We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lulett Baldwin a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Lulett, appreciate you joining us today. Innovation comes in all shapes, sizes and across all industries, so we’d love to hear about something you’ve done that you feel was particularly innovative.

The need to develop and implement innovations may arise from various circumstances. A business, sole proprietor, or employee may evaluate the needs for innovation through analysis of SWOT which is strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats of their company. After analysis is conducted decisions can be made on the direction of the type of innovation that needs to be developed for instance is it a service line, product, technological, marketing, or an operational innovation.

My motivation to implement innovations has evolved over time out of necessity to be reach my professional, academic, family, and personal goals. Below is a list of innovations I have implemented as strategies to generate additional income to support my goals and may be subject to grow.

• In 2017, after I finished my M.B.A in Accounting I started by own accounting/bookkeeping company Baldwin Financial Services, LLC. I designed the logo, designed the website myself. I checked the market rates and in order to attract customers I offer services at a lower rate.

• In 2018, through my journey to grow my hair natural and care of my skin I began to formulate my own hair and skin products from all natural ingredients. I found myself unsatisfied with the commercial products, the lack of representation for black-owned hair and skin care brands, and the amount of money being spent on products. This motivated to start my company to represent these products under LulaBella’s Luxury LLC. You are essentially trying out products and your hair and skin may dislike it. The formulary I have put together is gentle, effective, and helps improve the quality of hair and skin. I designed the website and logo myself.

• I have started to other companies in cannabis and nutrition these will also be developed from scratch with innovative ideas to make it unique and attractive potential customers.

Lulett, 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 would like to highlight my hair and skin product company LulaBella’s Luxury, LLC. The brands I have developed under this company are Bella’s Luxury and Twisted-Afro. Over the decades I grew dissatisfied with the commercial line hair and skin products. After discovering some of the top brands that African- American’s need and use are not owned by African-Americans this was an eye-opener for me. In 2017, when I began my natural hair journey, I was inspired to create my own product lines. I wanted to become a black-owned business owner in the hair-care industry to deliver products that have been tested by me for people like me. This branched into making skin products as well to help people who are struggling with dry skin issues. My products actually heal the skin and improving the appearance. Following is a product list for both Bella’s Luxury and Twisted-Afro.

Bella’s Luxury:
Nilotica Hair Butter
Tropical Body Butter
Whipped Cocoa Butter
Whipped Fragrance-Free Butter
Hair & Skin Refresher Spray
11-Hydroxy Oil
Tropical Oil Blend
Tropical Body Butter
Whipped Cocoa Butter
Whipped Fragrance-Free Butter
Hair & Skin Refresher Spray

Twisted-Afro:
Twisted-Afro Hair Growth Butter
Twisted-Afro Hair Growth Oil
Twisted-Afro Natural Hair Wax
Twisted-Afro Beard Oil

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

The start of my independent journey began as a homeless teenager in which I eventually became a mother at 17. As a teenager I was very strong in academics getting straight A’s. Life circumstances to begin working, earn money, and raise my family to keep a roof over our head became a priority. This means my plans to go to college were put on hold. I was able to return to college in my 30’s when online schooling became available. During these years however, I did begin working in the healthcare industry. I earned my bachelor’s degree in 2014 and Master’s degree in 2017. Currently, I am an Honor’s Professional Doctoral student. Paying college tuition is another motivator to become an entrepreneur and work my career simultaneously. The business I started help pay my college tuition. My goal here is to avoid financial obstacles that may hinder me from accomplishing my academic goals.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

There are no shortcuts to success you have to put in the work. If one learns to work smarter not harder, great! They may achieve their goals in a shorter timeline than expected however, they still need to develop the effective strategies how they plan to achieve their goals in order to be successful which still takes work.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lulabellasluxury.com
• Instagram: twistedafro1
• Facebook: Bella’s Luxury and Twisted-Afro