Mind the Crown
“As Brown and Black women, we are told that we need to be strong at all times,” says Adrianna Willis, CEO and founder of Mind the Crown, LLC. “As Black women we are so strong that we sometimes come across as domineering. We have to guard our hearts at all times. We can’t be vulnerable because of the burden of having to be strong,” says Willis.
In response, Willis launched Mind the Crown with the mission to help women adopt a lifestyle that allows them to set boundaries to protect their peace and unapologetically explore the things that bring them joy through the company’s products and services on its website.
At its #SOFTLIFE party held in a suite at 708 N. 1st St. in Minneapolis, on Sunday, April 23, Mind the Crown held its business relaunch event tailored to helping women have a #SOFTLIFE and crowning the men who provide space for Black women to be vulnerable.
The company helps Black and Brown women find their joy by providing radical self-care with products such as incense, candles, Woosah journals, #SoftLife affirmation cards, games, and activities.
The company also sells curated gift boxes—including a “Self-Care Sunday” basket, “Girl Manifest It!” box, “Straight Trippin Weekender” box, and even “A Cancer Picked the Wrong Queen” chemo bag—in paying homage and reaching back to others, as they have done for her. There’s also a “Self-Love” box that includes everything to host a two-hour party of self-indulgence.
Willis has learned from her speaking engagements that men want to give women space to be vulnerable. She feels if a man is coming to a ##SOFTLIFE launch party, she wants to recognize the kings making space for their queens.
Mind the Crown was originally formed in 2020, during COVID and after the murder of George Floyd, says Willis, “because we were being called everything but a child of God.”
Willis started by spreading love and cheer by gifting her friends during unprecedented times. Then the offering was shared with the community. She found that many women she encountered were also looking for gifts not only for themselves but for their friends and family. She wanted to focus on women being nurturers.
Willis is a testament to the fact that second tries don’t mean failure—or in this case, a reboot of her original concept—but are a testament to lessons learned. When she first started, Willis found herself chasing different things in her business as a fledgling entrepreneur. “I didn’t know who my target audience was or how to reach them,” she said.
“You think your friends and family will support your business. But the first lesson you learn is that they are not your target audience,” she adds. “I didn’t have a business and marketing plan, which caused me to be all over the place.”
Willis found a business coach, Minnesota-based CEO Angel Evens of Led by TRUTH (ledbytruth.org). Willis credits Evens as the “business whisperer” who showed her how she could go from working full-time at someone else’s business to working for herself. Her coach gave her business self-esteem. “A business coach can get you out of your own way,” says Willis.
But it didn’t stop there, Evens coached Willis on how she can build five streams of income through her one business. This was built into an eight-month business coaching program where Willis was able to identify her business model including her mission and vision for her business. Then Evens helped Willis establish her business plan. This is why Willis encourages others to have a business coach—or in this case, a business whisperer. They can see things from a different perspective.
Willis now has a business plan to get into LunarStartups and is getting sales on Amazon through the Black Business Accelerator program. Willis’s ultimate goal is to be a part of the global market for Black and Brown women across the world.
People around you may not understand what you are doing but if it is something that you feel you want to do, you need to put the work in, get the education, network, find free resources, and build community.
One goal of Mind the Crown is to change the narrative to let women know that “strong and strength are not equal.” Another goal is to allow women the space to become softer and men more vulnerable to heal as a family.
Find more info at mindthecrown.com or call 612-275-5468.
Jiccarra N. Hollman welcomes reader comments at jhollman@spokesman-recorder.com.
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