Emma Grede

So let's talk about the start because Forever Mood, you decided to start and you weren't thinking about it as like this big business.

How did you fund it?

Did you have to go out and raise capital?

Did you self-fund?

What did that look like?

Because I feel like I read something somewhere in my research that was kind of along the lines of,

it was kind of difficult for you to raise because there had been like complexities with maybe things that you'd said in the past or done in the past or brands that you'd worked with in the past that made it even more difficult for you as a black woman to go out and raise the capital to start this brand.

We have not chosen to be self-funded or you felt like it was just impossible to raise capital.

Don't say it if you don't feel comfortable saying it.

It was like a quarter of a million.

Yeah, that's it.

I mean, it's a lot of money.

I mean, it's a lot of money and it's not a lot of money, but I think it's really important for people to understand because it was your money.

But also, it was like my neck on the line.

This is what I'm saying.

It's your money.

It's your reputation.

And it's not like you have like a lot of quarter of a million to just put into things willy-nilly.

So it would have meant an enormous amount to you.

So this was like money that you had basically made that you were then investing in yourself.