“I cannot talk about myself without talking about my nationality, where I was raised as it is a major contributing factor to who I am today. I was born and raised in a beautiful town Nsukka, a city in Enugu State Nigeria with 4 siblings and disciplinarian parents who taught me to never settle for less but to reach for the whole universe.”
Magazine, Making Money, The Immigrant Experience, Vic Gerami
Chinecherem Eze is a Nigerian-American entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist. She founded Adaora.com, a beauty-niched multiple vendor platform for brands and small business owners to list, market and sell their products without a third-party distributor
Adaora started as a brick and mortar store. With the growing demand for online shopping partly due to COVID-19, Eze’s primary objective is to support small businesses, feature lesser-known brands, while selling mainstream brand names too. From offering exclusive new and innovative labels, European staples, and brands committed to greener shipping practices, Adaora.com is meant to be a one-stop shopping tool for people who want more from their spending dollar.
Chinecherem is a Renaissance Woman whose accomplishments epitomize an American immigrant success story. She was 20 years old when she immigrated to the United States from Nigeria. She studied Political Science and Theatre Arts at the University of California, Los Angeles, and currently serves in the United States Army Reserve. Chinecherem was recognized with the Outstanding Professional of the Year Award by Congresswoman Karen Bass for her outstanding achievements in business.
She later founded the Adaora Foundation in 2015. The foundation donates wigs, makeup, and other essential beauty products to victims ‘heroes’ of unforeseen circumstances. Beneficiaries include cancer survivors, burn survivors, and accident survivors who lost their hair or sustained damage to their faces due to circumstances beyond their control.
I had the pleasure to interview Chinecherem to talk about her background, immigration story, here immense success, and her current projects.
VG: Tell me a little about your background, both professionally and personally.
CE: I cannot talk about myself without talking about my nationality and where I was raised, as it is a major contributing factor to who I am today. I was born and raised in a beautiful town Nsukka, a city in Enugu State Nigeria with 4 siblings and disciplinarian parents who taught me to never settle for less but to reach for the whole universe.
I relocated to the United States in 2013, first for studies after which I dived into the business. Name any business sector in this life that you can think of, I have literally dived into it. I believe that we can be anything we want, I am unstoppable.
While I was in college, I started my beauty business. First selling at home then online and finally opened my first Brick and Mortar in 2016 on Crenshaw and Adams Blvd. Los Angeles, which today is known as Adaora Beauty a subsidiary of Adaora Inc. Today I am an entrepreneur, investor, and motivational speaker. I also founded Hissbox, a fast-growing film distribution app, and streaming service alongside Adaora.com a Beauty-niched multi-vendor online marketplace alongside retail beauty franchises across the nation.
Business excites me, it is a hobby for me, I will jump from a deep sleep at the mention of “let’s talk business.” That is how much I love what I do.
VG: We have come a long way for women to be treated as equals, but there is still a lot of sexism in this world, especially in the corporate arena. Is it harder for a woman entrepreneur to get ahead than a man?
CE: It is harder. In fact, it may shock you to know that 80% of beauty products or popular beauty brands out there are owned or controlled by men. The CEO jobs, marketing jobs you name it, in this industry they control it. It is already a common knowledge that men are paid higher than women in the same sector, as if that’s not enough, they still make it harder for us, but we are getting there.
VG: What made you decide to launch the beauty e-commerce site, Adaora?
CE: Adaora.com came to me as I was constantly trying to figure out what to do to help small business owners that reached out to our Adaora Beauty local stores daily asking us to carry their products. 9 out of 10 their products are not known in the market so I was always caught up in between saying “I’m sorry we don’t think we can carry your products” to “we would love to but…” I got tired of constantly saying those words and one day, I said to myself why not create a bigger platform where these small business owners or brands can list their products using my brand’s influence, we can market it for them, in this way they don’t just rely on our limited local customer base but now they can even reach a wider range of audience and even go international.
This was how Adaora was created.
VG: What makes Adaora different from similar sites?
CE: The difference between Adaora and other similar e-commerce platforms out there is our niche. The fact that we are beauty-niche makes a lot of difference. Think of Adaora as that website you visit when trying to shop for anything that has to do with beauty.
VG: How do you choose the brands and products that you carry on adaora.com?
CE: Most beauty vendors are welcome to our platform except for vendors selling bleaching or whitening creams and sex toys. Our vendors are well vetted, especially our hair extension vendors. I want Adaora to stand out in its offerings of exceptional hair. I do not want those cases of “what I ordered” versus “what I got”. You hear them a lot in most online marketplaces, this is why we make sure that we review every vendor’s products on our platform to make sure they meet our quality guideline and we have a strike system that warns you if there are complaints about your products and eventually deletes your products if you refuse to correct or fix the complaints.
VG: What are some of your beauty habits, regiments, and products?
CE: I drink water more than I eat lol, so drinking water is my very first beauty habit, but I also exfoliate and moisturize my hair and skin as they both need all the moisture it can get.
For my hair, I use LA Braid and for my makeup, skin, or hair care products, I use FEC.
VG: What can people expect from Adaora in the next few weeks?
CE: Expect more features on Adaora and expect our App launch on iOS and Android devices. Adaora.com launches with an Instagram LIVE cyber grand opening on Saturday, July 25, 2020, from 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. for celebrities, influencers, Adaora customers, beauty lovers and the public to tune-in and give shout-outs. There will be lots of giveaways and prizes to be won. The company is calling on all beauty vendors, brands, and small businesses to list their hair and beauty products at Adaora.com
VG: Any last words?
CE: Do not let anyone tell you, you cannot be the person God already designed for you to be.
Stay connected with Chinecherem Eze and Adaora.com
Adaora Website: Adaora.com
Adaora Instagram: @adaora.com_
Adaora Facebook: Adaora.comofficial
Chinecherem Eze Instagram: @chinecheremeze
Photos are available hereBIO: Vic Gerami
Vic Gerami is the host of his show, THE BLUNT POST with VIC, on KPFK 90.7 FM and KPFK.org. The national breaking and headline news program airs on Mondays at 7:00 a.m. (PST) and reaches over 11 million households. Gerami offers analysis and commentary, as well as interview a member of Congress on each show. A few recent guests include Congressman Adam Schiff, Congressman Tony Cardenas, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, and Congresswoman Judy Chu, Congressman Jim Costa, Congresswoman Norma Torres, Congresswoman Grace Napolitano, Congressman Raul Ruiz + Congresswoman Barbara Lee, as well as Marianne Williamson.
Gerami is also the editor and publisher of The Blunt Post. Today reaching national international audiences, Gerami first built a foundation of knowledge and skills by learning the media industry during his years at Frontiers Magazine, followed by positions at LA Weekly and Voice Media Group. For the second time, Gerami was selected as a finalist in the Los Angeles Press Club’s National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards “Columnist of the Year” category in 2019, having first made the final round of consideration in 2017. His celebrity Q&A column, ‘10 Questions with Vic‘ is internationally syndicated. A few of his recent interviews include Melissa Etheridge, Paula Abdul, Dan Reynolds (Imagine Dragons), Kathy Griffin, Matthew Modine, and Laverne Cox
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