Photo credit: Steed Media Service
The Third Annual Family Dollar Fabulous event was a signature beauty and fashion event that connects Family Dollar’s most trusted Black beauty brands with today’s influential beauty, lifestyle, and fashion vloggers and bloggers. At this event, we sat down with Charlene Dance, global marketing director for Strength of Nature, the makers of African Pride. See what she has to say about being fabulous, her perception of bloggers and vloggers, as well as what’s coming up for the Strength of Nature brand.
Please tell our readers who you are and what you do.
I’m Charlene Dance, I’m the global marketing director for Strength of Nature house of brands, which is the maker of African Pride. And we’re representing in partnership with the African Pride brand for Family Dollar.
So, with this big event, basically the word that everyone is using is “fabulous.” What do you think fabulous is?
I think fabulous is when someone is really self-possessed. That really knows who they are, is really excited about who they are and all their possibilities. I think that’s what makes someone fabulous and Family Dollar to me really is about celebrating people who really know who they are: value-conscious people who want premium quality products and really want to be able to find them easily and I think the Family Dollar brand, the stores, the shopping experience makes that possible and I’m really excited that African pride could be a part of that partnership with Family Dollar.
Do you shop at Family Dollar?
I absolutely do! I shop at Family Dollar. I think it’s a great store. It’s one really close to my neighborhood. I think it’s convenient and I love the fact that they really operate from a value position. You know when you go in there you’re going to find really things with high brand awareness, that people know work and give you what you, but you’re getting it at an affordable price point, so absolutely!
What different products stand out?
Without question, African Pride! So, African Pride is a brand that I think really stands out. It has a long legacy and it has something for everyone. So, in that brand there is products that are for natural, that are for relaxed and we also have a children’s brand. So, it’s an amazing assortment of products that we’re really excited about.
Which one of the products do you use?
I absolutely use the African Pride oil moisturizer lotion. I use Edges, maybe I should’ve used a little more today. And I also use the sheen, so I absolutely love our brand.
What have you taken away from this particular event that’s going to help African Pride in the future?
I think for me, it just reconfirms that we have the right partnership. That’ we’re really proud that Family Dollar considers us a premium partner with them. And I think it’s wonderful to see that, you can see when you’re here today, all the different brands that are there to just let you know that this store really does get the consumer – really does get this specific consumer, by meeting the needs with so many different brands here today. I think it’s a wonderful partnership and I’m glad to be a part of it.
With all the bloggers and vloggers here, have they given you any feedback that you’re going to take away from this?
I think bloggers and vloggers are priceless because they’re so honest and they really love to tell you what they want to see in brands, what they don’t want to see there. So, of course there was a lot of great conversation about things that they absolutely love about our brand. And things that they think that we can always do to make sure we’re speaking directly to them a little bit more. And we’re always going to do the best we can to make sure we’re doing what we can to reach our consumer.
Do you think that there was anything that maybe you didn’t know that’s going to help you now?
I think that what would help us definitely is that we’re learning more about Generation Z. So, millennials are wonderful and they’re great, and they’re welcoming. This new generation of bloggers and vloggers and digital warriors that were never here before. So, they’ve been raised in the digital, they don’t know about paper or you know, TV. They’re really always on their phones, spending time in a digital space and so we’re really learning a lot more about that specific consumer today.
Anything we should look out for in the near future?
Well, you know, Strength of Nature is a pretty big company. I’m really excited to work for a company that has an array of brands. So, African Pride, Soft & Beautiful, just to name a few are some great brands. And so for us, we’ll continue to grow, we’ll continue to make brands that really speak to women of color and we’re just really excited to be talking to women that really are celebrating their texture uniquely.
