Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Imani Singleton. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Imani, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear your thoughts about family businesses.

As someone with a lot of business owners in my family, I know first hands that there are a lot of pros and cons to family businesses. On one hand, they can serve as a great hands-on learning tool with real-time results and on the other hand, it can put a stress on the family’s work/life balance. When structured correctly, people are able to experience the unspoken intricacies of business ownership like networking, customer feedback analysis, financial delegation, and supply chain management. This not only can provide a way to pass along generational wealth by passing on a company, but it can also inspire younger generations to bring their business ideas to fruition. Conversely, owning a family business can create a lot of added mental and emotional burdens. It isn’t uncommon for business owners to become emersed in their work and miss milestones like graduations, family events and of course the day to day small moments. This can also progress into bringing other family members down the same path to compensate for the weeks with added work load. In some cases, people end up putting their family members into debt trying to save a failing business model.

Thankfully, I have been blessed to have a family filled with successful business owners. Of course, as a child/teenager, I would have preferred to spend my weekends with friends or lounging around the house, but as an adult and developing business owner, I appreciate the experience. My parents (as well as my aunts and uncles) raised me in a way that laid the foundation for me to understand the importance of setting up my future self for success by doing things like getting a early start in the work day, creating a rough draft of next year’s/season’s business strategy and listening to customers’ current and future wants.

Going into college, people asked me a lot if I would be like my family and start a business of my own or if I would pick up my parents’ business. My response was always “I don’t want the responsibility”, because I saw how much leg-work entrepreneurship required. Now, as someone that has held several jobs at a time for years, I understand that it is more draining to commit to a regular 9-5 to fulfill someone else’s dreams than it is to focus your efforts to nurturing your own path. Starting my journey as a business owner is the best decision that I’ve ever made.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m currently a Marketing Major at Charleston Southern University (due to graduate this year), but I originally wanted to pursue Athletic Training with a Kinesiology Major. I was trying to force myself into a field that I was familiar with and good at. After 2 years, I realized that if I wanted long-term happiness in my career, I needed to figure out what was in line with my overall purpose. I’m the kind of person that likes to reach out and build bridges. Eventually, I landed on Marketing and I have loved it ever since! Slowly I started to realize that marketing is something that I’ve always enjoyed (especially the graphic design aspects). In 2022, I launched Melanin, Milk, and Money as a digital planner distributer. Overtime, I realized that this isn’t the niche that I want to be in long-term, so we are currently in the midst of a rebrand.

Soon, I will be offering services to create digital content like reels, stories, logos, and more! There will also be a new release of Taurus Threads, my custom apparel brand. I’ll be available to bring your custom designs to life as well as print it onto your clothing of choice. If you need uniforms for your business or matching shirts for a family reunion, Taurus Threads can fill your needs. Don’t know what you would like? There will be predesigned collections available to choose from posted online.

Something that would set us apart is our dedication to our customers. It is not uncommon for brands to aim for having the fastest turn around time. At Melanin, Milk and Money and Taurus Threads, we strive to bring your visions to life. To achieve this, we will have set times available for consultation where you can see updates and edits in real time. This gives every product a high quality, personal and intentional touch that drop-shipping companies cannot provide.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding part of the entire process is seeing how happy people are after receiving the end product. As someone that has made designs for my own family, it is priceless to be able to hold a memory in your hands. For me it is a little extra special, because my brands were inspired by my family. We have held a tradition since the early 2000s of making custom family calendar. In the beginning, we were taking the time to copy or print pictures, cut each picture and a background to our liking, and writing out custom features. Of course, over time, the calendar has evolved with digital edits and specialized fonts and formatting. Not only do I hope to continue the calendar itself, but I also want to continue to add to that one design at a time.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Concerning resources, I wish I knew about more online editing platforms earlier in my journey. Especially Canva! Not every program is easy to understand and navigate, but I improved by leaps and bounds when I started using Canva. It’s very user-friendly and it is my go-to software. Of course there are other programs that are great, but Canva has stood above the rest for me.

Take the time to do research on what software is out there. You don’t have to do a Google search for everything, but you can take an extra 5 minutes of your down time to watch a few Instagram or TikTok videos on what’s going on in the market. Companies are releasing new updates and features constantly, so just keep an eye out.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melaninmilkandmoney/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Melanin-Milk-Money/100083807634359/?paipv=0&eav=AfavM7gZeJi6R29Xa3wCvIMhhCYdEHWTZ_5gv8Xu9KhHwmVZdhQfAXHKDQpsgl0xXv8&_rdr