We were lucky to catch up with Uyi Idahor and Brianna Kennedy recently and have shared our conversation below

Uyi and Brianna, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

The name Coco Drip represents the many different shades and hues of the Black community. We intentionally center BLACK people, specifically women, at all of their events.

The Founders of The Coco Drip are BLACK.

The events are hosted in predominantly BLACK cities.

The Coco Drip partners with venue owners and other contractors who are BLACK.

All of the featured business owners at the events are BLACK.

When someone attends our events, they can find many shades of BLACKness dripping throughout the space.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?

We’re Uyi and Brianna and The Coco Drip is our brainchild. We’re both entrepreneurs and North Carolina Central University Alum. The vision for the event began in January of 2020, with the goal of bringing our hometown an intimate shopping experience for Black women in the area to attend; something we both realized was missing. The original event, planned for Women’s History Month 2020, was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In October of 2020, we revised our original plans to respond to the safety needs of our community, while also holding high our intended purpose; to bring Black women together to celebrate and support Black women-owned businesses. Overall, we wanted to empower and encourage Black Women to believe in themselves to START or KEEP GOING, regarding entrepreneurship.

The Coco Drip has traveled to a number of cities and showcased over 200 Black women-owned businesses. We’ve also expanded our brand by partnering with larger corporations to host The Coco Drip at their establishments, Amazon and LexusNexus to name a few. We’ve also collaborated with the Black Alumni Collective to feature The Coco Drip and our affiliated businesses as part of their 2022 National Conference.

The businesses who join us at The Coco Drip receive promotion through multiple- media platforms, an opportunity to collaborate with other Black women-owned businesses, and a platform to sell their goods and services to a new audience. Our Black women-owned businesses feature a variety of products and services like personalized crafts, books, apparel, hair care products, and many other unique items. We are so proud of what this experience has brought us and so proud of the Black women who make The Coco Drip what it is.

About the Founders:

Uyi Idahor was born and raised in High Point, North Carolina. She graduated from North Carolina Central University (NCCU) with a Bachelors in Psychology (minor in Mass Communications) and a Masters in Family and Consumer Sciences with a concentration in Human Development. While working at NCCU as the Women’s Leadership Graduate Assistant, her passion for working with African American women was cultivated. In 2015, Uyi conceived of the brand, the Queen ReDefined. However, at the peak of 2018, the brand evolved into a platform, becoming more than just a business– it became a mindset, a demeanor, and a movement. She strives to be the best version of herself, while encouraging others to do the same.

Brianna H. Kennedy is a native of Savannah, Georgia. After graduating from NCCU she started her career as an educator. Though she has left the classroom, she still continues to work and champion public schools, especially those her children will attend. As a budding entrepreneur, she was excited to partner with Uyi to create The Coco Drip and has since started her own business, The Jet-Lagged Housewife where she combines two of her passions, travel and reality TV, to create experiences for herself and her loved ones. She is Brian’s wife, Zion and Zora’s mom, and God’s daughter.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

We met at North Carolina Central University, and though we were not friends, there was mutual respect for one another. After graduating, we realized we had more similarities than differences: confident, resilient, vocal, and powerful in our own right. We value God, our family, and boundaries and understand the importance of communication and a strong foundation. We started off being co-creators of Black Women of Durham which promotes the social, political, and holistic well-being of Black women in Durham by creating an inclusive space that celebrates the whole Black woman and our collective identity. Together we started to coordinate and conduct events centered on community engagement, health and advocacy.

Along the way, we wanted to embrace our entrepreneurial passions and create a space for like-minded women. After developing the vision and solidifying the mission of The Coco Drip, we decided to launch in January of 2020 with our first event to be held in March of that year. Once the pandemic hit we both had to focus on staying healthy and learning how to navigate life during that time, but we never gave up on our vision and mission for Black women-owned businesses. That’s when we decided to pivot the way we held our events so our vendors and patrons could feel comfortable and held our first event in October of 2020. Ever since, as they say, it’s been up.

Yes, NCCU introduced us.

Yes, we are co-founders and business partners.

However, LIFE made us friends and sisters.

Aside from being entrepreneurs, we work our other full-time jobs and hold many titles that include but are not limited to: mother, wife, daughter, friend, aunt, sister, Godmother, line sister, consultant, etc. We agree and disagree at times, although overall we communicate, respect, counsel, support, and pray for one another.

We DON’T compete and/or compare ourselves to one another. We both wear our crowns and make sure neither of our crowns fall, we both allow our lights to shine, which helps us both contribute to the success of The Coco Drip.

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

When faced with challenges, we remind ourselves that no business is perfect, and we have to stay true to our WHY. As entrepreneurs, we know it is not easy and there will be good and bad days. Although, when we have that bad day, when that rude email comes through when someone tries to challenge the logistics of your event when the decor for the event does not show up when a venue tries to overcharge us – we remember our WHY.

Why did we start The Coco Drip?

Why are we doing this?

Then we remember the “Thank You’s” we have received.

Then we remember the Black Woman who came up to us and told us how this was her first time vending and she was scared at first, but we created a space that made her comfortable.

Then we remember the social media post that stated “SOLD OUT at THE COCO DRIP”

Then we remember the vendor reviews we received.

Then we remember that God is using us for something bigger, that this is truly just the beginning.

Sometimes we do want to give up, but we know we have to keep going. God gave us this business vision for a reason and He is going to see us through.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]

• Website: https://www.thecocodrip.com/

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_cocodrip/

Image Credits
Two of the pictures of the Founders Uyi Idahor and Brianna Kennedy The rest of the photos represent The Coco Drip. Thank you again for this opportunity.