the size of Mexico's GDP.
09:54When you hear that number, $1.7 trillion, right,
09:58that economic, black economic spending power is set to increase to,
10:01what comes to mind?
10:02What are you thinking about, about all that money that's at stake,
10:05that's circulating amongst us, that we know goes to other places
10:09and not maybe back into black communities or black businesses?
10:12When you hear that number, right, what's at stake for the village retail
10:15and how do you guys plan on making sure that we can capitalize?
10:19And when you say we, black community can capitalize off of that.
10:22I hear, when I hear that number, I hear nothing but opportunity.
10:26But I also hear how it's important for us to hear that number
10:30and to have a plan in place to make sure that money is circulating
10:33within our communities.
10:35So it's not just important to be able to have the capacity
10:38of what you can do financially.
10:40It is what you are actually doing financially.
10:43And so I love for us to push models beyond the individual wealth being grown.
10:48I want you to do well, Jabari, in life.
10:50I want to do well in life.
10:52But imagine if we had the level of intentionality that, Jabari,
10:56as I climb, I lift you.
10:58As you climb, you lift me.
11:00When I think about all of this money that is being circulated,
11:02I want us to figure out what is the collective wealth-building model
11:06behind that.
11:07So it's going to require us to be quite uncomfortable
11:11and challenge the status quo.
11:14It can't be this model of individualism any longer
11:19because I think that has crippled our community and crippled our mobility.
11:22So I hear the number and I get excited because there is opportunity.
11:26But I also hear that number and say we need to sit down, strategize,
11:29and think about what is collective wealth-building
11:32and how does that look generationally as black people.
11:36It takes a great deal of intentionality and discipline
11:40to not do what's there but to defy it.
11:43Let's talk a bit about your background.
11:44You grew up in Mississippi before moving down to Atlanta.
11:47What was that like?
11:48What's it like growing up in Mississippi?
11:50For me, it felt like love.
11:51It feels like my family.
11:53When I need to retreat from the world, I don't go to a coastal place
11:57where I go sometimes.
11:58But that is not typically the place I go to.
12:00I go to my grandmother's house.
12:02They sit in the middle of a cotton field in the Mississippi Delta,
12:05and it's one of my safest places.
12:07Growing up, I remember a great deal of safety.
12:10I was well-loved and well-supported by my family and by my community.
12:14Also, there were pervasive things that was happening in Mississippi
12:18and primarily across the South.
12:21But what I will tell you, Jabari, I wasn't subjected from those things
12:24because I had a blanket of care around me.
12:26For me, Mississippi continues to be my safe place, my blanket of care.
12:31I also see Mississippi as a wide-scale opportunity for entrepreneurship,
12:36for the work that I'm doing in Atlanta.
12:39In the past year, I've been able to take that work to Mississippi
12:42and be able to support over 100 entrepreneurs
12:44and deploy over $150,000 in grants.
12:47Because I'm thinking about the future me and the me that's there now,
12:52that when people are pushing you into those traditional careers
12:55and nothing is wrong with that.
12:57I spent many years as an educator, but there's somebody that's creative.
13:00They have business ideas.
13:02Because that is not ingrained in the culture of what we do,
13:05I thought about those entrepreneurs and say, let me make sure,
13:08as I build in Atlanta, as I build in New York, as we scale in L.A.,
13:13let me make sure my people, folks like me, are being taken care of.
13:17Did you always want to be an entrepreneur?
13:19I always wanted to be an educator.
13:21I remember being in third grade, and it was career day.
13:27Now pause. Why do they ask third graders what they want to be when they grow up?
13:30I have no idea.
13:31Because we change all the time.
13:34But I remember saying I want to be a teacher.
13:37And I remember going home and telling my dad,
13:39I'm going to be a teacher when I grow up.
13:41And my dad said, no, you're not. You're going to be a doctor.
13:43And I was like, no, I'm going to be a teacher, and it stayed with me.
13:46Because what I experienced through my teachers in Mississippi,
13:50through K-12, all the way through Tougaloo College,
13:53shout out to my alma mater,
13:56I experienced people that expanded the way that I thought.
14:00And as they expanded the way that I thought,
14:03I knew that there was a different life beyond what I was experiencing in Mississippi.
14:07And so I wanted to be a part of that.
14:09I wanted to be a part of the person that I taught
14:13at Madison Shannon Palmer High School in the Mississippi Delta.
14:16And I told my students when they would come in,
14:18and I would give them dabs, I would give them hugs,
14:20and these are high schoolers.
14:22And I would tell them, when you step into this room, you will be transformed.
14:25That this is no longer right here in Marks, Mississippi.
14:28Every day we chose another place where we were going to be.
14:31So one day we're in New York, and that's what our theme was on.
14:34And what I was doing is what teachers did for me.
14:37I was lifting their vision of what was possible for them
14:40and bringing it into the classroom.
14:42And so I didn't want to be an entrepreneur,
14:45but I did want to be an educator.
14:47And what's so incredible about life,
14:49though I've pivoted from that traditional education world,
14:53through Our Village United, I get to teach every single day.
14:56I just get to teach differently.
14:58What did you teach in high school?
14:59English.
15:00English? Wow, you could use me.
15:02I could still use your help.
15:03I got you.
15:04Thank you, I appreciate that.
15:05Was it difficult at that?
15:07Because when you're high school, you have your attitude, we rebel.
15:10We were both high schoolers, right?
15:12Was it difficult teaching, or did you find that easy to get to young?
15:16You know the beautiful thing about purpose?
15:18Because teaching was a part of one of my life callings.
15:21And it was purposeful for me to be a 22-year-old,
15:26fresh out of college, teaching high schoolers
15:29and pretending that I'm 30, which felt old then, but is young today.
15:33But I was pretending that I was 30,
15:36because many of them were 17 or 18 years old.
15:38And so if anything was difficult, it was difficult then,
15:43just trying to appear to be older.
15:45But no, I absolutely loved it.
15:50I've never had an experience where I was so fulfilled every day.
15:56Even when the students come in with their high school attitudes
15:59or their teenage hormones and all the things,
16:03I really felt it was upon my destiny to be a part,
16:07to capture them in a safe place without judging a moment that they were in.
16:11I always saw it as a moment.
16:13I will always be able to look at my students as whole people.
16:17And so I say, you take your moment, but remember who you are.
16:21Remember how you must show up in the world.
16:23And I was able to transition so many students in their moments.
16:26But no, it didn't challenge me.
16:28And it wasn't hard for me, but it challenged me,
16:31because just like an entrepreneurship now,
16:33I strive to make sure that I'm impeccable in everything that I do.
16:37So I didn't want to be any teacher.
16:39I wanted to be the best teacher.
16:41And when it's 20 years from now and they're thinking about their high school English teacher,
16:44my name show up in their mind. Absolutely.
16:46But you left, right? Was it tough when you left the transition?
16:49In 2016, you started at the Village Market, right?
16:52What was the decision to leave education and go into the corporate and entrepreneurial world?
16:58It was one of the hardest decisions I have ever made.
17:01Did you cry?
17:02I teared up a lot.
17:04I teared up a lot because it's beautiful how purpose propels you.
17:11But in order to be propelled, you have to let some things go.
17:15I was so afraid, Jabari, of the financial security.
17:21I was also afraid of, I know I'm good at education.
17:25What if I'm not good at this?
17:27What if I am abandoning students,
17:31and I know that I am one of the many intentional teachers
17:35that deeply care about their whole educational experience and their trajectory?
17:40Am I leaving?
17:41Am I leaving an industry that continues to need people who are dedicated?
17:46And so I had to grapple with those decisions.
17:49But as I was making that decision, and it was a slow progression over time,
17:56I had to figure out, could I still be of service?
18:00And so what I asked for, and I was writing my little vision and making it plain,
18:04what I asked for, please let me still teach.
18:08Just allow my classroom to expand.
18:10And as I grow in my company scale because I knew that would happen,
18:14give me the capacity in my schedule where I can still serve young people.
18:18And what's so beautiful about life and how it's set up,
18:21tomorrow this retail store will be filled with high schoolers.
18:24The new school comes, and I teach an entrepreneurship class with them,
18:28and then they go outside, and we set up a beautiful marketplace.
18:31And so it feels very much so like the home that I built first in the classroom.
18:36So Jabari, I've gotten everything that I could have possibly asked for.
18:40But was it hard?
18:43Was it hard to say goodbye to the person I knew meeting me as a teacher
18:49and say, well, welcome in, Dr. Key, the CEO and founder and entrepreneur?
18:55But nobody warned me, Jabari, of the headache of what it meant to own a business.
19:00It's really attractive on social media.
19:04But to be in it every single day, it stretched me more.
19:08It has stretched me more than when I was an educator.
19:11Well, I mean, listen, you said it, right?
19:13You raised $2,500 from your family and friends and used the savings to kind of launch this.
19:17How much savings did you have to use to kind of open this up?
19:20Yes, as I was building the Village Market in 2016,
19:24I was then working for the Georgia Department of Education
19:27as an education research and evaluation specialist.
19:30All that title means I was working with after-school programs to ensure they continue to receive funds.
19:36Behind the scenes, I was also working with the Village Market.
19:39And so you asked the question before, like how did you know it was time to go?
19:43Village Market took over.
19:45I was waking up 3 o'clock in the morning trying to build Village Market,
19:48taking my lunch break to take meetings on Village Market,
19:50working late at night to build Village Market
19:53and still trying to do this thing full time as well.
19:56And so it became imbalanced.
19:59But that's also how I knew that I could pivot out of education
20:03because Village Market was really building itself.
20:07I just had to have the confidence in leaving what I knew.
20:11I had to have the confidence that I could build a company
20:15where I make sure that people have health benefits.
20:17I could build a company where people could have retirement.
20:21I could have a company and create a culture of care in the workplace.
20:26It's different to be in a seat of being someone giving you those things
20:31to you being in a seat of now you're the one being the giver of those things.
20:35That is what I had to shift my mindset of how I could build as an entrepreneur.
20:41Well, looking at the business now inside, right?
20:44I mean, obviously you go through that pivot, but am I looking at the business
20:47where people come in, they deliver their products, right?
20:50And is it a natural business contract?
20:52They get shelf placement and you get a percentage of whatever they sell?
20:55Yes, so it's a profit share model.
21:01We have some wholesale models as well, so it's a hybrid.
21:04And what we try to do is what's best for the entrepreneur.
21:07We've had to learn a lot.
21:09When we first opened the retail store, we let everyone know this is a pilot.
21:14We're all going to go on this discovery together.
21:16And so what that looked like, the Village Retail took a great deal of the financial burden
21:20because we wanted to make sure.
21:22Remember, we were opening towards the end of the pandemic, the version of it that we were in.
21:28And so we took the huge financial burden of that.
21:32And so once we got into the business model a little bit more, maybe a year,
21:37we then figured out, OK, this is how we can make sure that we continue to exist.
21:41We have to balance this out a little bit more.
21:43So that's a profit share model.
21:45There's wholesale. We do pop ups in a store.
21:49And I will say for someone who has aspirations of building a retail store in their city,
21:54it is very important if you're going to bring in a lot of entrepreneurs,
21:57is think through what is a win-win?
21:59What is a win-win for you and the brand?
22:01What is a win-win for your company so you can sustain?
22:04I think often in the service of doing good,
22:07we forget about the business that is needed in the service of doing good.
22:11If the Village Retail closed, all these businesses closed as well.
22:15If someone's thinking about opening in their city, they have to figure out
22:18how do they build their financial pathway so they can be open 3 to 5 to 10 years later,
22:22if they so choose.
22:24Well, in 2020, you said obviously the Village Retail that you guys have circulated
22:28over $4.5 million to black-owned businesses since 2016, since you opened it.
22:32Any update on that number now that we're in 2024?
22:35Yes. So we've actually circulated under the Village Market and Village Retail $8.3 million.
22:40And so how did we get that number?
22:43In our Village Market marketplaces,
22:45we would keep up with the amount of sales that were circulated during those events.
22:49In the Village Retail, same thing.
22:51We're looking at our year-end sales, and we've gotten that aggregate number
22:56of how we're circulating the dollar within the community and what's going out.
23:00And of course, there's greater numbers the way that we hire black contractors.
23:04So when you see this beautiful design, this was designed by a black woman.
23:08If you look at the beautiful plants that's laid out,
23:10this is a plant company that came from a black company.
23:13And so we're still working on those numbers.
23:15The amount of the GC that we hire for this store, that was a young black man.
23:19And so we are very detailed and intentional in how we spend our money.
23:25Of course, we want you, Jabari, to come in and buy a candle, buy a lot of candles.
23:30We'll calculate that.
23:32But we also, in the Village, make sure that as we're hiring and we're building concepts,
23:36that we're hiring black.
23:37Yeah. I got to buy the beer earlier, though.
23:39I'm going to try to save the last year I have left.
23:42You got it.
23:43What's been the biggest positive surprise about being a CEO and running a company?
23:47Biggest positive surprise.
23:48Oh, it's so many. It's so many.
23:52Personally, not a surprise, but a feeling that I have every single day.
23:58It's like, wow, I'm really doing this.
24:01I'm really doing this.
24:03And I have an amazing team that's doing this with me.
24:08I live in gratitude on that every single day.
24:11When I wake up and I'm in my little spiritual bag, thinking about what type of day I'm going to be,
24:17I always take a moment to be present in what I've been able to accomplish.
24:22And the other surprise is entrepreneurs are doing well.
24:25When you look around this store, individual companies are doing six figures.
24:29That is incredible, considering that it's a shared retail store.
24:33That means shared space, because I am big on community wealth building.
24:38Shared space works.
24:40That you can do six figures and a person next to you can do six figures.
24:43And collectively a store can do seven figures.
24:46So every day I am thankful.
24:50I know that the system can work, that this model can work.
24:56And seeing entrepreneurs be, to see them look at their sales and watch them cry,
25:04because they remember when it was just them in their homes, pressing T-shirts or pouring candles
25:13or testing out scents and fragrances, they remember the beginning.
25:19They remember popping up at shows, breaking down at shows so they can go to the next city.
25:25And now they get to be in a retail store that the only thing that we require of them, Jabari,
25:30is make sure that your packaging is together, bring it here on time, and we will do the rest.
25:36From ensuring that you are positioned correctly in the store
25:40to also making sure that customers can buy from you online.
25:43That is an amazing setup.
25:46But what we do require is that quality in every single product.
25:49Yeah, absolutely.
25:50And I saw back there, you know, FDA approved on some of that.
25:53Absolutely.
25:54Wow, that is amazing, right, to get the federal government to approve your product
25:57and it's in this store, Black-Owned Woman, that owns that product.
26:00Absolutely.
26:01With positives, there are negatives.
26:02What is the biggest negative surprise?
26:04Something that you guys are still having to figure out and learn and get better at.
26:08Absolutely.
26:09And so I don't see it as negative, but I do think we've experienced many opportunities for growth
26:14and many hard lessons learned.
26:17What was the biggest, hardest lesson or the hardest lesson you had to learn?
26:19Absolutely.
26:20In building this retail store, I talked about in the service of doing good,
26:25you have to make sure that you can survive yourself.
26:28In our first year, we did exceptional.
26:30The businesses did exceptional, but the business did not.
26:34We were struggling every month because a greater percentage went out.
26:37And so what we didn't account for, we accounted for that our vision is to see these entrepreneurs
26:43scale, scale, scale, scale, scale because our vision is for them to outgrow the store
26:47so we can put other brands in.
26:49And so as we're building that model and making sure that they have what they need,
26:53there are other things like overhead that we have to account for.
26:56A staff that's here seven days a week where we're only closed two days out of the year,
27:01that the packaging, all the things that is required to get things shipped,
27:05all of those things and all the fees to be at Ponce City Market,
27:09we didn't account for that because the Village Market was a social and is a social enterprise.
27:15The Village Retail is a social enterprise.
27:18But I had to level up.
27:19I had to level up my mindset on what it means to be a sustainable company,
27:24do good, but have an impeccable business model so you can continue to be here.
27:28So I had some tough, tough lessons.
27:30I had to be stretched as well as a CEO that my heart is for every person in this store
27:39and all the people that we meet to be successful.
27:42My mentors had to say, yes, but how will they be successful if you fail?
27:48And it was in that leadership that was deployed to me.
27:53It helped me really put my head low and think about a business model that could work.
27:59But that was out of all the things that I've done, Village Market,
28:03Our Village United and trying to raise grant dollars,
28:06the retail store really grew me up as an entrepreneur.
28:10What do you tell an entrepreneur about pivoting?
28:12You've done it plenty of times in your life from going from education to now where you're doing now,
28:17running the Village Retail CEO.
28:19And then the pandemic threw you back, right?
28:21I mean, that was all pivoting.
28:23A lot of entrepreneurs I've run into, they don't want anything to do with pivoting, right?
28:26They don't think that they have to, but they'll find out later on.
28:30What do you talk to them about pivoting, young entrepreneurs especially?
28:33I tell entrepreneurs to welcome pivoting.
28:36It truly only makes you better.
28:38So let's go back again.
28:40In 2019, the only company that I had was Village Market.
28:43Village Market was doing great.
28:45But because I've had to pivot due to the pandemic, that opened the Village Retail.
28:50We support all of these founders now that opened the gateway for Our Village United.
28:56In the last two years, we deployed over $700,000 in grants.
29:01Our programming is now in 25 states.
29:04But remember, let's go back.
29:06In 2019, I only had the Village Market.
29:09But that pivot opened the Village Retail.
29:12It opened me to even think about sustainability of businesses,
29:16to make sure that businesses get technical assistance, grant dollars, pro bono services.
29:22That created my vision for Our Village United and our first program, Elevate.
29:27Without that pivot, Jabari, would those things be in existence?
29:31We can say maybe, but we can't be for sure.
29:34Because the pivot is what opened me to think about all that I could do
29:38and not the one thing that I could do.
29:40Pivoting also has positioned my astuteness as an entrepreneur.
29:45You have to go through things in your business to think of more creative ways to do things,
29:51how to tighten up your standard operating procedures, your SOPs.
29:55You need to understand your numbers.
29:57So if your numbers begin to tank, you need to understand why.
30:00You need to understand your profit margins.
30:02All of those things, in a good pivot, you will learn.
30:05What I've also told entrepreneurs, the reason why the pivot is worth embracing
30:11is because you don't lose the things that you were before either.
30:14You just have an opportunity to grow and tighten and strengthen yourself even more.
30:19So I welcome a good pivot.
30:21It continues to open me.
30:23It continues to position me for greater opportunities to advance entrepreneurs
30:29and black entrepreneurs.
30:30Without those, remember, in 2019, I only had the village market.
30:35Macroeconomic things, right, before we get you out of here.
30:38State of retail in 2024, right, we're midway point in the year.
30:42What are you seeing if there's an entrepreneur out there in retail,
30:46maybe not in the village market, not yet, right, not in the village retail, but they may be.
30:50What are you looking at when it comes to state of retail in 2024?
30:53What's concerning?
30:54I think it's not the state of retail that concerns me.
30:58It's the state of lease agreements that concern me.
31:01You have to have a good real estate broker.
31:05You have to have a really great attorney before you sign these lease agreements.
31:10If it's a new development and they give you six months of free rent,
31:15you need to understand what is the six months that follow.
31:18What are you signing up for?
31:22That sounds so tantalizing at first.
31:25You need to know what the end deal and if that's a triple net lease.
31:28Can you really broker this expense if the sales don't come in?
31:32And so retail, I'm confident.
31:35Consumers are going to buy.
31:37But I am cautious as new developments open up in the city of Atlanta across America.
31:44I want to make sure that future black retailers arm themselves with an army of efficient people,
31:52skilled people to negotiate great deals.
31:54And I believe in our community we should position ourselves of what we have the opportunity to build
32:00and bring that community.
32:02I knew by opening at Ponce City Market, Ponce City Market was great.
32:07Ponce City Market is better because we're here.
32:09I want entrepreneurs to lead with that mentality and mindset as well.
32:14What is the value that you bring?
32:16Not just the value that you believe that developers bring you.
32:20Absolutely.
32:21Commercial real estate right now in a very tough period.
32:23So a lot of good deals out there, but as you said, maybe be careful before signing things
32:27because those fine details in there, they can get you.
32:30Any update 2024 for Village Retail?
32:33Are you expanding or are we going to see more outside of Atlanta?
32:37Maybe at Village Retail in New York or Jersey or where I'm from in Philadelphia?
32:40I mean, where are we going with this?
32:42Because I would love to see it pop up everywhere.
32:44We are working on our second location.
32:46I cannot disclose where, but we are working on our second location.
32:50Out of Georgia?
32:51Out of Georgia, and it wouldn't open until 2025.
32:54Mississippi, take it back to your home.
32:56We wouldn't open Village Retail in Mississippi, but we're going to do some cool things in Mississippi.
33:00But this fall, we're actually opening the bookstore, so the Village Books.
33:05So that's going to be the second brand under the Village Retail.
33:08And we have other exciting things that I can't share at the moment.
33:11Well, make sure you share them when there's time.
33:12I want the exclusive too.
33:14Absolutely.
33:15And a perfect segue, right?
33:16Book, right?
33:17In summer, spring, summer, getting warm.
33:20Give that entrepreneur, Dr. Key's favorite leadership book.
33:24What does she read?
33:25And she can go back to it time and time again and pick up something new.
33:28For me, it's Jim Collins, Good to Great.
33:30I'll get to that in a minute.
33:31But what's your favorite book that maybe somebody should pick up?
33:34One of my favorite entrepreneurial books is Who, Not How.
33:39Phenomenal book.
33:40I can't remember who it's by, which is terrible.
33:42Who, Not How teaches a founder how to let go and delegate.
33:48That is one of the hardest things in entrepreneurship,
33:51to trust people to come into your baby and to actually give something away.
33:55But if we build people well, if we train people well,
33:58the who would be more powerful than you always being the one that's doing everything.
34:03And, again, 2024, we're getting into it's an election year, right?
34:07Without choosing size as a CEO, right, what do you want to hear?
34:11What do you want to see from the candidates?
34:13Yes, I'm deeply, deeply civically engaged.
34:16I believe all entrepreneurs should be.
34:18Yes.
34:20What I expect from elected officials is to center local small businesses.
34:28We're the lifeline in every community and every rural town.
34:31And so as the big vision picture of how great America can be,
34:38what we should also access founders and entrepreneurs and small business owners.
34:43How does that flow to me?
34:45How do you what legislation is in place?
34:48What bills are going to be authored to ensure the protection of small businesses?
34:54And I will push even further to to secure the protection of black businesses
34:59from government contracts to ensuring that the SBA is positioned to position
35:04to continue to deliver and deploy dollars.
35:07We should be at all as many city council meetings as possible because local politics is just as important as federal.
35:17I want us as founders, as entrepreneurs, as small business owners to know that our position in the fight,
35:23we have to push, we vote and we show up and make sure that they deliver.
35:28Absolutely. Get you out of here on this. Right. Good to great.
35:30Again, Jim Collins, my favorite business book he wrote.
35:34What's the difference between a good black business and a great one?
35:38I think the greatness for any entrepreneur free of and void of ethnicity greatness.
35:47Number one is in the intention of what you are building.
35:51And the vision that you have in your mind is that the experience that takes a deep level of reflection.
36:00How is your customer service experience?
36:03What is the quality of your products and your packaging?
36:07What is your delivery time? How do you respond to not so positive reviews?
36:14How do you show up in community for those civically engagement, engaging events?
36:19How do you pour back into the community that supports you?
36:23That is excellence and it requires a holistic approach.
36:27It's not just about scaling to seven, eight, nine figures.
36:30We want that. But if you're scaling and only your family is doing well,
36:35you're not pouring anything back into the community.
36:38That is a singular success and that is not going to propel our people forward.
36:42So, Dr. Key, I appreciate the education. Thank you so much for the time.
36:46And we'll hope to see you at the Ford's B.O.K. Summit in June.
36:49And your homes are right here is the town you in, not your hometown, but the town you're in.
36:53So I hope to see you there. And again, thank you so much for this.
36:55This is such a beautiful store and I definitely and I'm sure people will to support you.
37:00Thank you. Thank you for having me.
37:02No problem. Thank you for watching. We'll see you at the summit.