#28: Building Trust: Cory and Nicol Varona of OCOA Beauty Tell Their Story
In this episode, your hosts Emmanuel Eleyae and Grace Eleyae talk with Cory and Nicol Varona - co-founders of OCOA Beauty. They talk about their background and why they wanted to start a hair care brand. They also talk about what it’s like being sisters and running a business together. You’ll also hear about the story of OCOA, from finding their first manufacturer to their rebrand and relaunch this year. In the Founder Rounder, they talk about how to build brand awareness and give some tips for building a community online.
Timestamps:
Cory & Nicol’s Background/Why They Started OCOA
- (0:48) Cory explains what OCOA does and why they started their business. They were looking for clean quality hair products for curly hair.
- (3:02) Emmanuel asks if they feel successful and Cory talks about how they rebranded this year and how the growth has been really successful.
- (4:38) Nicol talks about how their personal transformations fueled their inspiration for OCOA. They both decided to stop straightening their hair and started experimenting with new products for their curly hair.
- (6:55) Nicol talks about how Cory learned how to be a natural hair formulator and started creating products for a simplified routine. This led them to create their formulas and test their products but they weren’t focused on the branding.
- (8:25) Nicol talks about what they did before OCOA - they both went to business school, Cory did finance and Nicol did marketing and management, which helped them some but the beauty industry is not what they thought it would be.
Family Dynamics in Business
- (9:51) Cory talks about what it’s been like doing business with her sister. There were some hiccups in the beginning but they’ve been able to focus on their own strengths and improve their systems.
- (12:59) Nicol gives her perspective on doing business with her sister. SHe also says they have gotten a lot better at managing the dynamic. She also says it’s important to trust whoever you go into business with.
- (14:23) Emmanuel talks about why he thinks going into business with family is a bad idea, and the importance of having boundaries.
- (15:46) Nicol talks about some of the conflicts they’ve experienced - they would both be putting too much energy into fixing the same issue instead of trusting the other to get it done, as well as working on setting more boundaries. She also talked about how being more efficient helped.
- (18:02) Cory talks about how her and Nicol were very close growing up so they don’t really fight. They have a lot of trust for each other.
- (19:40) Emmanuel talks about the positives of having family in business - they understand the wins and are able to celebrate with you.
Hiring Employees, Finding a Manufacturer, and Rebranding
- (20:32) Nicol talks about how they are in the process of hiring their first employee - a social media/community manager. Emmanuel talks about the importance of building a community.
- (22:45) Cory talks about how important their community is to them.
- (23:36) Emmanuel gives advice for hiring - plan out their first 90 days and give them a map of things they need to do to be successful.
- (24:52) Nicol says she still has a full-time job, but Cory does OCOA full time. Emmanuel and Grace talk about how that is very common for entrepreneurs in the first years of business.
- (25:53) Cory talks about how they found a manufacturer for their products - they talked to a lot of people and were persistent.
- (29:20) Cory talks about how they still do fulfillment from her basement with the help of family and friends.
- (30:20) Nicol talks about their old branding and why they changed it.
- (31:21) Nicol talks about the journey from 2018 to now with manufacturing issues and rebranding. They wanted to launch 5 products but ended up just doing the curl cream to test the market.
- (33:00) Nicol explains why they wanted to rebrand - the customers loved the product but not the branding, and they felt that it didn’t express what they were about. She also talks about how their free samples were the main way they got customers.
Founder Rounder
- (35:12) Cory asks about how to build brand awareness in the current economic climate where people are spending less.
- (37:56) Emmanuel talks about the importance of good content and using organic strategies to test content then amplifying them with non-conversion campaigns on all socials.
- (39:50) Emmanuel talks about how people are still buying, they’re just being more picky with who they buy from, so brands need to figure out what makes them stand out and use good content to get that message across.
- (42:04) Emmanuel asks for advice on building a community for Eleyae Systems. Nicol says to share more of what he’s doing on social media, and go live to answer people’s questions.
- (43:55) Cory says when posting on social media, they want to educate, inspire, and entertain. So sharing sneak peeks, behind the scenes, and also keeping it funny. Make sure your followers are gaining something from you.
- (46:09) Grace talks more about pushing out content that elicits an emotional response and amplifying it with ads.
- (47:09) Nicol talks about how to support OCOA and where to find them on social media.
Resources:
Website: ocoabeauty.com
Facebook: OCOA
Instagram: @ocoabeauty
TikTok: @ocoabeauty
LinkedIn: OCOA - Curly Hair Care
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