Today we’d like to introduce you to Brown Brownie.
Hi Reinalda & Symone, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Brown Brownie is a mother and daughter novelty brand that focuses on stationery and paper goods, such as greetings cards, gift bags, wrapping paper, and more! During the holiday season of 2021, we were on a quest to find wrapping paper with an African American Santa for our family’s Christmas presents, and the options were very limited or simply did not exist. Due to that void, which resonates with many families of color and mixed race, that’s when Brown Brownie was born!
Today, if you are lucky enough to find paper goods products that are inclusive of characters of color, it simply is just a white stock image replicated in one shade of brown. Brown Brownie wants to showcase the uniqueness and beauty of ethnic communities. We truly want our customers to be able to identify a piece of themselves in our products!
With our product designs, we put heavy emphasis on a variety of features, such as skintones, facial features, and hair textures. We do not all look alike and that should be reflected in every area of life.
We soft-launched in November of 2022 with less than 35 days left until Christmas and received an overwhelming positive response. We are excited to announce that this year we are expanding our Christmas line with new designs, in addition to expanding into additional celebratory events such as Baby Shower, Gender Reveals, Birthdays, etc.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No, it defiantly has not been a smooth ride. For starters, we have invested our own funding into the business to get the company off the ground, which demonstrates our strong commitment to the journey, but is still a risk nonetheless. One of the biggest challenges we have experienced thus far is knowing that the interest and demand is there, but marketing ourselves to our targeted audience. Ensuring they know the product is there to help fill that void in the market. In addition, finding the right team/partnerships has been a learning effort as well. Researching the right legal team, CPA, vendors, etc.
However, if it is your passion, you persevere and keep moving. If it is for you, all the right elements will align themselves accordingly, and it has! Is it a lot of work? Yes! However, it is so rewarding when you see the final product and know we are servicing and filling a void in our community that has been under-represented for far too long.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
What sets Brown Brownie aside from our competitors is that we are representing minority groups; black, brown and mixed-race communities, by developing products that the entire family can resonate with and feel a sense of themselves and have pride in.
We want the readers to know that our brand is real. Brown Brownie is a mother and daughter duo, we design every product line ourselves and want the world to know that our ethnic and cultural diversities are beautiful and should be showcased. The products are so unique and beautiful they will capture the hearts of all people and resonate with families globally.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
We are not ones to believe in luck. However, we do believe if you want something bad enough, believe in it, work hard and the universe will open up all the right doors. From the time of conception of Brown Brownie, everything has lined up accordingly. We won the AARP Entrepreneur contest which provided a 1-hour session with Daymond John from Shark Tank, which was an amazing opportunity to get business advice from a leader in the entrepreneurial industry. In addition to being a Grant recipient of Dallas’ own TWU StartHer Grant!
We believe all of the above was through believing in ourselves, our product, working hard even when it feels like no traction is happening in the timing that you feel it should happen. If you are where you are supposed to be, things organically work in your favor, but you must stay grateful for every step of the way in the journey.
Contact Info:
- Website: brownbrownie.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brownbrownieco/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brownbrowniecompany/
Image Credits
Steamboat Media
