These Two Women Launched A Vending Machine Of Flats
At the Harborplace Mall in Baltimore nestled next to Starbucks, there's a vending machine that doesn't sell salty snacks as a quick-fix to hunger, but instead displays comfortable shoes for the woman on the go who needs a break from the pain that often accommodates a pricey pair of heels.
The vending machine is called Sole Savers, and it's the brainchild of 33-year-old business owner Melodie Narain.
Like many entrepreneurs, it started with a problem. When Melodie slipped on a pair of heels just two months after giving birth, she quickly discovered that she could no longer wear her stylish pumps for more than a few hours.
A conversation with her mom and business partner, Teresa, who also could no longer wear heels due to knee surgeries, soon turned into an idea of creating affordable shoes that any woman with aching feet could conveniently purchase on-the-go.
But creating a vending machine to push out a rollable pair of flats was no easy feat. In fact, when Melodie first came up with the concept for Sole Savers, she didn't intend for her mother to be her business partner. "Initially when I started coming up with the concept, I didn't want to share it with my family yet because I was like they're going to say that I'm just bringing another business idea to them. So I said okay, I'm going to fully develop this and I'm going to share it with some of my investor friends that have high net worth."
Utilizing business relationships from previously working with CEOs and executives, Melodie brought her idea to a friend and investor. He was sold, but when the duo presented the idea to his wife they ran into a roadblock. “She didn't really want him working in a business partnership with a female, so she rejected the concept," says Melodie. “And who am I to argue with the wife?"
The quest for a perfect partnership didn't end there. She brought the idea back to her mom, who jumped at the opportunity to also bring a philanthropic element to the business through the mission of helping others and donating to non-profits organizations.
With her background in fashion marketing and her business acumen, Melodie was able to wear two hats as both creator and strategist. She first researched all of her competitors to determine if there was room in the market for what she was offering, even going as far to reach out to let them know that she was starting the business not just for profit, but in hopes to help others such as her two-year-old niece Teyana who was born with Congenital Heart Disease, by partnering with non-profit organizations.
She also heavily researched her product to find the right kind of shoes and material that would be convenient and compact enough to fit into a pocketbook, and read everything she could find on vending machines while looking for the best places to launch her product. With vending machines averaging a cost of $10,000 to $25,000 depending on the level of enhancements from touch screen features to digital ads, it was important for the Maryland native to make sure that her business plan was foolproof.
“A lot of times when people want to start companies they have this idea but they don't do any kind of research, and then they launch something and it completely bombs because they don't do the market research," Melodie says. “The times that we live in everything is so accessible to us, so a person that doesn't do their research, they're just not making a smart decision."
Despite all of her legwork, they still ran into some challenges. When the first machine arrived it wasn't configured properly and instead of buyer's being able to see the shoe through a transparent container, they had to hope that they selected the right color numerically on the touch screen, making it more confusing for her customers. They also realized that the shoes weren't thick enough to comfortably walk on rockier terrain, and had to create a second prototype with a thicker sole to provide the right amount of comfort and cushion.
After a year of planning and designing the product, Melodie and Theresa launched Sole Savers this past September. They placed the first machine in a nightclub, logically thinking that the hundreds of women ready to kick off their shoes after dancing the night away would do well for business, but Melodie, who wanted her customer's to not just buy the product, but to also connect with it, felt like the club scene didn't fit their target customer. So they moved the machine to the Gallery at Harborplace in Baltimore—an area with heavy foot traffic and tourism. Within the first day Melodie had already sold eight pairs of flats, which retail at $19.95 a pair. Though the website generates most of their revenue, she's hoping to expand into bigger markets and into convention centers in the near future.
Working her full-time job in real estate while running a business on the side and being a mother to her two-year-old son leaves little time for self indulgence, but Melodie credits her prayer life and having help from the father of her child to her being able to get through the days where she's burning the midnight oil. Her mother, who also still works full-time with the government, takes care of the philanthropic aspects of the business, focusing on smaller non-profit organizations with less notoriety. For the entrepreneurs, Sole Savers is just as much about saving souls as well as soles.
“We try to find charities that people don't really know about because while Sole Savers is in the infancy stage now, I see it being such a major storm in households, convention centers, conference centers and churches, and I'd like for these other charities on a mission to really help grow with our business."
Recently, Sole Savers launched their spring collection, which includes the red “Teyana" flat named in honor of her niece who has had two open-heart surgeries before the age of two. “When we talked about Sole Savers in the brainstorming stages, we were talking about when Teyana becomes an adult that we will have an avenue that will provide for a very strong quality of life for her."
The remaining shoes were designed to fit the woman who may not be up on the latest trends, but they always put their best foot forward in all areas of their life.
“A stylish woman isn't always trendy. It's a certain level of class and elegance that a woman has and I think that's what's important for me in branding sole savers. It's very stylish; it's very current, but it's not trendy."
While it may not be about the clothes, it's certainly about the mission of doing something that's rooted in love and passion. For Melodie and Teresa it starts with saving soles, one foot at a time.
To find out more about Sole Savers and how to grab you a pair of comfortable flats, head over to SoleSavers.co.
Kiah McBride writes technical content by day and uses storytelling to pen real and raw personal development pieces on her blog Write On Kiah. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter at @writeonkiah.
ItGirl 100 Honors Black Women Who Create Culture & Put On For Their Cities
As they say, create the change you want to see in this world, besties. That’s why xoNecole linked up with Hyundai for the inaugural ItGirl 100 List, a celebration of 100 Genzennial women who aren’t afraid to pull up their own seats to the table. Across regions and industries, these women embody the essence of discovering self-value through purpose, honey! They're fierce, they’re ultra-creative, and we know they make their cities proud.
VIEW THE FULL ITGIRL 100 LIST HERE.
Don’t forget to also check out the ItGirl Directory, featuring 50 Black-woman-owned marketing and branding agencies, photographers and videographers, publicists, and more.
THE ITGIRL MEMO
I. An ItGirl puts on for her city and masters her self-worth through purpose.
II. An ItGirl celebrates all the things that make her unique.
III. An ItGirl empowers others to become the best versions of themselves.
IV. An ItGirl leads by example, inspiring others through her actions and integrity.
V. An ItGirl paves the way for authenticity and diversity in all aspects of life.
VI. An ItGirl uses the power of her voice to advocate for positive change in the world.
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Stress Awareness Month: Sneaky Workplace Triggers Affecting Black Women, And How To Cope
We all know about the major stress triggers of everyday life, from relationship woes to monthly bills to unexpected emergencies, but there are small, subtle triggers that impact Black women in a big way, especially when it comes to work. It’s good to be aware of these sneaky stressors in order to maximize your day and find ways to incorporate solutions into your self-care routines.
Since it’s Stress Awareness Month, we caught up with Keanne Owens, LCSW, founder of Journey To Harmony Therapy Center, to talk about these triggers and what Black women can do to manage and cope.
Owens is an experienced South Florida-based counselor and social worker who offers her services via Grow Therapy, a therapy and medication management platform. She has worked with Black women professionals to unpack issues related to workplace stressors. “One is the pressure to perform–having to meet deadlines and deliverables. And a lot of times, these subtle stressors from performance are put upon ourselves as Black women. We want to make sure we’re doing our best. We don’t want to be critiqued in certain ways.”
Excessive micromanagement leading to fear of overly critical bosses is another subtle trigger that can negatively impact Black women in the workplace.
“Whenever something is done wrong, or we experience some type of injustice and have to report it, it’s the fear of retaliation–[fear that] we won’t be taken seriously or [our words] will be taken out of context because of being deemed as the ‘angry Black woman,’” she said.
Black Women And Workplace Stress Triggers
Her sentiments are backed by research. A recent report by Coqual found that 28% of Black women (compared to 17% of White men) say their supervisor uses “excessive control or attention to detail” when managing them. There’s more: A survey by the National Employment Law Project found that Black workers were “more likely to have concerns (80 percent) and twice as likely as white workers (18 percent) to have unresolved concerns at work, with 39 percent reporting they were “not satisfied with the employer’s response or did not raise concerns for fear of retaliation.”
The survey also found that 14 percent of Black respondents said they “avoided raising concerns to their employer for fear of retaliation—more than twice the average rate of 6 percent for all survey respondents.”
Owens pointed to the fact that these subtle stress triggers can negatively impact our physical health and our career advancement. “A lot of time it’ll affect our productivity,” Owens added. “We start to have negative thoughts of ourselves. The stressors can also cause fatigue. We’re no longer meeting or working up to our desired potential.” Other challenges as a result include insomnia and increased insolation, withdrawal, and lack of motivation to apply for jobs or promotions even when qualified.
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How To Manage Subtle Stress Triggers
While there are systemic issues at play for Black women at work that has less to do with us and more to do with major overhauls that must be addressed by the powers that be, there are steps we can take for the betterment of ourselves and our mental health. Owens offered the following tips:
Tap into a support system, whether it’s a coworker you trust, a family member, an organization, or an outlet like a hobby.
Create a good work-life balance before burnout even starts. “Having certain boundaries [is the goal] such as, for example, if you get off at 5, you get off at 5. If your job description is this, you don’t go above and beyond because that brings you to a lot of burnout,” Owens said.
Prioritize self-care, whatever that means for you. “If you don’t have a routine, create one. Practice mindfulness and even some meditation,” she added.
Create structure in your life outside of work. “Even if you have a family, applying some structure in your routine helps relieve stress,” she said.
Get into grounding techniques. “Do a real quick square breathing exercise, that’s literally 30 seconds, or you can do a grounding technique that’s less than two minutes, right there where you are. You don’t need any other materials. That’s something you can do with just yourself and your body.”
Ask for help. “As Black women, we don’t ask for help enough,” she said. “Find where you need to ask for help. A lot of times, people think that’s indicative of weakness, but we need to rewrite that narrative. It’s okay to ask for help where you see fit. [If] you’re a mom, [it could be] every Wednesday from 5 to 6, your children are with the dad. You have to carve out that time.”
For more information on Grow Therapy, visit their website. You can also find out more about Keanne Owens, LCSW, via BeginYourJourneyToHarmony.com.
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