After Helping Other Brands Generate Revenue, Jackie Asamoah Bet On Herself And Launched FORVR Mood With Her Husband, Denis Asamoah

Jackie And Denis Asamoah are conquering the world of business hand in hand.

Inception

The married couple are the co-founders of FORVR Mood, a shared passion project that birthed a brand. Their company launched with distinctive candles and later expanded into a fragrance collection that includes I Am Her, You Remind Me, Hard To Get, and NDA, all intentional priced at $79.

For Jackie, it was a full-circle moment to enter an industry she believes has long been gatekept from Black founders and Black creators, she shared in an interview on the “Black Tech Green Money” podcast. She remembered the first beauty product she could afford was perfume — a purchase that not only helped her bond with her mother but also proved useful in managing the hyperhidrosis (a condition that causes excessive sweating unrelated to heat or exercise) she developed at age 10.

“I tie it back to bonding with my mom and also attributing it to the fact that growing up, we didn’t have a lot of money, and I grew up in a big family. Every time I think about what fragrance did for me, not only for my hyperhidrosis and confidence building, I also think this is the first beauty product that I really could afford, and that has so much sentimental value for me,” Jackie, FORVR creative director and head of marketing, said.

Making Millions For Brands Affirmed The Journey As A Founder

Launched in 2020, FORVR Mood was able to capture the hearts of Jackie’s followers as she had already built a reputation of trust spanning 16 years as a lifestyle and beauty content creator. It’s why the couple was able to launch with candles to begin with, Denis, FORVR Mood CEO, mentioned on the “Black Tech Green Money” podcast.

“During the time we launched, it was during the pandemic, it was in 2020, and people were actually at home and people couldn’t actually go anywhere,” Denis said. “And with candles… people couldn’t actually smell it. So people were relying heavily on the storytelling, and it just shows how much impact Jackie had done for the community because people bought it irrespective of them having to smell the product. So that is just a testament to the work that she’s done beforehand.”

Jackie shared that she had already seen multiple times how strong her personal brand was, through the support of her online community and how well other brands had done in the past by partnering with her. It only made sense to consider launching a business of her own.

By November 2022, the brand had generated 100,000 customer orders, an Instagram post shared by Denis confirmed. And by this point, FORVR Mood had officially joined the list of brands featured on Sephora’s shelves. Denis’ background in investment banking also served as a guiding force for the couple expanding their presence in the fragrance sector. He took on the task of overseeing operations, team management, hiring, and strategic growth partnerships and made key strategic decisions. This included the pair bootstrapping the business with an initial investment of over six figures rather than seeking external funding, thus strengthening their negotiating power with potential investors. The brand had an impressive launch with a pre-launch waitlist of over 45,000 people, and of the 20,000 units produced, half sold on the first day, with the rest selling out within hours on the second day.

“It was very important to launch our first brand, not with investment,” Denis explained. “One, because it gives you more opportunities, especially if it does well. If you’re going into a business with an investor, you’ve got no track record, no sales records, you’re literally giving up a lot of your business to begin with. So I think for us, it was very important going into it out of the gate to say, ‘Look, let’s do this. This is our baby. Let’s see how this goes.’ And then also it gives us negotiation power. We’ve just proven that we’ve got so many people that have purchased.”

He later added, “Once we raise investment, we’d rather take a minority deal where they only come in at 15% to 20% in terms of the first investment deal. So that’s kind of the approach there.”

Growing Pains

Betting on themselves did come with its curveballs. During their launch, they had not initially expected the products to sell out so quickly and they were also facing shipping challenges, which were further inflated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to some frustrated customers.

“This is in the middle of the logistics crisis. Every brand was struggling. It was rough,” Jackie said. “We couldn’t foresee any of that because we had already been working on the brand, but it was one of those things where if we could make it through that, I think we could make it through anything.”

Forecasting what was needed for the business was also difficult due to the lack of data. Furthermore, their vendor creating their products at the time informed them that the fourth quarter was the busiest time of the year and encouraged the largest push in volume during this time. This resulted in them making a risky decision to lease a warehouse for inventory that ultimately went to waste.

“It benefitted them as a partner because they get paid for every inventory that we order. Now that I’ve gone into the warehouse, I’m like, ‘Why do we have some of these same products?’ It was really alarming, but they wouldn’t really care. They’re getting paid,” Dennis recalled.

The duo has since course corrected. They no longer lease that warehouse and have hired an internal team and contractors and work with different manufacturers in different locations.

What’s Next?

Now with a winning team, their hope for the brand is to expand into new product categories. While specifications were not disclosed, the new categories will go well with existing products. Additionally, another goal is to scale internationally and further their footprint in Africa. The company has expanded into Canada and, through its retail partnership with Beauty Hut Africa, also reached Nigeria.

“A lot of times, people run the Europe and they run the U.K. and the Frances of the world, and that’s great. We still want to make our presence known there, and there’s definitely more I have, more goals as a founder to make our presence on the African continent stronger and a bit more aggressive,” Jackie mentioned.

Whether you’re a content creator or an aspiring founder, this episode of “Black Tech Green Money” is a roadmap for building something bigger than the algorithm.

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