Today we’d like to introduce you to Camilia Zuleikha Majette, MHSA.
Camilia, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I am the founder of Nailah’s Shea (established in 2016) and I consider myself a student of traditional herbal remedies. Born to a mother from East Africa’s spice capital, Zanzibar Island, and father from history-laden Rich Square, North Carolina. My journey started as a pharmacy technician while in college. Discovering the prevalence of toxins and poisons in most of the skincare products my family and I were using surprised me. I was a single mother of two, with limited resources, and with children developing skin conditions, I sought to find an all-natural solution – Nailah’s Shea.
In 2014, I had an idea to set up a table at a community gathering, adorn it with a few products with packaging printed at home, and share my passion and newfound livelihood with the world.
The ethos of Nailah’s Shea lies in our desire to offer affordable premium natural solutions that are ethically sourced. Nailah’s Shea is a handcrafted premium Shea Butter based holistic beauty and body care line, using only Fair Trade certified organic Shea Butter and organic essential oils, herbs, and spices.
While attending North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, I worked a part-time job in pharmaceutical medicine. In this position, I enjoyed learning how to make compounds out of creams and ointments, but to my regret, I also learned about some of the side effects of many of the prescription drugs that I so freely dispensed. It was shocking to me, and with my own children suffering from skin conditions like eczema and severely dry skin, I made it my mission to find and start using natural healing creams on their bodies for our personal use. At the same time, I transitioned into other interests working as an international student advisor. I was abruptly laid off shortly thereafter due to budget cuts. I had no Plan B at the time, and as a single mother with two growing children, I needed to be able to provide for them. I needed to ensure that they had the necessities that they needed in order to feel secure. So understanding what my role was, I unashamedly during my transitional period relied on government assistance to get us over the hump.
It’s funny how you think that you have hit a low point in your life, only for it to be a gift and the shift that you had been waiting for but never expected. I loved making skincare products, specifically soaps and body butters infused with the beauty of nature and the majesty of love. I was also acutely aware of the need to learn as much as possible about raw ingredients and fair trade. The previous summer, I had worked hard to save money to visit my stepsiblings, whom I hadn’t seen in over 30 years, in Zanzibar East Africa. When I traveled to Zanzibar, I was taken aback by the abject poverty whilst the country had the most diverse and rich natural resources I had ever experienced. Foreign investors were buying land, building hotels and spas, and investing in themselves and not the indigenous people on the island. The indigenous people on the island were barely making a dollar a day if they had a job or business at all.
I decided that I wanted to make a difference in the US and in my mother’s homeland. How would I do this? I would start by making sure that when I purchased my raw ingredients, I knew exactly where my product ingredients were coming from – making sure that I purchased organic and fair trade as often as possible. This series of experiences and brave decisions have afforded me the blessing of building Nailah’s Shea to where we are today.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Prior to COVID-19, my business model was predominantly geared towards in-person sales, approximately 60% of all revenue. In 2020 I had to transition to nearly 95% online sales in the midst of introducing new products and migrating to a new e-commerce platform. Typically, these are business activities that benefit from direct in-person customer feedback. I have had to adapt and seek feedback on labeling, product presentation and efficacy in an online environment while managing a significant drop in revenue.
However, I had to adapt by increasing social media and email marketing, participating in an invitation only Google in-house marketplace, and completed new product development. I also reinvigorated my online option for package pick-ups at a local farmer’s market. To re-energize wholesale accounts, I reached out to my retailers and secured some re-orders and established a couple of new accounts and partnerships. Although year-over-year sales are trailing, my online sales have nearly doubled and I’m reaching new customers and am grateful to have long-time members who have been supporting me all through the pandemic.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Nailah’s Shea?
In 2018, Camilia Majette was nominated and voted by her peers and community Minority Businessperson of the Year through the Greensboro, NC Chamber of Commerce.
In 2019, she entered the FedEx International Small Business Grant competition. Despite entering the 4-month long competition during its last two weeks, she was able to create a video and profile and attract enough votes and attention from FedEx to be invited among the top 100 small businesses nationally. She was nominated for the 2019 Ernst & Young Small Business of the Year award for the Southeast Region of the US and was selected among finalists.
Finally, in 2019, eBay selected Nailah’s Shea as one of two North American small businesses and five global businesses to speak at their Global Annual Leadership Conference. Our products can be found in local hotels, spas, and shops in North Carolina. We ship our products nationally and internationally.
Since 2019 Nailah’s Shea has worked with two homeless shelters in our state of North Carolina. We use a portion of our profits to share our organic hand-crafted products with women starting or restarting their lives. Over the past three years, we have been able to contribute 300 gift bags of Nailah’s Shea products to these women and the staff. We have been able to offer annual Mother’s Day DIY classes, where the ladies get to make their own all-natural products.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
At Nailah’s Shea, we are always looking to partner with businesses that mirror our mission and vision.
We have partnered with the YWCA Greensboro’s and the Women’s Center of Wake County emergency shelters for the homeless to share our organic hand-crafted products with women starting or restarting their lives.
For every purchase of our beauty care sets and subscription boxes, Nailah’s Shea pairs a sample soap and whipped shea butter and shares them at the shelters. We’ve shared over 300 sets over the last two years.
All other purchases help us to offer free Health & Wellness educational classes and DIY’s directly to shelter clients every Mother’s Day, and funds permitting, at least one other time in the year.
We have recently partnered with Fillaree a woman-owned, zero waste, refillable, non-toxic liquid soap brand in Durham, NC to provide our organic skin-loving soap bars to their customers and through this partnership, we are supplying The Durham Hotel with our lemongrass scented bar soaps which can be found in each guest room.
If you think we’d be a good fit to supply your favorite hotel/spa/air bnb please feel free to reach out to us at any time.
Contact Info:
- Email: nailahsshea@gmail.com
- Website: https://nailahsshea.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nailahs_shea/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nailahsshea
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMQn-kvj1obrrKyA9M1SjWA
Image Credits
Pictures with the white background and Camilia wearing a yellow Nailah’s Shea shirt please give credit to; Allie Mullin Photography | www.alliemullin.com Instagram + twitter: @alliemullin Facebook page @alliemullinphotography Pictures with Camilia holding a basket of her products and the picture with Camilia holding a soap loaf with beige sweater please give credit: perfectavisuals.com / Scott Muthersbaugh & Jerry Wolford Audience picture: eBay HQ 2019 Global Leadership Summit
