Meet Kat Thompson | Business Woman

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kat Thompson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kat, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I always knew I wanted my place in the beauty industry and I always knew that I wanted to be a business woman. I have a lot of favorites in beauty: lipstick, highlights, eyeshadow & etc. Many people start with lipstick or lipgloss for their business, I love lashes but the idea to start with lashes fell into my lap and I’ve been running with it ever since. Because me and lashes have a history, we have a story, we have a tug and pull until I got it. The whole practice makes perfect, in my time of becoming perfect at putting on lashes during high school. I practiced so much till I got it right. I would glue my eye shut often I got it right, I never gave up and I hope my Unicorns won’t give up on me.

What should our readers know about your business?
When I was looking to start a business, i was originally thinking about starting a clothing line, still plan on doing so. I wanted to start the fashion line but didn’t know where to start or where to find what it was that I needed. Time went by and my brother’s ex girlfriend who I was still in touch with, had decided to start a lash line. I was helping her put it together, coming up with the names, she figured out where to find the vendor. She wanted to really take her time like a snail or slower like a sloth. She told me that I should start my own and I though ok, well I’ve always wanted to be a businesswoman and have my own business and I’ve always wanted to be apart of the beauty industry. I remember as a teenager in high school, I would spend so much time looking at makeup tutorials. I tackled putting on foundation, contouring, lining my lips, mascara, and putting on lashes. Of course when it comes to foundation, it can be a bit of a hassle with having to find your shade and other particulars that goes into it. When it came to putting on lashes, oooooh baby! I would glue my eyes shut day after day, week after week until I got it right. Practice really does make perfect, pat myself on the back for that one. When I was putting the business together, it was in the mist of everybody embracing themselves as royalty, you know queen this, queen that. Along being ok with being yourself no matter how different you are because of your looks or personality or whatever it is that sets you apart from others. I wanted my brand to inspire people to embrace who they are and know that they are royalty, hence my quote: “Every Queen Has To Let Their Inner Unicorn Shine.” Putting the business together hasn’t been easy, I had to get license for the real mink lashes that I sell because the first shipment was held at customs. Had to register my business with the state, before my boyfriend helped me, I had to find a photographer which ended up being my coworker at the time and the models could have been better. When my boyfriend stepped in to help, I got better models and better pictures. Before starting the business, my account with Chase had got scammed so I was kicked out and they wouldn’t let me come back even for opening up a business account and I found a better bank. On my first website launch, I realized that the website was getting views but nobody was buying and I realized that it was the presentation of my website so I went back to the drawing. Found and read books on business and this when my boyfriend got involved and it got better. I found a new website builder, I originally had bigcartel. I switched to Shopify and I like it, I started designing and got it to where it was looking good and then my boyfriend took over and made it look even better, it’s amazing now. I relaunched back in September and business is dead but I realized that I need to build my community and that’s what I’m currently working on right now, building my community because that’s my targeted customers, the customers that i know will continue to buy from me and buy anything I sell. So I’m working on that. I’ve learned along the way that I need to remain consistent, disciplined, focused, I need to lean into what makes me uncomfortable therefore get out of my comfort zone and let go of fear because it does nothing but hold you back. What I want everybody to know about my brand is that it’s here to inspire anybody male or female, young or younger, whatever. My brand is here to remain that you being different sets you apart from others, being different makes you royalty. My quote: “Every Queen Has To Let Their Inner Unicorn Shine.”

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Ok week long trip: Monday – slutty vegan, top golf, krog market.
Tuesday- road trip to Tennessee, arrived at ruby’s cave, go to zaya, go to an African club
Wednesday- shopping in the town while still in Tennessee, bbq restaurant, go to a rooftop party for the night and then retire to the hotel or airbnb
Thursday- watch a scary movie during breakfast, go to the zoo, hit the road because we’re going to Miami
Friday- go to brunch and drink bottomless mimosas, the beach and have seafood! Go to Ross and then to target, round up all the little cousins and we go back to the beach so they can have some fun in the sun while we watch them, later that night we go to the strip club

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Of course I didn’t get this far all on my own and no one does. I’d like to thank the vendors that have helped me along the way from Alibaba, I can’t remember all of their names. The banks for letting me open up a business bank account. I like to thank my brother’s ex girlfriend who was trying to put her lash business together and told me that I should start my own. I’d like to thank my man Jarvis for helping me so much by designing my logo for me, introducing me to canva, telling me about building my business credit, thank you for having your other photography friends take pics for my business, thank you for finding the models, thank you for editing my pics, thank you for your support, your motivation when I needed it. I’d like to thank my cousin KrisAnne for making my Thank You cards and editing my pics and videos. Thank you to the people on Etsy who made my business cards and my stickers. Thank you to my mother cause of you, I found it in myself to gain the confidence I needed. I want to thank myself for the hard work I put into my business, the research, all the effort, consistency, discipline, never giving up on myself and etc cause I could go on. Most importantly, I want to thank God for helping me while I was helping myself, for everything! Thank you God!

Website: https://royaltyreignlashes.com/

Instagram: royaltyreignlashes

Facebook: Royaltyreignlashes LLC

Other: TikTok and Pinterest @royaltyriegnlashes

Image Credits
Jarvis Generette, DaJeanius CEO, MightyKev Productions and Tia Bia