JoAnn Emale

I was raised to believe in myself and the ability to do great things, and I would attribute that to my father and my mother, really just instilling in me the ability to be able to do whatever I feel like and put my mind to. I also have the discipline to stay the course. I have a lot of tenacity and I don't give up easily. A lot of dreams die because people don't keep going, but having tenacity and the wherewithal to keep going through the harder days has been a game changer for me.

Know your product and believe in your product, and understand that your lane is your lane. When you're entering the beauty industry, you have to know who you are and what your product stands for, and what your product is trying to bring to the market. Understand what makes you innately different and stand behind what makes you different. We had an innovation that was completely new to market, but as you can imagine, you'll quickly see other copycats come into the market. But you have to stand behind your design, stand behind what you believe in, and know that your brand is the best, even if there are others. Just believe in yourself and your brand. Stay in your lane, because if you look to the left and the right, you can easily start comparing yourself in spaces that you don't even compete in.

One of the most difficult parts is that when you are a solopreneur or someone that contracts or someone building a brand, having the funding and resources that you need to be able to get the right people in place to support you can be very difficult. It can be very lonely and very challenging to constantly have to navigate that. I think women-led founders, oftentimes, even in your personal lives, you tend to be the superwoman or the strong friend in your group that people automatically assume that you have it going on, you have all the T's crossed and I's dotted. But the challenge is ultimately support. People assume you handle it, but getting the right support and resources in place is one of the greatest challenges I face.

I prioritize myself and make sure to carve out time for myself. I have a hard policy that between 7 and 9 AM, from the moment I wake up till 9am, that's me time. Whether that's me cooking, whether I decide I want to clean the house, whatever I do, the first 2 hours of my day are dedicated to myself. Then the rest of the day can be dedicated to work. I do this because I feel guilty at times when it's the middle of the day and I want to go work out but didn't finish a goal. But if I do it at the top of my day, I know that I honored myself before I honored my goals. I also make time to get a facial, have 10 hours to just sleep and doom scroll once a week, or just making sure that I prioritize myself at some particular point in time in the day.