Today we’d like to introduce you to Lolo Jones.
Hi Lolo, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I directed plays in my bedroom as a child and my parents met in a theater so no one is surprised I’m here today but more so surprised at how rapidly I’ve been rewarded. Friends and family knew I’d be an artist my entire life but may have underestimated my success in it.
I was a kid who carried around 2 inch binders filled with clothing designs. I drew in class. I drew at home. I drew in the bathroom. I drew at the babysitter’s. I drew in my mother’s office. I drew at grandma’s house and I drew at the dinner table!
I would draw a dress, color it in with crayons, and then document the design in a sheet protector to go into my binder. I was a fourth grader asking for sheet protectors and office supplies on my birthday. I didn’t take visual arts as a random elective in grade school. While it was something to fulfill a course schedule for others, it was the highlight of my day. Teachers from kindergarten were preparing me for The High School for the Performing & Visual Arts. Teachers in high school were preparing me for gallery showings and schools in New York. My parents received countless prophecies over how I’d succeed in life for as long as I never let go of being an artist. People saw my potential and teachers never had to push me. I was active about anything artistic.
The art hanging around my store is as custom as my clothing. I never gave up painting or sculpting. I just combined my crafts into one source. I have a sewing studio and a painting studio out of the bedrooms in my house. I’ll probably never give up one or the other. I’ll always have paintbrushes and pins!
The grade school goal was to go to New York City and graduate from a fashion design program. I applied to over 14 programs, got accepted into 12, and found myself at Texas Southern University as a visual arts major in the fall of 2013. Schools such as Parsons, Pratt, Otis, FIDM, FIT, and LIM all offered tuition paid but housing was up to me to figure out. As a sheltered 17-year-old from Houston, I was unable to piece together the process of moving from Texas to New York with the college semester clock ticking so I chose to remain in Houston for all four years of my undergraduate.
There were kids from my high school passing judgment. I ran into a lot of people who looked down at non-art schools or regular universities. But I was meant to stay in Houston. I’m here to turn us into one of the cities people turn to when they want bigger and better. We shouldn’t have to resort to Los Angeles & Las Vegas or Atlanta & Miami for artistic needs. We should be able to find the drama and the dreams right here in Houston. I want to be a part of making that happen. I’m a part of the solution to the lack in luster we still sometimes see. I want our city’s background to be front & center. Too many hidden or unknown gems in our gym.
The chance to work with Starz’s television production of P-Valley was God given. I know the Orishas were only waiting for me to say the word; the opportunity was handed to me without any hassle. The question was answered within minutes. I researched the customers for the show, asked to join them in their second season, and was given a group text to start sending images of my work.
People often ask how I found myself on a Starz television production within my first year of brick and mortar. The answer is God. I have to credit God every time. The creator is who helps me create. I pray as I enter the shop & I pray as I close the door to leave. I see customers eye my candles and my Virgin Mary sculpture as they enter the store. My altars & incense may seem mystical to a client but this faith is behind all of the fame and fortune. I believe in a system that is highly feared and mostly hidden, a lot like the clothing I create.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The road to a physical store address & expanding out of my living room was transformative. The exploration into self employment has pushed me out of so many emotional & mental prisons. I began this clothing line in 2018 and until receiving assistance from an investor, my main focus had to be bills. I didn’t always have the freedom to create. I had to clock into a job that had me tired by the time I got home so it took a minute to get this brick and mortar running.
I fought a legal case against a former boss for the first year and a half of my business. Prior to launching my own line, I found work with an exotic dance wear store. My first job following my undergraduate degree bundled a blessing & a curse. I worked in the entertainment industry in college and it pushed me to want my own club so I chose jobs that aligned as best as possible with my dream. I researched anything exotic or erotic and asked to work until I won an interview. By fall of 2017, I worked for a small store that would change everything I thought I knew colossally.
Hired as a front desk associate, I resigned with the responsibilities of an entire store owner. Work went from 3 hour shifts to over 90 hours of labor on a flat rate of $500 per week. After a horrible death in my boss’ family, I found myself wanting to do anything for her. Appropriate workplace boundaries did not exist between us. There was no HR department & I was unaware of the law meant to protect employee/employer relationships. I grew up sheltered and I had only just broken out of my grade school shell. Within a few months, I was opening and closing her store, hiring and firing her staff, responding to her calls at four in the morning, clocking in on almost every day off, letting her snatch items out of my hand, getting cursed out at the cash register, returning shoes from a personal purchase she didn’t want, and babysitting her child at the desk when she ran a quick errand. I was naïve and she fully understood this so I was never paid for gas or overtime. I even took the company cell phone home to run her business Instagram and answer her calls off of the clock. All of this work was off of a foolish agreement to $500 per week.
My weekly pay seemed glamorous when I had actual days off but it made no sense when I woke up at 6 in the morning just to run errands prior to opening the store every day. The store was open from 11am to 12am during my time there but I was expected to shop for glue and fabric and supplies or drop customer packages off to the post office prior to opening shop. Certain stores didn’t open until 9 or 10 in the morning so I sped around the city in order to avoid argument from my boss. I also came to work regardless of an issue. My mother went into the hospital but I came to work. My dog died but I came to work. I got into a car wreck but I came to work. I had a fever and lost my voice but I came to work. Both she and I should’ve done better. We should’ve had limitations in place and I should’ve prioritized myself.
While a few years younger than me, I used to think she was a mentor. Regardless of being worn out, I was driven by the idea of working next to another black woman. I idolized her. She claimed she would help me open up a business of my own. I thought she would be in my life for the rest of my life. But as her business developed, I was destroying myself. There was no formal training. Integration into new responsibilities involved her asking why I hadn’t done something already even though it wasn’t something I’ve ever done. She asked me why I didn’t count the register instead of telling me she wants me to count the register. She asked why I didn’t log shoe inventory instead of telling me she’d like me to start shoe inventory. I was questioning myself on things she never asked me to do and things I’ve never done before. Things that weren’t established but she asked with attitude as if they were. I questioned my sanity majority of my time working for her. The pure definition of gaslighting on a weekly if not daily basis.
Customers could never hide their confusion on operations in the shop. My boss was grabbing things out of my hand, rolling her eyes, and often very irritable. Even in front of clients she showed no shame in her attitude. I had a hard time keeping up with what she wanted myself. The most embarrassing experiences were listening to customers complain of a rude staff member that turned out to be my boss. A lot of people assumed I was the store owner and expressed complaints asking that I help. My boss introduced me as manager to staff but as a personal assistant to people she brought in for a tour. I found out I was manager in a staff meeting in front of new hires. I couldn’t hide my shock as she never asked me to take that position. It caused the staff to see the holes already in place. A few weeks later she described me as a personal assistant when she brought people by. I suppose it wouldn’t matter because I wasn’t paid or treated properly as one or the other anyhow.
It was other people who encouraged me to break free from any narcissism or abuse I experienced. Not driven by money, it wasn’t pushing me to quit when people said she didn’t pay me enough. And since I was naïve, I did not understand how immaculate it was that I took her sales from $200 a week to $4000 a day. I thought all businesses made that type of money and I thought I had to undergo some form of hazing with someone if I wanted to be successful but I no longer feel that way. I don’t actually believe in workplace slavery anymore. I once thought it was what I deserved. I thought anyone who wanted a lot out of life had to put up with a torturous employer or agony in a job but she could never pay me enough to put me through that again.
I could ruminate on decisions I made or boundaries I didn’t establish but I’m right where God wanted me. I wasn’t going to go into competition with my former boss when I initially quit. I was still apologetic to her and even wrote a pathetic love letter at the desk as I quit. God wanted me to stop making excuses or trying to find reasoning behind someone hurting me. Quitting my job created some sort of tower moment that revealed things about her I never saw. She had her Comcast business account in my name. She incited physical violence on me as I tried to collect my belongings from her store but filed a false police report stating she’d been attacked. She threatened to use my Social Security number, had people text threats to say they knew where I lived, and then filed a false claim over a binder that never belonged to her a year later. God pushed me to come to terms with the fact that she is not my friend and I do not owe her. Her actions following my resignation drove me to start my own store & show her how entrepreneurship is done.
This is my testimony and my story serves as needed exposure. Bittersweet but my path is helping to bring down faulty foundations. With that being the end goal, I love every trial & tribulation.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about The Blue Dollar?
The judgment I face with my religious doctrine is the same judgment I face with my designs. I deal with truths and taboos. People struggle to embrace the exotic parts of ourselves but my outfits force you to face them. They help people to face themselves. My clothing brings out the energetic veracity we try to deny exists. My work reminds people that exotic & exotic is just another natural part of our world. We shouldn’t shame ourselves in this human experience so my purpose is to push others to be careless of the critique. Clients don’t come to feel boredom with The Blue Dollar, they come because I create breathtaking experiences.
I emphasize “on or off the stage” as our slogan because I want customers to see the fluidity in fashion that I do. The same Blue Dollar purchase that serves as a swimsuit for one customer is easily a stage set or honeymoon outfit for another. We design dancewear, clubwear, majorette wear, bottle service wear, swimwear, or for anywhere!
Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
YouTube is my best friend in running this business. I will Google or YouTube the answer to any question at any given time. I especially love to type “what you don’t know about _____” into a search engine. I want to know the questions on top of answers to questions. There are things that I know I don’t know and neither do the people around me so I am quick to research.
YouTube helps me with sewing machine issues, cash register systems, store etiquette, staffing etiquette, accounting, bookkeeping, insurance, and so much more. I love a short 10 minute video that explains years’ worth of knowledge.
Contact Info:
- Email: bluedollarproductions@gmail.com
- Website: www.thatdollarblue.com
- Instagram: @thebluedollar
- Twitter: @thebluedollar
Image Credits
Cassidyboi
