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

Tanita, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Parents play a huge role in our development as youngsters and sometimes that impact follows us into adulthood and into our lives and careers. Looking back, what’s something you think you parents did right?

One thing I can say about my parents: THEY ARE HUSTLERS! I learned how to hustle from my Mom and Dad at an early age. I think that’s why I wanted to be an entrepreneur from childhood because I always had the creative and hustle mentality in me. I remember in high school, my Mom would give me lunch money but I would spend it in two days and she would get so mad at me lol. She decided to stop giving me money because of that and I have older brothers but I was only in school with one and he was not coming up off any of his money. So one day I went home and was like: “I need to make some money and I need to figure out a way to get it”. That same weekend, my Mom came and took my Grandma to run errands and we went to the grocery store. While at the grocery store, I seen the fun size packs of candy that used to be $1 (telling my age lol) and asked my Mom could she buy them. She wondered why I was buying all this candy so I explained: “Well you said you wasn’t giving me any more money because I spend it too fast. So I’ma go to school and sell candy 🤷🏽‍♀️”. She was like: “🤔 okay then” and purchased the candy and it was lit 😂! I sold candy and made my money and was able to keep going to the pizza and cookies line instead of eating the regular lunch that others was eating 😂! She would also buy food for me because I stayed with my Grandma and my older brothers friends would always be at our house and they would smoke weed and be high and tuh 😂! They would get the munchies so I would sell my food too 😂! I literally had my own lil convenience store at 15 years old! Because of seeing my Mom and Dad be go-getters, it inspired me to start my own business years later and although it’s not a easy road, I definitely wouldn’t trade being a entrepreneur/CEO/Owner of my beauty brand: A’jah Lip Creme 💋😘.

Tanita, 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?

Wellllll for the ones that don’t know me *ahem* 🗣️ ALLOW ME TO RE-INTRODUCE MYSELF! Lol my name is Tanita but I go by Molly, I’m from the great state of North Carolina (go Tarheels!) and I am a 9-5 worker for a financial institution and also the owner of my own beauty brand called A’jah Lip Creme 💋. At A’jah Lip Creme, we specialize in making all natural lipglosses and matte lipsticks for women who exude confidence, resilience, and style. Our lippies are catered to women who are natural go getters but not too busy to throw on a gloss mixed with a lip liner and be out the door in time for their kids recreational activities or after work happy hour with friends (after the kid or kids are taken care of, of course 😉 lol). We also offer body oils, beard oils for Men, and Shea Butter as well. I got into the industry after an impulse buy of another beauty brand’s product. It was very expensive and I went over the purchase in my head thinking I can’t believe I just purchased this. My Mom goes: “why don’t you make your own?” And the lightbulb 💡 lit up bright like a diamond 💎! I did my research in 2014 and 2015 I introduced the world to A’jah Lip Creme! What I am most proud of is the fact that I started a business from the ground up from nothing. I wasn’t even into any type of beauty anything lol. I was a tomboy, I wore jerseys and big shirts etc. I wore some girly clothes but not a lot lol. So being able to step into the beauty industry was also a way to step into my femininity more. What they call it today? My “Soft Girl Era” lol. I want potential clients to know that this brand is not just for me. This brand is for those women who wasn’t as confident as I was growing up but got that good glow up once they got of age. This is for those women with the small insecurities (like a gap in their front teeth like me for example) who was always told that they weren’t beautiful. Meanwhile, they was the shit all along. So what if it took everybody else a long time to notice 😂! And finally: this brand is for the women who value simplicity but still wanna add that razzle dazzle ya feel me ✨✨✨!

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

The best story I can give is when I was working for a company (I had been there since I was 21 years old) where money was non existent and I had my daughter to take care of and I wanted more for me and her. And NEEDED MORE. So I said and excuse my French: “FUCK this”. I would take my laptop on my off days I would have and go to the nearby Starbucks down the street from my old apartment and would sit for hours applying for better jobs using their Wifi because I was soooo tired of not even having enough money to be able to buy myself and my daughter the things we wanted and needed. I was applying for jobs I ain’t even know what the requirements was lol. I would just click apply, attach resume and send. But one day, those hot summer days of sitting in my car at Starbucks using their Wifi paid off. I got the call to do a interview with the company I’m currently at now but didn’t have enough to get to the interview. I went home, took my red Wii to the pawn shop and got $40 for it and put gas in my tank and went to the interview. Then, 2 days later when I was at my old job, I got the call that I got the job. Soon as my manager came in, I told her that it was my 2 weeks notice. I was OUT! I say all that to say: I was down and out but I never gave up. I was determined to be better and wanted better and ended up getting WAY better in the end.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Social media!!! I’ma say it again SOCIAL MEDIA! Baby we live in a world where technology is reign supreme. Also, another way I grow my clientele is through travel and doing pop up shops and conferences and different events in different states to meet new people and network. My biggest market was definitely Atlanta, Georgia. I was ALWAYS in Atlanta! Whether it was for business or just a weekend getaway, I was always there before the pandemic came and did what it did to the world and made everybody sit down. Right now, I have not been doing any events at the moment due to personal reasons as I am on a healing journey but trust and believe me, once I’m good, I’ma be back hitting the highway fasho!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ajahlipcreme.com
• Instagram: @ajahlipcreme
• Facebook: A’jah Lip Creme
• Other: Just Google Me 😘