Meet Trasha Collins-Reed | Founder & Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Trasha Collins-Reed and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Trasha, how has your work-life balance changed over time?

A few years ago, my work-life balance was almost non existent! Thankfully I’ve worked for some amazing companies that understood the importance of it and supported work life balance, so when it came to starting my business ‘VIIIsix’ and finding the best way to manage that along with my full-time job, my family and my mental well-being, I was able to refer to some best practices in order to keep everything “balanced” despite the things that would happen that were outside of my control.

The biggest impact was obviously the pandemic last year. Adjusting to my new ways of working (with the full-time job), having my husband also working from home, and trying to build a business where many of my customers were facing financial constraints, not to mention the inability to receive supply so that I could make my products – I found myself being more stressed than normal and on the verge of shutting my business down for the second time. It was then that I realized that my work life wasn’t as “balanced” as I thought it was. So I committed to giving myself working hours for my personal business, setting boundaries with my full-time job; for example, not checking my work cell after 4pm, or shutting down my laptop and not reopening it later. Then I made sure to commit a few days/hours a week to focus on me and my personal well-being. Some might call this simple time management, but it truly takes a lot of commitment to stick to a schedule that allows an equal amount of focus for different things in your life. So at this moment, my work-life balance works for me – it’s definitely balanced.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?

Funny enough, VIIIsix actually started as a result of my own selfishness – which isn’t really a bad thing. As I’ve gotten older, I developed a sudden skin sensitivity to different products.  After a trip to the dermatologist, I was diagnosed with eczema. This caused to me seek out more naturally based products to use on my skin. I tried several black owned small businesses, and fell in love with one in particular, but they had terrible customer service. It would take months to receive an order, which is not ideal when you have a condition and can’t simply walk into a large retailer to grab what you need. After awhile, my husband suggested that I make my own body butters so that I wouldn’t have to depend on anyone else. So I took matters into my own hands. I began researching skin-safe, natural and organic ingredients, ordering  then testing them myself. After a while, I had developed my own body butter formula that left me moisturized all day and didn’t dry out. The best part was that it didn’t require a lot of product to be applied to my skin in order to do the job, but that also created a problem for me – I didn’t know how to make the butters in small batches so I had an excess amount of butters just sitting around the house! After gifting a few in order to cut through the inventory, my husband began to suggest that I sell my butters when I make more than I need. Fast forward to a year later and VIIIsix has expanded into a Home + Body brand that offers hand-made products infused with natural essential and fragrance  oils, safe for your home and your skin. Not only do I have my body butters which are made with organic ingredients, but I also have a line of Body Washes, Body Scrubs, Room + Linen sprays, Candles, Body Sprays, Hand Soaps and more!

I think that most people think ‘body butters’ and assume that every body butter, every candle, or simply anything that claims to be hand made is the same as every other small business with similar product offerings. But that isn’t true at all. What sets VIIIsix apart from other similar businesses is that we want to help our customers focus on their self care. That is why I expanded into other product collections that could be used day to day. Sure it would be great to have you buy my body butter and only my body butter, but when you walk into your livingroom, I also want you to walk into the aroma of one of our signature room and linen scents that immediately relaxes you after a long day. Or when you wash your hands and use our liquid hand soap, the fragrance that it leaves on you, and the softness that you feel on your skin should put you at ease, even though you are simply washing your hands. My business is to incorporate these minor items into your life so that you subconsciously focus a little more each day on your well-being and self-care.

Now that doesn’t mean that all of this doesn’t come with challenges! Selling hand-made products means taking the time to re-create a formula that SHOULD come out the same each and every time, and sometimes that doesn’t always happen. I’ve wasted a lot of product, tested a lot of candles, spent a lot of money to test my many product ideas and I’m constantly fighting to remain encouraged during those slow sell moments. Owning your own business is like being an independent music artist not backed by a major label – you have to invest in yourself and believe that it will bring results. That belief is really hard to hold on to when things go wrong, but when things are going well, it almost makes it all worth it.

With that said, the biggest lesson that I’ve learned throughout this journey would be to trust the process. The few times where things went horribly wrong, were when I was too focused on what others thought, what others were doing and how it compared to VIIIsix. No matter how tempting, sometimes it’s best to simply focus on what you have to offer and trust that all of this hard work will go noticed.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?

Here’s the thing, I’ve been living in Atlanta for 16 years, but I was born and raised in Miami, Fl., by the beach, with constant sun. So considering that Atlanta isn’t near a beach and is mostly filled with restaurants and lounges, if I had a friend coming to Atlanta to visit me, we would likely go lay out at the roof top pool where we’d have drinks and relax. Knowing my friends, they would want to go shopping, followed by a stop at Julep or Whiskey Blue for drinks then we would likely end with dinner somewhere like the Betty. That would be day one.

The next couple of days might include stops to Puttshack or Topgolf, having drinks, dinner or lunch at Blue Martini, Rock Steady, Barcelona and Estrella – paired with more rooftop pools haha

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My husband is probably my biggest supporter and critic. I’ve started a few business over the course of our relationship and have even helped others to build their own business, mainly because I am naturally a creative. I enjoy coming up with ideas, working behind the scenes, consulting, and developing strategy. As a result, I was never anxious to deal with the day to day of managing a business, but for some reason he always saw the potential in me. Time and time again he would encourage me to move forward on the ideas that I had instead of giving them to other people. So one day I listened and committed to building VIIIsix the way I wanted to. When I’d test a theory or a strategy, he’d be my test dummy. He’s my blind scent tester, my Logistics manager, and my moral support. I think that it’s important for entrepreneurs to have that rock that they can lean on, especially during those times where you may question an idea or feel like giving up. For me, that’s my husband. He’s truly the one motivating me behind the scenes and pushing me to keep going.

Website: www.VIIIsix.com

Instagram: @VIIIsix

Twitter: @VIIIsix86

Facebook: www.facebook.com/VIIIsix

Image Credits
Photography: Rhonda Manns