We recently connected with Joshelle Jackson and have shared our conversation below.

Joshelle, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So, let’s imagine that you were advising someone who wanted to start something similar to you and they asked you what you would do differently in the startup-process knowing what you know now. How would you respond?

It’s funny because I’m at a point in my business where I’m actually ready for a rebrand and growth with Retro Elle. When I first launched Retro Elle back in 2019, it was based off my previous personal story of being a single mom that battled with postpartum depression after having my daughter in 2013. My background story was all about how I created simple, natural beauty and aromatherapy products that I used during my tiny moments of selfcare when my daughter was a baby. My mission was all about simplicity and minimalism. Even if you only had, 15 minutes to use for yourself, take time for you. But, I’ve come to realize that my outlook on how I go about my selfcare and creating moments of me time is alot different. I no longer resonate with the ideal of minimal, small pockets of time for yourself. With the constant busyness and stresses of the world, we as human beings are often left feeling exhausted, overwhelmed and burned out. It’s no wonder that mental health is at an all time high. So, why should I only give myself small amounts of selfcare me time, when I constantly give most of my time to the world? I now feel that selfcare is a necessity and should be lived boldly outloud and practiced alot more often. Instead of 15 minutes a day, I suggest taking a full day, a weekend or a week to give yourself the selfcare you truly need. We can’t keep putting ourselves on the back burner. To answer the question of what I would do differently starting over, it’s not necessarily about starting over because I believe everything we do, mistakes and successes, shape our entrepreneur journey. I think it’s more about growing and making changes to suit where we are now.

Joshelle, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

In 2013, I became a mother to a beautiful baby girl. At that time, I was living in Atlanta for only a year, miles away from my family in Connecticut. After having my daughter, I ended up developing post partum depression. I never understood how I could feel overjoyed becoming a mother yet have extreme feelings of sadness and anxiety at the same time. So, I decided to take matters into my own hands and started on my journey to being happy again. After researching natural forms of healing, I began creating natural beauty and aromatherapy products to use during my ME time. Even if I only had 15 minutes, I made sure to make my selfcare a priority. After many sessions of therapy, meditation, journaling, and using my products, I began to feel like myself again.

​
Years later, after alot of encouragement from family and friends, I decided to start Retro Elle and make products to help others on their selfcare journey! I enjoy creating natural, clean, minimal products that are safe and effective.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

When I first mustard up the courage to start Retro Elle, one of my biggest hang ups was on branding. I’ve always been an aesthetics person and knew I wanted to make sure that my brand was relatable and visually appealing. In the beginning, I would reach out to different graphic designers to get price quotes for them to do the branding and packaging for my products. But, I was taken back at how expensive it actually was to hire a professional. Many of the designers I wanted to work with started at $5,000-$10,000. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying they didn’t deserve to charge that much, it just wasn’t something I could afford as a new entrepreneur. Instead of getting defeated, I decided to rely on my creative background and challenged myself to do it on my own. I spent countless hours scrolling on Instagram, Pinterest and watching countless YouTube tutorials until I created something I liked. I couldn’t believe it; I was a Social Worker turned mini Graphic Designer in a year! lol I quickly had to unlearn that just because I don’t have the funds or resources to do something doesn’t mean I couldn’t have a successful brand. It just meant I had to push harder to find another way to get things done. While I never looked at myself as a graphic designer, my determination to still put Retro Elle out in the world pushed me to dive into a skill that I now love! With my own artistic skills, I was still able to create a brand that landed my products in major retailers such as Nordstroms, Madewell and IHG. I still get comments to this day from others that I have a beautiful brand and packaging. All in all with hard work, determination and patience, you can accomplish anything.

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

In 2020 before the pandemic hit, I had a secret shopper from Nordstrom reach out to my saying that they loved my products and wanted to include me in their upcoming Holiday Pop Up Shop that would run from November 2020 through January 2021. They requested a 500+ order of my aromatherapy sprays that would be in over 30 stores within the United States and Canada. I was so excited and grateful to be given this opportunity and knew it would be a great stepping stone for Retro Elle. Even though I was a team of 1, I knew with alot planning, persistenstance and organization, I could do this. Little did I know with the pandemic of COVID-19 on the rise, it would create many challenges I couldn’t even think of. When I started to order all of the supplies and materials for Nordstrom, I was having issues left and right. Many of the bottles I used for the sprays were sourced over seas in China and since everyone all of the world was experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks, they were no different. Many of the manufactures at the shut down due to to lack of staff because people were getting sick. There were so many times that I wanted to quick and inform Nordstrom that I wouldn’t be able to fulfill my order but I would pray, talk to family and friends and figure out a new plan.. I’ve come to realize that whenever you want something bad enough, you’ll go to the ends of the earth to make it work. One day, after many tears, I decided to think outside of the box and look into other manufacturers I had never used before. Thankfully, I was able to find one that would get all of my supplies to me on time. With alot of hard work, late nights, while still being a full-time social worker and assisting my daughter with virtual learning by day, I was able to get all 500+ bottles of my aromatherapy spray off to Nordstrom. Needless to say, the holiday pop up shop was a huge success and got my products in front of many different people all over the USA and Canada.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.retroelle.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/retro.elle/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@theretro.elle

Image Credits
None