Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kia-Shun Voltz. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Kia-Shun, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Innovation comes in all shapes, sizes and across all industries, so we’d love to hear about something you’ve done that you feel was particularly innovative.
Creating the patented Shampoo Mat is the most innovative thing I’ve done in my life. To take this idea that lingered in my head for a couple years and actually work to bring it to fruition is still mind blowing for me. Like, I really created something for the culture and its being used around the world to help people. Not only did I create it for us, parents of all races have been using my product because of its ability to calm kids who are autistic. It’s one of the best feelings in the world when people realize I am the person who created this product that has been a viral sensation.
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 Kia-Shun, owner/founder of ShampooTime, creator of The Original Shampoo Mat and this is my daughter, Karter. From the day Karter was born, she had a head full of hair, which made for horrible washdays in the bathtub. My knees and back would ache and Karter didn’t like the shampoo rolling down her face. After switching her over to the kitchen counter, I encountered a different fight, fighting to get her to keep her head back (instead of lifting it up to watch her iPad). One day I realized I had to find a better way and after searching the internet and coming up empty, I decided to create something. From there, the shampoo mat was born.
Since the inception of ShampooTime, my vision has been to cultivate a brand that reflected the values of a fun, stress-free bonding time between parent and child. My mission is to provide products that are safe and ergonomic, enabling parents to spend less time during the shampoo process, and creating a fun and relaxing experience for children. To me, ShampooTime is more than just quality products. It’s about a lasting memory and a special bonding experience. At its heart, there is a well-considered functional approach in both process and products.
ShampooTime is an independent, self-funded, woman-owned and operated company. My hope is for children around the world to have happy thoughts when remembering what washdays were like growing up.
ShampooTime is reinventing washdays around the world.
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
ShampooTime was funded with about 1,000 dollars of my own money. With 500 I was able to create the initial prototype and I used the other 500 dollars to secure a patent lawyer. From there, I started a pre-order campaign and had about 50 orders. I used the money I received from those orders to produce their products and the cycle continued. From there I won’t my first grant, Essence x PinSol Build Your Legacy. I won 10,000 and this really helped me propel my business forward. Since then I’ve won 8 grants ranging from 5,000-25,000. Since the pandemic, big businesses are trying to do their part in helping small, black, and women owned businesses. I started ShampooTime at the right moment.
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
Our shampoo mats are a game changer. We’ve been featured in Essence, BET, on the real, and on NBC. We’ve have the support of some amazing celebrities including Serena Williams, Kandi Buress, Teyanna Taylor, Yandy Smith, Porsha Williams, Erica Mena, Toya Wright and so many others! Our customer post on social media usually go viral. One of our most viral post was a lady who tweeted her kids “wouldn’t have the luxury of ShampooTime because she had to suffer growing up” in which someone else responded “why would you want your kids to suffer because you did, we (black community) should want more/better for our children”. This sparked a debate on every platform. Although she admitted her post was being sarcastic, it has been seen by millions of social media users and of course many comments in support of both sides.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.loveshampootime.com
- Instagram: @loveshampootime
- Facebook: @loveshampootime
- Linkedin: loveshampootime
- Twitter: @loveshampootime
- Youtube: @loveshampootime
- Other: My daughter Karter is a mini influencer, its so hard working a full time job, plus working on ShampooTime, and trying to have enough time to be a momager to my 5 year old mini influencer. Check out her IG page @karter_sylest_ and our travel/lifestyle blog where we travel the world. www.kartersylest.com
Image Credits
Jeremy Patton Kathy Oladapo