¶ Teenage Beauty Supply Store Owner Inspires
I am so excited to have on the program today Paris McKenzie . She's 16 years old , she's a teenager and she is the owner of a beauty supply store in Brooklyn , New York , which makes her like the youngest beauty you know beauty supply store owner . So that's pretty special . Welcome to Naturally Brown Woman , Paris . Glad to have you .
Hi , thank you so much for having me .
Now , I've been looking all over . I see the news , I see you Google your name and your name is all over the place . I mean just people interviewing you about your supply store . What is that like for you ?
interviewing you about your supply store . What is that like for you ? It's been a bit overwhelming at times , but it's also awesome to see a dream of helping others come true , and me being able to inspire others to see that come to life has been amazing .
Yeah , yeah , and you said to help others . Tell me about that , tell me about your store and what your goal is with your store .
My goal with my store is to be able to inspire a lot of young people or anyone in general , just to change their perspective of beauty supply stores . I know a lot of Black people have had negative experiences of being followed or accused of stealing a beauty supply store .
So I want to kind of change that narrative and make the beauty supply store somewhere comfortable , because it's somewhere we go to make ourselves more beautiful . So that's definitely one of my goals oh , I love it .
I love it to make everybody more comfortable , because we spend so much time and money on beauty supplies for our hair , whether it's hair nails or eyelashes or whatever the case may be . So I love that the idea of creating something comfortable , a very comfortable space . And how did you guys go about doing that ?
What are some of the steps that you do to make people feel comfortable in your store ?
Well , the first thing we really do is greet them at the door .
I mean , I don't let you just walk into the store and feel like you're not welcome there , and I also try to keep my employees , or whoever's in the store , well informed on the products that we do sell , so when someone comes in , we can have that friendly back and forth conversation , a well-informed conversation , to help our customers in the best way possible .
Yeah , and Paris ? How did you get started in this ? I know your mom is a hairstylist . I am also a hairdresser's daughter . That's what I love to say . I'm a hairdresser's daughter . But what made you decide that this is something that you want to do ?
no-transcript opportunity to grow up and to learn about cosmetology and business and finances .
Yeah , what has been some of the say , the best lessons that you've learned in running a business ?
lessons that you've learned in running a business . The best , the best lessons I've learned person personally and like life wise is more about self love and how that can affect someone's entire demeanor and affect their whole path in life and where they go in life .
I mean , once you come to a beauty supply store , you buy products that you use to make yourself more beautiful . Now you have that extra confidence during your job interview . Now you have that different pep in your step when you're walking . Learn so much more about profit and expenses and marketing . Those things is what I've definitely learned so far business-wise .
Yeah , what are some of the toughest lessons you've learned ?
I would kind of say the tough lesson I've learned is our acceptance into the community , the beauty supply store community . I've always grew up realistic and I knew what the world was like .
I knew what it was like to be Black in America , but definitely to see the statistics and to see the attitude towards it sometimes it's really been a tough lesson and something very hard to get used to .
Have you ever had challenges like getting supplies ? You know , I mean getting supplies in your store . Have doors been opened that way as far as your inventory is concerned ? Have doors been opened that way as far as your inventory is concerned ?
What are some of the day-to-day challenges you've faced ? Well , I feel like I haven't faced as much challenges as probably a lot of other owners , because the store was passed down from Asian owners to us , so we saw all these manufacturers already .
They can't tell us that they can't sell to us because we have invoices that prove that they've sold in the area and in that exact location before and we have invoices to show their prices so they can't increase them on us . So , yeah , it's definitely been a lot easier for us since it's been passed down from Asian owners .
Yeah , yeah , and that is definitely a blessing .
¶ Young Entrepreneurship and Wisdom
Three words what are three words to describe your journey ?
Three words to describe my journey so far has got to be spontaneous because a lot of things have just happened out of the blue during my life and it's been like a fantasy . You can use fantasy because a lot of the things in my life you would never expect for someone my age , someone that has been through a lot of the things I've been through at my age .
It's been a fantasy , it's been spontaneous and it's been a dream . Really it it's a lot of other people's dreams to do a lot of the things that I've done so far .
Yeah , 16 years old . Have you ever felt the pressures of that ? Has anybody ever looked at you and said , oh , she's 16 . Maybe she doesn't know , or have you had a situation like that ?
Yes , I've had situations like that before I even opened up a beauty supply store . I've had situations like that when I worked in my mom's boutique when they would like basically judge my mom for leaving me alone in the store , not knowing how capable I was of managing a store on my own from a young age .
And I also had some people that didn't believe I can do hair well until they saw pictures of me doing hair and they're like , oh my gosh . You know it's kind of hard to believe a lot of the things that I can do . It's I even find it hard to believe sometimes as well . I forget that I'm literally only 16 years old .
Wow . Well , it seems like your mom has done a great job as far as training you and just having you in the environment of business .
It's like you've kind of just absorbed that and and taken that on , although I do know that you want to study pre-med , and when you're in high school right now and you're taking college courses and you're making great grades straight A's , am I correct with straight A's ? So you're doing how in the world ?
are you doing this ? It's been very hard . It's been very overwhelming and difficult , especially since I'm graduating a year early as well . So it's kind of hard to kind of manage everything and have the store going . But hopefully everything continues to work out as is and I'm trying to push harder in school , especially since I'm applying to colleges soon .
So I'm trying to push a bit harder . But you know , the store recently recently blew up as well . So it's kind of everything coming down now once .
Do you get a chance to hang out with your friends ? Go to the movies . What is that like for ?
you . It's normal for me because I didn't grow up too dependent on friends and I didn't grow up dependent on a social life . So right now I don't really go out often .
I mean , the most I probably will go out is once a week , and that's when I go into the city to go to my school building and just because I'm already in the area I try to probably do something really quickly .
But yeah , I never really focused too much on a social life in the first place and I'm pretty happy that I built a solid group of friends before all of this happened and they're able to understand my position and they kind of already expected all of this happened and they're able to understand my position and they kind of already expected all of this for me .
So it's very great to have people that look out for you and wish the best for you and understand when that best that best does come through in life . So , yeah , I'm usually the adventurous type and sometimes I still try to do that , but it's nothing that I'm sad about not having .
Yes , you know what that's . That's awesome . So I want you to tell me , uh , what your schedule ? What is your schedule like ? When do you go to the shop ? When you go home ? Tell me your average day .
My schedule really is from 7.50-ish to about . It can run into the 12 o'clock in the morning sometimes , Because I wake up around that time and then I go to school and I finish school 12.30 , the latest , and then that's when I get ready and I go to the store and then the store closes at 8 pm . So you know we leave like 8.30 , 8.45 .
Yeah , so after 8.30 , I'm home and then I try to catch up on more schoolwork and that will probably run me into the next day .
Okay , okay . So you know what it's like to sacrifice to be an entrepreneur running a business . It takes a lot , you know it takes a lot , and you have employees . You have employees that are older than you , correct ?
Yes .
So what is that like ? Having an employee that's older ?
It's , it's pretty fun . I mean I don't try to make the power dynamic feel weird or awkward in the store because I'm aware of the age differences so I wouldn't want my employees to feel uncomfortable . And we don't really have that boss and employee dynamic in the store .
We have more like a group effort and that's why I always say we instead of me , because it's always all of us in the store trying to get our goals met and trying to finish whatever we have on our agenda , instead of me bossing somebody around and saying do this , do that ?
We come up with an agenda and then we try to complete that and I feel like that's the most effective way to get something done .
Awesome , that's awesome . It is such a privilege having you here and I definitely want to thank you for your time . But before you go , how would you encourage other young entrepreneurs , even parents who are thinking about maybe my child , should you know , go into a business ? You know some type of business ? What would you say to them ?
I would say to do whatever is in your heart and to not get into businesses just for the money , because a lot of the times , that's how your business will start to fail and you open and close right back . So do whatever is in your heart and in that way you'll make the most money you can .
Even if you don't , you'll get the most joy out of what you're doing . You're doing that's one of the most important things , and that's what's going to give you a successful business is to just go with your heart . And even for parents , make your child choose what they want to do .
Don't try to live your dreams through them , because that can make them sadder than making them happy .
Wow , you are full of wisdom . Full of wisdom . Has anybody ever told you that you're like was it old before your years ? Or you're an old soul , or anything like that ? Have you heard those words before ?
I get it all the time . I get all variations and every way you can possibly put that sentence . I've heard it before .
You've heard it before . Okay , yeah , and that's . You know , you're awesome . All I can say is you're awesome and thank you so much . Anything else you want to share , tell us where your story is .
This is amazing . I I had fun . It was very comfortable . So , yes , thank you so much for having me . I'm so happy we got to talk , even though it was pretty briefly .
I'm so happy we got to talk , even though it was pretty briefly , I'm so happy we got to have this conversation and if anything and if you need anything or you can always reach out to me again . I'm always happy to inspire others or just speak to people about being better and doing greater things in our community .
Yeah , you are just so awesome . Oh my God , are you adoptable ? I can't wait to see what I ask . Yeah , you are just so awesome . Oh my God , are you adoptable ? Paris , thank you so much . Thank you so much for being here . You're welcome .
¶ Paris Beauty Supplies - Local and Online
Paris' beauty supply store . If you're in the Brooklyn area , definitely go by and see her , see what they have in the store . Make that your source . And are you guys online ? Do you sell online as well ?
Paris , you guys ship as well yeah , our Instagram page and our website is Paris Beauty Supplies , and that's what is z and no e ParisBeautySuppliescom , or on Instagram , just Paris Beauty Supplies .
yeah , thank you so much . Guys , go visit her , give her a call , stop by the shop . You won't be sorry , I'm sure of it . You , you , you .