We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Christabelle Izevbizua. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Christabelle below.

Christabelle, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

As the owner and operator of a home improvement business in The Bahamas, what I do differently from other similar businesses is show the ‘behind the scenes’ of the business. There are some companies and small businesses who post every so often but it’s mostly the pretty finished work, not usually the work in action or the in and outs of the business. I try to show the design process, the work in progress, and me – my personality – as the owner who also has a ‘9-5’ and works around obstacles trying to start/finish client work around my day job schedule.

For me, the person behind the business is just as important, if not more important, than the work they do. People connect with people, not things.

Christabelle, 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?

I was born and raised on the little island of Nassau, Bahamas. I was raised to be independent by a single mother, so as I got older that meant figuring out how to fix things myself because I wasn’t going to ask for help – I believe that’s how my DIY journey started.

In high school, I was a tomboy so I wasn’t attracted to any of the electives most of the girls were taking- like Home Economics. Instead, I chose Woodwork – did that from grade 7-9, then Carpentry from grade 10-12. A few years after graduating, I obtained a Certificate in Carpentry from our trade school – BTVI – but to be honest, most of the tips and tricks of the trade I’ve learned from Youtube University.

Sometime around 2017 I started recording simple DIYs with the intent of posting to Youtube but the editing process took FOREVER so those never got posted (I still have all the clips catching dust in my cloud lol). It wasn’t until the pandemic that I started posting my projects on Instagram – they ranged from woodworking to painting to even making my own oat milk.

The first project was a pallet herb planter, then my brother-in-law hired me to do some refinishing woodwork on a boat. Soon after, my partner asked me to build a 60 ft. long gate for his parent’s home, and though I was extremely hesitant, he was persistent. It took a long time to complete since I had never done a project like this before, but like I said I’m a ‘figure-it-out’ kind of girl. While working on the gate I started an apprenticeship with a carpentry company, so I was working with the company during the day 5 days/week and building the gate at night and on my days off. I think it’s important to mention that I didn’t start off having all the tools needed for the project; I purchased or rented as needed.

I posted the first phase of the gate to my Instagram page and caught the attention of a local hardware store that started sponsoring other projects like refinishing my bathtub. Between posting the gate and the tub, I started receiving inquiries from potential clients, which birthed my business – Bellewood by Design – in 2021.

Two years later I’m still working a ‘9-5’ (in an unrelated industry) while building my brand/business. I currently specialize in custom builds, refinish work, and interior/exterior painting. It’s still just me but looking to hire a few people soon and recently took on a female apprentice – which I’m really excited about! One of my goals is to introduce the idea of trades being an option for young women in my country and to provide a local safe space for girls/women/femme-presenting folk to learn.

On the DIY side, it stems from skin/hair products to Halloween costumes to car maintenance. Basically, if I can DIY it, I do. These types of posts can be found on my main page – @iamcbelle – along with all the life moments. Carpentry-related things I’ve recently started posting to a separate page for my business – @bellewoodbydesign – but I do of course intend to sprinkle it in on my main page because it’s still me after all.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I’m currently making a pivot in my business. My initial plan when I started my business was to build an all-female team, but I’m realizing that until I can find them, I may need to bring on males as my workload increases.

How did you build your audience on social media?

In my experience, as DIY account, I’ve been told to ‘niche down’ but that’s just not the type of person I am. I am not professionally diagnosed but pretty sure I have ADHD so my content goes along with what I feel like doing or posting in that moment. Those who get it, get it, and those who don’t, don’t.

When I started posting my DIYs in 2020, I believe I had about 2,000 followers. It grew to 6,000 by December 2022, I believe mainly because it was rare to see a woman doing woodwork. In October 2022, I posted a series of reels about servicing my truck myself, and by mid-December, it went ‘viral’ and my follower count grew so ridiculously quickly that by January 1st, 2023, I had close to about 20k followers and it kept growing in the first few weeks of 2023 until about 98k.

To be honest, I haven’t entirely figured out the magic that happened with those reels but I’ve concluded that it was a combination of a woman doing mechanic work and using voiceover to explain what I was doing. But also the mansplainers in the comments helped boost engagement, which makes the Instagram algorithm show the post to more people.

I haven’t done any posts like those for 2023 so my following has since decreased to 95k but I don’t care about ‘follower count’. It’s best to find your community and have 2k followers who will actually appreciate and engage with your content than to have 90k randoms.

My main advice is to be authentically you.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @iamcbelle / @bellewoodbydesign
• Facebook: Bellewood by Design
• Youtube: @iamcbelle