We caught up with the brilliant and insightful The Vending Machine LLC a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

The Vending Machine , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

The Vending Machine LLC is a pandemic baby. I have had many businesses before, but nothing like this one. I sat for some time, taking a mental break from everything… including my previous businesses. Having been on the “scene” for almost 5 years and closing EVERYTHING at once, was risky! I wished that I had a way to take that break as an entrepreneur while still growing my brand, but in my circumstances I did not.

Sure, there are many many ways to outsource, but they cost so much! On the other hand, I was still building and in a mental debacle; how was I going to outsource tasks that I had not been able to even gather mentally?

Being a young, black, single mom while being an entrepreneur didn’t allow me the luxury of actually resting while taking this break; which perpetuates another issue our community faces (mental illness without resources or time for healing).

I realized that my problem was:
1. I did not have the funds to rest
2. I did not have access to enough resources to gain those funds without spending everything I already had
3. My previous services did not help this gap in opportunities or equity for my community
4. I NEEDED TO DO SOMETHING TO CHANGE THIS FOR MY COMMUNITY NOW!

The world did not know when events would come back (another risk entirely) so I sat on this baby for about 6 months before I talked about her and for about 2 more months before making it all happen.

I regret NOTHING. We have saved people’s rent, helped someone with mental illness take a break while gaining capital to fix some of the issues causing the lapse, and I feel so full everyday I am working on this purpose. I did not think up this idea; it called me and I picked up the phone.

The Vending Machine , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

The question of “how did you start” is always a tricky one for me. It’s hard to pinpoint a start when its all so connected. I know that this is suppose to be about “business”, but existing as a society that is trying to eradicate personal matters from business matters just does not fit for me. Chin-Yer Wright of The Baltimore Scene says, “business is personal”. I live by this! Hence, how the business came about.

Starting The Vending Machine LLC was simple, but starting the journey to heal my trauma that catalyzed the birth of this service, is another starting point that needs discussing. However, the genesis of this journey actually starts with the passion to help the community.

I use to be a people pleaser. Through time, I learned that that people pleasing in itself is fear and not love. So I had to sit down and realize that I had a fear of my community. What was the fear?

I envisioned a community where people would be free to create and grow expressively while maintaining a level of self sustainability. My fear was that we cannot reach this because the people are too broken. Fast forward, I went to study psychology to better combat this dilemma, instead of pacifying its symptoms.

Fast forward a little more and I created an entertainment organization. Through that endeavor, I started learning about the underground artists and businesses in my area. I also learned their traumas and how equity gaps (especially for black creatives) literally stopped them from having the resources to solve the problems themselves.

Fast forward again and I had to take a mental break of my own. During this time of healing, I realized what resources are needed for healing individually, for healing equity gaps, and for healing the circulation resources for creatives who wish to obtain self sustainability through their creations. The solution is community itself!

The Vending Machine LLC is a portal where business meets personal. Our business is created to give creative expanded time or more personal time through creative and entrepreneurial programs and services.

I’ve rambled enough about the healer that TVM LLC is; let me tell you what we do !

We host vending tables FOR CREATIVES and ARTISTS at events throughout the DMV. They pay a small fee, we book the events, pick up their inventory, set up the table, sell their products, and drop their products back off to them when we are done. They keep all of their profits. SIMPLE !

The Vending Machine LLC serves underserved BIPOC and women owned business communities. We focus on businesses with a creative element such as crafts, jewels, clothing, and paintings. We do NOT vend food items. We vend LIVE at events on behalf of business owners and have impacted the economic equity of these individuals and their entities.
Our target market is for entrepreneurs between the age of 18-45 who have trouble gaining education on business startup, financials, organization, and scaling.
We serve this community by opening opportunities for capital gain, education, networking, and creative advancement.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

My reputation is built on resiliency and healing. I choose authenticity. I no longer people please and people respect that what I say and do will be genuine. People have seen me fail, leave, lose, and get trampled, but they have not seen me give up!

My market is about results, strategy, and activism. I stand by integrity, even when it means someone will be upset, I know that in business, if I am transparent, programs an relationships grow continuously. Also, always be teachable. i am learning this one.

We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.

We met in high school and remained friends throughout the years. He came to me to start a business. I had a business mapped out that I had never talked about, He loved the idea and provided small seed funding and The Vending Machine LLC was born.

Contact Info:

• Website: tvmvend.org
• Instagram: the.vendingmachine
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheVendingMachineDMV
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmgUP_e3A_u1q_cMCcxLagg

Image Credits
Cydni Stewart Shabazz Linton Simone Williams