We were lucky to catch up with Sasha Floyd recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Sasha, thanks for joining us today. What was the most important lesson/experience you had in a job that has helped you as a business owner?

I just recently bought a home and I had to get a day job as my business wasn’t making as much money as I needed it to to help pay our mortgage so I looked around and got a job at In n Out. Working at In n Out I learned the importance of caring about your employees, communication, and teamwork. In n Out is a successful burger restaurant that specializes in simple ingredients and menu with their items while making sure customers feel appreciated and valued by their employees the minute they walk in the door. With the fast paced work environment you had to rely a lot on your communication skills with one another to make sure things run smoothly and every order goes out hot and presentable. I learned how to respond under stressful situations and how to better help someone who was struggling without making them feel like they’re failing. This is something I strive to implement in my own business with how I treat my customers and one day employees.

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 back background and context?

My name is Sasha Floyd I’m the owner and creator behind Blackkribbon and I specialize in crochet witch hats, soy candles, and upcycled clothing all that feature a Halloween theme to them. When I first started Blackkribbon it was to sell my artwork. After a while I wanted to add new items to my shop so I started crocheting and made a witch hat. Over time I noticed that people bought my hats more than my artwork so I switched gears and started focusing on making with hats. Eventually our clothing and candles came along the way but not without a lot of trial and error.

I enjoy that with Blackkribbon you won’t see another maker quite like us. We add a special flair with our crochet witch hats and hope that when you shop with us that you’ll feel like you’ve entered a witches cottage who’s stuck in the 90’s during Halloween. We use Jack O Lanterns as our hat displays, make candles that are eco friendly that give a strong scent throw but isn’t over bearing, and patchwork clothing so mismatched and whimsy that paired with one of our witch hats you’ll feel like the witch of the wood. We’ll be opening up our first store come 2026 in Krum TX that we’re so excited for giving our customers the opportunity to shop with us in person as well as online.

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

I started Blackkribbon back in 2019 before the pandemic. The first year is hard for any business when they first started but once 2020 came and the pandemic became our lives I had the hardest time trying to keep doing my business as no one was buying my witch hats at the time that I definitely played with the idea of stopping but my husband was adamant that I keep going. My sales were dismal that year and didn’t get much better 2021 but once 2022 came I applied for a big weekend event later that year that I got accepted to vend. So I spend the months prior to that event doing as many markets as possible to help really define what I wanted Blackkribbon to look and feel that by the time I got to the event I had people running to my booth as they were wondering where all the witch hats they saw people walking around in were coming from and once they saw my booth they knew they found the place. I’ve been in and out of wanting to quit my business but if I did that I wouldn’t be in the position of opening up our first store. There’s always going to be hard times in my business but if I just stick to it and have faith that’ll all work out I’ll continue to see growth.

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

In 2023 I bought my first house that when I had to start paying for my mortgage unfortunately my business wasn’t earning enough to allow me to continue to work from home. Luckily I was able to get a job at In n Out and they were super flexible to where I could be at home during the day and would work at night. The first few months were rough as I had to adjust to my new routine that when I would be home I would be so tired from working that I had to sleep more than I liked while taking care of my then 3 year old. So unfortunately I wasn’t able to work as hard towards my business as I would’ve liked. But as I attended markets and posted about it when I could my sales started to increase. A year later I was able to leave In n Out and start working full time from home running my business and I’ve been doing it since. It was a hard year but I’m grateful I went through it as I learned how to be a better boss and communicator with those who I work with.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://blackkribbon.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blackkribbon/
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/Blackkribbon-643480932763642/?ref=bookmarks