If you are a business owner with a product to sell, you've probably considered becoming a vendor as a marketing tool to make additional revenue. The personalized interaction you get with prospective clients and customers is essential for every business. Vending doesn't just look like a booth at a conference, and it's not just for people who sell jewelry or hair products.
Vending can come in the form of a conference buying your service or products for gift bags, pop-up activations, VIP lounges, or decor. On August 3, in partnership with Toyota Corolla, xoNecole is hosting our first-ever ElevateHER Crawl event in Atlanta, where black women business owners are encouraged to apply to become vendors in a mecca of black girl magic.
If you're curious about what it takes to become a vendor, we spoke to four women who know firsthand and shared their advice on making the most out of vending:
Why Vending May Work for You
Gwen Beloti, founder of women's apparel and accessories brand Gwen Beloti Collection
Courtesy of Gwen Beloti
Vending is a great way to supplement your online and purchase order sales or be a standalone side hustle. "It's also a chance to get feedback about your product. You get true, real, and live reactions. I think it's a great idea to invite people to share their thoughts on your items and to welcome the feedback," shared Gwen Beloti, founder of the women's wear brand of apparel and accessories Gwen Beloti Collection.
Beloti, who started her collection 2008, was hesitant to become a vendor and did not think it would be necessary for her business, but her thoughts about the process were proven wrong once she started vending in late 2018.
"There is so much value in the opportunity to tell your brand and product story to new people in a variety of settings. For a while, I found some comfort in hiding behind the laptop screen, but there is so much power in human connection," she shared.
Since she runs her clothing line as an e-commerce business without a brick and mortar, she has found vending to be a pleasant experience "to engage up close and personal" with customers at events, pop-ups, and markets.
Vend Where Your Audience Is
Understanding your audience and what events they are attracted to will help you decide what conferences, brunches, or panels align with your marketing strategy. Joi-Marie McKenzie, the author of The Engagement Game, suggests you "only vend where you have a personal connection with the audience, or believe you can build one. Otherwise, it may be wasted effort and time." Her most successful opportunities vending opportunities are those where there are black women are attending.
Shanae Jones, founder of the hip-hop inspired herbal tea company Ivy's Tea Co., ensures she is investing her marketing dollars in the right events by doing research, asking event organizers for attendee demographics and looking at past exhibitor companies. "Who was there last year? Are they a competitor or do we have some overlap in our customer segment(s)? Are they coming back?" are all questions she asks herself before exhibiting. She takes it a step further by reaching out to previous vendors regarding their experiences.
Leverage Speaking Engagements for Vending Opportunities
Joi-Marie McKenzie, author of 'The Engagement Game'
Courtesy of Joi-Marie McKenzie
As you begin to build your brand and gain momentum for your products or services as a speaker, utilize those opportunities to make sales by setting up a booth. For McKenzie, she leverages her speaking engagements into opportunities to sell her book. "There is no better way to sell your message, your product, and your book than connecting with people face to face. When you're interacting in person, not only do you share your message more fully and completely, you're able to connect better with your audience," she explained.
McKenzie asks event organizers if she can set up a table to sell her book before and after her speaking opportunity and finds this tactic to be helpful for book sales. "Most authors know that you don't have a lot of money on tour, but still I'd invest in book stands, Square card readers so you're able to accept electronic payments, a nice table cloth and a pop-up sign, which you can buy for as low as $99," she shared.
Product Placement is a Form of Vending
Lashae Bey, founder and creator of Lotti Belle Beauty
Courtesy of Lashae Bey
Lashae Bey, founder and creator of Lotti Belle Beauty, said that her vending experience has come in the form of product placement in gift bags and activations. The eco-friendly and organic beauty products was a vendor for Blavity's Summit 21 beauty store, Chateau 21. The pop-up experience gives attendees access to beauty products where they can select five complimentary items to take home with them.
Bey also sponsored Karen Civil's 7th Annual Live Civil Brunch by sponsoring product for the gift bags. Her opportunities to vend vary as some companies reach out to her while other she pitches with a partnership marketing deck and product pitch deck to share with companies. "If I feel it's a good fit for me and I can expand my visibility to a new market, I'll consider it. When I first started my company Lotti Belle Beauty [in] November 2017, I knew my goal was to do 1-2 sponsorship collaborations per year. That meant either donating my products to go inside gift bags or vending for special events," she explained.
Make Sure to Cover Vendor Costs
Before you become a vendor, you have to understand the costs that some opportunities will bring. Budgeting for vendor booth costs and other fees will allow you to make goals to hit profit or recover the investments you prepared to participate in the event. Jones estimates what she will make before investing in a vendor opportunity. She cuts the expected attendee amount by half, then considers how many items she's likely to sell considering the demographics, which lets her know how much product to bring. "Factor in travel expenses, lodging, food, and miscellaneous expenses and you're not likely to make a ton of money unless the event is very close to home for you," she advised.
McKenzie learned through experience that some conferences and events require insurance to sell. "It's typically not expensive (no more than $150), but it should be added into your budget."
Bey learned that you need a plan A, B, and C when it comes to vending your products. "Shipping constraints when shipping large bulk orders and factoring in the cost for damaged or lost items. Also, having a great assistant or someone to help you during the day is a bonus, too."
Make Your Presence Known at the Conference
Joi-Marie McKenzie at one of her booths while vending at an event
Courtesy of Joi-Marie McKenzie
If you want people to visit your booth and buy from you, then you have to let it be known that you are at an event. Start by using social media to let your followers know you will be attending and vending at an event. Promote this information on your website as well as your mailing list. While on site, you may have to do more than just man your booth. According to McKenzie, to be a successful vendor, you should never be sitting down.
"You may have to go out and get customers. If you're walking around the event or conference, pass out fliers or bookmarks to reach your audience even further. Vending is not for the faint at heart; it's for the seller," she explained.
At events, people will pass by your table even if it looks interesting, but what draws them in is an engaging seller. "Speak to every single person who walks by, even if they don't speak back. Very few people are going to stop by your table overly eager to buy whatever you're selling, but if you are nice and welcoming and engage them, you can turn that person from a looker into a buyer," shared Jones.
Beloti believes knowing what type of space you will be utilizing at the event is essential for managing your displays. "With this information, I can then spend time making sure that my display and inventory is conducive to the structure of the event," she shared.
Her favorite set-ups are the ones where she is given the space and freedom to curate her mini boutique. "Curating your display is super important, probably the part I enjoy the most. It should be representative of your brand aesthetic. Working within the parameters of the space given, I want to showcase my brand in the best way possible," Beloti said.
Be Direct in Your Sale
Early in McKenzie's experience, she lost out on book sales because she forgot to be direct in asking for a purchase. She started incorporating her ask in her pitch to seal the deal: "So do you want to take a book home?"
She had to get comfortable saying that and asking visitors if they'd like to take two books home. "You'd be surprised at how many people said, 'You know what? Sure! Let me get one for my sister, or cousin, or line sister.'"
Prepare to Sell After the Event
Shanae Jones, founder of Ivy's Tea Co.
Courtesy of Shanae Jones
A high touch business is one that maintains a relationship with its customers whereby the customer can reach a member of the staff anytime. "For Ivy's Tea Co. that means, my staff or myself respond to every email, every comment, every DM, and engages with our supporters all the time," Jones revealed.
Taking that experience into an in-person market helps strengthen her brand with consumers. "I think more businesses should treat vending like a marketing tool and not an in-store pop-up. Always have your sign up sheets or iPad ready to get email addresses. This is what you want for future contact and sales," she continued.
So are you ready to be a vendor? Apply to become one at xoNecole's first annual ElevateHER Crawl in Atlanta by clicking here.
Featured image by Getty Images
RELATED
So, we handpicked one hundred It Girls who embody that palpable It Factor moving through us as young Black women, the kind of motion lighting up the world both IRL and across the internet.
It Girl 100 became xoNecole’s most successful program, with the hashtag organically reaching more than forty million impressions on Instagram in just twenty-four hours. Yes, it caught on like wildfire because we celebrated some of the most brilliant and influential GenZennial women of color setting trends and shaping culture. But more than that, it resonated because the women we celebrated felt seen.
Many were already known in their industries for keeping this generation fly and lit, but rarely received recognition or flowers. It Girl 100 became a safe space to be uplifted, and for us as Black women to bask in what felt like an era of our brilliance, beauty, and boundless influence on full display.
And then, almost overnight, it was as if the rug was pulled from under us as Black women, as the It Girls of the world.
Our much-needed, much-deserved season of ease and soft living quickly metamorphosed into a time of self-preservation and survival. Our motion and economic progression seemed strategically slowed, our light under siege.
The air feels heavier now. The headlines colder. Our Black girl magic is being picked apart and politicized for simply existing.
With that climate shift, as we prepare to launch our second annual It Girl 100 honoree list, our team has had to dig deep on the purpose and intention behind this year’s list. Knowing the spirit of It Girl 100 is about motion, sauce, strides, and progression, how do we celebrate amid uncertainty and collective grief when the juice feels like it is being squeezed out of us?
As we wrestled with that question, we were reminded that this tension isn’t new. Black women have always had to find joy in the midst of struggle, to create light even in the darkest corners. We have carried the weight of scrutiny for generations, expected to be strong, to serve, to smile through the sting. But this moment feels different. It feels deeply personal.
We are living at the intersection of liberation and backlash. We are learning to take off our capes, to say no when we are tired, to embrace softness without apology.
And somehow, the world has found new ways to punish us for it.
In lifestyle, women like Kayla Nicole and Ayesha Curry have been ridiculed for daring to choose themselves. Tracee Ellis Ross was labeled bitter for speaking her truth about love. Meghan Markle, still, cannot breathe without critique.
In politics, Kamala Harris, Letitia James, and Jasmine Crockett are dragged through the mud for standing tall in rooms not built for them.
In sports, Angel Reese, Coco Gauff, and Taylor Townsend have been reminded that even excellence will not shield you from racism or judgment.
In business, visionaries like Diarrha N’Diaye-Mbaye and Melissa Butler are fighting to keep their dreams alive in an economy that too often forgets us first.
Even our icons, Beyoncé, Serena, and SZA, have faced criticism simply for evolving beyond the boxes society tried to keep them in.
From everyday women to cultural phenoms, the pattern is the same. Our light is being tested.
And yet, somehow, through it all, we are still showing up as that girl, and that deserves to be celebrated.
Because while the world debates our worth, we keep raising our value. And that proof is all around us.
This year alone, Naomi Osaka returned from motherhood and mental health challenges to reach the semifinals of the US Open. A’ja Wilson claimed another MVP, reminding us that beauty and dominance can coexist. Brandy and Monica are snatching our edges on tour. Kahlana Barfield Brown sold out her new line in the face of a retailer that had been canceled. And Melissa Butler’s company, The Lip Bar, is projecting a forty percent surge in sales.
We are no longer defining strength by how much pain we can endure. We are defining it by the unbreakable light we continue to radiate.
We are the women walking our daily steps and also continuing to run solid businesses. We are growing in love, taking solo trips, laughing until it hurts, raising babies and ideas, drinking our green juice, and praying our peace back into existence.
We are rediscovering the joy of rest and realizing that softness is not weakness, it is strategy.
And through it all, we continue to lift one another. Emma Grede is creating seats at the table. Valeisha Butterfield has started a fund for jobless Black women. Arian Simone is leading in media with fearless conviction. We are pouring into each other in ways the world rarely sees but always feels.
So yes, we are in the midst of societal warfare. Yes, we are being tested. Yes, we are facing economic strain, political targeting, and public scrutiny. But even war cannot dim a light that is divinely ours.
And we are still shining.
And we are still softening.
And we are still creating.
And we are still It.
That is the quiet magic of Black womanhood, our ability to hold both truth and triumph in the same breath, to say yes, and to life’s contradictions.
It is no coincidence that this year, as SheaMoisture embraces the message “Yes, And,” they stand beside us as partners in celebrating this class of It Girls. Because that phrase, those two simple words, capture the very essence of this moment.
Yes, we are tired. And we are still rising.
Yes, we are questioned. And we are the answer.
Yes, we are bruised. And we are still beautiful.
This year’s It Girl 100 is more than a list. It is a love letter to every Black woman who dares to live out loud in a world that would rather she whisper. This year’s class is living proof of “Yes, And,” women who are finding ways to thrive and to heal, to build and to rest, to lead and to love, all at once.
It is proof that our joy is not naive, our success not accidental. It is the reminder that our light has never needed permission.
So without further ado, we celebrate the It Girl 100 Class of 2025–2026.
We celebrate the millions of us who keep doing it with grace, grit, and glory.
Because despite it all, we still shine.
Because we are still her.
Because we are still IT, girl.
Meet all 100 women shaping culture in the It Girl 100 Class of 2025. View the complete list of honorees here.
Featured image by xoStaff
Luckily, there are some things that you can do to either speed up the healing process of a cold or make having one more bearable than usual. Things that are affordable, all-natural, and easy to incorporate into your daily routine.
Are you ready to know how to nip a damn cold in the bud…before you even get one?
Here ya go.
1. Fire Cider
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Two drinks that I am gonna drink all the way down, each and every fall season, are hot chocolate and apple cider (that’s warmed up). So, when I read about something called “fire cider,” it absolutely caught my attention. If you’re not familiar with it, fire cider is a homemade drink that consists of things like apple cider vinegar, herbs and other ingredients that are specifically designed to boost your immune system.
I won’t lie to you — since some of the traditional recipes contain things like onion and garlic (sulfur has potent medicinal properties) and sometimes even hot peppers (which help to clear up congestion) — although fire cider might not be your favorite as far as your palate is concerned, the viruses (because there are reportedly somewhere around 200 of ‘em) that cause colds will lose a lot of their impact if you drink this; and that makes it worth a shot — well, swallow. Some fire cider recipes can be found here, here and here.
2. Probiotics
A few years ago, I wrote an article for the platform entitled, “80% Of Your Immunity Is In Your Gut. Take Care Of It Like This.” — and that alone should explain why and how a probiotic can help to prevent colds and make it easier to get over them. The reality is that a healthy gut is what helps to monitor how your immune system reacts and responds to harmful pathogens that may try and get into your system, including ones that cause the common cold.
And since probiotics feed your gut with “good bacteria,” this gives your gut the ability to be better (and quicker) at fighting off the bad. So yeah, take a probiotic — all of the time and definitely while you have a cold. It helps.
3. Peppermint (or Eucalyptus) Oil
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Although I rarely get sick (praise the Lord!), when I do catch a cold, I think what I hate the most is not being able to comfortably breathe. Well, something that is proven to help with that is peppermint essential oil. That’s because it contains properties that act as a natural decongestant as well as a fever reducer. Another essential oil that can hook you up in this department is eucalyptus oil. It’s bomb because it helps to soothe a nagging cough, it can clear up chest congestion and ultimately makes it easier to breathe.
So, before turning in at night, either mix a few drops of one (or both) of these oils with a carrier oil like grapeseed, avocado or jojoba, warm it up for 10 seconds in the microwave and apply it to the sides of your nose or on your best or back. Or put the oil in a diffuser. It can quickly ease cold-related symptoms while also making it so much easier for you to rest (which is something else your body needs to get over a cold; more on that in a sec).
4. Zinc Lozenges
Zinc is a mineral that helps to keep your immune system healthy and strong — and since a weakened immunity is directly connected to having more colds (2-4 a year is considered to be “normal,” by the way), it’s always a good idea to have some zinc in your body. As it relates to colds, specifically, aside from the fact that zinc can help you from catching one to begin with, there are also studies which say that sucking on zinc lozenges can help to shorten the timespan of a cold as well.
To be fair, some people have said that zinc lozenges make them feel nauseated; however, everything has its pros and cons and so, how would you know if you’re one of these folks unless you try it? Oh, and while we are on this topic, there are also zinc supplements and foods that are high in zinc (like red meat, lentils, hemp seeds, cashews and quinoa) if you want to try and get more zinc into your system that way (although lozenges are gonna be your best bet on the shortening tip; just sayin’).
5. Foods Rich in Vitamin C
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Speaking of foods that can fight a cold, out of all of what you’ve read here, probably what you are quite familiar with is the fact that vitamin C and colds are mortal enemies. In fact, one pretty significant study says that by taking one gram of vitamin C a day during a cold, you can reduce the severity of your symptoms by as much as 15 percent.
That’s because vitamin C is packed with antioxidants, it helps to reduce bodily inflammation and it helps to strengthen your immunity too. Foods that are full of vitamin C include chili and yellow peppers, kale, kiwi, papaya, broccoli, kale and citrus fruits.
6. Elderberry Tea
If you’re someone who likes to put preserves on your biscuits or toast, have you ever tried one that is made from elderberries (recipe here)? It’s actually pretty good — and good for you because elderberries are high in vitamin C, fiber and antioxidants. And that is why they are great whenever you are trying to hurry up and get over a cold because they also contain properties that are literally antiviral — and since a cold is a virus…well, there you have it.
One of the best ways to get elderberries into your system? Elderberry tea. If you add honey to it, honey can help to shorten symptoms like a stuffy nose, sore throat and cough by 1-2 days. Very cool.
7. REST
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Did you know that even one day of not getting the sleep that you need to weaken your immune system and increase bodily inflammation at the same time too? That’s because one of the benefits of a good night’s rest is it rejuvenates and recharges your system, so that your immunity can work at its optimal level.
Not only that but, according to science, if you already have a cold, getting plenty of rest can benefit you on a few different levels as well. First, your cytokines (proteins that boost your immunity) are released when you sleep.
Second, your body temperature elevates enough to kill some of the bacteria and viruses that are making you sick. Finally, sleep provides you with the energy that you need in order to get through the day while you are healing from your sickness. So, if you want to get through your cold ASAP, be intentional about getting as much rest as you possibly can.
BONUS: A Humidifier
When you get a chance, please check out “10 Really Good Reasons To Get Yourself A Humidifier This Fall”. There really are all kinds of solid reasons to invest in a humidifier around this time of the year — and one of them is to make getting through the cold (and flu) season so much easier for you. Since humidifiers bring moisture into the air, that can help to loosen up congestion, soothe an irritated throat, decrease coughing, help with the healing process of respiratory infections and it can help you to sleep better — so that you can get past your cold sooner.
So, if you don’t already have a humidifier, cop one ASAP. Your future colds will absolutely hate that you did. LOL. For a list of some highly recommended humidifiers that are currently on the market, click here.
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