It had never been my goal to be an entrepreneur. It happened quite by accident as a result of my desire to see a Tina Turner in concert. Not only did Tina indirectly lead to my decision to become an entrepreneur but the FIVE lessons I learned from her lifestyle decisions helped my business thrive. I explain all of this in detail below.
I am the only Black person who owns a mannequin company in the U.S. (and perhaps the world). Being in this industry was a pretty unlikely career choice for someone like me, not only because of my race and gender but I also didn’t have any prior experience in fashion or retailing.
Being an entrepreneur is similar to being in the entertainment industry: SHORT LIFE SPAN. Just as lots of singers are one hit wonders, over 51% of all small businesses cease operation within 5 years. As of this writing, I have been in business 20 years.
Back to my connection with Tina Turner: I have a “six-degrees-of-separation” connection with her for several reasons. First, we were both born in Brownsville, Tennessee. (Although she was raised in Nutbush the town she wrote a song about, she was born in Brownsville)
Tina is 18 years older than me, so our paths never crossed in Tennessee, but my both my uncles- Charles and Cecil Bond – went to high school with her.
When my family moved to Los Angeles when I was a child, we lived in the same View Park neighborhood as Tina. My mom’s best friend whose husband was a dentist lived just two houses away from Tina.
Tina’s sons and I attended Windsor Hills elementary school together, but were in different grades. When I became an adult, I converted to the same sect of Buddhism as Tina.
In the fall of 2000 Tina’s tour was coming to Oakland and a group of my fellow Buddhists were planning on attending. Since I had waited until the last minute and the show was now sold out, I searched for tickets on Craigslist.
While searching for tickets I saw a posting for a mannequin for sale. This caught my eye because I had always wanted a mannequin for a mosaic project for my garden. I never would have seen this post if I had not been searching for tickets to her concert. (which I didn’t find by the way)
When went to met the Craigslist seller,I was surprised that he had not one, but 50, mannequins for sale. Seeing all those naked mannequin bodies, in various states of dismemberment, was disconcerting. But it sparked my curiosity so I started asking him lots of questions.
I discovered that Craigslist seller was a real life window dresser and his access to mannequins led to him start renting mannequins as a side hustle. However, he was moving cross country and selling off his inventory. (Trivia side note: My favorite character on the “Mary Tyler Moore Show” was Rhoda, who portrayed a window dresser.)
As we chatted, he said sadly: “Too bad there will no longer be a place to rent mannequins in the Bay Area”. When he answered my questions about the reasons people rent mannequins I became intrigued. Although I had never worked in retail, never touched a mannequin, never even run a business, something in my spirit inspired me to buy his entire inventory.
I thought a mannequin rental business would be a fun side hustle since my job at the time in early days of the dot com industry was showing signs of instability. I had just finished reading the book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad,” which convinced me of the need to have multiple revenue streams.
My other favorite book, “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron had me seeing the value of having more creative expression in my daily life. A mannequin rental business was my chance to create a new revenue stream AND be creative at the same time.
It’s is a good thing that the Craigslist seller was leaving town two weeks after we met. ‘Cause with a little more time to think about the situation, I would have talked myself out of buying the mannequins.Unfortunately, because the seller didn’t expect that anyone would want take over his mannequin rental business, he had thrown away his client lists.
Other than my then-husband, everyone thought I was a little crazy for buying the mannequins – even for a side hustle. My parents, who had paid out of their own pocket every cent of my expensive education at the University of Southern California, were especially alarmed. Hence, I named my business Mannequin Madness.
Tina Lesson #1: Although she began her career as an R&B singer (and was pigeon-holed there because of her race), she longed to change genres and be a Rock and Roll singer. People thought this was a crazy idea. It’s never too late to reinvent yourself and don’t let the nay-sayers stop you.
When I bought the mannequins social media did NOT exist. I had missed the deadline to advertise in the yellow pages (remember those?).
The term “girl boss” wasn’t a thing and it took me a long time to even consider myself as an entrepreneur. An entrepreneur was a young male Stanford grad or Harvard dropout who had a tech business and venture capital money.. So needless to say, I had to blaze my own trail. (Kinda like Tina did.) Asking for financing was out of the question.
I won’t bore you with the details of what happened next, but let’s just say like Tina I am tenacious and relied on my Buddhist faith to guide me. I discovered that retail chains would throw their unwanted mannequins in the trash when they closed or remodeled their stores, even if they were still in good condition. This lit a fire under me.
See, mannequins are made of materials that do not biodegrade (metal, fiberglass, styrofoam, plastic) so they don’t belong in landfills. And far too many landfills are located in areas populated by people of color so I took this personally.
It became my mission to provide retailers with an eco-friendly alternative to throwing mannequins in landfills. I offered to recycle their mannequins for free which saved them money on waste disposal fees. Soon I had enough used mannequins in my inventory to sell in addition to renting. In less than six months I went from 50 to 500 mannequins in my inventory.
Initially I was only selling only to local customers. But then 9/11 happened ended my day job at the dot-com. This was a very fearful period in our country’s history, but, ironically, it caused me to want to live more fearlessly.
If the world was coming to an end, I wanted to spend it doing what I loved. Although it was still fledgling financially, I loved my little mannequin business. So rather than look for a full time job, I decided to bet on myself and work full time with the mannequins.
Tina Lesson #2: What if Tina had never mustered the courage to leave Ike? Don’t let fear of the unknown keep you trapped. Trust yourself, ask for help like she did at a crucial moment and be willing to receive support.
In order for the mannequin business to be my main source of income, I had to reach a larger audience. So I started selling on Ebay and quickly became a power seller. Then I became an early adopter of an e-commerce website.
Just two years after operating the business full time, I received a special achievement award from the Environmental Protection Agency for recycling over 100,000 pounds of mannequins in one year.
This acknowledgment gave my business validation and recognition. (My version of Tina getting a Grammy.) Now more national retailer chains started calling us to recycle their mannequins. And they wanted us to recycle their mannequins at their stores outside of the Bay Area.
To make this happen I decided to form a strategic partnership with used mannequin vendors in other cities. Technically they were my competitors, but collectively we could work together providing mannequin recycling on a national level which benefitted us all financially.
Tina Lesson #3: Your competition could be your collaborator versus a foe. Tina sang duets with various artists and the increased exposure was invaluable.
Now that we recycle mannequins of a national level, we recycle about 1 million pounds of mannequins a year. I am known as the “queen of mannequins.” We make the world a little greener, one dummy at a time.
Mannequin Madness has expanded over the years and now sells new mannequins in addition to used ones. Our customers are all over the US and Canada and I have 3 employees and 6 independent contractors.
Our Pinterest board has over 56K followers where one can see inspiring examples of Dress Form Christmas Trees, Mannequins as Lamps, Mannequins in the Garden and other interesting ways people use mannequins. We just started a group on Crafty Fun with Mannequins Group on Facebook where people post DIY projects they have done with mannequins.
Recently we started hosting our version of “paint and sip.” Instead of art for the wall, people make art for their head at our Headdress Workshop. They use our mannequin heads as a canvas to design a flower crown headdress using sustainable materials.
Tina Lesson #4: Continue to try something new. Tina earns her bread and butter as a recording artist, but she is also an author and actress. She recently serviced as co-executive producer of the stage play based on her life. Her primary residence is now in Switzerland, which is another way she expanded her horizons.
In conclusion, I’ll offer one final remark about Tina Turner.
Tina Lesson #5- When she was 44 (the same age I was when I started my business), she released her breakout song “What’s Love Got to Do With it.” Tina, like me, didn’t believe the gatekeepers when they told her she was past her prime. FYI, there are many business icons who did not start their businesses until they were in their 40’s like the ones listed here.
Tina had the persistence, strength, and resilience to reimagine what she COULD be. She pushed past her own self doubt. She makes me believe that, with a strong spiritual practice and taking viable action, it is possible to make the impossible, possible. Read this other blog post I wrote about Five Lessons Entrepreneurs can learn from Tina Turner.
I had hoped that one day the “Queen of Mannequins,” would meet the “Queen of Rock and Roll” in person. But with her passing, gushing over my Tina Turner Barbie doll will have to suffice. (An employee, who knows all too well how much I admire Tina, bought the doll for me on Ebay when went to multiple stores online and in person and it was sold out.
I’ll be thinking of Tina when I attend her musical this fall with one of my co-workers. Also I keep re-reading article from the New York Times which is one of my favorite tributes to Tina (besides my own).
Tina Turner the “Queen of Rock and Roll” has directly influenced the many of the top female superstars of today. According to this article by Buzzfield, artists such as Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez, Janet Jackson, Janelle Monae and many others, credit Tina has being their “shero” for inspiring their performance styles. But I bet there are also others who aren’t famous who were influenced by Tina Turner. Are you one of them?
