We were lucky to catch up with Robin Oloyede recently and have shared our conversation below.

Robin, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I started Colorfull Plates™ in 2017 when my son told me he wanted to be an astronaut. We searched high and low and found zero astronauts that looked like him. WE FOUND NONE. My quest to make his dreams feel like a reality began, and Colorfull Plates was born. Colorfull Plates™ was created for one reason: to help children see themselves as colorfully as they do in their imaginations. There is a void in the market for children of color, more specifically in the tableware and home goods sector. Consumers shopping for character based products outside of dolls/action figures/ popular cartoon characters lack diversity and inclusivity with limited selections of professions.

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

My professional background in consumer-facing marketing and customer experience contributes to our market brand awareness and familiarity strategies. The void in the market when I developed Colorfull Plates lead me into entrepreneurship. When I developed the product, my first thought was, “Everyone has to eat. Lives change over mealtimes… people have the fondest memories over mealtimes. Why not use family mealtimes as a catalyst for affirmation with my little ones, and to create a community surrounding the power of potential that every young person is born with.”

Colorfull Plates™ is a thoughtfully designed children’s tableware and lifestyle company with diverse characters that portray children seeing themselves doing things they imagine. Let your children fly through the stars with carrots, and conquer the world with their favorite meals.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Due to being a smaller business, our manufacturer has stopped making our products because we are not as high volume as some of their other customers. We have had to find new manufacturers for our products, and also start expanding our product offerings past tableware in order to continue to grow our company and not go under. Because of our grit, we continue to receive thanks from our customers for creating the paths that allow their little ones reflected in pursuits that excite them.

How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.

We use Shopify for our e-commerce platform currently. When we started, we used square space and found that it did not help us in our journey to understanding our analytics and customer journey. Since we have switched over to Shopify, it has been amazing. We are able to really understand the lifecycle of our customer, find new ways to engage with them, learn where the hotspots on our website are and optimize touch points to increase our bottom line. Shopify also connects with so many other websites and services that are helpful for our accounting, email marketing and more.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.colorfullplates.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/colorfull_plates/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/colorfullplates

Image Credits
Photos courtesy Anita Warnick