This SHEeo Created An Eclectic Accessory Brand That Pays Homage To Black Women
With the rise of more and more black women breaking away from traditional 9-5s to become their own bosses, the CEO is getting a revamp as the SHEeo. In the Meet The SHEeo series, we talk to melanated mavens leveling up and glowing up, all while redefining what it means to be a boss.
After recognizing that many stores lacked handbags that were unique and functional, Cheryl Williams used her gift for sewing and began designing one-of-a-kind handbags that reflected her personal style, and that held everything from credit cards to lip gloss without feeling weighed down. She launched 86 & Norman (then Double Clutched) in 2015 for eclectic women who want to carry what they need without sacrificing style. She currently works full-time as a Lead Business Analyst while juggling her growing business.
In this week's feature, meet Cheryl Marie Williams of 86 & Norman.
Courtesy of Cheryl Williams
Title:CEO of 86 & Norman
Year Founded: 2015 (as Double Clutched, rebranded to 86 & Norman in 2019)
Location: Columbus, Ohio
# of Employees: 1
30-Second Pitch: 86 & Norman accessories helps eclectic stylish women who want to carry what they need while looking super cute with handbags, clutches, and wallets.
What inspired you to start your brand?
I launched Double Clutched (my former brand name) in June of 2015 because I quickly felt that handbags can be created to be so bold yet also functional. Everyone doesn't necessarily want the same styled tote or crossbody bag. They may want something only a few people can get and something that complements what they already wear and feel comfortable in.
I only pick designs based on [it] making sense and being functional. Fabrics have to be unique, likeable, and something that looks nice on a variety of designs. Those two together is what inspires me to create my bags. No two bags are alike. There's so much variation and that keeps it motivating and exciting.
In February 2019, I rebranded Double Clutched to 86 & Norman. 86 is the year I was born and Norman is the street of my Aunt's house when I was growing up that was like a second home to me.
What was your a-ha moment that brought your idea into reality?
Creating my first wallet was my a-ha moment that showed me that other people could too benefit from my products. My first wallet had multiple card slots, a space for your phone, keys, and your favorite lip gloss. But it was perfectly slim and had a wristlet strap so you could be hands free, [without being] weighed down with a huge bag, and have everything you need.
Who is your ideal customer?
An ideal 86 & Norman customer is a creative thinker with a heart for uplifting people. She values her family and mental health. She is someone who always has great creative ideas and gives great food, fashion, and product recommendations. She loves Black-ish, black-owned businesses, Marvel movies, and tacos. She craves the culture that comes with diverse cities and is a foodie at heart. Girls' night outs and date nights are her favorite. Her idol is the one and only Michelle Obama. Stories about people doing good for other people warms her heart.
What makes your business different?
The combination of both my style of print with my style of product makes 86 & Norman different. You won't find my unique fabric combinations with the form of bags, clutches, and wallets that I have anywhere else. And because each print/product combination is limited, each customer truly gets a limited-edition product.
To make 86 & Norman even more personal, I decided to name each bag after prominent African American women or TV characters. I think it's fun and it pays homage to those who I've learned about, read about, or watched growing up. My clutches just aren't a clutch. But it's the Jemison (Mae Jemison) Fold Over Clutch. I always called my products "she" and now all my she's have names.
What obstacles did you have to overcome while launching and growing your brand? How were you able to overcome them?
Through starting my business and rebranding my business, my main sacrifices and obstacles were time and money. Working full-time and then coming home to do all the business things myself, was and still is hard. And at times, my personal funds have had to fund my business.
To overcome those obstacles, I had to implement money management practices (like using accounting software to keep track of what's going out and for what reasons) and I had to learn how to move my time management skills from my day time job to my business. Making to-do lists, giving myself deadlines, and sectioning out my free time on the weekends for fun vs business are what helps keep the back-end of my business going.
What was the defining moment in your entrepreneurial journey?
I took a branding class last fall with the intention on fine-tuning what I had already created. Instead, I ended up doing a total overhaul. While Double Clutched will always be where I started, it wasn't really a brand. Just a business. With 86 & Norman, I have a target person, not just an audience but a specific target person, brand colors, a brand manifesto, mission and values, and a brand personality. I have all that locked down and now I know what will work for my brand and what doesn't fit. I know what events my people will be at and where they won't. I know what will speak to my customers when it comes to products and fabrics and what I shouldn't use the time to consider.
"With 86 & Norman, I have a target person, not just an audience but a specific target person, brand colors, a brand manifesto, mission and values, and a brand personality. I have all that locked down and now I know what will work for my brand and what doesn't fit."
Where do you see your company in 5-10 years? (The ultimate goal?)
I've love to open a brick and mortar store that features black women handcrafted makers and artists that also doubles as an event space with DIY workshops, a teaching space, and area where people can host small intimate gatherings.
Where have you seen the biggest return on investment? (i.e. marketing, ads, vending, social media)
My best investment has been taking the time and effort in rebranding everything. Name, website, print materials, social media, legal documents, look, feel, everything.
Do you have a mentor? If so, who?
I have a few SHEeos I look up to. Melissa Butler from The Lip Bar, Jasmine Lawrence of Eden BodyWorks, Ade Hassan of Nubian Skin. I learned everything I know about branding from Lela Barker of Lucky Break Consulting.
Biggest lesson you’ve learned in business?
Having a product isn't enough. You need a brand, a brand story, and very defined person you want to be of service to and a need you are fulfilling.
Anything else you would like for people to know, or take away from your entrepreneurial story?
Keep being consistent. Keep posting. Keep sharing your "thing". Don't get discouraged because your journey isn't going as fast as someone else's. People are always watching and cheering you on.
For more of Cheryl and 86 & Norman, follow her on social: Instagram and Facebook.
From Heartbreak To Healing: The Multifaceted Journey Of Nazanin Mandi
Nazanin Mandi is never out of options.
About a year ago, the 37-year-old life coach and actress was navigating life after divorce and determined to experience homeownership for the first time as a single woman. She’d been married to the R&B singer Miguel for three years, following a long-term relationship that started when she was 18 years old. But, in 2022, she filed for divorce. It was certainly the most public change she made but, in reality, it was just one of many decisions to refocus and reach her full potential in recent years.
“During my 20s, I was not ready for more. I was living a really crazy life. It was unpredictable. I was helping somebody else grow. It was a lot, and it was intense. I was not pouring into myself the way I should’ve been,” she says in an xoNecole exclusive.
Still, as Mandi worked to get to know herself and her needs during this new phase of life, she realized the home she’d purchased wasn’t a good fit. Overwhelmed by the echoing of her voice in the spacious home, she had a breakdown and called her cousin, who immediately suggested she lease the home and live somewhere else. “I woke up in my house, and I was like, ‘This is not it for me,” she says. “All those years, I had been accustomed to living a certain way [and] in a certain house, so I bought myself a house like [my old home]. But my family was not the same. Waking up in that house by myself, it highlighted the divorce. I was like, ‘Oh, no, we can’t do this. This is not it.’ My life has changed, so my choices need to change.” At that moment, Mandi became open to the idea that there wasn’t one set way to achieve ownership on her own.
“I feel so much better. I’m in a smaller place. My best friend lives a minute from me and I can walk to her house,” she tells me during a Zoom interview from her home one recent afternoon in early February. In the past two years, she hasn’t just been advising other people on varying circumstances, she’s also been healing herself.
"During my 20s, I was not ready for more. I was living a really crazy life. It was unpredictable. I was helping somebody else grow. It was a lot, and it was intense. I was not pouring into myself the way I should’ve been."
Credit: Solmaz Saberi
If supporters began following Nazanin Mandi because of her conventional beauty or the contagious, bright, white smile she often wears in many of her photos, that’s likely not the reason they’ve stuck around. Instead, she’s amassed a following based on her transparency about her own anxiety and depression, along with the encouraging messages of self-acceptance, gratitude, ambition, and humility that are often sprinkled into her social media posts.
In an era where looking at Instagram photos of models can often lead to feelings of self-doubt and insecurity, Nazanin Mandi is determined to be more than eye candy. She’s food for her follower’s souls, too.
Since being recruited to model while dining at an In-N-Out at 10 years old, Mandi has worked in many areas of entertainment. The Valencia, California native has modeled for brands such as Olay, Savage X Fenty, and Good American. As a teen, she sang at Carnegie Hall and auditioned for season 1 of American Idol, making it all the way to Hollywood before producers disqualified her for lying about her age. (Mandi was 15 at the time, and contestants had to be at least 16 years old.) Mandi has acted, too, including appearing on Disney’s That’s So Raven as a teenager and on the BET+ series Games People Play and the Prime series Á La Carte in more recent years.
In recent years, though, she’s also expanded her professional goals outside of entertainment, too. After becoming a certified life coach in 2020, Mandi launched the membership platform You Bloome in 2022 with the hopes of providing wellness services to others, including her self-published gratitude journal. “I wish I had access to something like You Bloome earlier in my own life,” she writes on the company’s website. The actress, who has been forthcoming about her struggles with anxiety and depression, has never had a life coach, but credits therapy as a tool that “really, really saved me and it laid the foundation to who I am becoming.”
Credit: Solmaz Saberi
"I’m trying to find the balance between living life and knowing that whatever is meant for me is going to happen, but also know that I’m doing everything in my power to make those things happen and better myself."
While she’s always had a nurturing personality, Mandi says her interest in becoming a life coach was inspired by the women who would message her for advice on social media. “I would answer them back. It really sparked a fire within myself to help people,” she says.
You Bloome currently has three membership tiers, ranging in price from $2.99 to $39.99 per month. The highest tier offers a motivational text message twice a week, two live, group coaching sessions per month, and more. “We get emotional. We cry. We laugh. It’s really beautiful. I’ve built close relationships with my members through this. It’s been inspiring both ways,” Mandi says of the sessions. Still, the founder says she hopes to take on more motivational and keynote speaking opportunities in the future with the hopes of impacting as many people as possible.
And, she’s hoping to do all of this while continuing to explore a career as an entertainer.
At this point in her life, Mandi says she’s gained enough perspective on modeling, music, and acting to realize what she wants to prioritize moving forward. “We are going full force with acting,” she says, noting her goal is “to book a series regular or a film that impacts my career and the world.” She plans to continue to model, too, but has no desire to pursue music.
“I don’t want any part of that because I know what that life entails,” she says. “I don’t want to tour. I don’t want to do any of that. That is not where my heart is at.”
Credit: Solmaz Saberi
If you ask Mandi, she’ll tell you she feels most comfortable in front of a camera, but she’ll also admit that she’s recently experienced a lot of imposter syndrome when thinking about her acting career. “I think it’s a fear of not succeeding,” she says. If anything, she adds, she’s harder on herself now than she’s ever been. “There were distractions before. There’s no distractions now,” she says. “I’m putting pressure on myself for no reason.”
This is where the life coach’s own personal healing comes into play. Mandi says she’s learning recently that “slow progress is still big progress at the end of the day.”
“Currently, I’m trying to find the balance between living life and knowing that whatever is meant for me is going to happen, but also know that I’m doing everything in my power to make those things happen and better myself,” she adds.
Still, one of Mandi’s strengths is that she doesn’t feel the pressure to limit herself to just one passion. From working as a life coach to pursuing acting, she has given herself grace to explore all other dreams.
“We can be allowed to be many different things in this lifetime,” she says. “As people, our identities are allowed to expand. Don’t put us in a fucking box. I cannot live that way anymore.”
For more of Nazanin, follow her on Instagram @nazaninmandi.
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Featured image by Solmaz Saberi
'Raising Kanan''s Hailey Kilgore Talks Seeing Herself In Jukebox & Broadway Background
Hailey Kilgore, who has brought the character Jukebox to life on Power Book III: Raising Kanan for the past three seasons, was working hard in show business long before landing the role on coveted Starz franchise. She's already a Tony- and Grammy-nominated talent whose credits include the Jennifer Hudson-led Aretha Franklin biopic Respect and the Tony-winning revival of Once on This Island.
Hailey may play a teen on the Mekai Curtis-centered series but she's been training in singing, acting, and performance since the tender age of 9—that's 16 years now. If you take a look at her social media profiles, it will almost make you do a double take as her real personality couldn't be further from what's depicted on the show—proving just how talented she really is. The Broadway veteran, who is gearing up to release her first album, is what many would describe a girl's girl wearing loads of sequins, gowns, and serving face!
This will prompt you to dig a little deeper to find out more about the girl who is a multi-hyphenate and earned two major nominations before even making it on the big screen.
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xoNecole caught up Hailey as season 3 came to an end and was surprised to learn that although they may be completely different people, her real life is mirroring what's going on with Jukebox in Raising Kanan. "I really made the epiphany season 3." She continued, "[Jukebox] just wants to be seen. She works so hard, she's a really sweet girl. She has a beautiful spirit and she just wants people to see her—to see how hard she works. I feel that right now. I'm like, please just see me. I know you love Jukebox...but there's a super cool girl in here and she's got a lot to say. A lot to contribute to the world artistically."
She even delved more into her background, telling us about the extensive training and hard work she's put in to get to this point. "I started training when I was 9. I trained in acting, singing, and performance." She further explained, "I did my first job when I was 12, so I've been doing this for awhile. Performing is what I love. I've always said I wanted to be Beyoncé when I grew up...I'm really blessed to have the resume and the background that I do."
The latest season of Power Book III: Raising Kanan has come to a close but in true fashion, Hailey is still hard at work. Her first single "Drama Queen" is out now and her debut album will be released on May 3. It's safe to say that Hailey is having her moment. One can't deny that she's worked hard for it and we can't wait to see what's next!
Watch the full interview below.
Hailey Kilgore AKA Jukebox on 'Raising Kanan' Talks Broadway Background
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Featured image by Getty Images