REWIND: 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
4.8 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 24 May 2018
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today’s REWIND 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 they 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
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Stitcher and Google Play
Links mentioned on this episode
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Announcements
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Social Media Info
Connect on Instagram:
Ellis Island Tea – @EllisIslandTea
Side Hustle Pro – @sidehustlepro
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm the only black female-owned beverage manufacturing operation and so because it's a unique story |
| 0:08.1 | media has gravitated to it. It's like this is she gonna or is she going to swim kind of thing everybody's |
| 0:14.4 | wondering am I going to end up being successful no I have not reached a level of |
| 0:18.1 | success that I would like to I still consider myself a success in the making a A lot of people are calling me an |
| 0:24.1 | overnight success but it took me 10 years to become what they're calling an |
| 0:28.0 | overnight success and we're just getting started. |
| 0:32.3 | You're listening to Side Hustle Pro, the podcast that teaches you to build and grow your |
| 0:37.5 | Side Hustle, from Passion Project to Profitable Business. |
| 0:41.3 | And I'm your host, Nakela Matthew Zakome. |
| 0:44.0 | So let's get started. |
| 0:47.0 | Hey, hey guys, welcome to another rewind edition of Side Hustle Pro. So have you guys been enjoying the |
| 0:54.6 | rewinds? I hope so, but you'll be happy to know that I just recorded my first |
| 1:00.3 | June episode. I'll be batch recording episodes through the end of this month |
| 1:05.5 | for several months ahead so yes new episodes are loading I am excited. This hiatus period has been a really good refresh for me, you know, to |
| 1:16.3 | think of fresh new themes, content, ideas, and I'm just overall just feeling |
| 1:22.0 | really excited about the direction of the show. |
| 1:25.0 | Additionally, I've really loved seeing people discover and rediscover these episodes |
| 1:31.0 | which are some of the best of Side Hustle Pro episodes. |
| 1:34.4 | So I've seen people tweeting out, lessons that they've learned, |
| 1:38.3 | people have shared IG videos, and I just love it. Like these are episodes that, you know, as you do more episodes, |
| 1:45.0 | new listeners tend to just come in and listen to the latest one, |
| 1:48.0 | but now you got to go back in the archives. |
... |
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