Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sadiyyah Maamoon-means. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Sadiyyah, appreciate you joining us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?
The key to being successful is consistency and discipline. As a business owner there are days when you may feel defeated, tired and want to throw the towel in, but we know that we are not able to do that. Our clients and customers rely on us faithfully. I truly love being an entrepreneur and what I do. I love helping people and I’m grateful to have businesses that allow me to do this daily. My last business venture was opening my Coffeeshop and Community Events Venue during the COVID 19-Pandemic. It was very challenging. We were living in a world where we had no idea what was going on. While many businesses were closing, I was pivoting within my business. I was thinking of ways to stay afloat and connect with my community. Although times were very challenging, I stayed consistent and disciplined on what my goal was. I am always grateful for everything within my business.
Sadiyyah, 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 am a Jersey Girl Born and Raised, and Alumni of an HBCU, Delaware State University. Since I was a little Girl, I wanted to become an entrepreneur. I don’t come from a family of Entrepreneurs however it was something I knew that I wanted for myself. I studied Finance in College and went on to obtain my MBA. I worked in Academia and Corporate for some time, however I stepped into the Real Estate industry and have been working in Real estate for over a decade. I always say Real Estate allows you the opportunity to do many things and in 2020 I open the 1st Black Woman Owned Coffee Shop with a Community Events Venue in Woodbury NJ, The Cultural Collective Café and BrickNKulture Events Space. Our coffee shop is housed in a historical Building which use to be the home of the late Franklin Davenport. We are a quaint trendy Coffeeshop with Coffee, Espresso, Teas, Pastries, and have a welcoming homey feel. Our event space is Multipurpose, and we host Community, Cultural, Arts and Economic Empowerment Events. We also allow the community to host their own event as well.
I am proud of what our space has created for our community. We are more than just a coffee shop and events space; I love to see that relationships are grown organically. I love that we can provide a platform for Businesses, Artists and Creatives to amplify who they are. Many would say we are a Hidden Gem while being a Staple for the community and I truly love this for us.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
I open my doors on Oct 5th, 2020, right during the COVID 19-Pandemic. This was a time that I was in survival mode as a business owner. We were living with something we never experienced. I had a huge Grand Opening Block Party the following week and the entire community showed up from Vendors, Musicians, City Officials & more. It was incredible. Little Did I know that 2 months later the world would be shut down for almost 2 years. I pivot in my business by curating intimate events. Since we are a events space, we hosted events that cater to 12 attendees or less. Our space has various rooms, so the community was also able to host their own smaller events. We also offered remote work while many people were working from home many were looking to get out of the home. So having a Coffeeshop with space to work remote was a plus. Once we open back up fully, we added micro-weddings to our Event space, and this allows the community to host wedding ceremonies for 40 or less. So pivoting was done and has been successful for my business going forward. All of this made our space known for curating intimate quaint events.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
I built my social media audience by just being me and sharing what we do often at the Coffeeshop and Events Space. I include everything that we do when it comes to the drinks we have, pastries, and events that we host. I like to feature our community, our small businesses, and our customers that walk through the door. Many people are rooting for you so the more they see the more they like, share and repost and this can build more of your audience. When people ask me how I engage. I just show up as me. I recently posted on TikTok and it’s very rare that I am on there. However, I decided to just do a quick video and never knew I would get over 117K views. From this one video I had amazing customers walk through my door, people in local area hear about us now and it increased my audience. I always remember that people follow you because they like what you have to offer so give them what they came to see.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.bricknkulture.com/home
- Instagram: @bricknkulture @thecafenj
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wearetheculturalcollective
- Other: TIK TOK @thecafenj
