We recently connected with Gloria Pope and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Gloria thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Folks often look at a successful business and imagine it was an overnight success, but from what we’ve seen this is often far from the truth. We’d love to hear your scaling up story – walk us through how you grew over time – what were some of the big things you had to do to grow and what was that scaling up journey like?

Black Girl Everything was created in January of 2020. The idea was curated as an event that was going to honor black and brown women, who are staples in their community. As the founder, I just wanted to showcase all of the greatness that surrounded me. This event was planned for late March of 2020 and due to the global pandemic it was canceled. Because the event showed traction of over 200 tickets sold, sponsors, 50 participating businesses, and awardees, I had to pivot. That is where the journey began.

At this point in the business, I had to create a plan that focused on still accomplishing the goal of promoting black women owned businesses. As the rest of the world did, I went virtual and began to interview all the participating businesses and created our first Youtube channel. The channel became a place to create magic and allow businesses to be seen. Moving forward we continued to pivot with the world and began to hold outdoor events in late 2020.

The framework was set early for how we moved with the organization and still today this framework guides our steps. B.R.A.N.D, build a plan, trust your resiliency, tap into all assets, move with your network, and exercise diligence. At first as we continued to pivot and redesign the organization, we continued to see more possibilities. These possibilities were created by Black Girl Everything maintaining the vision of the organization.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

For my whole life I have always been an educator and a caretaker. I was raised in a large family where I am the first born. Being the first means you are born to be a leader, for my story it also meant I was a caretaker. With such a large family came struggles that most peers born in the 80’s in New York have similar stories of lack of stability. With my circumstances I spent large amounts of time with my uncle who was a business owner. I watched how he navigated the world and also how he created stability for his family. I learned early that education was going to provide access to my greatest dream.

When I started the brand that concept was to be in service to others. BGE continues to provide opportunities to exercise this extension of support to others. How the brand connects through workshops, networking meetups, small business merchant events and retreats provide opportunities for connection. Black Girl Everything is a brand for individuals who are looking to live their dreams out loud, we support you with the how.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

When it comes to brand loyalty it takes time to foster these relationships. The first step is to create a brand that supports your audience and all of their needs. When doing so business owners must focus on aligning who they would want to support through their brand. Once this is established the real work begins. When you connect with folks it is important that they feel seen and not an actual number. Business owners have to take time to personalize their interactions with potential customers and clients. This could be through email campaigns, suggestions of products based on what they have purchased in the past, and/or even direct conversations about their perception of the organization. Human being want to always feel part of something, they need to know they are important to your brand.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

Leadership is part of my being, through all of my education I have built my degree choices around becoming a full time entrepreneur. The plan was set from years ago that I needed to train myself to be the best I could be as a leader. When it comes to managing a team it all has to do with how you connect with your team. How are you providing your team with access to tools to improve professionally? When you develop a training system that works for your team. You will find they are engaged in the work that they do. Everyone wants to be the best they can be, so supporting your team is a key part of that.

Secondly, creating morale means valuing who they are and what they bring to the table . Team is a powerful concept that we can not take for granted. When you value a team, everything will always fall in place. Your team will perform just because they want to see you win, because they know you want to see them win.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.blackgirleverythingllc.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blackgirleverythingllc/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blackgirleverythingllc
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-gloria-pope-9723a219b/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKTNWsdZFNhtlj0GrKsBp7A
• Other: https://linktr.ee/drglo

Image Credits
Nor of Nortography