Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Britney Douglass. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Britney, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We love heartwarming stories – do you have a heartwarming story from your career to share?
I remember the call I received from my friend, to tell me that after 15 years she was pregnant again! She was so happy to be starting a family with her new husband. We immediately started planning a better diet and exercise plan to stay healthy throughout her pregnancy. Unfortunately, a few months later she had a miscarriage and was completely devastated. Although she was hurting, she was determined to heal her womb in efforts to eventually try to get pregnant again. As a person going through fertility issues myself, I had a lot of empathy for her and wanted to figure out ways to help her heal her womb. I decided to send over a fertility blended vaginal steam for her to try. She did the steams for a couple months and prayed that everything was falling into place. To her and her husband’s amazement, about five months later everything definitely fell into place! She surprised me with a text full of ultrasounds, letting me know she was pregnant! I was so happy for her, but even more so because she was healthy and so was her baby. Overcome with emotion, she went on to tell me how she had been dying to tell me about her pregnancy, and how thankful she was for the steams. She truly felt that the fertility blended vaginal steams helped her heal, as well as get pregnant. Her heartwarming story continues to give me hope, which in turn, makes everything I do that much more special.
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 am Britney, the daughter of Russell and Yolanda Stephens. My parents are two very strong minded people who helped mold me into the person I am today. After taking the traditional route in life, going to college then getting a 9 to 5 job, I realized I wasn’t as happy as I thought I was. Also aiding in my decision to take a little detour. From there, I started my journey to self healing from childhood traumas and current traumas. At the time one of my major traumas was steaming from facing infertility issues. The overall goal of this “little detour” was to change my lifestyle and increase my body’s health naturally. A few years into my marriage we started working to grow our family. Unfortunately the doctors didn’t expect us to carry a baby naturally. That realization was the kickstart of another avenue of health for me. This began my journey to herbal healing! As I began to learn more about herbalism, while also healing myself, I was inspired to focus on creating a platform. I wanted this platform to give my future clients both a client driven and intimate self-healing mindset to better their health. I am determined to not only heal myself, but you and your family too! I am a certified Master Herbalist dedicated to healing our Black community through health products, education, and love!
GoldenBirdHealing makes flavorful seamoss, seamoss soaps, elderberry syrup, hair growth oil, womb saunas (vaginal steams), custom teas, and bath soaks. All of these different products have natural ingredients that I believe can and have healed the body from many aliments. I have been proud and surprised still that I was able to accomplish a big dream of mine by opening a Wellness Studio with my sister. We recently stepped out on faith and now I am able to offer my customers a boutique feel to getting their health up!
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
At the height of my business growing and me finally understanding marketing and make the changes to ensure continued growth within the company, my main supporter and the reason I started passed away. Not only did my Dad pass away unexpectedly, I found him. With my parents being divorced and me being the oldest I was in charge of handling his affairs and the funeral. But of course my clientele did not know any of this, so orders were still coming in and I was overwhelmed. Then my husband and I separated during a time when I really needed him. I was ready to email and text all my clients and tell them it’s over, I can’t do this anymore. I fell behind some and reached out to a consistent customer and friend and told her what was going on and profusely apologized for her late order. After scolding me on being worried about the wrong thing she also encouraged me to think about how my father would feel if I just quit. That night through all the tears and thoughts I decided to push through. That push led me to revamp the whole company: creating new products, new labels, and better marketing. It was hard as hell but I did it, and it led me to the happiest moment of my entrepreneurship, which is opening a storefront with my sister. Before his passing we both kept telling our Dad that was our dream, and a year and a half after his passing & our many bouts of depression we persevered and reach our goal.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
The power of word of mouth has very effectively helped grow my business. Word-of-mouth has proven even more effective than paid ads on Instagram and Facebook. The top three products that kicked off everything was Seamoss, Respiratory Steams, and Elderberry syrup. By helping people heal themselves it is easy for them to share first hand experiences to those they love and care about. Word of mouth doesn’t stop after just one interaction. I have found that one person will tell another, and that person will someone else, then that person will continue the chain and spread the word further. Every time I get a call, DM, or email saying such and such recommended me a huge smile forms because I love the referrals. This strategy has become a great vehicle for exposure and distribution for my company.
Contact Info:
- Website: goldenbirdholistichealing.com
- Instagram: goldenbirdhealing
- Facebook: facebook.com/goldenbirdhealing
- Twitter: healernichyb