We were lucky to catch up with Kori Nicole recently and have shared our conversation below.
Kori, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
As an entrepreneur and content creator, my mission is to show others that there is no limit. I have my hands in so many different things, running multiple businesses, a YouTube channel and more because this is exactly what I want to be doing. Growing up, I did not see a lot of people that look like me successful in the industries that I am working in. I really work hard every day to show people that you can reach all of your dreams, not just one of them. You just have to be ready to put in the work. I knew ever since I was a little girl that I wanted to do something with fashion and beauty because I loved playing dress up with clothes and makeup. I loved modeling and posing for photos and that is what then sparked my love for photography, videography, and creating memories in general. My mantra is “If I can do it, you can do it too.” and that is what keeps me going every day. Oftentimes people have a lot of self doubt, they are nervous to put themselves out there, or maybe they just don’t have a lot of support behind them. Starting is definitely the hardest part, but sometimes someone just needs a little inspiration and motivation to get started. I strive each day to be that happy face, sharing my journey in real time – the good and the bad, in hopes to inspire at least one person to take that leap of faith on themselves and see where their journey takes them.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Kori Nicole, also known as K. Nicole or IAmKNicole on social media and I am a lifestyle and fashion influencer and content creator. I have a YouTube channel IAmKNicole and a podcast called the Hello It’s Me, IAmKNicole podcast. I am also the CEO of five businesses: Crochet By K, Smudge Cosmetics LLC., Crown Royal Xtensions, Your Daily Dose Of Ko, and Smudge Hookah LLC. I utilize my platforms to share my journey and my experiences being a young, black creator and entrepreneur. I continue to inspire thousands of people across the globe to start their own businesses and build something that they are truly proud of. I pride myself in pursuing all of my passions and not keeping myself in a box, building something from the ground up, and being able to create the life I had always dreamed of having as a child. My mantra is “If I can do it, you can do it too” and I encourage other passionate individuals to take a leap of faith on themselves and see how their journey unfolds.
As a child I knew I had a passion for fashion, I was always interested in distressing and upcycling clothing since I was younger. As I grew up, I knew that I wanted to have my own clothing line but I absolutely hated sewing and sewing machines. I randomly stumbled across crocheting on YouTube one day just weeks before graduating high school and I knew that this was my path. I quickly purchased materials and got to work. I am a self-taught crocheter. I learned the basic crochet stitches on YouTube and learned other concepts and techniques based on trial and error and from reading books. My personality is very outgoing and over the top, so in my creative process with my crochet business I knew that my signature piece would be one that would bring the drama. The Crochet By K Shag Jacket is the ultimate fashion piece that will bring life to any outfit. This jacket is crocheted and constructed by hand first, and then strands of fringe are attached after. All pieces are made by hand by me, making it such a tedious, personal and intimate creative experience for me every time. I love to take risks and try new things and crocheting has been the outlet that allowed me to fulfill my dream of being a fashion designer but in a nontraditional and fun way.
As a child I also knew that I loved makeup because I was always getting caught playing in my grandmother’s red lipstick. However, I didn’t want to be a makeup artist because I was only good at doing my own makeup. I did not want to take time out to learn all of the ins and outs of being a makeup artist because I really was not passionate about doing other people’s faces. I thought that having a makeup line with eyeshadow and lipstick would be so cool but I had no idea where to start. I was in high school around that time so I did not have much knowledge, experience, or money and I didn’t even have a solid plan. All I knew was that I wanted the name to be Smudge and that I would feature makeup products. I had no idea that I would get into making cosmetics products by hand but I was so happy once I started learning about this after college. I was already making clothes by hand with my crochet business so it aligned with my brand perfectly. My main goal for my cosmetics line was to create a quality product that people loved but to also make it feel high end and luxurious at the same time.
I’m not sure if a lot of people on social media know this but my mom is actually a licensed cosmetologist so I grew up going to the hair salon often. I was always so excited to get my hair done and I modeled as a child so I would always be a model for my mom’s hair shows. This is what really sparked the idea of creating a hair business together. Crown Royal Xtensions is my mom and I’s newest business venture together and it has been such a fun experience so far. We offer luxury hair xtensions and we have bundles and wigs available. I have always been so into playing dress up, getting dolled up, and taking pictures. I am so grateful that I am able to do that often now in order to get content and keep these businesses going.
On my social media, my main goal is to document my life. I see the beauty in working hard and creating something from nothing so I knew that I wanted to capture the moments of me creating my businesses. I also love documenting my personal journey so that I have something to look back on from all of the monumental moments in my life. I started out on YouTube and Instagram and I was so passionate about makeup content. Now I have shifted more into lifestyle, entrepreneur life, and fashion content because that is where my path led me. I created my podcast as another outlet to meet new people and talk about things in a more relaxed setting. In general I just love being in front of the camera. So even though this career may not have been established when I was a child thinking about what I wanted to be when I grew up, this is definitely my dream job!
Your Daily Dose Of Ko is my motivational and inspirational business. This is a platform I use to share my thoughts with my followers. I post inspirational quotes on Instagram and share how I am feeling whether it’s good or bad. I love that I have created a safe space for people to come and be inspired but also to share their feelings too. Every day is not a good day and sometimes social media can make it seem like life is all glitz and glamor. But in reality being an entrepreneur is so up and down. You really never know how your day is going to go, you don’t ever know exactly how much money your business is going to make that week or that month. It really does take tough skin and a lot of planning and discipline. For Your Daily Dose of Ko I have a line of stickers which can be used for your planners and calendars, laptop and phone cases, for your work-from-home setup or wherever you choose to put them. The goal behind this business was to offer a product to my supporters that they can have with them and feel like they have their daily dose of me, my energy and personality, and my motivation to let them know that if I can do it they can do it too. Little things like this can be such a huge help to others and becomes a positive part of their daily routine.
Last but not least I have Smudge Hookah LLC which I am so excited to talk about. Yes I am a business woman but I also love to go out and have a good time. One of my favorite things to do is try new restaurants and cocktails and to smoke hookah. I knew that once the pandemic started that people would love and appreciate being able to create a vibe at home even though restaurants and lounges are open now. It’s just nice to have the option! Sometimes you’re just not in the mood to be outside and in the city life so you may want to just make drinks and smoke hookah at home. This business is super fun to run and make content for because it also doubles as time for me to relax and have fun too!
How did you build your audience on social media?
My presence on social media began with Instagram when I was in 10th grade. I remember when Instagram was getting so popular, it was the new thing and everyone had to have it. In high school I was a cheerleader, I was in band, I was in clubs, and I did really well in school and graduated number 7 in my class. I was a people person. I was heavily involved and I knew a lot of people. I was posting what I thought were cute outfits back then, and also just sharing other aesthetic photos of myself that I liked. It was almost like tumblr in a way but with more people seeing my daily posts. A lot of my following on Instagram that actually interact with me are people who know me in real life which is a blessing. Knowing people in real life helped me promote my other platforms because they want to keep up with me on every platform. This was also a time when we were using Instagram to actually meet new people only over the internet, doing follows for follows and shouting each other out. What a nostalgic time. I started to gain more Instagram followers once I went to college and really started expanding my network since I was in a completely different city. Now sometimes Instagram might be the last place that a new follower finds me. People typically find me on YouTube or TikTok first.
Once I got on YouTube that is when I really started to build an audience of people just on the internet. I vividly remember the day that I started my YouTube channel. I was so excited to put up my banner and profile picture and post my first video. When I first started YouTube I was posting videos that I thought would be highly searched topics that way people would see my videos and hopefully subscribe. My channel really took off during Covid once I started to share content about my business. I am the same person online and offline, my personality has no choice but to shine through. I think people really resonated with me and my personality and I was sharing my journey with my lip gloss business which turned into such a trending topic at the time. I was super consistent with my content and I was sure to continue posting videos similar to all of the ones that were already performing well. This is what allowed me to continue growing my audience. I have people from around the world that watch my videos for information and inspiration. I am so open and transparent with my journey and I think that people really appreciate that about me. I would never want someone to think that being an entrepreneur is easy based off of them watching my videos. I always reiterate how challenging and time consuming it is because that is just real life. It is fun but it is a lot of work and it is not everyone’s path. I believe that building an audience is building a community. You also have to provide some kind of value for your audience whether you are teaching them something or just simply entertaining them or making them laugh. There are trends that you can do to help spark your growth but trends come and go. You have to put in the work to create content and post consistently and see what works and what sticks. YouTube is the platform where I have the largest audience and it is the platform I love creating for the most.
If you are just starting to build your social media presence I would advise you to have fun with it and try a variety of different things. Nowadays people are really into very lighthearted and down-to-earth content. Everything does not always need to be a full production. I am learning that with TikTok. A lot of people are going viral on TikTok and some of those people put in very minimal effort when it comes to creating. Be yourself. It is hard to keep up with being something that you’re not. It’s more effortless and seamless to let your true self shine through and that is how you are going to build a genuine audience that will support you 100%. I would definitely recommend creating a schedule and posting multiple times throughout the day. When I first started YouTube I had my filming days and my editing days. On my filming days I would film anywhere from 5 to 12 videos. I know how crazy that sounds but that is how hard I was going. I would get up early in the morning and set my lights and camera up. The first video was either me doing my hair or my makeup (or both) and then after that I would create the rest of my talking videos and unboxing videos. I would change clothes throughout the day and freshen up my makeup in between but I was really maximizing my resources. On my editing days I would sit on my laptop and edit maybe 4-5 videos per day. Creating content in bulk is so much easier when it comes to being consistent. When you are first starting you really have to let your presence be known and you can’t do that if you are only posting once a week or even less than that. Another thing to keep in mind is that now we have multiple different social media platforms. The best way to to establish a true social media presence is to be on all of them and to use each platform to promote your content that you have on the other platforms. You want your audience to keep up with you wherever you are posting content.
Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?
When I started Smudge I had a few thousand dollars saved. This allowed me to really have a trial and error period where I was able to buy a bunch of supplies just to practice and perfect making the products and to get me my first batch of inventory. If you are starting a small business, there are a lot of things that you are going to need but you can get what you need in small quantities. I spent way too much money when I first started because I bought way more than I needed. If you are strategic and depending on what kind of business you are starting, you really do not have to break the bank when you are first starting out. I decided to use my own money and savings because I had it. I didn’t want to get a loan or anything in the beginning but that was my personal decision. Every business will be different. I also had to consider my social status at the time. I had a few thousand followers but not nearly as many as I have now. So being realistic is great because you don’t need to overspend in the beginning. You really need to be realistic about how many potential customers you can reach, and have a solid plan for inventory and marketing in the beginning so that you can start the business strong.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.smudgebyknicole.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_iamknicole/
- Twitter: https://bit.ly/3immE4Y
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/iamknicole
- Other: Podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3nkgG50 Anchor: https://anchor.fm/kori-nicole Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3cYM2tj Your Daily Dose of Ko IG: https://bit.ly/3hp6hob Podcast IG: https://bit.ly/3hoi32h Smudge Cosmetics IG: https://bit.ly/33NO5g9 Smudge Cosmetics Twitter: https://bit.ly/3ikLWjY Crochet By K IG: https://bit.ly/3hsPctQ Smudge Hookah IG: https://bit.ly/3h1m4Iw
Image Credits
Kori Nicole, ZaRea Khamphiphone, Devin Gaston.