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Made in Tampa Bay: Slay Bay Beauty body butters
Photojournalist Barry Wong reports
TAMPA, Fla. - In many ways, Joelle Hinds is a typical teenager. She goes to school, plays sports, scours social media and spends time with friends and family. Not so typical, the 15-year-old is an entrepreneur, running her own business.
"It's definitely fun and challenging," she said.
Hinds runs Slay Bay Beauty, which specializes in body butters. She started the business because, like many people, she was battling dry skin.
"I couldn't find anything that would actually keep my skin moisturized," she explained.
After doing some research, she says the problem was that water-based lotions, which is what mainly populates store shelves, weren’t doing enough for her skin. Slay Bay Beauty’s products are made with oils and butters.
"The biggest difference with body butters is it’s a more like a heavier product for people with dry skin," she explained.
Slay Bay Beauty body butters
Hinds sells her products at local markets and a few local businesses. The body butters are sold in four-ounce containers. They offer five scents, along with an unscented version. Hinds handmakes all the products, a process she loves to share on social media. As a teenager, she knew that was a natural arena to try and grow her new business.
"You have to understand that people are like, ‘okay this is my first time seeing this business. How do I know that I could trust it?’ ", Hinds said. "I realized that behind the scenes was a good way to do that."
With quick-hitting videos featuring catchy music, Hinds hopes to grab a viewers’ attention. She believes it’s working.
"I've been able to widen my audience because of the time that people have watched my videos," Hinds explains. "It's just crazy. I think that social media has such a big impact on like what we buy."
Along with grabbing attention and sharing behind the scenes, Hinds hopes that sharing her experiences and her products helps instill confidence in her customers.
"Look good, feel good, do good. I love that saying because I think it's so true," Hinds said.
Visit https://slaybaybeauty.com/ to learn more.