Tiffany Cartwright, who is the CEO and founder of Amarra Products, has epitomized bouncing back despite facing adversity.
A former administrative law judge for Michigan and assistant attorney general, she was let go in 2012 without notice because of state budget cuts.
She tried to find another job, but it wasn’t easy. Other firms didn’t want her because she had worked as a judge, and even entry-level positions refused her for being overqualified.
As it happens, her brother was a motivational speaker with an online radio show.
One day, she tuned in to the show as he spoke about acting on dormant ideas like concoctions folks were mixing in their kitchens.
Tiffany was doing just that since her daughter had eczema.
She didn’t want to give her daughter chemicals or steroids to apply on her skin, being a firm believer that everything she needed was already available in nature.
Her products worked, so she started to hand them out to her girlfriends and even as Mother’s Day gifts.
With guidance from her brother, Cartwright launched an L.L.C., incorporated her business, and the opportunities started to come.
A particular one was Shark Tank coming to Detroit. She made it past the auditions and successfully pitched Amarra Products to them.
She then heard that Walmart was looking for suppliers who had U.S.-manufactured products.
She met the buyers and got a deal for them to test her products in their stores. The test was so successful that her G.L.A.M. Body Scrubs quickly sold out.
In February, Target approached her, and they eventually picked her up. Cartwright’s line of scrubs will soon be sold there.
Cartwright finds motivation from the realization that many people are relying on her to “get it right”.
Future opportunities for other Black people might very well rely on entrepreneurs like Cartwright, on what she does or fails to do.
Right now, Cartwright is working on starting a manufacturing facility in Detroit.
Her goal is to hire women within the city who are either returning citizens or who have been victimized by human trafficking and domestic violence.
Tiffany Cartwright is a clear example that when things go as wrong as they possibly can, we can still find a way to move on, even if it’s not clear at first.
She is an inspiration and based on the early reception of her products, they are going to be a massive success.
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