After being frustrated with purchasing multiple hair products for her multiracial family, Aisha Ceballos-Crump decided to use her grandmother’s secret hair ingredient “miel,” or honey in Spanish to create the first Latina owned hair and skincare line for natural hair. 

Hair brands are generally segmented by race, gender and age, but Honey Baby Natural crosses all of those lines.  During her first year of business, she was able to secure placement in Target and can now be found in CVS, Rite Aid, Walmart and her biggest retailer, Sally’s Beauty. Aisha’s love for community and belief in helping the next woman win led her to launch two additional companies, Botanika Beauty and Beauty Loft. Botanika Beauty is a hair care/self-care line  which she co- created with Ada Rojas. Beauty Loft is a beauty brand incubator for startup companies. She has been featured in Forbes, Hip Latina, Rollingout and Refinery 29. 

Inspiration Behind The Brand

I had a bin for one of my kids that had a certain hair texture, I had another bin for the youngest one , a bin for my husband and a bin for myself. I was using so many different products. [] It was kinda like my Oprah moment, Aha let me create a family brand that’s not segmented. Why does it have to be for black or white? Why does it have to be for kids or adults? For men or women. Let's create this beautiful family brand with great ingredients that's really about bringing the family together and the community together building confidence for everyone from family to  baby. 

On Doing Whatever It Takes

The glamorous side on social media, they don't see the behind the scenes when you can't pay payroll or you know, you're doing so much to just make ends meet. But the first year was such a struggle and I was like, Wow, did I make the best decision but I absolutely did. I worked, you know, 20 hours a day 100% into this. You know, I originally did my first website, my first trademark, my first product development, my sourcing. I had no employees, it was just me.  

I was selling my Gucci and Louboutins on Ebay. Everything that was worth something in my closet that I felt like could help me, I was selling it. I was doing whatever I could I was hustling, because I believed in myself and I believed in my dream and you know, that's what I had to do.

Lifting Up Another Woman

I met Ada Rojas about three years ago. This woman, she's a hustler. She is a younger version of me. She's crazy. She's energetic. She works hard. She has this amazing spirit about her. Like, she just has that energy that's so familiar. I know. It's so similar to myself. I said, this girl has it and I let her do some promotions. Well, honey, baby, her engagement was incredible. I just saw that these Latina women were so hungry for something that was for us, you know, by a woman that looked like them. And she was like, let's do a collaboration. I went back and I said, “I know this is crazy. I just launched my company, but I want to help you launch your own brand”. And she's like, “What”? And I was like, you know, I've been working on this thing. I always wanted to help behind the scenes and I want to help you start your own brand.  I know I have a lot going on, but you know, let's do it. She was coming and flying to Chicago like every two weeks. She ended up moving here and we just started hustling and working. She launched in April of 2019. We did everything together. It's her brand, face of the brand, but we created it together. She's in Target right now. We just launched it. She has mass distribution. So it's just been incredible. I love to see her grow. I tell people now we have two brands working together. 

Products and everything you're actually combining, rather than you're over there trying to grow your thing. I'm over here trying to grow my thing. Like let's come together and work together and see how we can make things happen. We're doing a tour right now on the grind female empowerment tour. And the fact that we're doing it together, we can do a better tour because we're splitting the cost of it. Now we can ship together, combine packaging, buy collateral and buy goods. We can buy all these things and combine our resources. That makes us a stronger company. Each individually and together.

On Community and Collaboration 

People are afraid of competition. I always preach collaboration over competition. I always work with other people. Work together, that's how you grow. Yeah, it's important. I mean,  how do we advance our cause? How do we have a store with products for us, by us? How do we create more shelf space by having more women of color? You know, collaborating and demanding more, because we don't get what we demand. And we're competing against big fortune 500 companies that have more money, that have more space, that have more talent. And so the way that we are stronger is together, and I truly, truly believe in that. 

Being A Mompreneur and Advancing The Next Generation 

I remember the first time that we were in Target, my first big store, and we walked in. My kids go to school in the West loop and the target in the West loop had Honey Baby. Right after school, I didn't tell them anything. I said babies, we got to go on a field trip so let's go to Target. Like what's so special. I'm making a walk down the aisle and they were so excited to have a picture of that moment. 

I want to share this, because for my kids who have been here, they're old enough to see their mom hustle and struggle. The first year of business we were loading up our Buick Enclave with products and driving across the country to promote our brand. You know, it would be me and my on road trips. My husband was still working so he couldn't always come with us. So me and my babies and none of them drive. We went to Philadelphia in the truck. We went to South Carolina, we drove to Atlanta.  We were staying in Hotwire hotels maxing out credit cards. We were doing it, but they were doing it with me. So when they finally saw that, it was just like, wow, I'm so proud of my mama. 

The importance Of Self-Care

I have a 17 year old, a 13 year old and a 12 year old and they are so active.  My son has a rap career. My daughters are dancing and swimming and doing everything else. So I just have to take some days away. My husband and I will just go away and I mean, he's always a part of it. We'll just go away and just relax, but I have a problem relaxing. I like to party a lot too. I'm such an extrovert. So partying is kind of my relaxation. So when I go away and we do outings and gatherings, like that's still unwinding to me because I'm not thinking about work.

The Real Deal Behind The Hustle

What’s a mantra that keeps you encouraged?

“The biggest risk is not taking a risk” Mark Zuckerberg

What’s one app or tool that helps you manage your work/life?

My cellphone

What book should every Girl Behind The Hustle Read?

Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg, Becoming by Michelle Obama, The Gift of Struggle by Bobby Herrerra

What’s your go to song before a meeting or to kick off your day?

Lovely Day Bill Wither

Here's how you can connect with Aisha Cebellaos-Crump and support her businesses Honey Baby Naturals | Instagram | Botanika Beauty | Botanika Beauty Instagram

You can stay connected via Instagram/Facebook @girlbehindthehustle or by Email at heygirl@girlbehindthehustle.com

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