We were lucky to catch up with Katii McKinney recently and have shared our conversation below.

Katii , appreciate you joining us 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?

The legacy I want to build is that of self love and self care especially in the black and brown communities. I want my legacy to be that of building people and small businesses up. Creating communities that care for one another and building generational wealth not just for my family but all those families that are connected to me within the communities we serve.

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

My name is Katii McKinney. I have spent most of my life wearing my hair in its natural state and in the past 12 years not straightening it. I had little girls and I wanted to lead by example of embracing my natural hair so that they would embrace theirs. Six years ago, I was in a beauty supply store with my daughters and I saw some young adults looking for hair care products. They asked the clerk what they would recommend only to be pointed to an area with no other assistance. I knew then that was probably the reason we have what was called ” product junkies”. No one had tested the product or was able to tell them how they worked. I knew that would be the difference and that would be the business I would start. We test all the products we carry. We learn from the vendor partners that create the products on how they should work and how to use them and we pass that information on via in person or through emails. I wanted people to know these are tried and true products. Many of them are all natural and all of them are made with the mindset to solve a problem that the makers had. I wanted to promote those small businesses that where starting out that may not have the reach to make it to our state or the means to market. So we are helping them grow and helping our clients with doing the research ourselves so that they can buy with confidence.

Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?

I sell on my own site and decided to go with Squarespace. It was recommended to me by my cousin who had been using the site for his own business. I love the fact that they are always looking for ways to improve and assist small business owners. Their price point is great for the abundance of features it has. There is a build in feature that helps create marketing for social media or emails. I love that when they add new features that you are most cases automatically upgraded to them depending on your subscription. I would say the only con would be the POS is not available on android for those using that phone.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Since we are online, one of the best sources for new clients is actually events. Since the pandemic we are working our way back out to doing events to help bring awareness of our business and the products we carry. The in person events have been the best way to build rapport with the community we serve.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.elegantanddapper.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/elegantanddapper
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/elegantanddapper