Meet Kyra Brown | Small Business owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kyra Brown and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kyra, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I started Resilient Grace to tell the untold stories of the African-American heroines that we should have learned about in history class. I’ve always had a love for fashion and history, but unfortunately, I didn’t learn much black history in school. Everything I knew came from my parents and their desire to make sure I knew the resilience of the people I came from. When the movie Hidden Figures came out, I was inspired to create something to remind people that there were many more black women’s stories who were hidden. I decided to create a clothing line dedicated to telling black herstory as my way of letting women know that these stories matter. My hope and prayer is that these stories inspire the woman who wears them, she is reminded that her own purpose and story are just as valuable and she could be the next woman to change the world.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Resilient Grace is a clothing brand that tells the untold stories of the African-American women who were often left out of our history classes. I started Resilient Grace in 2018. It was the strangest thing because I never really saw myself as a business owner. I was insecure about whether I would do it right, failure, and would people even get what I was trying to do. This was a valid fear because most people did not even like their history classes in school, and here I am selling apparel featuring women that most people don’t know. Things were super slow for about 2 years, and I was working a job and interning, and I barely had any time to pour into my business, and then the pandemic hit. Like most people, I used quarantine time to really think about what I wanted to do with my life and though I loved it, I didn’t think Resilient Grace could flourish into a full time gig for me because my sales were so low. However, with a year of social injustice like 2020, I began to get several messages from people wanting to learn more about  black history. With the horrific deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, people began to question how we got here, and because black history outside of Martin Luther King had been largely left out of our history books they needed a place to start. I had spent so much time undervaluing Resilient Grace that it wasn’t until this moment that I realized that I could help people start the process of learning about the past to create a better future. Just like Black Lives, Black History matter. I want people who look like me to have a future in which their struggle, resilience, and contributions to our nation are acknowledged and celebrated.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If my best friend was visiting Houston, we are definitely having breakfast at Frank’s Grill off Westheimer for best chicken and waffles. We would also take a trip to the historic Fourth Ward to visit my favorite museum, the Gregory School, and walk the area to take in other sights. We would also visit the Black Food Truck park at the Power Center.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to dedicate my shoutout series to my grandmothers Florene Howard and Florida Bell Brown. They are the definition of resilience and I am honored to be a product of their prayers.

Website: https://shopresilientgrace.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shopresilientgrace/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgyAMt1h36s