THE OBSERVATION BOOTH
OP-ED BY ANDREA DIALECT
EXPERTISE APPETIZER
As a Mocha woman, I identify with my being a Mocha sista as others tend to identify with being black. When it comes down to it like they say in those streets “You know what I’m saying?” This week’s Page Jacker is one of those Dope Mocha Chics / Black Dope Chic’s that I happen to be well acquainted with. Never in a million years did I think that her mama, my ol’ classmate, and friend from high school. That dope mocha chic’s, dope black chic Zenobia like my schoolmates her mama and her uncle Terri with those beautiful brown eyes, certainly has an eye. Zenobia has been supporting Ms. A as she calls me throughout the years. As donating her creations and lending her image to change in support of L.I.T.s Models L.I.T Projects and other endeavors. Today it is my pleasure to be in support of hers!
LEATHER CANDY
Zenobia’s wearable art and statement pieces
(leathercandy.bigcartel.com)
SHE’S SO FLY
“I don’t keep track of the earrings or the items that I have created. So it’s hard to say how many pairs of earrings I have made. But it has to be in the thousands; when tallying up those that I made in the past, the online sales and the wholesale orders; those are usually around 200 pairs at a time. It is well into the thousands. Making 200 pairs of earrings takes me a day or two it’s not that hard because I’m used to doing it. As far as the craft goes, I customize earrings also. To date, I have customized hundreds of earrings. If you come to me with a design, I will create it for you one, two, three.
“I often get the materials that I use offline. But I do try to support my local shops; I support those in our area as much as possible. But predominantly I buy offline. I have a day job and there is no certain time that I craft. I do it when I get off work, sometimes during my break. I bring my materials with me. I do it at work at my 9 to 5. Usually, it’s done during whatever free time that I have. I used to handcraft them by myself for years. So, I do want to shout out my significant other, my sweet baby helps so it’s somewhat easier for me now to navigate. I have thought about mass production considering Leather Candy’s growth margins. I haven’t started looking into it yet. I didn’t figure it out, but I will.
BLACK GIRL MAGIC
“Being a black woman is hard and it’s magical. Being a black woman in business means a lot to me because I’m able to take what I make and adorn other black women with it. It allows us to express ourselves; it allows us to have fun.
“As far as my headspace is concerned, as creating I sometimes listen to music, and I watch tv. I do a plethora of things while I’m creating. You feel a sense of pride while you’re creating because you’re giving something to us made by us and that’s your contribution to the black woman.
“It is not as exciting, and as amazing as you say Ms A. That sounds good on paper but that’s not always how I feel. Sometimes I’m tired; I want to get it over with. But in all honesty yes, I am doing it for my sisters. Most of the earrings that I make with the sayings on it is about black pride. It’s about loving the fact that your woman, a beautiful black woman; a dope black chic. So yes, I’m making it for my people. My slogan for the business is actually,” For the culture;” handmade hand-crafted earrings for our culture. It is very important to me that we express ourselves as black women, black men, and as people in general. So yeah absolutely, I do this for us.
“My funky afro-centric style evolved from my life lessons. I fell in love with our culture when I went to college and I took this African studies course; it really opened my eyes. We learned about where we come from. I liked that because I am a creator and I love vibrant things and that’s who we are. I fell in love with the Afrocentric style. I do tend to lean towards everybody. But I wouldn’t say that it’s universal because it’s not everybody’s style, and yes I do wear my own products. Every time, I wear one of my earring creations somebody asks me who made them and where I got them from. I mean every single time.
LEATHER & CANDY
“I would describe my Leather Candy earrings simply as “self-expression!” If we were to get into the heads of the customer, I believe Leather Candy would be described as “different & unique,” because they’re one of a kind. I have been planting for 10 years and this has not been an easy road. It’s been long nights, early mornings, and a lot of troubleshooting. You have to fix those problems quickly.
“I started in 2006 my very first project was a pair of earrings. I was going to a crochet-making class with a friend. We didn’t like the class because we couldn’t get the hang of it. Ironically, I mentioned to my friend “that the project that I had created at the time could be a nice pair of earrings. We were both creative, so we decided to come together and we started making earrings.
“We sold our earrings on Etsy and it happened just like that. The two of us worked together from around 2006 to 2009. Eventually, we decided to go our separate ways developing our own companies. Things begin to really pick up for me once I stepped into the business. I am a natural creative; I got it from my mama. She had a knack for just making basic stuff more fabulous. Her making dresses for teddy bears tend to stick in my mind for some reason. I have always been creative and it’s because of her!
“The earring that put Leather Candy on the map was these earrings that I no longer make. They were paper earrings. I would design earrings on the computer and print them out on cardboard paper. The design styles were different, they were abstract art. I had this saying, and I can’t remember where it came from, but it was pretty random and weird. But people liked them. it was like a kiss image on it, and it read “couture hell” To me, the earrings were so weird. I don’t know why people loved that concept, but they liked it and I sold a lot of them. That happens sometimes it might be a pair that I personally don’t think is going to bang but they be bangin.
“Marketing wasn’t’ one of my strong points for some reason I started online. But, it wasn’t like hey here I am buy my earrings. I just started posting on social media. I never told anyone that I was making or selling the earrings or anything. I just asked people what they thought about this or that. then People were like “those are the bomb did you make those? Do you sell them too?” I wasn’t pushing anything on anybody, just letting them come to me instead of trying to make them buy my stuff, that’s my kinda marketing.
“Leather Candy can be purchased online and can be found at The Sistah Shop at Jersey Gardens Mall now. I don’t want to say anything too soon but it looks like I’m going to be also expanding to other malls. I recently got an offer. I am blessed by the best because people are always reaching out to me that I don’t even know to exist and they have these massive followings. They reach out to me.
“When it comes to pricing I always want to keep it so that I can make a profit but, I also don’t want to break anybody’s pockets. So I figure out the cost of labor and factor in the product materials at cost and then I go from there. If becoming an entrepreneur or creator is your goal. Make sure you have fun first. Take care of business but, you gotta make sure that you love doing it because if you don’t it’s not going to succeed. You also have to be mindful of the business side of the business. Biz like your taxes and stuff like that has got to be airtight. Make sure you don’t forget about those things.
“For instance, there has been a time or two that I create somebody else’s design; there was one lady in particular that requested that I make a pair of earrings with a certain saying on it. I was like “Oh this is the bomb” so I asked her if I could replicate it. She was good with it so I was able to make multiple pairs. But if she didn’t want me to use it. I would have respected her wishes because it was her idea, to begin with. That was some time ago and no we did not sign an agreement. But here and now I would get it in writing because you don’t want anything coming back on you. What I did have at the time was our messages via the social media platform. But you want to have something a bit more professional and legal in place. Because once you start to blow up people will want to try to get their little bit of coin off of you.
Yeeesssssssssssssss!
“Creativity just shows up for me I can be watching tv, having a shot of Hennessy or a glass of Montebello and Id just get an idea. I can be walking and see a weird shape and I’d say that can be a fire earring. Then I go into the lab get on my computer and sketch it out and take it from there. To date, I don’t have a favorite earring creation. I love all my babies.
