Today we’d like to introduce you to Shevvy Malibu.
Hi Shevvy, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
I NEVER thought I’d be an entrepreneur.
I realize it might feel more inspired to say I’ve known since I was a little girl that I wanted to run my own business, but the truth be known, when my 4th-grade teacher asked me what my dream job would be, I told her I’d be grow up to a ballerina or the Godfather of a major crime family. These are still aspirations. I may not have had entrepreneurial aspirations but what I knew even then was that I wanted to live my life on my terms and – I NEVER wanted a regular job.
But life has a funny way of laughing at you. I held quite a few regular jobs as I got older. Now, I never wanted any of them- but I took them. I grew up and got married and had kids who’d developed this nasty habit of eating every day (sometimes three or more times!) and food and clothes were surprisingly, not free. The local crime families were all staffed up, and by 25 – and after a car accident crushed my pelvis at 22 – ballet wasn’t a viable career choice. So, life went on and I took regular jobs to stay insured and help care for my kids. I knew I wanted something beyond that but didn’t exactly know what. While on an extended maternity leave after my youngest child, I started blogging as a way to tap into the creativity that I’d been missing since I stopped performing. Writing gave me a new kind of stage and a way to connect with people. Something I really missed. After a while, Mommy blogging blossomed into my baby my first business BOSSY! magazine.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Smooth as Rocky Road… Ha!
It was and is an absolute roller coaster. Running and managing multiple business and projects while managing children and just life, in general, can be chaotic sometimes.
Our grand opening for English-Brown winery was actually set for the week AFTER the world shut down due to COVID-19 so that was delayed for quite a while… BOSSY! couldn’t throw events. The restaurant had to shut down. We really had to pull together as a family and learn how to pivot in a word gone upside down. There was a time I didn’t think we’d make it.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Around the same time I started BOSSY!, my mom was starting her own entrepreneurial journey opening up our first family-owned business, Gigi’s Music Cafe, and that made even more interested and invested in women’s journeys both in business and in their personal lives and that inspired the transformation from BOSSY! magazine into The BOSSY! Lifestyle, which includes a book, media, workshops, and coaching programs. My coaching programs focus on goal setting, transformation, self-love and public speaking specifically for women. We’ll be launching a new journal focused on money mindset and our first set of affirmation cards at the end of the month.
Now my hero and inspiration, my mom and I are about to celebrate our 2nd anniversary on February 25th with a big celebration for all our customers at English-Brown Winery, and the launch of our wine subscription service.
My newest venture is the business of pleasure. I’ve partnered with fellow girl boss Lacey Byrd in launching The Luxe Lifestyle Group which is a social club that produces upscale and sexy events. Our signature event The Luxe Derby weekend will be on February 3-5th and I’m so excited about that because bosses gotta have fun too.
My dream job might have changed a bit (I didn’t become a crime boss – I became BOSSY!) but my desire to live a life on my own terms never has. Now more and more black women are making this choice every day.
And that’s what entrepreneurship is – at the core of it – it’s the choices you make every day.
It starts with choosing to put a little more time into that side hustle or choosing to research how to do something yourself instead of paying a premium for someone else to do it. You choose to put yourself out there and let other people know what you can do. You start choosing to charge for your work because you’re worth it. Then you choose to invest a little more back in – little more time, a little more capital. One day you realize that the choices you’ve made start making choices for you. Those little steps move you to step out a little further. For me, if I ever had to make one big choice to go into business for myself or just stay put, I never would have chosen entrepreneurship. But somehow every day I kept choosing myself and those little choices became my business. As Black women we owe it to ourselves to choose ourselves. And when you choose yourself don’t ever let anybody question that choice – that’s your business.
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
COVID reminded me to BE in every moment. I went from going super-fast all the time to an absolute standstill and I had to be. While I was worried about business, the forced isolation really gave me time to deepen some of my relationships with my friends, my family, and even myself.
Pricing:
- English-Brown Wine Subscription Service starts at 21.99/mont
- Luxe Derby weekend range from 44.00 to 199.00 for the full weekend
Contact Info:
- Website: https://shevvymalibu.start.page/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shevvy_malibu/
Image Credits
Shott Photography
