April Showers, founder of the licensed character brand Afro Unicorn, started her entrepreneurial journey in 2019 with an e-commerce fashion brand. Inspired by being called a unicorn by a friend, Showers created Afro Unicorn to represent uniqueness and Black girl magic.
The businesswoman explained how the brand has evolved from hand-printed shirts to her becoming the first Black woman, according to CBS News and Fox 2 St. Louis, to have a licensed brand character in major retailers.
What made you become an entrepreneur?
I started Afro Unicorn in 2019 as an e-commerce brand. I guess you could say fashion brand; it was a T-shirt. From there, we grew into retail where we were asked to create a party supply line. From there, we were asked to create more apparel, cosmetics toys and even fruit snacks. Now, I’m excited that we are in the beauty aisle. I have a full hair line which is called Afro Unicorn Magical Tresses.
What inspired Afro Unicorn?
A friend kept referring to me as a unicorn. I own and operate several businesses, and I own an insurance agency. I’m also a licensed real estate broker and a single mom of two boys. My friend told me, “April, you do it all at an extraordinary top-tier level. You are a unicorn.” I didn’t know much about unicorns, I grew up kind of tomboyish. I decided to see what unicorns were about. I thought they were unique and mystical. I started to use that emoji on my phone over and over again. One day, I went to go find a Black unicorn character that looked like me, and I couldn’t. Instead of complaining about it, I became the change I wanted to see.
How did you come up with the brand name?
“Afro” just represents being descendants from Africa. A lot of people think it’s the mane, but I wanted her to have curly hair to reflect us. [Life] started in the Garden of Eden, which is located in Africa. Everybody can be an Afro Unicorn.
From your first product to now, how has your brand evolved?
I once had to go downtown Los Angeles to the Fashion District to find shirts and a screen-printer. We had to make these huge, gigantic screens, which was a process. I got the screens of each character’s skin tone. I used to call them “Vanilla,” “Mocha” and “Caramel.” Now they’re called “Unique,” “Divine” and “Magical.” I would go back and forth picking up shirts and dropping them off at the screen printer, packaging and shipping them out. Now, I’m in the licensing space. I’m the first Black woman to have a licensed brand character in major retailers. My products sit on the shelves next to Disney, Marvel and Nickelodeon, who are my direct competitors. I now have licensing partners who distribute directly into retail on my behalf and are in different categories. I don’t have any inventory. There is no warehouse. I do everything from the comfort of my home or home office.
