We were lucky to catch up with Maria Raquel Thomas recently and have shared our conversation below.
Maria Raquel, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So, one thing many business owners consider is donating a percentage of sales or profits to an organization or cause. We’d love to hear your thoughts and the story behind how and why you chose the cause or organization you donate to.
I gives back to the community by donating a portion of my cosmetic brand earnings to children’s charities. I am the first-ever National Youth Ambassador for Standup for Kids, a non-profit organization dedicated to ending youth homelessness. I have assisted StandUp for Kids in raising over $170, 000 in their virtual run/walk race fundraisers. I have done clothing drives for StandUp for Kids and I recently did a project called “Birthday in a Bag,” in which I gathered friends and family to make birthday bags for at-risk youth in our community. I have been awarded the 2021 President’s Volunteer Silver Medal for my volunteer work.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?
My names is Maria Raquel Thomas and I am a 16- year-old Entrepreneur and Humanitarian. My goal it to make a make a social impact amongst the Z Generation.
Entrepreneur Life: My company, Maria Raquel Thomas Cosmetics is a minority-owned cosmetic brand created and owned by me. After struggling with personal lip care, I began mixing my own products to help with chapping. I then tried samples out with my friends to see if it helped them. It did and so I began mixing more products. Around the same time, COVID-19 hit the world. I wanted to find a way to help people keep up with their self-care, stay positive and stay motivated during the crisis. So, I started Maria Raquel Thomas Cosmetics.
Maria Raquel Thomas Cosmetics has produced 5 collections:
MRT Lip Care Collection: Produced to help with the care of brittle and dry lips.
D.R.I.P. Lip Gloss Collection (Daring. Radiant. Independent. Powerful.), naming the products using uplifting adjectives. The collection sold out in less than one week!
Girl Power Collection: A 9-piece collection which includes an assortment of lip glosses and eyeshadows. I wanted to empower girls through positivity so I named each gloss in the Girl Power Collection using adjectives such as Beautiful, Dreamer, Adventurous and more.
Rockstar Collection: An ode to my family who has a musical background. My great-grandmother was a violin virtuoso, my grandmother was a piano player, drummer and keyboardist. And my mom was a violin player and a drummer in an R&B band as a teenager!
R^2 Collection: A 7-piece makeup collection, collaborating with my mother, Raquel Riley Thomas, who also owns a cosmetic brand.
Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?
I think it is very important that a leader stays motivated, despite any challenges that may come up. Sometimes I have come to the realization that some of my challenges were really meant to happen so that I can learn from them. And learn how to bring solutions to those challenges. That keeps my morale high and I try as much as possible to keep that same morale attitude as I manage my team. We also do teambuilding activities which is a big help.
How do you build your audience?
I built my audience on social media by having a calendar plan. I have an Instagram schedule from several marketing platforms that gives you an idea as to when the most people would be on Instagram looking at different posts. Also, we analyzed my own analytics and realized that because I am a teenager most of us do not look at our social media until after school, before school, or during lunch. So I activated ads and testimonials to be added to the calendar during those time frames. I think if you have good hashtags that also works too. People find your products quicker and easier.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.mariaraquelthomas.com
- Instagram: Mrtcosmeticsofficial
- Linkedin: Maria Raquel Thomas
Image Credits
-Photos of Maria Raquel in blue by B. Hunter Photography