Encomium
Grey and Glow beauty outlet, on Saturday, May 17, 2014, officially held its opening ceremony at Sura Mogaji Street, Ilupeju Lagos. However, the CEO and public relations personnel, Mrs. Marcellina Iyitor could not hide her joy as she spoke with ENCOMIUM Weekly about how she nursed and achieved her dream and more…
How do you feel today?
I feel happy because when you are in a greenland, you are so happy and when you wake and your dream becomes a reality, you will be happier. Today, I feel happy, fulfilled and confident that Grey and Glow would outlive most of us which makes me very excited.
How did you come about Grey and Glow?
I practise Public Relations (PR) and PR is about perception, image making, brand loyalty and sustaining brands. In the course of doing this, I found that people are what they are because they have not been properly educated or informed with the right teachings. The environment has not given them the opportunity to express themselves. I also found out as a PR person that you can’t possibly give what you don’t have and everything comes from what you have internalized and what you have been exposed to. I have always loved beautiful things and people. They have always told me how I remained ageless and that’s because I loved looking after Me and love looking after people during the course of my exposure because I get to meet a lot of people due to the nature of my work. I have also learnt image making. Grey and Glow was borne out of my experience or for the fact that I love everything around me to be glowing. Besides, it has always been what I wanted to do. I thought it through and I began to work towards it by learning skin care. I also consulted few people who know about what I want to do.
What gave you the inspiration?
Mostly, from the standpoint of spirituality and contentment, I was inspired by being contented with what I have. It doesn’t matter how rich a person is, if you are not contented, you might end up not being happy. My inspiration is borne out of the fact that the little things I have done and even the great things too have given me a lot of contentment. This has been my source of inspiration.
In putting all these together, how much did it gulp?
I have not done my calculations yet but its taking a lot of money because I’m still spending.
What were the challenges?
The major challenge has been putting together right resources but I’m comfortable with what we have now.
Who are your target customers, males or females?
We are going to be doing 80 percent women and 20 percent men but basically, our major target is women of every age range.
The world of beauty is highly competitive, how do you intend to stand the test of time?
As a business person, I know that everybody will survive and survival is very important. When you offer the right services, people will come back. There is no industry that is not saturated, if you do the right thing, offer good products, services and customer care, your business will outlive you.
What would you say is your unique selling point?
Professionalism, starting it well, sustaining it, good welfare for your team and good packages for customers. We hope to have corporate clients, to make presentations, to be focused and offer the best services and keep our brand in the minds of people. Also by working with diverse groups who do what we do.
How do you intend to keep up the standard?
We will train, open new outlets when necessary and also learn from people who have been there.
What should we expect from Grey and Glow?
You should expect professional services. Our main focus is on skin care, healthy living where we will take you to our health bar because we believe you will start from the inside to treat the outside, without that, what is seen is the face value. We are also going to be doing makeup and also offer products. Our services are going to be skin care, health bar, makeup and sales of products.
Apart from PR, what else are you into?
No, I am a full-time house wife.
Tell us about you?
I have four sons and a loving husband. I have a first degree and masters in Language Arts and Communication. I have a background in PR and love to worship God a lot as I have a couple of assignments in church.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
Clients will be our ambassadors, they will talk about what Grey and Glow has done for them. There will be expansion and big brands working with us.
-DOLAPO AMODENI
