Today we’d like to introduce you to Ahsh Murphy and Mika Bright.
Ahsh and Mika, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
It all started on a rainy day (Literally). I’m in sales so my car is my main office. I was sitting in the car and it was pouring raining, but the sun was still shining. I remember thinking that there was no way I was getting out of the car in all of this rain. As I waited for the rain to subside, my thoughts started going into creative mode. I wasn’t dissatisfied in my career, but I felt like there was something else that was missing. I began to google financial wealth and health on my phone but got distracted by a sunglasses advertisement. In true Pisces form, my thoughts all started racing to the same spot in my mind. My first thought was that rain and sun = growth. My second thought was that even though the rain, the sun will always be shinning. I knew I was on to something but I needed help. There was only one other person who I knew could help me develop these ideas. Mika had no choice in the matter, lol. Aside from me needing her, this is something that is engrained in her DNA. Together we have been there from day one. We have gone through some rain, but the sun never stopped shining. This is how Hyve-life started.
Just a simple thought that I decided to take action on. We have had countless conversations over the years about our purpose, and starting a business., and making an impact in our lives as well as others. We are the queens of good ideas, it was just we never fully acted on any of those ideas until this one. It was something different about this vision, and at the moment it happened. Certainly a defining moment in my car. The timing of this article is yet another confirmation of us being on the right path. We are celebrating our one year Anniversary this month!! Happy Birthday to us! H-helping Y-your V-vision E-evolve.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
With most big ideas and stepping out there on faith comes obstacles and challenges. One of our biggest struggles is not getting high on our own supply (Biggie voice). OMG, we literally want a pair in each color for our personal collection. Of course, we justify it as branding and advertising! However, it is extremely difficult saying no to building our own personal collection up with our inventory.
Another challenge we face is finding a balance with our demanding corporate jobs and putting enough time into growing our business. Certainly, we wish there was more time in each given day, but we are learning it is a balancing act. Creating schedule of weekly tasks/goals helps us to stay on track and manage our time. The other challenge we face is building and branding our social media. Neither of us was really big on posting and taking pictures daily with our personal social media pages. It was and still is a huge adjustment building our social media brand and platform to share our product and our message with our audience. This is still a challenge we are working on daily. In true transparency, we have a lot of work to do. We thought we had to mimic and be perfect at posting the best pictures and best captions but in reality, most people just want authenticity and to feel like they know and trust you personally. We have realized that the best piece of advice is to just move. It may not be perfect but just move, take action.
So we no longer strive for perfection, we just strive to put our best foot forward, enjoy the journey and hope that we can inspire and help other’s evolve their vision and be cute while doing it. The last challenge that we are working to improve upon is to be more data-driven. Data-driven from a business acumen standpoint, so we can ensure that we are a “for profit” business versus just being a “for hobby” business. We genuinely want to make a name and make waves for ourselves within the eyewear industry that is limited with female minority ownership representation.
Please tell us about HYVE-Life.
HYVE-Life is an eyewear company that prides itself in the experience. We specialize in providing products that allow customers to feel confident and empowered. We spend a great deal of time on the selection process to ensure, quality, style, and comfort. But there’s more to HYVE than meets the eye…
HYVE is actually an acronym for Helping Your Vision Evolve. This is the part of our story and brand that we are most proud of because we have more than a product, we have a movement. Our mission is to encourage and empower people to walk towards their purpose with confidence. Are there risks involved? Absolutely! However, you will never know the possibilities unless you start walking towards and into your light. And don’t worry, about your friends and family, we have the perfect pair of eyewear so they can all watch you shine!
HYVE-Life is more than an eyewear company; it’s a movement. We would like to invite everyone to take part in “experiencing” The HYVE-Life.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Ahsh – My fondest childhood memory is when me and my sisters piled up in one bedroom on Christmas Eve. All four of us were literally laying on the floor trying to look under the door to see if we could figure out what was going on on the other side. We were laughing and whispering until we fell asleep. Our parents came in on Christmas Day and found us all almost piled on top of each other fast asleep. They woke us up and asked us what we were doing. In unison in a choir like form we all said NOTHING! lol #SisterCode
Mika – One of my favorite childhood memories is when I was 11 or 12 living in Philadelphia. Myself, my siblings, and most of the kids from the neighborhood would meet up at Ms. Lee’s (neighborhood store) with our bikes. We would grab snacks (huggies, pickles, hot sausages, penny candy, tasty cakes and etc.) to have fuel for our full day of bike riding across the city. To this day, I don’t really think my mother knew exactly where we were or how far we traveled on our bikes but she trusted the older kids to keep an eye on us (she probably thought we were somewhere in the neighborhood ). We would have so much fun because we would feel like big kids getting to leave the neighborhood and ride our bikes all over the city. This memory just makes me think of how independent and fearless we were as children, exploring with no cares in the world. I often think back to why as adults, it’s hard to be as fearless as we once were as children?
Contact Info:
- Website: www.hyve-life.com
- Email: thehyvelife@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hyve_hyve/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hyvelife/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/HyveLife
Image Credit:
Shamika Bright, Warren Dubose
Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
