Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Joycelyn Bryant. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Joycelyn, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What sort of legacy are you hoping to build. What do you think people will say about you after you are gone, what do you hope to be remembered for?

I want people to see me and be re-directed to themselves. The greatest gift I can give someone is their own reflection – the ability to see their own power. The bravery to operate from their inner voice versus the many external voices that emanate from our current social paradigm. So many of us are stunted by arbitrary social expectations. The demands and voices of social norms can be so loud and so persistent that they become indistinguishable from our own. It’s no wonder that so many people find themselves in a rat race toward objectives that typically don’t align with their true values or nature – ultimately leading to a life of dissatisfaction and emptiness. It would be my greatest honor to serve as a catalyst to living life in a way that is authentic to the purest self – unmarred by external expectation or social validation, and fueled by inherent purpose.

Food is the primary medium that I use to deliver this message. Everybody eats! And many of us need to cultivate more consciousness around eating habits. To build a better relationship with food, we must build a better relationship with our inner selves. This translates to all other areas of life.

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

My journey has been very atypical. I never intended to become a chef or foodpreneur. In fact, I was studying pre-med getting ready to apply for medical school when I started my first business. This was a result of being burnt out with a heavy course load and suffocating financial responsibilities. After spending a semester working full time at a call center alongside a full course load, I decided that I needed to be more financially empowered before proceeding to medical school (which would be more demanding and more expensive). I had the bright idea that I would start a business that would become self-sustained and pay my way through school. I’ve always had natural talent in the kitchen – which was cultivated through my upbringing – so I decided I would start a mobile soul food delivery service targeting my college peers. I started the business the very next day.

Through this endeavor, I opened up doors for and within myself that took me on a totally different trajectory – ultimately deciding to not attend medical school. After awhile, I changed my business model and became a caterer serving corporate clients as well as any event someone needed me for i.e. graduations, weddings, parties, private dinners, etc. As I leaned more into catering, I brought my passion for health and wellness with me – eventually realizing that I could obtain the same objective I had for going to medical school in the first place. That was that many illnesses and stresses could be eliminated through understanding how the body works and choosing foods and practices that support optimal function. In short, food is medicine and can be used to preventatively. I began incorporating more plant-based options in my menus and creating educational channels for my clients. I eventually developed a curriculum that incorporated biology, anatomy, physiology, chemistry, cooking and even shopping lessons in a way that provided a digestible knowledge base for the every day person to be empowered in their decisions and habits around food.

I decided to found SpinJoy! when I realized I wanted a brand dedicated to supporting that objective. It also served as home for a business model in which I could create more automation (and wealth) through food products. Our first product is the Coconut Flour Wrap – a gluten free pita or tortilla alternative and a physical manifestation of the idea that you can eat well, have convenience and satisfy your tastebuds, There is no need to sacrifice any one for the other. SpinJoy! is an attempt to marry wellness ideals with the reality of the modern day hustle and bustle. We know most people simply don’t have time or brain capacity to sustain eating habits that involve time-consuming recipes. So we decided while we provide the educational tools, we will also provide the physical tools that help you seamlessly employ the new understanding as you transition to a wellness-centered life.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

We chose the Coconut Flour Wrap as our flagship due to the apparent ease of manufacturing. That was one of the main objectives in creating a product – not only that it would be plant based and assist the busy consumer, but that the manufacturing process would be easily sustainable.

We started off manufacturing in-house with hand presses and are now securing partnerships with co-manufacturers to automate the process even further. Securing the right co-manufacturer has been tedious for a few reasons. One is that we launched right in the middle of the pandemic so American manufacturers were stretched to capacity as well as experiencing labor shortages. Many remain to be so. In a unique case, we were excited about a potential partnership in Trinidad and the deal fell flat because the company began to see us as competitors for their in-house products and suddenly stopped communicating. We only found out the true reason from a mutual contact.

One of the main lessons we learned is not to put all your eggs in one basket. Our goal is to secure multiple partnerships in case anything goes wrong with any one of them. Also, sign NDAs as soon as possible, even if you feel good about the company. Be able to self-produce if ever needed. This was the beauty of us starting in-house, because we were never dependent on partnerships for production. I would advise to start securing these partnerships sooner than later, however, as in-house manufacturing can be met with a lot of overhead and, in our case, limits on the rates of production.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Our launch story is rooted in a pivot. One of the ways I supplemented my income over the years was through experiential marketing. The expertise I gained about the inner-workings and economics of trade shows and conventions leant itself to the original launch strategy. I had built the right connections and understood enough about retail buyers to decide we were going straight for large scale distribution. I planned to launch in May of 2020.

Of course that was completely derailed when we went into a global shut-down. All major events – including the prominent trade shows – were canceled or postponed indefinitely. It was jarring and took some time to re-strategize. We ultimately launched on a much smaller scale in October – using a a direct to consumer model rather than b2b. We created a local 8 -week trial subscription pilot program using an online ordering system. This allowed us to verify product viability and get feedback. A few months later, farmers markets – which were a part of our original launch strategy – began to re-open, so we started securing booths in Orlando and Miami. This pivot, I believe, was a blessing in disguise because it gave us much more face time with consumers – helping us to understand and redefine our target before scaling up to large retailers.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.spinjoy.life
• Instagram: @spinjoy.life