We were lucky to catch up with Lala Parker recently and have shared our conversation below.

Lala, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear how you think where to draw the line in terms of asking friends and family to support your business – what’s okay and what’s over the line?

I learned the hard way that family and friends will be the last to support you. Your biggest supporters will be strangers. Family and friends are more likely support you when they see strangers supporting you….when it’s popular to support you.

Lala, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I consider myself a serial entrepreneur. I’ve started a lot of businesses. I did candy apples and treats, cakes, crafty things. I got into the skincare industry because I had an allergic reaction to a skincare product that I purchased. So, I searched for a way to create a product to solve my problem. Upon doing research I realized that a lot of people were searching for to same solution I was. I solve skincare challenges such as eczema, acne, oily skin and more. I make skincare simple that’s what sets me apart. The routines are simple and easy, I take the guess work out of skincare. I’m most proud of the people I help inspire. I’ve received so many messages and comments from other entrepreneurs who are just starting, who are afraid to put themselves out there on social media and face the criticism that comes with the territory. People can be very cruel, we can’t listen to those haters we can’t base our social media presence off of people who don’t know us and we’ll more than likely never meet. I’ve touched, helped and inspired a lot of people the last few years and I’ll continue to do so. Love Thy Skin and LaLa Danyel will be a household name.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I’ve actually just pivoted my career. Love Thy Skin is still very much a thing but I did take a hiatus from social media because life hit hard and I needed to regroup. About a year ago I started back doing hair and tapped in to the Loc side of the hair industry and just recently decided to stop doing hair yet again to refocus on and revamp Love Thy Skin and also got a 9-5 to have that steady income. It’s not the path I envisioned but it’s necessary.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Social media is beast and can literally make or break you and or business. When I started on TikTok I made it my mission to put myself out there by any means and not pay attention to the negativity. Again people are cruel and will do anything to tear you and you brand to pieces so tough skin is a must. I posted 3-5 times a day I checked analytics and made sure my hashtags were on point. Within a month I was going viral and shipping out 30+ orders every other day. I remember shipping out 63 orders right before catching a flight to Miami for my birthday. That feeling was great and lasted for about 6 months before I became very overwhelmed and just shut it down. Social media wasn’t fun anymore so a break was very much needed and I’m just recently getting back in the groove of things. Advice I would give to someone starting out is to know who are, who are target audience is and what message you want to portray before putting yourself out there. Have a plan, set your goals and intentions and always protect your peace.

Contact Info:

• Website: lovethyskinllc.Etsy.com
• Instagram: Laladanyel
• Facebook: LaLa Danyel
• Twitter: laladanyel
• Youtube: LaLa Danyel
• Other: laladanyel.com is under construction but will be back soon