"Start by solving the problem you want to solve" with Cynthia Chapple
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Cynthia is an innovative scientist turned social entrepreneur, an advocate for Black girls and women, and a champion of equity. In keeping with this work, she is the founder of Black Girls Do STEM an organization offering an exploration of STEM career pathways through the hands-on engaging curriculum in the areas of Science Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics to middle and high school Black girls to expose them to career pathways and empowering them to become STEM professionals. In all of her business ventures, she considers herself the Chief Black Girl Doing STEM.
Can you tell our readers about your background?
Hi, I’m Cynthia Chapple, the last name pronounced ch-“apple “I grew up on the south side of Chicago, as 1 of 8 children. Chocolate is my favorite thing to eat all the time for no reason at all. I attended
Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis for my undergraduate degrees in Forensic and Investigative Science and Chemistry. I subsequently returned to school and received a Master of Science in Chemistry in 2015. I worked for a state crime lab and also very different industries such as and my most recent employer in the manufacturing industry and electrical coatings market as Senior Research and Development Chemist. In 2015 I launched Black Girls Do STEM is an online social awareness initiative centering on the accomplishments of Black women in STEM and calling for visibility on the issue of underrepresentation of this same demographic in the STEM workforce. In 2018 I began doing STEM workshops in communities with Black girls, unbeknownst to me it was needed, and people were more than interested in supporting it. Therefore, Black Girls Do STEM became a 501c3 incorporated non-for-profit organization in March of 2019 offering a full range of STEM programming for 6th-9th grade Black girls. Most recently in 2020, I have launched a full-scale beauty brand Black Velvet Spa, a luxury spa brand that is sure to relax, excite and leave you with velvety smooth skin, as a long-term strategy for the sustainability of Black Girls Do STEM. My idea around gender and racial equity are deeply personal and pulled from my own experiences as a Black woman throughout my educational and professional pursuits in STEM. So Hi, I’m Cynthia Chapple.
What inspired you to start your business?
My 12-year-old self. It was for me, and the idea that I wanted to help inspire more 12-year-old ME’s. I reflected and I needed a 30-year-old me when I was 12. I started Black Velvet Spa to fund the dream of Black Girls Do STEM in my own way, to create a sustainability plan that was solid.
Where is your business based?
My business is based in St. Louis, Mo. We operated with the boundaries currently of the city of St. Louis with the hope of expanding to the metro-east and north St. Louis county. My Black Velvet Spa business is based online currently through the ETSY online selling platform.
How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?
The first step I took was to start doing workshops in the community. Then I decided to actually file as a nonprofit organization with the state.
What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?
Community outreach and word of mouth, we have met with neighborhood associations, attended school STEM fairs, community fairs, and competed in pitch competitions for start-ups all focused and based in the community. Parents tell other parents and students tell other students, so we always have a waitlist. Online social media campaigns and marketing would be the next top avenue.
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
Our current biggest challenge is funding, the first biggest challenge was steady human capital, making sure our volunteers are committed and continue year over year with our program. We overcame the volunteer retention issue by organizing leads having adult-only networking and happy hour events for our volunteers and volunteer brunch’s offerings them an opportunity to enhance their network by meeting the other volunteers. In 2020 there was still turnover but also 2020 made many people rethink priorities and commitments.
How do you stay focused?
I stay focused by being very disciplined and never forgetting mine why. That requires a commitment to self-care, where I spend time journaling, meditating, taking a spa day, and refreshing my mental state to not get burnt out.
How do you differentiate your business from the competition?
Black Girls Do STEM considers ourselves an educational equity-focused organization, placing equity at the center of what we do. We transfer STEM education to curate culturally safe, expansive, and resilient spaces for Black girls to learn and heal while decolonizing STEM. By focusing on parent and student advocacy we hope to make STEM common place and widely accepted as something that is a much a-part of the Black experience in America as anything else. This requires that we acknowledge poor educational options being offered to Black and Brown youth and advocate against them and for better educational access even as we conduct our program. We don’t simply teach STEM we transform what Black girls think, see and believe of themselves, their communities, their schools, and their capacity to be innovators and change the world.
What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?
We were highly successful in our “volunteer, partner, donate strategy” to grow volunteers, partners, and donors in the first year of our program. We gained 10 major individual donors, 3 grants, about 5 steady volunteers, 12 partners, and girls from across 7 school districts in our region as participants. Now we want you to “Be a Doer” and sign up to be 1 of 200 unique donors to make a $40 monthly donation to our work for the 2021 program year, to help us Do the Work, go to our website at bgdstem.com/donation
What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
Start by solving the problem you want to solve; understand how you want to solve it but then ask other people what they want. It is so important to understand your solution from the perspective of others, but not to lose sight of what you set out to do even as you pivot, which is inevitable in my opinion.
What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?
My favorite app is by far audible because I like to read, learn, and grow but really don’t have so much time these days. I don’t have a favorite blog, but my favorite podcast is Brene Brown unlocking us, because I am trying to manifest my two top core values of authenticity and courage and lead from a place of vulnerability. My current favorite book is Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi because it was the last fictional book that I read that centered blackness and fantasy, so well written. As a kid, I loved Harry Potter fantasy novels.
What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?
My favorite most utilized business tool or resources has to be Canva and PayPal, it’s a tie between the two. Marketing is not my strong suit so Canva has really helped me learn and get better at design and content creation. Also, PayPal has made the financial piece of starting my organization easy, simple, and manageable. Etsy is also a pretty awesome way to launch an MVP to get real-time feedback and data.
Who is your business role model? Why?
I am just now understanding so many of the business aspects, that I don’t really think I have a business role model. I have seen many women build amazing brands and organizations that grew to become nationally recognized, and I am sort of inspired by so many of them. However, Blake Mycoskie’s book “Start Something That Matters” is on my reading list because the idea and implementation of TOMSHOES were pretty successful.
How do you balance work and life?
I currently am in the process of transitioning into a space that allows for better homogeneity with my work as a founder, social entrepreneur, and innovative scientist, to not feel pulled in multiple directions and more centered. By the creation of my own beauty spa brand, I can manifest what I am teaching girls in my program in my real life and also create sustainability for my non-profit in non-traditional ways. I do not believe in work and life balance but more work and life integration. My work is who I am, who I am informing all aspects of my life, I believe that if things are in sync and congruent life feels more balanced and there can be more ease and joy. However, when I go home at night all of the goodness, I do during the day is the same goodness and aspiration that show up in my personal home life.
What’s your favorite way to decompress?
I love to go to the SPA. I am a massage and sauna type of girl. This made it easy to create my own spa brand of products.
What do you have planned for the next six months?
In Q1 of 2021 Black Girls Do STEM will hire staff for the first time. We will launch a new curriculum in an online program. Black Velvet Spa will continue to sell on the Etsy platform and also launch its first independent website.
How can our readers connect with you?
Readers can connect with me online via social media below and handles
@BGDSTEM on Facebook, IG, and Twitter, @CynthiaChapple on Twitter, @black.velvet.spa on IG and Facebook, and via the web at www.BGDSTEM.com and www.bvelvetspa.co