Today we’d like to introduce you to Monet Colbert.
Monet, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Like many of us starting out in business, we typically start with a dream. Mine, however, started with wanting to become a successful actress in Hollywood, California. I was not born there, in fact, I moved there after leaving the east coast from a volatile environment that threw countless obstacles in my path to success. I was also a single mom at the age of 18.
Like many women in my situation, I realized I had the choice of succumbing to my circumstances, but I’m a fighter. So, I decided to change my daughter’s life for the better and work on giving her a better future and a shot at a life I could only dream of.
Working in Hollywood wasn’t an easy climb, even though I had worked with several A-List actors and had countless modeling jobs. But going from gig to gig and being a single mom at 18 with no financial support, I realized that I needed to figure out a way to survive in-between jobs that would align with my desire to perform as an actress. My game plan was that if I couldn’t get the job on screen, I would get the job behind the scenes. That is when I decided to go to beauty school. After school, however, I quickly learned that what I thought would yield a substantial living and give me the ability to follow my passion was going to be a longer process then what was originally explained. It was a process that I could not afford as a single mother. So, reality quickly set in, and that’s when I realized I was going to have to make a huge shift. I candidly share all the details in my published book Shear Destiny 50 Ways to Map out Your Career and Win. Let’s just say it was a winding road, and my career in the beauty industry was not the traditional path to success.
I eventually met my future husband, and we both decided that the high cost of living in California was increasing. That meant we needed to make a change, so we relocated to Florida.
The entertainment world in Florida was much different than California, and I was faced with having to start all over again. I was doing a lot of non-union work and tons of freelance makeup work, but the salon world was nonexistent at this point.
It was at this time that I entered into the world of fitness, which would shortly become my next area of success. What first started out as a way for me to get fit and feel more confident, soon developed into a career? While I was busy promoting my beauty skills as a makeup artist, I was also competing and working at the same event with my two daughters on the road with me. I did all this while maintaining a corporate 9 to 5 job to help support my family. It was during this time that I saw an opportunity to take my cosmetology skills and love of the stage even further, and that’s when Shades of Monet® cosmetics was born. In fact, it was the first line of cosmetics ever introduced to the world of fitness.
While our fan base was growing and we were being published in many different fitness magazines, we moved our main branch to Atlanta and kept our satellite home office in South Florida in 2008.
In 2012, I decided to dive further into the world of beauty and was brought on as an Artistic Educator for L’Oreal brands, REDKEN and Pureology. It was then that I decided to open up my first salon, Monet & Company Salon, which operates under the Shades of Monet corporate umbrella.
What I learned most while working with REDKEN was that even though I loved my cosmetic company, Shades of Monet, my passion was leaning more toward helping others find their passion and ways to cash in on them as I did. And I was actually really good at it. I loved helping others see their options through a lens or path not yet traveled. I found this so inspiring, which was something that cosmetics couldn’t do for me on the same level. So in 2017, my team and I decided to take Shades of Monet to a higher level. My years of experience in corporate America, entrepreneurship, the entertainment industry, as well as the fitness industry have all helped shaped my role now as a “Brand Strategist.” This has given meaning to my first book Shear Destiny and most importantly, given Shades of Monet a solid foundation that goes beyond a superficial approach to the exterior world of beauty, which is how it can oftentimes be perceived.
As an overall brand, Shades of Monet now provides beauty products, educational business tools, and coaching to entrepreneurs. In short and with clarity, we aim to take beauty beyond the chair over these next few years. What started out as a dream for only myself has literally opened up opportunities for others to achieve their dreams through my own personal journey, both good and bad? This is actually why my brand was even called Shades of Monet. It is like the color of all makeup palettes, whether lipsticks or eye shadows, some are bright and vibrant while others are dull and muted. It emulates the good and bad in each of our lives, as well as business. This is why I ask, “Which Shades of Monet are you?”
So, as a brand, we pride ourselves on sharing how we focus on purpose, not just profits.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I never really know how to answer this question. Because when you are faced with obstacles you feel like a victim while going through them, even though you know in your core that when you come out of this you will be stronger. But anyone who starts a business will be faced with ups and downs, which is why I wrote Shear Destiny. It’s easy to comb through ones social media profile page and assume that one’s level of success was easy. But trust me, it’s not. Boy, did I have my share of obstacles, from legal lawsuits with a Fortune 500 company wanting the rights to my company name to an economic worldly crash that affected all of us in the United States. Interesting enough, what I have learned and share throughout my book is that the faster you learn how to adjust and quickly become resourceful, the faster you will bounce back.
Life is hard enough. Now, throw in marriage, kids, career, entrepreneurship, and financial hardship, and you are bound to have struggles along the way.
But simply remember that everything has a season. However, if you believe in your dream and are faced with a fork in the road, do as I have done over the years. Find a way to pivot, because you never know what lies ahead. It actually could be that pot of gold you were working so hard to build after all.
Shades of Monet – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
What sets us apart as a brand is that we not only walk in truth, but we walk in faith. We are very much a faith based organization. As a team we work very hard on building strategic partnerships with our clients. Yes, they also our partners. When they buy we survive, and in turn this allows us to provide to organizations like Street Grace. So customer service is key with all the brands under the Shades of Monet umbrella. Our specialty, however, has shifted from cosmetics to business development. Beauty is simply the medium we use to connect to like-minded, creative entrepreneurs who are looking to fulfill their creative purpose to not only live out their dreams but actually making a living doing it.
This is why we say, “Shades of Monet takes beauty beyond the chair.”
What role has luck (good luck or bad luck) played in your life and business?
Now that I am wiser, I have learned that it’s not about good or bad luck. In fact, it’s the good and bad that has placed our brand in the forefront of a wider audience. Had the brand stayed on the trajectory of only serving beauty cosmetics, I never would have worked with REDKEN or started a salon. Each opportunity has opened my eyes and allowed me to see how small I have been playing it when it came to living out Shades of Monet’s purpose.
If you would to have asked me eight years ago where I would have seen Shades of Monet, I can’t say I thought that even as a cosmetics line it would have made it while competing against all the big brands without the proper funding. In fact, initially I never even thought that big. It wasn’t until I was fighting for the legal rights to the name that I realized that the brand clearly had meaning to others as well. So I fought a long legal battle and eventually won the rights to the name, plus the name told my life’s story in three simple words: “Shades of Monet” Would anyone going through that say that was good luck or bad luck?
More than likely they would say it was bad luck. However, that fight led to so many more blessings for our brand. It was our brand that would go on to partner with organizations like Street Grace that help fight against human sex-trafficking. This is a mission that we are very passionate about here at Shades of Monet. We later developed a tool to reach 300 men and women on the street who were caught up in this God awful epidemic. As a result, 16 of them returned home. That number may appear small, but it’s a start. Many of our newer programs and products that we are rolling out in the next twelve to eighteen months will be focused on taking that 300 count to 3000, then 30,000.
So luck had nothing to do with it. It was passion…the passion to believe that God had a much bigger plan for me. He took me on this amazing journey, and now not only is our brand growing with clarity, but with greater purpose! Oh, and yes, it has opened up even more acting jobs, even years later!
Pricing:
- Products range from $4- $250
- Live Business Classes $500- $1000
- Ecourses launching this year Free – $500
Contact Info:
- Website: www.shadesofmonet.com
- Phone: 888-518-1613
- Email: info@shadesofmonet.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/monetcolbert/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MonetColbert/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/monetcolbert
Image Credit:
Personal image of myself and the interview image by Nicole Fleming of Fleming Photography
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