Imagine being a 16-year-old girl CEO and waking up to the news that your condiment was being featured by the “Queen B” herself, Beyoncé. That’s the real-life story of Houston based Tyla-Simone Crayton. Crayton is the award-winning, business savvy CEO of Sienna Sauce, and she woke up to the news on Juneteenth that her company was being featured on Beyonce’s website (Beyonce.com) under the “Black Parade Route” section (a directory of Black owned businesses created and curated by Zerina Akers with @Black.Owned.Everything).
The teen wunderkind spoke with rolling out about her experience finding out that she was one of the fortunate companies to be featured on the site. When queried about how her company garnered Beyoncé’s attention, she instinctively credited her mother. “I have to give that credit to my mom. She works so hard all of the time to keep me relevant. With me doing these interviews, connecting with my people and my community during this quarantine, I guess the right person saw me at the right time,” Crayton said with a smile.
Crayton has experienced a lot of wins in the short amount of time that she’s been in business. After launching her business in 2017, the self-proclaimed “sauce-boss” began being recognized for her product’s signature “taste” and “flavor.” Sienna Sauce beat out 15 other brands to win “Best Sauce” in 2018, and again in 2019 in the coveted Sauce-A-Holic Fest in Katy, Texas. These wins also came with revenue that allowed her to grow the company. Sienna Sauce won $25,000 on the ABC show “Strahan, Sara and Keke” as a part of the Side Hustle Showdown, and $10,000 from the Revolt Pitch Competition. In May of 2020, her company won another $10,000 in the Accelerator’s Pitch Competition, hosted in partnership with ESSENCE.
Crayton discussed her wins, the keys to her success and so much more during her ‘Business Exchange: Lunch & Learn’ interview with rolling out. She continued to drop knowledgeable jewels on the audience as she excitedly talked about
- “staying ready… so you won’t have to get ready”
- valuable tips that anyone can use when preparing for pitch competitions
- The difference between crowd investment vs. crowd funding, and
- how you can invest in her business via republic.co/sienna-sauce
Be sure to watch Crayton’s entire interview here to learn exactly how this bright-minded young lady approaches success. To learn more or to invest in her business, be sure to visit republic.co/sienna-sauce, or visit her website SiennaSauce.com for more details.
