Today we’d like to introduce you to Rushawn & Grace Holloman.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
If someone would have told us four years ago that we would be helping our four-year-old daughter run her first business, we would not believe it. When our oldest daughter, Leilani, was diagnosed with Sickle Cell Disease at two months old, we were in shock. We had no idea of the hospital stays, medical bills, and the tears we would cry. We thank the Lord for carrying and keeping us. A lot of changes have transpired over the past four years. We have learned to adapt as we continue to learn about how Sickle Cell impacts our family. Society tends to put people that have conditions or limitations in a box and we know how that can heavily impact confidence. We had no idea that making and selling fingernail polish was something that we would be doing, but we want to continue to teach Leilani that no matter what she goes through in life, she can accomplish anything.
Leilani has always loved her purses, painting her nails, and wearing her shades so a fingernail polish company made sense. After looking for some time, we finally found a unique fingernail polish bottle that felt right. Then we had a hard time trying to create a name after we sketched the design, which includes the ability to write your name on the cap. That’s when we realized that the only way to describe Leilani was for her to describe herself, and she literally came over to the sketched design and said That’s Me!
That’s Me was born with a main mission in mind: To invite and encourage every young girl to find her voice, to fully express herself, to believe in her super girl powers, and declare to the world That’s Me! The unique ability to swap polish bottles with your sister/best friend/cousin, or whomever you may choose, to create a look that makes a child feel like themselves is very important to us. As parents and as entrepreneurs, we want to continue to inspire and teach Leilani to break traditional thinking. As we do so, we hope that Leilani helps inspire other children with conditions or limitations that they too can do anything and they can break societies expectations.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Starting a business during the pandemic has been no easy feat. There have been limited supplies, longer receiving times, and price increases as you can imagine. We have had to make major adjustments to our schedules to reduce the risk of Leilani getting sick. Not being able to network and promote in person has been a huge challenge for us. We have had to heavily rely on social media to spread news about our products. We hope that as things improve in the health community, we can spread our mission with our products more and more.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
As we mentioned, we make fingernail polish! We have created a unique line of hand-crafted, ten toxin-free, vegan, and cruelty-free nail polish by hand. We have created a patient pending design that allows you to write your name on the cap. On our website, you can build your own polish set by selecting any two polish colors or glitters or you can select a pre-made set that we have already put together. In addition, you have the unique ability to swap polish bottles with your sister/best friend/cousin or whomever you may choose to try even more combinations. We are so proud to be able to offer a unique way for a child to help create something they feel expresses them!
We want to continue to make it known that children are not limited because of a condition or limitation. No matter what every child needs and should have the opportunity to be themselves, express themselves, and reach for the stars. Always remembering our mission: To invite and encourage every young girl to find her voice, to fully express herself, to believe in her super girl powers, and declare to the world That’s Me!
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Throughout this journey, we have learned the importance of teamwork and collaboration. We have different perspectives and methods to problem-solving, and the key is learning to effectively use those differences as a sort of checks and balance system. Just like any successful team, you need to understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses and then build upwards while simultaneously reinforcing each other especially in areas that one may not be as skilled in. Our business success requires that we both wear different hats sometimes. We must occasionally seek out wisdom and expertise from our peers, colleagues, as well as family, and new acquaintances. It’s imperative to always keep your mind and ideas open as there is no one path to success. As we grow, we want to teach our daughters as well so that they can be successful in their future business endeavors.
Contact Info:
- Email: support@shopthatsme.com
- Website: www.shopthatsme.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shopthatsme/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shopthatsme
Image Credits
Ashlee Griffin-Moore of GM Studios
