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

Hi Patrice, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
When my son was younger, I struggled to find natural skincare products for his skin, especially as a child with melanated skin. We tried pretty much everything from my skincare products that I was using on my skin, to soap, water, and lotion. None of those options worked for him as they were never made for children. When Bron turned 12, this past January, I gifted him with $1200 towards starting his business, MelanBrand Skin, in lieu of a birthday party. I began doing my research on starting a skin care company last year and had been sitting on the idea to launch a natural skin care company for Black and brown kids. In April of this year, I was laid off from my federal contracting job. That’s when I started to get everything in motion to launch our company together. Bron is Co-founder and Co-CEO of the company, and is only 12 years old.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
What sets MelanBrand Skin apart from others is that we are dedicated to empowering parents to help empower their Black and brown children to love skin that they are in, while taking care of it too. We are changing the narrative around proper and healthy hygiene while adding skin care to the mix. It’s not just about showering or taking a bath, brushing your teeth, and putting on deodorant. It’s about taking care of the first thing that people will notice about you, which is your face. During the pre-teen and teenage years, appearance is of the utmost importance, and we want parents to begin working with their kids on healthy skin care long before they reach that age group. We got to where we are now, because of years of not having the right products on the shelves or online for kids for their melananted skin, when it came to skin care. The lessons that I learned are to not wait when you have an idea; launch when it first comes up, and do not allow life to get in your way of doing what you truly want to do. A lot of times, life will cause us to delay our purpose because we get busy. I want the world to know that MelanBrand Skin is going to be a household name and a brand that parents can trust. We believe that every child deserves to have healthy and nourished skin, and that’s what we aim to provide with our products. Our mission is to empower parents to take care of their children’s skin in a natural and safe way, help the parents empower their kids to do the same, every day, and to empower Black and brown kids to feel confident in their skin. We pride ourselves in using only responsibly sourced ingredients in all our products, and value sustainability and safety first. You will find that our products are gluten free, vegan, and contain no added phthalates or parabens. We do not test on animals and are therefore cruelty free.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
There are so many good places to go in DC. I would start with taking them to the various monuments and museums. From there, we could stop by the National Harbor for lunch. If they are into shopping, Tysons Corner Centers would be the next move!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would say that since Bron is the inspiration behind starting MelanBrand Skin, LLC, I am shouting him out. I don’t think that I would have ever entered into the beauty industry and skin care space had it not been for him. Therefore, he gets all of the credit behind this idea to launch a natural skin care company for Black and brown kids.

Website: www.MelanBrandSkin.com

Instagram: www.Instagram.com/MelanBrandSkin

Twitter: https://twitter.com/melanbrandskin

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MelanBrandSkin/

Youtube: https://youtube.com/@MelanBrandSkin?si=2Qz32myOogN9WT6N

Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@melanbrandskin

Image Credits
Nita Snaps, LLC

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