Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kovia Ventress. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Kovia, appreciate you joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

“Daring greatly means the courage to be vulnerable. It means to show up and be seen. To ask for what you need. To talk about how you’re feeling. To have the hard conversations.” -Brene Brown For most of my life I never asked for anything, never wanted to be seen or be vulnerable, and I definitely did not have the hard conversations. I started my personal self-love journey unconsciously when I had my daughter in 2012 and consciously in 2017 after reconnecting with my sister and having a terrible breakup. During the next few years, I put in a lot of work to start to see myself as worthy and beautiful. I read Daring Greatly by Brene Brown which gave me a boost in my resolve to continue to change. The book solidified the changes I made on this journey and in 2020 after struggling through covid I decided I wanted to help others start their self-love journey and push through on their self-love journeys through self-care practices, herbal remedies and self-care products, and self-love practice to learn more about themselves. The idea came to me after meditating one day and I created a Facebook page and started posting self-love and positive messages. I know this was a worthwhile endeavor because if we can get more people to love and take care of themselves, we can change the world and start on the path to world peace. I honestly did not know if this would work and I have been working hard to make it work since 2021 when I filled for the LLC for Cultivating Self Love. I was most excited about being the helping hand I needed. Seeing my clients use my products and how my coaching services have made a difference in their lives has been the most rewarding feeling and confirmation that I made the right decision when I started this business.

Kovia, 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 am a 33-year-old Mom of 1 who just wants to see the world heal from all the trauma everyone has been through and truly themselves and each other to create a better world for all our children. I help women who feel lost in societal pressures and struggle with self-esteem to cultivate a positive self-image, embrace self-love, and discover their passions and purpose in life. Through my Empower Your Inner Goddess program, I provide a nurturing and empowering space for women to build confidence, find clarity in their identity, and create a life filled with authenticity and fulfillment. I offer a group for women looking for community and like-minded individuals who are supportive and on the same journey. I offer individual sessions for women wanting personalized assistance to grow their self-love and confidence. I created a Cultivating Self Love journal that will assist you in learning about yourself and starting to make the changes you want to see in your life and a free mindset journal to help you change your mindset. The latest service I launched is an Emotional Intelligence workshop for businesses to help their employees with customer service and create a positive office environment. I am most proud of the t-shirt line I created for everyone to wear and let everyone in their world know how self-love has impacted their life and how it can help them create a more joy-filled life. I want everyone to know that self-love is not just facials and self-care practices. Self-love is a discipline of learning about yourself and implementing what you need to be your best self.

Have you ever had to pivot?

When I started Cultivating Self Love I was making self-care products like sugar and salt scrub, a skin-healing body butter, and a self-love oil that came with a ritual you can use to help increase your self-love. I went to pop-up shows and different vendor events to promote my products and services for the first few months I was in business. I got great reviews and even got my products into a consignment store when Hurricane Ida came through in August 2021. We were without power for almost 4 weeks so no income and my body butter was ruined in the Louisiana heat. Once power was restored I got back out there to promote and make more sales. Until December 2021 when my car was stolen along with all of my products, my tables, tent, and everything I used to set up for the vendor events I would attend. I was devastated to have lost hundreds of dollars of products twice in one year. This is when I transitioned into solely offering coaching services and was invited to teach self-love as a part of a class I attended. From teaching this class I was able to gain clients and increase my following on my social media platforms. The saying goes when life gives you lemons you make lemonade I believe that is what I have been creating ever since. I went from selling products to exclusively offering coaching services to help women increase their self-love and self-knowledge. I am more than grateful to all the women who have chosen me to help them on their beautiful journey.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

One book that had an impact on my entrepreneurial philosophy was Sweet Success by Candace Nelson. The stories she told in the book about how she started Sprinkles and the way she branded her business have helped me make changes in the way I brand my business. It helped me see that finding the white area in the market can help you to create demand and service an underserved population. Before reading this book I was unsure and did not want to create or find a niche in the market. I wanted to help everyone and marketed my brand to everyone which got me very little sales and customers.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.shopcsl.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cultivatingselflove.12
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cultivatingselflove
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@cultivatingselflove3247?si=N34SvwcRd1v5ZF-4