Vivian Kaye: Founder & CEO, KinkyCurlyYaki
Create Community in Quarantine with Vivian Kaye
Vivian Kaye is the Founder & CEO of KinkyCurlyYaki, a company that sells 100% textured human hair extensions, clip ins, closures & wigs for Black women.
Vivian chats with Marsha about how she’s maintaining her community as an e-commerce entrepreneur and single mom.
“During this time you have to be a resource to people or you need to be a relief. So I chose to lean heavily on the relief side.”
-Vivian Kaye
Listen to the episode:
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(Tune in at the 1:29 mark for Vivian)
Connect with Vivian:
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Learn more about KinkyCurlyYaki:
A huge thank you to Origins Media Haus for producing this podcast. You can find them at:
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Connect with Marsha:
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Marsha Druker 1:29
Hi, Vivian, thank you so much for joining me today on Create Community. I'm super excited to chat with you.
Vivian Kaye 1:35
It's a pleasure to be here. Thank you for having me.
Marsha Druker 1:37
Awesome. So to start off with, can you tell me a little bit about yourself, where you are in the world and what you're up to?
Vivian Kaye 1:44
My name is Vivian Kaye, I am just outside of the Greater Toronto Area, and I am the founder and CEO of KinkyCurlyYaki. It is a premium textured hair extension brand for black women. It's a business that I started back in 2012. I literally made stuff up as I was going along. And I built it into a seven figure business. That's basically my claim to fame, I guess you could say. And then I'm also a coach for e-commerce entrepreneurs who need guidance in order to scale their businesses confidently.
Marsha Druker 2:20
You have such an inspiring story. And you're the real deal when it comes to coaching. You've actually done it and scaled an incredible business.
So tell me, how the COVID-19 situation has impacted you?
Vivian Kaye 2:37
[Laughs] I laugh to keep from crying. It's certainly something I was not expecting. I'll tell you that. So what I do is I sell textured hair extensions for black women, and my factories are in China.
So we've actually been affected by COVID-19 since late January because the factories didn't open back up after the Chinese New Year. So our factories were shut down for six to seven weeks and we weren't able to get inventory in and then a week after they opened we shut down [in Canada]. It’s been pretty tough.
And then all in the same week, the schools shut down. I'm a single mom to a six year old. So here I am a single mom trying to run her business, and it's all gone to shit. So it's been interesting to say the least. But you know what, I've been an entrepreneur for 14 years and I've pretty much been through everything. And now I can say I've been through a pandemic. [Laughs] If that's not resiliency, I don't know what it is.
Marsha Druker 3:46
Absolutely, that's definitely one way to put it. 2020. That's the year that we've all built some resiliency.
Vivian Kaye 3:56
If you didn't have it before, you’re going to have it now.
Marsha Druker 4:04
On the personal side of things outside of your business, how have you been maintaining a sense of community during these crazy times of social distancing?
Vivian Kaye 4:11
Oh, well, you know, I've always been a big fan of Instagram stories. I'm actually known for my Instagram stories. One of the things that I've realized is that a lot of people don't really know what to do in this time, especially as entrepreneurs.
And so then my idea was either you have to be a resource to people or you need to be a relief. So I chose to lean heavily on the relief side. So I've been just showing you know, the behind the scenes of trying to work from home with a six year old and before this, me and two friends used to do karaoke. So we did a quarantine karaoke on zoom where there was 20 women in a Zoom Room with wine and alcohol and singing terribly off key.
What I loved do is just help people laugh through this. And so that's my thing. I love to just help people try and forget this really crappy thing that we're going through by just bringing some light.
And listen, don't get me wrong, I have sat down and cried, like sobbing. But you know, at the end of the day, what makes me feel better is that we're all in this together. So if you can be that person to just bring some joy to someone, especially people who are isolated and don't have any family or friends that they can really share with, I at least want to try and be that person for someone who may be just watching Instagram stories.
Marsha Druker 5:39
I've been following you for a while and your stories always just bring such humor and lightness and just... relief like you said, so please keep doing them. They're helping a lot of people.
Vivian Kaye 5:51
Thank you. I appreciate you saying that. I will continue to be silly.
Marsha Druker 5:57
What's something that you're grateful for, during all these crazy times?
Vivian Kaye 6:03
You know, I'm grateful for, I guess, being in Canada, because we have it pretty lucky up here, especially if we compare ourselves to what's happening in the US. I feel like our government is really stepping up and really making sure that they're keeping their citizens safe, where it doesn't feel that way south of the border. I'm very grateful for that. I'm also grateful for you. Yes, I'm grateful for you. Because I mentioned there's some days where I just want to sit down and cry. And then there's people who are just trying to make the best out of the situation. And you know, by doing something like this, it helps me stay me. So I get to express myself and I get to be Vivian, whereas now that we're not allowed to go outside I don't really get to do that anymore. So I'm grateful for you and for people like you who are demonstrating that we got to keep going - that's the resilience that we need right now. So thank you for that.
Marsha Druker 6:58
That's so sweet of you to say, thank you so much. Honestly, working on this podcast during this crazy time is something that's really kept me afloat as well and has given me a creative outlet and just something to kind of pour some of my energy into and get lost in. It's a really positive thing and I'm so happy to have you on it. Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me and share your experience.
Vivian showed that physical distancing does not have to mean social isolation! Stay safe. Wash your hands. Don’t hoard toilet paper. And keep creating your community.
Check out interviews with other guests at createcommunitypod.com/quarantine
