We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jamaul Smith a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jamaul, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Betty D’Minx. Back in 2007 was a thought from two different brand names. It was such an eye opening revelation going from 2-D images and into a 3-D space. I, being the brand Creative Director, had to pivot from being an artist to a business owner. I am not just selling art. I am selling a lifestyle. I am selling products with the artwork on it. I am selling products that I want to see, things I want to wear.

Jamaul, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Hi! My name is Jamaul Smith, the Creative Director of Betty D’Minx. I started this business with my wife to show my appreciation and love for the black figure. That Goddess silhouette, that is the black woman and all of her glory in classic Pin Up style. The brand is for those that have the audacity, the moxy to be yourself and give zero fucks along the way. Be proud to be yourself!

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Funny story actually.

We did a Pop-Up Puma event at the Boston, MA headquarters. We revealed our “Then I Said ‘Nah” image for the first time. Let me describe this image to you. Picture this. A large 40″ x 60″ canvas painting of a tatted black woman in a letterman jacket. This jacket has cannabis reference patches on it. She has brass knuckles on one hand. A vintage lighter case in her right hand. On the tip of her lip laid a gold cigarette holder.  And she is wearing lingerie on top of that looking very Pin-Up with zero fucks!

So you can imagine the looks of awe and disgust from the Puma reps. It definitely got mixed reviews.  But there was a lot of “why would they bring this here” type of vibe. It was at that moment that I knew this wasn’t our crowd.

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

You can not sell to everyone. Everyone is not your market. Just because you are great at what you do, “Marketing rules everything around me!” Know your people and get to know your target market.

Contact Info:

• Website: Bettydminx.com
• Instagram: Bettydminx
• Other: cargocollective.com/theejpsmith