We recently connected with Krystina Monet and have shared our conversation below.
Krystina , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What sort of legacy are you hoping to build. What do you think people will say about you after you are gone, what do you hope to be remembered for?
As one of the 1st salon owners that only caters to Locs & Natural Hair I hope my legacy will be remembered for creating a path for black and brown entrepreneurs to succeed and build generational wealth. My original purpose was to create jobs in my community with a chain of brands and beauty salons but I quickly learned how important it is to teach preservation. It’s always been important for me to motivate people and hopefully help someone reach their goals faster. The mission is to bridge the gap between creative talent, good worth ethic and professionalism beyond industry stereotypes.
Krystina , 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?
My name is Krystina Monet and I am a serial entrepreneur. My career started when I chose to quit college to work to make money. I learned at a young age the importance of having your own money in order to secure comfort. During that time my love for fashion and the entertainment industry grew into a bonus career while working retail. Started modeling at photo/video shoots were I met a lot of successful people that inspired me to be more creative. At that time I learned the importance of branding and marketing and decided to use my platform to promote a variety of my true passion’s, not really knowing how lucrative each one was. Between making YouTube videos and traveling to bookings I was also taking business courses and going to cosmetology school. After I graduated I opened my first salon Locs To Lashes Salon & Spa. All the money I made as a model and YouTuber I used to start My business. Almost 10 years later I have 5 properties, 3 salons, a small staff and tenants that I hope to expand.
The hardest part in my industry has been getting people to understand the power of teamwork and investing. Recently I’ve been working on partnerships for my beauty products and real estate.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
A lesson I had to unlearn was that my family/friends stories were also my story.
I went through highs and lows either feeling guilty about success or feeling obligated to provide even during times I shouldn’t. I had to learn how to say no to the unwilling without explaining in order to stay sane and save energy for the deserving. Now that has made me more open to other positive perspectives.
How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.
Selling products online has its good days and bad days. Having an easy to navigate website is key. Along with investing in marketing. When I first started selling products I used eBay because I didn’t want my website to look low budget and I also wanted to use their customer base. Now days you can really use any e-commerce platform as long as you stay consistent with your product marketing. I personally prefer my own websites for branding purposes however I don’t think businesses should limit themselves. Using all platforms is best. The pro to that is reaching a wider audience and that can also be a con if you don’t have the inventory or the help,
Contact Info:
- Website: www.locstolashes.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/KrystinaMonet
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/KrystinaNsTashaMonet
- Linkedin: Krystina Monet
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/KrystinaMonet
- Youtube: www.YouTube.com/KrystinaMonet