LIA DIAS - Stirring Up Success

Hey, guys, welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke. I'm your host, Colleen Waitt, and today we have very special guests. Entrepreneur in the building. Yes, and I'm very excited about saying mompreneur because if your mom out there, you know what's already that's already a full time self employed type job. But to add more merit to the motherhood, we added owner of Hype Hair magazine. Yes, Hype Hair Magazine, and that's been around for over thirty years.

Thirty we're celebrating our thirty fifth year anniversary. Thirty we're going into our thirty fifth year anniversary right now.

And in publishing, that's like monumental because you had to survive the facebooks, the mindspaces, the Twitter age. Print is out. We don't advertise in print now. We only sell. We buy digital, I mean tweets and all my world. Yeah, it's it's an I wasn't posting for ten years. Let me tell you something that one wave where digital came in and print was out, you had to change a

Much restaurant, nightclub. Yeah, it's a whole Yeah, it's a whole thing.

I can only imagine that side. And then to add even more to that, you got the Girl cave La.

The Girl cave La is my beauty supply store chain. We have franchises here in Los Angeles and in Texas, and.

Oh we're in Texas. Let me tell you something. You are a definition. You're just on your own. It could be just entrepreneur. I'll take it, you know. I mean sometimes I hate when people separate it only because it's like, yo, on its own, You're good, you know, because then it's like, are you the top of the morepreneurs? Where do you fall?

Yeah?

Like, no, you you will be. She's a serial entrepreneur, entrepreneur.

I'm I'm a mother. Yes, I'm a mom, and I'm just making it happen. Yes.

So on the regular day we were talking about this. You don't look this stunning.

Time never ever I came like this to see you.

Okay, yeah, because you look great For all y'all listeners, they can't see her. She looks ten out of ten phenomenal. You would never think she was a mom because you know how else mom's look.

You should have seen me yesterday at the same time, totally different person.

I love that. I love that for you because I have this new face where I gained a lot of weight. So if it's not stretchy or loose, I don't want to wear it.

But you look good.

I'm wearing jeans for you. This is my this is me trying to look good for you. I put on makeup before you came. But it's an honor to meet you. I'm very excited. I was very excited when we got the interview with you.

I was excited when I got the invitation. I'm happy to be here.

Yes, girl, Yes. And then before we get into all the tea of a day in the life of a real serial entrepreneur that's struggling multiple businesses at the same time, why don't you tell me what you're gonna be cooking for lunch today?

So my go to my go to meal is spaghetti. It's meatless spaghetti though, so it's quick. My daughter probably hates this. So a single mom for a long time and my daughter's twenty one now, and she says it all the time, like, I can't even stand spaghetti anymore because I feel like I ate it four times a week. But this was easy. A bell pepper, onion, some sauce. This is like less than ten.

Dollars, yes, yes? And then now the bell pepper and onions. Was that something because you wanted to add extra like bite to it?

Because I mean, I just felt like it was so basic just to have salt, mean, just to have sauce and pasta. So I was like, what can I do that? And when you go to the produce aisle, it's bell pepper and onion. That's something you can spice it up with. Yeh. If I'm feeling really fancy, I'll add mushroom.

Yes, yes, oh mushroom. Now do you saw tea it?

I sautea it first. Oh, God, sutea it first. And that's kind of like your replacement for meat. Yeah, you can kind of call it like spaghetti.

I didn't like that. I never really cooked mushrooms, but I one day in my life I will venture off into mushroom land. I'm not there yet. My husband hates mushrooms, so.

I'm there in a lot of ways.

But go ahead, start our lunch through the pasta in the pad and take me back to what was going on, and you can start. You can start since this is your stable go to you can start as far back as you want, which is good for me because I want to be really inspired today.

Okay, I'm trying to think the first time this became a thing in my life. I think it was when I became a single. I was a teenage single mom. Oh yeah, I got pregnant with Kayla, my oldest daughter, when I was eighteen. I had it when I was nineteen. I was in college and I was just trying to figure it out, and I gotta get to work, get to school, get her to school, gets everything together.

And you said your parents were strict, super strict. Sorry, guys, I talked before we got on camera.

You know what, But I feel like that is the rebellion, right. So I grew up very sheltered, went to private Christian school my whole life, went to church every Sunday, and nothing's wrong with that. But I never got a taste of the outside world. So when I got a little taste of it, oh, I tasted it. I was outside was outside outside?

What was that discussion like with your parents? Like, hey, guys, I'm in college and surprise, you know what.

My mom is deceased now. But she was very intuitive. She knew the guy was dating and she was like, don't get pregnant. And I was like, why would I get pregnant? She was like, don't get pregnant. And I felt like she knew before I told her. Yeah, I didn't hide my pregnancy, but I knew something was different. And because I wasn't I didn't have a wear. I was a kid. I didn't know what that meant. My

But she kind of had some intuition and was she so she was kind of supportive or.

You know what I will say, they became supportive. Okay, I think they were disappointed. Obviously they were disappointed.

And how did that make you feel like knowing that that was because that's that's got also.

Like you know, I mean my parents invested a lot into me as a child. Like like I said, I went to private Christian school, I had a lot of access to a lot of things. I had a nuclear family, So some of the things that I did in early adulthood weren't really representative of how I felt like my parents raised me to be. But they never did not support me. They could have been upset with me or disappointed, but I never felt like I was on my Yeah.

They never like turned their back on you. Yeah, like I was great.

Yeah, I was a single parent and things were hard, but I never was like I was down but never out If that makes sense.

Good, Yeah, well that's good.

Yeah, it's good.

So what the father did he poof.

Vanished pool Spanish? Poof Spanish? Where is he? Like? No poof Banish?

Oh oh you no relationship right now?

No relationship?

You are a real, real real though you didn't even get to argue with the other parents.

Like I think he was involved often on during the pregnancy, but I think when Kayla got here and it was a realization that, like we have this responsibility it was not something he was ready for, not at all all.

I wasn't either, Yeah, no one's I went through a phase of being a single parent. Let me just tell you something. And people are like, I wasn't ready, Like do you.

Think no one's ever ready to be a parent? You kind of just it's on the job training.

It's on the job training and young and you're young. So what are you doing to support yourself during this time? And do you move in with your parents?

Yes? So at this point, I'm living in a dorm with my best friend. I'm living my best life. And no, this is when I find out I'm pregnant, and so I have my baby shower. Well, actually I take that back. I have like a small baby shower. And then the reality of all the things that I need and I don't have kind of sets in. And so I asked my parents to come back home. Of course they immediately were like yes. But my mom made me pay rent and she made me have like a plan of action

Oh damn.

Yeah.

Yeah, you're saying that she never turned her back, but she had this.

It was her, it was her rule.

It was did you understand it at the time.

I didn't understand it at the time. We fall you know, had a big falling out. I felt like she didn't have my back. But really what it was is that I made my bed. I had to lie in it. It was my responsibility, it was my daughter, was not her responsibility. And she saw me not doing the things that I needed to do to prepare for my life as a single parent, and she just said, you got to learn. So damn.

But you want to know something, I know for a fact that this is why you are as strong and powerful as you are today.

I say all the time that that those moments are the moments that like cultivate, like there's nothing that I feel like I can't do. You know what I mean, Like if you can be nineteen years old trying to figure out how you're going to pay rent and feed a kid, and you could do anything.

Yeah, that's when my homeboy told me once, me and my husband severay I became a single mom, and he told me, if I can survive this chapter, absolutely, he was like, you will be invincible. Do you know that? I feel even remember what we're talking about before, part of me feels like I've seen I've seen the worst. I feel like I've seen the worst. I'm just saying, like, if I survived that shit and things is cool.

I'm just saying. I'm just saying, so I feel that experience. You know what that feels like, right, Like when you get through like the trenches, you're like, oh, there a walking apart.

And I think it's a balance of Also, i'd imagine, and I want to talk about the emotional sign is like you're going through the motions of heartbreak and oh my god, what did I do? And also survival where you got to almost bench press or you know, shove your feelings yeah, and be like Okay, I'm gonna have to deal with you at a way later date and put on my survival skills.

Yeah. I don't have time to be emotional. The rents, do the baby school, tuition, is do all the things, oh, the daycare. I gotta be at work, so I feel like I didn't even really feel it, you know what I'm saying, because I was just in survival mode. It took me years and years to kind of like understand, Like I'm not even gonna say trauma because that's so dramatic, but like the weight of it, yeah, like it's heavy.

Yeah, you don't think there's a little bit of trauma in there?

Is it trauma?

I mean, you remarried, so maybe, but if you hadn't, you'd have to wonder if there was a little bit of trauma there.

I actually remarried twice, so sorry, okay, okay, but yes, all of it. Yeah, but I don't know, girl.

Okay, So I'm glad you're not laboring it labeling it as trauma. That's I'll attribute that to your strength.

Okay, Yeah, but you're right, it is a little bit of trauma. I'm maybe never pictured it as that it is, to be honest with you, though, because it's something you do have to heal from.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, it's trauma. Yeah, because eventually you had to revisit.

It, right for sure, and it comes up in the moments and the seasons that you're not expecting. Yeah, right, like even now, when I feel pressure, I'm like, oh my god, like I'm reminded of those times, even at forty one years old, and that was when I was eighteen. Ye so yeah, it's real. Dang, it's real.

Okay. So how long were you at Mama's house before the queen had the little mini queen had lived.

I know, my dad is probably gonna say it wasn't we let you know, dad, y'all put me out.

It was as good though.

Yeah, no, it's good. I tell them all the time. I had the best parents in the world because they taught me to have to be self sufficient.

It was maybe about ye okay, Oh yeah, that's brutal. That's brutal, okay, but that okay. So you move out, you get like a little.

Bent, a little like I'm like, I don't even want to call it a one bedroom. It might have been a studio. I don't even I remember looking at all areas of the house for one space. It was a little small space and Kaylyn and I made it work. I remember she painted like the walls pink, black and white.

And she was one or two or something. No, no, no, whoa as you got as we.

Got older, but yeah, that was like kind of like our hug. That was our place for a while until I figured it out.

And what were you doing for work?

Let's see, I was working at Burlington Coke Factory as a lost prevention agent. Yeah, yeah, what was I doing? I was working just like for a temp agencies. Like because I was in school too, so I was going.

To You were still going to school too, jesus.

So no, this is a good thing that my parents did. So they would not watch Kayla for me if I had to go out or hang out with friends, but if I had school or work, they always helped. So even if I was living on my own, So the routine was I would go to work at night. I'm sorry, we go to school at night, get off obviously, do my mom thing, wake up in the morning and take her to school and just start all over again and go to work. And I was kind of like my routine to help me with her in the evening.

Well that's that's a blessing exactly. And let me tell you something, no disrespect to having children, shout outs. I love my child. But like if I had to choose between school and like an additional three hours with my kid every day, I'll choose school. Yeah, I'm glad I would take this guy.

The moms understand what that mean, like you, it's inaction.

I will gladly take school.

Look at this, I'm about to burn over three hours.

I don't think you could burn it overcook it, that's what Okay, okay, so already fascinated by this, this chapter of Brokeness, so super brokeness. So your daughter and was living off spaghetti.

You were living off spaghetti. We were living off a poyo loco.

Like, okay, in school? So you graduate school for what.

I graduated with my degree in social work.

Social work? Isn't that an industry that doesn't really pay.

Not at all? But I just wanted to fix the world, I said. I wanted to tell pregnant and parenting teens. I wanted to I.

Feel you, though, because I always tell myself, if I became rich, smart, like my whole life's work would be dedicated to single moms, like I would be like, yo, I'm totally we're gonna help you all out. And okay, okay, so you're don't burn itself.

I don't.

I got the fake insurance here. I try to y'all all, y'all successful people will be relying solely on your insurance.

I think I got this. I've done it too many times. Yes, yes, oh that's up. Oh we we got it.

You got it?

I do.

Okay. So at what point after this degree comes in, do you say, hmmm, I think I want to venture off into crazy, crazy entrepreneur lands.

It was a long time, so the degree was life changing for me because I was able to go get a job where I had a regular paycheck benefits because I worked for La County DCFS. Okay, like eight years.

Okay, do you get pensions and all that?

All of that. I didn't stay long enough to get it. I think you have to stay like ten years to get vested. I left right before that point. But the benefits are amazing, health insurance, paid time off, vacation, all the stuff that you don't get at the kind of jobs I was working before. So that's kind of like when my life got easier. Okay, Yeah, I think Kayla would say the same thing.

God and she and then were you vocal about what you guys were going through because it was the two of you?

Yeah, I feel like maybe a little too vocal, right. She knew a lot of things she knew. You know that sometimes I didn't have it and sometimes but what I never tried to do was make her feel it too much, you know what I mean? Like I never had her excluded from anything at school, you know, the field trip or something like that. I always tried to send her with the best. Yeah, because I never her

But now, are you guys because you went through that, are you guys like more like best friends ish parents type?

I feel like even though her mom, we more have like a big sister little sister type relationship. She still very much relies on me and listens to me. But we're just so close.

Okay. I love that close. I love that so close, so close. Okay, So okay, you're doing the social work, you're working for eight years.

You say, mm hmm dcfs yep.

Where does the bugs start to pivot.

So I got married, Okay, Yeah, I got married and my ex husband was a business owner and a physician, okay, and he kind of put in my ear so you know you. I helped him with his business while I was working at DCFS, and he said, you you can, you figure the things out, like you could do this. So, even though we're not on good terms now, in those moments, he did inspire me to let me know that if he could, you know, have a full time job as a physician and run a business like I could do

Of business owners. He was he was a physician and running a business, yes, and then he realized you could do the same.

Yep.

I was helping him a lot, okay right with his business and what business was he in.

He had a juice bar. He had a franchise juice bar, so I helped run that, and then he had a practice as a position he practice, so there were a lot of things that we did together to put in place to get his business off the ground. And being successful in his space empowered me to say, if I can help this man make.

It, do it for yourself.

Absolutely hell yeah.

So how so when from that point did that transition. Did you go Okay, I'm gonna do it. And then obviously you're saying you kept a job too at the same.

Time I did. So this is everybody's like, I quit my nine to five baby girl, don't do that. I needed that, even being you know, married to a physician, even having I wouldn't say a rich lifestyle, but it was comfortable. I wasn't worried about like the roof over my head. I still never was comfortable quitting my job.

And then were you able to fully trust I guess after being a single mom where you did you have like secret person money where you Okay, yeah, I'm saying, because I don't have to be in a single parent you like.

I.

Like your hands.

There was always a trust fund somewhere somewhere.

Okay, hey, I like it. Yeah exactly.

I think you can do things when you're married community like, there's nothing wrong with that, But that foresight of knowing like I've had to do this on my own before never allowed me to like relinquish like full.

And I feel like a little bit of trauma speaking up. You know what I'm saying because because you know what I'm saying, It's like, yo, he never gonna happen to me again.

Exactly, I'll never live in a studio apartment with That's what I'm looking for, Like a look at me. This is the real struggle right here, cooking with a fork.

You scratching the heck out of that pot.

I am, I am, I hope it. Oh there we go. That's better.

Yeah, much better. Okay, so you're in this marriage, you start to go, You're right, I'm a baddie. Let's go do this. So what's the first play?

The first play is is I'm into hair. So part of what I did I didn't even bring this up when I was a single parent, is I had a friend that worked in the industry and she would sometimes have like stand in modeling gigs or things like that. So I modeled. I'm like almost six feet tall, so.

You are tall, huh Yeah.

So there were times that I did, like infomercials, like modeling gigs on the side just to kind of get through. And so I always was obsessed with my hair. That was just like a thing. So I said, what could I do as a business that I like I love and wouldn't feel like work. And the first thing was hair. I love beauty supply stores. I love hair. You'll see me today with this hair.

You'll see that I love your hair. But thank you love it you already know, thank you.

I love mixing it up. So every week, even when I was working for a DCFS, like when I got my paycheck, one of the first things I would do after I paid my bills was, you know, go get a new wig, Go get some new hair, mix it up. Like That's how I felt good about myself. So I knew that that was something that would never feel like work to me if I found a niche in the hair business. And so I started a hair company.

Okay, a hair company. And what did that hair company do?

So we sold hair extensions, weaves, wigs, and then I took the proceeds from that, and then I started a beauty supply store. And then that's where the chain the girl Kvetlet came from.

Wow, and you were competing against Now that industry is monopoly by I want to I don't want to say, is it correct very much? Okay? Okay?

Yeah?

And so you're getting into a space where there's not that many people that look and feel like you.

Correct, So I started my stores ten years ago. When I started ten years ago, there was no one that looked like me and my distributor. I think now it's kind of shifted where there's more black ownership and beauty supply stores. But when I started, absolutely not. So being able to even get my distributors to open up accounts for me was like a hard a hard test. Wow.

And you say distributors, is that the people that sell you the middleman?

Basically wow, yes, because obviously you don't buy from the manufacturers because they have these huge minimums fifty sixty seventy eighty thousand and oh.

We don't know that, just so you know, Oh, ok, got it educated up right, because everyone has not opened up a beauty supply store. I just thought. You go to the manufacturers, and they are I mean.

In some cases, but a lot of the bigger manufacturers because they are so large, they have six figure minimums fifty sixty seventy eighty thousand dollars, and so you carry so many lines, you can't go to every manufacturer, so you go to essentially a wholesaler. Yeah, so that was the struggle.

You learned all this on the boots on the ground.

Okay. I was a stalker and beauty supply stores for probably like six months before I even started. I would go in and see like if they had boxes on the floor, if they were restocking, like where their boxes were coming from.

You, Yeah, all right, go ahead, my kind of gang. So okay.

So I figured it out. And then when I found out where some of the main distributors were in LA, I just went in and I, you know, finagled them to open up my accounts.

Okay. And then once you had accounts, did you go online or did you go store right away?

I did a pop up shop first. So I didn't sign a long term lease because at this point I'm still not like confident. I don't know if this is going to work. I took a leave of absence from my job. I didn't quit because I was scared that I wouldn't be able to figure it out.

How long is a leave of absence?

So I took like a three month one. Then I renewed it for like another three months. So I took like do.

You get paid on leaves of absence?

You can use your time, So I saved up like my vacation time, my PTO time. So you use that you're.

Smart smart Yeah, okay, and then that's when you would just pour into the business. Okay. I love the way you're thinking. This is chess, not checking, this.

Is and I need my pay checks st at this point, I need something coming.

And are you still married at this I'm still married? Oh?

Still married? Okay, still married.

And he's he's he's he's whispering supportive things in your ear to keep.

For the most part at this point, Yeah, he's like, you know, figure it out, quit your job. You got it. And I'm like, no, I'm not quitting my job. I need my job. Ye, I need exactly, exactly exactly. We're not quitting any jobs that pay us on the first and the fifteenth. I need that. So yeah, it was really like, once I got the store off the ground and I saw that I could get to a point to make it profitable, then I felt comfortable quitting my job.

Yeah, And did you wait for the cash flow to build up before you actually pulled that trigger?

Yeah, I did. I did, and I waited until I had like a profitable season, like.

I didn't just season.

Yeah, it wasn't like I had a profitable week. I went like thirty days and I'm like, okay, we're tracking up. We're tracking up. Cool because obviously in the beginning you don't. No.

No, I usually trying to avoid pulling a check from any company now until year two, which is hard to do. But I'll tell you this. I like to build up a healthy cash flow before I jump on payroll. That's just my thing because it is just I don't know if it's the pandemics and all the hurdles we done went through. I'm traumatized.

I get it.

I'm like, no, after year two, we could start dipping into the kiddie fund that everyone else gets paid obviously first, but I try and survive lean and not off that company for the first two.

That's that's good. Yeah, that's but I wasn't that disciplined I was.

I was doing that means you were doing that means you were doing good though good enough. I feel like sometimes people underestimate, like and I have this discussion all the time. There's a difference between how much money you make and cash flow and the cash flow, I believe it or not, it does no matter how much money you generated as a company. If you can't manage that cash flow, it means absolutely not.

You can make one hundred thousand dollars today, but if you've got to spend ninety nine thousand to get there.

What is it? Yeah? And people, I meet too many entrepreneurs that don't quite understand cash But no, no, no, you have to respect that one little You gotta respect that flow you do and that's the only way you could really grow. In my opinion, it looks.

Good though you know, now I know this is this is a little nostalgic for me. Yeah, I remember like having to do this after work.

And so how many beauty supply stores do you own?

It? We actually so in the height when I the Girl Cave, we had seven six locations. Now we've scaled back and we have four. We've closed two of them that were in areas that just didn't they just weren't working. So after the pandemic, we decided to close those two locals. But you close or so close, totally closed, and then

And are they all in LA.

Yes, So we have one in Inglewood, I went in South Los Angeles, one in Anaheim, and then the other location in Texas.

Oh Anna, what made you go all the way to Anaheim?

A franchisee? So some of the.

Franchises, I mean, you are a franchise.

Sorry, correct? Correct? So when I had a mother and daughter approach and they wanted to open up a location and they were comfortable in Orange County and they found a location in Anaheim, and so we opened it. Wow.

Yeah, And now can you tell us the pros of being a franchisee For all those listeners out there that are thinking, hey, I want to open a beauty supply stories seem it's really easy.

You know what. I think that's the irony of it. People think because it's hair and because it's beauty, it's easy. It's actually not, like the industry doesn't make it easier. So I would say, yeah, don't get into a franchise model and think because the model already exists that it somehow is like easy. It's not.

Oh, I thought it would be easier if you do a franchise.

You still got to have that instinct to go get it. You know what I'm saying. It's not like a blueprint of success. It's maybe you know some systems in place, which is helpful. I'm not going to say it's not. But but you also have the distributors, right, correct, So those are things that are easier, right, So it's built in.

But for any listeners out there, would you advise franchise over or starting on your own?

It depends on the industry. I think, Okay, this industry, beauty supply industry. I would say yes, because there's so many pieces that go with it. If it's something that you're familiar and then a lot of people are not familiar with the hair industry. Like I just started talking about manufacturers and stuff and you're like, hold on this and go back. Oh no, we don't know, we don't know.

There already controlled. You gotta ask for permission, right because that's the queen of the house.

It's exactly down to the color of your walls, right. Like I remember being in a franchise model with the juice bar and they say, you know what, we're changing all the stories, concepts and you have to pay for that. Franchise is not giving you money to pa cheap. Hey, we don't want to do plastic anymore. We want wood finishing.

Okay, so after the Cave the Girl Cave La. Now you have all your stores. It's been in business for over ten years now.

Yes, we just celebrated ten years in April this year.

Okay, so what is your next place? Because you have multiple businesses.

You know what, I Oh, my goodness, I'm becoming less fascinated with retail, and I really want to dive into more the digital marketing space with our brand, because you know, we have hype Per now under the Hypeer before though or I brought hype Peer after hyper has been existence for thirty five years, but I purchased it five years ago.

Yeah.

Oh okay, so I really want to dig into that more. Retail is cool, but it's brutal. Yeah, it's like, honestly, sometimes I think, how did you get into the restaurant business and the retail business, Like you pick the most hardest.

Yeah, the restaurant business, the club business and the magazine business are like the worst. I mean, not the worst, and they are.

They're the worst to make money.

And I feel like you just have to have a real good, strong sales ethic. And I don't know if you, as the owner, are that much removed because I feel like the owner is always the best sales person.

I am.

I am, and I hate that. I know, I hate that. Don't you wish you could clone yourself?

I know, I said all the time, if I have five of me's, i'd be a billionaire.

Yeah, yeah, for sure, it would be well same my number. You know, maybe you Okay, So okay, tell me about Hype hair.

Got it? So everybody knows hype hair, Like it's just nostalgic for for all women of color. I think I don't think it's just black women, because I have a lot of friends from different races, and when I told them I was purchasing Hype Hair, They're like, oh, I remember that magazine. So we've had Beyonce on the cover, Rihanna Nyah Long like, think of every staple. It's a staple magazine exactly. So through the process of owning The Girl k La and I was doing reality TV. I

Wow, Now what did that body of work look like? Come on, we gotta we gotta dive. You see the pot is even.

Oh my god, it's so much. It's so much like hype Pair is a legacy publication, so there's so much responsibility in that. You can't just slap anything on the cover. Like our subscribers are savvy, they're loyal, they've been a part of the magazine for years. So it's just a lot of I could go on and on. It's just a lot of work.

Yeah, what hat do you wear? Primarily since taking over.

Everything, really, I'm really focused on visibility and sales right now, so making sure we have the right partnerships, the right brand partnerships, to make sure that people don't see us as just you know, going to grab money, but they see it as authentic relationships. So a lot of the brands that we're working with and a lot of brands

You're turning down checks.

Sometime, what if it doesn't align what I know? It's no, I know, if it doesn't align with the vision and of Hypair, you know it just it doesn't look. That's how I feel. Sometimes I'm like, no, we.

Can't now, Yeah, you're making that executive decision to say no, you making.

Because it's a legacy brand.

I get it.

It comes it's a lot with it. So I can't just you know, there's so many brands that just want to get on the backs of that voice, because you do have a strong voice. And no, we're not turning down a lot of checks now, but I'm just saying just every once in a while, yeah, if it doesn't align with the mission. To me, all money is not good money.

I only say that when a person haggles me. Whenever a person haggles me, I'm like, no, no, no, keep your money.

I already know you, already know what that's going to turn into exactly.

But if you're not haggling, I'm I'm up for negotiation. That's the only time I label bad money is when you haggle. Anytime someone haggles, I'm like, I'm.

Good, you know what that comes.

I don't mind a discount, but a haggle, A haggle is out. It's a non negotiable. We don't even have to need We part in peace. But you're turning out checks, okay for our legacy on.

A scalt of one to ten, that's like a point five. Yes. The point I'm making is is that because there's so much history with the brand, we can't just say yes to everything. I like that we have to be in you know, we are inclusive, but we have to be exclusive also at the same time.

So what's the day in the life working for Hype Air, Well.

We ask my publisher, I probably get on her nerves. I love you, Trish, But we are always posting on socials or making sure our voice is heard. We're talking to brands about advertising with us. A lot of things that we've done in the last four years under my leadership is not traditional advertising. We're doing like activations, So we've done activations in Miami for brands. Essence Fest is another big platform for us where we activate with brands.

Ever bring the two companies you have together.

All the time. I'm actually in the process of dissolving the girl k La and making all of our stories hype here, so.

We'll be the beauty umbrella that actually makes absolute perfect sense. And that's actually very brilliant, very that's smart.

I'm excited for that transition. It should be done by the end of this year.

Yeah, that's that's a big move and it's a big movie. That was your genius.

Yeah, I just felt like I was working on two ships. It's like, no, no, let's put everything together and let's drive the same boat.

So now you have a retail section of h and now you have the magazine digital where you bring in all these other additional partners that are targeting that same demo.

Correct, and then we have a we have licensing deals, so we like a licensing deal with Connie, the haircare company of the you did that do so it was it was existing, but it was dormant. So under my leadership, I cultivated the relationship where we relaunched our lines. So we're in I want to say, like eight thousand stores right now Burlington, North Trump's, Rag Walmart's and Walmart's in Canada, but I think we're in like eight thousand doors right now.

That's amazing. Yep, all right, and then let's move into the last well, the last currently that I know about. Yes, if I'm missing something, the Savoy hah, I just wanted to make it harder.

Yeah, like you have a magazine and retail stores, like let's go open a club, right.

And this all happened around the same time as Hype.

Pair, right, Yes, so high Pair came first. Okay, super super successful, like right when I took over it, and my confidence was like, oh cool, Like I'm like, we're doing this, and the opportunity the Savoy I'm from Inglewood, still live in Inglewood.

That's like, you like these legacy things I do?

I do. I feel like it. I feel like parts of our culture should be owned by people that care, and I feel like I care good. So yeah, the Savoy. I was literally driving down the Brain and I saw for sale sign. I called my sister and I say, let's the SA Boys for sale, and she immediately says, let's buy it. I'm thinking my sister is going to be like, girl, keep driving. She is.

She is You guys are terrible to get she is my sister. I love that for you.

Yeah, she owns They actually are ranked one of the top wine bars in the country in Inglewood. It's called ten ten Wines and it's.

Yeah, oh, y'all are like a dynamic.

Yeah yeah, yeah. So when they did see this is what I'm saying. It's hard for me to be upset that they put me out because they put they put that in us.

If you were homeless, I'll blame them to You could have gone either way to feed us.

Yes, okay, I'm sitting here talking and I'm gonna mix this in because I don't want to make too much of a mess. And go ahead, there we go.

I'm sure people in the back are hungry too. I know you're feeding the whole crew today.

Is that okay? Well, I hope.

I made brenzino for lunch. I make a mean brenzino.

Do you know that that's my favorite fish?

Are you a mean?

I love a good whole branzino with some olives and tomatoes, and like a.

Girl, I don't do all that you just made my bandle, I'm gonna make you a really good Brenzino. I make really good brinzino. I practice it almost every week. I'm prating ways. Yes, I love prinzina. Okay, yes, my favorite fish.

It's my favorite too.

That's crazy, Okay, we have a lot of common, all right, So this is the boy you call, y'all A like, let's do it.

She says, let's buy it. So I called the real estate agent and they say, well, come see it. I'm like, well when they said, well, we're actually here now.

Now, when they say for sale, they mean the restaurant was for sale or the brand was for.

Sale, so not the business. The building. Oh, the building, Yes, the building was for sale at this time. I didn't know what was for sale. I just saw it for sale. Song. We later found out that the building was for sale, and so that's why we we kind of gutted it, renovated it, and we've made it our own. It's actually called Free event Space now.

Free event Space okay, so we're not plugging this boy. We're plugging Free events Space.

You know what we get away from the name, though, I.

Know, I love that she loves her legacy. You can't get a Savoy you end up at the same spot.

I was there this morning and a lady called and she said, where are you guys? And I just said, where the old Savoy is. She immediately knew what I was talking about. So it's like, so, okay, so you can fight it. Okay, I love that for you. I love the Savoy. When it was the Savoy, I loved it. So listen, it's called for event space now, but it's.

Free form event space, but it's formally the Savoyd correct. Okay, Well I'll be going there.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We have amazing food, amazing staff. I love it. Okay, I'm there every Now.

Are you guys competitively priced like comparison to people who host events at the like the hotels.

Oh, we're way more affordable.

Okay.

All of our client we do have corporate clients, but ninety five percent of our clients are people that are in the community. We do repass as birthday parties.

What's the capacity on it?

Oh, I think we're at like five twenty.

Five twenty is it layers?

It's ten thousand square feet.

I haven't been in there because I know you remodeled it, right.

Yeah, so we have like a little small staircase that leads to outdoor patio, but it's all one level.

Awesome, ten thousand square and then can you break up the room if you're doing less? How what are the breaking sets, the event.

Planner and guys, I know, I know you have a lounge area, okay, that we accommodate seventy five or less, okay, but the main space is five five twenty twenty awesome.

Who who's events to be hosted? If you don't mind me as we let's see.

We've had so many artists. Romaine Virgo, who's my favorite Jamaican singers. He's performed there.

You are going to destroy your clothes. Girl. You are not bad and good right now I'm Talking's the other tool to feed us?

Please? Like I gotta eat, listen, I don't want to taste. I gotta taste to be prest servant because I don't want you.

You can't mess some spaghetti, especially if you know how to make you be able to mess it up, because I don't. You was pulling a lot of soap, but you know because.

It's slap you guys have to slap your mama. That's like one of my favorite that's real New Orleans.

I know it's good. Is it good? Please don't judge it. Come on, just feed us, man, feed us.

No, I don't even want to give it to you.

Why it can't be that bad.

No, it can be.

Look, don't worry that they halfn't wait and me will enjoy it regardless. Okay, I don't feel right serving, let's see it. We'll be fine. This is just for the show. And then I'll tell everybody. We'll tell everybody listens how it's terrible your.

No, no, no, it's bad. We go it's bad.

I hope it's good.

No, no, no, it's not. I'm not even gonna blame you. Did I give you an don't mom, No, it's not bad.

No, okay, maybe and you can give me more smarty. Okay, it was not bad at all. Okay, it wasn't bad at all. I don't know what she's talking about.

I had higher expectations for it. Maybe that's what.

Okay, So then we'll blame the half white. We'll blame the half white of me for enjoying this regardless. You know, look at it. It has the peppers in it, just a little bit like the onions. It feels like it's a real Plasta dish like you. You know, it's official. Don't hate on your food.

Isn't it a little bit more? Slap your mama?

No, it's okay, fine, okay, you want to add more salt and poisoning, right, because.

That's a whole nother thing.

Ms. Fine, was okay, it's delicious. I would love to hate on you, but it's fine.

It's perfect on a scale of one to ten. My feelings won't get hurt.

I did not eat. For all your listeners, it is a certified nine. What I didn't eat though I was starving. Okay, I had apples for breakfast.

Okay, I'll take my nine. I'm taking my nie take your name, I'm taking it.

I think it's perfect. Okay, cool, all right, I don't know what what do you think is bad about it? It's seasoned, it has enough.

Maybe the noodles are a little bit overcooked. Maybe that's what I'm feeling. No, no, are.

You judging yourself hard?

See why am I like that?

Yeah? Here, move the things before you spill that on yourself. And moved that to the side so we get a get shot of you.

Oh no, I got it?

Yeah you good? Yeah, this is delicious.

What do you think you would change the Pastasa does not know? Maybe that's what's.

Not at all?

Okay, So it's just perfect.

M right, you're over judging it. H You're totally over judging it. Matter of fact, I would have messed up the pasta because you totally freestyled of with no timer. So I did. And you know this is perfect pasta. Congratulations. Not only are a great entrepreneur, but you can cook.

Okay, I can throw something together ant.

And you know what, if I cook pasta from now on, I will add peppers and onions to it because I think it makes a difference.

It does, It totally does. Absolutely.

Now I get why when you was broke, you still you still hooked it up much as a bell pepper, Like yeah, like this whole meal was less than five bucks. See yeah, and we had protein pasta, come on, so you could feel a little less guilty about eating it.

You know all the time you can make it work with less than ten dollars.

So okay, So the savoy take me into the day in the life, the ups and downs of what happened with that whole transaction, because I know no transactions ever smooth. Oh my god, I could literally does it come with a liquor license? M hm okay, good right, well tell.

Me no, it didn't. It came with an opportunity to buy a liquor license, but we ended up going through a broker. But yes, it was for sale with the liquor license. We went on our our own journey to get our own but and.

Then did you have someone else negotiate your lease?

So we ended up buying the building.

Oh you bought the building. Oh you guys were like, I don't want to use Donald Trump, but you are Trumpet. I don't know another person to use. But oh, y'all are like that. And you did it as sisters.

Yes, so yeah, my sisters and I were call owners. Yes, three of us. My sister Leslie and I are like super involved though we're the and y'all.

Want it together. Oh, this story just got better. And what did the husband say? So the husband that's.

The ex husband. Now, so that's a whole story. So we brought it obviously I'm married, California everything.

Yeah, the unity say, did y'all buy it under a corporation or we did?

We did, and then it was separate, So no, the problem we brought it with the it was my sisters and obviously I'm married, so it was the ex husband and so part of the struggle after we purchased the building is we were going through a divorce. We ended up filing for a divorce shortly after we got the building and we ended up litigating the ownership of it for about a year and a half.

Yeah, no, I know that was tough.

I'm so connected to that space because I really fought for it. It went through a court receivership while the judge was trying to decide who was going to get it civil law. Yeah.

Ultimately, Now did your sisters give you a little bit hell for that?

I think I'm still paying for it. That's why I'm so dedicated. Yeah, they put their life savings into buying this amazing so they were shook.

Absolutely, See absolutely, I think there is trauma. I'm gonna take it back to the single momhood because even though I am married. Yeah, this is horrible to admit, and you know, but I always think about if divorce happens, Like I owned the property before I bought I got married. People always ask me, are you're gonna sell itry? Absolutely not, And because once you sell, it becomes communal. And in the back of my mind, I know, as messed up as it is, like, oh I can get we can

Saying, seriously. So that was my mistake. My mistake was not understanding you know you. I didn't. I never thought I would get divorced, but I never thought like divorce was so nasty and messy, and when emotions and money and four point five million dollar property is involved, the guns come out. So we have to deal with a lot to get it.

I was having a discussion with my dad and shout out to my dad. He just started a company called La County Politics dot com, all right, and he was gonna let one of his employees create the one of the Facebook pages. I was like, absolutely not, absolutely not, absolutely not. He was like, oh, but she's such a good work. I said, yeah, but you don't know how people battle. When I have a girlfriend who told me

That's so true.

And I was like, Yo, you need to screen on all my lovers in the future. But the truth of the MATTERSS, you can't predict them. You can't predict anything like that.

I never imagined in a million years of things that I went through my divorce I would go through, right. I never, I've never guessed it.

But that's where I think for me, the trauma's there. It's a real thing. Yeah, even here in this store, I'd be like, you know what, in future, this business is going under such and such as name you know, because you're right, damn that's crazy.

Quick claim, quit claim deeds, all of that. If you buy a property, like you have to be mindful the person you divorced is not the person you married. I remember my attorney would tell me that.

I would be like, why is he doing this?

He would never She's like, he's not the guy you married. Stop thinking, yeah that he's that guy. He's not that guy anymore. And so when I came to terms with that, then I just like accepted that I'm in a battle, right Like I'm in a fight.

Is what it is. And you, guys, at this point you have to break communication like opposing sides, right.

Tell the attorney we're not even communicating at this point. We still don't really communicy in this.

But yeah, because that's years, you know, that's a whole relationship. That's a I don't I can't imagine how tough it is. But like I said, I think the greatest teacher of all time, it will be the single parent error because after that.

You And that's how I got through my divorce because I reminded myself you've done this by yourself before, so don't think you can't do this by yourself.

And this person played a pivotal role in also believing in you. So that's got to be a tough one too.

Exactly.

So a day in the life of Savoy now I already know, Hypair. I kind of get a core of your who you are as far as your integrity when it comes to legacy and branding and respecting these brands. I see your passion and your love for that, and I love that for you, even though integrity where you turn down to check it's crazy. I love that not too many you've been a business for yourself for over ten years, you haven't worked for someone officially, and over probably of say twenty.

Let's see, it hasn't been maybe fifteen years.

Okay, that's great, Okay, and then you survive the pandemic. Mm hmmm, because let me tell you something, d the pandemic. I took a little job. I went for a startup. Murdered it. By the way, I love it, but I had to. I had to get on that knee. And COVID was a humbling reminder that all my eggs can't be in one basket. I was like, man, my company's killing it, and COVID this seconds all right. So with that being said, now we get into the savoy and a divorce in the middle of savoy.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, And I'm still got to be a mom, right, got three kids?

You got three You have two kids together, and you guys aren't talking. But now you're remarried. Shout outs to you are a gags.

The fact that I even got remarried it was crazy after everything I went through. But yeah, yeah, I have an amazing husband, super dope. He's at the building now making sure an event we're doing is going the way.

Okay, I love that. So it's like a partnership thing, right or died.

Yeah, you signed that paperwork though, like prenup all of it whatever. No people tell you to sign sign it m hm, because I can never go through that again.

Yeah, and that's smart, that's smart. I love that for you, Okay, I love that for you. I have so much respect and admiration for you right now. Okay, So okay, tell me a day in the life of running the Savoy.

Oh okay.

So you don't get to actually eat on the show. You get to nibble.

I know. I'm learning that because I want to like dig in. You're right, it's not that bad. And I'm actually hungry too, really good, okayod this is what I needed. A day in the life of the Savoy or me of no of you in the Savoy Okay, got it. So usually starts okay, usually it starts off with walkthroughs. That's how we start our day because we're always selling the space. So even if we just open the doors and just three people walk through that day, that's a success.

But smart cool that means you're just riding it out, doing whatever you gotta.

Do, whatever I gotta do. And then we go into lunch service, then we going to dinner service, and I say probably four days out the week we have a private event. So just making sure the client has four.

Days out of a week, that's great. That's really great for you guys.

Like today we have two events. We have a repass during the day and then we have a private birthday party tonight. So just doing it nice scheduling.

Now, now, with all these businesses you have going on, I just want a small recap of an actual Okay, I wake up at six, What does this routine look like on an average day? Don't give me a lounger.

Day, got it? Sure doesn't happen you know, my lounger day is Monday, Okay, cool, So when everybody's starting their week, I'm like chilling because the Savoy is closed and my beauty so apply stores. That's like our slow day. So Monday is my day off. Okay. But yeah, on an average day, I get up at like five am. I don't get out of bed, but I'm up. I'm responding to emails for hype Pair because a lot of our ad partners are on the East Coast, so I want

How do the kids get routed there?

So the kids are with their dad a lot of times. That's a whole nother story. My ex husband is Middle Eastern and in their culture, when you divorce, I think in the black culture, when you divorce, you like it's just known, you go with your mama. It's not that way. So I have a lot of what's the word, I don't want to say, free time, but I have a lot of discretionary time when it comes to my kids. And then my oldest is twenty one, she's an adult.

It's kind of cool though it is to be honest, because it's like a balance versus it is.

But it isn't right. So part of it is like when you divorce, you have to create a new normal for your children, and I just feel like my ex husband and I we haven't gotten to that place and so we kind of just have to do what we got to do to get through it. But it's not ideal for me as a parent, But I accept that that's just the place that I'm in and that's who I'm married, and.

That's yeah, okay, what can you do? Okay, that makes sense. So you go to the Savoy and say you start your day at nine thirty nine, you leave the house and then you go to the Savoy.

Yep, And then I'm there. I'm doing the walkthroughs I'm making sure it's clean, I'm getting us ready for lunch service, and then usually I'm able to brand shop during the day and then go check on the retail stores, going to the distributors, making sure we're fully stocked, scheduling, payroll, all the things, business, whatever comes up that day, go to the city.

Whatever that is.

And then I usually take a break during the middle of my day, go home, regroup because usually I start off my dance sweatpants and a hoodie. I like to go back to this avoid looking like the owner, so I'll usually transition arriving correct.

Correct, I love that.

Okay, So my break is during the middle of the day, I go home, get ready for my evening, and then I'm there all night like there, it was there till midnight last night, Jesus. We had a comedy show.

Comedy shows, yeah, yeah, And then where can everybody see the schedules of everything you have going on?

For Instagram, we post when we have events. So it's free events space on Instagram and.

Free event space on Instagram. Okay, no dots, no dat, free event space, not la, just free events okay, free event space.

So that's that, and then I'm into event mode or whatever comedy show mode.

Or now your sisters were involved in the Savoy, So how does that work? Do they do dai to day operations?

So they're very focused on their wine bar ten ten, which is booming right now. I'm so proud of what they've created. So the operations really falls on you.

Oh got it all right? All right? Yeah?

Girls, okay, exactly.

Well, thank you so much for feeding me today, diving extremely deep. I know I was all up in your business. No, it's good though.

I needed this need. I needed a break, I needed a conversation, I needed some nerves moves.

And when you look back and reflect on it all, would you do it all over again?

Yes, but not in the same way. Not in the same way, for sure. Not in the same way. I would be more trusting of myself. I would be less trusting of other people. I would definitely have gotten a prenup because it'spent a lot of time fixing things. So yeah, I would absolutely do it again, just in a different way.

Got it? And that would be the advice you give to your younger self.

Absolutely, girl, get an attorney, Get an attorney, get a business coach, get all those you're gonna end up paying for it anyways, I don't wanna spend that money. You're gonna end up paying for it if you don't do it the right way the first time. You're gonna pay you in some way down the line.

But all right, thank you guys for tuning in. Keep up with everything, Leah how I'm on social media.

I'm super active on social media. I'm on Instagram, Leah l I A B d I A s on Instagram and Facebook li b liah b ds my name.

On Instagram Facebook.

No underscores, no underscore, just L I A B my middle initial d I A S.

All Right, you heard it here first, guys, and free to reach out to us or her on Instagram.

There, Thank you, Thank you.

This was a bye all right, Thanks guys for tuning in. Peace out for more eating while broke from iHeartRadio and The Black Effect, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your Fabi Rick shows