We were lucky to catch up with Emma Nduku recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Emma thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Looking back, what’s an important lesson you learned at a prior job?
When I first graduated college I was struggling to find a job that I like and felt I could grow in. So I started working at this one appraisal company and when I tell you I hated that job, I HATED that job. I was basically the middle man between the appraisers and the realtors/soon to be home owners/sellers. Anyways, that place was sooo strict and you always dealt with all types of personalites. I remembering crying either in the bathroom or in my car during my lunch break. I remember that was a tough time for me mentally and financially. For example, customers would call me angry about a number of things (appraisal report, not receiving the appraisal report, etc) and one day I answer the phone and the customer was livid about something (can’t remember) and he said to me “your dumb bleep probably didn’t even go to college *insert more colorful language*” This is just some of the nonsense I went through and not to mention some of the management were either mean or a bit too comfortable with disrespecting their employees. In the middle of this mess I will always still give my best as far as the quality of my work. Looking back at this experience helped me to learn how to interact with all types of people and also taught me to still work in the spirit of excellence even though you don’t feel like it. There is some aspect of being a business owner that you may not like and you still have to give it your all regardless of your feelings.
Emma, 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?
Welllll… my name is Emma Nduku and I am a North Carolina native. Currently I am a project manager at a tech company and I also have a business called Vin Luxe Beauty that I own with my sister. You are probably wondering what is Vin Luxe, but we sell all things beauty. Mainly we are a lash company, selling strip lashes along with lipgloss and face cream. The reason we decided to start our lash company is because my sister and I love to get dolled up and we especially love wearing lashes. People would always come up to us and tell us they loved our lashes and we look so pretty. Why not start a business you are already passionate about. We created Vin Luxe Beauty so that you can look and feel your best. You are your own brand and whether or not you like it first impression is everything. So we just want to make sure you always put your best self forward. What sets us apart is we are a black owned business, well not just black owned but Congolese-American owned business. I think representation is important because growing up I rarely found women that look like me in the beauty space. Soon we will have more products added so if you don’t wear lashes or gloss we will have other items to pick from…. just stay tuned!
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
One point in my life I didn’t want to work anymore. I wanted to be like a stay at home wife/mom one day. At the time I thought that was the only way to live the ‘soft life’. I made some poor decisions at the time because I desperately wanted to not work and let a man take care of me. My mindset at the time was women who worked a corporate jobs or were entrepreneurs could not have both a family and a career. I honestly feel like I was just very discourage at that time because I did not have a stable career/job. I was job hopping and living at home with my parents. I tried to dream big for myself and it was like nothing was really happening for me at the time (career wise). When I started working at the forunate 500 company I was able to see that not only was I able to grow within my company. I began to see women that had families, still had a thriving careers, and live that ‘soft life’. I had to unlearn there isn’t one way to live the dream life you want and you don’t have to just let a man take care of you. You can have duality, yes have the family, the career, let that man take care of you, but you can also provide that for yourself if need be. I bought my first house and luxury car on my own, which I didn’t think that was possible for me unless a man did it.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
Fun fact we used to not only sell our lashes online but we also sold our lashes in a boutique at my local mall. At the time that was a great move for Vin Luxe, we were able to attract new business/clients and foot traffic on Vin Luxe’s site. Every month we would sell out in store which was amazing!! Fast foward I would say about 7 months the boutique owner is changing locations in the mall because she wanted more space. However, because of the terms of our argreement changed. For example the cost to have even a shelf in her boutique increased significantly. She also wanted a portion of what we were making on top of the what we paid her to have a shelf in store. I had to really think about if this made sense for Vin Luxe and after further consideration we decide to keep our business online only. It was a hard choice to remove our lashes from the store, but it was for the best. It gave us more time to soley focus on growing our online presence.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: emma.nemma_
- Other: Vin Luxe IG: vinluxebeauty