Episode #154: Growing and Licensing an Authentic Brand with April Showers
Listen Now
Tap Play Below or Listen On Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts
Have you ever had an idea for a character that you could envision becoming a globally recognized brand? Today, one of the important ingredients to building a licensable brand is authenticity. Building an authentic toy and entertainment brand means that you’ve got to be crystal clear about the reason WHY you created that brand in the first place. You’ve got to dedicate your time and energy to growing AND supporting your community, and meanwhile you’ve got to make sure the whole world knows it’s happening. That’s the topic that we dive into during today’s podcast episode.
Our guest today is April Showers, the founder and CEO of Afro Unicorn. This uplifting brand includes unicorn themed clothing, accessories, toys, and more, that feature a diverse array of unicorns with afros and different skin tones. Afro Unicorn products are available at Walmart and Target, this brand has been shared and supported by Gayle King, Viola Davis, and Tiffany Haddish. April supports fellow entrepreneurs to “live the dream!” providing free promotional and educational opportunities through her social platforms, called Small Business Saturday.
Dive into this episode to discover HOW April Showers turn an idea into a household name within her community. You’ll hear us talk about the power of manifesting your toy dreams and the focus required to go after them. This podcast episode is essential for anyone looking to build their own toy or entertainment IP because it provides a roadmap of one way you can make that happen. Get ready to take notes, change the way you approach developing your brand, and make sure you support Afro Unicorn products!
EPISODE CLIFF NOTES
Learn how April went from a real estate agent and insurance agency owner to a licensing success [00:02:15]
Find out how upgrading her lifestyle and home helped April to get further in her business. [00:04:48]
Learn about the strategic mindset and envisioning process that helped April to get to where she is today. [00:10:33]
Find out where the idea and inspiration came for the Afro Unicorns brand. [00:17:06]
Learn how and why April originally envisioned Afro Unicorns as being a brand for adults. [00:19:06]
Find out the incredible story behind a viral video that put the Afro Unicorns brand in the spotlight. [00:25:08]
Learn why April focused so much on building the brand before it was in national retail stores. [00:28:54]
Find out the unexpected way April learned all about licensing when she was working on her first licensing deals. [00:33:08]
Learn why April is still focused on helping the entrepreneur community. [00:42:11]
Find out the best piece of advice April has for other toy industry entrepreneurs. [00:45:11]
-
This episode is brought to you by www.thetoycoach.com
Shop AfroUnicorn on Walmart
Follow Afro Unicorn on Twitter.
Follow Afro Unicorn on Instagram.
Visit Afro Unicorn’s website by clicking here.
The toy that blew April’s Mind as a kid, She Ra Action Figure.
-
[00:00:00] Azhelle Wade: You are listening to Making It in The Toy Industry, episode number 154.
[00:00:05] Hey there toy people, Azhelle Wade here and welcome back to another episode of the Toy Coach Podcast, Making It In The Toy Industry. This is a weekly podcast brought to you by thetoycoach.com. Our guest today is April Showers the CEO and founder of Afro Unicorn. Miss Showers hopes her success is the first black woman owned, fully licensed character brand to enter retail in major retailers like Walmart and Target.
[00:00:44] Is the blueprint to empower and inspire women of color to enter the licensing space worldwide. Afro Unicorn features unicorn apparel and accessories, ensuring that all may experience the company's core values, which are unique, divine and magical with authentic representation. She is a lead by example creator who works to uplift, advocate and inspire all to achieve greatness.
[00:01:09] And she is focused on fusing her passions with her life's purpose to help other entrepreneurs on her journey. If you follow her on Instagram, you will know this is true cause she always promotes other businesses every Saturday. April showers, welcome to the show. So happy to have you here.
[00:01:26] April Showers: Thank you, Azhelle. Thank you for having me here. I appreciate the invite and I'm so excited to be here with you today.
[00:01:33] Azhelle Wade: I appreciate you being here cause I know you're like big time now, you know , so I'm, I'm just glad I got in early enough before you headed on to the Oprah shows or something like that.
[00:01:44] April Showers: Oh, well, I've been, I've already been on CBS morning, so I've been on Gail King, and so now I'm here with you. It's all love. It's all, all love.
[00:01:52] Azhelle Wade: That's amazing. Oh, okay. So I know your toy story. I'm excited for you to share it with people. It's completely unconventional. So first I wanna start by saying, did you always know you wanted to work in the toy space in some way?
[00:02:06] April Showers: Never.
[00:02:06] Azhelle Wade: What did you do full time before the toy world?
[00:02:10] April Showers: I still, own and operate an insurance agency. I'm a licensed real estate broker as well, but I never even aspired to be either of those two things. I just always wanted to be an entrepreneur from the age of maybe nine or 10.
[00:02:28] Azhelle Wade: Was that something that you were inspired to do from your family?
[00:02:32] April Showers: So both of my parents, worked nine to five jobs, but my mother exposed me to different lifestyles. I'm born and raised in South Central Los Angeles, but my mother spent the weekends taking me out of those areas into different areas around Los Angeles and just seeing the different lifestyles that people were living always knew I wanted a different lifestyle. So I knew that if you were your own boss, you could acquire certain lifestyles. So I always had the desire, a lifestyle desire, which led me into my entrepreneurship journey.
[00:03:10] Azhelle Wade: What was the lifestyle that you remember seeing as a kid that like inspired you so much?
[00:03:15] April Showers: So my mom would take me to areas, if you're familiar with LA, Beverly Hills, Rolling Hills, Palisades, just the nice houses, the different cars, the food, just the ways that the whole environment looked. My mother's home, the home that I grew up in, you could have taken that home and placed it in any area. It didn't look like the area that it was in. But leaving outside of my house, you can see where there was a true need for beautification around the inner cities of South Central.
[00:03:47] But I didn't just focus on that. It's, it was a lot of people that focused just on that area. I also went to schools outside of the area, so my mom made sure I didn't attend schools in my direct area. I was bused out to other locations, so I just met new people, saw how other people lived, and yeah, I just always knew that there was another world outside of 89th and Western where I'm from.
[00:04:10] Azhelle Wade: Same thing happened to me. I grew up in Long Island, but I grew up in a town called Roosevelt. My family bused me out to private schools elsewhere. And I saw how my friends were living and I remember just thinking like, wait, like what? Like how do we get there? So it definitely changed how I like approach things and what I think is just good enough and for every day, and it even changes for me. I, I wonder if it changes for you. How I approach vacations because like, you know, you have your lifestyle expectations and you have your vacation expectations just changes kind of your perspective on everything, I think.
[00:04:48] April Showers: For sure because the lifestyle that I've created, when I, I wake up every day in it. When I travel, I want it to be just as great or not better.
[00:04:58] Azhelle Wade: Yeah, right. I'm the same way. I'm like, if it's not better than my view at home, I don't know why we're going cause , like, why are we going?
[00:05:08] April Showers: And people don't think about that. And I'm, possibly with me speaking not just about travel, just about, aspirations, lifestyle aspirations. Typically when you ask that question about what do you wanna be when you grow up or what do you wanna do or Did you ever think you'll be in this business? I'm pretty sure you haven't heard the response of there was a lifestyle goal that I was after.
[00:05:28] Azhelle Wade: Yeah. No, people are afraid to admit that. Even like, it comes across as like, why? Why do you want, like, why are you so materialistic? Why is that your focus? But.
[00:05:36] April Showers: And it's so crazy cuz I'm the least materialistic person, but I am an experience. My mother showed me experiences and I know that experiences cost, but experiences will last a lifetime. Those memories that how things make me feel, that's how even with when you're gonna get into the toys and the whole movement after Unicorn.
[00:05:57] But it's how it makes you feel. It's how it empowers you. And so everything is connected in my life, like, so, no, I did not sit down. I was like, I'm gonna draw. I'm gonna be a toy designer. No, I just found out that I was a dancer and I went to dance school and I found out choreographers at the time made $22,000 a year. And I said, oh, that ain't going cut it.
[00:06:19] Azhelle Wade: That I.
[00:06:20] April Showers: That's not the lifestyle goal that I had in mind.
[00:06:23] Azhelle Wade: That is how I came around to toys actually too, cuz I, I wanted to be a teacher and my sister was like, no, that's not gonna make you enough money. Let's choose something else. I was like, oh, okay. I'll choose something else. It's so funny. And then now I actually, this reminded me of a podcast episode I at once heard, I don't remember who was speaking, but I wonder if you've ever had this moment.
[00:06:45] This woman said she was sitting in her apartment, you know, planning and aspiring to this job and business that she wanted, but she's looking around her apartment and saying, this is not the space of a best selling author. This is not the space of a world renowned speaker. How can I say I'm gonna be this person and do this thing if I'm not in the right space? So she, I, I don't remember if she moved or if she just revamped her space. But do you think space is important to helping you achieve the success you wanna achieve?
[00:07:14] April Showers: Oh, most definitely. We went from a two bedroom high rise condo to now I live in a nice size home, which allows me. This is my office, my home office. I didn't have a home office before and there's no way in that two bedroom condo that we had that the products and the samples that I'm receiving on a daily basis could go in there.
[00:07:36] I remember the day I had that moment. I was CHI shirts on Amazon. I wanted to work with Amazon, and UPS came to deliver boxes to me. I had ordered some inventory. And when UPS came and dropped off the box, well, he came and he knocked on the door and he had his whole like dolly full of boxes. And I'm like, oh, you're delivering to other units? He was like, no, this is all yours.
[00:08:01] Azhelle Wade: Oh oh my gosh.
[00:08:03] April Showers: And so I remember, sitting on my couch looking at these 16, 18 boxes, like huge that were in my living room, filling my whole living room. And I said, this ain't it. Cause this is only a thousand shirts and I'm, and I, someday I'm gonna be selling a million. And he's not gonna be able to deliver a million shirts to this door, so we gotta figure something out. So yeah, I did have that moment.
[00:08:32] Azhelle Wade: Yeah. It's an important moment. And then people need to understand it's not just about, you know, I want this big fancy house. It's like you wanna become the person that you know you can be. And this space is limiting you from doing that mentally. And for you physically. Like physically, you're like, I, there's literally not a space for a million shirts, so.
[00:08:50] And I have heard like in couples therapy, like what are men's number one goals? What they need and what do women need? Really have to talk about the men. We already know what they would need, but for the women.
[00:09:03] Azhelle Wade: No, curious actually. What did he say? I'm curious. I wanna know.
[00:09:08] April Showers: I'm just gonna say for the women, It's security and peace like, but they were talking about peace within their home. They need things to be very organized. I can't be creative and I can't think when the walls are caving in. And I felt like the space that I was in, the walls were caving in.
[00:09:30] And I remember my son when we moved to this home and I was standing on the, like we have like this area upstairs where you can look over to the living room, the, I don't even know, I didn't have one growing up. I don't know what to call it. Banister, the the place in the movies where they flip you over and you fall down.
[00:09:46] I have one of those. Okay. So I was standing there and from there you can actually see the ocean from
[00:09:52] Azhelle Wade: Yeah. Oh, you mean a balcony?
[00:09:55] April Showers: There you go. But only reason why I didn't say balcony cuz I'm so used to balcony is being outside. But.
[00:09:59] Azhelle Wade: Oh, it's like an indoor, oh, I don't know what that's called.
[00:10:02] April Showers: Exactly. I dunno what it's called. I got just one of those things where people, they movies, they flip over and I don't know. So my son was like, how does it feel? He's 16. How does it feel to finally like to be in this space? Like, how does it feel? I said, I finally feel comfortable. I finally feel like I'm. I'm living in my truth. I said, I guess you could say I've been in the closet all this time. Like I've, I've had this idea of the lifestyle that I was, that I'm supposed to leave and I carried myself as such, but I necessarily wasn't physically living it, but I was in the spirit living it. So now my physical has met up with my spiritual and I definitely feel at peace and I feel comfortable and creatively, I'm on fire.
[00:10:53] Azhelle Wade: Okay. Wait, you have to explain that cuz there might be people who aren't physically living it. So how did you spiritually live it before you could physically afford it?
[00:11:02] April Showers: Visualizing. First of all, my, I have a coach, his name is Charles Smith t-shirt Millionaire. He has a saying that says, if you can see it with your mind's eye, one day, you'll get to see it with your real eyes. Realize, so if you could visualize it, I, everything that I have, I visualize it before I have it. Every single thing, I visualized it before it came to fruition. So even living in that two bedroom, condo I visualize myself having one of those, whatever, we don't know what they call
[00:11:36] Azhelle Wade: know what is called. The indoor balcony.
[00:11:39] April Showers: The indoor balcony but I visualize that. I always just visualize places. I visualize trips. I visualize the suites that I want, visualize that I'm sitting out on the balcony on my veranda. Is that what it's called. Yeah.
[00:11:55] Azhelle Wade: We don't know what we want.
[00:11:58] April Showers: On my ver on my veranda. So, just, and then I remember, I think it was my old pastor, but he said like even the restaurants that you think they're are too expensive. They always have a happy hour. There's always a bar.
[00:12:15] Azhelle Wade: Yeah.
[00:12:16] April Showers: So go to Ruth's Chris, sit at the bar get a appetizer. Like, just feel that space. I heard that, Drake said that.
[00:12:24] Azhelle Wade: That is a good point. Feeling that space, like.
[00:12:27] April Showers: Physically feel the space. Put yourself in those spaces. My mom did that as a child.
[00:12:32] Azhelle Wade: Right. That's a point.
[00:12:34] April Showers: And even if we went to the movie theater, we went to the movie theater in Roland Hills, like we travel outside of our area. I mean, it's the same AMC theater, but it's amc and it definitely, trust me, is different, that conversation. But certain areas get certain different things. So my mom, she physically had me in those other areas. Even if we went out to eat, we could have eaten around the corner, but she chose for me to eat. at other places. So yeah, sometimes you just have to like take a couple of extra dollars to go sit in the places that you wanna be in and eventually you'll be in those places. We're not talking about nothing about toys, but I'm telling you, if.
[00:13:15] Azhelle Wade: I know, I know. We're gonna get there. We're gonna, I know. We're gonna get there, but like, this is so good and I haven't had this conversation on my podcast yet and just visualizing where you wanna be. I, whenever I'm feeling like creatively stuck, I just wanna throw everything away cuz I'm like, I need more space for my brain to just think and, ugh. Yeah. Okay. I love all of this. All right, fine. We'll, we'll talk about the toy industry, I guess for.
[00:13:38] April Showers: But this is important. the toys and, and the Walmart and all that stuff we're gonna get into. People like DMing me ask me how do they get in Walmart? How do they get, How do you do it? you got a couple of minutes to get on the phone with me? No, I don't have a couple of minutes. I don't have a couple of minutes to, to teach you this strategic mindset that I've been doing for a very, very long time, and I've also believe that everything is obtainable. Some people put in their mindset that they see certain areas. They're like, oh, I could never live there. Or, oh, I can. I was the opposite. The area that I live in now six years ago, and I've discovered it, I was like, I gotta live. I wanna live here. I love it.
[00:14:21] So I would take drives just to drive around this area to physically put myself in this area. And then I just like really got convicted three or three years ago during the Covid. I'm also a real estate broker, so my son one day was like, you know, wanna go look at houses in the area that you want? And I'm like, we're bored at the house. Why not? And I can access any house, you know, I have the the key. So he like put some crazy houses on the list for us to go look at. And we came over here, we started looking, and I just put it down like I took a, a picture of us in the house. I'm like, one day we're gonna, one day, soon we're gonna be here. And yeah, we're here so.
[00:15:03] Azhelle Wade: I'm gonna need you to take me looking at some houses. I can take some photos. So so actually I wanna share, I hope my husband doesn't care that I share it. This is like our thing we do, but we, illustrate our future sometimes. We're both artists and we're both in industry, so we will draw like what we want. And the first time I did it, it was cuz my mom had given me some book called like How to Be a Unicorn. And that was like one of the exercises and yeah, I should give you, I should give you, a copy of this book. And that was the exercise. Exercise in this book.
[00:15:35] And fast forward two years after the first drawing it, one of the things you had to draw was where you wanted to live. And I drew, like an apartment that was next to the river with a bridge outside, with fireworks. I love fireworks. With like fireworks shooting over the thing. The next 4th of July, we are here at an apartment on the river, which I would never think I could afford. And watching fireworks just from our living room right next to the window looking at the George Washington Bridge. I mean, it's so powerful. So now we draw our future all the time. We're like, what do we want? What are we going? What are we gonna do?
[00:16:13] April Showers: Right, It's like, what's next? it's so real. It's, it's a really real thing to really manifest what you want. You have to really dial in. But the problem is people get in their own way.
[00:16:27] Azhelle Wade: Okay. Yes. How did you not get in your own way? When you started knowing what lifestyle you wanted to live? What did you, what kind of actions were you taking? You didn't know how you were gonna get there, but you were going somewhere, right? Where were you?
[00:16:39] April Showers: Yeah, cuz when I was looking for these houses in this area, I wasn't headed to Walmart.
[00:16:44] Azhelle Wade: Right.
[00:16:47] April Showers: You know, like I have the idea of the area before I had retail.
[00:16:51] Azhelle Wade: Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:16:53] April Showers: But I just feel like every single move that I made was to, for one, with the brand of Afro Unicorn, we could step back and talk about Afro unicorn real quick.
[00:17:05] Azhelle Wade: Right.
[00:17:05] step back.
[00:17:06] April Showers: So I knew when I created Afro Unicorn that I had something very special. I was being referred to as a unicorn over and over from a mutual friend, and he kept saying, April Unicorn. I'm like, why do you keep calling me that? And he said, well, because you have your multiple businesses. You're raising your boys. I'm a single. , you're a unicorn. I'm like, no, I'm just woman. That's what we do. He's like, nah, you're, you do it an an extraordinary, exceptional level, you're a unicorn. I didn't know what unicorns were. I really didn't.
[00:17:34] Azhelle Wade: Like at all?
[00:17:35] April Showers: No, I, I knew what they looked like, but I didn't know what they meant or anything. So I Googled them. I saw their mystical, they were unique, and I'm like, okay, I'm black girl magic. Definitely like one of a kind, definitely unique. So I started using emoji over and over again, and then one day, like a pound of bricks, it hit me. Why is it that something's supposed to represent who I am? Why is it only white? Like I keep white.
[00:17:56] Azhelle Wade: Even noticed it was only white. I never even noticed. Crazy.
[00:18:01] April Showers: I kept using the emoji and I was like, it don't resonate with me. So I went to go find one that looked like me. I couldn't find one. And so instead of complaining about it, I decided to be the change I wanted to see and create Afro unicorn. So my cousin at the time, I knew he was a, amazing artist, and so I just. Basically dictated exactly how I thought this unicorn should look with her Afro hair, with her crown, with her jewels, with her earring, with her eyeshadow. And that's how we developed Afro Unicorn. But I knew when I saw it that it was something special. I didn't, I never knew exactly. How it was gonna all work?
[00:18:39] But I knew it was gonna be big and I didn't know how it was gonna work because I knew that my calling was to help other people in life. My calling has always been to help people get to where they need to be in return, all get to where I need to be. And I have a very soft spot for women. And so I knew that I was supposed to help women in business and I'm like, okay, God, you gimme a unicorn and you give me, you know, this desire I've always had to help women. How am I gonna cross the two? So I started off African Unicorn's platform the same way I launched Afro Unicorn.
[00:19:09] With my group of friends, which was, Hey, I wanna support you guys with your businesses with 25 women. I purchased everything that they had to give to other 24 women. And I said,We are creating a table for us to support each other, and the goal is to bring other women along to support them on their entrepreneurship. To find out what they're passionate about and to take their passions and turn them into, help them turn it into revenue or support what they already have going on.
[00:19:37] Azhelle Wade: Mm.
[00:19:39] April Showers: And I remember that day people were like, oh, they love the event. They were like, what's your Instagram? I'm like, I don't have an Instagram. So.
[00:19:46] Azhelle Wade: They loved the event. It was an in-person event that you were doing?
[00:19:48] April Showers: Yeah, I did it in person. I, I created a table. I had folding sheets.
[00:19:52] Azhelle Wade: Oh, like a literal table? I was a figurative table.
[00:19:55] April Showers: No, no. I invited the women to the table and said, we're creating a space. And my goal for Afro Unicorn is to have these conferences every year to where I'm teaching women and showing them how to become entrepreneurs. Finding and identifying other spaces where it can cost you little money to a lot of money, but then finding people that have like minds in the room that maybe they wanna team up and do a Chick-fil-A with you. Or maybe you just wanna start a paparazzi or you wanna go onto Mary Kay.
[00:20:26] Or wanna open up a McDonald's by when to bring all those businesses in and yeah. So Afro Unicorn in my brain wasn't even for children. At it was about women, and then the person, creative person I was working with at the time was like April, and my cousin, I think this will do well for children. I'm like, they're not unicorns. Remember, I didn't know what unicorns were. So the first time I was introduced to them, I saw them as me. I, I was being referred to as a unicorn.
[00:20:52] Yeah.
[00:20:53] So they showed me a picture of a little girl with her hair, hands out with an Afro puff in her head, and she had on an Afro unicorn shirt. I was like, oh, okay. I get it. It's for kids, but I'm not calling 'em Afro Unicorn. There will be Afro Unicorn in training. So if you go back to the old post, I'm not lying, I was like dead set. Like this is not for kids.
[00:21:12] Azhelle Wade: Oh my gosh, that's so funny.
[00:21:14] April Showers: I went back to old post and if you go back you'll see Afro Unicorn training is what I called them, but. The kids started, catching on to what we're doing for small businesses. They started their own businesses, so a lot of businesses.
[00:21:26] Azhelle Wade: The kids these days. I I don't know what they're doing, but.
[00:21:30] April Showers: They're, they are on a whole nother level.
[00:21:33] Azhelle Wade: Whole other level. Oh my.
[00:21:35] April Showers: Actually, I have a lady talking about toys. Her whole world is in toys. She's like 12 years old. She builds amazing toys. I would love to introduce you guys. She she just moved to Tanzania, three days ago. But,
[00:21:48] Azhelle Wade: Wait, is it people pops land?
[00:21:50] April Showers: Yeah.
[00:21:51] Azhelle Wade: Yeah, I I know her. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She's so cute. I don't know why I haven't had her on the show yet. She's adorable.
[00:21:56] April Showers: So amazing. She actually made an Afro Unicorn me doll. So I have one of myself. Yeah.
[00:22:04] Azhelle Wade: Oh. Like like of a people pops, but Afro unicorn people pop. Oh, that's so cute.
[00:22:10] April Showers: It's me and I'm wearing the shirt.
[00:22:13] Azhelle Wade: Oh my God, that's so funny.
[00:22:14] April Showers: Yeah. Amazing. So it was actually her and I told her this on their farewell party. I hope I don't cry today cuz I just put my makeup on, but it was a post that her and her sister shot. It was a video I had just dropped a new shirt that had this ambre colored unicorn hair and her mother had brought her the the shirts for just because. And so they shot a video of their natural reaction of them opening up the items and they had this, TikTok song called, It's your color and it talks about what's your color. I wanna know, is it purple? Is it red? It's a really cute song. It doesn't have a lot of music to it, but the way that that video was shot and to seeing how excited and elated they were, it hit me at that moment. The representation part.
[00:23:08] Azhelle Wade: Oh.
[00:23:09] April Showers: I was like, oh.
[00:23:12] Azhelle Wade: Wow. What? What they say? What were they doing? Why Why did it hit so much?
[00:23:15] April Showers: Jumping up and down, going crazy, opening it up, the song behind it, talking about, what's your color? I wanna know, is it red? Is it red? And just realizing April, you created this because it, it didn't exist. But kids play with unicorns all the time and they too haven't seen it. And now they see it that looks like them, like. It hit me and I was in full blown tears because I said, what if I would've not listened to the people around me, and which is adamant of what I wanted and what I thought. I would've missed out on this whole generation that's being inspired and loving their natural curls and their hair and their complexion based off of this unicorn.
[00:24:03] Azhelle Wade: Yeah, it's so crazy. One of my favorite movies back in the day was called The Last Unicorn. I think. She was gorgeous. It was this white unicorn with this European long hair. And then she would transform into this white girl. And I just loved that movie and I thought it was so gorgeous. And how different of an impact would that have been in me as a kid? Had there been a black glass unicorn movie where she had an afro that was equally as gorgeous and big and fluffy? And I mean, that's, yeah, I see the need for it in my younger self, so, okay. So I wanna get into, how you blew up? Cuz it's a crazy story. Was this your photo shoot that you were hosting that ended up becoming the viral clip that was heard around the world? Was it your?
[00:24:52] April Showers: So really to be honest, Afro Unicorn really doesn't do photo shoots. I have a photo shoot for my bio stuff that you have those photos for, but for the most part, those children, it's, they're just, they're.
[00:25:05] Azhelle Wade: It's organic?
[00:25:06] April Showers: It's all organic.
[00:25:07] Azhelle Wade: So wait, the video that went viral was an organic video?
[00:25:11] April Showers: Mm-hmm.
[00:25:12] Azhelle Wade: I just assumed it was like you guys taking a photo and then the model was getting sassy.
[00:25:16] April Showers: Nope, that's Cassidy's personality.
[00:25:20] Azhelle Wade: So so tell us the story. Tell us the story.
[00:25:22] April Showers: At the time, four year old Brooklyn Native, Cassidy Brianna was doing what she loves, taking photos in her Afro Unicorn tea. And being herself when someone walked by and said, I love your hair. And then with all the confidence in the world, Cassidy said, thank you. It's an Afro. So that video ended up going viral from Viola Davis sharing it to every blog you can think of. Then Tina Knowles shared it and then Oprah Daily shared it. And then when Oprah Daily shared it, that's when Walmart saw it and they sent me an email and said, Walmart X Afro unicorn collaboration. Have you considered party supplies? But I like to always point out about that post, that I wasn't tagged. Afro unicorn wasn't tagged in the post, but the comments were flooded with Afro Unicorn.
[00:26:12] Azhelle Wade: Wow.
[00:26:13] April Showers: Afro Unicorn's baby. That's after unicorn's shirt. And so that's what the buyer saw. She saw the response to this little girl's video about her hair, that the response was, this is a Afro Unicorn movement moment right here.
[00:26:29] Azhelle Wade: Okay, hold on. I wanna ask how you felt when Walmart emailed you. But before we go there, I need to know how did you build this movement on the dl? Like, like what were you doing that was building this community?
[00:26:44] Okay. So I did say at the party I didn't have an Instagram, so they asked me what was my Instagram account. So then I went and created an Instagram account, and so when I launched the platform, it really was to promote other businesses. So the way I did it was as long as you had on the Afro Unicorn shirt, I put you up on the platform. I talked about your business, what made you unique, divine and magical, and why people need to support. So that organically caught on. And so people would go buy a shirt. They knew I would post them, they knew I, you know, I would talk about who they were and I would go out also farming to go look for my, my audience.
[00:27:26] April Showers: There were people out there to call themselves black unicorn. And so I would go to their messages and say, hey, have you ever seen an Afro Unicorn before? I created a brand of women of color who hustle, follow the movement, and so they were already identifying themselves as a black unicorn. So then when they went to my page and saw that actually had a peril of what they've been identifying as it was a win-win. And I was about promoting what you do.
[00:27:53] Azhelle Wade: Yes.
[00:27:54] April Showers: When I launched, in May of 2019 by July, Tiffany Haddish was rocking and supporting Afro unicorn. She coined herself the last black unicorn. So I did.
[00:28:06] Azhelle Wade: Oh, yes, yes.
[00:28:08] April Showers: Jumped into her comment and I said, Hey, have you ever seen Afro Unicorn before? I created Color Who Hustle follow the movement. She commented immediately and said, if you send me this shirt, and she named the colors, she said, I will rock the hell out of it. Here's my address, and put her address right there in the comment.
[00:28:28] Azhelle Wade: What? I could see you and Tiffany Haddish getting along. I don't know her. I don't know her personally, but vibe wise, I could figure it out.
[00:28:37] April Showers: Well, yeah, she's from, she's from LA, she's the last black unicorn, Afro Unicorn, so it would definitely work. So yeah, from that moment, and then like three or four days later, Alicia Keys started to follow us and.
[00:28:50] Azhelle Wade: And it is all pre Walmart. This is all pre Walmart? God.
[00:28:54] April Showers: I was focused on building a brand. I knew from day one the Afro Unicorn would be a household name, that it would be, worldwide. But I never, I always thought I was building sell. Just to be honest, I started, I start the brand to build it, to eventually sell it to someone who could get it around the world, who could make it a household name. So the structure of the behind the scenes business was to make it sellable. , which was still great. Because of course I didn't sell it.
[00:29:26] But it was structured that way, so I was ready. So when the retailer called, everything was in place, trademark, copyright, all that stuff that needed to be there was already there. I just always knew that it was gonna be big. I just didn't know I would still be sitting in this space and it'd still be that big and it'll still be a worldwide brand and household name, and I can still be the CEO and owner.
[00:29:49] Azhelle Wade: Yes. Mm. High five.
[00:29:52] April Showers: So that's. Thank you. So that whole being the first black woman to have a licensed brand character is a really big deal.
[00:30:01] Azhelle Wade: Really big deal. I mean, okay, first of all, applauding you for, no, for focusing on the brand. So many people wanna create a toy line and they, I actually put marketing and brand building secondary to building the product. And then you're sitting on a bunch of inventory that nobody knows exists. So applauding you for actually building the brand first. And yeah. How did you feel when Walmart emailed you? Did you know that they'd never had a black brand, in their stores before?
[00:30:32] April Showers: No, I did not, and I felt surreal because my son, 30 minutes prior, I was in my feelings having a moment. Things were going bad with all the inventory I had purchased for Amazon and I decided that I didn't wanna move forward with Amazon. I had recently purchased all these plush toys. I was just getting ready to put on Amazon based off of what someone told me we could do on that platform. And that whole situations felt completely down the drain. So I didn't wanna risk putting all this inventory back on Amazon again. So I remember being in my kitchen, and my son knew at the time, I think he was 14, he knew I was frustrated. He goes, well, what about Walmart?
[00:31:20] Azhelle Wade: Wait, He said that? Stop it.
[00:31:23] April Showers: And with me when I talked about we can get in our own way. Because I didn't think it was tangible. I shot his vision down. I said, Walmart, I said, there's, I said, I'm not going to Walmart. Only reason why I said that was because I didn't know how could I get into Walmart.
[00:31:45] Azhelle Wade: Yeah.I I got some things I'm gonna need your son to say out loud for me.
[00:31:50] April Showers: He went in his room he has access to my email account and I was sitting on the couch as soon as that email hit, he busted through the door and I'm staring at him. He's staring at me.
[00:32:04] Azhelle Wade: Oh, oh, this is so sweet.
[00:32:08] April Showers: And his eyes get big. My eyes get big. And we're like, Walmart. You just said it 30 minutes ago.
[00:32:18] Holly
[00:32:20] Azhelle Wade: molly.
[00:32:22] April Showers: mind you, I'm, I'm already on a high because I have shade room sharing this post, I have like all these people, like nonstop. I'm going like, my thumbs are numb cuz I'm totally into engaging. People think that you get on social media just to say, Hey.
[00:32:38] Azhelle Wade: You don't, yeah. No. You gotta like talk to people. It's like a whole thing.
[00:32:42] April Showers: it's called social media. You gotta be social on social media.
[00:32:49] Azhelle Wade: You gotta start to think these people are your friends, otherwise you're not gonna work. Like, you be friends people.
[00:32:54] April Showers: Right, right. So I'm like, Hey, congratulations. Oh, you graduated from what you call it. Great. Like I'm in there. And so, yeah, me and my son were just over the moon about the email. Again, I had no idea what licensing was. So it was Walmart that actually wanted me to meet with two licensees, to create this line for them. So weird meeting with the licensees. They were like, okay, so what's your royalty rate? What's your mg? I'm like, oh crap. And then also, it's so funny, when I talked to Walmart, they were like, oh, and then when we could get with you and we could meet your team, I'm like, Jesse my son, they want to meet you.
[00:33:38] Azhelle Wade: Because you'd built up your brand so big they thought like you were
[00:33:42] April Showers: done.
[00:33:43] They thought it was this. They thought there was this big massive team behind Afro Unicorn. It was me, Jesse, my social media manager. My mama would come help us fold shirts, and my cousin Chelsea was on Instagram doing amazing photos of herself.
[00:34:01] Azhelle Wade: That is just so cool. So Walmart calls, you didn't know, I'm guessing you got help to do your licensing deal.
[00:34:08] April Showers: No. So I called a friend, well, it was wasn't really a friend. we were becoming friendly. Who's now my manager, Eskia Yeah, . he's a character and he's also my partner. Cuz we our entertainment company. But anyway, so at the time I called Eskia cause I knew he was part of the music industry and I know I used to be in the music industry too, so I knew what royalties that was terminology we would use.
[00:34:32] So I called him and I'm like, Hey, I have this opportunity. They're asking me what do I want for royalty? What's my mg? I have no idea what they're talking about. Can you help me? And he was like, okay, give me, gimme some time. I'll get back with you. And so he called me back and he was like, Hey, I talked to a friend. This friend used to be the attorney for Judge O Siwa before she got into Walmart and did her nick deal. And and he told us to watch the toys that made us on Netflix.
[00:35:00] Azhelle Wade: Okay.
[00:35:02] April Showers: So that is how I got my 1 0 1 on licensing.
[00:35:08] Azhelle Wade: That's so funny.
[00:35:09] April Showers: I learned through the toys that made us, I reached out to an attorney that had, was already helping me with some other stuff and I'm like, Hey, do you know anything about this? And that. She was like, I think I can , you know, I'm pretty sure I do. So I'm like, okay, so we're gonna try to do these agreements. And Eskia and I were, before we brought on, our agency had already secured like 35 licensees.
[00:35:34] Azhelle Wade: What?
[00:35:35] April Showers: Mm-hmm.
[00:35:36] Azhelle Wade: Wow. Okay.
[00:35:38] April Showers: Yeah. So, I'm a beast.
[00:35:43] Azhelle Wade: like I don't sleep.
[00:35:44] April Showers: I'm a beast. Just learning, like I, I picked up really fast. I saw, and then immediately I picked up those first two deals. Were the worst two.
[00:35:52] Azhelle Wade: Right.
[00:35:53] April Showers: But it will never happen again. And we were picked up quite fast.
[00:35:57] Azhelle Wade: Did Did you you you go to like licensing expo? Did you go to any of those events or you just contacted people?
[00:36:01] April Showers: No, so I had, I had all 30 before I got to licensing, so I started in October. Licensing was in May
[00:36:09] Azhelle Wade: Something like May or June.
[00:36:11] April Showers: Yeah, so between that time, but what, what we did strategically, cuz I'm a, I'm a marketing beast. I, I am a market beast. And let me tell you why, where I got that from. Cuz I, I didn't go, I don't have a formal four year degree, just so you know. But I remember, watching who's the boss?
[00:36:31] Azhelle Wade: Yeah.
[00:36:32] April Showers: And Angela on the show worked for a marketing firm, so her role was commercials. that show was out in the eighties. I was probably like eight, nine years old watching it and just seeing her job and what she did with marketing. I've always been about marketing since I was a little little girl. we had, at the time maybe. Four or five licensees. So I was like, we should put out a press release. The thing that we would do though, we would take a lot of little meetings and we would take little tips and pointers, what other people would say, and I would grab the nuggets and I heard one agent mention, oh, if you become our client we'll get press releases out.
[00:37:12] So that's what we did. So we dropped this first press release. We did Invention, Walmart. We just did this hot new brand. It's come on the scene. They're going into a major retailer. They signed these four or five licensees currently and it was right in the right before Licensing Expo and my phone just started ringing and ringing and ringing. And then also just giving tips that are probably gonna go into a book later. So you're gonna have exclusive information, but LinkedIn. LinkedIn is really my, LinkedIn is your friend. LinkedIn is a money maker. And I remember, when I first started Afro Unicorn every Saturday I would bring on professional to talk about how to start a business.
[00:37:51] And I remember having this lady named Jessica came on and talk about LinkedIn and I was so against LinkedIn. I'm like, girl, I'm not about to learn another platform. I just learned Instagram last year. Like I, but she talked about it, about what it does for people and blah, blah, blah. So once a year later, When I heard about how profitable LinkedIn could be, I went back to her. I'm like, Jessica, I need you to build out my LinkedIn account. But really like finding, going to like typing a Walmart typing buyer, they're right there.
[00:38:20] Azhelle Wade: Yeah. Yeah. I have a lot of that in my course too. I love LinkedIn, you're inspiring ideas for me because one of the things I wanna do more of is more community for my students and how you share everybody on, I don't know how you do it every Saturday with all the stuff you have going on, but like, that's what I wanna do. Like, you're setting such a great example for supporting people while you grow, and do you think you'll keep doing that?
[00:38:42] April Showers: Yeah, so what's interesting is that I stopped doing the small business Saturday where I would go live every Saturday. If you go into our, our archives, you would see there's about 56 videos of me talking, right? But I knew I was gonna be able to keep that up this year. So I did, I paused that and I paused coaching for this year as well. Still never pausing, sharing small business Saturday in the morning. That's just something we always have to figure it out. Kalia my social media manager, she steps in at eight o'clock in the morning cause I started six. She steps in it from that last final hour, eight to nine and take over for me. I'm an early riser so it's nothing for me to get up.
[00:39:22] But we recently discussed with my team that I gotta get back on doing. And it was because I feel likepeople have their own ideas, especially when you get to this level of what their vision is, what they see, what they want. But if you don't stick to your why, you're either gonna, two things are gonna happen. Well, ultimately it's gonna fall apart, but it's gonna fall apart because of fatigue, because you just don't, and lack of passion. And it all goes back to, to your why. So if my why is to generally help other entrepreneurs in their journey, I know I can't coach right now. There's know in the world. I can take time to do your coaching, but I can still jump online for 30 minutes to an hour and let's answer some questions.
[00:40:09] I probably can't do it every Saturday, but you're gonna at least see me back two times a month. And instead of doing it on Afro unicorn, because I do understand now, So more so a branding products on there, but I'm flipping everybody over to got April showers and we'll go live over there to answer questions that people might have. I don't wanna lose my why. I don't wanna wake up one day and this is just this full kids' brand. And it's not even why it started. It didn't start off to be a kids' brand and I already get hate mail already every time. Target or somebody drops some cute. Outfit for the little girls. They like, where's my shirt? Where's my dress? Like the adults are the adults. They're like, where's all, where's our product? In retail? We are tired of going to Walmart. We are tired of going to Target. It ain't nothing for us.
[00:40:57] Azhelle Wade: Are you working on that?
[00:40:58] April Showers: Oh, you baby. Yes. That's like focus and I be trying to tell Eskia, cause Eskia is always so focused on these kids. I'm like, man, there's a saying that we say in the community, but the, you know, I'm not worried about them kids right now. Like, I gotta protect the mamas are the ones that spending this money.
[00:41:17] Azhelle Wade: Start and who started this.
[00:41:18] And who
[00:41:19] April Showers: started this moment.
[00:41:19] Azhelle Wade: They were at that table, that 25 person.
[00:41:22] April Showers: Yes. Don't you dare forget my women. So, yeah, I gotta, we're working on it.
[00:41:29] Azhelle Wade: Was there any moment cuz where you doubted yourself? I know you had that hard moment with Amazon, but it seemed like it was resolved pretty quickly. But I'm, I'm really thinking like, was there any moment in your brand building where maybe people weren't responding in the early days where you were just like, is this even working?
[00:41:46] April Showers: So I have this saying about the early days, so you know, small business Saturday, right? I share your businesses and our story for free. But when I first started, I started with Zero on Instagram. Like I grew, I didn't buy any followers or none of that. It's all organic. And so I remember I wanted to support these businesses on Saturday. I'm talking about support and I only got a thousand followers.
[00:42:10] Azhelle Wade: Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
[00:42:11] April Showers: But what I would do. To start it off, I like, I will post, Hey, I wanna share your business like I do every Saturday morning. Crickets, right? I'm like, okay, I already said what I'm gonna do. So what I started to do, I just started going through my feed. Oh, this person has a business. Send a story, hashtag small business Saturday. Put their ET on there. Oh, this person has a. Share the story. You have to create the way that you wanna see.
[00:42:41] You have to really get out of your brain that if you build it, they will come. You gotta work for it. So, to answer your question, I didn't, I, I didn't have the doubt, even the silence, because I just felt like, okay. There's silence, there's white space. That means it's an opportunity for me to create. I need to be moving. You have to move the movement along. If you're trying to have a movement, you have it. It has to be fluid. You have to be doing something to push it through. So the only time I.
[00:43:10] Azhelle Wade: You are preaching to me right now.
[00:43:12] April Showers: The only time I really had serious doubt and there really wasn't doubt in the brand. Just when my son was like, what about Walmart? I just thought it was so, I didn't know the how typic, like I didn't know how to do it. So in that moment I was like, I don't wanna go to Walmart. Like I just said it, just be saying it because I was like, God girl, you know how to go, you don't know how to get to Walmart and it's your son, like you, he looks up to you. But for the most part, even if I see brick walls, I just run right through 'em. I do not believe there is nothing on this planet that's not obtainable to me.
[00:43:43] Azhelle Wade: Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm.
[00:43:44] April Showers: 40th birthday. I have the cake design, as a Afro Unicorn jet, like.
[00:43:50] Azhelle Wade: Like a, oh my gosh.
[00:43:52] April Showers: A jet, whatever.
[00:43:53] Azhelle Wade: Like a a private jet?
[00:43:55] Oh my gosh April.
[00:43:57] April Showers: So guess what? My 16 year old son is now in aviation school. He'll be able to have his pilot license when he's 17. Next year. He said I'll be ready to fly to Jet.
[00:44:07] Azhelle Wade: Your family. You got some magic happening in your veins. Your friend was right. You are a unicorn. I'm gonna need you, I'm gonna send over my wishlist to you so you can read it out loud to yourself and make it come true for me. Okay. I'm glad we had this conversation cuz I heard you speak at women in. It didn't get this in depth and I remember you talked a little bit about that viral video and I was like, there's gotta be more here. And I feel like we got to the more, now I have the understanding it wasn't just a viral video. It was, I was building a brand I intentionally interacted with people, reached out to high up people, built a brand that resonated with people and then Walmart came knocking. Well, I already had Tiffany Haddish.
[00:44:48] April Showers: Right. So you have to focus on the brand and not necessarily the business. Like I focus on the brand building.
[00:44:56] Azhelle Wade: And you and you were enjoying it, I'm guessing.
[00:44:58] April Showers: Oh yeah.
[00:44:59] Azhelle Wade: Yeah. So so you were loving it, you were having fun. so let me get to our,final questions, that I like to ask. What is the best piece of advice that you've received when you were starting out in the toy?
[00:45:11] April Showers: People are just saying like, stay organic and stay true. Even like when I met with. Walmart's council recently, their entertainment council. I just kept hearing that the reason why everyone loves the brand is because it's so organic and it is grassroots and it's not a major studio that's trying to push it down everyone's throat.
[00:45:38] Azhelle Wade: Right.
[00:45:40] April Showers: It's authentic. don't lose that. That's the best advice that I was given.
[00:45:45] Azhelle Wade: Is there something new coming to Afro Unicorn that you can share that's not too top secret?
[00:45:50] April Showers: Yeah, we recently signed a production deal. We haven't said who yet. But so you have animation coming, episodic series as well as featured film that we're gonna be working on.
[00:46:02] Azhelle Wade: Feature film. April, you are living the dream. You weren't kidding when I asked.
[00:46:05] April Showers: And even with that, I've been staying there for the last 10. So even in the way I speak, even when people address me, ask me how I'm doing, I'm always gonna say I'm living the dream. Even when I wasn't necessarily living the dream, I'm still living the dream because at the end of the day, I am a black woman in America who can go where she wants when she wants. I am at least living Martin Luther King's dream, so I am forever living the dream.
[00:46:33] Azhelle Wade: My last question for you is what toy blew your mind as a kid?
[00:46:40] April Showers: She Ra that's the only toy I used to play with outside, like everywhere. Like she was like it and then after that, probably like light. And that the one with the doctor, we had to pull the parts Operations, but yeah, nah, She Ra, she's it.
[00:46:59] Azhelle Wade: Nice. And my last question for you today, where can people find Afro Unicorn if they wanna purchase the product or if they wanna connect with you to take part in small business Saturday?
[00:47:10] April Showers: You can find Afro Unicorn at your local Walmart. You can find Afro Unicorn at Target. And you can connect with me on Instagram at Unicorn Official for Small Business Saturday reshares and to catch me live again is that got April showers on Instagram.
[00:47:31] Azhelle Wade: Fantastic. Thank you so much, April, for all the words of wisdom today. I mean, we learned, for me the biggest takeaway is mindset. Focus on your mindset, focus on building your brand, and the rest will come. Walmart will come.
[00:47:47] April Showers: Yep. Once you focus your brand.
[00:47:51] Azhelle Wade: Thank you. It's a pleasurepleasure having you here today.
[00:47:53] April Showers: Thank you.
[00:47:54] Azhelle Wade: Well, there you have it toy people. My interview with April showers of Afro Unicorn. I'd like to dive into a quick conclusion of some of the things we learned today because there were great points that I want you to walk away with. Number one, if you are thinking about building an IP that you envision being a toy product line or a TV show someday. What we learned today is the importance of focusing on building a community around your brand. So to do that, I want you to think about what is the common thread of the product that you're creating.
[00:48:29] For April, it was finding other Afro Unicorns, other black women who are entrepreneurs like her, who were breaking through barriers and living the dream. They felt connected to her character and could get behind the mission of it. So I want you to think about that for your brand. What is the community of people that could get behind the mission of what you're building? And it doesn't have to be a super serious mission. I know that April is doing amazing work and it is a serious mission, but your mission doesn't have to be serious for people to rally behind it.
[00:49:04] So that is number one. Number two, keep the momentum rolling. When you start to build on your brand and you start getting opportunities, don't shut them down because you're not ready. Bring in people to help you out and keep the opportunities rolling. That's what April did when she got her first opportunity with Walmart. She didn't run off and say, no, I'm not ready for this. Come back to me later. She brought someone in that could help her execute. Number three, manifest your destiny. April's son mentioned Walmart and not 30 minutes later they called.
[00:49:41] We talked about how April often says she's living the dream. Even 10 years ago. So it's all about your mindset, the space that you work in, and the space that you think in, to build the life and the product and the success that you want. Now my sister and my best friend, we all call manifesting your destiny, harvesting the universe. So we'll always tell each other, okay, I need you to harvest for me. I need you to harvest for me. We see it as the universe has abundance and we need to just go and pick it.
[00:50:12] And harvesting the universe is just keeping your mind's eye open to all the things that you want. Imagine yourself having them, you still have to do the work to get them, of course, but the process of imagining that they're already yours. Opens up your mind to see pathways to achieving those goals rather than your mind just seeing the barriers to entry. So harvesting, manifesting is all about getting yourself in the right mindset. I always tell my students it's not just about ideas, it's about execution. And when you put yourself in the right mindset, you start to see multiple paths of execution that you can go.
[00:50:51] Okay, so let's talk about your action item to do for next week. I want you to follow Afro Unicorn. If you don't already, follow them on Instagram. Check out Afro Unicorn over on Instagram. Aside from their incredible product, they have something that could benefit you if you're a small business called Small Business Saturday. So head over to Afro Unicorn on Instagram to check that. As always, thank you so much for spending this time with me today. I know that your time is valuable and that there are a ton of podcasts out there, so it truly means the world to me that you tune into this one. Until next week, I'll see you later toy people.
-
🎓Learn more about how you can develop and pitch your toy idea with Toy Creators Academy® by clicking here to visit toycreatorsacademy.com and join the waitlist.
Not ready for the Toy Creators Academy online course? Start by connecting with fellow toy creators inside our online community. Click here to join.