Candy-Ellie Graham founder of StylzMag
My name is Candy-Ellie Graham, I’m a mother and founder of StylzMag.Com - as well as a novice baker.
StylzMag is an ethnically diverse cultural fashion, hair, and beauty platform. The platform's core offering is a directory of diverse service providers.
Whether you’re looking for a seamstress for African cultural attire, mehndi artists for a wedding or hair and beauty services that can cater to diverse hair textures and skin tones, my desire is to help the search to find suitable services less tedious.
The platform also includes a blog, interactive style galleries for inspiration, job boards, and more.
What were you doing before launching your business?
Before launching StylzMag I was a senior service marketing communications campaign manager and I still am. Utilising my marketing expertise to connect local businesses offering a range of specialist ethnic services to customers in the community, without the need for them to build a business website or master the complexities of social media has been very rewarding.
Getting involved in Tech is still a hot topic for women, what was the motivation for you?
I have wanted to get into tech for a few years now but couldn't afford to re-train. In regards to what I do now, I would say it was totally by chance and I am still learning. The key motivating factor for my involvement (or opportunity) in tech was actually a lack of funding. I could not afford to completely outsource my platform and its development. I had some basic experience in coding and UI design mapping, but not enough to do it all myself. That combined with a very low start-up budget and ambitious plans were discouraging but I turned that discouragement into motivation and found a way to breakthrough.
How have you found your journey so far and what has been your greatest accomplishment?
The journey so far has been quite challenging, but also very rewarding. I am very surprised at how much I have been able to achieve with very little funding and no core team. I am even more surprised by how exhilarating this has been. I have a comfortable career that paid me well but I still yearned to breathe life into ideas that I had been sitting on for many years. There is something profoundly rewarding about seeing your dreams and visions materialise and the very people you created it for interact with it and give such amazing feedback.
What has been the most challenging thing so far?
If you asked me a few months ago I would have said it was some of the difficulties caused by managing a team of remote freelancers (often in different time zones) in addition to some technical issues during the beta phase. But now, I can confidently say that the most challenging thing so far was juggling motherhood, a full-time job, and a new business during lockdown. My son is now 2 years old. He actually turned 2 during lockdown and wanted to play with mummy all day every day since nurseries were closed.
I am used to juggling a lot in my day to day work as a communications campaign manager but during lockdown, I had real raw moments where I questioned if I could really continue juggling so much. There was a unique opportunity to do more via social media due to there being a captive audience who had nowhere to go but I was exhausted. Thankfully, I decided to scale back on everything and rest, but not quit.
You have created a business that is adaptable and progressive. What has that process been like for you?
The process for me has actually been progressive too and I’m learning so much along the way. There is still so much more that I’d like to add to the StylzMag platform that I have not seen done in such a way before. This actually excites me and gives me something to plan towards. My hope is that as membership grows and advertisers come on board, I can use that income to further develop the platform and create an outstanding user experience.
Who is your target audience?
My platform is open to all who are interested in cultural diversity in fashion, hair, and beauty. My core target audience is people of ethnic origin or dual heritage that want to see more representation, relevant content, and connect with service providers that understand their hair texture, skin tone, and bespoke cultural tailoring needs no matter where in the world that they choose to settle.
For example, If I decided to move to Canada or Dubai, I’d like to be able to use StylzMag to find local tailors that can create my African cultural wear or hairdressers that understand how to work with my hair texture.
What advice would you give to fellow entrepreneurs stuck on mapping out a strong business model?
One piece of advice that I would give is to dream big, then scale it back to what is feasible for you now. I listed all the features I wanted my platform to have and all the tasks and operations that were needed to achieve that and keep it running. This was a vast list including website functionality and management, blog content, gallery content, social media, marketing, legal, accounts, and more. I was realistic with myself about what I could do by myself and what I could afford to outsource and then I scaled that back to a version that was manageable for me. This was very important for me because I have been part of projects that started off well and slowly fizzled out because of burnout and/or running costs.
Another thing I’d like to add is that you need to be patient and be in a position to give it time to gain traction. According to Forbes and Medium around 90% of new businesses fail and only 40% of startups actually turn a profit (Source: Small Business Trends), so it was important for me to give my business the time it needed to build traction within my current budget so I didn’t have to shut it down prematurely.
What plans do you have for business over the next two years?
Over the next two years, I plan to grow the directory membership and raise the capital needed for a new platform and app.
There are some new features I hope to introduce and pending partnerships that I can not share as yet so please watch this space.
Overview of how your business works:
Directory
On StylzMag you can search for hairdressers, beauticians, tailors and makeup artists (MUA's) from across the world in our online directory. You can see pictures of their work, read reviews, contact them and book services.
Job board
If you need something specific, you can post a job on our job board for free and let the fashion, hair and beauty service providers get in touch with you.
Interactive galleries
You don't have to waste time across several different websites to get inspiration for a new hairstyle, tailored outfit or makeup look. You can browse our galleries to see makeup ideas from the best MUA's and makeup enthusiasts or find your next hairstyle or outfit idea.
Blog
Through our blog we bring you the latest on diverse fashion, hair and beauty in addition to hair and beauty tips!
