Today we’d like to introduce you to Charisse Barnes-Ferraro.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Charisse. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I am a wife, mother, daughter, sister, a teacher, and an entrepreneur who was born and raised in Queens, NY and later moved to Atlanta, GA. How do I juggle all those roles while keeping a sane mind? I truly do not know! But I do know that having something that I could call my own has been what I wanted for myself for a long time. It’s funny because I thought that one day I was going to be Dr. Barnes-Ferraro, PhD, but I realized I was doing it for all the wrong reasons. Obtaining the degree was for everybody else, and I was not doing it for myself. So, I did some self-reflecting and decided to focus on utilizing the three degrees I already earned and created something I could call my own.
I had envisioned starting a small business catering to women in some capacity, but often wondered how I would utilize both my business and education degrees to do so. It just so happened that a couple of months later, a network marketing opportunity was proposed to me by way of a sorority sister.
In the summer of 2016, I started dabbling in network marketing in the jewelry and accessories business, where a happy mix of each skill set of my degrees was utilized. After leading a team of over 300 women for 2.5 years, I decided to forge my own path and start my own business. Fast forward to 2019, I utilized each skill set once again, which evolved into creating a jewelry and accessories business that I could call my own. As a result, envisioning a company that would focus on women feeling stunningly beautiful, fearlessly bold, and fabulously adorned birthed what is now known as The Cayged Collection.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
All I can say is that being an entrepreneur is not for the faint of hearts. I definitely have learned to be the type of person to have the grit to stay the course, endure, and push through, while also giving myself the grace that I’m not perfect, things in the business are not always going to be perfect, and just like I was led to it, I will also be led to get over any obstacles that come my way.
There have been a couple of obstacles that have come my way that have not made this journey easy at all. I have been in the education field since 2005, and there have been many days since the onset of just thinking about starting my own business that I have come home from teaching and I just wanted to jump right in the bed. However, I knew I could not do that if I wanted to get this business off the ground. Again, it is having that grit and grace. I would just set the alarm on my phone for one to two hours a day after teaching, and I tried to get as much as I could get done on my to-do list crossed off within that time frame.
Also, like most entrepreneurs, the full-time job helps fund the dream. The dream of owning my own business was being funded by my teacher salary (inventory, website, business cards, packaging, marketing materials, my unit where my inventory is located, trade shows/vending events, traveling in and out of state for shows, etc.). It really takes a lot of patience, discipline, commitment, and sacrifice to be a true business owner.
Then here comes Covid-19, who shuts everything down. Not only does Covid-19 shut things down in the US, but other countries as well. I deal with artisans from all over the world and they had stay-in-place orders from their government and they could not work due to the pandemic. I created sketches and chose colors with my artisans for many of my new handcrafted merchandise that was slated to launch this summer. I also had several paid deposits and several business contracts in place for my artisans to create beautifully handcrafted merchandise for my Cayged Babes (that is what I call my customers) and it all came to a halt.
Also, due to Covid-19, I went from having three tradeshow/expo events scheduled per month to zero per month, and many of those events were out of state events. The event coordinators either canceled or postponed events until 2021. The unfortunate thing is that during the onset of Covid-19 I had no website, because in my crazy mind, since I was doing extremely well with all the previous trade shows/expo events it was not a priority. My customer base from all the tradeshows/expo events, without a website went from consistent daily sales every day to about 3-4 sales per week.
That was a major hit to my business. Not only did sales drop, but shipments of new merchandise stopped as well because of Covid-19.
As luck would have it during this time, Cynthia Daniels, an event planner, who owns Cynthia Daniels & Co., based in Memphis, TN was organizing a Juneteenth Shop Black Virtual Experience. Her intuitive ability to maneuver through a pandemic and host a virtual event during a pandemic was a blessing to my business. Due to this event being an online virtual event, it lit fire underneath me to quickly work on my website and get it up and running and shoppable.
Since I could not receive any new inventory, I had to do the event with the inventory I had in-house. The Juneteenth Shop Black Virtual Experience event allowed me to reach new Cayged Babes all over the United States that I would have never reached during this pandemic. Covid-19 has definitely been both a blessing and a curse to my business.
Please tell us about The Cayged Collection.
The Cayged Collection is a jewelry and accessories company that actually has two start dates in my eyes. My soft launch was October 8, 2019 (the start of my company’s touring dates) and May 18, 2020 (the official launch of my website.) The Cayged collection is known for giving you an experience of being in a store even though you are in a 10×10 booth at trade shows and expos, we are known for having unique handcrafted pieces, and most importantly we are known for great customer service. Our most popular pieces are all listed under The Cayged Culture Collection section on our website. This section consists of all handcrafted pieces from all around the world. Our top sellers and popular pieces from this collection that sell out quickly are the Aziza Tribal Bibs, Krisha Bags, Ashanti Clutches and Baigen and Nandie Bangles.
As the owner/founder, I take pride in the process of vetting global artisans that work hand in hand with me multiple times a week. Most of my work/communication with my artisans are done extremely late at night and sometimes after midnight because of the time difference. I just know that this is all part of the process and “faith without works is dead.”
Everything about my company brings out the best in me. I consider myself to be an extroverted introvert specifically as it relates to running my business. As a person who once struggled with confidence, I love it when women look in the mirror at trade shows/expos and light up after trying on our sample pieces. I really take pride in seeing the joy on their faces when they try things outside of their comfort zone and realize that they can wear and carry off any look with confidence. Everything about my company brings me so much joy and confidence, and I am on a journey to bring that same joy and confidence to my Cayged Babes as well. It is an absolutely rewarding and humbling feeling knowing that every day my company has helped women Be BEAUTIFUL, Be BOLD, and Be ADORNED with our jewelry and accessories that are as fabulous as the women who wear them.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Looking back, if I had to start over, there are four things I would have definitely done differently.
#1 I wish I started my business many years ago. I should not have let my age determine and be a hindrance if I should start my own business. I am definitely not a spring chicken anymore and my age played a huge role in my procrastination, but I am over that now though. 😊
#2 Not let creating my website be such a tedious task that created such turmoil in my mind. Someone had to tell me… Just get it done. Just get it up and working and worry about perfection later.
#3 I wished I had applied for grants at the onset of starting my business because there is so much money out there; you just have to do the research and apply for each grant.
#4 I would say to myself “Stop being so hard on yourself. You got this!”
Pricing:
- Aziza Tribal Bibs (various styles/colors) $44.99 – $49.99
- Krisha Bags (various designs) $51.99 – $61.99
- Ashanti Clutch (various designs) $25.99 – $29.99
- Baigen Tribal Bangles (various colors) $12.99 each
- Nandie Tribal Bangles (various styles) $13.99 each
- Sahara Bone Necklaces (various designs) $27.99 – $29.99
- 67th & Brass (various designs) $19.99 – 25.99
- Leather Handbags and Beaded Handbags (Coming Soon)
Contact Info:
- Website: www.Cayged.com
- Phone: 678-804-5998
- Email: info@Cayged.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shopcayged/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shopcayged/
- Other: https://linktr.ee/TheCaygedCollection
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