Write this blog: Things Jamaican has put on the Fambili Legacy Campaign. This campaign is highlighting family-owned businesses.  Shades of Elegance operated by Treacha Reid is a full service salon and spa. She has bult 25 years of legacy and is passing the baton to her daughter, Imauni Huie.

Okay, so you are the owner of Shades of Elegance. Talk to me, talk to me about how you have grown over the years from just operating in your community, you know, owning your own, your own spa and so on. 

Treacha Reid: 
All right, so Shades of Elegance started 25 years ago on my mother's veranda after crediting $32,500 worth of products, tools, and equipment to start the business.

Managed to pay the payoff that $32,500. It was a big challenge in my community. As you know, king doesn't get honour in his country.

I hardly get clients, so I definitely had to see how best I could move out of the area and come directly into Old Harbour Town to get attention, get traction from other persons for the support of the business. I managed to, you know, find a location and establish the business to a point. After, you know, establishing the business to a point, that rent was like $1,000 per month, so it was, the place was horrible, really.

But I had to do what I had to do to get to where I needed to go, because I knew what I, where I wanted to go in my mind mentally. Since I started the business, I knew I wanted to be successful. I knew I didn't just want a salon and a spa.

I wanted an empire. I knew that I wanted Shades of Elegance to be one of the premier spa of choice, not just Jamaica, but in the Caribbean. So, I had to make a lot of sacrifices to get the business to a point.

Now, when I realised that that space wasn't cutting it, that space wasn't where, you know, my ambitions were, I was embarrassed. A client, it was raining and the place was leaking, and the client said to me, you know, what kind of water that had come down on her? And I went home and I cried to my mom.

And the following day, I stepped out of the space and I said, I'm going to find a shop to be today. Fortunately, I met a gentleman and he showed me some spaces and I took the space. When I went to my mom and I told her that, hey, the space, I found a space, but it was for $15,000 per month.

My mother was so angry because she has never seen $15,000 in her life one time. And I am coming home to tell her that, you know, so I said to her, mother, allow me to make this decision. If I fail, support me.

And I took the space and I never regret it. Because remember, you know, I was only paying $1,000 per month and to move from $1,000 to $15,000 is like, my mother thought that I was like, oh my, you know, I would never made it, but I trusted my gut and I believed in myself. And as entrepreneurs, we are risk takers.

I didn't know anything about entrepreneurship then because I was just merely doing something, but I was following my gut, following my dream, you know, moving towards my aspirations. So I listened to my gut and I acted. And to date, I must say that we are not where we want to be, but we own our own complex.

We have tenants, Shades of Elegance is now a full service salon offering hair care, skincare, nail care, inside out, beauty transformation, you know, for clients seeking self-care. We're solar energy. We're on solar energy.

Just buying the property alone is a big, big risk. It is a prime property in Old Harbour Town, one of the most prime property in Old Harbour Town. Property costs a fortune.

And I did it with, well, I did it with God and myself, because I didn't have the money to purchase it. But COVID came in 2020. And I had a location in Kingston.

And I had to make a decision to close the Kingston location. Because one, the industry was manipulated by COVID significantly, it was affected. And we weren't able to open as how we should.

And I owed $13 million at the time, when I had to make the decision to close that business. But then I took a calculated risk, I closed the business. And what I did, I tried to pay out that loan that I had.

And I knew that interest rate would have risen. No. So I took the chance back then in 2020.

And I asked the landlord where I was then. And I said, Are you selling? Will you be willing to sell?

And he said, Yes. And I went to the bank, had the conversation. And they said, Yes.

When they did the application, I said, If I get interest, if I get this property at this interest rate, in another two or three years, when interest rate increases, I will be paying it at this interest rate. So I wouldn't be in the lose. I wouldn't lose.

I would for gain. Now, I am a single mother. I had to make this decision on my own by myself.

It was tough. It was hard. Knowing that when I made this decision, when I purchased this property for the next three years, when I got able to eat food, or eat the type of food or the kind of food that I would love to eat, or wear the type of clothes and the kind of clothes that I would love to wear.

Now my daughter is in university. How am I going to ensure that my daughter goes to university? But I will tell you that God was in it for me.

Because when COVID came, that's the day when my daughter stopped travelling to school, she started studying online. So all of those monies that I had to pay for boarding or transportation, travelling food, I didn't have to spend that money again, thank God. And when I made the decision to purchase the property, that even helped to propel me to achieve that goal as well.

Now my daughter is out of university. What if I had decided, oh, my daughter, the university, we can't buy one property now, because sometimes in this life, we have to look at what is in front of us, make the sacrifices and pull all of the life that we used to, in order for it to get better in another year or two or five years. So it has been a lot of sacrifices.

So even though it's a lot of self-sacrifice for me, because I work day in day out, I work, sometimes I'm at work 5am in the mornings, and I don't leave work until 10 o'clock sometimes. So those are my days. It's just a sacrifice that I have to make.

Tell me now how you grew up in your mini-me in the business. Alright, so after my daughter graduated from university last year in November, she sent out tonnes of applications, she has been sending out tonnes of applications, because I didn't want her in the business yet, just yet. I wanted her to go and work into another organisation and get the foundation.

Because remember, I don't have a foundation in business. After I went to university, I just do the know-how. I just try something, and I think it works.

It's not necessarily the professional way or the correct way, but I do it. So, I wanted her to go into an organisation and get the foundation of marketing and business administration. But she hasn't gotten any jobs.

So, what I did, I put her on my payroll, so she's now handling the marketing aspect, my social media aspect of the business. And not just that, but she's also offering services in the business now. So, she's a makeup artist, and I'm now training her up in terms of chemical hair relaxing and all of those stuff.

And she has been really helpful in terms of that aspect. So it's a good merge.
It's an excellent merge. And I can rest assured that if my eyes are closed tomorrow morning, then the business is in good hands, because the business will not die. The business will live on.

And remember, my aim was to be an NCD, or a Scotiabank, or a JPS. That's the ambition that I have for Shades of Elegance, for it to be the premier salon of choice in the Caribbean. So good.

So tell me, a lot of people have the notion that family is no good for business. Based on your experience with your daughter, I know how you bounce responsibilities between each other. Tell me what you think about family and business.

And I agree with you. Family is not the right fit for the business. But it depends on the family.

Remember family, there isn't a can be sister, brother, auntie, uncle, but my child. Remember now that this business is hers. If I should have an accident tomorrow, and I'm nowhere around, all of my assets would go over to my son and my daughter.

It's basically her business. And I have to hold my foot down. It's how you grow your children.

Because my daughter and I, it's not like the relationship is perfect. No. Because my daughter sometimes resents me because she thinks that I am harsh.

She thinks that I'm too rough. But now that she's older, she's now appreciating the lessons that I was teaching her. But then, even though she's at work, it's work.

It's not mother and daughter. And she understands that. So she gets her day off.

She comes to work from X time to X time. And she knows that when she gets her list of to do, she needs to complete her list of to do's. So it's not a party shop.

She needs to understand it's not a party shop. She needs to understand that she has a responsibility to her job. She needs to understand that her role as an employee of Shades of Elegance, and what I am asking her to appreciate as well is that she's not just a staff.

So I don't want her to operate as a staff. So I am now coaching her to understand that you can't act like a staff. You need to be a partner in the business or you need to be a leader in the business.

You need to be a CEO. You have to think like you can't think, okay, it's my day off. I'm not going to work.

Oh, I'm not going to do this because it's my day off. She needs to understand that they are not, she must be at work at all times. That's the only way she's going to appreciate the business and not just appreciate, but also assist in growing other staff members to become owners of the business and all staff that works is not just family.

All staff that works here owns the business. That's how I culture the team. They have to own the business because if they don't own the business, then I will not get a hundred percent from them.

Even now we're having training. So you pull me away from a training because I have a presenter presenting to the staff. So like every staff meeting, we have somebody coming in and develop staff, personal development, marketing, something, communication, something.

Yeah. So tell me about what your daughter studied in school. She did marketing, business administration and marketing.

And that was intentional for you because you know, you know, it wasn't intentional. I think it's divine. It's divine because at first high school, she wanted to do law, but she did all the law subjects.

And then after leaving six, after going into six forms, she said, mommy, I'm going to do accounts. I'm going to change. And she did business subjects for six forms.

She had to reset CXCs. So like, no, she have like 23 CXCs. And what do you call the sixth form on them?

CAPE. CAPE. Right.

Because it wasn't intentional for her to do business admin. When she went into university, she was doing something else. I don't remember what she was doing.

I think it was computer. And then she switched in the second year and said, mommy, I'm going to do business administration with a major in marketing and minor in HR. And you think that that change, you think that change in career would, would have been influenced by her wanting a foot in the business?

No, no, no. Cause even though she didn't want to be in the business, she's just appreciating the business. Now that she's on the payroll, she's getting a salary every month and she's actually working.

So even though she's right here and I can't let you speak to her, even though she, she never really wants to be here. And even though I'm going to know if she's still ready yet to be here. Yeah.

Hi, good morning. My name is Ashika. I'm with JBDC and I'm trying to feature Shades of Elegance on our Family Legacy campaign.

[Interviewer]
It's about family-owned business, but your, your mom's business, it's very unique in the sense that she is passing the baton onto you. I want to hear from you. What do you think, how do you, how do you know operate since she has been training you to kind of pass on the legacy, kind of own that Shades of Elegance?

[Imauni Huie, Treacha Reid’s Daughter]
Okay. Well, initially it wasn't in goal for me as I always see it as this is her business. This is not my business.

You know what I'm saying?

I wanted to have something for myself or to work hard for it. Cause in society, especially with the beauty industry, I don't think people value the whole cosmetology, the beauty industry before, you know, as repeatable.

You get what I mean? Like people would more look at the traditional jobs for it to be like, okay, you're here. You made it.

I always wanted to graduate university and go into the corporate world, but God had other plans for me.

I made it into the business full on because I would be here, but not full on. I would just assist. Honestly, since being here, it is an eye opener.

I always had a passion for the beauty industry and get things naturally and learn things easy without having to go to school and all of that. So it just came natural for me. And no, I have the best relationship with the customers.

When I come to work, it doesn't feel like a task because it's an end goal or it's something that I want to see reach its fullest potential. And she set in the past, over 25 years, it's allowed me to put my modernity into what she has already established. So basically, as you said, passing the baton, it's up to me now to take Shades of Elegance to the other level.

And I think we're getting there, especially with our social media management. It has gotten so much better. And even with our customers, we're attracting newer customers that know in the vicinity and even people outside of Old Harbour.

[Interviewer]
Talk to me about how your degree in marketing and business admin has kind of helped you to integrate into the business and boost the business.

[Imauni Huie, Treacha Reid’s Daughter]
Yeah, it has.
It has worked hand in hand because, well, with her, she would have the knowledge of conducting services, but the business was always drowning as it relates to advertisements, marketing and pushing the business out there. So with me having my degree in marketing and HR, it has tremendously helped the business. Via social media, people are now hearing about us, they're knowing more about the company, and it gives the company an identity.

So when people hear of Shades of Elegance, they hear about one-stop shops for beauty, health, just the whole relaxation vibe. So I assist with bringing a sense of imagery to the company.

I even partner with my previous lecturers and the people that I know within the marketing field to assist and give ideas and stuff like that.