What motivated or inspired you to create your brand?

Honestly, I think it just came out of me being a blogger and really wanting to be very vulnerable and transparent on my platform. I felt that growing up I didn’t have a role model who was super transparent and just super raw and unfiltered about the situations that they would go through in life. So, I wanted to be the one to kind of start that cycle. I started being very open about my story and the things that I have gone through on my platform and I’ve just gotten amazing feedback from everyone. The good feedback has motivated me to keep going because I’ve seen that there are a lot of girls that need to see this kind of content. So yeah, that’s where I went with it and it kind of just formulated into it’s own little brand.

How do you conceptualise your brand? Is your personal brand separate or cohesive with Amani Rakeia?

I feel like my brand is super cohesive. Anything that I’m going through or inspired by in my real life I share online. I post a lot of lifestyle content and inspirational quotes so really there is no room for me to try to create anything that is separate from what I do. Even in my color scheme I have the aesthetic of being very colorful and organized and I like to take that back to my life and how I have a very vibrant personality and energy. Now with doing freelance, it’s important to be very organized and just seamless with your work and that’s really what I like to portray on my Instagram or on my blog with any kind of work that I do. I just really think that my entire brand is super cohesive and whatever you see online is just live and in color.

How do you manage your time and still have time for wellness and self-care?

Honestly, I would say it’s a little difficult at times and as a mental health advocate I feel like I am very big on going through the motions even in your sadness or in your pain.There are some days where I just won’t do the work at all and I just try to do the work on myself when I feel sad and tackle one project of the day instead of trying to do everything at once. When trying to keep a schedule, I really try to just mark everything in my calendar and if I can’t get it done today then I’ll just be sure to relay the message to my clients and just have really good communication skills and work on it the next day or at some point throughout the week.

It really isn’t that simple especially now with Freelancing your client can call you or contact you at any point of the day and tell you “Hey I really want to change this or change that” and and in that moment I could be in the middle of taking a bath or even be out doing something so timing is definitely hard when juggling freelance and my blog. Certain things happen things could happen in media and there’s pressure to just cover the hot topic right there and in the moment but it’s like you have to rearrange your schedule to make sure that you are getting that content out in a timely fashion. However, I think the ground work starts when you create a schedule for yourself in the week and you say to yourself “this week or this month I want to make sure to tackle this objective.” Also, it is important to make sure you align the project, work or activity with your goal. You have to have a content calendar and you have to know when to shut it down. Especially with freelance, it’s really hard to be up all night working on projects because you know you don’t have the typical 9 to 5 schedule but it’s really important to put yourself on a 9 to 5 schedule because if not your going to be burnt out the next day but everyone is different.

Some people will wake up at like 3pm and stay up until 5am in the morning and do what they need to do in that time. For me, I still do like to have that structure and make sure I shut it down after a certain time, have a content calendar, and make sure to have friends that hold you accountable. For example, if you have plans with somebody or someone said that they would call you. Make sure they are reaching out to you and saying “Hey, you were supposed to call me.” because it’s so easy to just get wrapped up in the work.

What do you think was the catalyst to your immense growth? Or what made everything click?

I would definitely say high quality imagery. I think that what has taken my instagram and my brand to the next level is being able to have a photographer that knows my angles and gets the portraiture, the lighting and all the important aspects. I also think another thing is being super honest by saying the things you normally wouldn’t say out loud. People are looking for content they can relate to and they are not looking for the cookie cutter photoshop image on Instagram anymore, They just don’t care and I realize that Instagram is now just an extension of our everyday life. In our everyday life we don’t see someone that is glammed up and dolled up. I think these are definitely key things as far as having great quality images and just being authentic in your captions and in your Instagram Stories. Overall, it’s important to be consistent with your Instagram. Unfortunately, Instagram is one of those instant gratification apps so if you are not posting then people don’t care but if you post more frequently they are going to see your content more and you know Instagram’s algorithm plays its part.I still think that it is important to be super consistent.

Did you ever feel like you needed a huge following to start something or did you find a way around it?

I will say when your not consistent is when it will push you back. I remember when I was going through a tough time the downside of being a mental health advocate is there comes a time in your life when you are not always happy and you don’t feel like posting all the time so I am an advocate for being able to go through the motions. For example, when I am going through the motions and I don’t post for like 2 or 3 weeks or even a month I quickly notice that I lose followers and it’s like well damn “ya’ll love me when I’m up but then don’t want to check on me when I’m down.”

What is one piece of advice you would give to someone who may be interested in going into blogging?

Go out to events and to any event that sparks your interest. Go introduce yourself to people. You never know if people are interested in the same thing that you are interested in creating and depending on the kind of writer you are and the kind of platform that you want you can be able to reach out to people and interview them for content. Networking is so great and it is the one thing that has helped me kind of elevate my brand because by having internships in New York City I was able to go to a bunch of different events and i’ve met a bunch of people who have worked at major publications and who have many connects which helped me land my job at Buzz Feed. So, I really think going out and just writing and not thinking that every story you have will hit all these views is important when starting. I think that as a writer it take a while to find your writing style and find your voice. It’s when you find your voice that people start to realize why they would like to come to your page. It’s one thing people need to not think about and just forget about the followers and forget about the views and just write because they enjoy writing. Then, when the followers come they will scroll back to posts from 14 weeks ago and they will be liking those pictures.

How did you get involved with @sadgirlsclub?

I got involved with Sad Girls Club officially starting in March 2018. I started following Sad Girls Club in 2017 about 3-4 months after Elyse put out her documentary and then she started her Instagram page. Elyse was speaking at an event at Yale University so I was like “omg I get to finally see her in person.” So, I go to her and we’re chatting and I’m like “Hey, I’m really into writing and I have my own blog and I think the Sad Girls Club has a blog so how can I be of help. In response she says “Yeah, the girl that we had do the writing got a full-time job so she can’t commit anymore. So, you can takeover and rebrand this whole thing if you are interested. It was literally a dream for me but we had some bumps along the road. On the site, we were working with wordpress and someone from Instagram actually designed the page and it was just really difficult to build because it was very limiting in how we wanted it to look. A couple months went by and we finally got enough money to start fundraising and doing brands to really start elevating the organization. We were able to work with Square Space and when I started getting into web design she asked if I wanted to design the whole website and I quickly agreed. I literally designed the website from scratch and then I started sourcing for contributing writers and now I am the Editor In-Chief. I am kind of just spearheading the whole thing.

Do you have any collabs,  projects or events coming up you would like to speak about or highlight?

For freelancing I do have some collabs coming up and I will be doing some collaborative work with the Brooklyn Fashion Mavens and also with Evian Whitney who goes by the Sexually Liberated Woman and I do have some other collabs coming up with the Sad Girls club and also some collabs with Nike.

Comment down below if you relate with Amani’s journey!

Boss Watch will feature creatives, entrepreneurs, influencers, digital professionals and anyone who is moving their passions from an idea into a reality. Boss Watch is for anyone who aspires to live a fulfilled life and just needs a little bit of inspiration to know that they are not alone on their journey towards self-realization. Boss Watch is for anyone who has made it through the growing pains of realizing their dreams and is now looking to share wisdom or just find new people to increase their network.  Is this you? If so, then feel free to leave a comment or email cnkstylebook@gmail.com for a chance to be featured on the next Boss Watch.

What motivated and inspired you to create your brand?

I think what motivated me  was being born and raised in America but growing up in a Nigerian household. Both of my parents are from Nigeria and they raised us in the Nigerian way. I always felt connected to my roots but I think when I was younger I may not have been as interested in my culture. We went to this church (that integrated Nigerian culture) and I grew up learning all the Igbo hymns and Yoruba hymns when it came to church but as I got older I started getting into more of the current music and everything going on in the culture. I’d always have to depend on one person to inform me about the latest music until they got tired of it and started redirecting me to different blogs. At the time, I didn’t know the difference between an upcoming artist and a well renowned artist. I went to the different blogs but I didn’t know who to click on or how to filter out the information. Once I got to undergrad in college, I started working behind the scenes in promotion for parties and then I started working more celebrity events and concerts. I handled logistics which included press releases and PR for the events. Finally, I decided I was going to start my own outlet and essentially bridge the gap. I wanted to show the best of both worlds from the American side as well as from the African side. I wanted to let my American friends know that there were really cool African songs before the word afro-beat became an official term. Before I knew it, I had hundreds of thousands of people from all parts of Africa visiting my site and I wanted them to see the best of both worlds and experience America. My site became a one stop shop. Honestly, the best people who took advantage of this were Africans of the diaspora but it eventually became more global.

How do you separate your personal brand  as Raro Abugo from your brand Raro Lae or is it cohesive?

Originally, when I first started it was definitely supposed to be completely separate. I worked a full- time job and I didn’t really want them to know what I was doing with my outlet. So with my site name Raro Lae, I wanted to hide under Raro Lae because my real last name was Abugo. However, despite this separation, if you searched up Raro or Raro Lae on search engines then everything would just pop up right away. At first, I wanted to keep everything separate but as my brand has continued to grow I’m realizing I only want it to be one thing.  A lot of times with my marketing company and because of the past work I’ve done with celebrity and entertainment events people identify me as Raro Lae. It gets kind of confusing for them if i keep switching between Raro Lae and Raro Abugo. Of course, I will always be Raro Abugo because that is my actual name but I think having that unison in the brand helps to keep things less confusing versus having so many different identities or even pages. Currently, I’m in the process of streamlining everything.

When did you decide to let more people in and build a team?

I think after two and a half years because I’m a huge micro manager. It got to the point where there was so much happening at one time that I wasn’t able to do everything and also do everything properly. For example, if I’m flying out to this place and then going to another location and then I’m doing a red carpet here and at the same time I need stories to go up on the blog it all kind of got to be a little bit complicated. I can’t do everything by myself and I definitely need help. I’m still grasping it and I think that at the end of the day I still have a really bad micro-managing problem. Especially, when it comes to writing stories, I realized I can step back a little. However, when it comes to emailing and researching potential clients I’m still really hands-on and I think that it is something I will also need to step back from as well. Even if you are able to do something it doesn’t mean you should be doing it because you are best at a certain amount of things. Instead of spreading myself thin I am learning that I need to start delegating things out to different people on my team instead of trying to do the bulk of the work by myself.

What do you think was the catalyst to your immense growth as a brand?

I think in the beginning it was really an ongoing process. I had this great idea in my head but I didn’t really think it was going to transpire and become something this big. As time had past, I decided in 2016 that this was something that I needed to be doing. 2017 was a shaky year and I would ask myself (questions) like do I really want to do this and is this what is meant for me but then God started reaffirming. 2018, was the year that I really saw that I am living in my purpose because certain things started happening in my life.

For example, somebody contacted me randomly on Instagram and they were like “Hey! I would love for you to cover one of my client’s event in New York city. Would you be able to get here?” At the time, I didn’t know who this was but I had “FOMO” (fear of missing out) so I was like sure because I just wanted to know who her client would be even though I didn’t know if I would be available for whatever day she was about to pitch. She went on to say “Okay, so my client Janet Jackson is having an event this day and if you could cover it that would be great and I will put you on the press list.” Immediately, I didn’t even respond to her message and I screen-shotted it and sent it to the group chat with my family and I was like I don’t know if this is a prank or not but this lady just reached out to me to work this event for Janet Jackson and I’m screaming. Next thing you know, I am in New York the next week and working Janet Jackson’s event and I am literally right next to her celebrating her new single release. I think in that moment it was just so surreal and I said to myself

It was just a really inspiring moment within the 4-7 years that I’ve been working entertainment that God really spoke to me.

It’s very clear, just from your story, that you should pay attention to your dms and you have to look at everything that everyone sends your way. What other gems have your learned along the way that work?

I think what I learned is to definitely put in the time. When I was working behind the scenes, not everything I did was paid. I just built up my experience working for free but once you gain a certain level of experience you need to start charging. However, there were certain opportunities that I did get even though I wasn’t paid and it is because I had these opportunities and the experience that I was able to get to where I am now in addition to staying consistent. Staying consistent is important because even if I’m starting a new series and it doesn’t have as many page views consistency will eventually bring the people. People may not be there at the very beginning stages but if they keep seeing something every single week or every single day they will eventually decide to check it out. Also, if we are going to get into tech language like algorithms then if you are consistently doing something then it’s going to pop up higher and higher on the algorithm with search engine optimization.

One thing I will also say is to not spread yourself too thin. I used to always take everything but now I know when to say no and not because I don’t want to do it. For example, if you are waking up at 6am every morning and you also have a full-time job and then your contracted with someone for a project so your doing that and then you are also sneaking to work on your site during your full time and then you are also working on the contracted project after work hours and throughout the weekend. Then, on top of that, someone is inviting you to a red carpet to do an interview. In this scenario, you are going to end up spreading yourself so thin and you burn out because you are absolutely exhausted.

In the beginning, I was writing twenty and even thirty stories a day and I was doing everything in real time. So, if something would happen I’d just run to a computer. I was definitely not hanging out with anyone at the time. It was all about the stories and that consistency is honestly what helped me build my blog. Everyone would just be like what is this blog and no one even knew how to pronounce it correctly.I wanted to have the latest on my site even before the main sites would have it out. Now, I’ve changed the game plan and I work smarter and not harder because doing twenty to thirty stories a day can burn you out.

How do you pitch to entertainers and people in the media?

Honestly, everything I’ve learned had just been self taught. I’d pitch it in person if I got the opportunity and I’d explain my outlet and what I do with my company. I would also just research and find any email like their manager’s email, their publicist’s email, or even their personal email and I’d just introduce myself then provide my statistics. I’d also mention who I have worked with and then close with how I’d like to interview with them while they were in town or collaborate on a specific project. A lot of the pitching I do is through email and I’d have to do my research about each person to put a more personal touch to the email so it doesn’t seem like a cold call. If I need to email someone’s publicist, I’d follow them on twitter and then keep track of what they are tweeting so that I can then reference what they tweeted and we can relate on a personal note. If they respond to me,  I’m always happy to see a number in their signature because then after that I’d follow up with a phone call and say something like

“Hey, this is Raro Lae and I just wanted to follow up on the email that I sent to you”.

A lot of people forget that whether they are in the industry or a celebrity that everyone is human so when somebody is calling even if they don’t really want to do the interview they are more likely to take a second and just humor your phone call.

How did you get comfortable with cold calling?

If we have already spoken on a thread I would just reiterate what we were talking about in the email. For example, I cold-called Wyclef John because I emailed them and they didn’t respond so I looked up a number to make a call.

I began the call by saying “Hi My name is Raro Lae and I’ve actually reached out to you via email and I’m sure you are really busy but I just wanted to touch basis with you because I noticed your client will be in town and I’d love to do a quick interview with him whether it’s 10 or 15 minutes.”

In response they say “Tell me a little bit about your outlet.” At this point I go into my pitch and I’d say “Well my outlet is currently in 140 countries and we have this amount of people that come to the website every single day and then in addition to that the mission behind this site is bridging the gab between African American entertainment and African entertainment.” I’d pitch and then make sure that I state stats because you should always stick with stats even though you may think they aren’t all that impressive.

Another example is if you are just starting off and your stats aren’t that high it’s good to state your work and who you have worked with in the past. If your mission statement is your strongest thing then it is important to really nail that mission statement. You can say

“I believe that if your client comes onto my outlet then I’d be able to give them exposure to this certain demographic or crowd base.”

So, in addition to asking for something you definitely want to pitch why they should do it. Whenever I am pitching to anyone I just make sure to say that this is what you are going to gain from this partnership so it’s not only me taking but it’s actually advantageous for you as well for us to do this collaboration whether it be for an interview or for a marketing project or whether it’s for an influencer partnership. I also never really ask is this something you will be interested in? More so, I would ask, so what time do you think will be a good time for us to meet? So I always position my questions to be a leading question versus giving them an opportunity to say no.

What pieces of advice would you give to someone like you back in the day?

I would definitely tell myself back then to do your research because I did research but not enough as I should have done. My whole life I’ve always had blogs so from blogger to Blogspot, and even Myspace to whatever you can think of I had a blog on each platform. I just ended up blogging the same way and making sure that my personality shines through my site. However, in blogging there is a huge avenue to make money from it as well and monetize your blog and in the beginning I wasn’t really thinking about monetizing my blog and I just thought of having this cool outlet but I had to learn that time is also money. I wish I did a little more research and been a bit more disciplined with doing certain things and just not jumped on every single opportunity because not every opportunity is good and not all money is good money. Sometimes certain things are not worth your stress and there are certain things you might not want to be associated with either so that also falls into you doing research.

Comment down below if you relate with Raro’s journey or are in the process of launching your own site!

Boss Watch will feature creatives, entrepreneurs, influencers, digital professionals and anyone who is moving their passions from an idea into a reality. Boss Watch is for anyone who aspires to live a fulfilled life and just needs a little bit of inspiration to know that they are not alone on their journey towards self-realization. Boss Watch is for anyone who has made it through the growing pains of realizing their dreams and is now looking to share wisdom or just find new people to increase their network.  Is this you? If so, then feel free to leave a comment or email cnkstylebook@gmail.com for a chance to be featured on the next Boss Watch.

A new season always brings in new energy, fresh goals, and a refocus. I always find myself switching up my space, reorganizing and looking into what I’ve completed and where I want to go next. It’s definitely a time to just be honest and ask yourself if you have been doing all that you can to get to where you need to be next. A new season is also a good time to ask yourself if you are happy where you are and if not take into account what steps you can take to be happy. A huge part of my self reflection always involves music and sometimes music can provide perspective, can boost a mood or just offer a small escape.

A few artists I have been listening to this past few months in heavy rotation include Van Jess with “Rewind Time“ feat Little Simz, Victoria Monet with “New Love” and Amber Mark with “Put You On” featuring DRAM. If you are a fan of the 90’s sound then all of these bops will be exactly the vibe you need. Other artists that have dropped projects worth a listen include 6LACK with East Atlanta Love Letter and Lil Wayne with the long awaited Carter V. 6LACK expressed on the album booklet that he wrote East Atlanta Love Letter for those people who have difficulty expressing themselves in love.

Lil Wayne’s long awaited Carter V album dropped on September 28th and it is a 20 track list featuring XXTENTACION, Travis Scott, Nicki Minaj, Kendrick Lamar, Sosamann, Reginae Carter, Snoop Dogg, Ashanti, Mack Maine and Nivea. Popular songs from this album include “Uproar” and “Mona Lisa” featuring Kendrick Lamar which really showcases the Lil Wayne we’ve all come to love and is showcased on this playlist.

Comment down below what your favorite song is from this playlist!