Camilia Majette, 35, Natural Woman
The herbs are from her father’s garden and the Greensboro Farmer’s Curb Market. The palm oil is sustainable. The raw shea butter is fair trade, from West Africa.
That’s the way Camilia Majette likes it – only the best ingredients for Nailah’s Shea, her line of handmade whipped shea body butter, exfoliating sugar scrubs, and hand-crafted soaps.
“I try to use as many organic and fair trade ingredients as I can,” she said. “That’s very important to me.”
The NC A&T grad first learned to make compounds while working as a pharmacy technician. But she didn’t like the side effects. When her young children developed eczema, she went in search of an all-natural solution.
Camilia turned that home remedy into a business. She’s a one woman show, developing and creating the products by hand and selling them around Greensboro.
But she’s had plenty of help along the way – in the form of help and encouragement from her family, and assistance from entrepreneurship programs in the community, like the YWCA’s Passion to Purse Program, SCORE and the Small Business Center of Greensboro.
“You have to plan. You have to prioritize. Prepare yourself,” Camilia said of opening her business. “And have faith. Faith in your higher power, and faith in yourself.”
The Farmer’s Curb Market, where Camilia mans a booth selling her wares, has also played an important role in the development of the business.
“I have really loyal customer support there,” Camilia said. Camilia’s working toward having her own brick-and-mortar operation. In the meantime, you can meet Camilia at the market, Williams Sonoma on July 22, or at the National Folk Festival in September.
