Germaine Bolds-Leftridge is a magnificence dealer who’s the proprietor of GBL Gross sales Inc. Bolds-Leftridge is liable for the main success of manufacturers comparable to Mielle Organics, Luster Hair Merchandise and CurlDaze, amongst others. Along with serving to Black magnificence entrepreneurs turn into millionaires, her Ubiquitous Girls’s Expo, held on July 21-23, 2023, in Washington, D.C., was created to encourage ladies in all places to work collectively to construct success.
Bolds-Leftridge opened up about her journey as a magnificence dealer and the way this particular ladies’s occasion has been fruitful for the group.
How does it really feel to assist Black entrepreneurs obtain success?
what? It’s by no means sufficient. I attempt to use my contacts to assist different folks to make it occur for themselves as a result of we don’t have entry. I’ve at all times stated that [and] it’s unlucky that folks don’t give assist to those who need assistance. You don’t get cash whenever you want the cash. I’ll always remember even with Mielle I used to be making an attempt to [secure] a significant monetary establishment [to finance them] as a result of they have been making an attempt to scale up quick, and we weren’t profitable.
I couldn’t consider it, after they obtained their first analysis, I [got] a name from that very same financial institution and [they] stated, “Are you able to reintroduce? They don’t want y’all now. They’ve it already.” So , it’s vital that we help each other. As a result of if we don’t, we’re going to be misplaced.
Now we have to do extra and can’t simply discuss the sport. A few of us don’t need to assist as a result of we’re so afraid that the opposite particular person goes to get forward of us. That’s when you’re an actual queen when you may assist anyone despite the fact that there’s an opportunity that they might get forward of you. It will not be your time.
What stage of affect would you like Ubiquitous Girls’s Expo to have?
My objective is after I’m not right here, that persons are nonetheless mentioning my title as a result of I’ve made a distinction. With Ubiquitous, I began that as a result of I needed a platform for folks. The DMV is an important marketplace for it. We’re trendsetters within the DMV, quite a lot of the retailer’s primary shops are right here within the DMV, and so it was a platform for my purchasers and different manufacturers to come back and showcase their merchandise for this essential shopper base.
Final yr, it was completely superb. We did free mammograms. It was just a little bit scary as a result of it was coming after COVID, and quite a lot of exhibits earlier than our present weren’t profitable, [but] God confirmed up and confirmed out. We had a girl that despatched us a letter that stated Ubiquitous saved my life. She discovered that she had second-stage breast most cancers and her twin had second-stage breast most cancers. So, these are the sorts of issues that we attempt to do
