Stormi Steele is ready to build a beauty empire
theGrio spoke with the Canvas Beauty Brand CEO and motivational speaker about her business, brand, and goals for 2021.
For Stormi Steele, success is not random. The multihyphenate businesswoman founded Canvas Beauty Brand with the strength of a dream and the determination to see it to fruition.
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She worked hard to become a renowned stylist and salon owner, seeing 6-figure profits and retaining a list of satisfied clients. Still, Steele’s dream was bigger than the hair-shop. She moved her focus from styling hair to creating products for multiple needs to grow and maintain healthy hair for customers.
In 2018, the CEO launched her signature haircare line with Canvas Beauty, a 100% E-Commerce company. It did not take long for the Mississippi native to see the results of stepping out on faith and following what she believed to be her divinely aligned path. Within 11 months, the brand evolved into a successful multi-million dollar beauty & lifestyle company.
Canvas Beauty Brand offers shampoos, serums, conditioners, and even beard oil among its growing range of products. By leveraging social media promotions, welcoming branding, and a keen business mindset, Steele saw her dreams come to life.
“I wouldn’t say that I had trouble manifesting, or I wasn’t expecting it, because I was. You ask God, for so many things and then expect them to happen. I’m one of those people that when I pray for something to expect it to happen, but I was kind of shocked that it happened the way it did. Most importantly what I wanted to make sure that now that I asked for it, make sure you don’t fold on it,” she said to theGrio.
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Steele was led to start her empire by her dreams and beyond her multi-million dollar endeavor. Steele keeps busy by empowering others to have the same success on their own terms. She is the founder of “The Dream Girl Society” which helps aspiring women in business strive for ultimate success. A self-proclaimed “Master Manifestor,” she plans to change the lives of 1,111 people this calendar year.
“I want to be able to give business owners or just women in general who are a part of the Dream Girls Society, access to the resources of the Dream Girl Foundation. I just want to be able to create a community that we all work together and help each other, become who we were meant to be,” she shared with theGrio.
Read our interview with Steele below:
theGrio: Was the transition from stylist to product creator and beauty brand owner difficult?
Stormi Steele: I wouldn’t say it was difficult for me. I one of those people like I kind of go with whatever God puts in my spirit for me to do I kind of ended up becoming a hairstylist like that as well. I was in college, and I was really depressed, it was to the point where I was suicidal depressed. I had like 23 [credit] hours left, and I had a 3.7 [GPA], but my soul was not happy and I knew I needed to do something different. I picked up my Bible and I had a dream that night about being a hairstylist. I had a dream about my business name, a mission statement, and because I’m one of those people who just follow my spirit. I dropped out of college and I became a hairstylist.
A few years later, I wanted to create a product just to help my hair. I used to research ingredients to the point where I was going to sleep, dreaming about them, and then I would wake up and research what I was dreaming about and I just started mixing things up. I think it was divine because I feel like everybody has a purpose. Wherever you’re moving in your spirit like you aren’t always in that where you’re supposed to go so I would say it was hard at all.
tG: Did you have any challenges, whether it be getting social media reach, or even something as simple as customer service and if so, how did you overcome those?
SS: I went from a two-person company just me and my husband, and a 500 square foot warehouse to getting less than 3000 orders a month to immediately having 30,000 orders in four days Everything was a challenge. We had to build a complete fulfillment center, and we had to build a complete customer service team. I even had a struggle getting inventory, because we were making it by hand, so now, having to find a manufacturer to help mass produce it.
And I had to do all of this in a matter of two months. I hit every growing pain you can imagine from just having to build out everything, all the way down to my merchant service provider. It’s been a challenge. It is only been a year since that happened, a year and two months. We have weathered that and kept up with the growth in an astronomical way, and really proud of myself and the team.
tG: How is balancing that relationship between you and your husband as a romantic partnership and a business partnership?
SS: It is an easy thing because back when I was a hairstylist, he used to tell me “I hate the fact that you work so much.” It makes it really easy to have a partner who understands and goes through the same struggles that I go through. We have the same conversations, everything is just aligned to where like, there’s really no friction. My fire is his fire. I really enjoy it, because if not, I think it would be a disconnect and he probably wouldn’t understand.
tG: Why is it important to you to to help and amplify and empower other women?
SS: lt is important for me because I resonate with the struggles of a woman. What I noticed when I was just sharing and being transparent people were writing me, [and saying] I’m inspiring them to take action on their dreams. That kind of pushed me to feel like it was my ultimate purpose and calling to do that.
The reason I want to do it so much is because I didn’t have anyone pouring into me. I feel like there are so many other women who go through that same struggle. I always felt like I was put here for a specific purpose. I had to help other people become, and first I had to become in order to do so. I want to make sure that I’m doing my part with women to be able to help them see that God created them for a reason, and they can become who they were created to be by just staying positive and knowing that it’s possible.
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