Shant’e Hayes (@shop972eleven) joins us on the PDX Black Rose Podcast. Shant’e is a mother, an entrepreneur, and works with the Portland School District from 9-5. We got the chance to sit down and talk about owning a business in Portland during a pandemic and finding a good balance to help juggle it all. In the summer of 2018, Shant’e started an online clothing boutique called 972Eleven with the intention of encouraging expressive freedom, self love, and community through personal style. Growing a long with her business, Shant’e breaks out of her shell to reach her goals.
What is the Blackest thing you’ve done in Portland?
49:02-49:32 “Being a part of the Black Lives Matter Movement during the peak of the pandemic. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many people in Oregon come around the issue of African Americans and our safety, our health, and our wellbeing. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced that in my entire life. Then, it made it that much blacker when the entire when almost the entire world essentially was a part of the same movement.
Covid-19:
3:55-4:00 “It has given me a chance to kind of reevaluate every area of my life to see what’s worth it for me”
4:15-4:33 “It’s actually been super amazing, giving me a chance to kind of give myself a lot of time to review what I had going on and actually decide to keep it that way or change it so, I would have to say there’s been some definite blessings”
29:02-29:09 “Because of the pandemic I was forced to go live every week and it has helped my business tremendously “
34:29-34:58 “It really genuinely forced me into an arena of putting myself out there more and I think even bigger than that, I had to learn how to believe in myself more. That what I had was actually good stuff and so that really was my having to increase my self esteem in the area of being an entrepreneur. Like, does anyone even care enough to buy my stuff?”
43:58-44:14 “The difference for me is how much slower the products come in. It's like I used to be able to order stuff in a certain amount of time and get it maybe from overseas in maybe 10 days.There was one package that took 30 days and I just was like, this is gonna be an issue”
Owning A Business:
22:02-22:07 “I remember I used to be stressed about this and now I got it figured out and on to bigger and better things, watch.”
27:42-28:00 “I think that’s where we are all headed, we’re tired of always having to head to these same institutions to ask for permission to do what we want to do or to be who we are and I think it’s that’s just not how it was ever meant to be and I think we’re all waking up to that”
30:32-30:50 “With Portland being so tough for people of color to grow their business to a place where you can actually be financially stable you have to do a little bit more -a lot a bit more and one of those things is putting yourself out there.”
39:08-39:23 “It takes a lot of work but the good thing is that being an entrepreneur has almost been like a therapy for me because it’s so tied to who you are as a person, how you move, and your business”
Advice for Entrepreneurs:
31:11-31:17 “People are really buying you, when they like you they’ll buy your stuff, if they don’t know you they’ll pass right by you.”
32:16-32:31 “You don’t want to get too cocky so you know there’s still that level of humility in you to okay, I don’t want to be too cocky to where I don’t think I’ve gotta do all of this and I should just be shelves like that, just kind of staying humble.”
38:32-38:46 “It can be overwhelming, especially depending on people who can never make a decision. This may not be the life for you because there’s really no right or wrong way to do anything, it’s like you just jump in and try it out.”
Quotes:
11:38-12:02 “It sounded good and it made sense on paper but it’s not until you’re actually in those situations yourself where your perspective could absolutely completely change. It’s easy to make an assumption when you’re not in that and it’s not good or bad or indifferent it’s just really all about perspective”
22:49-23:16 “We’re supporting the kids and we’re helping in hopes of making PPS a better place for our kids of all colors and so you definitely are dedicated over there and also over here. I’m equally as passionate about my business because I’m trying to make the world a better place in the sense of empowering women to feel better about themselves”
Key Links:
Website: https://shop972eleven.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shop972eleven/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shop972eleven/
