Mielle Organics: Monique Rodriguez

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31:00Hey, welcome back to How I Built This. I'm Guy Raz. So it's 2014 and Monique is coping with the death of her son. And she finds that it helps to stay busy. So she starts to get on social media and share hair care tips. And Monique says she wasn't really thinking about her beauty hobby as a potential business, at least at first. It was a way to just like creatively express myself. And I was expressing myself with like, you know, hey, this is this hairstyle I made today. Like I'm making this concoction. I'm mixing together like some avocado, banana, some oils, and I'm going to put this conditioner on my hair.

31:39Like, let me know what you guys think. You would take like literally an avocado and bananas and mash them up? Oh, of course. And I would do a lot of research because I had heat damage hair. Heat damage from straightening it? From straightening my hair. Yep. So from the age of like 12 until like my late 20s, my hair was always straight. Like I didn't want to embrace my curls. and I would figure out and read online like, okay, what ingredients are great for like restoring the curl pattern or helping seal the hair cuticle or the structure and the strength of the hair. So I would just like literally sit on the computer and just order like different oils and like test it on myself.

32:21And I would just like post about it on social media. And I found so much joy in doing that because women were like asking more questions because they were dealing with some of the same hair challenges and hair issues. And so that's why I tell people like, I wasn't planning on creating a product line because I would actually share like the different concoction recipes. I would post it on social media to help other women. And when I see people are just like so happy and they're amazed with their results, like that makes me happy. That gives me joy. At that time was Instagram. Could you put videos on Instagram or was it still just static?

32:55Pictures. Yeah, it was just pictures. Yep. So you would have a picture of you, I'm assuming. And then maybe in the description, you describe what you use and how you made it, which really is the best of social media. I love that. I follow all these cooking people because I look at what they're cooking and I want to make it. And essentially, that's what you were doing, offering up recipes. Yeah, I was offering up recipes to whoever wanted those recipes. so it wasn't to the point where like I even had like a formula that you can actually market and sell so for instance I would make like because I knew my hair needed protein and so as I was researching I'm like okay egg has a lot of protein and so I would make conditioners and I would mix egg into that conditioner crack an egg into it yes and then I would put it on my hair and so this is like trial and error and women were actually making the exact recipes and trying it and experimenting on their hair as well and I was like that showed me at that moment like oh I have influence they're taking what I'm saying and they're they see value in it and they're actually like recreating it so that was a light bulb moment for me to like show are you going to take this influence and use it the right way and grow and scale this?

34:18Or are you going to just look at this as a hobby and continue just having fun with it? And you had roughly how many followers at that time? Oh, like, like 500. Yeah. And but I mean, even with such a small following, I mean, that kind of positive feedback, I guess helped you start to think about opening your own business, a beauty business. And I guess your initial idea was like a salon, maybe featuring your own hair care products. Yes. Right. I wanted to make my own products in this hair salon. And so I had like put together like a plan of creating a hair salon. And I remember telling my husband this and my husband would always encourage me to because I would have those days where I would just sit and, you know, just probably stare at the wall.

35:04And he's like, no, get up, like, get out your plan. what are you gonna do next let's do something so he would always push and encourage me too because he saw that when I started focusing on stuff that had to do with hair my face would light up or I would be happy or I'd be focused yeah and so when I thought of the idea for the hair salon he was just like okay we're gonna do it so I knew I'm very self-aware I understand my weaknesses I understand the areas that I'm really good at um in the areas that I'm weak I go find help. And I knew that I did not have any knowledge of business. I knew that I did not have any knowledge of how to build a brand, how to market on social media.

35:44So I would go online and listen to podcasts and how I built this was one of the podcasts that I would binge listen to. I would find workshops that were talking about branding and marketing. And so I went to one workshop and she was a famous celebrity hairstylist who's from Chicago and she was doing a workshop on how to build your brand on social media. And I presented my idea to her and I said, I'm really looking to like open up a hair salon. And she's like, I think that what you're trying to do is really great. But you know, with you being a nurse and going into the salon space and having all of these cosmetologists work under you, it's really hard to get them to respect you because you don't come from their space.

36:35And so when she gave me that advice, I didn't take it as like, oh, she's hating on my vision. I actually thought about it. It was like food for thought. And, you know, I appreciated her advice because it was the way that she delivered her advice. I mean, I wouldn't have started my ill and blew up how I have if it wasn't for me talking to her because I clearly wanted to start a hair salon. A salon. And she giving you this, because you're right. I mean, that can be really dispiriting. You know, you're thinking, well, what am I gonna do now? But really what it did was instead of taking the left fork in the road, it forced you to take the right fork in the road, which was to make products.

37:11To just focus on the products. Yep. And the thought was, well, if I can create products, I can just do that in my home, just make it and sell it, and it'll be a happy day and I don't have to deal with anybody. And the name Maelle, I think it's like a combination of your daughter's names and their middle names, right? Yes. Yep, yep. So I have my first daughter is Mia Gabrielle. My second daughter is Mackenzie Ariel. So they both have L at the end of their middle names. And I like to say that they're mines. They're my L's. But in actuality, like it's really a combination of all my kids' names. My son's name was Milan.

37:46Milan. Yeah. So you knew that you were going to focus on products. But what was the first product you were going to try to do? How did you start to think about what that could be? Yeah, so my first product was an oil because as black women, we're always oiling our scalp. And so one of the oils that I started with really focused on scalp. And I knew that like the foundation of healthy hair is having a healthy scalp. So I decided to, one of the carrier oils was almond oil. When you say carrier oil, it means the oil that you put extracts in it. That's like the base. So sometimes if you put essential oils directly on the scalp, it can burn and irritate the scalp.

38:34Yeah. So you kind of have to like dilute it with something. And almond oil has a lot of protein in it. And I decided to mix it with like peppermint oil because peppermint is an essential oil. And I wanted to use the almond oil as a carrier oil. And so with my first product, the almond oil, like I would show how my hair would be so shiny. Like I would show how I would use it in my hair regimen, how I would use it as like a hot oil treatment. I would literally everything that I did on my hair using it, I would post like everything. So you have this product, right? This almond mint oil. Yes. And how are you going to then sell it?

39:12Were you going to make it yourself and put it in like little glass bottles with a tincture and kind of make a label for it? Or was that how you were going to start initially? Yeah. So at that point, I knew that I needed to find a chemist because, of course, I have a science background, but I'm not a chemist. So I knew that I needed to find a chemist that can help me actually to create formulas that work for the hair. And that's how I started. So I found a local manufacturer to bottle it, package it. And I think I started with like silk print at the time because I think it was cheaper. Let me ask you about the economics of this because you were obviously you were a nurse and you had a pretty good income and your husband was rising up the ranks at UPS.

39:56But still, like there is an outlay you have to put in probably a few, maybe 10 ,000, maybe more,$20 ,000. Yeah. And, you know, and to get the business, like to launch the website up until that point, I had spent about$10 ,000. And this is just saving money from your job. I like to say that it was like on Lelway. So every time I got paid, I would probably take the majority of my paycheck and pay for something. So if this week I needed to get my website done, okay, I would tell the web designer, well, I get paid on Friday. If I owe my website designer 500, I will budget to pay him or her$500. and if I needed to like order some more like inventory or products, that would probably cost me like another, like let's just say$500.

40:47So I knew that by Friday when I get paid, I'm going to be left with whatever and I'm going to divvy that up on something else that I need and then pay my bills and take care of my kids. So that's kind of how like up until I was able to gather everything that I needed to have in order to launch when I launched in May. May 23rd, 2014, your website goes live. You are still working as a nurse, which I think is really smart. Usually you're not going to make any money right away. Correct. Yep. So you would have people on Instagram. You would say, go to the website to order. Yep, go to the website. So I built up so much anticipation and momentum that I was doing something.

41:24Yeah. And what I learned is to really spark curiosity in people. In the post, you were saying, I'm working on a product, like you told people months in advance. Yep. And I would take everyone, whoever was following me, I would take them on the journey of me creating this product. So I made people feel like they were a part. And people tell me to this day, like, I remember when you were testing samples in the lab, because they felt like they were a part of it. So I mean, I would even ask, like, what color do you prefer? Or like, which product looks the most enticing to you? Like, I would ask questions.

41:59And that's how I became curious to know, like, you know, what does my audience want? Like, what are they looking for? Like, what are some of the problems and the issues that they're facing? Because if I can understand their problems, then I know that when I launch a product, the product is going to be a solution to their problem. And you didn't have thousands of followers. You had hundreds of followers. It wasn't like you were Kylie Jenner, not to pick on her, but she had, you know, millions of followers when she started a brand. So you had like a few hundred followers. Yeah, not a lot at all.

42:28And I just, you know, I didn't let that discourage me because I felt that like if I can just grow and sell a great product, the best way of marketing is word of mouth. If they like the product, they're going to come back and buy more and they're going to tell their friends about it. So I really focus on like the benefits of the product and show the results. So the day that we launched, even though I started with one product, which was an oil, it sold out. How many bottles did you sell? I think I had like 100. Wow. And I have to assume it was you and Melvin, like, in your house, like, packaging them up and, like, putting the labels on them and sending them off.

43:07Yep. So, yeah, it was just me and him. And I remember he had said in the car because we were driving home as the orders were coming in. And he's like, what is in this oil? Like, what did you do? I was like, I don't know, but we're on to something. So let's go home and pack these orders. And so that was the first day that we launched. And I was not expecting orders to come the second day because I'm like, OK, maybe all the people that that supported and bought for me, they're probably all my followers and they don't need to buy any more oil. So now we got to like wait till they come back to be repeat customers.

43:42The next day, more oil sold. The next day, more oil sold. And I will tell you from the day that we launched, May 23rd, 2014, we have not gone a day without having sales on our website. Wow. Wow. One of the things that is a challenge when you're when you start out, right, and especially when you're successful is that people think that success instantly equals to having lots of money. But actually, it can be a big challenge because you don't have enough money to scale, you know, especially if you're spending everything that's coming in to make more product. And just from like a business perspective, I mean, on the one hand, it was exciting.

44:23people ordering things. But I imagine that making a profit was challenging initially, especially because your ingredients were expensive. Oh, yeah. Our ingredients and our packaging was like very expensive. But we were able to do OK because there was no middleman. So we were able to generate a decent amount of profit in the beginning. But, you know, everything that we generated, you know, we bootstrapped our company for so long until we got into retail. But as long as we were like online selling direct to consumer, we were doing okay. But we just invested that right back into more product and marketing.

44:58Tell me about how you, I mean, you and Melvin are, you're not celebrities. You were, you had no connections. You're entering a space that's dominated by three, four companies, right? And so you're up against, there's a lot that's working against you. So how did you get into that world? How did you find people to work with and to help you kind of get to the next step and to expand? Did you, did you, would you go to like trade shows or would you, yeah, tell me what you did. We did a lot of trade shows in the beginning. So as I mentioned, like I would go online and find like different workshops that I can attend.

45:39I would also, you know, join these like natural hair communities and all of these natural hair sites. And so I was able to meet and connect with a lot of great people just by going to trade shows. Like one of the manufacturers that I work with today, I met someone that introduced me to them at a trade show. Some of our marketing that we did early on was a connection made at a trade show. So, you know, it's just getting out there and networking and, you know, just showing up every show that we did, you know, even though we didn't have a lot of money, you can tell that we put a lot of love and effort into like our displays and how everything looked.

46:19People would just come over and talk to us and want to learn more and figure out how they can help us scale. And they also found out like that we were actually real cool people and very humble people that, you know, they wanted to work with. And so a lot of the connections came from consumer trade shows and also B2B trade shows. Yeah. And was it just you and Melvin for the first year or so? For the first year, it was, yeah, it was me and Melvin. And then we had brought on, we started working with like an outside contractor that was like doing marketing for us because all of the marketing that was like me just doing it, just Instagram yeah off of Instagram and I found her at about six months and I knew that like influencers was a huge part of my strategy of like bringing on people and you know finding like brand ambassadors and micro influencers that we can work with and she helped me secure like one of the big influencers that I had worked with at that time tell me about the the capital outlay like I mean today to get influencers it's a I mean obviously it's a big business and it costs money but in 2014, 2015, did you have to spend a lot of money to get influencers to work with you?

47:35I mean, you know, at that time, it was a lot of money to me. When I look back, I'm like, no, that wasn't a lot of money. But I would say I probably I think I think my first influencer was like$3 ,000 per post. Yeah, that's Yeah, I mean, and that's that's a lot for a small business, Yes, because you were probably still well under a million dollars in sales, I imagine. Did you, I mean, one of the things that being at a trade show also is you've got to talk about your product and you've got to kind of be out there. Yeah. And so how did you do that? How did you, like people you want to approach and maybe work with, how did you get through your introversion to do that?

48:20Yeah. So so honestly, I I had to learn how to get out of my own way. That's number one. So I'll just use this as an example. So the first influencer that we worked with was I guess she was a celebrity influencer at the time. And I saw that she was going to be at this beauty event. And it was in Detroit. You know, I'm in Chicago. So I call my friends and I'm like, we're going to drive to Detroit. I want to go to this event because I want to talk to this influencer. And I want to just just give her my products. and just see if she likes it. And was she a beauty influencer or a hair influencer in particular?

48:55She was neither. She was just, she was on a reality show and she just had really beautiful hair. I knew that like, I'm like, she has beautiful hair. She starts talking about like what she's doing with her hair and she starts talking about it with my product. People are gonna buy my product because of her. And so my friends, they were game. They're like, okay, we'll drive to Detroit with you. And so I had set up a table. It was a booth display and she was speaking And then they opened it up for like questions in the audience. And I said, OK, Monique, here's your chance. Don't blow it. Just say it.

49:26And so I raised my hand when I tell you, like, I was probably sweating under my arms. I was so nervous, but I forgot what I what question I asked. But I the last thing I said to her was and I just started a product line. It's called Myel Organics and it's for natural hair. And I see that you have natural hair. And she was like, yes, I have natural hair. Just meet me on the side and let me try your product. So then I followed up a week later and, you know, we ended up doing a contract together. And so she became the first influencer. But it happened because of like me getting out of my way and not being afraid to like, you know, say something.

50:04Yeah. You, through all of this networking work you did, you land your first retail shop, which is Sally Beauty, which is a massive chain of stores. and I think you got into like 90 or 95 stores initially. Tell me how that happened. How did you get in? I mean, I have to assume it's hard to get into one of these stores. It's extremely hard to get into retail. Like, and the funny thing is, I didn't even realize how hard it was because it kind of like fell into our laps. So we had built up so much great momentum. We were selling product like hotcakes and, you know, we had a lot of social media buzz.

50:46And this was only year one. And we were also selling in like, you know, your mom and pop beauty supply stores. And so it was a black owned beauty supply store that had called me and she was like, you know, your products are just selling crazy in this store. I need to introduce you to this lady. And she has like all the retail connections and she can help get you into like the major stores. and so I kind of just like blew her off and I was like okay yeah just give me her number and I took her number never called the lady so the beauty supply owner calls me again she's like did you call her like I told her that she was expecting your call and you know I probably got distracted busy I still didn't call the lady so then the third time she gets on a call with my husband and I like we happen to be on a call together so she puts me on blast in front of my husband she was like yeah I've been telling Monique to call this lady you know she has great connections with retails and the way your products are moving in my store like you guys should really just entertain her and give her a call and so my husband's like oh well give me her number I'll call her because again like my fear was like the fear of rejection like I didn't know what to say to her so I kind of just let like my own fear and like doubt keep me from calling her or keep you know, I was procrastinating.

52:08But my husband, like he is extroverted and he's very persistent. So he's, I'm going to call this lady. I'm going to see what she's talking about. He calls her, she flies out to Chicago and she comes to see like, um, we put together like this little mini presentation. And it was really just like our analytics of like how we were selling online. And the chart that we showed her, like literally blew her mind. And she was like, this is just unbelievable. Wait, you guys started in, you started this year? Yeah, we're like, yeah, we started in May. And she was like, no, I've never seen this before. When we come back in just a moment, how that conversation changed the trajectory of Monique's homegrown business.

52:53Stay with us. I'm Guy Raz, and you're listening to How I Built This.

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55:13Hey, welcome back to How I Built This. So it's the summer of 2015 and Monique and Melvin happen to be at a gymnastics tournament with their girls in Dallas. And the headquarters of that all important national chain, Sally's Beauty, is just 45 minutes away, which turns out to be really serendipitous. So we get a call from this broker and she goes, hey, Sally's, they're very interested. They heard about what you guys are doing on social media. They are very excited about this brand. They want to meet you guys. And, you know, we were like, oh, OK, well, we're already in Dallas. But, you know, we're here with our kids and, you know, we don't have a babysitter and we don't have anything to wear.

55:53And she was like, they're like, bring your kids to this meeting. They really want to meet with you guys. And I'm like, how do we go to this corporate meeting and we're bringing our kids? They're like, you know, five and nine. I'm like, they're not going to sit still. And so we're like, hey, we're just going to make it happen. And so we ended up bringing our kids to this meeting. And we sat in Sally's corporate boardroom. And I remember telling my kids, I'm like, this is a very important meeting. Just sit in the corner. Keep your hands crossed. Don't say a word. Hope you had a lot of crayons. Yes.

56:24So what's so special about like that moment is because like now they're teenagers. and they were a part of like the beginning to see their mom following their dreams. Yeah. But, you know, Sally's were like, you know, we're going to test you guys in about 95 stores because you guys are new. And I'm like, hey, I'm just happy to be in 95 stores. How did you, because one of the challenges you've got to scale up, right? You need the cash to provide them with all of the product they need for the stores. And you guys were still bootstrapped. It was you and Melvin. It was your company. How did you all of a sudden go from making a few hundred items a week to thousands?

57:05Yeah. And I knew that was the next question because we knew that we were going into Sally. So that was in the summer of 2015. Remember the trade show that I mentioned that I was at, that I met someone that connected me to the manufacturer that we currently work with today. Yep. So it was like timing is everything because the previous manufacturer that we were working with in Chicago that was very small, they could not keep up with our supply and demand just with our online orders. And then connecting us with a manufacturer that allowed us payment terms. We started off with like 30 day terms. And so that allowed us more flexibility with like, you know, our money.

57:50but then we knew that like we needed to support the retail shelf because it's very expensive to go in retail you have to like you know pay them for like there's a percentage of like their marketing and what they're going to do to support your brand so you're paying for that so there are like a lot of different factors and numbers that were coming off top and looking at our numbers and our balance sheet we're like okay we're not going to be able to afford all of this now we need a loan. And how much money did you need? So we, I don't know if we actually knew how much we needed. I think that we just knew we needed a lot of money.

58:29So my husband, when he worked at UPS, he built a relationship with one of the contractors that provided services for UPS and they became friends. And this was like, you know, well-off guy. And so when we needed the money, my husband's like, I know the perfect person to call. And so he called his friend and basically like showed him the same type of analytics, our website. And his friend was also blown away. He was like, wow, you guys are growing like this and you just started. And we were like, yeah, but here's the dilemma. We're about to go into retail. We have this offer on the table. We're launching into 95 stores, but we need the money to support it.

59:05And so his friend gave us a loan for 250 grand. and that 250 was like the push that we needed to like you know launch into Sally's. And by the way when you're in 95 stores because a lot of people think okay that's it you've made it but you're one of like 10 ,000 products in that store. Yeah. It's still really really hard. This is why you see people like doing samples at the grocery store because it doesn't necessarily guarantee anything. Absolutely it does not. People think it's nice and pretty to Sam on shelf but listen you are a small fish in a big pond yeah and you're competing against people that have way larger budgets that can pay to be on those shows and can kick you off of those shows that they want to um so we launched in 95 stores and we listed every store on our website we communicated that on social media and I remember we were preparing to go to a trade shows February February 19th, 2016.

1:00:06The reason why that date never leaves my head, because that was a day that like, it was like crazy in the stores. In the Sally stores. In the Sally stores, because the day that we launched it, people went crazy. Because you announced it on your social channels? Just on Instagram. And people went to those stores to find the products? They didn't go to those stores. They went to every Sally store. And there are like 3 ,000 of them. Yes, there are 3000 stores. So they went to every store. And it got to the point where like our customers were harassing the store managers, they were calling corporate, they were angry, because they were saying that she announced that she was going to be in Sally's on social media, and we can't find our products.

1:00:53Yeah. And so it got all the way up to like Sally's corporate office where they called the same broker that initiated all of this. And they asked her, they said, can you please call the Myel team? Please tell them to stop their efforts on social media because it is really causing chaos in our stores and we can't keep up. Wow. So long story short, we went from 95 stores to 3000 chain wide in less than six months. And that has never happened to a new brand. So you start this brand in May of 2014. You're in Sally's by the end of 2015, I think. Clearly there was a demand for this. There was like a deep desire and demand for what you were making.

1:01:33And thousands and hundreds of eventually millions of people, mainly women, felt like there wasn't a product out there for them. Yeah. Do you remember like the first year you guys hit a million dollars in sales? Yeah. So the first year we did about like 300 and I think it was 360 or 70 ,000. That was the first year. Year two, we did 2.7 million. Wow. Yeah. That is crazy. I mean, just think about that for a second. You were posting on Instagram in early 2014. Yeah. And it's like when I even say it and look back, it's like, wow. I hope Melvin quit his job at that point. But at that point, so he quit his job in like 2016 because I quit six months after starting.

1:02:22And he quit like a year later. So he really tried to hold on because he just knew that he was going to keep his corporate job and help build this brand. And it was to the point where the brand told him like, no, you're not going to have time to do this. You're going to focus on this brand and leave that job. So, I mean, it seems like once you were in all those Sally's, I know Target started carrying Myel in 2016. Did they come to you? Did it get to the point where the big retailers started to come to you? Oh, yeah. So, honestly, all the retailers that were in, like, we never approached them. They all came to seek after us.

1:03:00So, once, like, Target got whim of what was going on in Sally's we get the call from Target like hey we want to meet with you all yeah um we got the call from Walmart and funny story like the call that we got from Walmart we turned them down the first year we didn't go into Walmart until like the second time that they reached out to us why you didn't feel we were not ready we were not ready like you know it's because their demands are pretty intense exactly like Walmart is the biggest retailer in the world and if you mess up you don't get a second chance. That's why I say being self-aware is so important and being aware of like where you are in your business.

1:03:37And we knew at that moment, we were not able to afford to like, keep up with their demands. You know, I tell a lot of entrepreneurs, it's okay to say no. Yeah, it's about timing. And sometimes it's not the right time for you to say yes, to what may look enticing, but it may very well not be what you need at that moment. And if we are the brand that we say we are and we know that we're going to grow how we say we're going to grow, then Walmart will come back the next year. And they came back the next year. Tell me, as you were growing, right, I mean, it started out with you and Melvin and then you started with some contractors.

1:04:14How did you find people? How did you source people? In part because you're not that far. You're about an hour away from Chicago. Yeah. You know, an hour out in Indiana. Was it hard to find people to, I mean, how did you find people to come and work with you? Yeah, it's hard to find people now, honestly. Yeah, so I think that like the challenge in the very beginning was like not knowing what to hire. I mean, we kind of just started with like where we knew that we were drowning. Customer service was like one of the first positions that we hired for because I was doing customer service in addition to marketing.

1:04:52And and then once we started to grow and get bigger again, it's like, you know, meeting people, going to like events, finding people on social media. And then, you know, I started growing more. I started meeting like mentors. So like Richard Lou Dennis is like one of my mentors. Founder of Shea Moisture. Yep. Yep. And then, of course, one of my mentors is my sales broker. Like we still have a relationship to this day. So, you know, recommendations from people that have been in this beauty space, I would make a lot of connections there as well. You mentioned Rich Dennis, who obviously hugely successful in the beauty space and now owns Essence magazine and is a major investor.

1:05:35He made a significant investment in your company, I think, in 2020 through his fund. And already by that point, I mean, you were already in 100 ,000 stores, 30 products. Obviously, he's a huge player in the industry and hugely influential. But I'm curious, did you need the funding at that point? I mean, you were already well on your way to, you know, being a big brand. Yeah, we were well on our way, but we were also well on our way of closing our business. Why? How? Because we were not profitable. So like, you know, now the story comes back full circle. So as I mentioned, we were doing well D to C with our profit margins because it was a healthy enough profit margin where like we were able to like do good things.

1:06:30Once we got into retail, our profit margins were like slashed in half because remember we went into retail with the still the high cost of goods. So and all of the other fees that are attached with like retail, we ended up spending a lot in marketing and retail. And this is where like, you know, understanding like your balance sheet, profit and loss statements, like even though my husband, like he's over financed now. But when we first started, like we didn't really have a good understanding of like how to run a business. So we were literally spending and not monitoring like what was going out and making sure that we were profitable.

1:07:10So Topline was great. The company was growing. Like you said, we were in 100 ,000 stores on the outside looking in. Growing 160, 200 percent a year. Yep. On the outside looking in, like, you know, it looked amazing. Yeah. But when you lift up the hood and you looked underneath the hood, everything was jacked up. Yeah. We had to learn the hard way and it really humbled us. And so we appreciate and understand the importance of having a good CFO, a good accountant, because it makes a world of a difference. So when we got to the point of having new voices invest in us, that's how horrible our books were looking.

1:07:47So we needed that to stay afloat. I really appreciate you telling the story because, you know, here you are four or five years in, just really successful. Right. And as you say, on the outside, that's the impression. And it was. It is. It was super successful. But you can still drive a business into the ground if you don't manage it well. Yeah, it was it was a huge lesson, but a very valuable lesson. So, yeah. When you, I think, got that investment from Rich Dennis, it was either before or right around the time of the pandemic. Yes, it was right before. So pandemic happens. And, you know, I've had this conversation, versions of it with a lot of D2C and retailers who were all freaking out.

1:08:36They're all panicking, you know, like what's going to happen? But in fact, in your space and beauty, it was the opposite. It actually had a huge impact because people were at home watching, you know, videos, seeing Instagram influencers and people actually start spending money on care, self-care. What happened to the business that year? We experienced like 4X growth during the pandemic. So when I tell you we closed with Richelieu with New Voices in the February, the pandemic happened like a couple of weeks later. And I was scared. I'm like, okay, we just took all this money. Now we can't, like, what do we do?

1:09:20We had this like 200 and something page marketing plan. And we can't do any of the things that we said we were going to do in this marketing plan. Like, how are we going to continue to sell product? The stores are closed. And I remember reaching out to Rich and I said, what do you recommend? And he was like, keep your foot on the gas pedal. And when he told me that, I was like, OK, it's go time. So I kept my foot on the gas pedal and I understood that I needed to pivot. And so I said, OK, what are people doing? They're going to be at home. They're going to be on their phones watching TV, but mostly they're going to be on their phones.

1:09:57So I told my team, I said, we need to be the brand that shows up every time they're on their phones. So we increased our content and let's focus on you still need to be beautiful. Just because you're at home doesn't mean that you don't take a shower and you don't comb your hair. You still get up. You still beautify yourself because you still want to feel good and confident even when you're at home because that's going to make you feel better. You – obviously, there was a lot of interest from venture capital firms and private equity firms and all kinds of people knocking on your door to invest because they could see where this was going.

1:10:36And you guys would eventually raise a Series A, reportedly over$100 million in financing. I think Berkshire was the lead there. Yep. Tell me about that process. I mean, usually when we talk to founders, it's like, oh, and then I went to like this firm and then this VC office and they were just really mean and they were asking all these horrible questions and they rejected me. Like, I think for you guys, it was the opposite. It was like they were all desperately begging you to invest. Yeah, we were there because we waited and we were there because we also went through the rejection and not having money and, you know, looking for people to invest in us.

1:11:20What I did, I failed to mention is that in 2018, before we received the investment from Richie Liu, when we were upside down, we were in talks with an investment group for almost about a year. and this investment group, like they were going to invest in us and waited until like the last hour to pull out and not invest. And I remember previous CFO, when we were going through our challenges in 2018, I remember like a word of wisdom that he told us and he said, you know, the best time to raise money, you know, is when you don't need it. And so that always stuck with me. Because then you can call the term, But you can determine the terms.

1:12:04Exactly. And so that always stuck with me. So when we started seeing all of this growth in 2020, I told my husband, I think we should raise another round. And so once the firms found out that we were looking to go out and raise, like they were chomping at the bits to like get to us. I mean, we spoke to over like 60 different private equity firms that were all interested in like speaking with us. And when I tell you like I was so exhausted I was so drained because I'm like I have to tell the story again I was so nervous. Yeah, because you know, I I also I suffer from like imposter syndrome like Do I deserve to sit here?

1:12:45Like am I saying the right things and you know, but again, it was a challenge I pushed myself and the other reason why we talked to all of these firms was because it was so exciting to these firms to see a black owned company that was very profitable, that had such growth and they had never seen it before. And that's like the sad part about it. Yeah. And we wanted to like help shift mindsets and change that narrative. So even if they didn't invest in us, when they sit down with the next, you know, Monique and Melvin Rodriguez, it's not a shock factor. It's more normalized. And they'll believe in that company that much more because of like what Monique and Melvin have done with Miel.

1:13:25So all in all, we narrowed it down after speaking to all of those people to partner with Berkshire because they were the firm that, you know, was really aligned with our vision. They had an amazing track record. They really helped us scale and grow and get to like, you know, our ultimate dream. And that was to partner with a conglomerate like P &G. In 2023, early in 2023, it was announced that P &G Procter & Gamble would acquire Miel. So, I mean, I have to assume that the talks were going on for quite a while and you probably had to stay really quiet. And they acquired Mile for an undisclosed amount, but presumably it was a lot.

1:14:03And first of all, I completely understand why you would want to work with P &G. It's one of the biggest companies in the world. Their ability, just their research department, their marketing. So it makes a lot of sense. But, you know, with the investment from Berkshire, presumably you could have, you would have continued to grow and expand. And was there, in your view, like a path where you could have become a massive independent company without joining P &G or Unilever or a company like that? Yeah. And I think the path is still to become a massive independent company because with our partnership with P &G, we are operating as an independent subsidiary under P &G.

1:14:50So we are operating as a standalone. So the company is still in Indiana. P &G has not came in and hired a new CEO. It seems like nothing has changed. Now we just have access to more, you know, with the advanced technology, the access to the unlimited resources. Like you said, the marketing, the media, the innovation, that's something that we wanted to unlock. You know, the whole goal is to create legacy. And I felt that partnering with P &G, the name Mayel, the brand, the heart and soul of the brand, the legacy will continue on for generations after generations. So my great grandkids will go in the store and they will still see Mayel there because of the unlock of resources and access that we now have with working with a major global company like P &G.

1:15:43I mean, it's an incredible achievement, right? Given that you started this thing on Instagram in 2014 and 2023, it's acquired by one of the biggest companies in the world. You're, I think, if not the first, one of the first female black founders to have a company acquired by P &G. When you think about your story, I mean, 2014, you were a nurse. I mean, you had a good life and your husband was well on his way to a corporate job at UPS. But you were always looking for something else, something to kind of satisfy this creativity that you had and this drive. and how much of where you are now do you think has to do with how hard you worked and how much do you think has to do with fate and luck and just serendipity you know honestly I think it's it's 50 faith and 50 hard work yeah I don't think you can have one without the other like you have to be able to step out and believe in yourself believe in God and and know that you know if God gave me this vision I can believe that he's going to give me all the necessary tools the resources the people the access it's not for me to know how all of this is going to work but it's for me to just trust the process and allow him to guide me along the way and then I know that I can't just expect for things to just fall in my lap you have to go out here and you have to work for it so a combination of me going out there and you know going to these networking events, meeting people, challenging myself, stepping out of my comfort zone.

1:17:21Like I feel that God sees that and he sees me putting the effort forth and he's going to match the effort. You are creating your life. You are co-creators with God. And if he sees you putting one foot in front, he's going to help you put the other foot in front of the other. And that's how I like to live. That's Monique Rodriguez, founder and CEO of Myel Organics. Myel products are now sold in over 100 ,000 retail outlets in the U.S. and in over 80 countries around the world.

1:17:56Hey, thanks so much for listening to the show this week. Please make sure to click the follow button on your podcast app so you never miss a new episode of the show and it's totally free. This episode was produced by Casey Herman with music composed by Ramtin Ereblui. It was edited by Andrea Bruce with research help from Alex Chung. Our production staff also includes It's Neva Grant, JC Howard, Liz Metzger, Elaine Coates, John Isabella, Chris Messini, Carla Estevez, and Sam Paulson. I'm Guy Raz, and you've been listening to How I Built This.

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