Entrepreneurs Shontay Lunday and April Showers shared with a group of more than 50 women on the first day of Black History Month, Feb. 1, that the path to a successful business has its bumps.
But they aren’t mountains that cannot be overcome with perseverance and self-belief.
Showers, creator of the Afro Unicorn, and Shontay Lundy, the founder of Black Girl Sunscreen.
She spoke during an Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis Save our Sisters event and sought to inspire other Black women to follow their dreams and create multi-million dollar enterprises.
Showers said she knew as soon as she saw a gap in the stuffed animal market, that she had a successful enterprise on her hands. After success as a realtor, her friends called her “a unicorn.”
But, when she wanted to purchase a unicorn of her own, she didn’t see one that looked like her amongst the white ‘My Little Ponies’ on store shelves. That sparked her idea for the Afro Unicorn, which is now available at major retailers across the nation.
“Y’all keep playing on those gifts and talents. They already exist,” she said to the audience. “It’s already going to happen with or without you, without you, so we have to get out of our own way to make sure that we’re there to see the fruits of our labor.”
When she realized there was no sunscreen that did not leave a white residue on her skin, Lunday knew she wasn’t the only one who experienced the situation. She founded Black Girl Sunscreen, a Los Angeles based company with 25 employees, mostly women of color. The sunscreen is available in 20,000 retail stores across the county.
“I feel honored to be here at the Urban League because, you know, their mission is to empower and educate, you know, underserved communities, and that’s literally what Black Girls sunscreen does, but in a sun safety environment,” she said.
According to the American Cancer Society, many dermatologists struggle to diagnose skin cancer in patients of color. In fact, the CDC said that Black patients often get diagnosed later than their white counterparts, and in some cases the delayed diagnosis can be fatal.
But Lunday said she hopes putting a sun protection product marketed for people of color might encourage people to protect themselves and prevent future complications.
“It plays into health, because Black people are susceptible to sunburns, melanoma, melasma, hyperpigmentation, all things that are health risk,” she said.
“And wearing sunscreen products, not just Black Girl Sunscreen, could prevent that.”
When she first started the business, Lunday said a lot of people questioned marketing the sunscreen for only Black women. Lunday stood her ground, and now plans to expand the brand to Canada and in Europe.
“I just wasn’t taken seriously,” she said.
“You start off with, you know, smaller, like, you know, order amounts, you just, kind of like, you’re just used to small fish in a really big pond. But by not changing your name and standing firm and saying, Hey, this is for melanated folks and it’s really making us a priority.”
The biggest challenge facing her company right now is the boycott of popular retailers such as Target and Walmart, who have recently pulled back on DEI initiatives. Lunday said the retailers are some of her biggest customers.
“That’s scary, because you don’t know where it’s really going to go. There are challenges with personnel. There are many things that you know come your way, and I think the strongest survive, and you have to have an optimistic mindset,” she said.
Showers said the best way to support diversity is to show up and buy products made by Black businesses. She said boycotting the entire market only hurts businesses like hers and other Black entrepreneurs.
“You do what you want to do. I’m just telling you the impact that it’s going to have on both target and Black brands. Once you affect the larger brands, they feel it,” Showers said.
“They get on the phone real quick.”
What started as an e-commerce business selling plush unicorns, became a $20 million company selling bedsheets, Build-A-Bear plush toys, children’s books, and soon a featured film and animated series, all with one goal: encouraging young Black girls to believe in themselves.
“The most rewarding part is the foundation of where the brand was started, which is to empower other women and the representation for young children,” she said.
“So when I get the stories, the messages, the calls, how people tell me that the brand has inspired them to do X, Y, Z. That’s what keeps me going.”
Amber T. Bogan of East St. Louis said she is inspired by Showers’ brand, and started self-publishing her own line of children’s books that celebrate Black joy. Her brand Little Bogan Books, was inspired by the work of trailblazers before her.
“Both Shantae and April are amazing inspirations to me. I have followed both of their journeys as entrepreneurs, as Black Business Women, for years,” she said.
“And so I made sure that I was able to secure sitters so that I could be in the room and be led, inspired and encouraged, and that’s exactly what I got.”
The event was part of the Urban League’s Save our Sisters initiative to help Black women find economic opportunity and be inspired by other successful Black women. Showers ended the event by telling the audience to let go of their fear and start innovating and creating.
“You gotta keep going. Because what happens is we get bumped. We get bumped in the head so much that we’re just like, I’m not even going to try it anymore,” Showers said. “And that’s when that limited belief starts to stay in.”
Namratha Prasad is the St. Louis American Comcast NBC-Universal Fellow/Reporter