0:11

Hey, I'm Kadeen and I'm Devout and

0:13

we're the Ellis's.

0:15

You may know us from posting funny videos.

0:17

With our voice and reading each

0:19

other publicly as a form of therapy.

0:22

Wait, I make you need therapy most days.

0:25

Wow.

0:25

Oh, and one more important thing to mention, we're married.

0:28

Yes, sir, we are. We created this

0:30

podcast to open dialogue about some of

0:32

li's most taboo topics.

0:33

Things most folks don't want

0:35

to talk about.

0:36

Through the lens of a millennial married couple. Dead

0:38

ass is a term that we say every day. So

0:40

when we say dead ass, we're actually saying facts

0:44

one hundred the truth, the whole truth,

0:46

and nothing but the truth. We about to take philosof

0:49

to our whole new level.

0:52

Dead ass starts right now.

0:57

Ladies and gentlemen, we have the astute

1:00

pleasure to sit down today.

1:02

Who I like a stupid?

1:03

You like that?

1:03

That's a good word? Yeah.

1:05

With Melvin and Monique Rodriguez

1:08

if you don't know who they are, Melvin and

1:10

Monique Rodriguez started Mael following

1:13

Monique's career as a registered nurse for nearly

1:15

a decade and has created a haircare brand

1:17

that has become the first in the industry to receive

1:19

more than one hundred million in investment funding,

1:22

and since has scaled to a household stable for

1:24

consumers with textured hair through distribution

1:27

at countless national retail locations

1:29

in over eighty five countries

1:32

around the world. I got to say

1:34

this, Monique, you know real MVP.

1:37

That's a fact that I got several products

1:39

under my cabinet as we speak with

1:41

all of these boys and all this hair and all

1:43

these textures. Mayel is a household

1:46

staple for us as well. Y'all help us.

1:48

Welcome Melvin and Monique

1:50

Rodriguez the Dead Ass Podcast. Let's

1:53

start by tell you telling us about your love story

1:56

here is pretty unique. I make guess everyone's

1:58

love stories because ours is pretty Yeah,

2:00

ye, love story. Let's start there.

2:03

Well, I guess I'll go first because my

2:05

version is the truth.

2:07

We're

2:10

gonna We're gonna tell her versions usually

2:12

are, So.

2:16

I guess where do we start.

2:17

I'm going to go back to

2:20

like ninety five. Melbourne and I

2:23

we have known each other since I.

2:25

Was twelve, A long damn time.

2:27

He was thirteen five

2:29

ninety five. That's awesome.

2:32

Yeah, a long time, long time ago.

2:33

And you know, and actuality.

2:36

Like when we first met, you know, I thought

2:38

he was cute.

2:40

You know, you know the vibes.

2:41

You know the vibe Melvine. I know the vibe because

2:43

that's what was me too.

2:44

She saw me.

2:45

I wasn't even paying attention, right, she end

2:47

up with me later on in life, you know, So I'll

2:49

get you Melbourne.

2:50

It was the way it was.

2:52

That's what I'm time to tell you, man.

2:53

I was sea sick.

2:54

I was Sea sick.

2:55

Okay, yeah, So you

2:57

know when we were back in junior high school,

3:00

I thought he was cute, but I thought that

3:02

he was you know, in my version, I thought

3:04

he was a little arrogant. So we call

3:06

ourselves, you know, being friends

3:08

at that time. But we had a fallen

3:10

out when we were very young. And

3:13

that falling.

3:14

Out how you have a young falling out? What was

3:16

going on at twelve and thirteen? It was

3:18

like, you know what, I can't do this. I need to protect

3:20

my piece.

3:21

You know, I told you love.

3:22

I felt that he was arrogant, so I

3:25

had to protect my piece at the young age

3:27

of twelve. Well, I

3:29

had to show him. I had to play hard to get what

3:32

we're from.

3:32

When you see when you say things, man.

3:34

You got to you gotta do things, man. So you know

3:37

that's yeah, you know what I mean, that's.

3:38

What it is. But I think in actuality, the

3:41

fact of like, because we couldn't be

3:43

together and he really wanted to be with me, was

3:45

the reason why we ended

3:48

up falling out.

3:49

Because I was twelve, you know, I didn't.

3:51

Have any bans, you know, having boyfriends

3:53

or anything of that nature. So you

3:57

know, we ended up not talking for

3:59

like the entire year of his eighth

4:02

because he's a year older than me, So

4:04

his eighth grade year we didn't talk. He went into high

4:06

school, we went to the same high school, and

4:08

we saw each other and did not talk to each

4:10

other all throughout high school.

4:13

It wasn't until he all four years,

4:15

all four years.

4:17

You know, I was I was

4:19

pretty popular in high school, and

4:21

you know, I.

4:24

Think I had to see

4:27

me again. My

4:29

version is the truth.

4:31

So I had to let him

4:33

know that I wasn't one of

4:35

those other girls that he was going to have to

4:37

really work hard to get me.

4:39

And so we didn't talk.

4:40

And then, uh, it was the summer

4:43

of my junior year, going into my senior

4:45

year, he had graduated. He was getting ready to go

4:47

to college, and we somehow reconnected,

4:50

rekindled, and we started off as

4:52

friends and then we decided that we were going to

4:54

start dating, and we

4:57

started dating for a couple of months before I

4:59

started school. We ended up breaking up right

5:01

before I started my senior year in August

5:04

because he didn't have a cell phone

5:06

and I was one of those like I

5:09

needed to be able to get in touch

5:11

with you, and you know, he's sad.

5:13

He also showed up late, very late for

5:15

our first dates, and I

5:18

ended.

5:18

Up, oh, man, yeah, Melvin,

5:20

what was going on?

5:21

Bro?

5:21

What was in your mindset?

5:25

So he he was.

5:26

Extremely late, but I

5:29

let him know, like I'm not gonna sit around and wait for

5:31

you. So I ended up leaving going out with my friends

5:33

to the movies, and he ended up coming to my

5:35

mom's house looking sad, puppy dog face

5:37

like where did she go? And my Mom's like she left,

5:39

she went to the movies with her friends.

5:42

And it was because he didn't have a cell phone,

5:44

so I didn't know how to get in touch with him. I didn't know if he

5:46

was coming, like I was like, I'm not going to play games

5:49

and anyway, So we ended up breaking

5:51

up. We ended up breaking up for a

5:53

couple of months, and then this was

5:56

like in August, and then my high school homecoming

5:58

was in October.

6:00

And remember he's a freshman in

6:02

college.

6:03

And I went to the homecoming with my friends because

6:05

I'm like, I don't have a boyfriend.

6:07

I'm gonna kick it with my girlfriends. And guess

6:09

who shows up at my homecoming?

6:12

And guess who shows up with a cell

6:14

phone.

6:15

He had a plan, He had a plan, He had a

6:18

man. I don't understand that when we have a plan,

6:20

it don't be on your timeline. It's

6:22

our plans, understand.

6:24

But he knew that I had standards and

6:26

he had to meet those standards in order for

6:28

him to get me back. And so from

6:31

October of my senior year in high school

6:33

we've been together ever since.

6:36

I love that.

6:37

That's awesome, awesome, good

6:40

stuff. Long time. Is there any part of the story,

6:42

Melvin that you need to go in there and say, you know that wasn't

6:44

so yeah, all of it, but.

6:45

We don't got time.

6:47

Correct story.

6:48

I sat down and tell the real truth,

6:50

like going all the way back, you

6:52

know, when we were shorty seven

6:55

eighth grade, when they used to stand on the corner,

6:57

like waiting for brother mail, like real

6:59

talking, like leaving

7:01

brother now, like they on the corner,

7:04

like come on now, I want to get to it. Oh my

7:06

god. So no,

7:08

but I would say majority is true what she's

7:10

saying. I'm gonna give it to her, you know. And

7:13

when I came back, you know, like she said, home

7:16

coming, I had to get that old thing back,

7:18

you know, and we were candling

7:20

and everything, and we've been we've been

7:23

doing it, doing our thing, you know what I'm saying ever

7:25

since. So you know, I give it that, you know.

7:27

That's what good for y'all.

7:29

So how many years married?

7:30

Now, we've been married for thirteen

7:32

years. We've been together in twenty three years

7:35

and two beautiful y'am.

7:37

Run around the same time as us. We're thirteen

7:39

years married. We've been together twenty two it'll.

7:44

Yeah, dope, Yeah, yeah, we've

7:46

been together. Well, we've known each other since elementary school.

7:48

Since nineteen.

7:51

Know each other since start

7:53

in college.

7:54

Yeah, she's talking me to.

7:56

You know, I was out here. I did you know they was waiting

7:58

on the corner for your boy out like chill

8:00

babies, listen. I went

8:03

up.

8:04

I went up like Steph Curry with the shot all

8:06

bucket, old bucket.

8:07

Yet we got some similarities, man, but

8:09

you know, hey, I love that. Yeah.

8:12

But God, God he aligned and he unified

8:14

us, man, and so.

8:15

We absolutely that's fact.

8:17

Absolutely, that's so. That's that's what it is.

8:20

And I always feel like I always feel like I want you

8:22

know, I always give my wife a lot of grief

8:24

with the stories because it's just funny. But I

8:26

feel like I got the prize, you know what I'm saying. I feel

8:28

like I feel like I won. I feel like I got

8:30

the prize. So well, thank you definitely

8:33

on the one but the most beautiful union

8:36

birth as well.

8:37

In addition to two beautiful daughters that you guys have

8:40

and a wealth of love and years

8:43

under your belt, Mayel tell

8:45

us about how this came

8:48

to fruition for you guys.

8:50

So as we talk about, you know, the funny

8:52

parts and you know the

8:55

the happy moments. You know, Melvine and I have also

8:57

gone through challenges together. In

9:00

twenty thirteen, we went through a tragic

9:02

loss of my son.

9:03

When I was eight months pregnant.

9:05

I had a high risk pregnancy, wow,

9:07

and because of that high risk, unfortunately,

9:09

my son passed away. And that

9:11

was our third child, Thank

9:13

you, but it was our third child,

9:16

and you know, it was very

9:19

devastating for us both and

9:21

I remember at that moment really

9:24

filling down and not

9:26

really knowing what to do or why this

9:29

happened to me. And I had to learn to change

9:31

my narrative of asking

9:33

God why did this happen to me? And

9:35

ask him like, what are you trying to show.

9:37

Me from this?

9:38

And I knew number one was to

9:41

develop my relationship and to have a closer

9:43

relationship with God, which before

9:46

that, you know, I really didn't have that

9:48

close of a relationship. And you

9:50

know, I realized that once I deepened

9:53

my relationship with God, God revealed to

9:55

me a vision to go on social

9:57

media and talk about something that I've

10:00

always been passionate about ever since I was a little

10:02

girl, and that was hair care in the beauty space.

10:04

And that was a creative

10:07

outlet for me to take my mind off

10:09

of what I was going through at the

10:11

time with my son. And Melvin was

10:13

super supportive because we were both going

10:15

through this together and he would

10:18

always come to me like when he would see

10:20

that I was down, and you know, have my moments

10:22

in the bathroom he would tell me like, go

10:24

pick up your your plan and work

10:27

on your plan, or go talk about here on

10:29

social media. So he would always encourage me because

10:31

he saw that it was bringing me joy, and

10:34

that joy and that painful situation

10:37

ultimately led me to my purpose

10:39

and what you see here today. So you

10:41

know, Mayel came from a place

10:43

of pain, and you know

10:45

it has blossomed into something that has

10:48

been so beautiful and so purposeful

10:50

because I chose to

10:53

channel that and to really do

10:55

something that was bigger than me. Because

10:57

Mayel is not just about hair product.

11:00

It's really about serving the community

11:02

and ultimately bringing people to God's kingdom.

11:05

And so that's what as I look back,

11:07

I really understand, even

11:10

though you'll never understand why you go through things

11:12

like that, but I do see that God

11:14

had a bigger purpose from that painful

11:16

situation and that's how Mayel was birth.

11:18

Wow, how'd you come up with the name.

11:20

So the name is actually a combination of my kids'

11:23

names. So I have Mia, and I

11:25

have Mia Gabrielle and then Mackenzie

11:27

Aril. So they're my l's because

11:29

they both had E L L E at

11:32

the end of their middle names.

11:35

It's very nice. Did you ever see

11:38

ma L becoming what it is today? I

11:40

know you said it was coming to you as I guess, like

11:42

a form of therapy, right in a sense, when you were

11:44

dealing with the loss of your son. So

11:46

was the goal for you to eventually

11:48

end up on shelves and you know,

11:51

to be where you are today or was it just kind of something

11:53

that kind of spiraled out of control in the

11:55

best way for you?

11:56

Yeah, I think it's a combination of both. Because

11:58

I knew that, you know, whatever I

12:00

did, I was going to be successful because I'm a

12:02

hard worker, even when I worked as a nurse.

12:05

You know, I knew that I would be successful working

12:07

as a nurse because that's just the type of determination

12:10

that I have, you know, coming from

12:12

the nursing my nursing background into

12:14

this business world. It was totally

12:17

foreign to me. I had no experience running

12:19

or operating a business. Neither one of us did. So

12:21

it was kind of like on the job training, learning

12:24

as we as we did it, and

12:26

of course we made a lot of mistakes, went through a lot of

12:28

challenges, but I knew

12:30

that my ultimate goal was to make

12:33

it to be bigger than larger

12:35

than life. I just

12:37

didn't know that it would happen in ten

12:40

short years.

12:41

You know.

12:42

We took off literally after launching

12:44

the brand a year, you know, we entered

12:46

into Solid Beauty a year later, and I

12:49

was really just focused on how do I serve

12:51

my community, how do I

12:53

help women that look like me?

12:54

How do I add value? How do I build

12:56

community?

12:57

And I always tell people when you focus on,

13:00

how do you overserve people that are

13:02

underserved? Because in the multicultural

13:04

hair care space, I felt that there was

13:06

a void and the community wasn't being

13:08

served how I thought they should have been

13:10

served. And because I slowly focused

13:13

on, you know, just community building

13:15

and staying engaged and being trust a

13:17

trusted, reliable source, that

13:20

community grew very fast and

13:22

in spiral. To your point, it spiraled

13:24

out of you know, it

13:26

just spiraled into something that was

13:28

great, which is the company that we've built here

13:30

today.

13:31

So I would say it's a combination of both.

13:34

And you know, it's been been truly a blessing

13:36

just to see everything unfold

13:39

because we've done something

13:41

that hasn't been done in less than

13:43

ten years, and you know, we're truly happy

13:46

to have done it together.

13:47

Yeah, man, less than ten years.

13:48

It's crazy.

13:49

That is amazing, and it's less than ten years. I have

13:51

a question, how were you able to pivot so

13:54

seamlessly from a romantic relationship

13:56

into a business relationship. We get this

13:58

question so many times from couples. How do you

14:00

guys work together and still remain romantic

14:02

partners?

14:03

Yeah, because Deval and I have struggled sometimes all

14:05

the years with as we build our businesses

14:07

and our brands. You know, sometimes he

14:09

doesn't know when to clock out, like you know, usually

14:11

within a duo, there's one person who might

14:13

be like the you know, work ethic through the roof,

14:15

it never clocks out, and then you have the person that's just

14:18

like babe, you know. So knowing each other's strengths and

14:20

weaknesses, how have you guys been able

14:22

to navigate that space from going romantically

14:24

into business. That's a good question, babe.

14:26

When you think about the merits, you think about the

14:28

covenant keeping

14:30

God at the center of that. So

14:33

the love life the business

14:35

life number one. That's us.

14:38

We've developed that. So we

14:42

obviously love and are in love with

14:44

each other, but we

14:47

understand that what

14:50

success persecution is to follow,

14:52

so we align and rebuke

14:54

to those negative

14:57

weapons that try to form

14:59

against our union, the covenant that

15:01

we made together for God first

15:03

and foremost. That's the

15:05

honest God truth. And

15:08

you know, as we think about

15:10

how do we balance those things, it's really

15:13

how you all prioritize your lives.

15:16

So for us, it's God, family,

15:19

then work right and so

15:21

and so we live and stand on

15:23

those principles, you know,

15:26

as best we can. It's not you know, always

15:28

going to be you know, go perfect and what have you. But

15:30

but we have that alignment. We

15:32

we have that that you know, call

15:35

it that north star goal in mind, that

15:37

that keeps us in check. And

15:40

so and so what we do is, you

15:42

know, we

15:44

we try to keep

15:46

work work. Now

15:49

granted it's not always you

15:51

know, gonna be that way, but we try to. We

15:54

try to fight to keep it that way. We try to hold

15:56

ourselves accountable if I'm if I'm

15:58

at home, if I'm in the bed, I'll pull my lab about

16:00

she gets on me and vice versas. We so

16:02

we do those things and have done it. But

16:05

I think it's it's it's really the respect

16:08

that we have for each other's talents

16:10

and gifts. Right, So Moni has her own

16:12

you know, set of skill sets such as I do,

16:15

and we respect that and we're aligned to it.

16:18

But outside of the business, we're

16:20

a husband and wife and as well as parents. So

16:23

so we had to, you know,

16:25

understand that if we were going to do this, we

16:28

have to agree to a set of call

16:30

it boundaries to adhere

16:32

to so that the

16:35

marriage doesn't get left behind the

16:37

family, the kids don't get left beside, and

16:40

that ties into who we are. See,

16:43

we're not we're not money

16:45

driven. We never been money driven.

16:48

We're purpose driven. We're mission driven. You

16:50

know. We feel as though we've been blessed and put in

16:52

position for purpose

16:55

and not profit. Right, that's how we

16:57

think, that's how we operate. And so

16:59

it's really the mindset,

17:02

right, the mindset and

17:04

aligning uh to to

17:07

you know, those particular goals that

17:09

you gotta, you gotta, you gotta continue to stay

17:12

on it. And most importantly, prayer for

17:14

one another. Right, Prayer

17:17

is the foundation of

17:19

all things in all our lives. And so we

17:21

we do that whether we do it together or

17:24

we do it for each other our families

17:26

when we're not together. But we do that because,

17:28

I mean, the fact of the matter is we know life,

17:31

life be life, in life has its issues

17:34

and trials and tribulations, so you

17:36

constantly try to have to have that

17:39

fight for your you know, fight

17:41

for your blessing, fight for your union, right

17:43

because outside your household,

17:46

we know the challenges that I

17:48

mean, first of all, we don't know what's to come. We wake up

17:50

in the morning, we have no idea what the

17:52

day will be, but we try to prepare

17:54

ourselves for what's to come.

17:57

Oh, for sure, that was a great answer, Melvin thinking.

17:59

I mean, I think that we see a lot of similarities

18:01

even with the way that we conduct

18:04

you know, are just our life, you know,

18:06

God, family, you always have to question

18:08

what are we doing it for? Right when you go back

18:10

to that purpose driven approach, that

18:12

really really helps to keep things grounded. And

18:15

that's important for us too as business partners

18:17

as well. So Mayel now today

18:20

ten very very short years, but I'm sure

18:22

long in a sense for you guys, what made

18:25

you decide to interrut Proctor and gamble with

18:27

the future of Mayel And what plans do you have

18:29

with Proctor for the future?

18:31

Now, why in the world will

18:33

we do that? Why would we?

18:35

Why would we do that? But

18:38

why in the world? No, No,

18:40

because we're black. Oh yeah, because

18:42

because we will become a sellout.

18:44

Why would we do that? No, that's

18:48

last, folks, And I never I

18:50

never want. I don't want this conversation

18:53

to become that. But I will say this. I went to school

18:55

for business. The first rule

18:57

of business was that you create a business

18:59

to sell it. That was the first

19:02

rule that they told us in business class

19:04

at Hofts University. Was like if and it was an

19:06

entrepreneurial class, if you're going to start a business, do

19:09

not start a business to say, I'm gonna give this to my

19:11

grandkids' grandkids. The reason

19:13

why is because business is changed, industries

19:16

changed. You always create a business

19:18

with the idea to sell it. So I know

19:20

why you did it because that was always

19:22

you know, and I understand and I respect

19:24

why. But I would love for you guys to tell.

19:27

The audience, give them clarity. We

19:29

know, we know, we don't understand.

19:31

But it is important that you tell the audience

19:33

why you guys went and did that with Procter and Gamble.

19:36

I'll say this, in order

19:38

for us as as African

19:40

Americans or within our black communities

19:43

to get something we've never had, we

19:45

got to do something we've never done, and

19:48

we got to work to normalize things we've

19:50

never done. As we think about not

19:53

yielding being rich, but

19:55

creating wealth, and not just on a month side,

19:57

but creating wealth, and the thinking the mind

20:00

set in order for us to do those

20:02

things right, we have to accept

20:04

the challenge because if they were able to do

20:06

it, why not me, right,

20:08

And so it's that mindset that

20:10

that Monique and I have been aligned

20:13

to for a very very long time. And

20:15

so as the brand had began to

20:18

grow and the momentum

20:20

was just so extraordinary, you

20:22

know, we got to a point where, if

20:24

you go back to our inception, right twenty fourteen

20:27

started from the garage, humble beginnings.

20:29

Right started from the idea, started from

20:32

the pain. Good thing. Good things

20:34

come out of pain, the pain, the trial, the tribulation.

20:37

Oh but God kept

20:39

us. God gave Monique the vision. I

20:41

supported that vision, and that vision was elevated.

20:44

Elevation creates expansion,

20:48

expansion, and so we want to increase.

20:50

We asked God to enlarge our territory

20:53

right, and he blessed us exceedingly abundling

20:55

above who can imagine or think. So

20:57

it happened. So from the garage,

21:00

to a small facility three thousand square

21:02

feet. From there to a building

21:04

a one hundred. Now we have one hundred thousand

21:06

plus square for the warehousing right now.

21:09

Increase and so as the brand continue

21:11

to grow by year six, year seven,

21:14

we're like, wow, we've done some extraordinary

21:16

things. But you know something.

21:19

We know what we know, but we also

21:21

know we don't know. And we know

21:23

that we're trying to tell this story. We

21:25

know that we're trying to normalize

21:28

black excellence. We know that we're trying to

21:30

normalize and shift the thinking, the

21:32

thinking to your point about creating

21:35

businesses to a path to an

21:37

exit. Right. But we need

21:39

help showing this right, We

21:41

need help scaling this and so we

21:43

made the decision to take on a

21:46

private equity partner called Berkshire Partners

21:48

right back in twenty one. And

21:51

so we did that, which was a historical

21:54

nine figure, non controlling

21:57

standalone partnership.

22:00

So what does that mean. That means that.

22:02

Now I don't want to cut you off,

22:04

but I think it's important that you really tell people

22:06

why that's important because people

22:08

remember our biggest podcast

22:11

was selling Grandma's House, and it

22:13

was typically the same thing when you live

22:15

in grandma's house. It was like, this is an heirloom,

22:17

this is something you shouldn't sell. But it's like, hey, if

22:20

you sell it, so you can scale it. And

22:22

now it's when we sell grandma's house and we

22:24

buy three four more properties, Now we

22:26

have more properties. It's pretty much

22:28

the same exact thing. When you take on a partner.

22:31

Now you can scale your business so you can grow,

22:33

but it's still yours. Continue. I just wanted to make

22:35

that clear to the order.

22:36

No, no, absolutely, because

22:39

the point is this, in order for us to

22:41

get some things that we never had, we got

22:43

to come to agreement to doing things we've never done.

22:45

And so we knew we had great momentum. We

22:47

knew we had great opportunity to do something

22:50

special. But we also knew this, we

22:52

need to help. The Bible tells us what you

22:54

have, not because your asks not.

22:56

That's not Monique and n I.

22:59

We are student. We are students

23:01

of this life. We are students

23:03

of this blessing of life.

23:06

And so and so we made the decision

23:09

to do this. Raise our hand right,

23:11

and we reached out for help to help us

23:14

scale, to help us scale, and

23:16

we understood that we had leverage

23:18

because We built a profitable,

23:21

sustainable.

23:22

From the ground up business. From

23:24

the ground up. These are the things that people

23:26

don't understand. As a business owner, you built

23:28

it from the ground up, so you had leverage to

23:31

then bringing a partner scale it and still have

23:33

ownership these And this is what I try

23:35

to explain to my wife. When

23:37

people get upset at us, or get upset at

23:39

you for selling out

23:41

for example, you can't then get

23:44

upset at them for not understanding business.

23:46

You have a responsibility to empathize

23:49

and then teach. Like you said, we're

23:51

doing. You guys are doing something that's never been done

23:53

before in the beauty industry. Of course, you're

23:55

gonna have naysayers and detractors because they've

23:57

never seen it. Anytime you break

23:59

a glass, yep this and they

24:01

say it because they've never seen this. Years

24:04

from now, history will tell the story of

24:06

Mayel and everyone will say this

24:08

is the blueprint. I want to applaud you. I just want

24:10

to before you continue. I do want to applaud you as

24:12

a couple who came from tragedy.

24:16

My wife and I have lost a child in uter

24:18

row, so we know what that's like. I watched

24:20

my wife have to struggle to get back to who

24:22

she was. To watch you as a man

24:24

say you know what, in this moment, I'm going

24:27

to support my wife and

24:29

whatever she wants to do because it will help.

24:31

He's the pain.

24:32

I think it's something that's part of the story

24:34

that needs to be told often. You didn't wake up

24:36

one morning and say, you know what, I want to be a millionaire,

24:39

so I'm gonna do haircare products. No, you needed

24:41

a distraction from real life because,

24:43

like Melvin said, life be life in so

24:46

through that distraction, now you have a supportive

24:48

partner who's not saying we'll get over it already.

24:50

He's saying, Yo, I got you, babe, go do it. And

24:52

now the two of y'all create an empire yep,

24:55

and scale it. I think this is amazing.

24:57

You're pretty much mental health protection and therapy

24:59

and try to get through it.

25:00

Which is why I'm excited to have you

25:02

guys on because we talk about this all the time

25:05

on Dead Ass podcast. But there needs to be other

25:07

stories so people realize we're not the anomaly.

25:10

You guys aren't the anomaly. Anybody

25:12

can do it if you just first

25:15

be a servant to God and listen

25:17

to God's words and when he gives you a vision follower.

25:19

So I just I appreciate y'all. Your story

25:22

is amazing to me. Y'all are the blueprint.

25:25

Kadeen and I stay purpose driven,

25:27

yes, but we're also entrepreneurs and we want to

25:30

create wealth. I don't want

25:32

to pass just the house. I don't want to pass an idea

25:34

to my kids. I want to pass wealth and

25:36

be able to say to my sons, hey, you want to start

25:38

something, Daddy got you. You don't

25:40

better go to the bank, come to

25:42

mom and dad. You know we got you. So I really

25:45

want to uplaud you guys.

25:46

And this is dope, super inspiring

25:48

to super inspiring. All

25:50

right, y'all, I think this is a good spot to take a quick

25:53

break. We're going to hear some words from Mayel and

25:55

get back to conversation with Melvin

25:57

and Monique. Stick around, all

26:01

right, and now we're back. We're back. So we've

26:03

heard so much about your story, about

26:06

Mael's inception and where

26:08

you are today. Let's talk about

26:10

what's going to happen in the future. You now have that

26:12

much bigger of a team behind you. Guys.

26:15

Where are your passions leading you to now, what

26:17

what can we expect for the future of my own.

26:19

Knowing what we've accomplished for

26:22

us, we like to say that we're just

26:24

getting started. You know, the best is yet

26:26

to come, you know, as we approach our ten year

26:28

anniversary. You know, we have

26:30

so much in store that's coming down

26:32

the pipeline with amazing partnerships,

26:35

you know, amazing activations.

26:36

I don't want to talk about you know everything.

26:39

I want you guys to stay soon and follow us,

26:41

to be surprised and delighted

26:44

on the amazing thing that Mayo's has coming down

26:46

the pipeline. And more

26:48

importantly for us, it's also focused

26:50

on, you know, our philanthropic initiatives

26:53

as a part of the partnership. What we didn't

26:55

get a chance to mention was the

26:57

commitment that P and G made to us

27:00

to show how committed they are to our

27:02

passion. And that's the community that has

27:04

gotten us to where we are today. So

27:07

it was very important that when we set up

27:09

the table and negotiated with them, it wasn't

27:11

just about Okay, how can we create generational

27:14

wealth for our families, but how can we create

27:16

generational wealth for our communities? And

27:18

how can you help advance black

27:20

and brown communities with education

27:23

and more importantly, mental health. We

27:25

realized that a

27:27

huge part of our success

27:30

is the mindset shift.

27:32

We had to shift our mindset.

27:34

You know, growing up, we came from

27:37

an environment of survival. We

27:39

were not taught to follow dreams and pursue

27:41

dreams. It was you have to survive, not

27:44

thrive. And we want to

27:46

be able to shift the mindset of our community

27:49

to show our community that you

27:51

can be successful. We can

27:54

change that narrative that we can

27:56

be black, we can be successful, we can build great

27:58

companies, and we can have successful exists

28:00

and you know, pass that down to generations,

28:03

so the next generation doesn't have to grow

28:05

up thinking they have to survive. They can

28:07

have the freedom and flexibility to do whatever it

28:09

is that they want to do. And so in

28:12

order to have that, you have to shift your mindset.

28:14

And so for us, mental health is extremely

28:16

important because we started with

28:18

our neighborhood that we're from, the high school

28:20

that we came from. We know that

28:22

those kids are in an environment where they're not they

28:25

don't have the ability to dream big, and

28:28

so to go back to that school to create

28:30

programs to help shift their mindset

28:32

to make sure that these kids are mentally sound

28:35

so they can see two people that walk the same

28:37

halls as them, to do what we've accomplished,

28:40

and to show that we're tangible,

28:42

you can touch, you can fill us with relatable people.

28:45

And this is what we were able to do because we shifted

28:47

our thinking and we want support that

28:49

back into the community that supported us.

28:51

So the goal is to expand that program

28:54

to multiple high schools across the

28:56

United States and continue on building

28:58

up, you know, our youth, making sure that they're

29:00

mentally sound.

29:01

Wow.

29:02

So P ANDNG didn't only invest

29:04

in the company, they invested in your idea of bringing

29:06

a better mental health initiative

29:08

to the community, which to me, I think is dope.

29:11

I think that's amazing. Yeah, because me

29:13

and Coady always talk about how our blackness

29:15

should not only be defined by the amount of struggle

29:18

we've occured in life, and the minute

29:20

you remove yourself from that and start to thrive,

29:22

that's when people want to call you a sellout. So

29:24

it's like, I'm only black if I'm struggling. The

29:27

minute I'm no longer struggling, now

29:29

now I'm gonna sell out. I agree with you

29:31

changing that mindset from a young age

29:33

is the way you build future leaders.

29:36

That's what's what I'm gonna tell you all this

29:38

for your listeners. M change

29:41

your mind, change your life,

29:44

walk with Christ and watch

29:47

what he would do on your life.

29:48

I love that, love that. Thank y'all so much

29:50

for your time today. I hope you had a great time chatting

29:53

with us, and I hope our listeners have

29:55

more insight into my l and all of your efforts.

29:58

Just to round things out, how can

30:00

people connect with your efforts? I know we have some things going

30:02

on in schools, but is there anywhere specific that they

30:04

can go to to get more information

30:06

about what's available to them in their community or

30:08

specific areas.

30:10

Yes, so of course they can follow us at

30:12

Mayel Organics on all social media

30:14

platforms, and then we have Mayo Dot

30:16

Cares and then Melvin and I social

30:19

media mizes at Exquisite Mode

30:21

and Melvin's is the Melvin Rodriguez

30:25

All right.

30:26

Continue to protect yourselves, protect each

30:28

other, protect your family, protect your brand,

30:31

protect your community. We love you guys.

30:33

You know where to follow Mayel and their story

30:35

emine Y Podcast.

30:41

What'll see y'all soon.

30:41

Appreciate y'all chirst, take Care.

30:44

Dead Ass is a production of iHeartMedia

30:46

podcast network and its produced by Donor, Opinia

30:49

and Triple Follow the podcast on

30:51

social media at dead ass, the podcasts,

30:53

and Never miss a Thing