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

Alright, Lauren thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

In early 2020, my sister-in-law and I found ourselves at the kitchen table discussing the impact that George Floyd and the BLM movement had on us. This led to a discussion of how we could take action. We both wanted to make a more conscious effort to buy from Black-owned businesses. The more we talked and shared the more we longed for an easier way to buy Black. We found that there were multiple websites and resources for Black-owned beauty and fashion businesses, but something we both loved and wanted to support were Black-owned food companies. After some research, we were disappointed to find the same 20-30 brands being quoted and represented. We knew there had to be more companies out there.

We then had a “lightbulb moment” and thought what if we started a subscription box where we would do the heavy lifting so people could easily discover new Black-owned food & beverage brands from the comfort of their own home. Out of this idea Kin Collective was born. We shipped our first boxes to friends and family in June 2021 and have now shipped our quarterly box for three quarters straight. Along the way, we have worked with multiple companies to create custom curated gift boxes for events and corporations.

During our first year of business, we’ve supported over 25 small Black-owned food & beverage businesses from across the US, directed over $65,000 into the pockets of these businesses and curated over 500 boxes for clients and subscribers. It’s been slow growing as this is a side passion for us all, but we keep growing.

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

Kin Collective curates artisanal food and beverage subscriptions for champions of economic equity to directly support multiple small Black-owned food & beverage businesses. Through a quarterly subscription model and tech-enabled platform, Kin Collective ensures participating businesses access to a discerning, engaged consumer base.

We make it easy for consumers who want to create systematic change to support small Black-owned food & beverage businesses.

There are a couple of things that make me proud of Kin Collective and what we’ve accomplished. First, we had this idea and we brought it to life! It was hard and scary, but we kept with it and have done what we set out to do: support our community and drive business directly to (mostly small or family-owned) Black-owned businesses.

Second, Kin Collective fulfills us each and every day because it gives us a way to actively work on something meaningful that’s bigger than ourselves. Kin Collective has created an ecosystem where we and others can support small Black-owned businesses year round, not just when it’s trendy to do so (Black History Month, Juneteenth) but throughout the entire year. When we actively choose to support these small businesses, we can truly strive to create opportunity, equity and support for Black-owned businesses in our country.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

We launched Kin Collective with big goals, a box of 12-14 items for $125 per quarter. Now that we’re going on year 2, we realize that sourcing that many items 4 times a year is too much and we wanted to create a lower barrier to entry. So now our subscription is a $50 box quarterly with just a few new items from Black-owned businesses for our subscribers to try out. We learned the limits and bandwidth of what we could source and put together in these first couple of years.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

We are such a word of mouth business, still to this date. Although we’ve had some new subscribers find us through Instagram, and hopefully many more will, we are primarily referred by friends and family who believe in what we’re trying to accomplish.

Contact Info:

• Website: kincollectivebox.com
• Instagram: @kincollectivebox
• Facebook: kincollectivebox