​TC: Now you have a unique skin care and relaxation product line! Tell us more about your brand Herbal Accessions and how it came to be. 

HA: I was a natural skin care and product junkie. I would buy the latest popular products in hopes of finding the perfect body care/skin care that answered all of my skin care needs and had all of the right ingredients. I realized that majority of these products only have one or a few natural ingredients and was full of unnecessary preservatives and chemicals.

I was pushed to take an even closer look at what I put on my skin and in my body after I had my son, who experienced severe eczema. After researching eczema, I learned that it can be treated simply by becoming conscious of the toxins we ingest and put on our skin. I decided to ditch spending money on popular brands of wellness and body care products and simply make them myself with no preservatives and just the right mix of herbs and ingredients. I created my own “perfect” product.

Within recent years, I have also been conscious in advocating self-care. I had family members that suffered from illness due to simply not prioritizing their own health. I wanted to combine a variety of products, that I personally love and enjoy, into a brand that specializes in combining these two factors- self-care/reducing stress and all-natural herbs and beneficial ingredients. That’s how Herbal Accession came about!
Herbal Accession’s goal as of now, is to open a wellness center in Chicago that offers free classes on how to grow herbs and plants for healing and wellness, how stress affects our minds and bodies, mindfulness and mental health workshops, public nursery, and Herbal store.


TC: Love your brand story! I see from your website that you also have wine and elixirs. Wine Wednesday is one of my favorite days of the week. Tell us more about these products. 

HA: Yes! Girl I love a good wine! Our wine has been the top selling item lately! Kudos to that! I often indulge with a glass of wine or cocktail and a nice warm bath for relaxation, but on my journey to better my health and become conscious of what I consume, I learned that a lot of wine brands that I used to enjoy, were full of preservatives and additives. So one day, me and my fiancé went to a wine making class and it dawned on me, that I could make my own. I could include the level of sweetness I enjoyed, as well as any other perks or herbs I chose and most importantly, no preservatives! I started simply making sweet red wine (that’s my favorite!) and then I incorporated THC/Cannabis into my wine after learning about the natural benefits of Cannabis for stress relief, anxiety, and well-being. I was trying to create a drink that offered a delightful calming effect. My Elixirs are infused with Indica Strains of Cannabis for a relaxing feel. The wine is infused with Sativa strains for an uplifting, yet relaxing feel. I plan on expanding my collection to include wine infused with some of my favorite natural herbs such as lavender, rosemary, hemp, etc. 

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TC:  Is there anything else you would like to share with our audience? 

HA: I simply want to thank your audience for reading and allowing me to talk about my passion and experience.


TC:  Where can our audience find out more about your business, products and services? 

​HA: You can keep tabs on updates, latest news, goal and mission progress, product announcements and engagements via Instagram-@herbalaccession or at herbalaccession.com/pages/expanding-the-brand.

I hope you found this list helpful. Is there anything else you would add to this list? If so, feel free to place it in the comments. 

Tonya Cross - Accessory Designer 

Accented Glory has gain a lot a visibility this year and we're LOVIN' it! Many small businesses have experienced setbacks with the global pandemic this year. Accented Glory was fortunate to pivot early and has had much success even amidst Covid-19. It is truly a blessing to be in alignment with your vision and purpose! 

We're excited to announce that we ended the year with a bang! We now have the title of Accessory Business Of The Year by Buy From a Black Woman (BFABW). BFABW is a non-profit organization that supports Black women entrepreneurs by providing tools and resources that enables them to be successful. They offer educational programs, funding, and a directory listing for their organization members. 
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During the month of November BFABW celebrates Buy From A Black Woman Awareness Month. Throughout the month they host giveaways and events. Accented Glory is excited to be a part of this amazing organization and believe we have found out tribe! 

Below are some additional features our visionary and accessory designer Tonya Cross has been a part of this year. Click on names to read and/or listen!

Black Profits Feature
Cornell Report (Mention Paragraph 5)
Enterprise League Feature (Our project is #19)
The Spirit Talks Podcast 
Women’s Entrepreneurship (Mention Paragraph 14)

Cierra - AKA Accessory Diva

Accented Glory's accessory designer Tonya Cross (TC) got a chance to meet and chat with fellow woman entrepreneur Camille Brown (CB) of Hazel's Soapery. Check out their conversation below to learn more about Camille, her brand story, and natural products she create. 
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​TC: Thank you for agreeing to share your brand story with our Accented Glory Family! I love meeting and  engaging with other creative women in business. Please introduce yourself and tell us who you are.
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CB: Hello Everyone. My name is Camille Brown and I am the Artisan and Proprietor of Hazel's Soapery.  I am also a Mother, a Sister, a Friend, a member of Zeta Phi Beta, Sorority, Inc. and currently a South Carolinian (not sure how much longer that is going to last).
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TC: Accented Glory's target audience is black women with natural hair. I know how life changing returning to natural hair has been for me personally. Tell us about your natural hair journey and how it has impacted you.

CB: I began my natural hair journey after researching the use of "relaxers" and its effects on uterine fibroids. I was curious why it seemed as though so many young African American women had them.  Understanding I needed (Still do) to change my diet, I never considered how what I was putting on my hair could affect my internal health. It was an eye-opener for me.  One that ultimately led me to create Hazel's Soapery.

TC: WOW...My natural hair journey inspired me to launch my brand Accented Glory as well! Tell us more about your brand Hazel's Soapery and how it came to be. 

CB: Hazel's Soapery was created from a lot of major pieces that came together over the span of about 10 years.  I'll give you the abridged version :).

On my 34th Birthday, I was getting dressed to go out with a group of friends.  As I was getting ready I noticed a pain in my left breast. I didn't pay it much attention at the time and continued on with my evening.  Well as time went on I ended up with a mass in my breast the size of an egg.  After several treatments and scans, too many pain relievers and antibiotics. I had to have a partial mastectomy to have it removed.  I was blessed to have a wonderful Dr. who was a world-renowned researcher in Breast Care.  After removing the mass she was so curious about its make up that she studied it.  She called me in to tell me that the mass was a build-up of toxins that my body was not able to secrete due to a blockage caused by using Clinical Strength deodorant. You can read the entire story here.

The second piece was my Grandmother, Hazel Whitman. I had the Grandmother that people put in movies. She was kind, prayerful, wise and for a little girl who would never be quiet, she let me talk as much as I wanted :).  She was the person that people would call and say, "I have an earache and I don't know what to do." My grandmother would go into the kitchen, mix some stuff up in a bowl, put it in an old medicine bottle, and say, "Come on Baby, pick this up".  So I got my beginnings by staying attached to her hip, watching her, and not even realizing what it was I was watching. In addition to listening to my mother talk and read about different roots and vitamins. It laid dormant until about two years after her passing. 

The third piece was my transition to natural hair. My grandmother was also a Cosmetologist, her and my Great-Grandmother owned their own shop back in the 1930s. One of their early lessons was to "take care of your scalp and your hair will grow healthy without all that junk". So I have never been a fan of using a lot of products (Minus my Jerri Curl phase). When I decided to go natural, I couldn't find products that worked on my hair. So, I began to research and mix my own. I made itchy scalp sprays and all sorts of concoctions. Then one day, I came across an article that said; Whatever you put on your skin takes 26 seconds to get into your bloodstream. That was it, I needed to know what was in my soap, my lotion, my lip balm, of course, deodorant and here we are today. I found that I could create and therefore control the ingredients that I used on my skin. More importantly on my children's skin.  We have seen such a change over time and its amazing.

TC: I'm a huge advocate of using products made with all-natural ingredients. Tell us why you chose to avoid using chemicals and harmful ingredients in your products. 

CB: I avoid using chemicals and harmful ingredients mainly for the reason stated above. However, I will add this. My belief is that God created this world with everything we need to survive on it. So when you think back to our grandparents, for me I was blessed to even know my great-grandparents. I was able to watch them garden, cook, make home remedies, can food, hunt and cut up meat. All these things that we got away from because it was more convenient to buy it pre-made or packaged. So what many companies did was find a way to mass-produce the simple God-given ingredients to make a profit. The trade-off has been our health. So when I looked back and see, my Grandmother lived to be 80 yrs old, with clear skin, no real health problems, in her right mind and compare it to me who at before 40 had breast surgery, fibroids, Dry-skin. It was obvious, I needed to go back to what they were doing. Convenient or not. My main goal is to not have my children be dependent on the easy way. Or the junk food, the bad habits that I have, and am trying to break. I want to raise them without having the need to create new habits. But have healthy ones from the start. I want the same for my customers. I want us to understand those big companies are in the business of making our skin dependent on their product so that if we stop using it for an hour, we need to get more. I want us to reset our skin, so that it functions as it should on its own, with products that work for it. 


TC: Love your mindset; everything we need can be found in nature! I also noticed that you have a blog on your website. Why do you feel it's important to educate your customers?

CB: I love teaching. I was a pre-school teacher and Parent Educator at another time.  It is so little we understand about ourselves.  About how to love and nurture our skin and our hair. I happen to also love doing research. So as I learn and grow, I feel I would be remiss to keep that knowledge to myself. We suffer in many ways because we know not. We don't know why our skin is so dry. Also, Hazel's Soapery didn't start out to be a business. It started out because I wanted to change the way I was taking care of myself and my family. I want to share what I learn so that if there are others out there who are doing the same we can help each other. For every piece of information I share, someone has poured more information out into me. Everything can't be about a profit or I wouldn't be holding true to the name of my company. Plus my Grandma will visit me in my dreams and set me straight :).


TC: I'm a forever learner and enjoy sharing what I have learned as well. Is there anything else you would like to share with our audience? 

CB: Absolutely. If you ever have any questions about an ingredient or thinking of starting your own business feel free to reach out to me. I will help as best as I can. Also, a huge Thank You to you for inviting me to share a little bit about Hazel's Soapery with your community.

 
TC: You're very welcome! I'm so glad we got an opportunity to connect. I definitely feel like we have kindred spirits! Where can our audience find out more about your business and services?

CB: They can shop for my products at www.HazelsSoapery.com and send me questions at Camille@HazelsSoapery.com. They can also like/follow Hazel's Soapery on social media at links/handles below:

FB: https://www.facebook.com/HazelsSoapery/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/hazelssoapery/
Twitter: @HazelsSoapery

You can NOW purchase Accented Glory designs directly on our Facebook business page! We currently have designs in the shop that can ONLY be purchased in our Facebook Shop. See two of the designs below. Click Accented Glory then "Shop Now" button below our Facebook page banner to browse and shop!  

This blog post contains affiliate links. Click here for Accented Glory's Affiliate's Disclosure.
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At Accented Glory various materials and concepts inspire the formation of my accessory designs. I allow my imagination and creativity to guide the way. I’ve decided to record a series of video shorts that highlight my creative muses. In the video below, I share about cowrie shells and their African Roots. Click play to learn more.

No look is complete without great accessories!

Shop for our beautiful cowrie shell designs on Etsy or Amazon. 

Congrats to Accented Glory's visionary and accessory designer Tonya Cross on the pre-launch of her NEW book Our Stories His Glory! Our Stories His Glory is a book anthology that contains stories of victory from very transparent contributing authors. This awesome project is led by Visionary Author Laticia Nicole Beatty and SHERO Publishing. 

The ladies and gentleman in this book compilation have powerful stories that will bless you!
The title of Tonya's chapter is Choose Life. She shares how her self-love and forgiveness journey led to a life of abundance. Her hopes is that readers glean from her story and learn that they too can live more abundantly.

To purchase Our Stories His Glory during the pre-sale, visit Compilation Authors and click on our visionary's name Tonya Miller Cross to order. Books purchased during pre-sale will be autographed by our visionary and include a special gift! The books will be available May 23rd. The cost is $24.95 and includes shipping.