69: From Selling Tea Out of Her Trunk to Selling in Major Retailers: Nailah Ellis-Brown of Ellis Island Tea

Side Hustle Pro

Nicaila Matthews Okome | Side Hustle Pro Media

Blackpodcast, Sidehustlepro, Blackwomenownedbusiness, Entrepreneurship, Nicailamatthewsokome, Blackentrepreneurs, Sidehustleshow, Smallbusinessshow, Smallbusinessowners, Smallbusinesspodcast, Marketing, Sidehustle, Blackownedbusiness, Blackwomenentrepreneurs, Business, Sidehustles, Businesspodcast, Blackwomen

4.7 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 16 November 2017

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today’s guest is Nailah Ellis Brown. I first heard about Nailah from my roommates, Nydia and Stefanie at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. They supported her business as part of the MBAs Across America program that the participated in (and you’ll hear more about this in the episode). I’ve been fascinated by Nailah every since. A Black Woman from Detroit with Jamaican roots, Ellis-Brown has made a name for herself as part of the Detroit manufacturing renaissance. Her distinctive hibiscus Ellis Island Tea, based on a family recipe and bottled in an urban 4,000 square foot plant, has expanded sales into six airports and locations across 12 Midwestern states along with shelf space in regional retailer Meijer, Whole Foods and most recently Sam Club stores.

She’s been named one of the Forbes 30 Under 30, has been featured on MSNBC for a small business makeover, and she’s only getting started.

Her plan was to go to school, work on wall street then quit and be an entrepreneur But when she realized the student loan hustle, she wanted no parts of it. On today’s episode, Nailah gets into:

How she’s been able to brew and bottle a recipe steeped in family tradition
How she went from selling out of her trunk to selling in Sam’s clb
Learning the science behind her
How she took a leap of faith and started over from scratch
How investing in herself and her business led to big rewards in major brand partnership
Plus how she’s continuing to grow her brand

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for today's show comes from Squarespace.
0:03.0	Whether you need a portfolio to showcase your work,
0:05.5	a store to sell your products and services,
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0:12.8	to make your next big move known to the world.
0:15.8	With Squarespace, you can easily create a website
0:18.4	by yourself using user-friendly templates
0:21.2	and customizable features.
0:22.8	Simply add and arrange your content with just a few clicks.
0:26.2	Check out Squarespace.com for a free trial and when you're ready to launch,
0:30.2	use the offer code Hustle Pro 10 to save 10% of your first purchase of a website or domain.
0:37.0	You're listening to Side Hustle Pro, the podcast that teaches you to build and grow a
0:42.0	side hustle from passion project to
0:44.1	profitable business and I'm your host Nikala Matthews so let's get started. Hey hey guys guys welcome back to the show today and the guest chair, I have Naella Ellis Brown,
1:05.3	the founder of Ellis Island Tea.
1:07.8	I first learned about Naella and Ellis Island Tea
1:10.7	from my roommate's Niedia and Stephanie at the University of Michigan
1:14.7	Raul School of Business. Needia and Stephanie were a part of the inaugural
1:19.0	MBAs Across America program, a program that paired MBAs with small business owners and entrepreneurs to help them scale
1:26.2	their businesses.
1:27.9	And Niedia, Stephanie, and their team worked with Nuyela to develop a financial
	...

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