Making the Moment
Making the Moment, the podcast that brings you the untold stories, unfiltered insights, and big ideas from the architects behind the moments that matter.
Join your host Aja Bradley-Kemp, as each week she and her guests will show you how to design experiences that not only captivate audiences but also drive value for your organization. Whether you’re looking to build buzz, boost loyalty, or drive revenue, these tips will give you actionable ideas to help you design customer experiences that truly make an impact.
This is for the moment makers and the culture creators. Welcome to Making the Moment.
Making the Moment
Activation to Acquisition: The $600 Million blueprint that helped Mielle become a Cultural Force
What does it take to turn a beauty brand into a cultural phenomenon? In our season finale, host Aja Bradley Kemp sits down with Selina Davis- experiential marketing maven and the force behind Mielle’s unforgettable brand activations and the coveted pink bag.
Selina shares her journey from talent manager to leading Mielle’s experiential strategy during its explosive growth and eventual acquisition by Procter & Gamble (P&G). We unpack how in-person experiences can drive exponential brand love and how global brands can stay consistent and culturally relevant.
This episode is packed with insights you won’t want to miss, including:
- What top retailers and potential acquirers are really thinking when they see your brand activation
- How a community-first mindset helped Mielle build unshakable brand loyalty
- What unique challenges and growth opportunities come with being a Black-owned brand navigating acquisition
- How to create experiential campaigns that resonate across global markets without compromising brand identity
- How a pink swag bag became a cult favorite and why moments like that drive emotional brand connection
- Why strong professional relationships open unforeseen doors, How to find harmony in motherhood, creativity, and corporate leadership with purpose and boundaries.
Whether you're scaling a brand, navigating acquisition, or rethinking the power of live experiences, this conversation is rich with strategic insights straight from the culture.
🎧 Subscribe & Share
If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe, rate, and share with your fellow visionaries.
💼 Work With Us
Interested in booking a guest, sponsorship, or collaboration? Contact us at mtm@conversatecollective.com.
📍 Connect with Us:
- Host: Aja Bradley Kemp
Follow on Instagram | Listen on iHeartRadio | Watch on TikTok
🎙️ Making the Moment is produced by Conversate Collective.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 00:00
All right. Welcome to Making the Moment, the show where we spotlight the culture shapers and brand architects behind the unforgettable experiences. I'm your host, Aja Bradley Kemp. And if you're in the business of creating campaigns that don't just land, but live, this episode is for you. Today's guest is an international force in brand experiences, from founding her own agency, Nostalgix, to leading immersive retail merchandising strategies and experiential for brands like Carol's Daughter and Miel, and now Procter & Gamble.
Selena Davis has spent over 20 years turning brands into moments that move people. She is a dynamic mother of five, a mentor, and a disruptor, and today she's here to drop all the gems so let's get into it
Welcome Selena.
Selina Davis 00:50
Thank you thank you so much for having me i really appreciate it.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 00:53
Oh we're so excited to have you here and now for those that don't know you i want to go back a little bit in your career before we start talking about all the fun stuff that you do now. But, you know, when did you realize that experiential was your calling?
Selina Davis 01:08
Yeah, I think it's one of those things where you have a trait about you that you don't directly know is there. So people always used to ask me to organize things. They always used to ask me to just basically be the planner of things. And it could be anything from events at home or parties or just small things. I was just always that kind of person that people lent on. I actually started an agency for creative. Initially it was like one of my first businesses and I was doing like hair and makeup, nails, photography.
And I was able to do like all these sponsorships for like Mercedes-Benz and I was able to do like all these sponsorships for like Mercedes-Benz and Fashion Weeks and all the things so a lot of those skill sets kind of came in there in terms of the behind the scenes planning components of it I did go to school for events I did do a degree in event management as you know a degree does not trump experience so I can't say that my my skills and my talents came from that but I would say that it was a growing passion of mine um and then when I um approached um my first I would say my first kind of client ors at the time um to do all of their events and PR and digital I kind of just pushed myself into it and it kind of just evolved and grew over time. And that creative side of me is where I started really connecting to loving what I did.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 02:32
And how did you end up here? Because obviously we hear an accent, so you're from the UK. How did you end up here in the US and working with brands here?
Selina Davis 02:43
So I really moved here for faith. I was 12 years old. I remember always feeling like I wanted to be in the U.S. Had never been here before, but some reason, something was inside of me that wanted to be here. Didn't know how I was going to get here. And then a few times I had traveled over here. There one time I was around 13 my mom had bought like a motorhome and we traveled from Orlando all the way to Miami and I was like her Google map you know you had the big map at the time and I was that map girl reading and you know directing her all the way down to Miami so I kind of fell in love with it then and then because I had like clients when I had done my agency
I had a lot of my clients were in the US and I was obviously back home I started building like connections and relationships with people but ultimately the ultimate moment when I actually moved over to the US was a faith moment I didn't have a job I didn't have somewhere to stay quote unquote and it was just literally picking up my bags my five kids my husband and we just decided to move and the rest is history as they say.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 03:51
Wow that that is a huge leap of faith because it's one thing to do it when you're on your own like i picked up and moved to Australia but I was single I didn't have any kids and same thing I didn't know where I was gonna stay when i decided to do this but yeah yeah, to do it with a family, you definitely have to have a lot of faith and belief in yourself.
Selina Davis 04:11
Absolutely. Absolutely.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 04:13
So how did you get started then working with beauty brands specifically? So you talked about, you know, you had with your agency, you were doing you're working with talent and that but at some point you kind of focused and niche down so to speak on beauty brands where did that begin and you know what was the motivation that you know where you decided okay beauty is is the space that I'm gonna plant my flag
Selina Davis 04:40
Yeah I would say some of that seeding did start from the agency that I had. Because, you know, when you're doing sponsorship for like designers, they want hair brands, they want makeup brands. So I was really building that ability to connect to the right people through that sponsorship avenue and working with various different companies and brands. And then when you're dealing with talent, they also can have endorsements and opportunities. And that was like something that was very organic, if I'm honest, kind of happening. So then what was one driver for me was looking at brands in the industry, in the space of events and saying, and it seems might be really bad, but saying, why do they look like that? And I can make them look better.
And that's kind of was the driver like is one of the reasons why I had approached um namaste at the time to be completely honest because I had known that they were being acquired or they had been acquired and it was like a challenge for me to see that see where they were and see how I could make a change and I would say it kind of came from that it just was the ability of taking um taking this experience that I knew became like a standard or a comfortability for most brands and of course budget and all the things obviously play into that and then stretching that to become more of an experiential um component or opportunity and then learning how to how that actually connects the brands to the consumers became the like real driver for me so seeing that you know a lot of beauty brands you know we live on the shelves we live on our phones we can connect to them when we're shopping. But no one really has that moment where they can literally connect to a brand outside outside of like being an event.
Right. And not everybody has a founder story. Not everybody has, you know, you know, huge celebrities attached to it. But if they can connect to you in that moment, that to me is a lasting component, which I believe is what the experiential space offers to brands, and that's kind of where the passion came from.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 06:53
So I know when we met during the pandemic, you were doing a lot of work around creating immersive retail experiences in store. What's your take on what that store environment can deliver versus what a brand can deliver and ways they can connect in an external environment like outside of their retail space how do you approach uh the two?
Selina Davis 07:18
Yeah I think it's a it's been a missed opportunity for so many brands that retail component because our consumers live there all the time right there especially pre-pandemic we were shopping a lot we were inside of the stores we were doing all the things and to me it's it's a very confusing space when you put yourself in that consumer's feet when they walk up to the shelves how are they choosing who at that shelf right and you know when you have maybe some marketing background ultimately a shampoo can be the same across the the shelf but it's just different messaging ingredients etc etc.
So the ability to connect to the consumer in that retail space for me was a huge opportunity because to me that's like an event that's another way that you can either educate the consumer that's another way for you to kind of pop out on the shelves at the consumer and that's another way for your brand to differentiate itself from the your competitors or others on that in that space so for me i just kind of see the retail environment and merchandising as an extension to experiential.
And that's why when I think about things, my brain does think 360 because I understand the objectives of the marketing component. I understand the objectives of the sales component. And sometimes there's a disconnect between the two. You know, there's the sales and marketing, but the ability I have is I can see all around. So I can see how to connect the two and the retail environment was a great opportunity to do that from, I would say an experiential component and space. And it was like a white space because not a lot of people were doing much in that environment.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 09:02
Yeah, I agree. I definitely think it's, you know, something that brands need to be a bit more strategic about when it comes to marrying their retail experience and using experiential almost as an extension of that versus having them live separately. And, as you said, a lot of times the sales teams teams might be or merchandising team might be focusing on the retail.
But I think there is a huge opportunity because all of these brands that, you know, we work on, they are in their either own those experiences what's the through line you know with those experiences so that when a customer connects with it you know either visually or um you know one-on-one with you know someone from the brand that there is you know a like I said a through line a connection there's some similarities, there's some alignment, you know, across those experiences, because that really then is what helps the brand, those key messages, like continue to resonate for the consumer, you know, that's that the multiple touch points, it's like, okay, I had that experience there. I'm at XYZ festival, I can I can feel that vibe again. And, you know, and that's, I think, how you build brand love. You know, that consistency.
Selina Davis 10:28
Yeah, absolutely. I think you hit the nail on the face is that through line is the ability to see all of it to the end. But the unfortunate thing is a lot of it is always separate. It is, you know, most most companies have X person working on this and this person working on this. And then there's never really that ability to merge the sort of that connectivity and that experience all the way through, which is a missed opportunity for a lot of people, but a great opportunity for those that can leverage it.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 11:00
And I think you've been fortunate enough to have experiences where you've been able to influence the brands that you've worked with to, you know, think a bit more smartly about that, which kind of leads me to my thoughts around the work that you've done with Mayel, which is frankly legendary, you know, in the beauty industry because of the journey that they've been on and you've been with them for a good chunk of that journey. Give us, I'd love for you to give us the backstory. Like how did that, you know, that relationship, that partnership you have with them come about? And we definitely want to get into the whole acquisition of it all, but how did your journey with Mayel begin?
Selina Davis 11:45
Yeah. So, you know, relationships are key for me. Like they trump all things. And when we are in this space, you work with so many people who move to different brands and do different things all the time. Right. So I have been fortunate to be able to garner some really great relationships. So it was a number of people who I was working with in my previous company that then moved to Myel.
And they say people speak your name in rooms that you have no idea about. So multiple people were talking about me in this organization I had no clue about because obviously I wasn't there and at some point I think I was ending my tenure with the ORS brand at the time and I had a phone call and that phone call said Selena what are you doing for Essence and at the time I had a client for Essence and
I said oh nothing and she okay, it doesn't sound important. I need you in the convention center. Now, Aja, that was four weeks prior to Essence starting. Four weeks. Four weeks I had to come up with a convention center booth activation from scratch in four weeks
Aja Bradley-Kemp 13:05
I feel your pain.
Selina Davis 13:07
I took the I took the challenge on and when I tell you that experience for me was such an eye-opener of number one favor God has got my back i'm telling you back front left and right we literally got to the location you know you know about yard time martial yard time they shut the doors the all the things delivery issues all the things and we had lost a day because you know as i said we were hustling trying to get this whole booth activation done and the night that we were able to get the truck into the venue um the martial yard had closed they told us to park the truck and obviously you need days you need the day like news days and you need that time because end time is end time no one's extending when the event doors are opening so um I was I just remember sitting on my 20 by 20 floor on the carpet in the convention center, praying and saying, God, how can we get a truck inside this building?
I need my stuff. All of a sudden I heard the noise of these carts and my team. God knows how, because the master yard literally said she's not letting anyone in. We were able to get in and we literally spent the whole night dark as it needed to be getting ourselves at least as far as we could because obviously we had lost a day so I say all of that to say is um relationship number one you know i'm grateful for the relationships that I've built over the years you never know who you're going to work with and where they go because those forge amazing opportunities for you in the future.
And obviously that was my first intro into Essence and being able to create an immersive experience that P-Valley at the time absolutely loved. And I had no clue about P-Valley and they literally drew a whole concert around our booth at one point. So I say that was super memorable for it to be my first experience there for sure.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 15:11
Wow. And during your time at Myel, you've also had your agency, right? So you've navigated kind of being in-house, but also continuing to serve clients over the last couple of years. Is that correct?
Selina Davis 15:28
Yeah, so I came on board first initially as a consultant. So I was able to do that. And then from an agency company standpoint, I have people that do stuff for the agency side while I focus on the Myel brand. And it's obviously fluctuated over the years, but, you know, eventually that would be an arm of mine now, which is obviously want to continue in the future. But yes, I've been able to kind of juggle both, but my particular main focus has been on the Maiel side of things.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 16:04
So how long after Essence did this path start to reveal itself of you guys as a brand going into this acquisition or the conversations of that acquisition start happening because from my recollection, Myel really started to gain traction during the pandemic with people being at home. I remember Monique and Melvin being on Instagram Live and really that the community started to really flourish during that timeframe. And then I would take it essence would have happened after the pandemic, right?
This was post pandemic. And then it was, you know, just, it felt like we're in 2025 now. I mean, it's only been five years since 2020, right? So it's been this, you know, fast transition or, you know, this fast path to now the acquisition at P&G. So, you know, what, where did experiences start to take shape and take a role into, you know, leading you guys where you are now?
Selina Davis 17:19
Yeah. So, you know, I think you touched on the head with Monique and Melvin and the team that they had prior to even me being here, being very active on that social platform. And they've, you know, truly been known for like their community engagement, you know, their faith, their just love for people. So that's what you were seeing during that period of time.
I would say being in this industry, being in some of the same spaces as them not directly working with them at the time they've always been in like events they've always like done everything for the people so when i came on board it was 2022 when i came on board when I did the essence for them um and that probably was um a time where they were doing, I think when they initially got their first level of investment, I believe, was around that kind of period of time prior to or just after.
And that particular year, I don't believe we did a lot of events during that year. They got the funding and obviously they were growing. You know, they were, you know, they're 11 years this year. So they were growing anyway in an amazing organic way. So I would say the experiential kind of really kicked in for them during that first initial kickoff with Essence.
But Essence is something they've always done like a pop-up wise but actual in the convention center um so i would say that attention drifted from social to being in that present you know experiential people coming back outside wanting to see events we literally were like everywhere you could possibly think of. And obviously elevating that experience is what kind of heightened the attention even more.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 19:09
Was that a difficult decision from a strategy perspective for you guys internally to decide, okay, we need to be seen at so many spaces this year to really help the brand grow? Like, what was that? Because you can find at times that the marketing team understands the value of experiential and being at events.
But sales, C-suite, upper level management, they may not agree that that's the path. They might want to put all of that investment into something like digital because they feel like there's a more of a obvious ROI. You know, what was, what was the mindset and, and either support or, you know, feeling around experiential in general when you guys started on that path?
Selina Davis 20:08
Yeah, I would say they being Monique and Melvin are community connectors. So a big part of who they are is being out there and being connected to whoever. Did budgets take a play or was that a thought? Of course, the demand that we were having way outweighed the budget we had. So, you know, we were getting requests, like literally all the time, requests were coming in all the time.
So I would say, number one, budget obviously took a play in that because you can't do everything, can be everywhere for everyone. So I would say, number one, budget obviously took a play in that because you can't do everything and be everywhere for everyone.
So I would say that for sure. But then also because they had a passion for wanting to be out, be there in those spaces. You know, sometimes that passion trumped whether it was the right marketing or budget thing to do during that period of time. Obviously, over the last year or so, those strategically components have started to play more in the framing behind why we would do particular things. But I would say when I initially came on board, it was a huge driver for them. It was something that they had a huge legacy in, in terms of being out and being supporters of their community.
So a lot of it was driven by the passion of Monique and Melvin just want and need to wanting to always be supportive in their community. And that's kind of what was driving where we were going, why we were going, where we were going. Over the ROI, to your point, over the, did it make business sense or did it make budget sense? It was more of that component continuing.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 21:52
Oh, I think that's really refreshing to hear because a lot of times the, I guess the data will help drive those decisions over passion when it comes to brands and founders. So it's really nice to hear that what you see with Monique, especially, and how she communicates with her community, that that is all, it sounds very authentic. It seems very authentic and you know what you said I think reinforces that authenticity that they really wanted to be able to connect with their customers and be out there with the people and spend more time with them and so that that's great to hear let's
I want to dig into your brain a little bit and let's extract some of this expertise for for our audience here for you when you sit down and you are planning an experience and whether it was that first one for Essence or any of the other uh experiences that you've done since especially for Mayel where do you start what's the starting point for you
Selina Davis 23:03
Um so it's so interesting. And some people say like, do you have like all this technology and all the things that you do? I literally start from a piece of paper and I'm just scrapping. I'm like, I'm super scrappy. I must have thousands of little books everywhere. I literally start from just drawing or thoughts or thinking about what is, what's next. I'm a person and I'm probably not the best target audience for experiential because I get really bored. So like if I walk around an event and it doesn't excite me, I get really bored. And I think, like I said,
I don't think I'm the ideal, but I do get, you know, it does inspire me to see people going above and beyond for their consumer. And for me, that shows that number one is it goes beyond like a campaign or it goes beyond just, you know, just wanting to, you know, be in this particular room, you actually are trying to drive a connection to a consumer. So one of the things that I do very often, especially in the moments of those events, I take a step back and I just listen and see. I kind of observe like the engagement. I observe the responses that we get in. Um, I observe other people's responses and it could be other people within the room, other vendors within the room.
Um, and those things kind of allow me to understand what's worked, what hasn't worked, what I need to improve. Um, you know, I'm never directly satisfied, like nothing's ever like, Oh my God, it's so amazing. I'm so loving this is the best. Like I, maybe I, my achievements are so like, my brain goes so high. So, you know, they always say that you have Louis Vuitton mindset, but you may only have like, you know, target money.
Like, so sometimes my ideas may not always match the budgets that I have, but I prefer to have these high thoughts because not only, and one of the things that I don't think I mentioned before, Aja, is not only am I doing what I'm doing for the brand I'm working for, I'm also doing it to help others around me see the possibilities of what growth could look like, right? And especially when you're in rooms with smaller businesses, they come to me all the time and say, oh my God, I can't wait until
I'm like this and blah, blah, blah, and all the things. And I think for me, it's that driver of inspiration that you are imparting to other brands to see that they can also elevate. And it doesn't mean that they need to spend millions of dollars or whatever the budget may be. It's more that they can see themselves aspiring in the journey that they just have to continue on. And at some point, they will grow to wherever they need to be. And having that aspiration for me or being that aspiration in the room for me is a huge driver.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 25:58
That's great. And how do you translate your ideas and the things that you're coming up with on a global scale? Because with a brand like Miel, it's not just here in the U.S., it's the U.K., it's Europe, Africa. How do you bring these concepts to life, making them still relevant for that local consumer because they're not, even though they're all lovers of Mayel, from a cultural perspective, there's a different connection. How do you continue to create that brand consistency but make it relevant for the different markets that you're working in?
Selina Davis 26:47
Yeah. So I would say of late, we've been able to engage, or I've been able to, and I'm going to say this, I've been able to engage and recommend people in those markets that I know have the same level of passion and eye connectivity as I do. I would say a great advantage that I know have the same level of passion and connectivity as I do. I would say a great advantage that I have, and I will have to take pride in this, is that because I came from Europe, coming into America, my mindset is also not the same as if I were just, say, here. I would say you're the same.
When you have a global mind, as in you've been able to be exposed to multiple different markets, you have the ability to see things differently and also then inject that into your thoughts and ideas. Right. a capability that we have to have that global eye because to your point some people will just take this framework bring it there and not understand that they don't understand it the same and it could be something as simple as in the hair industry for example hair styles differently in you know in the in Europe than it does to America It could be when I used to do photography and all those kind of campaigns, a front cover image in the US could be super photo shopped, whereas in the UK, they'd be like, why is it looking like that?
But you have to understand that the audience is going to be different. And I would say that advantage has allowed me to be a great resource to those that we have been able to use in other markets, specifically like Europe, where you can. And obviously, I'm coming from Europe. Then it just kind of helps to see it in a different way. So I'll just say the blessing and advantage is that global eye that you have been able to impart, whether it's through travel or work, a different mindset into what you do because you know how to convert that to the audience.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 28:51
Yeah. Yes. You have to have that education. You have to take it upon yourself to open up your mind and be open to different experiences. And I always would say to young people, especially young black people, you know, here in the U S before, you know, what we're dealing with now. And, you know, people are like, okay, I need to go to Africa, whatever. Even before that, 10 years ago, I was always saying to young people, get a passport and go live somewhere else, even if it's just for six months, you know, because people around the world are different and they experience things differently.
Words have different meanings to people. And also perspectives are different. You know, how people live their life on a daily basis is very different when you get outside of this country. So, you know, having everybody should take it upon themselves if their job doesn't, you know, put them in a position to be in another country, to somehow spend some time with people in other environments.
Selina Davis 29:57
Yeah, I agree. And that's one thing I always say to people. If you haven't got a passport, they say, I want to go to America. I mean, go to Europe. Don't want to, just go to America I mean go to Europe don't want to just go like just go just go
Aja Bradley-Kemp 30:11
100 outside of the beauty space you know what are some brands that you admire um that you think do experiential right
Selina Davis 30:21
Um so I feel like the alcohol world are great. I love what I see over there from an experiential perspective. You know, it's one of those things is so interesting construction, like even like kitchen. I've seen some like, you know, appliances. When you look at their like expo spaces, it's like out of the world. And then also international, especially when you look at like Middle Eastern places, technology has played a huge role.
And they, you know, they're like years in front of us and how they've been able to engage technology and I think for me that's some aspirational markets that you can really leverage where technology may not be something as heavily used in our industry over here whereas in other markets it has been so um I would say those are some of the the things I look at um in other industries and markets.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 31:29
Yeah, I agree. Definitely the Middle East, they definitely know how to do things. So I have to ask, you are a mother of five.
Selina Davis 31:36
I am, ma'am.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 31:37
I'm a mother of two. How are you doing this? Because I struggle being a mother of two in this industry with the amount of travel, like you gave the example with Essence, four weeks’ notice, like that's common. We all want three, six, nine months to plan. We never get it. It's always last minute. So how are you managing and how have you managed over the years being able to manage being a mom being a wife and you know running a business being a leader
Selina Davis 32:14
Yeah it's um you know the the the trigger word that a lot of people say balance and all the things, right? I don't believe there's anything, there's no such word as balance when you are trying to figure out everything. In a pandemic, someone used the word harmony, right? So, you know, as a mom, a mom of five, it's been hard. So I'm not going to lie and say, oh my God, my life is amazing. It's been great. No, it's been hard.
It's been hard because you obviously want to be present in all spaces at all times um one thing I'm grateful for is that my role is remote so you know I've been able to um work around my kids schedules when those things made sense now have I missed birthdays at times because of the event falling on the weekend of my kids? Yes, I have. Have I missed moments, you know, over the years, because obviously this, you know, this job is paying our bills.
So, you know, you have to make those sacrifices. But I think over the last couple of years, I have prioritized the importance of my work, but also the importance of being present with my kids. And I think it only comes with time. It's not something that you can, like, I can write in a book and say, these are the steps that you need to take. I feel like it's a mindset process that you have to evolve with over a period of time?
Is it because you are great at time management? No, because I have a whole calendar for my kids. And do I forget sometimes? Yes. Do they have to call me and say, mom, you forgot to pick me up? Yes, on a call or something. But that being said, I think it's been more of a personal evolving of self and really knowing how to prioritize as much as you can with the personal component of your kids. Right. Because they're human. They're going through stuff. You want to be present for them.
And then learning that especially the entrepreneurial type of person, which we are, we're all in all the time right like so I don't care what time of the night it is you're all in if something needs to be happening you're all in but what I've had to learn is how to uh reframe my time and actually switch off because if I'm not if I'm not functioning enough like if i'm too tired or if I'm literally draining myself out because I'm working hours and hours and hours as well as doing the whole parenting part, I'm no good to no one.
Either way, right? I'm no good to no one. So one of the things I've done is I do not bring my computer in my bedroom. Like I used to have my computer sit on my bed wake up like things on my lap right not saying I may not look at my phone but my laptop does not enter my bedroom and I'll say that's been the last couple of years and that was very intentional because I lived and breathed this computer and doing my work that's one thing i think i've changed i also now have learned to love sleep like I do love sleep and then as a mom
I don't get much time for me so I wake up at four in the morning and I go to the gym and I tried to have that moment for myself prior to my kids waking up because I just need a moment to set my life on my brain and do something for me before, sorry, do something for me before I start doing something for everybody else. So I think it's just been over time, just prioritizing what's important to you. But you will never always get it right. And there is never, you know, I think it's a lie. Someone says my life is so balanced. It really right now. Yeah.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 36:05
Yeah. There's no balance. The balance is a lie that we've been sold and we're all like figuring it out now. Our eyes have been opened and we're learning how to navigate it because that's not happening. And it's interesting that you say that, you know, your workouts are how you kind of, you know, find that time for yourself. Because I remember us having this conversation about, you know, your workout schedule and you go you starting at 4 a.m.
And I was like, girl, how you start at 4 a.m.? Because I was finding that when I would work out in the morning, by the end of the day, I would be crashing. But what I realized, and this goes back to your point about sleep, I've been on the sleep thing for a minute now. But I've been having a lot of issues with my sleep. I don't sleep well, but I figured out that the sleep is like the underlying component to everything. So once I figured out how to get better sleep, now, yes, I can get up. I go to a 6am class. I ain't doing 4am, but I go to a 6am workout and, you know, to, and that really does actually help my energy.
And I can sustain, you know, throughout the day, you know, at least till five, six o'clock and then yes, then I'm done. But whereas before I was like crashing by three and I was like, I couldn't figure it out. But yeah.
Selina Davis 37:42
Yeah. And I think it's just knowing it's learning your body and and being allowed to learn it and being um okay with learning that journey of what works for you um but then also realizing that you are probably more more productive in that time that you've had than you may have been when we've been like doing long nights or all night things that you know I remember doing as a young entrepreneur like literally killing myself nights or all night things that, you know, I remember doing as a young entrepreneur, like literally killing myself, staying up all night. I'm not doing that.
Like it's not happening anymore. But it's only because you're learning yourself and you value the health of yourself over the mental crash outs or the stress and all the other things that have happened to us over the, you know, over the years, because we've just put so much into what we do.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 38:27
Yeah. And we're also at a different age now. We're not 25 anymore. So
Selina Davis 38:31
I don't know about you, Aja, but I'm growing younger. So I need people to ask for my ID. Okay.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 38:38
Oh, I'm not saying from a looks perspective, a hundred percent. perspective 100 we we look 25 but our bodies physically are not 25. so the five hours of sleep the three hours of sleep or staying up till 6 00 a.m getting an hour and then going to work we can't do that anymore not doing that at all not doing that at all how do you, you talked about sleep and working out, but how do you like creatively like reset so that you don't burn out and also can like keep your ideas fresh and keep that excitement fresh?
Day perspective managing you know your time but then you know just from a creative perspective because the work that we do it takes a lot of energy mentally emotional physical to be able to come up with all of these great ideas and be sketching and giant like how do you get that creative uh reset
Selina Davis 39:41
Yeah um I think it happens in a few ways. I have a good team that I work with who we can bounce off really great ideas from, and that has been a great fuel for me. I've also noticed when that creativity dies is when I'm super stressed about the wrong things, right? So when you're in an environment similar to like, just, it could be anything, it could be super stressful. Life could be busy. Corporate world could be busy.
You know, things that are stressing you out can and will drain your creativity. And that could be even as a writer, it could be anything, right? Any creative person, you have to understand what kills your creativity and also what ignites it. So when you can identify the, what kills it. And like I said, that could be stress. It could be, um, relationship issues. It could be, you know, whatever it is. There are things that, you know, you can get really creatively die.
You can die with you can feel it within yourself you're like why am I not feeling the feet like it's just really it's really hard but then also knowing and having the right creative people that can help you feed pull out of you what is inside of you and one of the things i do know is about me is you can give me a few words and from those few words my brain starts working like creatively like I just start ticking ticking and all these ideas it could be just the entrepreneur talking about her journey and her and her brand and I'll be like all these ideas come into my head but then on the flip side when you need to turn it on and you really stressful it's like you're pulling you're pulling something that's just not there and you have to just know that about yourself and and you really can't do anything in that moment apart from switch off reset your mind and then and then begin again if that's possible now
Aja Bradley-Kemp 41:36
I almost forgot we gotta talk about this bag
Selina Davis 41:41
Oh, ma'am.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 41:45
We need to talk about this. Yes, this is the bag. It's so funny. Over the weekend, I was at an event for a client and there was someone from the industry. I forgot which brand she worked for, but she was there. And we were talking about bags and all of the like iconic beauty bags from the last couple of years and that pink maille bag we're saying had the girls in a choke hold for what the last two years it feels like was it two years or was it just one year
Selina Davis 42:19
It felt like that was our 10th year anniversary bag and then the year before we had another tote bag that had the same effect. I don't know. It's been literally we've had people, I think it was last year, we had some people fighting over these. But it's been a hot ticket for sure.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 42:39
Yes. My daughter even tracked, we tracked Selena down at a festival. And my daughter was like, I want a bag. I need a bag my 10 year old so what what's give us a little bit of strategy or you know what's the what's the secret to creating these uh must have culturally relevant gift bags that call yes called bags gift bags
Selina Davis 43:10
You know I think once you like and it is so funny because bags have always been a thing right like bags is not it's not a new thing for say companies to to give bags out I think and and and I and I think it's just it's been a connection that we have had that has really driven our consumers when we have these experiences and then also seeing the bags everywhere so like even that was that i think it was south by southwest one time and we were at a venue and we slowly were giving out these bags and these random people were starting to come because they kept seeing these bags on the street.
Right. So it's like it's definitely a form of advertising. So any brands that have an opportunity to have some piece of a merch, whatever it is that can create that sea of brand exposure. I think that's what has been the great thing about the bags over the last couple of years. They've kind of been speaking on our behalf and drawing people to us because people are like, where'd you get that bag? Where'd you get that bag? Where'd you, you know, and everybody's aunts and uncles are in the restroom while they want extra bags and all the things. So yes.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 44:21
Do you want to talk about a little bit the, your design inspiration with the bag? Cause that you mentioned that it was for the 10th year anniversary and that was your, was that the Mayel verse?
Selina Davis 44:34
Yeah.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 44:34
Activation.
Selina Davis 44:35
Correct. Yeah. You know, Mayel has been blessed and has got great designers in house and you know, it's, it's amazing when you have great creative minds that can just come up with amazing, like, opportunities. And the bag type, I would say, came as a result of the inspiration for that year. So the Mayel verse played into the role of the bag material that we chose.
And then obviously the design itself came from the team internally. But, you know, I think if you know how to match your experience with said merch or some kind or takeaway, it does continue that story outside of the actual event. Because, as you know, the event is over one day, two days, and then after that it's finished, right? So it's a great memory piece for people to remember that they were the ones fighting in the queue or running up to the guys saying, can I have a bag at that particular event? So hopefully when they come back, they can remember you.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 45:43
So tell us a little bit about this MyLverse experience, because it popped up at a few different tent poles around the country for the 10th anniversary. You guys did a lot of integration on social with it. Tell us a little bit about the MyLverse.
Selina Davis 45:59
Yeah, it was a great team collaboration. Number one, you hit the nail on the head. It was our 10th anniversary, and that, to be celebrated from an entrepreneurial standpoint, Melvin and Monique celebrating 10 years was extremely amazing for them, for them to be able to achieve what they've been able to achieve in 10 years.
Not only is it an industry achievement, just being a small part of that has been amazing. So the MyELverse was something that allowed us to tap into where the technology was going to like AI, as you know, has slowly started being infiltrated into our social and our filters and all those kinds of things. So we really wanted to bring that into the space of activation. So we were able to, you know, really create an, what would it feel like to be in the future?
And how can we bring that into an experience that was a space that people could remember? And we had the AI photo booth and we had some other components that kind of helped to solidify that journey that we were on that year for our 10th anniversary.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 47:24
So being that Mayel was celebrating its 10th year anniversary, and you talked about all of the things that they have accomplished within that 10 years, one of those things is and was their acquisition by Procter & Gamble that happened within that 10-year timeframe. So I would love to hear from your perspective, because you were really in it with them during this run-up to the acquisition. What role do you think experiential played in the value that the brand had and that attractiveness that it had received from P&G to be acquired.
Selina Davis 48:09
Yeah, I think what people don't realize is that when you are or when you have the ability to be in the face of your consumer, people can see the true authenticness of a brand right so any kind of experiential activity you have is seen whether you know it or not by potential investors or potential companies that may be looking for opportunities to purchase a brand right so I would say that experiential brought the brand to life and enabled investors or Procter & Gamble and any other person, any other brands that did approach Melvin and Monique from an acquisition standpoint to actually see, is this source a real thing?
Is it just something that we're seeing on the shelf? Are consumers really feeling this brand the way that we feel they're feeling it? And they get that by seeing that engagement in person. So I think what you're saying, Aja, it's a thing that I don't think it's a conscious thing that people are aware of can happen. But there are many, even like targets or walmart's or any of these buyers they're walking these experiential floors looking for brands to bring into their stores right and that is obviously an investment that they're making by bringing them on into their stores so that's the opportunity like with anything like your scout or if you're you know you're in athletics i see that as that scouting opportunity that these said investors or retailers are using these experiential spaces for to see who's next who's hot who are the consumers really engaging and rocking with what you know what how how am i feeling being around it you know what can we do to help elevate it?
And I think those experiential opportunities really brought what they were doing already, right? Sales was already ranking up. They were doing really, really well. But it just brought the brand to life physically that these, you know, these companies were able to physically see that connection that, you know, Monique and Melvin had with the consumer and obviously the brand MyEl.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 50:29
Yeah, I think that's a great point. And it's a great reminder for brands who are on a growth trajectory, whether they're looking to be acquired or they're just looking to expand their distribution. It really goes beyond just what's happening in the digital space, what's happening on the screens. It's like, how are people relating to you in the real world? Are they creating foot traffic to go and engage with you at these tent pole events? Are they coming to your pop-up shops?
You know, all of those things are proof points that, like you said, the brand is hot, that you have a loyal customer base. So I think that's great advice and something for brands to keep in mind. Now, speaking of with this acquisition and, you know, what it did, I had a flashback recently, you know, to the Mayel acquisition, because just recently, Rode and Hailey Bieber, that was a big acquisition that was made.
And there was so much excitement and praise and well-deserved around that. But it reminded me of when Miel got acquired. I think even before the acquisition, they had a huge investment that was made. I think it was by Berkshire, if I'm not mistaken. And then they had the acquisition. And I remember at the time, Monique had to step into the comments to talk about, you know, why this acquisition was, you know, so important and such a positive thing.
And then, I mean, this goes back to probably even the Carol's daughter conversation, really, to, you know, to be honest, you know, when our Black-owned brands have this opportunity to be acquired, like, this is a good thing. You know, why do you think that the reception that we get as black owned Brands is different from a general market brand when something like this happens
Selina Davis 52:35
yeah I think um you know number one is being inside of it when it was happening, it's very saddening because not only are you showcasing what potential businesses are going to have to face if they even try and step into this whole acquisition, right? The response I feel was very unfair because to your point, it was very monumental for a black woman to be able to be acquired for the value that she was acquired for, for a 10 year period, which is amazing to be able to achieve what she was able to achieve in that short space of time and to grow a brand in that short space of time from her kitchen, right?
You know, I think, unfortunately, we've had some other historical examples that, you know, kind of had very similar responses. And I think we need to change what acquisition means to us as a culture, right? And I always go back to this analogy on bread. If I have a bread company and I go to a store, I'm going to put my bread on the shelf and hope that anyone picks my bread up, whether, I don't care where you're from, I just need your money, right? And I think sometimes we get so built up on the ownership component that we don't realize that what we're doing is we're building legacy for ourselves to eventually become that conglomerate, right?
We want to be able to become that conglomerate type that can invest into ourselves. But if we keep messing it up for us it will never get there you know and I think it's a very unfortunate thing that you see happening because it's just gonna it's just gonna make it very hard for others to be able to build legacy and wealth and to be able to be in a position to be able to acquire and then also on the other side of it, money is available and people out there do have money. And, you know, unfortunately it wasn't a company that was, you know, a black investment company that came in with the dollars needed to be able to expand. So, you know, it's, you know, you, you, you have to kind of see it from all different angles and, you know, they made a decision that was right for them right for their family right for the brand um and it wasn't a decision that
I'm sure was taken lightly from them it you know it could have been a period of time I know there were other companies that they you know they that came to them and they were in a great position that these companies came to them it's not like they walked to the doors of these conglomerates they were coming to their door so that's another lesson that we should be looking into like how do I make my brand so attractive that people are coming to me throwing money at me or saying they want my what I have you know and I think we just kind of missed some of those learning opportunities.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 55:44
Yeah. Yeah. I always maintain that an acquisition for especially a Black-owned brand is a win because, you know, as an entrepreneur, it takes a lot of money to create these brands, to build these brands, and it's going to take significant money for it to become a legacy brand, to be around for the next 50, 100 years.
You can't always do that on not saying that Monique and Melvin were operating in a mom and pop way, but just, you know, when you start out, it's your mom and pop situation to become a globally recognized brand to last the test of time and become the next Estee Lauder.
When she passed away, you know, 15 years ago and now, you know, her son Leonard just passed away recently. I think he was in his 90s. This is a legacy brand. Estee Lauder is a brand that will last to the end of time. We want Amayel, we want Carole's daughter to last to the end of time. And that takes money, that takes investment.
Hailey Bieber is now in a position to become a legacy brand. We want to clap for them. We need to clap for us too and continue to, we want these things to happen. We have to, we need to want everybody black to win.
Selina Davis 57:11
We have to be more cheerleaders of the success and everybody has a strategy for their business and not everybody wants to physically have to be the person running the business all the time. And I that's a a great model that you can create a said company or a framework that becomes attracted or attractive to investment then for me that's great that means I can do this again that means I can do this again and again and again and keep building brands that become attractive for others to want and i can keep building my legacy that way but I think we just see it in a different perspective Yeah.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 57:50
Being on this journey so far with png what advice would you give the acquiring brand to look out for or to think about when they're looking to purchase a brand that has a lot of cultural relevance? It has a really specific customer.
Selina Davis 58:12
Yeah, I think number one is the why. What has attracted you and why are you even interested in this company to begin with? Number two, understanding what the company has been able to create and understanding how can you harness that thing and keep that going with the abilities and expansion and the technology and the research that you have to enhance it, right?
And I think, you know, when we look at previous examples of many brands that have been acquired um you know one of the the the one thing that a lot of them do is that they miss what the dna of that company was and then they try to impose something else onto it when you can also mess what you had for the very reasons why you bought it so I would say you know definitely listen to those that are working inside um you know whether they stay on board or don't stay on board i feel like inside intel is extremely valuable um and can provide you guys you know acquirers with great footprints on what they can do to help enhance.
You know, I think having acquired brands that have great infrastructure can be super, super amazing for smaller businesses, as you had mentioned before, being able to have distribution, you know, abilities requires money, right? Or even requires you to have a company that has shelf life and shelf space that now you can be a part of that family because it's a discounted quote unquote rate, opposed to paying the real rate, you're paying a discounted rate. So you have so many different advantages.
Research could be another one that you have now access to so there's some great um areas of opportunity that acquirers can have for smaller brands but I think essentially really understanding the core of the company is only going to help them continue that thread moving forward with the abilities to help them grow and expand it's when you don't do that is where you see some of the, you know, issues that we've seen in the past and, you know, hopefully not moving forward, but if they just throw money at something can come in and change things, you know, you do lose the why, you lose the reason why you were attracted to that company in the first place.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 1:00:42
Yeah, I think that's a great point because, you know, companies have a lot of great processes that help them run efficiently, but really being able to understand the soul of the brand and, you know, what sets it apart from the competitors and being able to maintain that, that's what's going to help the acquisition be successful. So that's a great point.
So you're in this corporate season working at Procter & Gamble, but you have this great reputation as an entrepreneur. How are you managing being the lead experiential person at Myel, but I'm sure there is still interest and people still want to kind of tap into your expertise. How do you manage those two roles?
Selina Davis 1:01:32
Yeah, I think it's super interesting And I think because of the world that we're in, you're going to get that regardless. And thankfully, you know, loving what you do, you're going to get that, right? And we're in the environments and spaces where that happens. So obviously when that, those kinds of opportunities potentially happen for me over the years, I'm truly grateful that I've been able to garner relationships with other people in my industry that have the capabilities and capacities to take on some of those projects.
And, you know, we're probably very, very similar, that you will only kind of have the right people on your team or on your side that you would even recommend, where you know that they have the same kind of level of integrity and experience that you have to be able to build those relationships, not for you, but and and not trying to take away from you but the ability to be able to pass on some of those opportunities so with all of that to say is i 100 of course have had many people bless me and say they've wanted you know to work with me and I'm super super grateful and will continue to be grateful for anyone that comes um to me to want to do those things um I take them on case by case to be completely honest um and not that I'm physically the one directly doing the work um I take them case by case in terms of the project and who i believe would be the best person to be able to do that. And I love to be able to bless other people.
And that's ultimately how I see myself. I see myself as like that, you're talking about through lines before, but that person that people can come to that I can then bless to give that opportunity to somebody else. So I've kind of been able to do that, especially because of this corporate vein has been extremely busy. And to be completely honest, we've been so busy, you know, these last couple of years,
I have not had the capacity to physically do the stuff myself anyway, even if I wanted to. But because of the relationships I have, I've been able to, you know, just to pass through some of those opportunities to others.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 1:03:41
Yeah, that's great. And it's great to be able to connect people and pass it on, pay it forward. Well, we are almost out of time. But before you go, we want to ask you, we ask this to all of our guests. We want to hear from you. Who is having a moment? What is having a moment? Or where is having a moment?
Selina Davis 1:04:04
Wow wow that's a loaded question Aja what where is having a moment I feel like the whole world is having a moment right now there's a lot going on that is true so much going on in the world um I would say who is having a moment I think us as human beings are having a moment right now i feel we are in a world of so much going on that I feel that hopefully for most we are prioritizing what's important in life because I feel like we don't know that we can see also that we don't have control over so many components that are happening in the world that we need to be the moment that we're in we have to be present in where we are at right now in life whether it's work family you know whatever it is being present in life putting your feet on the ground staying present in where you're at I feel is a moment we all need to have um because of the state of the world that we're living in, right?
And we can't control it. We don't know what tomorrow is going to bring. And that's one thing I would say is important for all of us. So what is having a moment? I feel like we as human beings are having a moment and we just need to be present, be in it, enjoy where we're at. And as I say to my kids, they're always like, what are we doing next week? Can I just stay here?
Can I just be here today? I don't wanna think about next week. I just wanna stay in the rest of the day that I'm in right now. But Samara's gonna have his other stuff that I need to think about, but let me just stay here. I just wanna stay here.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 1:05:46
That's a good one. We got to stay present. I'm going to take that on board myself. So thank you, Salida.
Selina Davis 1:05:53
You're welcome.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 1:05:54
Thank you so much for being here. And we look forward to talking to you again soon.
Selina Davis 1:05:58
Thank you. Thank you for having me. It's been amazing. I love what you do. I'm so grateful that you allowed me to be on this platform. Just continue being who you are, you know, shining a light on so many other people. And may God continue to bless your life, honey.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 1:06:15
Thank you, Selena. I appreciate it.
Selina Davis 1:06:17
You're welcome.
