How I Built This with Guy Raz - Meet The HIBT Fellows: Katie Mitchell & Celena Gill

Episode Date: May 13, 2021

As a part of the 2021 How I Built This Summit (At Home) we have selected 10 Fellows, and we'd like to introduce you to them over the next couple weeks. In this episode: Katie Mitchell and her mother Katherine opened a book shop in Atlanta called Good Books, that centers Black authors and brings books into the community. And in Washington, D.C., Celena Gill and her three sons, Collin, Ryan, and Austin, started the home fragrance and candle company, Frères Branchiaux.How I Built This Summit - information and tickets at:http://summit.npr.orgSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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a Airbnb.ca slash host. Hey everyone. So as a lot of you know, every year during normal years, we do How I Built This Summit, an in real life gathering that we've been doing in San Francisco. This year, we're going entirely virtual. But every year we've done the summit, we've invited a group of entrepreneurs to become How I Built This Fellows. These are dreamers and builders that may be in all different stages of their businesses and are looking to make connections or get mentorship or take their ideas to the next level. This year, we picked 10 fellows and we're holding a pitch competition where the winner will get a $50,000 check from us, a grant. So over the next two weeks, we'll be getting to know them a little better. One of the things I find really interesting is when people start a business with some,

someone in their family. It might be a spouse or a sibling, but no matter of the relation, they have a story that goes beyond a typical co-founder relationship. Both of the fellows, we're going to hear from today, started their company with family. First, Katie Mitchell, who started the business Good Books in Atlanta with her mom, Catherine. Together, they're building a community that centers on black literature through monthly book clubs, author spotlights, and pop-up events. And while they just start, Started the business in the spring of 2019, Katie's love of books started long before that. At a time, she could rarely be found without one.

Yeah, always a book in my hand, a book in the backpack, book in the car, just always wanting to read. And the way my mom raised my brother and I, it was something that was just fun. It was an activity. I remember standing in the living room when we lived in Manhattan, Kansas, and reciting Langston Hughes poems. I had the little short ones and my brother had the longer ones, but it's been something that's just been so a part of my life. And it's really just shaped the way I see the world. And my mom was really big on teaching us not what to think, but how to think and how to come to our own conclusions. And of course, books played a huge role in that.

Who did you like to read as a little girl? As a little girl, I loved the American Diary series where it was a, a girl from ancient Egypt and I really loved Addie. She was the girl who was a former enslaved person. I still have them and I'm like, I can't wait to pass these down to my daughter. But yeah, reading someone's diary and I feel like it was a little bit of me being nosy, but also a little bit of wanting to just learn the history in a fun and different way. So I want to ask you about the experience that you have when you read.

Do you get lost in books? Is it like this immersive thing where it doesn't matter what's going on around you, but you are completely lost in that book? Yeah, definitely really good fiction does that for me. And before I shared a little bit about my struggle with mental health issues, that's really what got me through it. Reading books that had nothing to do with mental health issues, with people were just going on adventures and living their life. And like for those hours that I was reading those books, all my problems didn't exist because I was just in it. How did you come to the idea for the business that you created Good Books? So it started in my parents' house selling books through Instagram DM. And when I look back, Good Book started May 2019, but it really has roots in 1930s rural Mississippi when my grandfather was born. he, along with my grandmother, were sharecroppers, and he left school to help out his family and didn't

learn how to read or write. But he instilled in his children, his grandchildren, the importance of that. And he made sure that they knew how to, even though he lived to be 82 and he never learned. He raised his family and showed us how important it was. And we officially launched a month after me and my mom were just having a conversation, over breakfast. And it was kind of a lull. And she said, why don't we start a bookstore? I was like, yeah.

Why don't we? And it kind of just happened super fast after that. We knew that we wanted it to be all black books. We knew that we wanted to be mobile and be able to bring literature and prose to the people. And looking back, I see, like, that's such a huge part of why I was raised the way I was. I feel like it was very intentional with our family trying to be. to, you know, move past that point in history where it was hard for black people to get access to books and learn how to read. And it was seen as more important to work and provide for your

family, which is important, which helped them survive racist, rural Mississippi. Katie, can you talk a little bit about how good books works? Yeah, of course. Before COVID-19, we were doing pop-ups around the city. like I said, to have that mobile aspect bring books to people who typically wouldn't have black books in their neighborhood. After COVID happened, we transitioned to 100% online, including an online book club where we discuss books. And then we have a large social media community where we talk about books online. And we are creating Atlanta's first mobile black bookmobile. So when outside is open and it's safe to do so, we'll be driving.

around the city and bringing books to people that way. So you can kind of think of it as a food truck for books or a bookstore and a tiny house that will come to neighborhoods and book deserts and parks and just have that really communal experience around reading. What is your broader vision for good books? It's in Atlanta now. You're virtual. But tell me what your vision is five, ten years from now. What does good books look like? The vision is, it scares me a little bit. And I think that's good. I see it as becoming a fleet of bookmobiles in cities that have a story black literature tradition in history. So Atlanta, of course, Selma, Harlem, Oakland, Shreveport, like all these places, I would love to see that have this fleet of bookmobiles where people can really make it their own.

And we can co-create it with the communities that it will be in. Do you see this as a, I know you're running a for-profit business, but do you see this sort of as a hybrid kind of for-profit nonprofit type of model? I definitely do see it as something that is doing a social good. We partner with groups in Atlanta and Chicago that give books to incarcerated people and also give books for free to students. So I haven't incorporated it as a nonprofit, but we do things that, like, profit isn't our first motive. if we do want people to learn and engage with the literature and the thoughts and have it as a, like a third space for just gathering and learning and supporting each other. Katie, as part of how I built this fellowship, you were able to attend some workshops, including a workshop with Robin McBride of the McBride Sisters collection. She talked about telling brand stories.

What did you take away from that conversation? First, Robin is awesome. I was kind of starstruck. I was trying to keep it low when we were on the call. But she really brought it home for me that people are buying from you because they believe in you and they believe in your vision. Anyone can get a book from any other place. You can go to Amazon. You can go to throw stores. Barnes & Noble.

There's places people can get books, but people shop with me and my mom because of our story and because. of our passion and what we bring to the space. Like every founder is a real person and with a real personality and a real passion, you know, either for the product or services you created or are providing, every brand has a reason for why you created it in the first place. I think sometimes people tend to overlook that as being a piece of what's really important. Not necessarily why they created it, but just the fact that, again, people are buying in, are also buying into you, right? And they want to, they made a reason to

believe that the passion that you guys feel should resonate with the person who you're telling the story to as well, but it's got to be, it's got to be true. She let us know that your backstory isn't something to be ashamed about. I shared with her that I was kind of hesitant to talk about my family's history with illiteracy because it's something that they had been ashamed of. It's not something that people just shout from the rooftops, but she let me know, like, that's part of your story, and that is what led you to where you are now. And it's not your shame to hold because it's not something that's shameful. Yeah. If you won the $50,000, the grant, how would you use it? We would use that $50,000 to create the flagship bookmobile here in

Atlanta designing it, building it. We want to use sustainable materials and local builders and designers, also stocking the bookmobile, and just creating a space that is inclusive but also very specific. I think a lot of the times black consumers are seen as second class consumers. And, you know, if you find something for yourself, then you do. If you don't, oh, well, we have millions other people to buy our products. But we want to have something that's specific to black culture and black history and debuting it in Atlanta, whether it's during the Black History Month parade or even the Juneteen celebration, that's what we would do with that $50,000. That's Katie Mitchell, co-founder of Good Books Atlanta. When we come back, we're going to hear

from another How I Built This Fellow, a mother who started a company with her three kids, the oldest of whom is just 12. Stay with us. I'm Guy Raz, and you're listening to How I Built This Fellows Edition from NPR. Hey, welcome back to How I Built This Fellows Edition from NPR. I'm Guy Raz. So, Selina Gill co-founded her company Frère Branchio with her three children, Colin, Ryan, and Austin. They started a home fragrance company, and they now sell soy and coconut, vegan candles, diffusers, bathsalt, all under that name, Frère Branchio, which was not their original idea, but they ran into a naming issue. pretty early on. The brothers wanted to name it Gil Brothers candle company. And when we

Googled Gil Brothers, there are so many different companies named Gil Brothers. So I was like, okay, let's do something different. We had just started homeschooling that year, but all three of them had gone to the same French American school for a number of years. And they had a French tutor who used to call them her little bronchio. She said bronchio. We said Broncio, because you know, different accents in that way. And I said, well, you know, your tutor used to call you that. Let's add brothers to it. So that's where Frere Branccio came from. Because Brancio or Brantio is Gil, like a fishgill. So the teachers to call them.

Yes. That's so cool. So the Gil brothers in French, Frere Branccio. And now that's the name of the company. Yes. Yes. All right. How did it start?

How did this business begin? What were you doing in your life at the time when you started this business? It was our first year of homeschooling. So I was at home all three of the boys. And they asked for more money for Nerf guns. P.S4 games, toys, you name it. My husband and I were like, no, you get enough allowance money. If you want more, you have to get a job or start a business. And I said it, you know, just to encourage them, but I didn't think they would actually want to do it. So they were like, mom, let's start a business.

And I'm like, are you serious? I said, okay, so if you want to do this, let's do it and be successful in it. So we did a research project because it was all homeschool. I was like, this is going to be a lesson plan. And they research which kid businesses were the most successful. And those were bath bombs, soaps, and candles. So we learned how to make all three types. They know how to make hot processed soap, cold processed soap, all types of bath bombs, paraffin candles, soy candles, vegan candles. And we all use them as chemistry experiments.

By the way, they just went online and just, like, looked at how-to videos. Yep, we Googled it. I went to a candle making workshop as well and brought those, what I learned home to them. And we learned how to make everything. And people love the candles the most. And they asked me also, Mom, which one do you like the best? I sent candles because everyone loves candles. Yeah.

So they start experimenting and they come up with a line of candles, your boys. And this is back in, I think, 2017, right? Yes. And at the time, your boys, what were their ages? They were 12, 9, and 7. 12, 9, and 7. Oh, wow. Awesome. Okay.

So they have this line of candles. And where do they go? I mean, they want to sell it. it. So how do they start to put it out into the world and sell them? Who are they selling them to initially? Baseball and football games. We literally have the candles in the back of my minivan. They went out. They let people smell and sniff them. And they brought people back to the minivan. And they bought candles. Wow. Then how did they, what was the next step? I think they actually decided to go to like craft fairs, right? And start to sell it craft fairs. What was the first craft fair they were? went to. It was the NPR All Crafts Considered holiday fair. Okay, and I should explain this. NPR in Washington, D.C., has a craft fair around Christmas time, and it's all local makers, and it's called

the All Crafts Considered Fair, Plan All Things Considered, and you can go there and sell your stuff and NPR employees and the public can come into the building and buy stuff. And so how do they find out about it? Someone sent me an email. Like someone knew what the boys were doing, And they sent me email and was like, Selena, you should, you know, apply for the boys to vent. And I said, okay, I had heard of it, but I had never been a part of it. So I applied for them an event. And I also, I used to sell T-shirts at the time.

So I had a booth. They had a booth. And I asked the courtier and I said, make sure that their table is not close to mine. I trained them. I said, look, this is what we say to people. This is usually what I do when I sell T-shirts because the T-shirts was a side, like kind of a side hustle because I was full-time homeschooling. Wow.

And I said, this is how you sell to cut. customers, you know, I taught them how to do an elevator pitch, everything. And I said, make sure they're away from me and they're with their dad. I'm not stepping in to take over that you, because you know what, moms, do we say, you know, I said, no, I want them to do it by themselves. I want them to feel independent and know they can do it. And they sold out. They sold out at the NPR Crafts Fair. And they took orders. They took orders for future. When they ran out, they took orders. Wow. And by the way, were they selling one size candles or were they selling different sizes at the time. We had the time they were selling four ounce and two ounce. Got it. Okay. So completely sold out. So that's a

good sign that they're on to something. What was the next step in expanding the business out? We joined the Made in D.C. program, which is a program for local makers in D.C. and Maryland, Virginia area. And through the program, we were able to, one, meet other makers, find out about vending fairs. They had programs for us to attend, you know, to learn how to better our business. And through actually another program, we also joined Market 7, which is an initiative in Ward 7 in D.C., which is a historically black district. And the founder of that program brought blackmakers together, and she presented them to retail stores to say, look, I have these black makers.

Do you want to put them on yourselves? So through her, we ended up and then made in D.C. shop. So that was the first retail location because it was like a black history fair or something like that. And she got a lot of us together, presented us, and they picked the ones that wanted to be there on that night. So from November to February, they got their first retail spot. Wow. This is now February of 2018. Yes.

All right. Now, bring us to today. You're now in some retail, more retail locations. And I think you have a partnership with Macy's to sell your candles and your diffusers and things online. I have to assume that the boys are not handmaking the candles anymore because they, the capacity, right? No, they're not. No, they're not. I promised them.

I promised them, was it in 2019. I said, guys, if you all want to extend your business, I said, just trust me. I said, get it to a point where you don't have to make it anymore. So last, by 2020, we made it happen. And July, we got a warehouse. And we started hiring people for the warehouse. So now at this point, they don't make. They make if I said, guys, we need some extra production help. Can you come in? They'll come in and make. But for the most part, they just kind of manage to oversee. They go in. They train every now and then they train people if they need to. But they're not the primary. manufacturers anymore. And tell me a little bit about your sales. I mean, I think you guys are close to or maybe more your revenues in the seven figures? Yes. Yes. We were very happy. They made seven figures in a pandemic. Wow. We were amazed because if you ask Ryan, Ryan is the middle son. He was nine when we started. From day one, Ryan has had the most consistent attitude with we're a million dollar company. Ryan is the analyst. He says, Okay, how many people are at the event?

So we should talk to 10% of them. So this is how many we're going to talk to. And because of that, we should have this much in sales. But that's the way Ryan thinks. He's very analytical. Like, he's a Lego head. Like, you should see all the Lego creations we have. He's an engineer.

He wants to be an architect when he gets older. So Ryan was like, we can make a million. We need to make this much to make a million and this much a day. And this is what we need to do. And that's just who he is as a person. I was just kind of fearful of saying yes, too. Because I was like, are we ready? And Ryan was like, yeah, we're ready.

We're ready, Mom. Let's do it. I read in your fellowship application that a part of what you do is not just make candles to make money, but there's a social side to your business. Can you tell me a little bit about it? Well, when we started, the boys wanted to definitely give money to someone in the community. And literally every time we saw a homeless person, they were giving money. Either they were giving their money or asking me to give any cash that I had. And in D.C. is a very large homeless population. So we decided that very early on we're going to give, they wanted to give like, they wanted to

get 50% at first. And I said, we can't do that because then you won't make any money. I said, you know, profit is after we pay our bills. So you won't make any money. Let's give a amount that makes a significant difference, but also enough where you all can have a profit. So we decided on 10%. And we work with three foundations in D.C. that we donate to.

And then we also, sometimes and, you know, sometimes you just feel like giving, like every time we visit a different city, we'll give to a charity there. We just don't really publicize it. So we'll find a charity in that city and we'll donate to that charity. We donate to other charities around the city. I think we just don't publicize because we're like, you know, sometimes you just give to give. You don't give so someone can say thank you. Just give to give.

Yeah. Tell me what your and the boys' vision for the business is. How do you think about it in five or ten years from now? They want Fred Brancho stores. They want candle stores around the world, not even the nation, around the world. world. So that's what they want. They want them to be on the shelves of Target, of Northrop. Like, they have a very big vision. Right now, we're going to be moving out of our warehouse. When we described, it was an experience of harassment, some racial intimidation where we are.

And so I was telling everyone about it on social media. And they were like, okay, how about you all buy a warehouse? Now, we talked about buying a warehouse, but we just talked about it. And I said, you know what, we can buy our warehouse. can do that. And then when I talked to the boys about it, and I saw another initiative about building a homeless center. I said, what do you guys think of a homeless center next to the warehouse that we build? And they were like, yeah, mom, let's go for it. Because in our mission, we've always had our mission that we wanted to help train homeless people and have them work for us, like have a transitional program. And we were actually right before COVID hit, we were talking to the different organizations that we worked with about bringing some of their employee, you know, helping with the

training programs. And then COVID hit, and that just went down the drain. You know, so I was like, okay, we build a warehouse, and then we can build a homeless center next to it, and then we can actually help people, not just help them find a home, but train them as well. So the plan is to eventually get by a warehouse? Yes, buy a warehouse and then build a homeless training center next to it. So cool. If you and your boys win the competition, how will you use the $50,000 grant? definitely towards the warehouse, definitely to the work to warehouse and helping build that center. We're actually talking to different realtors this week about, you know, finding the land, getting more employees. We tend to employ families. And I tell you, everything we do is very organic. We employ mothers and daughters. We employ brothers. We employ brothers and sisters.

And it's not on purpose. Either they come to us in pairs or one starts working and says, you know what, can my brother come? So we have like either someone's related or a lot of the kids, like we have a teen crew in the evening. And all of them grew up with Colin playing football. So we have all these big football players making candles and roots, raising their fienders. That's Selena Gill, co-founder of Frere Brascio, along with her sons, Colin, Ryan, and Austin. More stories of how I built this Fellows edition will be in your feed next Tuesday to learn more about the fellows or to get tickets to our How I Built this virtual summit, you can visit summit.npr.org. And to find out more about NPR's live events, go to nprpresents.org.

This episode was produced by J.C. Howard with music composed by Runtine Arableu. Thanks also to Janet Ujong Lee, Jiana Capadona, Bruce Grant, Farah Safari, Liz Metzker, Elmanian, Joanna Palavska, John Isabella, Jessica Goldstein, Neva Grant, and Jeff Rogers. I'm Guy Raz, and you've been listening to How I Built This Fellows Edition from NPR.