We’re looking forward to introducing you to Tolu Kamoru. Check out our conversation below.
Tolu, we’re thrilled to have you with us today. Before we jump into your intro and the heart of the interview, let’s start with a bit of an ice breaker: Would YOU hire you? Why or why not?
No, I wouldn’t hire me. I’m not the most employable individual. Being an employee has specific guidelines that one is supposed to follow, but I can’t fathom the idea of being put into a box. My creativity runs wild and refuses to stay within the confines of anything. I find myself wanting to push boundaries, and do what’s not meant to be done. Which makes me quite unemployable. I want to grow and shift things around, cause havoc, and then move onto the next thing. This makes me great for starting ventures and hiring people to help flesh out those ventures, but this makes it quite difficult for me to simply just be hired for a specific role and to stick to that.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Hello everyone, I’m known as TK Stylz, CEO of Kamoru Kollections; your favorite company for a variety of satin products all in one spot. I have been running my business for almost 5 years now and it’s been quite the journey. In 2020, Kamoru Kollections started as a trendy clothing brand, but in 2021 I rebranded to a handmade satin hair care company. We are known for our signature product: KK bonnets. We stand out from your basic bonnet store, due to a plethora of things: all products are handmade to order by the CEO herself which grants customers the opportunity to alter bonnet sizes to fit snugly to their own head, Kamoru Kollections has a variety of unique satin products such as satin lined bandanas or satin lined shower caps.
Kamoru Kollections is on a mission to spreading bonnets to places they “don’t belong.” We are known for our unique, outlandish photoshoots such as bonnets on the beach, bonnets in the safari, even bonnets on the metro. This is how we work to break boundaries and stigmas surrounding bonnets as the ‘ghetto black girl product.” Bonnets are to empower you and make you feel beautiful and strong. What’s a crown if it’s only seen in the confines of your bed.
Okay, so here’s a deep one: What part of you has served its purpose and must now be released?
I love this question, I’d have to say my people pleasing tendencies. Growing up in an immigrant household, I was trained to do all things with the thoughts of how everyone would perceive me as. Now there’s nothing wrong with being considerate of others but there’s everything wrong with depriving yourself of your own wants to make those around you at ease. I don’t regret being a people pleaser at all, I think it helped me be seen as very kind and innocent, it allowed me to just be liked but also overlooked. I’m now stepping into an era where I don’t care to be liked, I will be seen and noticed and no longer just overlooked. I am going to move with intention of acquiring everything my heart desires, and I’m running after it. I won’t wait in line for it to be my turn or for things to fall into place nicely. I’m going to fight for what I want, I’ll climb, swim, and push for what I want because who else will? What did that quiet Tolu get for being “quiet.” What did she get for never fighting anyone and making sure everyone remains happy? Life’s a challenge and I have every intention of winning.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Suffering taught me that I’m built for this in a way that success never ever could. You can’t possibly be resilient if you’re never been pushed down and have to bounce back from something. Kamoru Kollections is a pandemic baby, so my business is very different from other companies that were built pre-pandemic. While companies were getting shut down and struggling during the pandemic, my business was thriving because I built my business for a pandemic world. I was able to grow hype while everyone was already online and I took advantage of this. I had constant success during the pandemic. But coming out of the pandemic as everyone was moving back to in person activities, I thought that I could keep running my business the same way and experience the same amount of success. I learned the hard way that this is very wrong. I went from daily sales, to struggling to get a sale for the entire month. Nobody talks about the struggle of integrating a pandemic born business into a post-pandemic world, it’s all about the companies that went out of business during the pandemic, but some of us are still struggling. Going through an entire month without a sale, will make you feel like your business has failed and it’s time to give up, “my business was for pandemic, and now that that’s over, my business is over too.” I had those thoughts ALL THE TIME. But for some reason, I just could not stop. Regardless how frustrated I got with nothing going well for my business, I just kept on trying new strategies, kept on learning, kept on having conversations. Some people think your success and accomplishments prove to you that you’re in the right field, but I believe otherwise, it’s the working through the suffering that proves it all.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. Whom do you admire for their character, not their power?
I take any and every opportunity to talk about my God because I am genuinely NOTHING without Him. I don’t know how else to articulate that there is no me and there’s no Kamoru Kollections, without the overwhelming grace of God. My God is an omnipotent God, meaning He is all powerful, it doesn’t get any stronger than Him. But in that same breath, my God is kind, He’s loving, faithful, considerate, merciful, observant, the list goes on. I admire God for His character because of the way He comes down to my level. He knows me perfectly and loves me in the exact way that I need. I’m a human being and I’m a hyper-independent, which means I am constantly making mistakes but I also try to do EVERYTHING by myself. God doesn’t just make me do the right thing but he gives me the grace of choice. I have the opportunity to figure everything out by experimenting, getting things wrong and getting back up. Whenever I make the wrong choice because I try to lean on my own understanding rather than God’s, He doesn’t turn his face away from me or get mad at me, and make me figure it out on my own. He still walks with me, until I lean back on Him. There is nothing God cannot do, and there are way more people in the world who are living their life in a way that may be more pleasing to God. But He doesn’t love me any less than he loves the next person, He never holds a grudge and is always there for me. God’s character is to be studied.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. Could you give everything your best, even if no one ever praised you for it?
This is something I’m in the process of teaching myself. Previously, I had a conversation with, Philemon, a good friend of mine in my industry, who I honestly look up to about whether we are business people or creators. I seen the two very differently and I felt like I was gravitating more towards business rather than creation. He was explaining to me about how they go hand in hand but I was having a hard time grasping it. But now I understand where he was coming from and I realized my perspective on this was because of the burnout I was receiving from creation. Instead of creating from a natural spot of creativity, I was creating to try and get high engagement or to post the next viral thing, which led me to resent creation. But with my most recent collection: Kickoff 90, I started creating creatively, and I fell back in love with the art of creating. This collection called Kickoff 90 is a release of brand new satin colors of KK products such as satin lined bandanas, satin lined skull caps, and satin bonnets. This campaign takes place on a soccer field and showcases satin products in a unique location centered around speed, collaboration, and competition. I am now back into the art of creating for myself whether I get recognition on it or not and it’s honestly blissful and induces a extreme amount of dopamine for me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kamorukollections.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tk.stylz/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tolu-kamoru-571434260/
