Page 19 - CJA Spirit Spring 2021

The thrill of that first order came after a lot of Kulture’s posts all the way to the east coast.
research, experimenting, budgeting and planning. “The farthest place we’ve shipped to is
“It was really hard to start off,” Kanisha said. “My New Jersey!” she said with a smile.
first step was to figure out how to create the lip gloss, Just over a year old, Kulture has expanded from
which required a lot of research on chemicals and what lip gloss, body butter and body scrubs, to include
products I could use that are all natural. Then, I tested.” a variety of beauty, cosmetic and personal care
Kanisha faced lots of trial and error along the products, plus accessories. The three entrepreneurs
way, but as an aspiring biomedical engineer or now have a full room of their home dedicated to
biomedical scientist, she enjoyed the challenge, and storing, packing and shipping their products.
finally found her rhythm in engineering lip gloss: “The Management class and the Personal
Finance class at Cor Jesu both have helped me a
INGREDIENT 1: lot with managing the business parts,” Kanisha
Versagel – the organic base of lip gloss said. “I even used my Personal Finance notes
INGREDIENT 2: when we were filing taxes for the company.”
Oil – provides consistency With college on the horizon, Kanisha knows it will be
INGREDIENT 3: more difficult to work with her mom and sister on the
Mica Powder – provides color and pigment business while away. However, she has learned so much
INGREDIENT 4: from this venture that she hopes to stay involved.
Flavoring Oil “From building a business, I’ve learned
a lot about determination, resiliency and
After figuring out how to make her product, Kanisha the importance of patience,” she said.
had to determine how to purchase all her ingredients What stands out most, however, may be what
and materials, such as lip gloss tubes and syringes, her mother has taught her along the way.
in the most cost-effective way to make a profit. “She taught me that it’s important to be passionate
“In addition to making cost-effective decisions, I about your work. When you do something,
also want to support local businesses and use organic put your full heart into it and do it right.”
products that are safe for the skin,” Kanisha said. “I get In addition to a career in biomedicine, Kanisha STUDENT ENTREPRENEUR
all my oils from a local store called African Naturals.” would like to someday own an even larger business
With the products created, the vendors where she can continue to let her creativity shine.
established and the LLC paperwork in process, it For now, however, she’s focused on completing her
was time to get the word out about Kulture. final semester at CJA, moving on to college, savoring
Kanisha took the lead building the company website, her last business meetings at home with Anisha
kultureshops.com, in addition to creating an Etsy and Lekisha, and of course, creating more tubes
shop, Shopify account and a company Instagram of her favorite sweet lip gloss – Mango Party.
page. Her mom manages Kulture’s Facebook page.
“I spent over five hours a day for about
a week and a half creating our website She [Mom] taught me that it’s
that summer (2019),” Kanisha said. “
If you follow @kulturellc on Instagram or important to be passionate
@KultureKultureLLC on Facebook, you will see many about your work.
promotional and targeted posts – an extremely ”
cost-effective marketing strategy that often takes -KANISHA HAYDEN ‘21

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