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

Alright, Jasmin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I launched Be Rooted to change the face of the stationery and gifting industry. There are so many categories where black women and women of color are underserved – across all stores and in all product categories. I thought back to some of my passions, and writing/journaling has always been something that I’ve been fond of. I was always that young black girl that had multiple journals and planners, even when I didn’t necessarily use every page of the planner. Be Rooted was created to flip that narrative, and center Black and Brown women by making them feel loved, celebrated, and uplifted. The stationery industry is over $40 Billion and there is not one major Black-owned national brand. Black and Brown women deserve to feel seen, heard, and loved across all industries.

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 always been that young girl who was super obsessed with stationary, had way too many journals, and way too many notebooks. But when you think about some of the iconic brands that have always been in the space there has never been one that really had our artwork or language that was directed to women of color. I had this idea to create a lifestyle brand that was really all about uplifting and celebrating women of color through reflective imagery and positive uplifting messaging.

Before launching Be Rooted in 2020, my career in retail allowed me the opportunity to really see how products got on shelf and how consumers would decide what the trends are. While I was really focused on growing the multicultural beauty segment at Target, I also had my eyes open. After working full time at a new role, I started Be Rooted, and within 18 months, Target reached out with interest in getting our products in store. Being the first Black-owned stationary brand to be at Target, and maybe even in mass retail in general means a lot to me, because it not only opens the doors for my brand but also opens doors for other Black stationary brands to show retailers that there is a need for this.

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

I’ve learned to start small versus having a huge vision without the resources to execute everything. Starting off, I had to think about digestible pieces of my goals and what could be accomplished in order to make my dreams come true. When we first started, we only had four products and they were all journals. Even though I knew I wanted Be Rooted to be a full lifestyle brand, I knew I didn’t have the resources or the capital to launch with all of the item types I wanted. Now, 3 years later we will have over 65 items available by the end of the year across 6 different categories.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://berootedco.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/berootedco/

Image Credits
Be Rooted