We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Krista Carter. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Krista below.

Krista, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I started creating gift boxes that are centered around self care, back in 2020 during the height of the pandemic. I was living in New York City and was a relatively new mom at that time. Given that it was such a challenging and stressful time for so many people, I wanted to find a way to bring a bit of joy and relaxation into the lives of women who were managing so many moving parts.

I was inspired to create all-natural self care products that were soothing and provided little moments of luxury that could be used in a few minutes for relaxation, especially for mothers. From there, I moved into curating intentional gift boxes as a way for women to pamper themselves and their loved ones, with everything that they’d need all in one box.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am passionate about self care, wellness and having more ease in our lives. I also love being creative and curating products from my company and other beautiful small businesses for others to indulge in and enjoy. As the mom of a young child, I am also a huge advocate for moms finding simple ways to bring more balance into our lives with self care routines that bring moments of relaxation and reflection.

I deeply understand the unique pressures that many women face in creating time and space for their self care, while blending careers, parenting, family responsibilities and more and that is reflected throughout the gift boxes that I create.

I’m also a proud Howard University graduate and have enjoyed a 10+ year career as a fashion buyer. My passion for the highest quality products, paired with an expert eye for small details along with a personalized touch make A Loyal Society products and gift sets a standout for meaningful gifts.

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

When I first got started, I’d recently learned how to create some of the relaxation products that we sell as a hobby during the first couple of months of the pandemic, mainly bath salts and different body soaks. I knew that I wanted to work with small businesses and small manufacturers to continue to build my brand in order to expand my product offering. I had many years of experience as a buyer for department stores, so I was confident that I would be able to begin to build new relationships in this space with small businesses and to be able to curate gift boxes from there.

I did a lot of research online for small and relatively local manufacturers and vendors and from there, I started to create a list of brands whose mission and values resonated with me. It was really important to me that they supported diversity for women and minorities in their company culture and vision and that they wanted to support a small businesses as well (ie. lower minimum order runs, etc.). Once I found vendors that had those qualities, I started emailing them directly, setting up calls, ordering samples, building relationships and things started to come together pretty quickly from there.

I’ve been fortunate to have really great experiences with the companies that I’ve worked with for manufacturing products and for the women-owned products from other wonderful brands that we include in our gift boxes.

One piece of advice that I’d give to entrepreneurs who are just getting started is to look for manufacturing partners and vendors that you want to build long term relationships with and that align with the values and level of quality of the company that you’re building, instead of putting most of the focus on who can get things done the fastest or who is most affordable at the moment. I believe that is a big way to save ourselves from some of the drama that can arise in this area. Being a former retail buyer, I’ve always focused on high quality products and building great vendor and manufacturer relationships and it’s really helped my company to serve our clients well in the long term.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

A few of my favorite business books are Atomic Habits by James Clear, Start with Why by Simon Sinek, Dare to Lead by Brene’ Brown, Get Good with Money by Tiffany Aliche and Think Again by Adam Grant. I love to read and am always on the lookout for books that expand my perspective on different business topics, share ideas for great storytelling and more. I’ve found so many great insights and guidance for building a strong foundation in these books.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.aloyalsociety.com
• Instagram: @aloyalsociety
• Facebook: @aloyalsociety
• TikTok: @aloyalsociety

Image Credits
Gift Box Product Photography by Beatrice Correa, Bonafide Collective (www.bonafidethecollective.com)