We were lucky to catch up with Kdnae The Alchemist recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Kdnae thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?
I usually have most of my over the head lightbulb moment around excessive water( oceans, lakes, bayous, shower/bath time), late nights(10:30pm-5am), doing my breathing meditations, or exercising. Once I get that lightbulb moment I try to find the nearest pen(cil) & paper or phone to text the raw thought to myself. Second, I put my phone on my “editing” do not disturb & restrict certain apps on my devices to prevent any distractions. Thirdly, whenever I finally have time to, I sit down with a notebook or sticky notes(for physical jotting) & my iPhone or iPad(for digital jotting) & give myself an hour or two to brain dump, research, goal time frames so I don’t sit on the idea for too long, & list any details for future inquiring individuals. Lastly, I breathe in & out say Thank you Lord, asé & tend to my fruition.
It was almost a full year of planning before my official SAP grand opening launch back in 2020. When I first brought the idea to both my parents & childhood best friend they motivated & inspired some pieces & ideas I’ve included into the collection. I didn’t have clue on which items I wanted to sell off rip, but I just knew I wanted to have my name attached to a well locally known brand in my city. That’s when I sat down & asked myself “what do or will I use in my day to day life that’s worth buying from a new business owner?” & remembered that I was into a type 4 hair girlie, so I have a different maintenance process than those with type 1-3b do, & that’s when the bonnets, durags, head wraps, headbands came into play to protect all hair types & especially my customer’s edges! At the time my mama had developed a liking to collect different styled shaded glasses, so I added a shades category for her.
I used to spend most of my 2020 late nights talking to the vendors that were across the world, researching inventory inquiries, inventory quality, experienced business owners’ enlightening advices, the different types of marketing, shipment secrets, social media algorithms, brand ambassador advice, etcetera, baby I was trying to make sure all my I’s were dotted & T’s were crossed for real. I felt like a vampire how my sleeping schedule was at that weird point in time. I was up at all types of hours jotting down what I could possibly include into the SAP collection to accomplish the initial goal that was thought. From what vendors, which products, the amount of inventory, the price of the inventory, product demand, shipment timing, product quality, down to the types of brand ambassadors I wanted on the team, signature color, signature phrases, drafted promotional posts, preset hashtags, & more. Once I was satisfied after looking over all of my research & calculations, I paid for all the shipments, & hit the ground running.
Kdnae, 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?
I’m a published+runway+promotional model, actress, music video vixen, video editor, digital flyer designer, creative director, and YouTube vlogger.
As early as elementary, I started being in extracurricular classes; such as, theater arts & choir. It was one Christmas play I participated in as the role of Michelle, a bullying elf turned nice character development type of storyline. Many thought I had a brain fart moment & forgot my lines, but that wasn’t the case. It was a moment in the play where I held my hand up to the spotlight that was dawning on me & was comforted by the warmth & familiarity of the light. Ever since I’ve always check-marked theater arts for an extracurricular with NO hesitation. I joined a local talent group named Dream High USA that granted me the opportunity to have an L.A. talent group trip back in the 2013. I gained much wisdom from different agencies that we auditioned for that I still can look back on till this day on YouTube (Dream High USA on YouTube). After taking a maturity+school break from acting I started accepting local short film roles, music video vixen roles, brand promo vlog roles, YouTube skit roles. You can take a look into my portfolio on my website. I didn’t have to have discipline for acting due to the fact that I loved the process of embodying my character role.
At a young age, I’ve always loved the flashing camera lights that my folks would use to capture growing memories of me. So back in 2013, at the ripe age of 11 years old my mama put me in local talent groups named Dream High USA & Kidz Glam in Stafford, TX that focused on helping local kids, preteens, & teens with their modeling, acting, dancing, singing, & sports careers. I’ve done my 2nd runway training with StarModel AJ who was manager over Kidz Glam. Being in the groups, I got the privilege to experience actual photoshoots, being & performing in runway fashions, to be on two local tv shows; KHOU News & Mundofox if I’m not mistaken, travel to L.A. for a talent trip, & gain a great amount of knowledge on the Houston modeling industry. Like I stated previously, I took a maturity+school break & attempted to get back in my modeling bag in 2021 by going to casting calls but kept getting no word back, so I paused, brushed up on my skills & was asked to be in the Stark Show January 2023. Ever since I’ve been more consistent with myself as a brand. I noticed the more I promoted myself as the model I claimed to be I was getting more recognition from local brands, upcoming business owners that needed brand representatives, some big name celebrities, photographers, directors, film+music video casters, & more. You’re able to view my work on my portfolio website.
My family loves to document each other’s life’s in order to keep the memory alive or to have something to look back on. I picked up that trait at an early age & it got worse when I got my first ever camera phone. When I mean worse I mean the start of my “no storage” life haha. That’s when I was inspired by my high school friend, Elexus Kelley, to start a YouTube channel & made high school memories I still look back on & laugh at till this day. I didn’t really plan to still be doing YouTube after high school, because I just wanted high school footage, but as I’m growing as a creative artist I now have early adult hood footage to look back on in the far future.
Has your business ever had a near-death moment? Would you mind sharing the story?
There was a point in time where I was more focused on SAP than I was my own well being. I can’t recall an exact timeframe of the day, but I remember walking into the kitchen to get something to eat after pulling another all nighter for research & almost falling out smack dab in the middle of the kitchen. My younger godsister, Zoey, rushed in worried about the noise & from that day forward I gave myself a schedule & made a website to avoid missing out on dm orders.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
I’ve found plenty of strategic ways to build my clientele through social media & from person to person during my, as I stated previously, 2020 late night researching hours. I was part of KIPP Sunnyside’s 2020 Student Leadership Team as class of 2020’s peer counselor for the last two years of my high school years. With them I gained teamwork, marketing, graphic designing, presentation, sales, money-handling, psychological practicing, leadership, professional, team building, & schedule management skills throughout my last couple years of high school. So with that being said, I already had some previous experience in the field that I was preparing myself to enter by myself. I was already on social media for most of my free time & aware of certain social media platform algorithms due to having to promote my YouTube vlogging videos. I used all the knowledge I had & brushed up on my media marketing & found best clientele growth through; studying your setting tools, knowing which hashtags to use for a post, having discount code days every now & then, knowing what times are best to promote, having knowledge on your target audience, consistently posting multiple times a day throughout the week, & engaging with your followers personally.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kdnae.myportfolio.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theekdnae
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/babykyra
- Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/c/BabyKyra
- Other: My Linktree: https://www.linktr.ee.com/BabyKyraTo be updated on any upcoming events or recent uploads. Hetepu.
Image Credits
Kill bill yellow fit photographer: https://www.instagram.com/itsgreg72
Aladdin Photographer: https://www.instagram.com/re.eyecu
Little mermaid green dress photographer:
https://www.instagram.com/thrubobbislens