Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Latosha Stone Full Interview

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Latosha Stone Full Interview · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

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  Speaker 1: you get your podcasts. How you doing? Welcome to Money
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  Speaker 1: Making Conversation. I am your host, Rashean McDonald. Each Money
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• 1:50
  Speaker 1: My next guest is a thirty three year old artist
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  Speaker 1: and skateboarder from Dayton, Ohio. She has been running Proper
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: Nor since Proper Nords, the streetwear brand focusing on skateboard
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  Speaker 1: and in girl power Black Girl Magic. That is is
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  Speaker 1: your go to stop for original skate decks, clothes, paints,
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  Speaker 1: arts and hats. And more. All the designs are drawn
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  Speaker 1: by her, and she sponsored a small women's skateboarding team.
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  Speaker 1: Proper Nor is the only black woman owned skateboarding company
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  Speaker 1: in the market today. The foundering artist, Latasha Stone, channeling
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  Speaker 1: her genuine love for skateboarding, is creating custom skateboards, clothing,
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  Speaker 1: and art prints that are unlikely seen on any other skateboard.
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  Speaker 1: She's on the show to discuss being the first black
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  Speaker 1: woman to own a skateboard brand. Because she's on the
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  Speaker 1: show today discussed she has on the show today to
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  Speaker 1: discuss being the first black woman to own a skateboard brand.
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  Speaker 1: Because of the pandemic, she was laid off from her
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  Speaker 1: main job. But guess what, there were bigger things to
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  Speaker 1: this story. Please working the money making conversation. LaTosha Stone, Hey,
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  Speaker 1: thanks well, thank you for coming on the show. Now.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: What is Proper Nor? Um? Yeah, proper and it's um started.
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  Speaker 1: I was like a passion project. It was just a
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  Speaker 1: way to combine, you know, everything that I loved into
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  Speaker 1: one thing. Um. You know, I've been skating since I
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  Speaker 1: was a kid. I've been an artist since I was
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  Speaker 1: a kid as well, and um yeah, I just put
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: all that together and just turned it into a business
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  Speaker 1: and really go ahead, No, no when you say that,
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: because you know when I hear skating and apologific because
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: when you say skating, you say you was a kid.
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  Speaker 1: So you were born and raised in Ohio and Ohio
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  Speaker 1: yes I was, yep, um was here in my entire life.
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  Speaker 1: We are here skating. So you're here skating. You always
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: think where's coast? You think Florida, you think Texas, you
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  Speaker 1: think we're just warm a lot of times. In Ohio,
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: I think cold, cold, cold for a long period. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: and that's definitely affective as well. Um. I feel like
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  Speaker 1: I would definitely have gotten better faster skating if I
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  Speaker 1: had lived somewhere that was warm, because you know how
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: you got like you know, I have good months and
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: then you got rain, you got winner. But we do
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  Speaker 1: have indoor parks here, so those are fun. Now when
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: you say indoor parks, what do you could tell me
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  Speaker 1: about exactly what you mean, because, like I said, you
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  Speaker 1: started skating at what age? I was around twelve? It
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  Speaker 1: wasn't like sixth grades around twelve years old? Who inspired you?
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  Speaker 1: What turned you on to the to the art form
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  Speaker 1: of the athletic form of skateboarding? Uh? It's kind of
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  Speaker 1: a mixture of things. Um. Part of it was just
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  Speaker 1: like the neighborhood that grew up in, Like I was
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: always seeing the little neighbor kids out there doing it.
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  Speaker 1: And then also, um, I don't know if you know,
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: like the Tony Hawks skate games. I had an in
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: sixty before when I was a little kid, and that
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: was one of the first games that had so I
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: was always playing that as well. Then I was like,
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: you know, I do it on the game. Let's go
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: try and realize. Well. So, so he was inspired by
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: Tony Hark, who's everybody knows. It's a legendary probably the
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: probably probably the most well paid person in the history
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: of skateboarding, I would say, because he has skateboards, a
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: fashion line and and became like a star, a true
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: star before social media was out. And imagine how big
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: he would have been if he had social media when
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  Speaker 1: he was breaking all those barriers and becoming the star
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  Speaker 1: he became on skateboarding. Now, when you when you want
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: to be a skateboard it was two things and your
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: intro that we talked about. One was the fact that
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  Speaker 1: you are you can't skateboard, but you also are on artists.
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  Speaker 1: So let's talk about the development of that talent. Because
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: at the age of twelve, you said, like about the
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  Speaker 1: sixth grade you started skateboarding. I found the uh in
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  Speaker 1: your neighborhood. You saw people, so I like that, I'd
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  Speaker 1: like to try that. What did the art scale the
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: artist skills started? Don't start your developer? Um? Well, Also,
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: when I was a kid, I had an uncle that
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: looked with me, and he was an oil painter, and
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: so I was always watching him and I kind of
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: got inspired by that. And then I was always a
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: doing when I was in school, and I would do
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  Speaker 1: like little portrait drawings of like all the celebrities and
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: the little boy bands that I would listen to, and
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  Speaker 1: really just went from there. And then, um, I never
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  Speaker 1: really quit drawing. I went to art school and then
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: I went to graphic design school. So yeah, it's definitely
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  Speaker 1: been a big part of my life as well. So
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  Speaker 1: everything your whole life is the state of Ohio that yeah, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: so you're born there, did all you are training there
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  Speaker 1: skateboarding enthusiasts in a in a cold state, and now
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  Speaker 1: you launched a company called proper Nor. What does NAR mean?
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: As g N A R. Proper nor No, it's um
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: short for gnarly. Um. It's just a term that a
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: lot of skateboarders use. Um. You can use it in
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: all kinds of different ways. Um. It can be something
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  Speaker 1: that's like a really cool and like really crazy, like
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  Speaker 1: if you do a really big trick or really like
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  Speaker 1: technical trick, like oh, that's snarly. Or also like you know,
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  Speaker 1: if you like hurt yourself and you get like messed up,
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  Speaker 1: like that's what that's a gnarly looking star you out there.
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  Speaker 1: It can be used different ways. Well that not not
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: get the term gnarly nor so because that's that's such
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: a TV term, that's such a California term, and it's
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: really tied to a fantastic African American female skater in
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: the state of Ohio. How did that play out in
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  Speaker 1: the in the scheme of things? First of all, first
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: of all, affect you being black? Thank you? Yeah. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: it's a lot of people assume that I'm from California.
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  Speaker 1: Like I always get people like messaging me like, oh wow,
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  Speaker 1: like you're you're in Ohio, Like I thought you were
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  Speaker 1: like in l A or something. But um, yeah, it's
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  Speaker 1: definitely affected me a lot. You know, like when I'd
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  Speaker 1: go to the skate park when I was younger. Um,
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  Speaker 1: you know, first of all, being a woman, like people
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  Speaker 1: don't really you know, like the stereotype of skating isn't
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: being a girl. And then especially like being like a
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: black woman, Like there's a there's a few you know,
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: professional black and skaters, but you don't really see women
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  Speaker 1: doing that too often. So it's definitely you know comments
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  Speaker 1: that I've gotten while at the skate park, you know
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  Speaker 1: about how I don't really fit the stereotype and uh,
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: but I mean here lately it's it's worked out to
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  Speaker 1: my advantage. But that's that's a newer thing. Definitely in
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: the past, you know, people thought it was weird or
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: you know, they'd be like, oh, can you really skate? Like, oh,
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: are you like a poser? Wow? They ask you can
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: you really skate? And then you have to prove yourself yeah. Um,
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  Speaker 1: I don't know. People just uh, they kind of don't
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  Speaker 1: take you seriously. Like you go to the park and
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: you know, people I watch you to see if you
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: can really skate or if you're just there, you know,
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: like skateboarders there, they kind of like the gate keep
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: their culture Um, yeah, yeah, they only try and let
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: like certain people in so they make sure you're legit
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: before they work with you and you know, support you
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: and so like that. Okay, okay, let me just back up.
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  Speaker 1: This is Sean McDonald talking to Tasha Stone. She's the
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: creator of an incredible company called Skateboarding Company. She's black, female,
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: proper nor no you know, like gnarly dude, since that's
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: when she founded the company. Now, how do you prove
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: yourself that you can skateboard that? Because I've seen people,
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: you know, they hit the bottom of the board, it
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: pops up and they can grab it in their hand.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: I've seen people slide down steps and balance themselves. I've
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: seen people you know, hit it and it rotates three
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: sixty and it comes down and they can land on
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: top of it. What are like three major tricks that
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: you have to show that you can actually, you know,
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: participate in this game of skateboarding incredibility? I guess we
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: should say, Um, you know a lot of time you'll
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: be at the skatepark and people like to challenge you
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: to a game called skate which is where you, uh,
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: you gotta spell out the letters and like whoever spells
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: the letters out first, Like every time you land a trick,
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: it's a letter, and you know, whoever gets gets it
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: first wins. Um. That's one of the ways that a
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: lot of a lot of people are like, oh, do
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: a kick flip. You gotta like bust it out, like okay,
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: not Natasha, can't just throw out these terminology you do
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: a kick flip. You know, I don't know where the
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: kick flip is, hilphone help the host out here, so
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: you just can't run out there. You already yeah, I
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: already had to explain to me when na they meant nah. Okay,
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: so when you say a kick flip, we all radio
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: tells us exactly what that is. Um, a kick flip is, Uh,
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: it's it's honestly one of the tricks, like one of
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: the more technical tricks that people really learned how to
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: do them the beginning. But it's just when you can
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: flip the board uh completely around and just land on
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: it like you do it. It's like it flips like
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: three sixty degrees and you come back and land on it. Okay,
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: So so you land on it. Now here's my question
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: about skateboarding. Okay, can I ask you how tall are
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: you okay five too? Is it an advantage to be
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: a smaller in statue or it is all right, it
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: doesn't matter if you're tall. You can be an outstanding
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: skateboarding artist. Um. Yeah, it does have an advantage of
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: being shorter, because that's one thing about like kids with skateboarding,
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: because they're they're closer to the ground and that helps
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: with your center of gravity. But anybody of any size
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: and height can really learn how to do it though,
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: And so now do you have training sessions? Just talk
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: about your business? Is your business tied to just the
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: the you know, a parrel line, the skateboards and let's
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: talk about that whole process. And also the pandemic hit
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: and you had a main job, the main job went away?
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: What ranked your mind right there? Was it? Like you
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: did you feel like it was forcing you to commit
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: to your really your your number one passion, which was
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: skateboarding and being an artist. Or you just traumatized by
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: the like that a pandemic hit, you have no job?
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: What's next? Move? Was just moved number two in your life? Um? Honestly,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: like both of those are. Yeah. I was definitely really
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: stressed when that happened. I did photography. Um before well,
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: I you know, the pandemic, it's kind of been starting
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: in January, and I've been uh doing the photography there
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: for a couple of months, and then you know, I
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: started to see other places closed down, so I was
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: like wondering, you know, what was I going to be next?
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: And then it did happen, and you know, school's closed
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: and it was super stressful. So it was like, yeah,
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: I definitely got to do something because that unemployment. I
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: was not uh you know, it was not kicking in
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: and I mean I already had the business going, but
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: it was definitely like all right, now, now I got
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: the time to stay at home and you know, really
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: put all my time into it. And I was like
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: now or never, I'm never gonna get this chance again
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: to have all this time off, you know and get
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: everything going. So I just put my all into it.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: And when you say all into it, what do you
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: mean when you say that because of the fact that
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: where were you at when you lost your job with
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: Business Wire? Where were you at? Um? It was doing okay,
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: but it wasn't It definitely wasn't doing what it is now. Um,
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: you know, I I couldn't really focus on it fully
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: because you know, I did have the other job. You know,
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: it's hard to work you know, four hours a week
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: and then come home and then also make your art
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: and then also around the business and do shipping, and
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: you know all the social media and all that. So
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: you know, in a way, like getting laid off definitely
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: was a blessing because now I had the full time
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: to manage everything and you know, get caught up on
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: everything and come out with all these new designs. Well,
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: you know, social media is plays a major role in
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: the business platform now. And you started going viral. And
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: when you said the word viral, that was that intentional
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: intentional marketing techniques or it just happened when you started
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: allowing yourself to see your business blow up based on
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: social media. It really just happened. Um, it was crazy
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: how it all happened. Um. Back in early June, I
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: got featured on Beyonce's um Black Parade Business List and
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: honestly ever since, Okay, before we're going further, explain to
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: everybody what they what exactly that is the Black Parade
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: Directory or Black owned Businesses that Beyonce. I think she
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: had like a hundred and forty one thousands Instagram followers,
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: and she created this black business page. Correct. Yeah, yeah,
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: she uh put every all these businesses on her main
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: web page. So when you went to Beyonce dot com,
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: it was this list of all these black owned businesses
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: that she endorsed, and I was one of those. I
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: woke up and everybody was telling me about it, and
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: I honestly didn't believe it at first, and then I
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: went off for myself and I was like, Wow, that's crazy,
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: but yeah, yeah, she uh, she really helped launch a
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: lot of other businesses. Like I've been hearing from the
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: other people that are featured on that list as well
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: that they've been having some pretty good successes since then.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: And um really after that, I just started getting more
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: people reaching out to me. Definitely. It definitely opened up
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: a whole new customer base to me. And UM I
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: did an interview back in July with UM Black Enterprise,
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: and that was when things really took off. And I
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: went to sleep and I had like seven hundred some
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: shares on it and I was like, you know, that's cool,
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: and then I look at it the next day and
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: it had like two hundred thousands some and it just
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: kept going up and up from there. It's finally here,
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• 17:39
  Speaker 1: up for free at auto dot ai or download the
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• 17:45
  Speaker 1: E R dot ai. Now when you when when you
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: say things have taken off? What is what is in
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: our world of business? Are inventory? What exactly does that mean? Um? Really?
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: Just like your show says like making money, you know
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: I I pretty much made six figures in like one month,
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: and you know it was just shocking because I went
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: his money making conversations. That is why you on this show, Latasha.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: Six figures and one month from a person who lost
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: her job during the pandemic. That is truly, truly understand.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: You know, things happened for a reason, and we we
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: that's a cliche. That's a cliche. You always say things
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: happened for a reason. And so here you are. You're
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: a photographer and then you got laid off from your
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: job during the pandemic. And the month of June, someone
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: told Beyonce about your product. Somebody was impressed, someone knew
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: you had value, and she posted you on her website,
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: post attach you to her Instagram account. I remember when
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: it came out. You know, Beyonce, that's an amazing person.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: I'm from Houston, Texas. She's from Houston, Texas. I know Beyonce.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: She's a true a true rebel to the cause, and
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: she is true blackness and to be featured like that.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: But more importantly, she's just not a black artist. She's
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: international artists. So I'm sure you're the impact of her.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: You being on her website was an international impact. Correct, Yes, definitely.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: I sold in countries that I've never sold in before. Um,
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: but yeah, I definitely I went from you know, not
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: knowing where my next pay check was gonna come from
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: to this, and yeah, it's it's overwhelming, but it's definitely
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: a blessing. Now, what's next step for you, my friend?
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: You know, you know artists, We didn't talk a little
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: bit about that because I went to your website page
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: and you're an incredible artist. It's almost seems like your
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: work on these skateboards and your clothing, it's really like stuff.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: If I don't if I wasn't a skateboard artist, I
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: could frame your skateboard and put it on the wall.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: It's almost like art. Yeah, and that's my goal with it,
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: because like if you look at other skateboarding brands, you know,
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: a lot of them just you know, they'll put their
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: brand name, their logo and that's it. And you know,
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: I didn't really like that at all. I wanted to
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: do so thing different and um, you know, really just
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: just stand out from the things that these other brands
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: were doing. Um. The next thing that I want to do, um,
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: I've got some collapse coming up. Definitely get some new
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: designs out. I've had a lot of people ask me
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: to do lawn boards and cruisers, so, you know, just
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: getting out new styles and I I'm looking at spaces.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: I want to do a retail so because all right
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: now I just have a small area that I work
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: out of, but I I agree with that within the
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: last month definitely needs some more rooms. Well yeah, you know,
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: you know you're six figures now we can but let's
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: let's be smart here. Let's be fart smart here. Okay,
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: your your space is working. You was able to generate
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: six figures of income out of that. Okay, your ownline Okay,
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: that means you don't have the paper right anywhere, you
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: don't have to pay an insurance anywhere, you don't have
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: to hire security or hire some extra staff to sell
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: because they may not see why they're there. Because own
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: line it's really amazing. So so how can you maximize
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: How are you trying to maximize your ownline growth? Growth?
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: Do sales and exposure? Um? Well, right now, I'm really
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: just getting more content together. Um We're working on a
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: skate video right now, and then I've got my skate
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: team that I work with, you know, really just filming
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: new material with all the new designs and stuff. Um, yeah,
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: just working with them on new Potent. Basically, you know,
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: ramping up this marketing, getting that ready, trying to be
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: more official with my stuff. You know before it was
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: mostly a mixture of like users, subindit videos and not
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: really like original content. So you know, definitely coming out
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: with more of my own original stuff with the girls
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: that I work with. Well, I'm talking to Latasha Stone.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: She's the founder proper Nor. That's like gnarly Nor. If
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: you no, that's a great that's a great move on
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: that board, or Nor you fell all off of it?
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: You know, Nor has universal tones good and bad. She's
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: the founder and artist Latasha Stone now on twenty third
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: thing in Ohio. This is the beauty of her, her brand.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: She's born and raised in Ohio. She was educating the Ohio.
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: She learned how to skateboard in Ohio. Her brain has
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: taken off because Beyonce, they put on her on that
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: Black Parade directory for black owned business. She woke up
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: and she realized that she was a social media star.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: Now I'm not talking to a one man operation here,
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: am I talking? Because it's I wonder who else are
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: helping you right now? I know you you got laid off,
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: got your job went away. Who are what is part
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: of your team that's making you successful right now? Um? Well, honestly, like,
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: I've got two people that work with me right now
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: and I just hired them here recently. But um I
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: got my friend that's helping out with social media, and
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: then um I out my other friend that's hoping out
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: with a customer service, and then we all work on
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: shipping and stuff like that. So yeah, I definitely got,
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: you know, pretty solid team behind me. You know, people
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: that also skate that I've known forever that I can
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: actually like afford to pay now to work with me
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: is key because you know when people when you when
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: you go viral and they know you're making money, it's
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: the handshakes and the high fives go away. What is
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: the You have the Underground brand new line of colorful, creative,
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: and original skateboards that average fifty five sixty dollars each
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: and can be audited on the company's website along with
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: the artists on unique artwork, prints, accessories, and apparel. What
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: sets a price for a good quality skateboard? And you
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: are you? You? Because I don't really see you as
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: competing with other brands because I feel I see you
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: as a as a high profile niche brand that can
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: only grow as much as you put into it. M hmm. Yeah.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: I try to set my prices to where people can
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: still afford them. But also, you know, my designs are
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: different than everybody else's, so I kind of have to
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: take that into consideration as well. You know, being a
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: small business, you know, you have these other companies where
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: they can purchase you know, thousands of units of inventory
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: and get it at like a lower price because they're
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: purchasing in such like a huge amount. And um yeah,
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: so I haven't really been able to do that until
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: here recently, so that's also reflected in my price as well.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: But um also, you know, I I want to get um,
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: different types of people in the skateboarding. I like to
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: work with beginners and also like, you know, people from
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: like less privileged areas, and so I also want to
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: keep it affordable for people like that also, because you know,
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: if you go to like a bigger skate shop, you
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: can spend up to like two to three dollars getting
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: your whole set up together, and you know, if you're
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: just starting out, you may not want to spend that
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: much because you know, what if you spend all that
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: and then you don't like it and you just drop
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: like three on this thing that you're not going to use.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: So I definitely take that into consideration when making my prices.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: Again again, Natasha, you've used some language that I have
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: to be educated on. You said the set up. Okay,
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: what exactly is to set I'm assuming that's pads on
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: your elbow, pads on your need to help it, and
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: a skateboard. What are you calling a set up? Um? Yeah,
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: some people do wear the paths and the help and
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: all that, but UM, what I was referring to is, um,
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: you have the skate deck, and then you have the trucks,
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: which is what holds the wheels on. And then you
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: have the wheels, you got the bearings. Um, your hardware
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: which is like the screws that holds all that on.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: And then you have grip tape, which is ah, it's
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: kind of like a standpapery material that goes on top
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: of the skate deck and that like helps keep your
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: feet like stuff to when you're doing your tricks and stuff. Yeah,
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: so you gotta you can either buy it all separately
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: and put together or um, I'll have complete in the
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: shop here next month, where you can just pull it
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: out the box and it's all put together and you
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: can just hop on it and go wow. Now here's
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: a little note here. The products you created are created
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: with teen girls and young women in mine who love
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: the skate or who and into alternative or servasive fashion
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: subversuis fast fashions. Well, what do you mean when when
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: you said teen girls and young women who love to skate?
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: Are your boards smaller or the handle in particular weight?
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: Can teen boards do it? Wow? Talk to me about that?
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: Are just the designs on the skateboards just promote teen
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: girls and young women? It's more so, um, the designs
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: that are more aimed towards women. Um, but yeah, the
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: sizes can be for anybody. Um, if you're our girl
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: or woman, you they usually order the smaller sizes, So
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: I do tend the sophomore of those. But yeah, it's
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: more like the When I say that, I mean more
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: towards the designs and the style of things that I designed.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: It's aimed towards the women. Is that way? Absolutely? Absolutely?
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: And my last question is about your show. Was your
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: skateboards was featured on an HBO show. M hmm. Yeah,
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: it was featured on Betty Um. It's the show that
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: just came out in May and it was on HBO.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: And it's a show that follows these teenage girls around
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: New York and you know, they skateboard their skate crew
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: and uh, you know, it was about skateboarding, but also
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: about their lives and the things that they're going through
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: right now. So that was in May, so obviously it
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: shot it before before May. So so this was almost
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: like destiny. You had to leave your job, your full
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: time job, to accomplish what we're want to call in May,
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: the HBO show popped up in June. You recognize on
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: Black in the Black Rate Director or Black Owned Business
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: by the incredible global phenomenon called Beyonce and now Black
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: Enterprise featured you. The article got shared chair Chair. That's
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: how I found out about you. It was through Black
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: Enterprise and because I'm always I was awesome. I'm just
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: telling you that it does help. You know, during my show,
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: somebody gonna hear this show or find you, and you
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: have to just keep marketing. You don't turn down a
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: good moment, you know, And I'm gonna feature you on
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: my on my I have a shopping a shopper zone,
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: or on my Money Making Conversation dot com. I'm gonna
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: post you in there. I'm gonna feature you in my
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: newsletter that goes out to ninety three thousand followers. All
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: these things are part of why I put together Money
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: Making Conversations to get brands who are unique, especially young
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: women who are trying to make a difference. I grew
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: up with six sisters, my daughter. I have one child.
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: She's a twenty three year old. Uh, she's twenty three
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: year old, and she's a daughter of mine. And I
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: represent that that that belief that I got to support.
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: One heard PC you know black girl magic, black girl magic,
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: and they're definitely needs to be more people like you
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: out there. I appreciate that so much. Definitely black girl Magic.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: That's like one of the foundations of my brand. AF Well, awesome, Lee.
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: Let's tell us how we can reach you. Give us
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: out your give out your website, give out your social
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: media information so we can close this eye and you know,
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: show us your marketing tools. Nor all right, Yeah, my
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: website is proper and r dot com, p R O
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: p E R G and A dot com And then Um.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: It's the same on everything Twitter, Proper and R, Instagram
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: at proper and R, TikTok at proper and R. Not
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: much on the TikTok Um. We're gonna be working on
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: that and give for constant up here Ston. So yeah,
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: definitely keep an eye out. I'm talking to Latasha Stone
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: proper Nor as the only black woman owned skating board
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: company in the market. She's an artist, she's a talent.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: She's straight out of the Midwest. Steve Harvey, straight out
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: of the IT West. There's a lot of great people
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: come out of the Midwest. My friend, thank you, and
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: what's citing before we leave? What's sitting? And how y'are
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: you based in? They know Hi, that's a great saying
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: that I've been there many times when I was doing
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: stand up comedy. My friend, thank you for coming on
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations. And again I'm gonna promote you on
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: my shopper zone, which is on money making Conversations, and
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: I'm promote your rant. So they probably reach out to you,
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: get some artwork and some links to make sure we're
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: clicking through the right things when we post you on
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: our social media platforms and also post you on our newsletter,
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: but much success, and thank you for doing that Black
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: Enterprise article because that allowed me to allow me to
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: find you. Thank you so much and thanks so much
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: for sharing and letting me talking and have this platform.
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: I appreciate it. Okay, thank you for coming on money
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: Making Conversations already Bye bye Hi. If you will hear
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: more interviews on money making Conversations, please go to money
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: Making Conversation dot com. I'm with Sean McDonald. I'm your host.
• 30:59
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