We were lucky to catch up with Ciara Burton recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Ciara thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Almost all entrepreneurs have had to decide whether to start now or later? There are always pros and cons for waiting and so we’d love to hear what you think about your decision in retrospect. If you could go back in time, would you have started your business sooner, later or at the exact time you started?

Honestly if I could go back in time, I would’ve started my business sooner! When I first launched my business, I was in a hustling mindset to make a living and ends meet for me and my two kids. I lost everything, house, job, car so I didn’t think of how challenging running an business while being a single mother could be. My drive to get my income flowing, helped me sell the product, but my will to fight off depression due to my living situation I was in definitively helped my creativity flow! I believe that if I would’ve started a little sooner, and not been Afraid to take the risk, I would be in a different setting with my business as of today! Even through all of those challenges I’m still very grateful to have been blessed enough to start my cosmetic line.

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

Hi readers!

My name is Ciara, Im the owner of Ciara Sade’ LLC which is an cosmetic line with an New Orleans theme! I was born and raised in New Orleans, la and currently residing in the Dallas, tx area. I’ve been in the beauty world for as long as I could remember. I grew up around hair stylist and braiders, my mama and grandma was mostly my influencers when it came to getting dolled up! My teenage years I begin to explore makeup and hair styling when I became apart of my high school dance team. It was must to get cute for games and parades lol!

The older I grew, I started to realize my natural talents of drawing and expressing myself through art and writing, but instead of putting it on paper I began to express myself, through applying makeup! I would work full time jobs, get off late and stay up to the wee hours of the morning, just to finish a look! I knew I had to put actual work into my craft, especially if I wanted to be seen!

I also started taking on model clients, and slowly begin to charge my worth for my artistry. The more clientele I gained, the more Information I retained on products. I took all of that information, feedback, and comments from clientele and started to brain storm things on how I could be an better impact on others.

I was working so hard representing other brand, with little of no effort of being seen by them. As time went on I decided to branch out from influencing for other brands and create my own!

When I moved to Texas after hurricane Katrina, once of the main things I’ve always heard when someone found out I was an NOLA native was, “I wanna visit New Orleans!”. Or even how much they swooned over my accent. That’s how my brand was created!

I wanted to capture the essence and culture of New Orleans through my cosmetic line! I thought I would bring a little of New Orleans to each one of my supporters by using Mardi Gras colors, famous food names, and much more. Everyone loves it!

We have have everything from eyeshadow palettes (Crescent City palette) to water activated liners (Gumbo Pots) and we are still expanding our product list! I believe the uniqueness of my brand including the love I have for my hometown culture is truly what set my brand apart from others.

I’m truly proud of moments like these, where I get to share my story with so many others and to let them know that everything you want to do is POSSIBLE!

My ultimate goal is to bring beauty to life!
To uplift people from all walks of life.. and not only to help them see their own beauty but also to embrace and love every single flaw whether it’s enhanced through our products or not!

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Social media is definitely a blessing and a curse wrapped into one! Building an audience on social media is technically not an overnight thing, BUT it could be if you go viral! I had a video to go semi viral on Facebook through reels, and it was going great! I started being paid through the meta based program and gained almost 20 k followers within 2 days! Even though it sounds amazing I was not prepared for the negativity that also came with it! The main advice I would give on building around your audience, is too make sure you are targeting the correct market, and stay consistent! It’s not easy as one may think it is! Once you began to roll out your content, you have to keep rolling! Take advantages of the tools that’s provided to you on these social media apps! Use viral hashtags, create your own hashtag, use viral sounds! Plan ahead and prep content for time released post, Because social media will always be hungry for more! Even though social media can be an faster way to get the attention on your brand, Do not forget about the old school marketing ways! Post flyers, go to events, become a little more social outside of the internet.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Simply being myself. People tend to gravitate towards you and your brand more when you are relatable! Tell a story, express yourself, don’t be afraid to show them your personality! Also retraining knowledge on the information from the market you are in! Take classes, get this certifications! All of that matters.

Contact Info:

• Website: Ciarasade.com
• Instagram: @ciarasadellc
• Facebook: @ciara Sade llc
• Other: TikTok @ciarasadellc

Image Credits
Jametrea Robinson Kathya Reyes