Nubian Skin Pt1
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[00:00:00] Hey, business besties, welcome back to the Female Founder World podcast. I'm Jasmine. I am the host of the show and I'm the person behind all things Female Founder World. Today I have an incredible guest.
I'm recording in London with Ade Hassan, the founder of Nubian Skin.
You are now entering female founder world with your host, Jasmine Garnsworthy.
Welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. For people that don't know Nubian Skin, what are you building? So Nubian Skin was the first lingerie brand to create skin tone underwear specifically for women of color. Um, so. We launched in 2014, um, very, very simple concept.
I wanted a nude bra and I couldn't find one, so I'd walk into a shop and I'd ask for a nude bra and I'd be given something that would work for you, um, but definitely didn't work for me, um, as it was beige and I got really fed up and thought, I can't believe nobody's doing this. I'm going to do it. It's very naive, um, without a background in fashion, but essentially that's, that's what Nubian Skin does.
It's skin tint undergarments for women of color. Amazing. [00:01:00] And so you've been around for 10 years now. Yes. Incredible. You must have been one of the first founders to, to kind of act on this opportunity and this gap in the market. Yeah, absolutely. So when we launched, there was literally nobody doing. skin tones that really worked and matched darker skin, um, and had sort of multiple colors that worked across the range as opposed to just having a chocolate brown.
Um, and so Actually, one of the proudest things, or one of the things I'm most proud of, is the fact that we changed the industry. We sort of really blew open that conversation about what did nude mean, um, and consequently over the past 10 years, I've seen a huge shift, um, starting from when we started to go into action.
Wow. So amazing. When you decide that this is an idea you wanted to pursue. What were some of those big hurdles at the beginning that you had to overcome? Yeah, your face is like all of them, every single hurdle. Well, the biggest thing was the colours. So, if you're, you know, a normal, I should say, [00:02:00] at the time, if you were a lingerie manufacturer and you wanted to make a bra and you say you wanted to do nude, in quotations, black and red, you'd go to a manufacturer and you'd say, I want a black bra.
Black bra, a red bra, and a nude bra. Um, but fabric mills, so the people who actually make all the components that go into bras. The fabric, the hook and eyes, the straps. They don't come in multiple tones of nude, they come in beige. And so I had to create the four colors for the brand, which meant doing a lot of color research, , visiting lots of makeup counters and going back and forth with the factories to try and get the right color.
So that was the biggest hurdle because that was the brand. I can imagine you see this problem and you're like, Oh, well, I'll just, you know, I'll I'll just order the fabric in the right color and we'll make the bras and the people know how to make bras. Easy peasy. Exactly. No, not at all. And I remember ordering a Pantone swatch book of skin tones and thinking, Oh, this is great.
I'll just match it to foundations and I'll send it [00:03:00] to the factories. And I tried that and it just didn't work. And I realized I was going to have to make the colors myself. Wow. Um, which I did. at one point ended up with me having pots of tea and coffee trying to like a varying strength and different like trying to get these colors right.
This is wild. It's really interesting that you look at foundation as the kind of benchmark of how you match the colors. Well, it was the, it was the thing that made the most sense. Yeah. So obviously the fabrics didn't exist. And I thought, well, what matches skin tones, foundations. So went to speak to different makeup artists, asked them what colors they sort of saw were the most popular because I was trying to get the best representation out of the four colors.
And so, um, yeah, makeup was the sort of, It made the most sense to reference that and then try and build fabric colors that matched. And you had this kind of crazy launch, like as soon as the world found out about what you were doing, everyone wanted in. Yeah, I mean, it was insane. I, I remember we [00:04:00] did the photo shoot, which I was so, that was honestly one of my best memories was doing that photo shoot because we had the samples and the models were all excited and it was just so much fun.
And we did the shoot. And then I remember putting an image, it was four models, four different skin tones. Our, you know, three different bras and knickers that we had at the time. And I put it on Instagram and we had 50 followers, mainly my friends. And um, it just went viral and I didn't know what that meant because I wasn't a social media person at the time.
And it was just me. Um, and I had an intern and the campaign went viral because people just hadn't seen images like that. They hadn't seen representation color wise like that, but also bodies, um, that, you know, what they want. stick thin. And I think it just really, really resonated with people, um, specifically black women who just kept reposting and retweeting.
And so it went, it started trending on Twitter, which I was, um, and Tumblr at the time, I [00:05:00] think Tumblr doesn't exist anymore. I'm not sure. And Instagram. And so obviously because it was, was showing up everywhere. We then had really big, major publications getting in touch saying, please can we speak to your press department?
And I was like, Oh, lol. Did you have a website? I didn't have a website. I didn't have a website and I only had one email address. And so, pretty quickly, we had a holding page on the website though. So that was, like, number one. We were getting all of this sort of inbound and visits. I think it crashed the site, actually.
And so we then put an email capture saying, If you want to know more. you know, sign up here. So that was key. Because then when we launched, we had, I think, a mailing list of about 20, 000 people to send out to. Um, and yeah, quickly created something called Press at NubianSkin. com for the press department, which is just me.
That's amazing. I think everyone can relate to that. The assistant at femalefoundworld. com, which is me. Um, I totally get that. Okay. That is, that is so incredible. How long [00:06:00] after that moment were you able to get product? Did you do pre order? No, you just had the email capture. So we had the email capture because everything was already in production.
Um, and that was, we went viral in August and we launched and had our product ready in October. So, um, that was about three months. It's one of those bittersweet moments where I think, if it had happened when we had the product right there, I mean, you, like, that would have been, Like the best moment ever, but I will not complain because I did have a mailing list of 20, 000 people to say, Hey, we're live.
And so, yeah, that was, um, there was, so there was a space in between them. Wow. When you actually then had your launch, you had product ready to go. What did you do? Literally, so obviously we got the website live, I'll never forget that day because I went to a Lauryn Hill concert, um, but we put the website live and then we sent out [00:07:00] a blast email to everybody who had signed up, um, saying, you know, we're live, you can shop now.
Uh, and yeah, then. I expected, obviously, 20, 000 orders, as you do, and was shocked as the order sort of slowly trickled in. I was like, what is this? 20, 000 people who wanted to buy my product? So that was another really interesting lesson about, you need to sort of don't cut your chickens before they hatch.
Yes.
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Were you also engaging that list during the time while you were building the product? Were you sending other emails and updates as you were going? Yeah, so that's a very, [00:09:00] very good question and no I wasn't and that's a learning. I should have definitely been engaging with hyped. We did on social media, um, and so that was great.
We were sort of, like, dropping little things about the colors. And so we really, really engaged on social media. And Instagram at that time was a completely different animal than it was now, than it is now. Um, it was still independent and it wasn't owned by Meta. Um, and everything was organic. So if people loved what you did, then they saw it.
So it was sort of the golden age of Instagram. Totally. I remember very well. Going viral was It's a different thing then, it meant something now, like going viral can make a great, you know, it can really generate some sales, but it's not going to, like often it's not going to result in true, like.
Monoculture. Like, yeah, I feel like when you go viral in 2014, you're on new shows, you know? Yes. Um, and you're in mainstream media and it's kind of when we were all consuming the same chronological timeline, whereas now everyone's in their [00:10:00] own little niche algorithms and it's very different, um, experience on the internet for going viral.
Have you guys gone viral since? And can you make a comparison about what it's like? Oh, that's really interesting. Yeah. Interesting. That's a very good question. We haven't gone viral in the way that we did then. I think there were multiple sort of like waves of, you know, not quite as viral. Um, big. Is it virility?
I feel like that's a different word altogether. Um, um, so we have the major moment of going viral when the campaign launched, um, and we've had different, you know, stories being picked up, um, but nothing quite as broad as that. Okay. So that takes me to the next year. You started scaling into retail pretty quickly.
You were picked up by ASOS and Nordstrom and then kind of years later, a couple of years ago, you were picked up by Net a Potty as well. Yes. Talk me through how those first retailers came about [00:11:00] and just some of the things that you've learned about scaling up wholesale over the last 10 years in business now.
Of course. So again, it was a very different time 10 years ago. We, ASOS approached us, um, their buyer was just, she just got it immediately. Yeah. Um, A lot of buyers did not get it at all, um, but she got it immediately and she approached us before we were even, before the website had even launched and she said, I love your product.
I know I've got a customer for this product. Will you come in? And so you can imagine me as like, you know, a neophyte into the fashion industry being asked to come into ASOS headquarters. It was like a dream come true. My mouth was just like open the whole time, um, and had a really straightforward meeting with them.
And they knew. what they wanted, um, and, you know, I sort of, almost like back of the envelope numbers, figuring out my pricing and things. I had no clue about wholesale. Um, but they were really, really easy to work with. Um, and then with Nordstrom, we met them at a trade show. So there was a [00:12:00] huge trade show in Paris for lingerie, um, called Salon International de la Lingerie.
They came to the stand and, you know, I'm talking to them. I hear their American accents. It's like, Oh, where are you from? And they were like, Seattle. And I was like, Oh, they're like, we're from Nordstrom. And I was like, Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness. Sort of the penny dropped. Um, but they again were really heavy adopters and they, You know, took care of the brand and, you know, did a really big splashy sort of intro when we launched, which was phenomenal.
Huge lessons learned about retail and wholesale because it was an amazing experience. And I just said yes to everything, um, said yes to everything, you know, sign contracts and it was, it was huge. It was huge for me. It was huge for establishing credibility. It was not a profitable exercise for me. , and so that was, , you know, that's on me as a business owner, they're a huge business.
, ASOS was a brilliant partnership. I think it's a lot easier because it was just, it was e com. Yeah. Um, and that was sort of a [00:13:00] brilliant era in the e com age, but definitely had a lot of lessons learned about making sure that the metrics work for you and also knowing that you can push back.
Yeah. Yeah. I was a term taker then because I was so excited. Now I understand way, way more and realize it's a conversation. It's a negotiation. Something that I'm really interested in, I think just like personally now that I'm a few years into our business and like, I don't know, just things have changed so much.
And hearing you talk about those early opportunities and how you just say yes to everything and you're like, I'll just, I'll just make it work. If the numbers don't work on this one, we'll make it up on the next one. Like, we'll just figure it out. How does it feel now being an entrepreneur like 10 years into this business in a really, the landscape is different, like your category has grown a lot.
I'm sure you're much more like discerning about the opportunities that you take in. And, you know, I'm going to speak for myself personally. [00:14:00] Like now I look at a lot of opportunities come and I'm like, if that's not going to put money in the bank, I really don't care. Like I'm not doing it for that. Um, how do you feel now as a business owner versus those early days where everything is just like adrenaline and excitement, and then you have to kind of like maintain this, it's a marathon, not a sprint kind of attitude as a business grows, it's not really a question, but I'm interested in how you're feeling now in the business.
I'm, I'm, I have a lot more wisdom, which is great. Sometimes I kick myself like, if only I had this wisdom at the beginning, you know, that's, um, so that's a huge one. Um, definitely, definitely more discerning about opportunities. Um, and very happy to say no, actually, because you realize that some things will take a lot of effort, um, and not actually affect the bottom line, which when you're running a business, ultimately, it's about the bottom line.
Um, so I said 10 years in, I'm still incredibly [00:15:00] passionate about our mission, which is empowering women and embracing our color. And I love interacting with our community. That's like one of the best bits. Um, of it. It is particularly in fashion, retail, fashion, income right now. It's a difficult time. And so there is also a little bit of that weariness of being like, Oh, this is, you know, there've been good times, there've been bad times.
And, um, this is a tricky moment, but still having the passion. Um, so yeah. I feel like a little bit, not, not time worn, but just less eager, less like a puppy. Yes. And more of a You're seasoned. And more like, you know, a wise old dog.
A wise old dog, that's amazing, I completely get that. I want to talk about 2016, you talk, you know, we've, we've spoken about some of these like exciting moments that happened in the, um, as the business was getting traction and building. Talk to me about Beyonce. Oh my goodness. Oh, that, [00:16:00] that was a really, really sweet moment.
Um, it's the summer of 2016. The formation, you know, she had just like dropped her album, The Formation Tour was On it, you know, about to kick off, um, and that album was just such a pivotal cultural moment, I feel like, and we were two years, not even, two years, about a year and three quarters old, and I remember getting an email which said, um, you know, love your brand, would love to work with you on the Beyonce concert, um, Blah, blah, blah, you know, and he signs his name and I was like, delete.
I just thought like, I was convinced it was a scam, like there was just no way. And um, I had a few friends who worked in the industry as stylists and were just like way more connected. And so I was like, ah, maybe I'll just forward them the email just to see, you know, And I was like, guys, I got, you know, this email from this guy, like, and I [00:17:00] remember one of them, I think she responded back in all caps saying, it's legit respond immediately.
And so I then freak out because it's been a few days. And I was like, Oh, you know, like, we'd love to work together. Please let us know. You know, and then, and then it was the weight game. And I remember it was about, maybe we waited for about a day or two, but the whole, that like 40 hour period when we were in the office, we were just playing Beyonce nonstop.
We were like, we need to channel, like, we need to like, put it into the universe, channel Beyonce vibes. And, um, and eventually he came back and he was like, Oh, this is great. This is her style. Like he don't, he already knew, I guess he'd probably previously bought it for her. He knew her, you know, her color, her size, and then they wanted it.
All the dancers to have, um, to have products as well. And so that I didn't even have, I didn't even get tickets to the concert because like they sold out so quickly. Probably because you ghosted Beyonce. Well, at the time I didn't have tickets to the concert, but then later on, [00:18:00] I remember in London, the, um, the wardrobe mistress in London was like, Hey, do you have tickets?
And I was like, I don't. She was like, don't worry. I'll sort you out with VIP tickets. It was amazing. But it was such, that was just such an exciting moment. And it felt like, you know, Beyonce couldn't. Like, she has access to everything and that was a really big testament to the brand that it was doing something that was so needed that even somebody as famous, um, and with the resources of Beyonce didn't have a nude bra in her color and we were providing that.
So we were tiny, but we were the only company that was doing it. And so, um, that was, yeah, that was a brilliant moment. And when the images from the concerts that are coming through and I remember seeing the A lot of the costumes were lace or had cutouts. And I remember seeing Beyonce with, you know, and being like, Oh my goodness.
And I remember emailing him being like, is this what I think it is? And he just sent a line back saying like a hundred percent. So yeah, that was, that was a very, very special moment. And kudos to her and her [00:19:00] team. Cause they, Really, um, highlighted a lot of black brands in that tour. Yeah. Amazing. That gives me goosebumps.
Wow. Does an opportunity like that lead to more big opportunities? Does it lead to sales? What does that moment do, if you get something like that? I think it depends. We were still very, very young. We, and 100 percent honest, even till today, we didn't have PR. Mm hmm. Um, And so, and, and I didn't understand the concept of PR.
I think if we'd had a PR, you know, really good PR PR company working with us. We could probably have really milked that. Um, it did wonders for us as far as kudos and brand building. And it, the story did get picked up cause we sort of like sent, you know, things out to different news outlets. And so it did get picked up here and there.
Um, and so that really added to the gravitas of the brand, but we didn't have at the time, the skillset to really [00:20:00] turn that into sales. Yeah, that's really interesting to hear. Um, Honestly, most of the brands I've talked to don't have PR agencies. It's, it's one of those things where I don't know how you justify a 10, 000 retainer.
Yeah, that's, that's, I mean, that's why most independent brands don't have them. Yeah. Um, so yeah, you're definitely not alone with that. In 2017, you won a really big award. Did I, I actually think I maybe introduced you incorrectly. I meant to, am I meant to, Oh, tell us about this. I'll forgive you. Tell us about this.
Um, so in 2017, I remember that was. That was an interesting time with the business because we went through, we changed production and it was just, there was been a lot of work and it was quite a hard year. And um, I remember just feeling quite like, Oh, I'm working so hard and is, are things going to work out?
And I feel that gone on holiday. I was with my husband and another couple, um, friends of ours, and my sister had like gone to my [00:21:00] parents flat, um, and seen a letter. And she was like, ooh, you've either done something really bad or really good. Because it said like Her Majesty's like whatever on it. And I said to her, Oh, I've been late filing my tax return.
I was like, it's probably HMRC, which is Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs. Um, and I said, yeah, I was like, could you just open it and just tell me what the fine is? And she sends me back a series of text messages just saying like, OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG, and I was like, oh my goodness, it can't be that bad. You are going to prison.
Literally, I was like, I think it's like a maybe three months late. I was like, it can't be more than like a few hundred pounds. And then she sends me a picture and it's a letter and it says, um, you have been, um, Nominated to receive an honor, um, like an MBE from, you know, Her Majesty the Queen. Big deal. Uh, for services to fashion.
Wow. And I'm literally, [00:22:00] I remember I was at Mykonos Airport at the baggage claim, and I burst into tears. Also, you're not allowed to talk about it, you're not allowed to tell anyone. And so, because it's like embargoed until, you know, they actually release the list. So I burst into tears. And everybody's like, what is going on?
And I just felt it was really that phrase services to fashion because, you know, small independent brand, um, you know, doing what almost seems like a thankless task, and then you're getting honored. You know, for services to fashion and that just, yeah, that was incredible. Um, and it was announced in the summer.
It was announced in June. Um, I think I got the letter in April or May. It was announced in June and then in October I got to go to Buckingham Palace with my husband and my parents. And they're like full traditional, you know, Yoruba, Nigerian clothing, um, and get my MBE. That's incredible. It was. That was a really, really [00:23:00] special moment.
Wow. How, how does somebody get nominated? What's the process for an award like that? I have no idea. And so to this day, I have no idea who nominated me because they won't tell you. So I remember I went for a meeting at some point afterwards and I was like, so who? And like, they, they don't tell you. Um, and I know that there's an application process and they have to have quite like, almost like a dossier of information.
And so I have, I've asked everyone, everybody in my family denies it. And my one team member at the time also denies that she did it. And so I have no idea who come forward, take credit. Every time people ask me about this in interview, I always say, if you're listening, thank you so much, because that was a very, very kind thing to do.
So I don't know, I do know that some people actively pursue it, which again, I didn't I didn't even know at the time that you could do that. I thought. You literally had to be like friends with the Prime Minister to get one. [00:24:00] Um, so there is an official process and it's an application process and you have to be nominated, but I have no idea who did it for me.
That's amazing. I want to talk about, you opened and then closed a showroom. What is that process like? Worth the money, not worth the money? So, um, I, this was in, I think this was in 20, yeah, 2017, um, we moved offices and we found a very almost rickety space in central London. So it was an amazing location.
It was, um, by Tottenham Court Road and, um, pretty much a shell and it was tiny space. Um, I think it was about probably the whole thing was about 24 square meters and it was split into two. And so we had the offices in one bit. And then in the main bit, we'd put sort of rails and, um, you know, basically opened a showroom.
And so it wasn't sort of a showroom in the sense of like, [00:25:00] you know, I think sometimes there's some very, very nice. glossy showrooms in, say, New York or London, um, that are professionally run. But this was just Nubian Skins offices, and we created a space where we could welcome people. They could come for fittings.
We could, you know, if we had buyers who want to see the collection, we could show it. And our rent was very low. It was not very expensive. That was reflected in the fact that it had no heating or air conditioning or anything else. But it was wonderful. It was a really wonderful moment where we could really engage with customers and just sort of have a little like haven of Nubian skin.
And so it was definitely worth it for us because it was all sort of home, you know, home grown. And it wasn't particularly expensive, but the location was amazing. And we had like lovely events there and had some really cool people drop by as well. Remember the cast of, a bunch of the cast of Hamilton came in once.
And that was just like amazing. And they were just like having a play around. And then What's her name? Amber Riley from Glee [00:26:00] stopped by with somebody once and so that was, it was just a really fun space. What a cool little community hub that you had to have there. So that was a really special, lovely moment.
And then I got pregnant in 2019. Congratulations. And, um, had my son six weeks before COVID. And then the party ended, shut down and then the UK was basically locked down on and off for almost two years. So, um, gave up that space obviously once it had been, um, once our lease was up because it was empty for a year and nobody was doing anything like bra fittings during that time.
Um, but it was a lovely moment. It was a brilliant. Um, but yeah, it was a brilliant time for community building and just having a space that was very, very Nubian skin. Would you do something like that again? I love the idea of having a physical space where we could bring people together. Yes. I, you know what?
I, I would. We, I would. Now we're focused on doing community events. Um, and so we try and [00:27:00] do monthly sort of get togethers with our community, which has been amazing. Um, call them newbie and beings love events, um, community events. And so that sort of helps fill that space of, um, community building. Um, Right now, with the way the team, most of the team is remote, actually, we all work remotely and we have a studio and I usually go into the studio.
So there's not that same dynamic. Things have shifted a bit where, you know, before everybody was in the office and so running a showroom made sense because people were there all the time, but now it's, now it's a little bit trickier. How do you feel about that? Having, you know, more remote, not kind of centralized in the same space.
Do you think it impacts, I mean, our team's fully remote. Right. Mm. And sometimes I think if we just were all together every day, would we get more done? I don't know. I think it depends on the team. Um, my core team right now work brilliantly remotely. Like it wouldn't matter if they were home or [00:28:00] if they're in the office.
And we speak, sometimes we'll go months and we won't see each other and then we'll see each other in person. I'm like, Oh, I haven't actually seen you physically in a long time, but we're on teams all the time with cameras on. all throughout the day. And so, um, I don't feel like I'm not seeing them. Um, but they are phenomenal.
I have had team members who don't work well remotely and it hasn't worked out. And so, um, with the current team I have, absolutely working remotely works well. Um, obviously it's fun when we all get together, cause that's just like, it's just fun because we like each other. Um, yeah. But yes, I think it has to be, the team has to be very disciplined for that to work well.
You spoke about the community events before, and I'm really curious about this kind of thing we're seeing shift at the moment where it's like, influencer marketing has shifted to, you know, community marketing. I feel like it's, um, you know, rather than straight like influencer [00:29:00] press trips or, um, influencer gifting, we're seeing more brands focus on their customers in their true community and treating them like the influencers that they are.
So I found it really interesting that you're doing this like community event series. Has that always been something you've done? Is that a new shift? Talk to me about that. Yeah, of course. So it really began with, um, during COVID. I, Started everybody was at home in lockdown, and so I started a series called newbie beings live where throughout my journey as an entrepreneur, I had met amazing women who were doing really, really cool things.
And so I started interviewing them on instagram live about, you know, their companies or their journeys, depending whatever they were doing. And that was a brilliant way of sort of engaging people. And so This year, we decided to relaunch it, but it's more of an interview series, um, you know, that goes in our newsletter.
Yeah. Um, And with that, there've been so many women who just have [00:30:00] cool brands that I think that my community would like. And so every now and then we'll do an event where, I think the last one was, um, uh, body butter making. So there's this really cool British brand that does like all sort of very nice organic, natural stuff and got the community together.
We had a session around, how do you make a body butter? We did an International Women's Day community event where we had a panel of some of these amazing women. And so it's really almost cross pollinating with, um, other brands that have, that I know our community would love and enriching their lives in a way, but also that helps build our brand because it helps build our community and help them, you know, outside of, you know, bras and knickers, it's actually like, we're actually a community and we get on and it's really lovely seeing.
the woman in the community interact and sort of make friends, you know, because people show up and you know, they haven't bought anyone and then they're like, Oh my goodness, you're really cool. Yeah, I love that too. Yeah. That leads me to my last question, which is, you know, from when you look [00:31:00] at marketing right now, what is working?
Is anything working? Tell me. It is a very tricky time right now. Um, I think the e commerce space is saturated, at least for us, uh, niche quote unquote is now, you know, There's way more competition, um, and social media has changed so much. We were overly reliant on organic because that's all we'd ever done and it had performed really well for us.
Um, and now we realize, whoa, like it's not, it's not just having a good product and it's, um, you really have to figure out like what, what does work well for you. Email marketing is really important for us. Yeah. Um, Who do you use for email? We use Klaviyo. Yeah. Um, so email marketing is really important for us.
And even with that, we're still constantly learning and iterating. We've never really had much success with Meta and Metas. We're on there, we have a huge following on there, but paydads wise, that's been very tricky for us. Um, but Google, um, [00:32:00] there was a huge algorithm change, I think, earlier this year, which, like, really did a number on us.
But we're back on it now and, and still. like really good results, but we've, I think, really making sure that one, your SEO is doing what it needs to do, which we hadn't now we are. We can see it like very good results from that. And you mean organic SEO? Organic SEO. How do you do that? Um, I hadn't done anything.
Right. It was terrible. But you would have had so much press and links and all of that. So we just thought, we didn't even think about it. And then, obviously now with a more difficult landscape, um, we had an amazing freelancer who was like, huh, right, you guys really need to start from zero on this. And so he's been walking us through All the steps that we need to do.
There's tags, the language we're using. Um, and so that's been incredibly helpful. And, um, and also we have a freelancer working with us with our [00:33:00] Google ads, just getting one, our analytics, like up to scratch where it needed to be. Um, and then starting to test, um, different ads and keywords. Um, And that's been performing as well.
So yeah, it's sort of an ongoing journey, ever evolving journey as well. How do you find these experts or these freelancers to kind of help you? Because I think, you know, I keep hearing from folks, like, they keep getting burned by agencies. Oh my goodness. How do you find great freelancers? I have been like, my heart still hurts from being burned by the amount of money I spent on paid ads in past businesses and nothing.
No, it's, it's like truly saddening. Um, with our e commerce expert, Gary, if you're listening, um, he actually, my accountant works for his company and, um, when I was sort of going through some of the problems I was having, she was like, I'm going to introduce you to somebody. [00:34:00] And so that was a very friendly introduction from somebody who really knew my business and knew his business and thought, you know, and so when somebody comes, Um, and we had multiple conversations.
I was like, this guy's like a real guy. Um, and so that's how I met him. And then we found our Google expert on Fiverr. Oh, wow. Literally went on Fiverr and we were like, this is what we need, you know, you just put it in. Yeah. And he had, um, brilliant reviews, like 900, like five star reviews. And so we were like, well, he's going to be doing something right.
Um, and he's been, Oh my goodness. He's been brilliant. Amazing. Ade, thank you so much for coming on the Female Founder Board podcast and congratulations on everything that you're building at Nubian Skin. It's very, very impressive. Oh, well, thank you so much. And thanks for having me. This has been fun
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