Latinos are the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs in the United States, and yet the system is not exactly set up to help them scale. This episode is proof of what happens when you build anyway.
In this episode of Amiga Handle Your Shit, Jackie Tapia sits down with Shan Berries and her sister Erika K. Clark, the CEO and CFO behind Shades by Shan, an inclusive beauty brand built from the ground up and now available in every JCPenney store nationwide. Their story starts in their mom's garage in San Francisco, mixing formulas and testing products, determined to create what every beauty aisle had failed to give them: something made for women who looked like them.
What makes their story worth paying attention to is not just the destination. It is every wall they hit getting there. When JCPenney came knocking with an offer to launch in all 610 stores, the sisters had no outside funding, no bank support, and no investor willing to take the risk. They turned every stone, heard every no, and almost walked away from the deal entirely. Then JCPenney did something they had never done before: they funded the order themselves. That partnership turned a near-defeat into a seven-figure brand with 80 percent year-over-year growth.
But what keeps Shades by Shan growing is not a viral moment or a celebrity co-sign. It is the community they built one store visit at a time, showing up to all 610 locations, training associates themselves, and bringing Hot Cheetos along the way. And behind the brand, there is a foundation, Mama Berry's, dedicated to supporting single parents in need, built in honor of the woman who raised them.
Tune in to episode 281 of Amiga Handle Your Shit for a real conversation about building a business without a safety net, and what it actually takes to get your product on the shelf.
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