Featured CoCA Momma: Jamila White of JBlossom.com

I’m a serial entrepreneur, I’ve been self-employed full-time since I was 23, mostly in Internet-related businesses.  I’m also pretty crafty, and grew up in a household where herbal remedies and aromatherapy were used, long before it was mainstream. In 2003, I started mixing up natural body products for myself and my friends and family in my kitchen as a way to relax. At that point, I wasn’t even thinking about a business. But people loved the products, and I started selling a few just as a way to offset the cost of the ingredients and supplies for my new hobby. Around the same time, I was looking for holiday gifts for my goddaughter and other little girls I knew, and I was having a hard time finding positive products with brown girls on them. My friend Lawanda asked me to make party favors for my goddaughter’s 5th birthday, and the personalized lip balms I made were a huge hit. I put two and two together and saw an opportunity. The research I then did on the market backed up my hunch that I was on to something.

j.blossom officially debuted in 2006 with our signature line of fun, natural bath and body products for girls: lip balm, body lotion, bubble bath, and gift sets in yummy Strawberry-Banana Smoothie and Great Big Grape scents. I wanted to go beyond just something fun for bath time, and really celebrate little girls, so I decided to put a different positive affirmation on each bottle. For example: “Short or tall, thick or thin — I love the skin that I am in!”

The “Hugs, Not Bugs!” Natural Insect Repellent was introduced this spring. There are several other products in the works that will launch this holiday season – I’m very excited about that!