We recently connected with Charlotte Rivera and have shared our conversation below.

Charlotte , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

I was a single mother working at a bank in my hometown Lawton Oklahoma. I have been at this bank for about six years. I witnessed 2 of my co workers be let go just a few years shy of their retirement because they were too slow on the phones, both women in their 60s, who had devoted close to 20 years on their job. I thought to myself is that where I want to be in the next 10 to 15 years? So I know Iout in my two weeks notice, took my savings and moved to Oklahoma City. I always knew I wanted to be my own boss just wasn’t really sure how or what I wanted to do exactly. I was scrolling on YouTube one night and I saw a video of Thai rolled ice cream. I watched it about four times and then I looked at more videos just like it. I thought it was the coolest thing I started researching Thai rolled ice cream, and Oklahoma and I noticed that they had a few different shops inside shopping malls, I thought how cool would it be to make this at events and for special occasions. I researched for months and bout a trailer a few months later. Then I bought a couple of Thai rolled ice cream machines. It just kinda spiraled from there.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Charlotte I’m 40 years old. I have three children and one grand daughter. I honestly kind of stumbled into this ice cream business when I quit my job at the bank and move to Oklahoma City. Levi and I were driving to California to trim weed on a friends farm. That’s kind of where I came up with the name Contrabandz Lab, ice cream so good it should be illegal but thankfully it’s not. I think what sets us apart from others is we were the first Thai rolled ice cream food truck in Oklahoma City. We not only creat our own flavors with unique names but we serve our awesome concoctions on a homemade waffle cone shaped as a taco. We worked our fingers to the bones to get this business up and running and it’s been successful for six years now. We won Most Creative and 1st place at Oklahoma Foodtruck Championship. I’m very proud of that. I couldn’t have done it without my partner, Levi.

Any advice for managing a team?

Stay true to your self first! Always treat people how you want to be treated. Don’t forget where your come from and where you want to go! Don’t be afraid to fail and don’t get tired! Keep pushing and ignore the naysayers

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

I did it cheap! I didn’t get any loans. I had a little money saved and we did built the trailer up on our own! What we didn’t know how to do (pretty much all of it) we used YouTube a lot

Contact Info:

• Website: Contrabandzlab.com
• Instagram: Contrabandz Lab
• Facebook: Contrabandz ice cream lab
• TikTok: contrabandz lab