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

Hi Tasonda , thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

Taking a risk with starting a business was the biggest risk I’ve ever taken in my life. I decided to quit the corporate world to open my very own retail store because my son was recently diagnosed with autism and I felt I wasn’t being treated fairly in the corporate world. I didn’t like the favoritism employers had on certain employees and I needed to be more accessible to my son. I need to be at all of his appointments and treatments so I can help him get better. So I quit my job 9/1/2021 and opened my very own retail store 9/11/2022. I will say it has been very challenging but worth it. It isn’t just about the money for me it’s about convenience I able to open on the hours that best fit my sons needs according to his appointments and school schedules. I am able to attend events at my childrens schools and I wasn’t able to do that before.

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 Tasonda I go by Sona my daughters and I started a business July 2020 (during the pandemic) with just lip gloss which then grew into clothing and we birthed our own brand called Skin.So.Black and Skin.So.Pure. I wanted to create generational wealth for my children and to leave a legacy. Skin.So.Black was birthed not only because it’s my last name but because my grandmother loved her black skin she was so proud to be Black and we wanted to people to feel that when they wear our clothing. We give our customers variety we provide merchandise for all ages were your one stop shop. I am most proud of our business because our customers tell us how proud they are of us they appreciate our growth and want to see us grow more.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

The best way we built our social media audience was by constantly posting. We find different TikTok’s to do in our merchandise that makes people want to purchase our clothing.

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

I’m currently having to pivot our business by closing our store front location and just sale online. This was an extremely bad decision but in the end it’s just business. We’re located inside Eastland mall and they have been in the press etc and it has effected our business because people think the mall is closed so the foot traffic isn’t nearly what it used to be so the best thing to do right now is to close the location and continue to market online.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.seriouslyblended.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/seriously_blended?igshid=1u3soto4dsg4i
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/seriouslyblended/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seriously-blended-30a096231
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjd7CqkOdzsvrv-_7DWrYPA

Image Credits
Myself, Tyree. Jace, Messiah, Shad, Vontee (comedian)