Today we’d like to introduce you to Keisha Robinson.
Hi Keisha, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My name is Keisha Robinson and I am the owner of The Krown Kollection, a passionate public school educator, and Harper’s mom. I started my first business in the 4th grade. It was called “rent a book.” I basically brought books from my home collection and charged other students a quarter to check them out from me. My family is full of entrepreneurs. My maternal grandmother owned a convenience store and a laundromat at a time when it was very uncommon for a woman to have even one business. She was my inspiration for starting a business and even though she is no longer living, I think about her and what she would do before every business decision I make.
I started my current business, The Krown Kollection in February of 2020, a month before the COVID-19 shutdown. About a year earlier, I had bought a sewing machine and taught myself to make wigs. After so many requests from women suffering from different hair conditions and women who needed a change up, I decided to start The Krown Kollection. As you can imagine, during the shutdown, when most beauty salons were closed, I was very busy filling orders. Later that year, I expanded my product line to include satin-lined African-inspired bonnets and headbands.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
One of the major challenges has been balancing a full-time career in education, being a single parent, and trying to build my small business. Sometimes work deadlines collide with mommy duties and business opportunities. I have learned to prioritize my son because I never want him to feel like he was secondary to anything.
Also, everyone glorifies the success stories of small business owners (especially on social media) but never the struggle or what happened before they “made it.” There are weeks where the orders are rolling in and other weeks where you pray for just one order to come in.
Even through the struggles building a legacy for my son is important to me. He often accompanies me to events and is even trained to run our cashier software. I want him to know every aspect of starting, running, and building a business so maybe one day he can start his own. (He currently has aspirations of being a YouTube star but doesn’t want to film videos…lol)
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I have been a public educator for over twenty-two years. I am a native of Los Angeles and started my education career in Compton Unified School District after graduating from Arizona State University. I relocated to Houston in 2007 and joined Houston ISD in 2008. Public education is a calling. You must be passionate about the work and relationships to last. During my career, I have taught social studies, physical education, and dance. My primary work has been at low-income majority minority campuses. I believe it is important for kids to have someone from a similar background as an example and role model.
I currently work at a public all-girls campus in Third Ward, TX as a magnet coordinator. It is a labor of love. Even on the most difficult days, I love all my students. Many of them affectionately refer to me as T.T. Robinson (a reference to me being their adopted aunt). On any given day, I can be found in hallways ushering tardy girls to class, in my office tending to someone’s hair “emergency”, or having conversations during lunch about their weekend. Kids don’t care until they know you care.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
I was much more of risk taker before I had my son. Risk taking builds your self-esteem because even if it is not the desired outcome, you face that fear. One of the biggest risks I have taken is selling my belongings and moving here to Houston from Los Angeles in 2007. I was so lonely and homesick that first year but I pushed through and I am glad I did. Everyone thought I was crazy and in 2008, when Hurricane Ike hit (my first hurricane), I thought I was crazy too. However, the kindness of my new neighbors showed me that I was truly in the right place.
Pricing:
- African-inspired bonnets $19.98
- Headbands $10.00
- Earrings $5.00
- Personalized Notebooks start at $17.99
Contact Info:
- Website: https://krownkollectionshop.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thekrownkollectionshop/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KrownKollectionShop
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/KNicoleRob
