Honor Your Flow with CEO Cecelia Towns-Scott

A lot of products claim to be “game changers," but this one is literally patented. We’re sitting down with Cecilia Towns-Scott, a south side Chicago attorney, founder, wife, and mom who spent ten years building Honor, a sustainable period and bladder leak brief designed for how life actually moves. Her innovation is simple to understand and hard to pull off: a reusable product with a removable liner, so you can swap a fresh one fast instead of feeling stuck all day.

We talk about the real mechanics behind product development: trial and error, fabric testing, feedback from friends, funding wins and funding droughts, and the quiet moments when quitting feels logical. Cecilia also breaks down why “Honor Your Flow” is bigger than underwear. Menstrual health is tied to stress, food, movement, and the other 21 days around the actual menstruation, and the brand’s mission is to replace embarrassment with education and confidence.

Then, we zoom out into entrepreneurship strategy. Big box retail sounds like the dream, but retail readiness is a money and logistics game with pallets, shelf space fees, and inventory risks most people never hear about. We unpack why community partnerships, direct-to-consumer sales, and owning your IP first can protect both your margins and your mission. If you’ve been pushed out, laid off, or underestimated, Cecilia’s advice is clear: "get mad, then build."

Transcript

Why Black Businesses Matter

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Welcome to Black Businesses Matter, a podcast about why Black businesses matter and the benefits of collaborating and advocating for Black businesses. To drive impact, each episode will cover legacy, hope, black joy, funding sources, cultural shifts, equality, and so much more. We will provide inspiration and action while spreading some joy to a thriving community of black business owners and leading thought leaders.

SPEAKER_02 0:33

My name is Larbetta L. Lofton Arnold, the founder of the L3 Agency, and the host of Black Businesses Matter Podcast.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

Known as the brandmaker who transforms organizations with her storytelling prowess, meet Larvetta L. Lofton Arnold, host of Black Businesses Matter, a podcast about why black businesses matter and the benefits of collaborating and advocating for black businesses to drive impact.

SPEAKER_02 1:00

Welcome

Entrepreneurship Shifts And A Tease

SPEAKER_02 1:01

back to another episode of Black Businesses Matter. So you know, guys, we've been talking about the evolution of entrepreneurship. And what does that look like? I mean, you all have heard black women are being pushed out of corporate America. They're building new businesses, products, you name it, to solve some of the world's, I think, biggest problems, and some of them are um causing other issues. And so our next guest, Lean In, because she has a product that literally is going to be a game changer in this space. So when you think about cook ticks, you're gonna think about honor. That's I'm just gonna leave that with you on because, you know, for the men, for our men listeners, you really need to listen to this because you got daughters, you got wives, you got aunties, you know, you have to be mindful of that. And then when we think about um the choices we make when we go into the store, we want to hear about the stories of how people got to this place. And our next guest is gonna give you that story and that journey. Cecilia M. Townscott. I love that she has um, because I'm Larvetta L. Loften Arnold. So I love that somebody else has it. It's important. We want to go on with all of it. All of it is a she is from Chicago, y'all, from the South Side. She learned entrepreneurship at a very young age from her dad, who also ran his own business and got her creativity from both of her parents. She's always had a passion for creative problem solving, which led her to creating the period apparel that was lacking in today's market. Yes, period, guys. Yes. Um, Cecilia is an attorney. She is a startup CEO, wife, and mother who is using the skills she's garnered in all of her life roles to solve the problem of her community one step at a time. And I'll say this one pad at a time. I gotta say that. You know that, right? I gotta say that. Welcome to the show, Cecilia. Thank you. I am excited to be excited. So, y'all, this is my sister, like for real, for real.

Childhood Hustle And STEM Roots

SPEAKER_02 3:14

I just want you guys to kind of understand, like, you don't ever know how the impact of people, you know, at the time that you meet them. Um, but I also am a firm believer where you meet people is not where you keep, where you have to keep them either, right? Because maybe I met you at that part, which I did. And now, you know, wife, mother, CEO, all the things. I think that's beautiful, right? Because we met. Um I think I was in high school.

SPEAKER_04 3:42

Was it high school, Cecilia? It might have been high school, early college.

SPEAKER_02 3:45

I think it was early college. Okay, yeah. Early college, um, but was a sponge. You was sucking it like, what'd you do? Where'd you go? Well, what's this? And and for everyone, it was, you know, through church. It was through our church family, and we just all were all together. You were just young, thirsty for the Lord, and you just love to see that, right? And so you didn't have you had no kids, you didn't have no husband. You had a boyfriend.

SPEAKER_04 4:16

Probably the who my husband is now. We've been together for a very long time.

SPEAKER_02 4:20

No, no, that's why I said it was a boyfriend. Yeah, that wasn't husband. That was him. Um, and then eventually he became the husband, you know, all the things. And so I feel like I know a little bit, but what is it about Cecilia that people don't know as a little girl?

SPEAKER_04 4:36

Oh goodness. Uh oh goodness. I started my first business when I was like eight.

SPEAKER_02 4:43

Wow, what was your business?

SPEAKER_04 4:45

I was in elementary school. I'm pretty sure they don't allow this anymore. But um, we were doing lanyards, you know, like everybody does lanyards. And, you know, you see the kids are into it, I'm into it. Yeah. And I convinced my mother, because my mother's a crafter. Okay. So we were at Michael's and Joanne Fabrics every other day. And I convinced my mom to buy me excess lanyard, and I would sell it at school, you know, for however much perfect. You was hustling. I was.

SPEAKER_02 5:18

It takes a hustling to know another hustling now. No way. I get it takes one to know one, but I don't even know why I did it.

SPEAKER_03 5:25

It doesn't matter though. You were solving a problem. Yes. I started my own little business at eight.

SPEAKER_04 5:31

And now I just I chuckle about it now. But like, girl, what are you doing? No.

SPEAKER_02 5:36

You're supposed to be in school learning. Because I sit back in there. I had a babysitting business. And girl, I was the number one babysitter in my building. You can tell me nothing. Oh, what day you want me to keep? Okay, I could do Tuesday, Thursday, and I was, I was like, I can oh, I can take care of your son. What time do you get off work? So I think that's beautiful that you that we start off like that. I don't think.

SPEAKER_03 5:59

I mean, because here we are.

SPEAKER_02 6:00

Yes. Like, what was your favorite subject?

SPEAKER_04 6:03

Oh, math. Math. I actually really love math.

SPEAKER_03 6:08

That's like math. It's a fun. I feel like we get a bad rep. We get a bad rep, but I math and physics. Like those were my friends.

SPEAKER_04 6:18

And I, that's my I I am so deeply blessed. I don't feel like I have many regrets in life. Like it's the shortest of lists. But one of them is that I didn't pursue physics uh as a career. Because in high school, I'm sorry, in college, my understanding at that time was that I don't want to be a professor. And so I'm like, well, I shouldn't pursue physics because if you pursue physics, you're gonna be a professor. And it's like, no, there's actually so many things you could do. But I just didn't know. Yeah. And so I, this is career number two for me. Before this, I worked as a college and career coach in CPS. And I think part of why I may have been so passionate about that is because, again, very few regrets. I love the life I have, but I think I missed out a little bit because there was nobody there talking to me about here are all the things you can do with that. That's fair. And as a college and career coach, you're trying to you get the kids the knowledge so that they can really assess all their options. And I had amazing, like I did so many, my parents did a wonderful job. I had a lot of enrichment, but that was something that I just didn't get. Um I was That's fair.

SPEAKER_02 7:27

That's fair. Because it's funny that you say that you just made me think I love science. Um and I won third place and the science fair. Heck yeah. And you couldn't tell me nothing. Of course not. But I couldn't fathom what would I do with that. Like I think it was either be a scientist, and I didn't want to be a scientist because I like talking. So I was like, I didn't see scientists who talked. Right.

SPEAKER_04 7:50

So it was like, that's not gonna work.

SPEAKER_02 7:52

Yeah, that's not gonna work. But it could have worked. But it could have worked. Yes. But it's funny because I met um a woman. Was she a was it a woman? I can't remember. But I remember you know how you remember a story, but I don't necessarily remember who told me. But I remember it was in college and she shared, was it she or was it I don't know. But we were talking, maybe it was in class, and we were saying, Oh, I know what it was. It was my theater coach. Okay. Because I minored in theater. And she shared that there is science in theater. And I'll tell you why. Science has the scientific way of theater. Um, there is one. We believe like it's just like, you know, a lot of it is right, haku and all the, you know, the from that, but there is a sound that you have to have, but it's very scientific, right? And so theater, you know, they they move off of like what's going on in the world, and they're able to do it. So she really helped me to understand that scientifically, you know how we say energy, like it's really like today, it's like I feel your energy. Well, scientifically, there's a science to that in theater. So people could know or sense, and so mime, you know, when people mime, you know that. So in theater, they would teach us that, right? They would teach us that because you have to study what people are going to not necessarily say, what they don't say, is where we get to get real theater from it, is what you didn't say. And so I was like, oh, okay. So I'm like a I'm an actor science, like all this is that you know, so she really helped me to understand that science does play a role in the space of storytelling and acting. But but again, though. No one told us that. Nobody told us that. Nobody, we didn't know. It wasn't until I got into theater and had the worst theater. She was the best, but the worst. You know what I'm talking about the one that was like, she was the kind of instructor that if you were late. So you think, okay, if I'm late, okay, whatever, you would have to stand up, hold your leg, like lift one leg up and say your lines. I'm dead serious. Why are we doing that? And so I was like, but science. Yeah. Because think about it, you're in pain. Can you still run these lines? Because if the if the lines need the pain, you you cannot make up pain. You have to feel it. There's science, right? So I it it it it baffles me, but you people don't see that side. I I didn't see it, right? Yeah. So I do agree, but my reason for saying that, Cecilia, is what we're about to talk about.

From Law To Product Innovation

SPEAKER_02 10:47

But I think you I think you are in physics with the product. Yeah. Yeah. I mean you're right. I made my way back. You made your way back. So it's really not a regret. It was like, I'm gonna find a space. I agree. And you made a reframe. Yeah, you found a space because when I'm sitting here, I'm like, the physics of all of this and this product is just dynamite. So now tell me this. You are a practicing attorney and you have built um this product that is for women to solve a problem that we all have had an issue with. So tell me how, as a practicing attorney, like what was that process to get to a space where, and we're gonna talk about the product, y'all, we're gonna get there, but we know we've got men listeners, so I wanna I wanna ease ourselves into it a little bit before we're like, oh my gosh, this is like grossing me out. But as a pra because the reason why I want to start there is because oftentimes we don't believe we can do both, right? And so as a practicing attorney who has built this product that literally is saving our community, but it's also saving the planet um in that space, like tell me that process.

SPEAKER_04 12:01

Sure. So I you know, regret to inform whoever's listening. Yes, it this is uh the attorney part is part two. Remember, I was saying this is this is career number two for me. Okay. So the project, because it was the career coach, yes, so the process started when I was working in CPS in 2014.

SPEAKER_02 12:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 12:24

And I say the regret part because I think kind of, and and it has taken me the longest to kind of get over this, but I think we have this idea about like entrepreneurship and realizing your dreams that for some people it happens quickly and like thank God. Yeah. But for me, it was a 10-year journey.

SPEAKER_02 12:42

That's good.

SPEAKER_04 12:42

Yeah, it was good. That was the process. Evaluate, yeah, test, evaluate. I think that's good. It was a 10-year journey and it was on a payment plan because I You did say that to me when I was running to you.

SPEAKER_02 12:55

I ran this.

SPEAKER_04 12:56

I did this company on a payment plan because I was working in Chicago public schools and had a master's from teachers' college in Columbia. So like making decent money, but it's still CPS. Like, I'm not rich. Um, and just like you said, like product development takes a long time. Especially, I think just a regular product, but especially a product that is, you know, going on our lady bits, right? Um, our our people bits. And so the process of, you know, finding the fabric, finding the the the right design. Like the the product didn't start off how it is now. We were just a regular period panty like everybody else. But as I kept developing, it's just kind of like, all right, but like what's going to make you different? And you know, also just talking to folks about what what they liked about what's out there and what they were hoping for. And, you know, something I I kind of say it now, but this idea of kind of marinating in your own magic all day. Um right? How do we say that differently? Everything that else that's on the market, the uh absorbency, the liner is sewn into it. So once you put it on, it's on, right? Uh, but a lot of folks wanted to have the sustainable period, wanted to kind of have the benefits of those one-use products, but not being married to a thing all day. And so that took time. It took, you know, like I said, 10 years. I was working at CPS, starting a family, having children. And so I don't and applied for grants and then just didn't get them. And so I don't have the capital to say, let's let's do this development right now. And it took time. But yeah, you know, 10 years of trial and error, of, you know, working with different designers, uh, you know, we finally got to the thing that I'm like, okay, I after 10 years, um, I think we have what addresses the issue and the need.

SPEAKER_02 14:48

And so here we are. But so you know, I I think that right, people need to hear that story. It was 10 years of testing, evaluating. Did you do focus groups?

SPEAKER_04 15:01

With my friends.

SPEAKER_02 15:02

Good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 15:02

So I have very it's I I think I still have that Excel spreadsheet somewhere that's good. Put it out there, you know, to my Facebook community. Like, have you used period products? If so, what did you like? What didn't you like? And that whole idea of like not wanting to marinate my magic all day was like, okay, yeah, what can we do with that? And it took years to figure it out. Because like people, you know, it it's a 10-year thing. I might have been in the the current iteration is something that is patented, it has it where the liner can be removed. I don't even think we got there until after year five. Like it it we were just trying to like test the product and find something that would work, but you know, that problem is just still there in the back of my mind. Like, okay, we have this thing, I kind of like it, but it still doesn't address that. And so just kind of continuing to tinker with it until you know, talk to my you know, co-designer, like, okay, well, this is what I'm trying to do. What could I do to possibly meet that need? Uh and yeah, I mean, it took it it took a while to get there, but you know, we ended up.

Setbacks, Funding, And Staying In

SPEAKER_02 16:13

And let me say this in that space, did you ever feel like this isn't gonna work?

SPEAKER_04 16:19

Oh goodness. I I still remember, like we were getting close to like I think this is gonna be the design. And I put in the name of the company has also evolved. I think we started out as happy period. There was another company out there that is happy period, they're running, they're amazing. But we started out as happy period, and I still remember because I'm like, okay, we're almost there, we're gonna do it. Yeah, and I put, you know, I made a little graphic and I put it on my social media, like, happy period is on the way, we'll be here in the next year, and that did not happen. And I was like, damn. Yeah, you know, we we there was a couple of times that we like started and stopped. And I think we're so close and we're ready, and we're not.

SPEAKER_02 17:07

And yeah, like you want to quit all those times because I you it and and I will say this the times I will see you, because I remember happy period, you were like, I'm still in the I'm still here, I'm still in the race, right? Yeah, um, but every time I saw you, you still had joy in your eyes. And so while you might have wanted to give up, there was still joy in your eyes that I'm still gonna solve this problem. Yeah. But I think when people are building that moment of giving up, I think is an ongoing thing. Like, I think you're just like tomorrow, you like, I'm in. Tomorrow, next day you're like, I'm out.

SPEAKER_04 17:43

Because it's hard. Like I I've been trying to solve this problem for so long, and it's costing me so much money. And I still, you know, I when I finally did win, I did a pitch competition with Score.

SPEAKER_02 17:56

Nice.

SPEAKER_04 17:56

And I won, I think it was four or five thousand dollars. And part of, praise the Lord, that that that money from Score was how I was able to purchase my first shipment, which is what people are getting right now. Praise God. But I still remember, because my husband's been supportive and you know, throughout the whole process. But part, my mentor, when I won and we're kind of talking about it, he said, you know, and you know, Cecilia's put $60,000 into this business. My husband said, Excuse me.

SPEAKER_03 18:26

Girl, you found in this business. And I was like, oh what? But it was on the payment plan for you. You know, you know, you look back at he's like, girl, what? Like, you know, you got some still loans that couldn't have been paid off within 60. Like girls, like maybe like 6,000 a year, something like that. It was flabbergasted. I know, I know. But yeah, you know, again, it it took a decade.

SPEAKER_04 18:51

And so at every moment from start to 10 years, I'm putting in money, right? Like I'm putting in time. I feel like I'm ready, but shoot, I'm not ready yet. And I mean, that happened a few times.

SPEAKER_05 19:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:05

And so it gets very hard like not to quit because you believe it, but like it's not here.

SPEAKER_05 19:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:11

And I don't have no money.

SPEAKER_02 19:12

But I think that a lot of businesses don't put the time and effort. So because we're talking about like the evolution of entrepreneurship, I think this is a moment that we don't take the time to do the research. We don't take the time to gather the data. We just, for some, we just jumped into a business. And that's fine too. So it's not again, I'm I'm in this place of and no longer this idea of or, right? So what works because sometimes it's timing, but one thing is, right, you are fighting against a place where, and I started this, we went to the store, and mom and dad tell you, or whomever, right? Because I also think dads had to tell their kids, their daughters the same thing. Go in the owl, it's gonna say co-text, stay free, all the things, right? You didn't know what one, you just they just told you a brand and you went and got it. Yep, right? And so once you did that, you know, it wasn't until we got older that we paid attention to the things, but that's hard to undo, right? It's very hard to undo something that we were told just that. I mean, feminine products, they they didn't even tell us like, look for this. It was go there, yeah. Codex works, but you know, sometimes co-text for the older people. Like they had all these things, and we just jump right in, yeah, right. Yeah, so you literally um in this mess of like, I'm gonna just try this, I'm gonna try this, I'm gonna try this, I'm gonna try this, until you figure out what works for you. And so personally, that's the journey of how you got to honor. Yeah. You don't find, what did you call it? Your, what did you, your, your um, you, you called it a term. Like, I mean your own magic. Yes. Yes. You don't find that, right? Until you've tried how many products? Like, I remember, like, yeah, I don't really like this one. Yeah, I'm gonna do this. Yeah, girl, you can have them because I don't really like those.

SPEAKER_03 21:16

And you pass them off, but that's been your journey. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:20

You know? So I think we don't walk out the door necessarily won over by a product. We just had to get it because it was necessary, right? The period's coming. The period is coming. So you better say something. The period um is coming. And so when you think about that, right?

Honor Your Flow As A Lifestyle

SPEAKER_02 21:41

So let's walk through the name of the product, it's called So we're honor.

SPEAKER_04 21:45

Uh, we were it's yeah, she's she's had quite an evolution. So first we were happy, period. And then I actually worked with a company. Um, I don't I don't think they're doing business anymore, but uh, there are two women who I went to high school with Dominique and Melanie. Melanie is an actress by trade. Dominique, Dominique might still be a lawyer, but Dominique was a lawyer. And they had uh starting a consulting business together to help companies kind of brand and figure out, you know, like where we're gonna go.

SPEAKER_02 22:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 22:14

And so from there, we reached honor your flow.

SPEAKER_03 22:19

Yes. Yeah, we were. I'm like, I remember all of these. We were honor your flow for a long time.

SPEAKER_04 22:25

And that the the honestly, the the big pivot why we're not still honoring your flow is because there's a UK company that is also called Honor Your Flow.

SPEAKER_03 22:32

It gets confusing.

SPEAKER_04 22:33

But um Honor Your Flow, which I I think it's it's still very much the idea, is a part of the business. When you do the research about periods and menstruation, you find out pretty quickly that the three to seven days that you actually experience bleeding is affected by those other 21 days that you are living. And so it's down to what you're eating, it's how stressed you are, it's are you exercising, it is the products and chemicals that you are or are not putting on your like it's it's everything. And so the more that I kind of did research about what this product needed to be, I think I realized that how we honor our flow, how we honor our bodies holistically is how we're going to have a menstruation experience that feels good to us. And so as we kind of moved forward, you know, even still, like I said, we we we go by honor now, but the kind of ethos of honoring your flow is still a very big part of the company. Um, early on, we were doing a lot more education around like nutrition and you know physical health, because the way you're gonna have the period that you want to have is if you're honoring yourself and honoring your flow in your whole life. Like it's not just those seven days, three to seven days that you have to really be taking care of yourself, it's all the time.

SPEAKER_02 24:00

Because we realize that, right, all of these, what we put in it's crazy. What we put in our our bodies impacts how your flow flows. Okay, oh goodness. Like it's unbelievable. But again, we didn't know that. So by introducing that, and so the way that I want um people to understand, because I don't think they understand in the world of feminine products, how many products do we have? Do you know?

SPEAKER_04 24:26

Like from the world of pads. Oh, I haven't even counted. It's there's so many. Yeah, so that's my whole point, right? So many.

SPEAKER_02 24:37

How do you how does honor stand out from the noise? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:43

I mean, this is how we got the patent, right? Uh, we are literally the only product on the market that is a reusable product where the liner is removable. And so literally every single other product that is a period and bladder leak product, if you wear it, and a lot of them I love, right? Like if it works for you, like go for it. But literally every other product, the absorbency is sewn into it. And so once you put it on, it's on.

The Removable Liner Breakthrough

SPEAKER_04 25:11

Uh, part of what got to this iteration of the product was I was working in CPS. And so, you know, it's a high school. I was working in high school, and so you have four minutes between classes. So I'm a sustainable period girly, and I'm wearing my period panties. I'm so excited about it. But I have four minutes between classes, and it's winter in Chicago. And so you might have to take off tights and leggings, and then the pants, take off the underwear, put on a whole new pair of underwear, put all those things back on and get to class on time. And as an adult, I can do that, right? Sorry, y'all, I'm a couple, you know, I'm late, whatever. But you know, and it's unfortunate, but like kids don't always get, young adults don't always get that grace. And so, you know, we have our teachers who in a lot of ways keep us in line.

SPEAKER_02 25:56

Like, you better be here. Correct.

SPEAKER_04 25:58

Well, if I'm trying, if period panties work best for my cycle, and I have four minutes, and Mr. Tolber is not going to be forgiving about the fact that I'm late, I'm out here bad.

SPEAKER_02 26:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:14

And so, honor, you know, the reason that we got the patent, uh, the way in which we're different is again, we're the only product on the market where you can remove the liner and put in a fresh dry one and gone about your day. So you get the benefit of a one-time use product, but also all the benefits of the reusable product.

SPEAKER_02 26:31

And so in the packaging, do you have multiple liners?

SPEAKER_04 26:34

Yes, yes. Every package, uh every package has one brief, two liners, and a waterproof wet bag.

SPEAKER_02 26:40

What's the oh to put your bag? Yes.

SPEAKER_04 26:42

So you put the dry one in there. Yeah because the truth of the matter, I mean, you know, in time, uh, we maybe we will evolve. But for the most part, if you have a cycle, you have a bag. Like we if you're having a period, you always got some. You always got some. You got a little something. You got a little purse. To be prepared. Yeah. It's your little purse. Right. Yeah, you have a little something. And so this, you know, this is our version of that. And so you put the dry liner in there while you're wearing it. And when it's time to do the switcheroo, you take the wet one, you put it in there, and put the dry one on. Yeah. And you know, it's a waterproof bag. You know, it keeps the smell in. Yeah. Um, and so I love it.

SPEAKER_02 27:17

And it's funny that you thought about, see, again, right, to your point, we all have a bag. And it's so interesting. Because I think the embarrassing moment of, right, you know, you have to take this bag into, to your point, into the restroom while you were at school in a business meeting, whatever, right? But what you later discover is so do so do other women, right?

SPEAKER_04 27:42

I, my mother and husband, and probably everyone, probably everyone who knows me, would is just probably flabbergasted by this. But I think building this company, you know, because you do the research and you just learn about all the ways, you know, period stigmas, period shame, all that sort of stuff, has made me. I mean, I can all already be a little militant about some things, but no way, right? As an entrepreneur. Uh, but this company, I think, has made me so militant in the in the sense that now if I do have a tampon, like I will take my tampon out and just walk to the bathroom. Like, I don't give a shit. Like, wow. I I I am a woman. I have a period. I don't have to pie shit. Let me. Yes. This this is what I just is like this is how you got here. Yeah. Like, I'm not going to be ashamed of the fact that I have a period. I will take my tampon out. I'm not I I now I use cups, but like I'm not hiding a good, I'm not hiding anything.

SPEAKER_02 28:43

But I do think, but Cecilia, here's the thing. I was listening to a podcast this morning.

SPEAKER_05 28:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:49

While I was on Detroit Mail. But I think that's where shame came from. What do you mean? Meaning that we have had to be ashamed of the things that we've had to do. Absolutely. That that is deeply rooted on why shame for women when we're in workplaces, why we don't share, why we don't. I think that it's deeply rooted in that space. Because just listening to you is like we come from like we have shame, we have insecurities, right? And she was saying, nobody wakes up and says, you know, today I've got shame.

SPEAKER_04 29:24

No, I this is one thing I am so grateful for my children. Because, you know, they get here, they're wild animals. Like the children are wild. And you get to see this being that has never been here before. And they don't have the same foolishness that we have. And that's when, you know, I always had a you know, you have a suspicion that like we're not supposed to be living like this. When you see how kids look, they are not ashamed of anything.

SPEAKER_02 29:50

Correct. Like they That's my point. All of this is taught. All of it is taught. So what happens is, right? You are ashamed because somebody told us, now you don't, now put your stuff away. Like it's all these things. And so I think that's part of the reason why I think we we have this shame and these insecurities. So we didn't talk about the cycles because it was taught. You go, you remember you get you get the brown bag. Remember the brown bag? You don't get the plastic back when you go pay for your stuff. You get the brown bag because if you have to go home, right? You got people gonna make fun of you.

SPEAKER_04 30:29

Yeah. I mean, uh, does anybody hide their cough medicine? No. If you have a cold, you get your cough medicine and you have that boy sitting on the desk. Why am I doing this? Like, I I'm not doing it.

SPEAKER_02 30:41

And this is really, it's yeah, and and we were creative for this. Like this, so why are we doing it? Okay. Because I have this period, you are here. You're welcome. Welcome.

unknown 30:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:53

So I'm not doing it. We should all stop doing it. Oh my gosh. You just like I just took a breath and said, like, we have done ourselves a disservice because I wouldn't be here without it.

SPEAKER_04 31:05

No one's hiding their cough medicine. And nobody's hiding. No one's hiding their allergy medicine. It's a part of my life. This is how I need to operate. I don't have to hide that from anybody. Why do we have to hide it? We shouldn't. It's not.

SPEAKER_02 31:16

Oh my gosh. You're listening

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SPEAKER_02 31:18

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Community Partnerships And Retail Reality

SPEAKER_02 31:59

So tell me this. I know that you say that you're building community. Tell me how honor is a, and is it considered a feminine product? Yes.

SPEAKER_04 32:11

I say, I say we're a product for women and menstruators because everybody who menstruates does not identify as feminine or woman, right?

SPEAKER_02 32:21

So we're we're attorneying you, Cecilia. Because I'm like, huh?

SPEAKER_04 32:28

I mean, think about it. That's true. Yeah, there are trans men out here who are menstruating. That's no, it's you know, like yeah, it's true. Yeah, so it's we we're for uh women and menstruators. Okay. But um the I like that though. Yeah. I mean, the community part is uh, and this we're very much still working on early on it, early on in the company, what do we call them? We did uh call them the honor your flow, honor your flow road trips. And this is where I would partner with other professionals about you know ways in which we can honor our flow. And so in the past, I've met with a uh a registered dietitian, I met with a nurse, uh a yoga instructor, and just kind of talking about the the ways in which we can live our life that is going to support menstrual health. And so, you know, those were videos that we would record and kind of put on our uh social media, YouTube, things of that sort. Um, as of late, it has been more partnerships with other businesses. So uh last year we partnered with Chicago Birth Works Collective to have honor products in their space. Uh the Birth Works Collective, they support uh women who are pre-partum, actually, you know, having babies, postpartum, uh, with lactation support. Uh there's kind of a doula network as part of them. Um, and so that community is, you know, supporting women and menstruators. And so honor is, you know, there with them. Um there is a, oh goodness, Abby is going to kill me or not. But there is a young woman, Abigail Suleiman, who works, uh who's a student at UIC, and she does menstrual meetups. So, you know, trying to always be a part of those when I can, so that, you know, honor is always supporting the networks that are supporting women and menstruates out here in the world. That's why. You know, that's how we're getting connected with community these days.

SPEAKER_02 34:24

And and that ultimately grows the business, right? Um, so you are strategically building, you're using community as a visibility tool.

SPEAKER_04 34:37

I mean, isn't that how we find out about everything? Like, I mean, we find yeah, it's Cecilia.

SPEAKER_02 34:44

I'm I love it because, you know, you've heard in the trades, right? When you think about consumer products, right? We hear it online. You want to be in Target, like you want to be in Walmart, you want to be in all the big box. Like that's the that means you've arrived. You know, and so is that something you you plan to get? I mean, get there. Yes. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 35:08

But it's it's so funny. I just went to I am a member at we're both members at Holski. Yeah, and I went to a workshop about retail readiness this past week. Was that with 37 Oaks?

SPEAKER_02 35:22

No. Heaven to Rance. Okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 35:25

It wasn't with them. But so yes, because there is a whole thing as far as getting ready for retail. So we want to get there, but also I'm I'm so glad I went because there are some ways in which you have to prepare for that. Yes. That I I didn't even I had no idea. So, yes.

SPEAKER_02 35:44

And here's what we want people to understand because someone is not in Walmart or Target does not mean that they're not a valuable product. We associate because we are in those spaces, that means that this brand um is proven because that's the part, the readiness part really is can you produce palette-wise purchase order? All of that is what you have to be able to do.

SPEAKER_04 36:12

Larvetter.

SPEAKER_02 36:13

I know.

SPEAKER_04 36:14

I know I know the what blew my mind, the, and I uh I am so sorry, I cannot remember the name of her company because she was such an amazing presenter. But the presenter was telling us that exact same thing. She, her and her husband, they started their product, they went straight to the retailers. Yeah, like it wasn't they built the product, okay, you know, worked with you know different professionals to kind of vet it to make sure that it, you know, it needed it was what it needed to be. And they went straight to retail. And that was the first thing she said, like, y'all, this is a money game. Yes. Like you have to have talking about those palettes. I said, oh my God, like the palettes. I have a free- I've never had a palette.

SPEAKER_02 36:57

Oh, no. Like, and most of our homes cannot house that. So then what you have to do is then find space. You gotta have space. You have to have a distribution center. So you you you people don't know that process. So that means that when you see that product in that big box, this is what I tell people buy it. I don't care. Let's keep them there. Buy it. Let's keep them there. Because you don't know the process to how long it sat in the just for them to get it to be able to push it on the and to then put it on the shelves. But because you have to buy space. You have to buy space. And then if the space, right, if you're not selling it, you're gone, which means that what does that happen? Your inventory that's in that you have to buy it back.

SPEAKER_04 37:47

She told me I almost fell on the floor. Excuse me. So I can get this order from Target. And if it doesn't do well enough, I have to pay them to get it back. Excuse me?

SPEAKER_02 37:55

Which is why for my folks in and who work in marketing, and that's what we we we do, is that's why you have to build the visibility before you go to retail. People don't understand, like the the goal is to say, I'm at Walmart or Target. No, the goal is for people to know you, that they're willing to buy from your website, yeah, so that once you get to Walmart or you get to Target, they know your name. Yeah. And that is huge.

SPEAKER_04 38:25

I had no idea.

SPEAKER_02 38:26

Like that's huge. And so understanding the impact of that. And so when we talk about the evolution of entrepreneurship, right? And we say that that's the evolution is first sell from your website. Before, Cecilia, we were selling, we couldn't wait to get there. Then we wonder, like, where did that brand go? Well, the brand couldn't keep up because guess what? Nobody knew about it. Yes. And that's the that's the evolution is build momenta, build community, build it where people can go to your site, buy it, you build enough traffic that it's enough for you to say, okay, now we can be in CBS.

SPEAKER_05 39:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:10

Right? Less stores, small, cute, get us a little in cap, we good.

SPEAKER_04 39:15

So the wildest thing, and again, just totally opposite to what I would have expected to the seminar that I went to. She said one of the things that they did in their business when they were invited to go into the big box retail, she said we started online first. Like they they wanted us to be in, you know, however many stores. And she she said we told them no because we wanted to, there is a there is a, you know, all the things that you talk about, you know, shelf space, being on the ACAP, there's money associated with that. Yes. But if you are online first, you can keep the stuff in your world. Correct. And that makes a difference. And you kind of want to have that like product validation before you start moving. And again, those are not the conversations. Yes. Before she said that, I had never heard that. Correct, right? Like if Target had come to me and said, I want you in the Yes.

SPEAKER_02 40:06

Yes, you would. But that's but that's what we all thought, right? Right. And the evolution of entrepreneurship, that's not true. And so this, like, this is an episode. I always say, these are episodes that if you're building something, you hold on to this. This is enough for you to say, hold up, let's build our site. Which is you, you know, when you think about us as a as a marketing firm, we try we tell people own your IP first before you give it away because you're giving it away to a retail source, right? Who takes better care of your product? You. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 40:41

You take the best, because it's your baby. That's another thing that she said that the companies, they will always make their money. Yeah. They're not that they're not concerned about you, but they're not. Because they got about 5,000. They're concerned about making their money. And so she just talked about the importance of being okay with saying no, because they're going to look out for their bottom line and their product, their company, before they look out for you any day. Yeah. And so even going into, you know, big box retail, you have to know what is healthy for us and what we can handle. And just having that knowledge, it's like, oh, again, because you think, look, Target called me, I'm gonna say yes. Anything they ask, I'm gonna say yes. And she's like, actually, no.

SPEAKER_03 41:23

I'm gonna go. Like you, because this is your baby. This is your baby.

SPEAKER_04 41:26

If whatever they're asking is not going to keep your baby healthy, you have to say no. Because they're gonna, they're gonna make sure they win. Correct. You have to make sure you win. And I was like, oh my goodness like that's just not what I would have thought.

Protect Your Baby And Control Time

SPEAKER_02 41:39

Cecilia, as a right, as this, you know, startup CEO as well as a practicing attorney, right? How do you find time to go to these educational seminars? Because I'm a firm, but I'm a lifelong longer. Yeah. Um, I stay in all the learning labs, whatever I can do to figure out how to pivot, how to grow, how to be innovative. But how do you, and you a mama, and you a wife?

SPEAKER_04 42:03

I so my law firm is Townscott Legal. I love it. I'm so thankful. It is the the firm has been a blessing. But I kind of jokingly say that I I started the firm out of duress because working in the legal world on other people's terms, it was not working. You know, my uh it it was it was awful. Like I think the the the general work system is just like hostile to families. But that's a different conversation. And so the way I do it is like I I'm in control, and so I can shut that calendar off anytime I need to. That's awesome. And if I need to go learn, I can just shut this calendar off.

SPEAKER_02 42:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 42:47

And I do. Yeah. You know, um shut the calendar off. Shut it off. Like I That's a hashtag. I'm not taking the meeting. Shut it off. I'm not taking meetings today. I'm not taking meetings during this time because I have to do this other thing. Yeah. But I mean, because again, just even with going to that retail readiness seminar in Jesus' name, in the future, that has saved my behind. So when I am having that conversation with a big box retailer, I have been to a seminar that already gave me some game on what I should and should not do.

SPEAKER_05 43:18

Right.

SPEAKER_04 43:19

If I don't make the time to go and do that, when I get that, when I get that offer, I'm just so excited. I'm a I'm gonna do anything. And it's like, no. So I I I the way I do it is because I run myself. I run my businesses, and I get to create what the schedule is gonna be when I'm gonna meet with clients and when I'm not. This is important. And so I just have I make the time to do it.

SPEAKER_02 43:46

That's good. And I and that's the other part that I think um, you know, as someone who has hustled and been an entrepreneur for 20 something years, right?

SPEAKER_04 43:57

That is amazing.

SPEAKER_02 43:59

Kudos to you. Thank you. It is but it took right a lot of education. It took a lot of failing. It took a lot of, you know, not getting it right. Like, so I always tell people I was in school, literally.

SPEAKER_04 44:13

You've been in school your whole life. Oh my.

SPEAKER_02 44:15

So I'm not going to get no masters. I'm not getting no doctorate. I got a doctor in perseverance. I promise you I do. Um, and that's that's the that is what I think, you know, I look at evolution of entrepreneurship as two ways. One is knowing that it's okay to pivot. And also knowing when to pivot. Because you can pivot too soon or pivot too late. And we've seen that with businesses, right? Um, like when I think of this business, this to me says sustainability, right? We're not gonna stop having menstrual cycles, right? For those that's on the other side, um, it's another side that you gotta deal with. It's a little bit different. Yes, not quite that, but it's a different thing, right? And so, but it still is a part of that journey, right? It's the part that the woman has to go through once she gets to the other side, right?

SPEAKER_04 45:18

And it's so funny you talk about the pivoting uh when we talk about the product. Actually, just ordered. My mother did it, she she sponsored um our first kind of logoed uh table. Okay, okay the tablecloth. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 45:32

And a logo table, yes.

SPEAKER_04 45:34

Uh huh. Um, and it says honor, revolutionary, period, and bladderly care.

SPEAKER_03 45:41

I was because of that, you have to do that evolution. Like, it's it's period care, but it's my next one.

SPEAKER_02 45:46

As we're moving into it, like it's the same thing. It's the same, and so I said to myself, like, even when you chose honor, when I think about the whole bladder thing, right? And saw, you know, I watched my mother go through it. Not that she was shameful. Like it was that's another area that we're like, that's the generation. No, no, no, no, I don't want anybody to know. Right? So recently I'm cleaning out her house. I mean, it was a bag. I'm like, she had it all stuffed in there. I'm like, why are we stuffed in here? Like, it is like it's okay, right? But I think that honor that also that period of your life.

SPEAKER_04 46:25

Yeah, it's very much. And that's that's all of that is why, you know, we have the name because you have we really do have to honor all these parts of us. Like, this is this is how God made us. Like, it's I love it. It's nothing to be ashamed of. And like, again, I'm a little messy. I'm like, I will not be ashamed of it.

SPEAKER_02 46:42

Like, I think not hiding anything. Yeah. And I think you are, to me, I think we're breaking some cycles of shame. No, but we have to. It literally I listened to the this morning, and they were saying we walk indoors in the workplace with shame that only part of our home life gave us, right? And so now the ability to be able to, even when we have to say, um, you know, I'm a all female staff team, right? So it's like you're on your cycle? Okay, you can tell us it's okay. I feel like uh my face is fat. Okay, and you can say that. And it's okay, and there's no, you're not gonna, you're not gonna get fired. Yeah, like that's okay to feel like that.

SPEAKER_04 47:29

Well, and kind of relatedly, like I just feel like there's been so much, you know, research and just you know, studies and things that are coming out in recent years about like the ways that we lose, particularly women, when we won't talk to each other about things, right? Like we make so much less in the workforce, right? Part of that is because we're not comparing notes. What are they doing to you? What are they doing to me? You got like we have that's our can literally community is gonna save us.

SPEAKER_05 47:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:57

And the shame, I think, is like one of the ways in which like sexism and patriarchy like keeps us from really being able to be liberated in the way that we need to. Because when we start taking notes, right? Like, I that's one thing that I I mean sucks that it had to happen, but like the Me Too movement, right? Everybody was like, wait, wait, you two?

SPEAKER_02 48:21

What?

SPEAKER_04 48:22

Right? And when we all start realizing we all go into the same BS, like people, oh, oh no. Like that is the shame, is what's keeping us silent, but it's what's keeping us here. It is and no, yeah, no, we're like we are we're not doing this anymore, yeah. And so, yeah, like we we have to honor all these parts of us because like that's how we're gonna get free.

SPEAKER_02 48:42

We are and so tell me this, right? If there was a song for honor today, what would that song be? And all the reasons why I'm saying that is because I I have a song in mind, so I I was like, oh my gosh, like the way that you're just presenting it, it feels like like when I put this on, right? This is like a crown for me versus I just started my cycle. Sure. Oh goodness, I've never been asked this. I know, I know, I I know. I just but when you said like if so there was is there's melody in how you were sharing honor, and so I'm like, what is a song that literally could pay homage to honor for you?

SPEAKER_04 49:38

Sure, sure. I have two. Okay. So my first one. I love it.

SPEAKER_02 49:42

She's like, nobody nobody's ever asked me. No one has ever asked me this, right? She came in.

SPEAKER_04 49:46

Send your hands. I love it.

SPEAKER_02 49:48

I love it.

SPEAKER_04 49:49

So the first one, uh, what came to mind like just as you were asking the question is Freedom by Beyoncé. The one she does with Kendrick, Kendrick Lamar, right? Like very much an anthem.

unknown 49:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 49:58

But the other one, which I think is very also very much our spirit. Um, and I I said it on our social media a long time ago. She's our spirit animal, is Pink, P-Y-N-K by Janelle Monet. And it is just like an anthem, you know, for vaginas. Um I love that. And but and I I love that song because of like the whimsy of it. Like that is also the part about honor, like women and menstruators, like we are fucking magic. Yes. When you think about what happens in our body, like we bleed and don't die. Yeah. None of y'all could do that. Yes, right? None. None of y'all could do that. We are literally like magical animals. Um, when it comes, we we are. Um, thinking about menstruals who choose to have babies, like, oh my God, like what happens in a woman's body with children and you know, side note, like when you have kids, your breast milk is the most magical thing. Like, literally, your breast milk for each kid is different based on gender, based on like your breast milk will respond to your kid being sick and create antibodies to address the fact that like we are magic in the like in every single way. And so pink, I think it's like it's a song, you know, uh homage, I'm saying that wrong, um, toward, you know, like our toward our vaginas, but just like there is a whimsy and a magic and a power that uh but it's so much fun, right? Like there's freedom, I think, you know, it's an anthem, it you know, it it's a little bit more like fight, but pink, I think, is just and I love the video because there's parts of it where you know Janelle Malay and Jim Monet, like they are they're just dancing, yeah, right. And that is so much a part of our magic, right? Like that just us being joyful, there's we're we're so multifaceted. Yes, and that I think really encapsulates us.

SPEAKER_02 51:56

Yep. And I I'm so glad you gave two songs because I do think that you're also shifting a narrative. And the narrative that we thought was when our psycho arrived, it was doom and gloom.

SPEAKER_04 52:09

Mm-mm. It's a party.

unknown 52:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:11

It is a lot of things. And I think that's the part. And then as you evolve to the other side, it's not doom and gloom, right? You want to go skating, you want to roll a skate outside, you want to do, and you don't want to have to stop and and and and have an accident. This is so you can skate. This is so that you can dance. This is so you can swim, you can do all the things you love to do outside. Right back. Because that's it's it's a new way of doing outside. For us that don't ministrate anymore, right? Yeah. For that. And I think that that's the thing that honor is doing is shifting a narrative that um for some, right, it was it came from some traumatic experiences. We know that it came from trauma. As we close, right? We're seeing the impact. Um, I'm only bringing this up because I was reading about it this morning and I was like, I got all these amazing women who have started these startups doing this thing, right? You hear black women being pushed out of corporate America, being laid off. Yep. The numbers, I I didn't believe the numbers. Well, I don't believe all those numbers are accurate, but I do believe it, right? Um and so how, as this woman, you know, you who's multifaceted, right? You have your own practice, you've built, you're you're building a revolutionary product, you're also a wife and mother trying to teach your children, you know, that and build family and community. How what do you say to these women who have probably worked 30 years for these companies, giving them their time, their effort? Um, for some, their families have grown up in those companies. You know, what do you say to these women? Oh goodness.

SPEAKER_04 53:55

Can I swear?

SPEAKER_02 53:56

You sure can.

Get Mad And Build Your Own

SPEAKER_04 53:58

Get fucking mad. Yeah. Like get fucking mad. And the reason I say that is because my and I kind of mentioned it earlier, like Townscott Legal was start started out of duress. Um really. So, and then I thank God. I think I think we all have like an inner voice. Yes. But I just thank God because I started, I started my brother died uh by suicide in 2017. My son was two months old. Like, literally the worst time in my life. And that next year I started law school. Like, makes no sense. Why would you do it, Cecilia? Um, I'm so thankful for my husband because he has just always been like, girl, you about to do what? Okay, here we go.

SPEAKER_03 54:46

You know, he's like, I will ride this train with you. I don't know why we own it, but but I will ride it, you know, under protest. But he'll do it.

SPEAKER_04 54:55

Um, but I started, I just I was like, I have to go to law school. I don't, I I can I can't explain it, but I was just like, I have to do this. And so I went to law school with a one-year-old, got pregnant my second month there, had the you know, did the thing. And so graduated law school, kept on going. And I fast forward, I ended up working with the state, and this is my supervisor at the time. It was a hybrid job, which is what really pisses me off. But it was a hybrid job, and I needed to pick up my kids uh a few times a week because I only have support on certain days. Yeah, and my supervisor, who's a woman by the way, uh said, Well, like you can't do it. And if you need to pick up your kids, like you use PTO. And I was like, bitch, are you crazy? I know that's right.

SPEAKER_03 55:44

You told me? She told you that. She literally told me. Told me her words with her, she said that in her outside voice.

SPEAKER_04 55:51

And that is what led to me creating Townscott Legal. Like, wow. It might my it was, it was such, I mean, the people always say, like, you know, God will use everything to get you where you gotta go. Like, even everything. My mother had gotten sick, ended up in the hospital for four months. Like, it was the terrible time in my life, and it was just like, I can't do this. And Townscott Legal got started because of that. Because I was so angry, I was so pissed, I was so let down, like nobody, about start crying, like, yeah, nobody would support me. And I'm like, I'm just trying to raise my fucking family. Like, I just want to pick up my kids from school. Like, why do I have to fight so hard to just take care of myself and my family? Like, this is so unfair. Um, and that's how Tom Scott Legal got here. And so for all the, you know, the the of you know, the black women, but just the people, like let this shit piss you the fuck off. To build some. Because that will get you, like unfortunately, I I wish I would have gotten there an easier route, but like it'll get you where you gotta go. And whatever you're supposed to be doing, like let this piss you off enough to get you there. Yeah. Because I have made more money and had more freedom running my own my own law firm than I have ever had in my life. Yes. And at this point, the law firm is helping me continue honor until she can support herself.

SPEAKER_02 57:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 57:18

But like, let it piss you off, like bad. Uh, because I'm excited for like when we get mad and we start solving some problems, like, oh, they're gonna get solved.

SPEAKER_02 57:29

They're gonna get solved. And I love that phrase. Yes, and I love that you share that because trust me when I tell you, that is where, right, the fire that you have in in that space of being pissed off is the fire you need to start that business, right? It's the same fire, the same fire. Yeah. Um, or start a different industry, or whatever the choice, whatever it is, go back to school, whatever it is, yeah, take on a trade, whatever it might be, yeah, um, is are it's necessary. And so I think we have to look at it because oftentimes um women, um women and black women, all women, you know, carry a lot, right? And so, you know, not only it, you know, as wives and mothers, they are caregivers, um, they are the banks, you know, they are a lot of things. And I think we don't understand that that situation that you had, right, with that, with someone who was first ill-equipped to be able to respond like that, but also just lack genuine concern. And that right there, I don't believe, um, which I believe the evolution of entrepreneurship today um should be customer service. Um, and that we should lean into customer service instead of leaning into um, you know, what they can do for me. But it's it's really like, how are you? How can we help? Okay, I see where you like that's where we need to lean into. And I think that that was not customer service.

SPEAKER_04 59:12

It's ridiculous, you know, and I'm I am thankful for where I am, but I'm just like, I have patented a product and built a six-figure law firm. The state lost that. Like, I could have been doing that for you. I was still gonna do honor, but like I could have been doing this for you. Yeah, but you didn't handle me right. And so, and and and so I had to leave. Like you weren't supposed to. I wasn't supposed to stay there. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. But like when you're not, you are mishandling people, yeah. Yeah, and you lose them. You do, but like had she been, and again, I wasn't supposed to be there.

SPEAKER_02 59:46

It was what it was, it was like, and that was the season, and we thankful for the season. Yeah, and now we're building honor. So,

Where To Buy Honor And Final Joy

SPEAKER_02 59:54

how can people find honor?

SPEAKER_04 59:55

Yeah, so we are on we honor your flow.com.

SPEAKER_02 59:59

Honor your flow. Yes. Uh I feel like we need somebody to sing a song. Because I feel like I'm I'm feeling real. So on one hand, I'm like, honor your flow.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:11

And then one, I've got like I got the instant plan for honor your flow. I mean, all of them. Young girl, like y'all, we we all of us. She's all of us. She is all of us.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:28

So I feel honoryourflow.com.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:31

Yes, we honor your flow.com.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:33

We honor We Honor Your Flow. I like we honor your flow.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:36

We honor your flow.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:37

That sounds company. That's what we do. Honor your flow. So listen up, guys. This is a product that I say purchase. Just purchase it, right? You may not need it, but I'm gonna tell you something. If you auntie, get it for your auntie, get it for your babies, your niece, um, your look, your tenant, right? Right, leave it in, leave it in. You can leave it in a rental property, right? That actually, they thought about us and left us some customer service.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:07

That's some customers. You want to keep those tenants? You wanna keep those tenants?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:10

They were like, oh my gosh, that was so kind of them. They left that in. They didn't know that we really were gonna need it. Yeah. That's actually a business plan. We do, oh, you do have sales. So I'm just saying, landlords, y'all could put this, y'all know women and stand in there. You could actually put that in there and they'll thank you later, I promise you. It's true. Um, why do black businesses matter?

SPEAKER_04 1:01:31

We have God, God bless America, but she is raggedy. She is raggedy.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:38

America is raggedy. You know, it's a song that's the world, it's called the The Earth is ghetto.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:44

It's a song The Earth is ghetto. I'm gonna go. Oh my gosh, we just need to be able to. We're gonna play a list called Get Through. And that's the first song. Like, we just want to acknowledge that this is ghetto, and I want to leave. And then I have some like uplifting music after that. But the first one is like, let's just acknowledge where we're at. Yes, no, earth is ghetto.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:04

We want to get up. Earth is ghetto.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:05

But um, we matter because there are just stories on stories and stories, and it's just it's a part of our history, particularly in this country, that like we can do the things. Like we we have the knowledge, we have the creativity, we have the ingenuity, we have the the the uh the oh goodness, the discernment. We literally can support ourselves. We and I this last election is just I think we all are just still reeling from it, but if you didn't catch anything else, is that our communities that are not us are not gonna save us. Like they're not, they ain't think about us, they just not, yeah. And I hate like I hate admitting that to myself because I've always been that person like, no, we are the world. And in in a lot of ways, I think that that's what God intended. Yeah, but the choices that people are making right now are not in line with that. And you just you also have to accept the thing for what it is, yeah. You gotta, you know, not what people say to you, but what they're doing. And what people are doing is that they aren't about us. Correct. But you we can be about us, yes, right? Like we can always choose ourselves, yeah. And so black businesses matter because we have to save ourselves. Yeah, that's what it is, and then that's that's what it's always been. But like, if there was ever a time, like we will save ourselves, community will save ourselves, like that's what's gonna save us, yeah. And so black businesses matter because this is how we're gonna make it.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:43

I love it. So when I look at this, right, honor, game-changing period, and bladder leak apparel engineer for two full uses between washes, an industry first that saves time, money, and the planet. That right thing. I mean, oh my gosh, like the planet. Um what brings you joy joy?

SPEAKER_04 1:04:06

Oh my goodness. Honestly, I'm still figuring it out. Okay. I was so I was a I was a runner. I've like run marathons. I I love running. Like that running has always brought me joy. Okay. But I injured myself a couple of years ago. Okay. So I'm piecing it together. Right now, it is working out and Legos and my friends. So not that those things haven't always been there. Like I've my my friends, I I am so big on chosen family, you know, stuff like I'm about, but um my big thing was always running, or at least for a very long time. And so now I'm I'm kind of figuring it out because I don't have running. But I do have working out and Legos and my friends, and so Legos does it's funny that you say that.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:59

Um I did Legos in the early part of grief. Um Legos was my joy. Um it was it was a good, it was a good place. I would do it again um for sure, but it in those very tough times, um, the Legos. So I I agree with you in the Legos, but I never thought that at this juncture of life that the Legos would bring me that level of joy, right? So it was really beautiful. So I understand how that can bring joy. So what's next for honor?

SPEAKER_04 1:05:35

What's next for honor is getting the people to know her. Okay, getting the people talking about it. Like that, that we we want to connect with community. Yeah, like that is where that's what matters right now. I love um, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:49

Just all right, y'all. Come on and honor it. Come on. We honor your flow.com. This has just been a joy, Cecilia. I I knew it would be. I knew that it would. I mean, she got me over here singing songs. I'm not a lyricist, I'm not that kind of girl. I mean, I love music, but I'm not a singer, I'm not a soloist. But maybe I am when I got some honor in my life, right? I can sing, I can dance, I can do all the things. And I think that's what you're doing. Yeah, I think that's what you're doing with the product is that you are allowing for us to flow the way we need to flow, and it's beautiful, and don't be ashamed of it and live. And so here's the thing: honor us today with this product. Um, Black Businesses Matter is here to build community, to ensure that you don't have to go too far. You can just literally grab your phone, grab your computer, grab whatever device, and tune in and lean in because we're all about community. We're all about collaboration, and we're all about telling stories. So, this is a story of a founder that's really revolutionizing how we see ourselves as women and as administrators, as she said. So I think that's beautiful, a beautiful message. So, thank you guys for rocking with us. I'll see you next week.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:14

The L3 Agency has exciting updates and upgrades rolling out in 2026. And you're invited to stay in the know. Join their newly refreshed newsletter, The Unfolding Effect, and harness the power of storytelling to elevate your visibility. Visit www.thel3Agency.com to subscribe and stay connected.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:36

The Black Businesses Matter podcast is produced by the L3 Agency, a culturally sensitive influencer, marketing, and communications firm in Chicago, where relationships are our currency. Passion is our profit maker, and people are our bottom line. Follow us on Instagram at Black Businesses Matter.