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

Ariel, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

I graduated from the illustrious Clark Atlanta University, where I was involved in the background of athletics. I was a student Equipment Manager for all of the sports on our campus. When it was time to graduate, I received my first offer of being the first African American woman as the Head Equipment Manager of CAU’s athletic department. I was responsible for all of the equipment for 11 sports, but my biggest role and favorite part – was that I traveled with the football team and was on the field for every game. That position, in its entirety, taught me how to find my way in a Male-Dominated Field. I channeled a very masculine energy in that role and I completely lost my gentle and nurturing side. There was no Self-Care involved, and I got lost in the idea of having this history-making title, and my identity was wrapped around my career versus who I really was.

Fast forward to 2 years later, in the midst of COVID-19, I believe the biggest risk I’ve ever taken, was doing a 180° turn and making my mind up to create my own Body and Skin Care business catering to African American Women. My business gave me the permission to explore my femininity, unapologetically.

I’ve always appreciated the idea of creating, because it brought me a sense of peace- I’m just glad I did not allow other people’s expectations to deter me from my divine path.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I have my Masters Degree in Social Work from Clark Atlanta University. During my graduate year, I competed in our Research Symposium and I spoke on how African American women overcame adversity using Self-Care strategies. I did indeed win that year, however, I wasn’t practicing what I was preaching. I appreciated the fact that “Self-care” would always be there, but I did not understand the importance of it nor did I see it as a necessity until a year later.

I was facing depression and anxiety- the kind that made you unmotivated and all you want to do is absolutely nothing. I was taking care of every other responsibility but myself. One day, I saw a YouTube video of someone making body butter, and I immediately thought “I can do that!”. The next evening, I went to buy all of the supplies, and I truly fell in love with the process. The idea that I can create a natural products, infused with all of these herbs, and they’re good for the mind, Body AND Soul? It was a win. But as time would have it, I put it on the back burner until COVID happened, and in 2020, I made a decision that while everyone was experiencing a multitude of mental health issues with being stuck in the house and stuck in a routine, I wanted to shake things up and add to the time that they already had. For many people, Self-Care is not a part of the daily routine due to people not having the time or thinking that they have to take an entire day to practice loving on themselves. However, with my products, we are able to utilize the time that we already spend in the shower, and add a few extra products to our regimen to sprinkle a little Self-Care into the routine.

I create body butters, body scrubs, body oils and I also formulated a powdered facial cleanser that’s created from all herbs and natural ingredients to target multiple issues at once like Acne-Prone Skin, Oily Skin, Mature and Dull Skin.

I am proud of the fact that I can use my Masters Degree in an unconventional way. One of my favorite theories to learn was the Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and it talks about mindfulness and how you can practice it to manage your emotions properly and in a healthy manner. I was able to correlate DBT with the idea that my customers can use something so simple as a Body Scrub to wipe their cares and bad day away and watch it go down the drain as a proven technique of mindfulness, at that made me want to create even more, because now I’m able to recognize that I did not start this business for me, I started Glow With Flo to promote Self-Healing in the form of Self-Care.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Ooooh this is good! One lesson I had to unlearn was that Black Women have to take care of everyone else before taking care of ourselves. This mindset has been taught for CENTURIES! Our great grandmothers were taking care of their neighbor’s kids and focused on feeding their families, but when did you ever hear them say that they were tired and needed a time to focus on themselves for once? Never! As African American women, we’ve been taught to be the strong ones and hold everyone and everything together like our names were “GLUE” instead.

Glow With Flo allows everyone to change the narrative by promoting the idea that Self-Care is more than a Sunday Fun Day option- it’s a priority. If our cups are empty, how are we still expecting to pour greatness and healing into anyone else’s cup? How can we pour into our children and spouses and create healthy relationships if we’re burned out?

Glow With Flo is more than just products, it’s a movement- one that I will stand by for the rest of my life. Even when times change, Self-Care remains just as important.

Have you ever had to pivot?

For the entire first year of business, I called it “The Year of Exposure”, because I needed people to know my business and what it stood for. That year, I participated in over 15 Pop-Up Events and I met some wonderful people along the way. However, my biggest pivot happened within 4 months of being in business. I participated in the biggest Expo for African American women in the heart of Chicago, one year after COVID-19. Based on the past experiences and doing thorough research, this event that expected over 10,000 women every year could have been the break that I was looking for. So I started prepping in July for an event in August, making nearly 6,000 products to make sure I had enough for the demanding crowd. I paid for the hotel during the weekend and I was nervous as hell! Everyone was so shocked how I got my 4 month old business into an amazing Expo as such and my only thought was to not let people down but not once did I prepare myself for the what-ifs because at that time, my faith in God was unmatched.

That entire weekend probably only seen 2500-3500 people, and half of those were entrepreneurs at their own booths. I lost nearly $10,000, for that event and I was DEVASTATED. I immediately went into depression and stopped doing events for the next 3 months. Surprisingly, I kept posting good content, however, in my heart I was defeated. I felt as if I let people down and even let my family down after they believed in me and attended and worked the 3-Day event with me.

One thing that I learned out of that experience was to remain consistent and also focus on the little things. Throughout that event, I’ve had multiple people speak life into my business and I almost forgot how important it was that those people noticed my business and truly believed in what I stood for. That motivated me to continue applying for grants and opportunities and pivot my faith. Just because one opportunity did not go as I expected, does not mean that another opportunity can’t exceed my expectations and my next venture- did just that!

Fast forward to the month of my 1 year anniversary, I received an email stating that I became a winner for the Geneva Commons Uncommon Collective where I would be getting a free Pop-Up Storefront for the summer months along with a grant to fulfill my dream layout. With consistency and faith, I was able to build my dream store for my business within a year of launching Glow With Flo. Even with the storefront, I learned to pivot to find new ways to bring in new customers and bring more awareness to my store. I created “Sip & Glows” out of the Paint and Sip concept where I teach people how to create body care products from Body scrubs to body butters. My events gave me a different kind of purpose that allowed me to create events that honored Self-Care, along with providing products and teaching people how to make quality products to continue practicing Self-Care in the comfort of their own home. Learning how to adjust is pivotal when it comes to owning your own business. It won’t always be easy, but moments like that make everything worth it!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.myglowwithflo.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/glowwithflo
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/myglowwithflo

Image Credits
Angela Smith Cynthia Smith Je’Todd Smith Parí Smith Toussaint Smith