We recently connected with Kelly Mateo and have shared our conversation below.
Kelly, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
When my twins graduated high school & left the house, I experienced “empty nesting” & it was very bad. I felt I had no purpose or knew what to do with myself after that. I fell into a dark depression. I went from raising kids & having to be there for their every need to they don’t need me anymore? What am I going to do with myself? My significant other suggested finding a hobby or something that I like to do & I really had to think? What do I like to do? I had spent so much time just focusing on their needs & wants etc that I lost sight of myself. So I started out making candles. Then I started doing a little research into diy & holisitic remedies. I had been a pharmacy tech at that point for over 15 years & I know & see first hand the effects these medicines have on people. Then I started “playing around” with things like soap, lotion, body butters etc. I realized that I had a real passion with making things for people without the harmful effects that some of these commercially made products have. Being that I have ocd I started going down the rabbit hole in perfecting my craft. Being an introvent I don’t really like having to deal with alot of people or “putting myself out there” for sales but I took that chance & I can honestly say that it has paid off. This past October I partook of my second craft fair & doubled my sales from the previous year! I found a passion in helping people with their health problems & also make them feel good in the process.
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.
I’m a twin mom of a boy & girl (23 years old). We live in Va but I am originally from Pa. While my children were still young I was blessed to get out of an abusive relationship where my ex spouse was addicted to drugs, but the one thing that stuck with me was how & why people get addicted to drugs. So I went to school for pharmacy. Throughout my years of doing pharmacy work I learned that there is more than one way to treat something. When I started researching holistic remedies etc I saw that there was a market for people who don’t follow traditional Western medicine guidelines & researching my history, culture I found that we come from a people who always had some type of medicine man or shaman as they’re called. So why couldn’t that be applied to today’s day & times? For every medicine that’s on the market, there’s a health alternative. For every commercially made product, there’s a natural equivalent to it and thus, that’s how my brand BQ Boutiques aka Buzz Queen came into existence. Before I make a product for a client, I try to get to know a little bit about them: what do they like, what are their problems, what are they trying to achieve? Everything that I make is custom made and made by hand speciifically for that individual whether it’s seamoss, wellness shots, body butters, lotions, body sprays, topical ointments and creams, wax melts, candles etc. And if it’s something that a customer wants that I do not make, I will do my research to try and fulfill that need for them. Customer satisfaction is what I aim for.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
As I previously stated I was in an abusive relationship, but I did not let that hold me back. I was a single mother living in a state with no family anywhere close, but I didn’t let that stop me. As of recently, my son was killed which is the hardest & most traumatic thing that I’ve ever had to deal with, but from that day on I said to myself that everything I do would be in his name & honor. He saw the vision I had with my small business & was very impressed with the products that I made. I decided that I will continue to try to help people to the best of my ability with him watching over my shoulder, cheering me on because he knew how much I really like to help people
Any advice for managing a team?
Appreciation: as a former manager of a long term care pharmacy, the one thing that people, myself included, realized is that you can put your heart in soul into the work that you do, for another somebody else. You can have the best work ethic around but if nobody appreciates or shows appreciation for the work that you do, then it means nothing. If you tell/show your people/team on a regular basis how much you appreciate them & the work that they do for you they will move mountains for you. But also, at the end of they day, after you’ve put all your sweat and tears into this company, it’s not yours simple as that. You can be with a company for 20/30 years plus & if they decide to let you go, what would you do then? What will your family do? So I realized that I needed something for myself, my family. Something to leave them & their kids. Something that I can leave my mark on while still helping people to the best of my ability.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: ms_eyez_511/ bq_boutique_511
- Facebook: Kelly Danielle
Image Credits
myself