As her fame continues to rise, Tiffany Haddish has remained a positive light for her fans with her infectious smile and relatable story. Since Girls Trip, fans have witnessed the comedian become a modern-day Cinderella due to the many opportunities that have come her way and the recognition she began to receive.
We watched her She Ready: From the Hood to Hollywood comedy special, read her book The Last Black Unicorn, anticipated her red carpet looks and interviews, and rooted for her relationship with Common. Through it all, Tiffany has given us a front-row seat into her life and the excitement just keeps building. The L.A. native interviewed with Byrdie for The Balance Issue and she opened up about an array of topics such as her trip to her grandfather’s homeland of Eritrea and getting the big chop. Here are some highlights:
Photographer: Jason Kim for Byrdie
Tiffany Haddish on Using Baths to Bring Positive Energy Into Her Life
“I imagine all that pain just going down the drain. Sometimes, there’s a little ring around the tub and I’m like, ‘ooh, look at all that negativity.’ I call it programming the water. I program the water to get me jobs. I program the water to bring me adventures. Whatever energy you put out, that’s what you get back.”
On Getting Into Agriculture
“I got some land in Eritrea. I’m about to be a full-blown farmer. About to open this grocery store in South Central [Los Angeles]. We’re going to have Black-owned products from Black farmers in there. That’s going to be dope.”
On How She Felt After Her Big Chop
“It’s really important to know who you are, to know every nook and cranny of your body, and that’s the one part of my body I didn’t know. Baby, best feeling I ever felt in my whole entire life. The most sensations I ever felt. The most alive I ever felt. And then I was jealous of every bald-headed man I’ve ever seen. When you touch the back of your head, you feel it in the back of your feet. Then you go outside, the sun is shining, and it feels like this warm hug around your head—just deliciousness.”
Photographer: Jason Kim for Byrdie
Tiffany Haddish on Advocating for Herself
“I tell people I want to be paid like I got a pink penis from Australia. I want to get paid because I know that if I’m getting paid a certain amount, that’s going to raise the price for everybody. And I want to be done by 50. Not done with life, but I want to relax. I want to enjoy all the fruits of my labor. I want to sit back and eat plums and pomegranates. So I got a lot of work to do.”
On Being Fake
“When I was trying to be something I wasn’t, my soul was screaming at me. ‘What are we doing? This is not who we are. Stop it! Stop pretending b–h. Be you. You might actually find somebody that really loves you."
To read the interview in full, check out Byrdie.
Featured image by Amy Sussman/WireImage
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While an evolution is a natural progression that happens as businesses grow, a rebrand is a total change. Lola tells xoNecole, "A total rebrand is necessary when a business’s current reputation/what it’s known for is at odds with the business’s vision or direction.
"For example, if you’ve fundamentally changed what your product is and does, it’s likely that your brand is out of alignment with the business. Or, if you find your company is developing a reputation that doesn’t serve it, it might be time to pump the brakes and figure out what needs to change.
She continues, "Sometimes you’ll see companies (especially startups) announce a name change that comes with updated messaging, visuals, etc. That usually means their vision has changed or expanded, and their previous branding was too narrow/couldn’t encompass everything they planned to do."
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The Brand Doula was born in 2019, and its focus is on putting "the experiences, goals, and needs of women of color founders first," as well as brands with "culture-shifting missions."
According to Lola, culture-shifting is "the act of influencing dominant behavior, beliefs, or experiences in a community or group (ideally, for the better)."
"At The Brand Doula, we work with companies and leaders that set out to challenge the status quo in their industries and communities. They’re here to make an impact that sends ripples across the market," she says.
"We help the problem solvers of the world — the ones who aren't satisfied with 'this is how it's always been' and instead ask 'how could this be better?' Our clients build for impact, reimagining tools, systems, and ways of living to move cultures forward."
The Brand Doula has worked with many brands, including Too Collective, to assist with their collaboration with Selena Gomez's Rare Beauty and Balanced Black Girl for a "refresh," aka rebrand. For businesses looking to rebrand, Lola shares four essential steps.
1. Do an audit of your current brand experience — what’s still relevant and what needs to change? Reflect on why you’re doing the rebrand in the first place and what success would look like after relaunching.
2. Tackle the overall strategy first — before you start redesigning logos and websites, align on a new vision for your brand. How do you want your company to be positioned moving forward? Has your audience changed at all? Will your company have a fresh personality and voice?
3. Bring your audience along the journey — there’s no need to move in secret. Inviting your current audience into the journey can actually help them feel more connected to and invested in your story, enough to stick around as changes are being made.
4. Keep business moving — one of my biggest pet peeves is when companies take down their websites as soon as they have the idea to rebrand, then have a Coming Soon page up for months! You lose a lot of momentum and interest by doing that. If you’re still in business and generating income, continue to operate while you work on your rebrand behind the scenes. You don’t want to cut existing customers off out of the blue, and you also don’t want so much downtime that folks forget your business exists or start looking for other solutions.
While determining whether the rebrand was successful may take a few months, Lola says a clear sign that it is unsuccessful is negative feedback from your target audience. "Customers are typically more vocal about what they don’t like more than what they do like," she says.
But some good signs to look out for are improvements in engagement with your marketing, positive reviews, press and increase in retention, and overall feeling aligned with the new branding.
For more information about Lola and The Brand Doula, visit her website, thebranddoula.com.
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