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

Darci, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s something crazy on unexpected that’s happened to you or your business

What is the saying, truth is stranger than fiction, Often times with my job, I am walking into unknown stressful situations or family dynamics such as a wedding or black tie gala. What I have learned is that everyone wants to feel special and included. One wedding in particular I was getting a particularly beautiful bride and beautiful wedding party ready for the wedding. I noticed a very quiet girl around 11 or 12 who was going to be a flower girl in the wedding but she was born with some unique facial differences because of a rare disease. She was sheepishly watching all the other girls take selfies and put their gowns on to get ready for the ceremony. I saw she also had a fancy party dress and I walked up to her and said, “Hello young lady, you are next to sit in my chair since you have a big job today in the wedding”. Her mom looked at me confused like she is not on your schedule? I took her hand and explained that she should have some blush and a little hint of sparkle like the other girls. I have never seen in all my years and any of my clients have a look of sheer joy on her face. After I put a little gloss on her lips, I reached and picked up a brand new tube of my lip gloss and put it in a pretty organza bag, looked at her mom and told her some of the all-natural ingredients in case she had any specific allergies and she said that they were all fine and handed it to the girl who was going to go put her dress on like all the other older girls. Later as I was cleaning up my equipment, the little girl’s mother came up to me and with the most grateful look in her eyes say, I can’t thank you enough for how you made her feel today. That day in particular reminds me that whether I am selling one of my products or getting someone ready is why I do what I do to help everyone feel special and to find confidence in themselves.

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

As an entrepreneur, the best quality from my upbring was to be resourceful by using what you have and even without having a lot, Having both my parents from rural Pennsylvania coal mining and farming backgrounds, the family worked very hard to literally put food on the table and survive, My mother went to school in a one room schoolhouse without indoor plumbing…. yes, just like the tv show Little House on the Prairie. (lol) What makes me very proud is that I am the 7th generation to farm the same land, over 420 acres that has been in our family for over 200 years. My father and I still farm and grow the Centaurea Cyanus Flower (Bachelor Button/Cornflower) that we hand picked that goes into four of my products that are like no other in the world. it was it makes all of the difference in surviving financially no matter what the markets and economic environments. When you work hard for everything you have, it makes you more financially cautious. Believe me, I have made many mistakes in business, but by going with my gut and not putting all of my eggs in one basket, I have been able to keep my business growing and moving ahead where often times I see other business owners spend a lot of money starting out later to close down within the first couple years.
I started out my business in 2009 by working out of a two bedroom apartment which the surroundings were less than ideal. With the slow and steady mentality, I diversified my business by provide services such as being a beauty stylist for photo shoots as well as individual make-up consultations to now focusing my efforts into retail, wholesale and e-commerce at www.DarciHenry.com. The hardest part of running my company is that I compete with the big box beauty brands who have multi-million budgets. They have a whole marketing team where I am the marketing team and all the other departments wrapped up in one. I am always grateful to every single client who could shop anywhere but they choose to buy my products.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I left a small town to come to a big city for college and was married at 19. Being married for 23 years and suddenly divorced after signing a pre-nuptual agreement, I started over I gave my kids a bedroom and I slept on a couch for several years. I then had a business partner who financed a company and worked 80+ hours only for her to take everything. I won my lawsuit but she up and disappeared and the legal fees to track her down would cost more than the monetary award plus more legal fees to boot. Currently I do everything on my own to manufacturing decisions, product assortment, marketing, branding, e-commerce, selling to clients retail and wholesale as well as being a makeup artist for photo shoots, weddings and special occasions. It is extremely stressful doing everything on my own, but I have found my efforts equals my results and I don’t owe anybody, anything so nobody can say, “if it wasn’t for me, Darci would not be successful”

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

My most effective strategy for growing my clientele is that every single client is equally important. I have never really had to pay to advertise expenses because my efforts and passion with my clients and their positive experiences have given me the best source for clients which are word of mouth referrals. People who use my products share that information and my audience has been built organically.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.DarciHenry.com
• Instagram: @darcihenrybeauty
• Facebook: Darci Henry Beauty
• Linkedin: Darci Henry
• Twitter: @DarciHenry
• Youtube: @darciHenry

Image Credits
I have all the rights to these photos