We recently connected with Kiera Edmonds and have shared our conversation below.

Kiera, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

There are so many different definitions in the world that define success. To some it may be having a lot of money and to others it may be having a good job and taking care of their family and loved ones. Success to me is being able to live the life that you envisioned for yourself, no matter what that looks like. Success is being able to wake up everyday and do what you want — creating a life for yourself that brings you joy and happiness. When I first graduated college, I was so worried about what I was going to do with my life. I knew whatever I decided to do I wanted to be “successful.” For so long I centered everything around wanting to be successful that I soon realized I didn’t even know what success or being successful was. After taking some time to self reflect, I realized that I had already accomplished so many things and that society would already deem me successful. From graduating college early, to starting in a career before 21 and launching a business these were things that most people would consider a form of success. This is when I knew that success was a little different for me. From that moment forward, I didn’t work towards a life of just accomplishments. I work towards a life of true freedom and happiness. Once I have obtained that to my own personal standards, I will then consider myself successful.

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.

My name is Kiera Edmonds, I am 26 years old and I am from a small town in Halifax County, North Carolina. I am currently an educator and the owner of a lip gloss business, “The Gloss Trap.” The Gloss Trap specializes in hydrating and moisturizing pigmented, glitter, and clear lip gloss. All lipglosses are cruelty free, made and tubed by hand. I officially launched my business on February 7th of 2020 and have been working to perfect my craft ever since. As a child, I have always harbored a love for lipgloss. Even in my teenage years I was always the friend who had some type of lip gloss to put on your lips. I remember my parents buying me a Barbie Lipgloss making Kit for my birthday and I knew then I wanted to own my own lip gloss business.

Before deciding to launch in 2020, I worked endlessly for about a year and a half making business cards, thank you cards, designing my own website, searching for vendors, creating my own formula, etc because I wanted every inch of my business to be represented with love and care. Although to some it may just be lipgloss, but to me it’s an extra layer that helps me conquer the day and that’s the feeling I want my product to provide for others. The Gloss Trap is not about just providing hydrating and moisturizing lip gloss. It’s about providing whoever uses it with that extra confidence boost they may need, or that one small thing that can bring an entire look together and change their day. It’s about more than just hydrated lips, it’s about using a product that feels good and makes you feel good.

The Gloss Trap was a little girl dream that I turned into a big girl reality — just an idea and a plan. Even with all the other accolades I’ve received in life to me this is my biggest accomplishment.! Has the journey been a little rough? Of course. Anything you want that’s worth having comes with hard work. Has it been worth it? Absolutely! As I continue to grow and expand my business and grow as a business owner I want The Gloss Trap to not only become a well known household name but I also want to be known as a brand that was created with love. A love that is being spread one lip gloss at a time.

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

All lip glosses from The Gloss Trap are had mixed and tubed. However, they didn’t start out this way. When I first decided I wanted to start a lip gloss business I was on a hunt for the perfect vendor. I went into this search with the mindset that whoever I chose would be someone who I would work closely with so I wanted them to be trustworthy, reliable, and of course have a great product. I searched high and low for months contacting different vendors, buying and requesting lip gloss samples/products only to experience failure after failure. I either didn’t like the product, the vendor wasn’t reliable or the vendor couldn’t accommodate my request, After a long and tiresome hunt I thought I had found someone. I loved their product and they could accommodate all my request! I begin to work with them and then a few months in as I begin to prepare for launch and was ready to order my release date inventory, the vendor decide they were no longer selling the products I was interested in. I was so heartbroken. That moment of defeat was the moment that pushed me to create my own formula and tube it myself. So in deciding to take this leap of faith, I begin to educate myself further on cosmetics, the ingredients, the essential oils, the pigments and all of the things I needed to know to be able to curate my own formula. It took me a while and a lot of trial and error but I finally came up with a formula that met all the guidelines and was what I felt was perfect for my customers.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I think something that has helped me build a reputation in my market is that I always acknowledge the fact that I am human first. I want my customers to know that I am not just a business owner that just wants their support or money. I want them to know that I truly care about their experience, my product and how my product has affected them. Because of this I check in with my customers. Even if they haven’t bought products in a while, I want them to know that I think about them and appreciate them whether they are actively purchasing or not. I customize their products, packaging and experience based upon special occasions, life events and/or holidays to let them know that their products were created with love, care and most importantly with them in mind. I always ask for their feedback and suggestions for ideas and things that they want and/or need from my business. This approach allows my customers to know I take pride in what I do and helps my brand have a personable and authentic feel. This creates a space for positive recommendations and repeat customers.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.theglosstrap.com
• Instagram: Personal: NannettaKi Business: Theglosstrapp
• Other: TikTok: NannettaKi

Image Credits

AJ Media