BALTIMORE — A woman-owned apparel company that's all about turning a "mess into a message."
The conversation that inspired her to start the business came from one of the darker times in Baltimore's history: the controversial death of Freddie Gray, a black man who died after being injured in police custody in 2015.
"While I was trying to experiment and figure out this Freddie Gray uprising and what that was making me feel inside, I was like, ‘This is a mess’," she recalled.
That's when Kalilah decided to turn the "mess into a message." Going forward, she wanted the messages on her t-shirts to touch on love, life, career, and current events.
As a CEO who once had 16 employees and is now wearing multiple hats to keep her business going, she talked about how the ups and downs of her journey have helped shape her drive as an entrepreneur.
"If I can wake up tomorrow and even have an ounce to still give, that is all that I need," Kalilah said. "Eight years in, I’m really learning the business, and I'm understanding so many things, not just about myself but as a woman, as a black woman."
Along the way, Kalilah noticed a message that resonated. "One of my favorite messages is 'entrepreneur, a fancy word for crazy person following their dream'," she laughed as she finished the quote.
Then, there's nothing like getting endorsements from famous strangers to remind you that you're on the right track. She's had SNL comedian Leslie Jones, Serena Williams, NFL Hall-of-Famer, turned TV host, and podcast star, Shannon Sharpe.
Kalilah says now that the "Mess in a Bottle brand has found its way from Baltimore to as far as Fiji.
Next, she's hoping to use her success, also looking to create a space at her location on Howard Street for other entrepreneurs to come and share resources with each other. She's calling it "Shared Mess."
"This is a way for us to connect and for people to use the things that I already have," she said. "Let’s share our mess with each other."
Kalilah took the time to give some advice, from experience, to anybody who's hitting a wall in their journey to success as a business.
"One of my favorite messages is 'failure is progress,'" she said. "You gotta fall forward. If I can wake up and even have an ounce left to give, that's all I need."
To learn more about Mess in a Bottle, check out the info below:
website: messinabottle.com
Facebook: MESS in a Bottle
Instagram: @messinabottle
